Chapter 46: Sixth Episode: Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 46: Sixth Episode: Chapter 1
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Rain! That damned rain! If someone were to ask O’Neil Andrew Morisette what he hated the most in the end of 6th Month of Light’s Year 791, the Prince would most definitely respond with ”Rain! God dammit! What else? Have you ever seen rain that doesn’t fucking stop at all?”
”Relax, boy! You need to relax, get some rest.” Snowstorm fiddled with the pork chop in the plate, he thought the person laying in bed wasn’t a prince at the moment, but some uncivilized butcher, this teen had been spouting cusswords left and right ever since he had been down with a cold as if the whole world had owed him money.
The Prince panted heavily, he really thought he wasn’t fit for travel. The last trip from Damorga to Dulin? Oscar spat at his bodyguard. It was that bodyguard who left him in severe injury in that very short journey. Hah! It gets better! Now that the journey lengthened, his injury seemed to have stacked, what’s the logic behind this?
”Paul… Snowstorm! Fuck this, dear Mr. Paul Pock! As a proper bodyguard, you should be solving issues for your employer, but you? You don’t even give me a logical response when I talk to you!” Oscar was despondent, he could only say that the King of Assassins wasn’t much of a stickler for rules.
Snowstorm set down his utensils, satisfied. Captain Arden’s cooking was really extraordinary. It was such a waste for him to stay in the army, much like himself. The King of Assassins ruminated in his fantasy happily. If he hadn’t met Thirteen, that old bastard, he would be a farm owner by now, he really thought he wasn’t cut out for an assassin.
”Assassiiiin!” The teenager’s shriek brought a gust of wind, causing the whole tent to shake.
”Can’t you just be quiet for a while?” Snowstorm left his seat begrudgingly, he poured the Prince a cup of tea. The Prince’s shriek tugged at his lungs, and now he’s coughing like there’s no tomorrow.
”Cough cough… Ah, thanks!” The Prince finally accomplished his goal, making the only person by his side pay attention to him.
”I feel better now!” The Prince propped himself up, he had been lying on the bed for two whole days.
”Thank the God of Light for this! I’m really happy you said that!” Snowstorm was being sincere on this, if this kiddo got under the weather, it doesn’t take much to figure out who would be the first victim.
”Ah, thank you, thank you, thank you for your care for the past two days.”
The King of Assassins was a little stunned, ”What are you talking about? Did your temperature go up again?” He wanted to place his palm on the teen’s forehead, but was slapped away by the teen.
”What? What do you mean? This is my moment of most clarity since falling ill!” Oscar was furious at his bodyguard’s response.
”But this is not like you, did I hear it wrong? You thanking me? My impression of you… I’m sorry to say this, but you’d never uttered that word before.” Snowstorm was a little surprised, this kid had never really appreciated other people’s kindness to him.
Oscar didn’t want to explain himself, he wanted to throw his vicious mockery at his challenger, but his words melted into the void as it reached his mouth.
Right now, the King of Assassins had two deep eye bags and unkempt hair. For the sake of the defenseless prince’s safety, he hadn’t slept for days.
The teen swallowed his insults. It felt bad, but through the past few days, he realized the discomfort was mostly due to his own personality. Right then, O’Neil Andrew Morisette had faced himself wholly for the first time, his weaknesses and personality flaws. Even though he didn’t know what exactly he was lacking, he knew he was eccentric, to say the least, to most normal people.
Oscar sighed, ”Heh, do you want the truth?”
”Of course!” Snowstorm was a little startled by the teen’s change. If it was in the past, without his own revelation, no one would even know what he was thinking. On that note, no one ever knew what he was actually planning. He… seemed to start learning how to communicate with other people.
”How do I say this? It’s really nothing? I’m just a little moved, a little curious, a little, uh… self-aware? Yes, self-aware!” Oscar muttered, seemingly saying it to himself.
”If I didn’t cause so much trouble in Dulin, maybe… Maybe Mam, Sasha, Annie, and Her Royal Highness Princess Alanis, and of course, my knights, wouldn’t be in so much danger right now.”
Snowstorm’s eyes widened! He couldn’t believe this was said by the Brother ‘Balance’, infamous across the whole of Titan Empire.
”I mean… Yes, I’m badly injured, I’m down with cold, I’m in really really bad luck, and there’s someone out there who could mobilize a whole mercenary group who wanted my head, all these would make one go crazy, you know?” The teen met his gaze with Snowstorm’s.
”Yes, crazy. Don’t you think this life where you may lose your life at any time maddening? How does Thirteen live in total peace in this world? Snowstorm, you would know best! Thirteen had always hid in the dark, like a hunter from the Shura hell. As long as he was surrounded in darkness, nothing would be able to hurt him. I could have been the same, I even thought that’s how I should live, but all these had changed! I’m at a place where even the God of Light himself would pay attention at, and on the other hand, my enemies are in the dark! Nothing could be worse than this! Really!”
Oscar gulped down his cup of tea, the bitterness of it didn’t help him with his nerves.
”I’m sure you understand by now. Yes, I’m cowering in fear, look at what you’ve seen now, Paul. Human lives are such frail things! I remember when I was attacked, the knight was pierced by an arrow right in front of my eyes! Do you know what I was thinking?” Oscar didn’t plan to let his only audience answer, he continued.
”I was rejoicing! Yes! Rejoicing the fact that it wasn’t me! Paul, I don’t know if you ever felt that way, but… I mean you’ve killed before, I’ve killed too, I thought I wouldn’t be afraid of death anymore, but as I watched the brilliance in the knight’s eyes leave, I realized I had overestimated my knowledge of death. What is death? It doesn’t just signifies the passing of a life, it includes too many things!”
The teen rubbed his eyes, exhausted. He didn’t know why he told his bodyguard all these, and the weirdest part was that he hadn’t planned to stop.
”Paul, I’m afraid of dying, I’m terrified of it! I had been thinking about this the past few days, and I finally figured out a vague answer to the question, the answer to the meaning of life.”
”And that is?” Snowstorm held up his chin and looked at the chubby teenager expectantly.
”To live!” The Prince said.
”Why?” Snowstorm asked.
”Everyone would have a different answer to this. I believe most people hadn’t even considered the question, ‘Why live?’” O’Neil Andrew Morisette stood spiritedly. ”I don’t want to know other people’s answers, I’ll only talk about mine. I live for people who love me, I live for people whom I love, I live for the people who are loyal to me, I live for the people who want me dead. Don’t answer the question with the family, the nation, or the world, the question was simple, of all the things I’ve said, you should know, Paul, everyone in the world live for their own, no doubt about it!”
***************
Rain seemed to be staying in this mountain area, the scouts of the Narcissus Knights were slightly depressed to find the sun shining down from afar. The team had been camping out in the mercenary’s for two days, the knights lack food as well as medicine.
The rain transformed the path into a marshy road, furthermore, it’s unrealistic to let the injured travel in the rain. The humid weather had caused a lot of the warriors to develop cold. Even though none of the knights complained, a non-combat attrition of three to four people daily was embarrassing.
The Narcissus Knights didn’t lose their fighting ability, and together with the imperial guards that took a huge amount of damage during the two battles, they carried out their duties loyally. Even though the moaning from the camp for the injured depress them, at least the two daily Operations Clean-up help them clear their frustration.
The Operations Clean-up had been ongoing for two days, some individual Narcissus Knights had questions about the operation, they reasoned that defenseless war prisoners shouldn’t be treated with such extreme measures, but they were immediately sent to help out Dr. Percy. Following the doctor wasn’t a fun thing to do, no one liked seeing their expired comrades being cut open with a scalpel like dead fish.
The feeling of conflict disappeared relatively quickly, being replaced by the rage of vengeance. Even after the prisoners reported their identity and nationality, their identification as a mercenary invited scrutiny. According to the history of Westland, none of any two warring countries would recognize a mercenary’s status, these guys who sold their soul for money would only be described with several sentences on a report.
The Narcissus Knights had enough reasons to convict the mercenaries, even with only the charge of attempted murder of a royal member would be enough to impose the most serious sentence on all these people. The Narcissus Knights even thought that was light for these people who deserved torture, they only dug out a few big holes for the criminals.
The captives had almost an identical headcount with the Narcissus Knights, this increases the uncertainty of Operation Clean-up. The knights would find use the excuse of sending the captives to the local army out of the valley, because only with that can the mobilization of the mercenary be unsuspicious.
The Narcissus Knights sent the captives out in four batches, they left behind half of the knights to watch over the remaining mercenaries, and chose fifty to be sent out every time, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. By noon of the second day, the last of them were already on the road.
The rain had died down a little, but it was still cold and chilly. The mountain range in the south had always been the Titan noble’s favorite place to avoid the summer heat, because the rain completely negates the effects of the summer.
The captives were tied with their hands on their back. The Narcissus Knights ordered them to form a team of ten, if any one of the ten attempted to run away, the whole team would die together with him. Things like that only happened once, no one even entertained the idea of leaving the knight’s field of vision afterward.
The mountain roads were difficult to navigate, the captives had already used up half of their stamina, the Narcissus Knights don’t like to use whips, those are the signature of the Persians, they like spur wheels in front of their boots instead of at the back. If anyone was making a ruckus, the spur wheels would land on his back, leaving a trail of bloodied holes. Prince O’Neil at the end of the procession had no doubt it would be an experience one would never forget.
Oscar insisted on coming along the last ‘clean-up’, despite the majority opinion. The stubborn prince rejected the soldiers’ goodwill, as usual.
The muddy road was harsh on everyone, the Narcissus Knights’ masks were full of the scent of savagery. The rain washed away the grime from the armors of the knights, leaving them cleaner than usual. Rainwater that dripped from their iron armors were like a gory shower.
The captives walked in fear, afraid to act in manners that may be misconstrued. The colonel had already announced several rules during their captivity, including those that may lead to their loss of tongue or eyeballs. The Narcissus Knights had proven with their actions that they are the strongest army in Westland. The captured mercenaries had completely lost their will to fight back after two battles and the torture that came after.
”Something seems wrong.”
”Your Royal Highness, what seems wrong?” Colonel Kamille Rayen asked respectfully.
”These are the enemy that injured and killed so many of our men?” The teen’s voice wavered in the rain. It surprised the Paladin, the teen Prince sounded almost… lonely?
”Yes, Your Royal Highness, it’s them who almost decimated us.” Kamille didn’t forget to spit at the captive when he said that.
”I remember, before Church’s calendar, there’s a sage who said ‘Only the Dead could witness the end of war.’”
The Prince nudged his horse and raced to the front, the Paladin could only hear the last part of the Prince, ”‘In war, the Living would never be relieved!’”
The Narcissus Knights shared a look, they were almost at their destination. The Knights kept shrinking their formation, squeezing the captives as tightly as possible. The mercenaries didn’t notice anything wrong, like quails, they were walking as quickly as they could, pretending not to notice the knights’ action. They just wanted to be rid of these demons.
The captives in front finally realized the mountain road was problematic. They had already left the mountain path not long ago, as they were at the moment walking in the woods with luscious undergrowth. The hill in front was obviously man-made.
The man-made hill had several shallow drains made by the rain. The deep brown color of the soil indicated its recency being dug out from the ground. The captives crawled up the hill with difficulty before the rain caused them to slide. What’s worse, is that something seemed to exist behind the hill that can consume lives.
The screams and yells from the front led to the alertness of the captives at the back, ”What happened?” Questions arose within everyone’s heart, only to be answered by the knights’ shields and spur wheels.
All of the captives in the first row fell into the pit. As they were staggering to stand up, they finally realized how critical their situation was!
The pit was almost four meters in depth, shaped like a square of seven to eight meters. The mud created by the rain boxed in the captives. Out of fear, they were wailing in hopelessness. ‘Buried alive’ was not a new concept, but no one would be willing to try it out.
The people inside the pit tried to crawl their way out, but the ones outside were constantly being pushed in by the shields and spears, wails could be heard throughout the mountain. Some of the more rebellious captives tried to do something about it, but they were tied together with their comrades who were scared out of their minds. Even though they kept charging at the Narcissus Knights, in their teams of ten, they could not even harm the knights.
As the last captive was kicked into the pit, he recovered nimbly. In the pit, muddy water was almost half a meter tall, countless people were rolling in the pit, scratching for their lives. Nothing was more important than their lives, but they used to not understand that.
The shroud of shower was getting denser by the second, bean-like raindrops scrambled to knock on the knights’ armors, the sound it created was as if it was raining pebbles.