Side Story 13. Spider Trap (2)
The metropolitan city Enharayton, the former capital of the Imperial State, was located in the southwestern region of the empire.
In the center of Enharayton, there was a splendid castle that was once called Wangseong Castle. This castle was where the Blood Emperor stayed, the man who was forced to abdicate the throne by the current emperor and Duke Asteria a few years ago. In addition, it was also the southern headquarters of the current imperial army.
When the sentry guarding Enharayton's gate saw the flag of an incoming carriage, he saluted in such a deafening voice that one would wonder if it was even possible to be louder. "Loyalty!"
This was because the flag hung on the carriage had five stars and the insignia of the Imperial Army's Central Command. In other words, it meant it was General Glont von Asilante. This man stood at the peak of the empire and was a rare war hero who opened the solid gates of this city when it was still the capital of the Imperial State in the past.
The carriage stopped in front of the gate, and the wooden window of the carriage opened. Then, a man in a military uniform adorned with numerous medals looked at the guard. This gaze caused the guard to be unable to breathe under the enormous pressure formed by the general’s killing intent.
"Hyung, calm down. He can't even breathe.” The black-haired young man sitting across him in the carriage sighed and tried to pacify Glont.
Glont took a deep breath, exhaled, then told the guard, "Go and open the door."
At Glont's low voice, the guard rushed into the castle, letting out a rough breath. Soon after, the vast castle gate opened enough for a carriage to pass by, making a "Kiiik!" sound.
"It's okay when you’re with me in my hometown since it’s basically normal there, but if you emit killing intent like that here, the weaker subordinates will struggle, right?”
When the black-haired young man smiled and joked, Glont smiled bitterly while rubbing his face. "Sorry about that. Good thing I came with you, Bloody.”
Bloody smiled awkwardly. "You sound like you're going to make a big fuss here."
It was no exaggeration to say that if Glont lost his reason and ran wild, the only person in the empire who could stop him was Bloody, a Crow.
"Well..."
When Glont spoke in a small voice and trailed off, Bloody said disapprovingly, "Wait, most of my strength was sealed recently, so it'll be hard to properly stop Hyung from running wild.”
Bloody rolled up his sleeves and displayed a series of magic engraved patterns. This was a seal placed by the nobles who were afraid of his power as a Crow. It would never be broken unless Bloody truly felt that his life was threatened or if it was during wartime.
"Ohoho, take good care of me." Glont let out a dry laugh.
Even if he was sealed, it was still Bloody, an individual who destroyed everything with overwhelming strength. Yet, it would still be difficult to deal with Glont's power, which was at the level of a battle race.
"Oh, I guess you're serious? Isn’t it only a rumor that those wandering people were slaughtered? It hasn't even been confirmed yet, right?”
Glont looked up at the brilliant castle outside the carriage, avoiding Bloody's eyes.
"No matter if he’s an old man in the backroom, it'll be hard for even Hyung to keep your life if you make a fuss and anger the old emperor. When he was young, that old man was called the Blood Emperor because he killed so much."
Despite Bloody's dissuasion, Glont remained silent. The carriage carrying the two entered the castle at a speed that was neither fast nor slow.
Only Bloody's sigh could be heard from the carriage.
* * *
Late in the evening, Flam headed for his house with a friend. He occasionally invited some friends to his house, but he was nervous because it was his first time bringing a friend at such a late hour.
"Is it… really okay for me to go?" The child without a name mumbled and hesitated.
The child did sometimes play with Flam, but they were not close enough to ask for each other’s names like today.
"Why? You don't want to go?" Flam asked.
The child shook his head desperately. To the village children, Flam was the head of the alley, so there was no child who did not admire him.
Flam laughed pleasantly at the unspoken answer. "Hahahaha! Then it's okay! My dad always told me to act for my peers!"
It was a rather juvenile way of thinking, but Flam genuinely believed that being unable to serve a meal was an act that was not befitting a true knight. Of course, he was more so planning on playing with his friend until late at night.
The unnamed child smiled, embarrassed. Paradoxically, the one who called him a friend was not the children who interacted with him, but Flam, who he didn’t know well.
"Come on! Let’s go in!" Flam grabbed his friend's hand and entered the house. The child was surprised when Flam grabbed his dirty hands without hesitation, but he didn't hate it. The house was full of hot steam, as well as the smell of stew and boiled potatoes.
"Are you back, Flam?" Flam's father looked at Flam, taking out the potatoes that had just been boiled from the basket.
"Well, Father..." Flam hesitated and held his friend's hand tightly.
Flam recklessly brought a friend over for dinner, but now that he was standing in front of his father, he didn't know how to bring it up.
Flam's father gave a soft smile to Flam and took the basket of potatoes to the table. "Since you’re here, hurry and wash your hands. The friend you brought should too."
Flam replied loudly with a bright voice at his father's permission. "Yes! Let's go wash our hands!"
Flam's father smiled dismally as Flam headed to the well in the backyard with his friend. He knew who Flam brought. There weren’t many villagers, so how could he not know who it was?
The child was an orphan being raised by a relative. He was the son of a soldier who died in the past war with the empire. Most adults regarded the orphan as a black sheep, but he, who led the village, did not want to keep his son away from the orphaned child. This is because the level of education he taught was the same, whether one was orphaned or not.
"Come here if you're done washing up."
He put the stew in an empty wooden bowl, and Flam and his friend sat down. As soon as Flam sat down, he touched the potato, but the child sitting next to him hesitated.
"Flam, we haven’t said our prayers yet," said Flam’s father.
Flam immediately put down the potato he was about to eat and calmly put his hands together. Flam's friend looked around and mimicked Flam’s actions, and Flam’s father spoke a short prayer. "Oh, Merciful Goddess, thank you for giving us food to live today."
Besides it being a pre-meal prayer, there was no grace for all living things or praise for the hard work of farmers or anything at all. In the first place, he was among the level of knights who considered it shameful to know how to hold a sword but not know basic etiquette. Praying by itself meant that he was a relatively cultured person.
"Our Imperial State follows the predecessor of our country, the Holy Kingdom. As a knight of the Imperial State, how can we forget our prayers?" He nagged gently and beckoned them to eat.
Only then did Flam bite the potato he had just grabbed. The friend sitting next to him hesitated and swallowed saliva but soon began to scarf down the food as if he couldn’t hold back anymore.
"There's still a lot, so eat slowly. You're going to get indigestion.”
The village chief was lost in thought as he watched the children eating in a hurry. In fact, before the fall of the Imperial State, prayer was not considered important. If religion were so important, it would have been named the Holy State, not the Imperial State.
After its collapse, religion and history were emphasized as the center point of bringing the nation together. However, religion and history were somewhat ineffective methods to encourage unity because the Imperial State and the empire had the same predecessor and ethnic group. It had only been decades since the fall of the Imperial State, and the Resistance had maintained its reputation, but it was only a matter of time before it collapsed.
"Heehee, it's good, right?”
"Yem! Yemyem!"
The children were eating with a smile, whether they knew his worries or not. Perhaps because he played for a long time today, Flam also was eating more than usual.
"Child, are you going to sleep here tonight?”
Flam’s eyes opened wide at his father's question. "Huh?! Is that okay?!"
It was the first time a friend had slept over at his home. This was because children of his age were always afraid of his father, the head of the village, so they tried not to come to Flam's house.
"Well, I think one night will be fine."
He didn't even know if they had to leave the village and migrate in a few days. Leaving the settlement and living as a refugee would be a challenging period for the children, so this served to give his son time to be comfortable.
Flam smiled excitedly and shook his friend, not knowing his father's thoughts. "Yay! What should we play? Oh! We had cards at home!”
When Flam became excited, Flam's father raised his hand to calm him down. "Think about playing after eating. Don't be frivolous in front of a precious meal."
At the scolding, Flam lowered his head. However, before long, his depression went away as he happily thought of playing all night.
"Uh... But...”
Flam was disappointed when the child hesitated. However, Flam's father could guess what the child was worried about, and he said, "I'll tell your relative."
The relative probably wouldn’t care much if the child suddenly disappeared. No, they might actually be happy, thinking that a burden had disappeared. Perhaps the child was worried that if he disappeared for a day, his place at his house might disappear as well.
Flam was delighted when the child nodded in relief. After the meal, Flam got up to go get the cards.
"Flam!"
At that time, Flam was surprised by his father's voice suddenly calling him loudly.
Flam's father looked out the window urgently instead of looking at Flam. He had cold sweat pouring down his face with a pale complexion. "Damn it. Should I have abandoned the village right away when contact with the others was cut off?!”
Although his time as a young man had passed, he was still a competent knight who had been selected as an imperial guard and could still feel the aura from afar. Knights were charging in their direction while openly releasing their auras.
The chief nervously grabbed his son and his friend's arms roughly.
"Ow, it hurts!" Flam complained about the pain from the knight-level grip, but his father had no time to pay attention to Flam’s brief pain.
In a hurry, the children were taken to a potato storage box next to the stable outside the house. It was clear that they would be found in a search if they stayed inside. In addition, the potato storage box looked too small for a human to enter, but in fact, a majority of the box was buried deep in the ground. It was enough for two small children to hide themselves.
"Listen carefully! Never, no matter what you hear, come out of the box! Do you understand!?"
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