< 149. Audience (1) >
#149
White mountain fog was flowing along the ridge. The morning air was humid. The spring rain seeping through the trees was hitting the raincoat.
The sky was much brighter than before leaving Phileon. The scent of blood permeated the fog rising over the wet soil. Ronan looked around and cursed.
“f*ck…”
Any trace of sleep that remained was completely gone. For a moment, memories from a few hours ago surfaced above the water. It was dawn when Ronan received the news, and the sun had not yet risen.
He was getting a good night’s sleep for the decisive battle with Schlieffen. Suddenly, the dormitory door burst open and a familiar voice echoed through the room.
– Ronan. wake up
-···Instructor?
Ronan raised his head. Nabirose was standing in the doorway. Looking at her from a dreamy perspective, she was wearing a combat uniform.
There was no apology for waking me up or trespassing. There Ronan realized the seriousness of the situation. He shook his head and quickly shook off the sleep and opened his mouth.
– What happen?
– There was intelligence that the Dawn Unit had been destroyed. I came here to let you know because I thought you might be interested.
Ronan’s eyes widened. The Dawn Unit was one of the special organizations of the Imperial Army dedicated to Nebula Clage. The beastman unit led by Jaipa was also part of it.
– Wait.
Ronan finished preparing in just one minute and left the room. Fortunately, the site was located not too far from the island. An eerie drizzle was still drenching the dark campus. Two people wearing raincoats got on a horse…
.
“That’s terrible.”
“ah.”
Nabirose, who was observing the scene from the side, clicked his tongue. Ronan’s consciousness returned to reality. He nodded his head in agreement.
“Iknow, right.”
Ronan tried to breathe only through his mouth as much as possible. The moment I took a breath through my nose, I felt dizzy from the smell of blood.
There were corpses everywhere. Pieces of meat that had not yet lost their color were spitting out dark red blood. Approximately ninety corpses were densely filling the space between trees.
Imperial soldiers wearing thick armor were carrying corpses on stretchers. All of the victims were members of the Dawn Unit. Humans made up about 70%, and beasts twice as large made up the remaining 30%.
The good news was that the bodies were in good condition. It seemed like nothing had been cut into pieces or eaten. Thanks to this, there seemed to be no problem in identifying the person.
‘Damn it.’
Ronan gritted his teeth. The reality of having to be relieved by facts like this was even more annoying. He muttered as if sighing.
“I don’t think you will need to use any effort.”
“Bwauuung…”
Sita, who was crouching over Ronan’s head, lowered her head. She brought it in to see if anyone was still alive, but it was pointless. The only survivors were those who were not at the scene.
First, we had to figure out the circumstances. Nabirose seemed to think the same thing. As she looked around, she motioned to her man who was giving her instructions to her soldiers.
“Hey, look at me for a second.”
“hmm?”
The man tilted his head. Seeing that he was wearing an officer’s raincoat, he seemed to be of quite high rank. He recognized Butterfly Rose and took a deep breath.
“···omg!”
A man wearing a raincoat ran towards me. Looking at the emblem engraved on his epaulets, he was a lieutenant colonel. He stood facing Nabirose and saluted.
“Oh, are you here, Nabirose? “If you had contacted me, I would have come out to meet you…!”
“done. “Rather, I’d like to hear an explanation of the situation.”
“Yes, yes! I’ll tell you what I know. But we also found out that everything was already done, so we don’t have that much information…”
The major stuttered as he continued speaking. Judging by his pale complexion, he seemed quite nervous. I felt Nabi Rose’s position once again.
“It was discovered by soldiers doing reconnaissance exactly two hours ago. “It is presumed that they were ambushed while they were gathering for a night operation or meeting.”
“That sounds plausible. It looks like there are some members of Jaifa Tergeng’s unit mixed in. Where is that cat? “Did it really happen?”
“Well, the cat… the Sword Saint was active separately when the incident occurred. “He left the scene a little while ago, leaving a message saying he would look for the culprit.”
Nabirose frowned upon hearing the word Sword Saint. The embarrassed lieutenant colonel shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t seem to be the type that was very good at military life.
Ronan took off the raincoat that covered his head. After washing her face with cold rainwater, her head seemed to clear up a bit. He looked back at Nabirose and said.
“I will look for it on my own.”
“Sure.”
“Sita, please look in the air to see if there are any survivors.”
“Ttaaa!”
Sita spread her four wings and flew up. First she had to find a clue. Ronan slowly stepped away from her. With each step she took, the swollen dirt crushed her and blood flowed out.
‘Did you just decide to leave now? ‘Why did something like this suddenly happen?’
It seemed clear that Nebula Clage was responsible for this, as sparkling mana remained throughout the scene. However, she did not know why she suddenly committed such an unconventional move. She must have walked about twenty steps. A corpse with a familiar face caught her eye.
‘That bear…’
The size was impressive, as if it had doubled the size of an adult man from top to bottom and left to right. It was the werebear that brought Asher with him when he encountered Zaipa. The sight of him gently comforting Asher was still pleasant to my ears.
‘It was true that Jaipa’s unit was also involved.’
Ronan twisted his lips. I couldn’t imagine how enraged the tiger must have been as he treated his fellow beastmen with such horror. Suddenly his eyes landed on the werebear’s neck.
There was a long stab wound across the middle of the neck. Considering that his neck bone was cut in one go, he probably died without feeling any pain. Ronan narrowed his eyes at her, sensing her strange sense of déjà vu.
‘This···.’
It was a cold sword mark that gave me goosebumps. Even a butcher who kills cows for a living seems more likely to hit the cow’s neck emotionally than this. I don’t know who lived there and did this, but it was clearly someone who had never laughed or cried in his life.
‘Damn, what are you doing?’
Ronan quickly began examining other corpses. In most cases, only one wound remained on each corpse.
Ronan frowned as he examined the forty-third corpse. All sword marks had an extremely similar feel. It was almost believable even if they were all wielded by the same person.
‘One person killed so many people? No…it’s subtly different.’
However, if you look closely, there are very, very subtle differences. Even though there were two or three people, it was just as shocking as just one person.
However, there was something else that was even more shocking. The basic shape of the sword marks was very familiar.
Ronan laughed, bringing his face up until the fur pricked his cornea. It didn’t take long to figure out the nature of her déjà vu.
“under.”
It was definitely true. It was a sword technique based on the savior’s swordsmanship. However, it felt different from the sword marks of the savior or the robber. Should I say it is more concise and emotionless? Rather, it gave a similar impression to Nabirose’s swordsmanship.
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‘It’s clear something is going on.’
Ronan did his best to find additional clues. However, except for the sparkling mana, there was nothing left that could be called a trace. After completing the search to some extent, he carried the body away with his soldiers.
“The face looks familiar… are you Ronan, who ended winter?”
“that’s right. “Can you pick up my head over there?”
“Ma, it’s an honor to meet you!”
“I want you to pick up my head.”
Shoot… the wind blowing from the bottom of the mountain swept through the wet forest. The body collection did not end until noon. The spring rain had already stopped. Ronan said, lighting a pipe.
“In the end, we couldn’t find anything.”
“Put out your cigarette.”
“Just take a look. “How can you tolerate something like this?”
Ronan rebelled against Nabirose for the first time. She didn’t say anything more because she was convinced to some extent. Butterfly, who was looking at the blood stain with her hand in her pocket, took Ronan’s pipe and put it in her mouth.
“Huh, instructor?”
“Haaaa…damn it.”
Nabi Rose took a sip and exhaled smoke. It was clear that her posture was unusual and that she lived with it in her childhood. White smoke dispersed in the air. She took about three puffs and spit it out before handing the pipe back to him.
“Hartaway County in the North. “You’re still young, but you’re doing something this good.”
“It’s my only luxury. “I don’t have anything else to spend the money on.”
“Good job. “More than anything else, the lack of results is the most frustrating thing.”
Nabirose clicked his tongue. Her clouds were receding, revealing a blue sky. The bloody smell was still coming from the blood traces left on the slope. Ronan said, looking back at her Sita.
“Sita.”
“Bwait!”
Sita spread her four wings. All the blood that had seeped into her surface rose in the form of drops and was absorbed into her Sita’s body. The absorption capacity seemed to have increased several times compared to two years ago. The soldiers were continually amazed by the amazing sight. By this time, most of the blood had been absorbed.
“···Pyeong?”
“what’s the matter?”
Suddenly Sita tilted her head. A red magic circle was drawn in front of Sita’s snout as she quickly looked around her. Ronan’s eyes widened.
“This···!”
A red path was slowly forming in front of the magic circle. I remember seeing it in Gran Cappadocia in the past. It was clearly a magic that traced blood traces and chased down survivors.
Sita and Ronan’s gaze met. Sita spread her wings and took off. Almost at the same time, Ronan got up and started running along the road.
“Damn it, I’ll be back!”
“Ronan?”
Ronan ran without looking back. Twigs and leaves brushed my cheek. The mud that bounced up stained my pants.
The road didn’t last as long as I thought. Sita stopped in front of a huge old tree. It was a really big tree. Weeping sounds were coming from underneath an old tree that looked like it had been laid there more than a hundred years ago.
The red road was cut off in front of the old tree. It seemed like there were survivors down here. Ronan rolled up his sleeves and pushed the tree.
“Hmm!”
It was so heavy. In the end, Ronan, who switched the power source, used Varen’s auror. Golden energy rose up my arms and my muscles swelled.
It was all good, but the problem was that my strength had improved too much. Kwaaaaang! As the old tree flew away, Ronan’s body leaned forward.
“What?!”
Ronan’s eyes widened. A huge hole had been dug under the old tree. Ronan fell down the slope.
Sigh! He stopped when he bumped into something soft and wet. The smell of the beast and the smell of blood were mixed together. Ronan raised his head and frowned.
“you are···!”
“Ah… ahhh… ah…”
A were lion was crouching down. Since it had no mane, it was a lioness. Moans were coming from her mouth.
“Pyeol.”
Sheeta landed on Ronan’s head. Ronan recognized the werelion and raised his eyebrows. He was clearly Major Nemea, who served as Jaipa’s adjutant.
“···are you okay?”
“Ahh… ah…”
She didn’t seem to notice that Ronan was here. It’s the first time I’ve seen a werelion so scared. Her once shiny fur had become soggy with blood and rainwater that it had turned into a rag.
“Damn it, this is not the time. “Come here.”
Ronan hurriedly rummaged through his pocket and took out a glass bottle. It was Varen’s special potion that he carried as a courtesy. If combined with Sita’s healing, even serious injuries could be cured.
Ronan was approaching cautiously. Only then did the major, who felt he was popular, raise his head. The two people’s eyes met. Suddenly the major stepped back, the hair on her entire body standing on end.
“Whoa, snow! Those eyes…!”
“yes?”
“Kuhuhuhhh! “Don’t come any closer!”
The major roared. Ronan tried to calm him down, but it was in vain. When she reached her dead end, she raised her fingernails and started scratching at her wall. She could hear people approaching above her.
