Wolves of Hader

Chapter 123

Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.

I walked through an alley overflowing with bloody water.

The stench of blood stung my nose.

Corpses lay strewn all the way to the alley's end, a span of forty paces.

At the sweep of my Sword Line three times, over 800 people fell.

Those who survived merely backed away.

Only then did the Priests in front of the bridge began to flee.

Some Priests trembled so much they couldn't move their feet.

Some slumped down and crawled backward.

Once I left the alley, the remaining mercenaries were still holding their ground.

They had no idea what had happened. The members who blocked the alley suddenly collapsed all at once.

I am not one who delights in blood.

A spectacle like this is hard for me too.

The divine order tried to crush us; I only responded in kind.

Then I warned the Geroz Mercenary Corps, and they ignored it.

So I simply acted as warned.

If you hit half-heartedly, the strong will come back for more.

For those not swayed by words, you suppress them with strength, just as the grand duke did.

That is the law of this world.

No need to waste words on those who can neither be reasoned with nor warned. Just show them once and it's done. Even if people call me monster.

In life, you might make mistakes.

For someone like myself, mistakes come with great responsibility.

So I always vow to myself.

May my judgment not go astray.

May the path I walk be the right one.

May this resolve and vow never change.

I walked towards the bridge of the divine order.

A Priest who had been retreating cried out.

"What are you standing there for without killing that bastard?!"

"Hurry up and kill him! Now!"

"Waaah!"

At last, the mercenaries lined up on either side began to scream and charge at me, knowing full well it would be their death.

They'd already reached a point of no return.

Ching—

I swung the Sword Line horizontally at the mercenaries to my left. Then at those to my right.

Once more, a sea of blood unfolded.

I'm sure some of them had their own situations.

They might have ignored the plight of the oppressed, just as they'd lived ignoring them.

Shiiiii—

Boom—

A flare shot up into the sky.

It was a signal, calling the mercenaries on the ships ashore.

Or perhaps a signal for them to escape the island.

The terrified Priests scattered in all directions.

From the divine order side, security men in armor rode up on horseback.

They stopped in the middle of the bridge.

"We wish to negotiate!"

A security officer shouted.

I ignored him and kept walking.

"The Elder Council Chief himself will be coming!"

"I was told there would be no negotiations."

"As you warned, the divine order has only withdrawn all the security from the temple!"

"Aren't you with the Geroz Mercenaries? Why aren't you among the fallen, and instead stand here with the divine order?"

The officer was speechless.

Even he knew it didn't make sense.

"What's your rank and name?"

"I am Deputy-Commander of the Security Forces, Kaishil!"

Priest Roman had said—at least the temple security folks were the better sort.

Kaishil was in charge of temple security.

That just meant they hadn't executed or burned Priests, not that they didn't help as guards, or at least didn't directly assist the Priests' atrocities.

"I'll wait here, then. All Priests must be gathered for negotiations. Also, if there is even one Geroz Mercenary present with the divine order, negotiation is off."

The deputy-commander looked toward the port with me. I, too, glanced toward the port.

The Berserkers had overrun the mercenaries who'd blocked the alley and were racing down the pier.

Some, along with Tuji and his brother, had dragged mercenaries from the rooftops.

There was a commotion from the temple side as well.

It seemed Allen had entered from the security building behind the temple.

This meant Geroz mercenaries were still present in the divine order.

Shortly after,

About 200 Priests, of varied ages, came out. The security men guarded them at their sides and behind.

All the Priests looked terrified.

The old man in front appeared to be the Elder Council Chief.

The four behind him must have been highest-ranking elders.

All wore the distinct short hairstyle of Priests.

There were about 500 Priests in the divine order.

Two hundred were away at various temples or noble houses in other countries.

With 300 remaining, it looked like about a hundred had fled.

The Priests stopped about twenty paces from me, fearing I would slaughter them.

They must have thought they were safe, as they weren't in my attack range.

The Council Chief and elders approached.

They had tried to look dignified, as befits Priests, but their faces, caked with greed, could not hide it.

The Elder Council Chief stood before me.

"Are you planning to kill us all?"

"I have no quarrel with the Priests. I'm only looking for the Geroz Mercenaries hiding in the divine order."

"I do not know what it is that has enraged you. But on their behalf, let me offer my apology."

"Do you truly not understand what you have done?"

"We must not judge the entire divine order for the faults of a few Priests."

"Who is the owner of the Geroz Mercenary Corps?"

"We have nothing to do with them."

The Elder Council Chief's expression did not change in the slightest.

"Who owns that resort island in the west?"

"That, too, does not belong to the divine order."

"So you enjoy the profits of the divine order, but bear no responsibility? Is mere bystanding not a crime?"

The elders' eyes were burning.

In the past, they would have shouted at me.

The Elder Council Chief spoke again.

"It's true you've interfered in the divine order's business. It's also true we were deceived by the schemes of vile men and turned against you. But must you go this far for that? Isn't this too much?"

"Do you know how the empire was founded?"

"I do."

"The Unification War began when a royal family of one kingdom was murdered in another nation. If a citizen is killed, catching the culprit suffices. But kill a royal, and it becomes a war."

The Council Chief's lips twisted, as if to ask, "And are you royalty?"

"When you try to crush someone, you ought to consider who they are. We were already at war with three houses, and Geroz intervened in the war as Goro Merchant Guild's deputy."

The Elder Council Chief started to reply, but stopped.

It was a mess created by the divine order's arrogance and misjudgment.

"Then, what do you demand?"

Gazing at the Council Chief and Priests, I said:

"The dissolution of the divine order."

"What?!"

All the Priests, including the Council Chief, were shocked.

An elder spoke up hastily.

"What difference is there between voluntary dissolution and your destruction of the divine order on this island?!"

"This island's divine order will dissolve, and new ones will rise in the empire and Tern. The Priests need only go there."

"What nonsense is this?"

The Council Chief calmed the agitated elder.

Then he said,

"We cannot dissolve the divine order. But we can dissolve the Geroz Mercenary Corps. We will withdraw from trade and live under the sole guidance of Lord Apeon."

"I don't believe your words."

"Why not?"

The Elder Council Chief wore a kindly expression, externally appearing unassailable.

"How did you become Elder Council Chief? Did you rise through diligence and prayer, so the elders exalted you? Or perhaps—"

The Council Chief's eyes narrowed, his gentle air turning icy.

"Was it by managing the resort island and bringing huge wealth to the divine order? Was it for being the first to create a deathly gladiator arena? Or was it for mercilessly executing fellow Priests?"

Anger flared in the Council Chief's eyes.

Try as he might to hide it, his true thoughts showed.

"You have been seduced by a devil."

That was all he could muster.

"To prove your words, the divine order should distribute all its assets to the people. Without action, your words mean nothing."

"You should make reasonable demands."

"Is this so unreasonable?"

"Money is needed for the Priests' practices."

"Donations will come in aplenty. It's not as if Priests need to eat gourmet food, drink the finest wine, and wear the finest clothes for their practice."

Another elder shouted,

"God is watching! Have you no fear?"

"I wager God is smiling broadly—probably for the first time in a thousand years."

The Priests fell silent.

Just then, Hans arrived, dragging a corpse.

He produced a list of names.

"Glyn! Yav! Nomar! Beshoren! Ullr! Molbre! Dero! Raben! Terzin! Ello! Lagern! Dilly!"

The Priests in the back fussed.

"All Priests whose names were called, step forward!"

But none moved immediately, afraid I would kill them.

Eventually, Glyn, said to be a friend of Priest Roman, stepped out from among the Priests.

Finally, the 11 called Priests squeezed out of the crowd one by one.

Seeing them, everyone understood why I'd called their names.

The group ranged from their late teens to forties.

All were ordinary Priests, bothered and saddened by the state of the divine order.

Naturally, they had no political faction.

"You will come with us. Wherever you serve and worship divinity, it will be better than this corrupt island. The Emperor of the empire has promised to treat you as Priests directly affiliated with the imperial family."

"What?!"

Once again, the Priests were in shock.

Only the elders clamped their mouths shut.

I spoke again.

"The remaining Priests should seek out the Tern royal family. Those who consider themselves clean and upstanding will be welcomed there."

I walked past the Council Chief.

The elders blocked my way again.

"You shall not enter the divine order!"

"Kill us if you wish to go inside!"

"You will be punished by the gods!"

Three Priests, filled with grim resolve, blocked my path.

They hadn't seen the horror in the alley.

They only assumed it was a fierce fight, and I'd broken through.

"Young lord."

"Toss it here."

Hans threw the corpse at my feet.

Seeing the torso-only body, the Priests averted their eyes; some retched.

I stripped the remains of its shattered armor.

Around the dead man's neck was a Priest's necklace, fashioned of divine ore.

There was the Priest's tattoo on his chest as well.

"So, the divine order now even bestows the divine vessel on mercenaries? And tattoos them as Priests too."

"He is not a Priest!"

"If you deny the evidence in front of you..."

I glared at the elders.

"Then I could just as well slaughter you all, burn the temple, and claim innocence. Right now, I am treating you with the utmost courtesy. So..."

I turned to the other Priests as well.

"If you block my path again, I'll take it as proof the Geroz are owners of the divine order—and I'll kill all of you. The same goes for attacking any of those twelve Priests."

Screeeech—

Dragging my greatsword along the stone, I walked forward.

With that, the three Priests who had blocked my way in grim determination now sidled aside uneasily.

The other Priests had no choice but to clear a path.

Neither the Council Chief nor the elders offered to surrender the order's assets or declare its dissolution.

As if defying me: can you really destroy the holy temple?

It wasn't even my intention—Geroz was already finished, and I had no mind to chase them down obsessively.

The security deputy-commander was among the Priests in the rear.

With his direct subordinates.

"Deputy commander, come with me."

"You're letting us live?"

"Just follow me, for now."

We walked a fair way past the fifty-odd security men holding their positions, well out of earshot from the Priests and security.

"There are two conditions."

"What are they?"

I whispered quietly to Kaishil.

His eyes filled gradually with shock as he listened, glancing toward the port.

The fighting at the port was already finished.

Many buildings were engulfed in flames, and before long, the whole island would become a giant fireball—the place was mostly forest after all.

No more mercenaries would land.

During the alley battle, most had come ashore and died there.

So the landing crafts stranded at the island remained.

Even those crafts had been smashed to pieces by my men with their greatswords.

Not just that, every ship at the pier except ours was set ablaze.

Kaishil, the deputy-commander, realized early:

There was no way to escape this island.

"Are you really not going to kill us?"

"But you'll pay an equivalent price. You and your subordinates have a chance at a new life. I'll never forgive Geroz or the divine order's restoration, though."

"In that case, the whole incident on this island could fall upon us."

"That's yours to figure out."

Kaishil bit his lip.

It was truly his own problem now.

If he wanted to escape the island and Geroz and start over, he had to know what to do.

In the end, Kaishil gave me a map of the temple's most vital and heavily guarded areas, and handed over a ring of keys from his cloak.

"I'll live a life of atonement."

His words carried meaning.

Was he atoning for turning a blind eye to the divine order's crimes?

Or was it for whatever was yet to be done?

Or was it regret for failing to protect the order and the Priests?

The deputy-commander went over to his security men.

After a discreet, serious discussion—

They began to surround the Priests.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"How dare lowly commoners raise swords against us?! Stand aside!"

"Kaishil! Do you fancy you'll survive after this?!"

The Priests yelled and shoved the security men.

The guards pushed right back.

Donnie and Tuji's brother came up from behind them, saw my men, and made straight for the divine order.

From the temple came a loud noise.

Bang— Bang—

Allen was digging out divine ore.

There was still something for me to mine in the temple too.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Schemes will never beat overwhelming strength...

With 3 slashes, Roger killed 800 men...

Let that sink in....

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】