novelraw Chapter 79 : Love and Obsession (3)
Chapter 79 : Love and Obsession (3)
Chapter 79: Love and Obsession (3)
The sunset went down beautifully.
The Fortress of Justitia, pride of the Order of the Scales, was famous for its beautiful sunsets. A natural stronghold set in rugged mountains, it offered magnificent scenery no matter where one turned.
The two old veterans’ meals were simple.
Dried meat and cheap wine were enough.
They took their shared hardships from youth as their appetizer.
“What kind of hospitality is this? Every time I come, I feel it, the Order of the Scales has no manners. I rode a long way to get here.”
Vigo drank the wine while making a complaint he did not mean. Even after decades, he could not understand Salieri’s taste for insisting on cheap wine.
“Gee, sorry about that. Things on our side haven’t been good. Witches are swarming, monsters are rampant, and people are dying. The monsters ate the good meat, and there are fewer hands to make wine.”
Salieri chuckled. Because of his enormous frame, the old wooden chair looked in danger.
“Tough times. It is the most chaotic since Sin left no trace.”
In his short words, he captured the confusion of the Empire.
The world was murky. It had always been chaotic, but it was true that things had grown much worse in the past few years. Hunters who had lived long felt it in their bones.
“Even so, you cannot excuse failing to police your own ranks. Do you even know. Or….”
Vigo watched Salieri’s reaction with wolfish eyes. The old, wise veteran’s expression was not easy to read. He was an old fox.
“Haha. It is fine to suspect me… but you picked the wrong target. I have not grown weak enough to be beguiled by witches.”
Vigo met Salieri’s gaze. It was still keen and clear. The anger smoldering toward the witches still burned within.
Vigo felt relieved.
“I only checked just in case. I did not truly suspect you.”
“You look like you hoped I would say that.”
“That too. It would be a chance to get the eyesore of an old man off the board.”
“Hahahaha!”
Salieri laughed loudly and clinked his cup. More than half the contents splashed out. He was not careful in his movements.
After draining his cup, Salieri quickly wiped the smile from his face and spoke.
“As soon as I heard, I flipped the place. The mutt I raised for ten years as my successor betrayed me. The Golden Dawn Society’s long-cultivated effort paid off. I dissolved the Scales of Justitia that very day. I will probably be called into the Hall of the City God and get chewed out. Damn it.”
“And you had no idea until now… That is hard to understand, you know?”
“Nothing is harder to understand than putting a filthy witch in the Captain’s seat.”
The two continued a subtle contest of wills.
The incident of Morgana becoming Captain of the Order of the Silver Blades still drew divided opinions. If not for Vigo’s exploits and prestige, it would never have been allowed.
Even in hindsight, it had been irrational and insane. The man who raged the most and opposed it was Salieri.
They paused their battle of nerves and spoke in earnest. They had important business to settle. In a murky world, they were the two most reliable men.
“Strangely enough… ever since Sin vanished twenty years ago, the Golden Dawn Society grew in a rush and started parasitizing all over the Empire.”
“Hm.”
“If the organization I raised was breached, you can assume every key institution of the Empire has been eaten.”
“You are overly confident.”
“What, you punk!? Do you look down on the Scales of Justitia? The finest hunter organization I created!”
Vigo lifted the corner of his mouth as if amused and chewed his jerky.
“Sigh… Insolent bastard. Well, I do not have the right to get mad either. In any case, here is my point. The Imperial Household, the Hall of the City God, the Sacred Iron Chains, and the Order of the Silver Blades. A tumor is growing somewhere inside them.”
Vigo folded his arms. His face was full of worry. It was what he had feared from the moment a traitor appeared within the Scales of Justitia.
Given that the man’s information network could be called the Empire’s best, it was not something he said without grounds.
“I met the head of the Third Order in Banyaksenir.”
“I heard that too. It is surprising. For the queen bee to appear herself.”
“…”
Watching Vigo’s face, Salieri spoke. His concern did not rest solely on the rampage of the Golden Dawn Society.
“Vigo. Stop hiding and say it. You know you can tell me. There is something I do not know. The root of what is happening now. You must know it.”
Vigo propped his chin on his hand and nodded.
In truth, he had come to consult this matter with his senior. There were not many hunters left whom he could call senior. Especially not ones who were active, wise, and trustworthy.
Nike.
Vigo thought of the ash-haired boy. Whatever anyone said, the world’s confusion traced back to him.
A boy who carried the Heart of Sin. When Sin descended again someday, it would act through ‘Nike.’
After a long hesitation, Vigo spoke.
“I picked up a dog without a mother. That cur’s dam was Sin. From what I can tell, the reason the Golden Dawn Society and the witches have been so noisy of late is to seize that little bastard.”
Salieri’s eyes widened. He had heard that Vigo was raising an unusual hound, but he did not know the additional detail.
It was a bolt from the blue.
A pup of Sin.
Vigo let words that made no sense come out of his mouth.
“Are you drunk?”
“I am perfectly fine.”
“Damn it.”
Salieri lifted the bottle and poured the cheap wine straight into his mouth. Wine streamed down his jaw.
His agitation would not settle.
“A child of Sin. Are you saying a witch can be pregnant?”
“Of course not. According to the witches, Sin ascended, and its body remained and was torn apart. Among them, the heart is the dog I am raising.”
“Huh—”
Salieri let out a sigh. His huge body trembled faintly. No wonder. There was no iron heart anywhere that could accept such nonsense at once.
“Why tell me that only now?”
“I am telling you first, senior. I have not reported it yet to the Hall of the City God or the Imperial Household.”
“I heard the Archbishop went to the Order of the Silver Blades, didn’t she?”
After a short pause, Vigo answered.
“Morgana will have handled that on her own.”
“You trust that woman? She is a venomous one even among witches. I must have warned you over and over.”
“No. I do not trust her.”
“Then?”
With unwavering eyes, Vigo said,
“I trust the ugliness of her obsession. She still wants to become a witch again. The Heart of Sin might make her heart’s desire come true.”
“…”
Salieri leaned back. He understood without a long explanation. They had decades together.
“What on earth….”
“The real problem is not Morgana. It is that the damned fragments of Sin’s flesh are trying to gather in one place.”
“What did you say?”
“According to the Witch of the Sword, Sin will descend again, using that flesh as a vessel. I do not even want to imagine what will happen then.”
“W-Wait. The Witch of the Sword? The witch they say there is not even a record of?!”
Vigo nodded. It was shock after shock. The battle-tested veteran’s pupils trembled without rest.
“This is madness. You should have brought me a problem only half as bad. I am old, and my heart is not good.”
“Isn’t it time for you to go to heaven anyway?”
Salieri let out an empty laugh.
“Your jokes go too far. You acquired a sense of humor, Vigo.”
“My sense of humor is exactly the same.”
Vigo’s face held not the slightest trace of a smile. He was as serious as he had been right before moving to suppress Morgana.
“Damn it… Things are far worse than I thought. So what are you thinking? Why not kill that dangerous thing at once?”
The veins stood out on Salieri’s forearm. Thinking it through, something that dangerous deserved to be reported immediately to the Hall of the City God and executed without delay.
He could not understand why Vigo had kept it with him while shouldering such risk.
“Who knows.”
Vigo put a cigarette between his lips. Smoke blurred in the sunset glow.
“...I wanted to raise it into a hound that listens well.”
Salieri’s whole body trembled. He was furious. It was an outrageous decision.
“Vigo, you bastard—”
“Killing him will not wipe out all witches. We humans could not end this war even if we died and were born again. Have we not both lived that truth?”
“Silence! You fool!”
Salieri slammed his fist on the table. The cheap wine and jerky rolled to the floor.
“I told you not to pull that kind of bullshit. Yet again. Again with this nonsense?”
“...It is the card to end this hopeless fight. Do not turn away, senior. We are old. We cannot fight like we used to. We are walking corpses waiting for death.”
Vigo jerked his chin toward the wall behind Salieri. A greatsword sized to his body hung there.
“You can’t even bear its weight anymore.”
“...Do not talk nonsense. My patience ends here.”
“...It is time to end it. I will use that boy to wipe out every witch.”
Salieri looked at Vigo. Quiet, yet steeped in raging madness. Vigo was still an active hunter.
“In any case, that is how it is... I would like you to lend some weight to my view, senior.”
“Leave at once. There is nothing more to say. Do not expect anything from me.”
When they said a witch would be made Captain, Salieri reacted the same way. Contrary to his size, he pursued a cold logic. He could not accept Vigo’s radical line of thought.
Apart from friendship, their temperaments stood opposite each other.
Their looks toward each other grew sharp. It felt like they might come to blows at any moment. Vigo did not back down.
‘This crazy brat. He is serious. He truly believes he can kill every witch. What a vain delusion….’
Salieri felt like he was looking at his younger self, hot-blooded and strong. Back then, blood ran ahead of wisdom.
Vigo’s will had not broken yet. He was not like Salieri, who had grown sick and weak, gone fishing, and failed to notice a subordinate’s betrayal.
Vigo was more obsessed with witch hunting than anyone. At that point it was a mad love. Obsession and love were separated by a single sheet of paper.
“…What do you want me to help with.”
“Sin’s flesh. We need to gather those fragments. I would like you to form a punitive force without the Hall of the City God knowing.”
“That’s impossible.”
“That is why I came. The Swords of Justitia are intact.”
Salieri glared at Vigo with eyes wide. The veins rose on his temples.
“You want me to send the dogs I raised with care to their deaths. Are you sane?”
“It’s a sacrifice for the greater good.”
“...Sacrifice, my ass. Who am I supposed to hunt?”
Vigo pointed to the dying light.
“The Grand Witch of the West.”
“...Vigo, you bastard. The joke goes too far.”
“I told you, I did not come to joke.”
Salieri rubbed his face as if tired.
“You damned son of a dog!”
He muttered every foul curse to himself. Most of them were aimed at Vigo’s parents.
For a full minute, curses rang out. Vigo felt his ears and checked, thinking he might be bleeding.
“Sigh… You mean to gut the Order of the Scales. You cunning bastard.”
“You should retire in comfort.”
“Son of a bitch.”
Salieri barely mastered his fury. If he had been younger by a few years, he would have thrown a punch.
“C-Captain!”
A hunter of the Order of the Scales ran up in a rush. He had sprinted up hundreds of steps, panting for breath.
“What is it. Do not make such a racket. Tsk.”
Salieri spoke irritably. The hunter shouted urgently regardless.
“I-It’s a summons order!”
Salieri frowned and glared at the messenger. The air turned ugly.
“Huh~? What bastard summons me. Did they forget who I am?”
“The… the Vatican has issued a Captain’s summons.”
“...So I was right about them being a bastard. Why glare at me like that. Do you want to die?”
“…!”
Vigo picked up a dropped strip of jerky and handed it to the messenger as he asked,
“For what business. It shouldn’t be time yet for a Captains’ convocation.”
“I-It is about the Order of the Silver Blades, great hunter.”
“What? And… Why add that at the end? How embarrassing. So what is it?”
Chewing the jerky with effort, the messenger said,
“There is dire news that hunters of the Order of the Silver Blades killed the Archbishop.”
“…?”
Vigo doubted his ears. For what reason would witch hunters kill an Archbishop? They should not even have been able to get close.
“Did you hear the name? Tell me everything you know.”
Vigo snatched the jerky from the messenger’s mouth as he asked. The messenger wiped his lips and answered.
“N-Nike…? I think. That was the name.”
“Who?”
“All I heard was that he is a new hunter of the Order of the Silver Blades…!”
Vigo squeezed his eyes shut.