novelraw Chapter 137 : Chapter 137
Chapter 137 : Chapter 137
Chapter 137. Bad Blood (1)
After the funeral, as King Gaspar said, the living had to move on.
Traces of war lingered across the city, but people cared for one another, beginning reconstruction.
Neighbors rebuilt fallen walls, and hands tirelessly tidied shopfronts.
Soldiers gathered from across the land joined the citizens.
“Here!”
“Slow down! You’ll get hurt carrying it like that!”
Muscular soldiers sweated, hauling collapsed bricks, focused on placing new beams over charred wood.
Some worked tirelessly to bury their inner grief.
Whatever the reason, they were people striving to live again.
Meanwhile, as the city gradually regained vitality, the kingdom’s leadership quietly worked to normalize the nation.
Bakan remained silent, and the captured Kandahr warriors, bound in chains, were loaded onto wagons leaving the city’s outskirts.
The task of escorting them to their homeland was entrusted to Viscount Argon, a trusted figure from the Northern Alliance.
“Then, Viscount, I leave it to you.”
As Rona bowed respectfully, Viscount Argon grinned and replied.
“Don’t worry. Let’s meet again if we get the chance, Commander Rona.”
“Understood. I’ll visit you next time.”
Rona watched the wagons fade from the ramparts.
Only then did her tension seem to ease, and she let out a light breath.
At that moment, I, who had been taking in the breeze on the ramparts, quietly approached and stood beside her.
“This war finally seems over.”
As I spoke calmly, Rona nodded, gazing at the receding prisoner procession below.
“There are still threats, but as long as Bakan is here, they won’t dare provoke us further.”
“Let’s hope so.”
I paused briefly, then turned and asked.
“By the way, those catapults at the Kandahr main camp. Have you figured out what they are?”
At the end of my gaze, several massive catapults stood abandoned where the Kandahr camp had been.
The weapons, crafted from wood and steel, exuded an alien menace.
“Oh, those? The ones who helped build them are locked up separately. They were strategists from the Black Snake Tribe.”
“Honestly, those aren’t just beyond the Kandahr’s capabilities—even our Kaien Kingdom would struggle to make them. Especially designing a mana-powered mechanism without blueprints, purely from memory, is impossible.”
Rona nodded in agreement.
“You’re right. I’ve been receiving reports from the northern front, but this is the first time the Kandahr used such weapons.”
“As expected? If they’d used them before, we wouldn’t have been unprepared.”
I looked at the collapsed ramparts.
Rona hesitated briefly before adding.
“But the real issue is something else. Their warships. Those caused the capital’s devastation.”
“Warships?”
Having joined late, I knew nothing about the Kandahr’s warships.
“The Kandahr’s shipbuilding skills were limited to vessels for shallow waters like our northern coast. Long-distance voyages? They couldn’t even dream of it.”
“But they reached the island with Lansed Academy. I saw their ships—they were definitely capable of long-distance travel.”
I looked at Rona, astonished.
“That’s what’s strange. How did their shipbuilding advance so rapidly in such a short time?”
“Definitely odd. They don’t seem the scholarly type.”
“Exactly. Such advanced technology doesn’t suit a warrior tribe that values physical strength.”
No words passed between us, but our shared doubts and unease were palpable.
“Interrogation will reveal something. Those weapons and warships—it’s too suspicious to be mere tribal progress.”
“If it’s alright, can I join the interrogation?”
Rona smiled at me.
“No reason you can’t. You’re a hero of the kingdom.”
“That’s embarrassing. Everyone’s a true hero.”
“You’re right. Anyway, you’re welcome to join. Let’s meet at the dungeon later.”
We parted ways briefly, and as the sun set, we reunited in the deep darkness of the dungeon.
―Step, step.
The dungeon reeked of dampness and mold, with iron bars faintly glinting beyond the torches.
An executioner already awaited us.
Before us knelt a man tightly bound in chains.
His clothes were bloodstained, his skin bore a snake tattoo, and his eyes, though weary, burned with murderous hatred.
“This is the Black Snake Tribe’s strategist.”
Rona spoke in a low voice.
“I see.”
I studied the man’s face.
Covered in scars and dirt, his gaze held no hint of surrender.
“Alright. Let’s hear his story.”
Rona’s interrogation began immediately.
She approached the prisoner with heavy steps, glaring down at him sharply.
“Answer me truthfully. The warships you arrived in and the catapults that attacked our walls—how were they made?”
Instead of answering, the prisoner spat.
“Ptoo!”
Rona blocked the spit with her palm, then struck his cheek hard with the same hand.
―Smack!
Even an ordinary woman’s strike would sting, but she was an Executor.
Her calloused hand, hardened by countless sword grips, lashed like a whip, stinging his cheek.
“Ugh…!”
The Black Snake warrior groaned in pain, but he clenched his teeth, refusing to speak.
“Look at this? Think you can hold out?”
She turned to the executioner and ordered.
“Torture him until he’s ready to talk.”
“Yes!”
As the executioner prepared his tools, I quietly stepped forward.
“Wait.”
Rona and the executioner paused.
Glancing at the torture tools, I continued in a low voice.
“If he hasn’t talked despite the torment before we arrived, the same methods likely won’t work.”
I ran my hand over the executioner’s tools.
To me, a former Empire citizen, they seemed crude.
This also meant the kingdom was less brutal than the Empire.
‘I don’t want to resort to torture, but to get answers, there’s no choice.’
I resolved to briefly revert to my Empire days.
“Let me make him talk.”
I slowly approached the bound Black Snake warrior.
“To be honest, I’m skilled in combat, but torture? Not my thing.”
Then I shoved my hand into the warrior’s mouth.
“So I don’t know where to stop.”
With force, I yanked out a molar.
Though roughly extracted, the warrior didn’t groan, only spitting blood.
“That’s all…?”
But this was just the start.
I thrust my finger into the bleeding gum and infused it with Qi.
A sharp, intent-laden energy.
“Grrk!!!”
The pain, targeting the sensitive nerves closest to the brain, was excruciating.
The warrior’s back dripped with cold sweat, soaking the floor.
Rona and the executioner watched, touching their own mouths.
After about a minute, I withdrew my hand.
“I know you won’t talk. I respect your resolve.”
“W-Wait… Urgh!”
I pulled another tooth, continuing the process.
Rona watched, horrified.
‘Wasn’t he about to speak?’
After seven teeth were extracted, the warrior finally broke.
“Ugh…! I said I’d talk…!”
His pain-stricken face muttered lowly.
I dusted my hands, now wet with blood and saliva, expressionless.
“Did you? Should’ve spoken sooner. Think I enjoy sticking my hand in someone’s mouth?”
Wiping my hands, I turned to Rona.
“Now, interrogate him properly.”
“Right.”
Rona began questioning the subdued warrior.
“I’ll ask again. Who designed your siege weapons and warships?”
“I… don’t know.”
Rona’s face twisted.
“This bastard, till the end—!”
I stepped forward lightly, and that single step made the warrior flinch, words tumbling out.
“N-No! I really don’t know! You asked how they were made! We received those blueprints! They didn’t come from us!”
Rona and I exchanged glances.
I nodded silently, sensing something deeper.
“Then who gave them to you? The blueprints.”
“That… I don’t know. He met our chieftain alone. Someone like me never saw his face.”
“That’s not the answer we want.”
Rona leaned in.
“Don’t you know why we kept you alive? We know you’re not just a soldier, but part of the chieftain’s inner circle.”
At her threatening words, the warrior gritted his teeth and bowed his head.
Sweat dripped from his forehead.
“I truly don’t know who he was. But I overheard our chieftain muttering to himself after meeting him.”
“What was it?”
“…Is this the Empire’s ship? I definitely heard him say that.”
“The Empire…? You mean the Becken Empire? Across the sea?”
Rona pressed, and the warrior nodded.
“Yes, that’s the name. The blueprints’ source was definitely the ‘Becken Empire.’ So those who gave us the designs are likely connected to them.”
“How did the Empire’s designs reach here… Evan, any guesses—”
Rona slowly turned to me.
She saw my trembling eyes and faltering expression.
“Evan?”
“The Empire’s designs…”
A tenacious, wretched bond.
The Becken Empire.
‘That alien yet familiar feeling. It was the Empire’s technology.’
Today, I realized.
Even in this life, my bad blood with them… hadn’t ended.