Chapter 207: Amaranth (7)
Chapter 207: Amaranth (7)
Posted on March 27, 2018 by kobatochandaisuki — Leave a reply
T/n: Sorry. These two chapters took rather longer than I thought to translate. Anyhow, ch.207 is the last of the all 21 chapters between Nov. 5th of 2017 to March 25th of 2018 that I owed. Starting next week, we will be back to 1 chapter per weekend schedule.
Ian Phillips and Pierce’s Conquest of the Capital, Miller.
The Conquest of the Capital, Miller, was the first battle that the two people fought in together.
After this battle, Ian and Pierce grew to be the two pillars that supported the kingdom.
‘At that time, I was……’
At the time, he was singled out by the Eastern Regional Corps Supreme Commander Viscount Benjamin Doyle and was rolling on the battlefields.
At least, the one good thing was that Benjamin had participated in the Conquest of the Capital, Miller, in order to enter the sight of Kallum, who at the time was a king.
Thanks to that, Roan was also able to participate in the conquest as a rank and file spearman.
Paat!
Tightly pressing himself onto the bottom of the castle wall, Roan fleetly dashed.
Together with a sound of wind, his appearance turned faint.
An incredibly fast speed.
Far away, the Miller Castle’s west gate was seen.
‘Viscount Delph Blick guarding the capital, Miller, is an outstanding warrior.’
In the last life too, they couldn’t conquer the capital, Miller, through ordinary means.
Meanwhile, Simon expanded his power with the Longport Castle in the center.
To Kallum, a frustrating and sad situation.
At that time, Ian Phillips, the genius who had devoured all of the numerous libraries and hidden personal books of not only the Miller Castle but also the palace, came to find him.
He revealed that there was one secret hidden in the royal family’s crest and the national seal.
The truth that even Ian had learnt of through hidden books.
That the location of the secret path that one could furtively enter and exit the capital’s Miller Castle was hidden in the royal family’s crest, and that the national seal was a type of a key to safely pass through that secret path.
A truth that even Kallum, who had just climbed onto the throne, didn’t know of.
‘But it wasn’t as if some outstanding solution appeared even when they realized that truth.’
Because only one person could pass through the secret path.
At the time, Kallum and the nobles who followed Kallum verbally attacked Ian saying what did it matter if only one person could enter the capital Miller, through the secret path.
At that moment, the person Ian confidently recommended was in fact Pierce.
‘He said that if it was Pierce, he would be able to enter the castle alone through the secret path, annihilate the enemies, and open the gate.’
Ian was certain.
No, only Ian was certain.
Kallum and numerous nobles shook their heads saying it was something absolutely impossible.
However, there was no other alternative either way, and even if the plan went wrong, the only thing lost was merely a life of a single man Pierce.
At the time, Pierce was no more than an adjutant of a legion from commoner background.
A judgment that the loss received when failed wasn’t big.
In the end, Kallum decided to follow Ian’s decision.
Ian immediately taught Pierce the entrance to the secret path and asked the difficult mission of him, and Pierce gladly accepted and then went alone towards the capital, Miller’s, western wall.
Meanwhile, Ian used big and small troops and pulled Delph and the elite legion Patore that he led.
‘Ian perfectly seized Delph’s attention using only small number of troops, and Pierce entered into the castle through the secret path in the meantime.’
Of course, he, like Ian’s trust, annihilated the enemy army and opened the tightly closed gate afterwards.
A simple looking at a glance but an incredibly dangerous strategy in fact.
It might perhaps had been a strategy only possible because they were Ian and Pierce.
Furthermore,
‘Pierce had the national seal.’
Thanks to that, he was able to pass through the secret path without any trouble besides the last so-called “trap”.
But.
‘I don’t have the national seal.’
Roan clenched his teeth.
Due to that, he could only pierce through the traps inside the secret path with brute force.
A situation much worse than what Pierce experienced in the last life.
But even so, Roan showed no sign of hesitating or being afraid.
No, he couldn’t hesitate or be afraid.
‘The longer and longer the time is delayed, more innocent people will lose their lives.’
Although he wouldn’t be able to save everyone, he wanted to save as many people as possible.
Taat!
Roan pulled up his mana and kicked off the ground even harder.
When he analyzed the castle wall with the Kalian’s Tears, a very minute gap was seen below the neatly stretching castle wall.
It was a very small gap that no one could possibly discover if one wasn’t Roan.
‘The location is same as the one written in the report.’
One of the reasons that Roan had to personally execute this mission.
Because Roan had read the report Pierce had written about the secret path in the last life.
At the time, he didn’t quite expect that struggling so much to succeed somehow would become such a big help.
Estimating the presence of the soldiers guarding the west gate, Roan darted towards the secret path’s entrance.
When he rapidly pressed the castle wall’s bricks as he read in the report, a brief vibration was soon felt below his feet.
Simultaneously.
Grrrrng.
A part of the firmly stacked castle wall suddenly pushed out in front of his eyes, then parted very slightly to the sides.
Finally, the secret path to enter the capital, Miller, showed itself.
The entrance was very cramped to a degree that Roan had to twist his body to enter.
Gulp.
A dry spit went over.
Although the inside of the entrance was dark as ink, there was no problem judging his front thanks to the Kalian’s Tears.
‘Let’s go.’
Roan, clenching his teeth, moved his steps into the entrance.
Grrrrng.
Simultaneously, the castle walls occluded again and returned to its original appearance.
The castle wall, as if there was no notable event, stood its place high and firmly as ever.
*****
“Is that true?”
“Yes sir. The passing merchants are definitely telling the same stories.”
A young knight with a defeated look passed the rumor he just heard and nodded his head.
The commander of Princess Katy Rinse’s guardian knights Abel Raimos creased his forehead.
“Sir Duke Bradley Webster and his inner circle nobles conspired and started a revolt?”
His voice slowly became louder.
“Yes sir. But they say that his majesty the king realized this fact of treason beforehand and has arrested and executed all related personnel.”
The knight once more reported the same story.
“Hmm.”
Abel leaked a quiet groan and shook his head.
An unexpected trouble in the capital, Miller.
The inside of his head turned chaotic.
‘Treason? That was true?’
Treason wasn’t something that happened easily.
Furthermore, for Simon’s maternal grandfather Duke Bradley Webster to start a revolt.
It was a story rather hard to believe.
But also on one hand, a feeling like a corner of his heart being liberated was also felt.
A feeling of one question that disturbed his thoughts until now being dissolved.
‘Then perhaps Marquis Page House aiming for Princess Katy is also……?’
The possibility of it being a part of maneuvers for treason was high.
Abel tightly clenched his fist.
‘If the rumor is true, we must be much more careful until we arrive at the capital, Miller.’
A situation where they didn’t know which noble betrayed Simon.
If they rashly entrust themselves, they could instead become a hostage as well.
His contemplation became deeper.
Then.
“What is it?”
Katy, who had been taking a rest on an empty field, slowly walked up.
She too was of a troubled look due to the long and arduous journey, but her sharp features and clear, pure, and deep eyes were still beautiful.
“Ah, that is……”
Abel couldn’t easily answer and hesitated.
He was worried that Katy may receive a big shock.
At that moment, a bush nearby greatly shook and Pierce showed up.
He, hugging an armful of big and small wood to use for firewood, cheerfully smiled.
“Please tell her truthfully. Princess is much stronger person than you think.”
Pierce, who unintentionally heard the contents of the conversation while gathering firewood, winked his eye.
Quite a playful look.
It was a look that one simply couldn’t find in the old Pierce.
Although he himself, and no one else hadn’t realized it, this was purely due to having received Viscount Reil Baker’s influence.
Speaking of which, where had Reil Baker, who was called the kingdom’s best spearman before Pierce, gone?
That too was something one had to keep continuing to watch to know.
“Hmm.”
Abel slightly creased his forehead and coughed.
Pierce, still with a daring expression, shrugged his shoulders.
An odd silence flowed.
“Abel.”
The one who spoke up first was Katy.
She, while standing still and crossing her arms, looked at Abel.
Meaning to tell her everything he knew without hiding any.
‘Huu.’
Abel exhaled a short sigh and opened his mouth with a helpless look.
“It’s an information the knights who went out to scout. Currently in the capital, Miller, ……”
For a while, he passed the difficult-to-believe story that happened between Simon and Bradley in detail.
Of course, he couldn’t have known that it was a meticulously fabricated information.
Katy, who heard all of Abel’s story, clenched her teeth with a solidly stiffen expression.
However, she didn’t gripe nor shout and fuss about.
Katy, like Pierce’s words, was a stronger woman than he had thought.
She, after organizing the complicated thoughts inside her head, looked at Abel.
“His majesty the king, no, my brother is safe, yes?”
“Yes your highness. He is safe at least according to the rumors.”
Abel nodded his head.
Katy, with a short sigh, turned her head.
Her gaze went towards Pierce.
“You plan to go to the capital, Miller, yes?”
An abruptly questioning words.
Pierce faintly smiled and nodded his head.
“Of course. From what I heard, they say Sir Count Lancephil is also near the capital, Miller.”
That too was a rumor the knights brought.
Then there was no need to unnecessarily go to the Northeast’s Lancephil Fief.
“Thank you.”
Katy slightly lowered her head.
Abel and the knights, who were nearby, formed shocked expressions.
‘To think Princess would lower her head!’
Speaking courteously to an ordinary commoner too was surprising, but the sight just now was even shocking.
It was simply too different than Katy’s appearance that they knew of.
Pierce, putting down the firewood he held onto the field, stretched his body.
“The capital, Miller…… it was a place I wanted to go at least once, so it’s fortunate.”
“It’s a very beautiful place.”
Katy spoke in a gentle voice.
Pierce nodded his head.
“It would be good if it’s still like that.”
At those words, Katy’s expression turned slightly dark.
The two people, for a while, wordlessly stared at each other.
Pierce and Katy’s eyes were saying the same words.
‘Please be safe.’
Of course, their objects were different from each other.
And their results too were different.
Unfortunately, the capital, Miller, was no longer a beautiful place like the two people’s hope.
******
Ssweaaaaak!
An incredible sound of splitting the air.
It was a sound that absolutely wasn’t of an ordinary arrow splitting the air.
“Hmph!”
Roan clenched his teeth and quickly twisted his body.
Through the Kalian’s Tears, tens of sets of sharp spears flying towards him were clearly seen.
Paat! Paat! Paat!
Roan was restlessly and precariously, but perfectly dodging the spears flying towards him.
For the ones that he simply didn’t have the room to dodge, he powerfully struck away with a shortly held Travias spear.
Kkang! Kkakang!
Sparks jumped together with metallic sounds.
Taat!
Roan gently dodge the last spear, then quickly kicked off the ground.
Stepping on the boulders that jaggedly extended out on the inside of a wall, he quickly entered into the inside of a passage.
“Huu.”
Roan, who gently landed, let out a short sigh.
When he turned back, more than tens of sets of large spears were horridly planted not only on the side walls but also on the ceiling and the floor.
They were all those that Roan had dodged or parried until now.
“Is it already the tenth trap……”
Roan bitterly smiled and shook his head.
The secret path was full of all sorts of traps.
Traps that he could’ve had all safely passed through if he only had the national seal.
The good thing at the very least was that Roan had the Kalian’s Tears and Brent’s Ring.
Majority of the traps were completely surprise-attack types and he could easily notice such sudden attacks with Kalian’s Tears.
Thanks to that, Roan was able to rather leisurely cope and react.
Here, he used the exploration spell inside the Brent’s Ring and was able to overcome numerous dangerous situations.
Of course, the two types of mana techniques and Reid Art of Fighting, tens, hundreds of spearmanship techniques, the water spirit king candidate Kinis, and the newly learned hexes became great helps before them.
While experiencing countless wars, battles, and veiled strife during the past years, Roan had unknowingly become a significantly multi-talented person.
‘Since I passed through ten sets of traps……’
Roan fumbled through the memories inside his head.
The memories of the past that became clear after the hexers’ mind attack fully spread open.
“Hhm.”
Roan’s face solidly stiffened up.
“So it is finally those guys’ turn.”
Pierce’s report that he read in the last life.
The part that took up the most space inside it.
It was the turn for those guys, the so-called “trap” located at the end of the secret path, to appear.
‘Steel Guardians……’
The three people, no, three sets of Guardians.
They, as ones whose entire bodies were made of steel, were the guardians of the secret path.
Unlike the other traps, they only reacted to the bloodline of the Rinse Kingdom.
Thanks to that, Pierce too had to face the Steel Guardians in order to pass through the secret path.
‘It said that even that Pierce had a significantly difficult fight in order to defeat them.’
Of course, Pierce at that time wasn’t an incredible spearman enough to be called the Spear God.
But even so, he already had the best skill in the kingdom that exceeded Viscount Reil Baker.
‘Since it’s said that Pierce struggled……’
They weren’t opponents to underestimate.
Roan moved his steps as he deeply breathed in.
When he walked through the tight passage for quite a while, a solid metal gate appeared.
He pulled up his mana and tried to grasp the presence inside, but nothing was felt.
But.
‘Frightening.’
After he accumulated the divine power in order to learn hexes, his so-called instinct greatly developed.
Roan could feel the Guardians located inside the metal gate.
‘There’s no time to hesitate.’
Clenching his teeth, he grasped the metal gate’s handle.
There wasn’t the time to delay even a moment.
Although the Lancephil Fief Regiment including Austin had seized Delph’s gaze, he couldn’t know when the deception would be revealed.
Before that, he had to pass through the secret path and enter inside the capital.
Clunk! Grrrng.
When he pulled the handle, the metal gate gently opened up.
Instantly, a wide secret chamber appeared inside thick darkness.
Of course, Roan was able to see the inside of the secret chamber brightly like a day thanks to the Kalian’s Tears.
“This……”
Roan stepped into the secret chamber as he bitterly smiled.
“Is much scarier than I thought.”
An empty laughter flowed out.
On the left and right side and the front of the secret chamber, giant metal statues were standing.
The front was a knight holding a longsword.
The left side was a spearman holding a spear.
The right side was an axeman holding an axe.
The statures of the metal statues were about twice the size of Roan.
Three sets of giant metal statues.
They were the very guardians who protected the secret path.
‘I hope they would stay still and not move a bit like now, but.’
Roan faintly smiled and shook his head.
‘There’s no way.’
He instinctively grasped the Travias Spear powerfully.
At that instant.
Flash!
Blue lights flashed from the eyes of the Guardians standing on the three sides.
That almost brought to mind the hellfire of hell.
The tips of Roan’s mouth slightly went up.
The mana inside his body twitched and flowed into the Travias Spear.
Grrrr.
Simultaneously, the Guardians’ bodies sharply trembled.
Zzzzzckk!
With explosive sounds, their giant feet separated from the ground.
Boom!
With a heavy sound, the Guardians that were pressed to the walls were separated out a step forward.
Ggk.
The Knight Guardian in the front pointed at Roan with a giant steel sword.
“E.Lim.I.Nate.The.In.Trud.Er.”
A monstrous voice as if scratching a steel.
Roan deeply breathed in and pointed at the Knight Guardian with the Travias Spear.
“Noisy. And Let’s begin soon if you all woke up.”
Fwoosh!
Flame soared along the Travias Spear.
“I’m a bit busy, you see.”
Casually and lightly thrown words.
Simultaneously, Roan kicked off the ground.
Paat!
The image of his body flowed towards the Knight Guardian protecting the front.
Shwaaak!
The Travias Spear cut through the air and directly hit the Knight Guardian’s Sword.
Boom!
Flame exploded and directly assaulted the Guardian.
Ggggk!
With a metallic sound, Travias Spear and the Knight Guardian’s sword engaged and twisted.
‘Kuk! What kind of strength……’
Roan clenched his teeth and pushed down his spear with all his strength.
But.
“Be.Gone.”
The Knight Guardian swung his arm together with a monstrous voice.
“Kuuk!”
Roan pulled up his mana and tried to hold on, but the Guardian’s strength was much more colossal than he had thought.
In the end, Roan couldn’t hold on and was thrown away into the back.
Boooooom!
With an explosive sound, he was embedded into the wall.
Hdududdk.
Stones finely broke apart and fell down.
“Cough. Kuuk.”
With a dry cough, Roan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
A slightly red color was seen.
But there was no injury larger than he expected.
“They definitely are strong.”
The contents of Pierce’s report were exact.
Roan bitterly smiled and twisted his body.
Hduddk.
Stones once again fell down and Roan who was embedded into the wall popped out.
He, turning his neck around once, powerfully grasped the Travias Spear.
“But It’s not at a level I can’t fight against.”
Furthermore.
“You might not know it, but there is a guy who faced you bastards before me.”
The tips of Roan’s mouth once again slightly went up.
The mana inside his body boiled.
“It might be hard to believe, but that guy taught me.”
Taat!
Roan kicked off the ground and raced again towards the Knight Guardian.
An incredible pressure explosively burst out.
“Of you bastards’ weaknesses!!!”
The Travias Spear bent in a curve and split the air.
It was the truth.
Pierce’s Report.
There, the weaknesses of the three Guardians were definitely written in.
Boom!
With an explosive sound, Roan’s spear and the Guardian’s sword collided.
Incredible sparks and flames jumped out in every direction.
Roan pushed down his spear with all his strength and made a bitter smile.
“Of course, although attacking those weaknesses won’t be easy.”
That too was a truth.
Because those weakness were located at absolutely damnable places.
“Uaaaahph!”
The sound of Roan’s shout fully filled the secret chamber’s inside.
< Amaranth (7) > End.
Translator : CSV
Proofreader: Fujimaru