Side Story 19. Spider Trap (8)
When the train door opened, Caesar quickly walked out and exclaimed, "Oh! Is this the capital?”
For a rural villager like him, the view of the entire capital was truly a new world. This was especially so because Caesar had been following Zendia over all sorts of rough terrain to train himself.
As he followed shortly behind Caesar, Zendia smiled at his reaction. "You’re already grown up. Why are you getting so surprised?”
It had only been about five years since Caesar was taken in by Zendia, but Caesar was bigger than most strong young men. It would not be strange to think of him as a young man in his 20s rather than a 12-year-old boy.
"By the way, that kid named Rosellis is going to be surprised. After all, the one who used to be smaller than her has grown significantly."
Caesar's abnormal growth was a side effect of the Crow’s martial arts, a secret skill for the Crow Tribe. The martial arts was a secret technique that used mana to strengthen the whole body to an extreme degree, but it was a force tailored to the strong body of the Crows.
In the first place, it was a secret technique that could rupture the whole body even if another battle race learned it. Yet, since an ordinary person like Caesar was learning these martial arts, his body could not withstand it and began to age rapidly. Perhaps it was fortunate that this was the only result of his training.
"Haha, I've gotten a lot stronger too." Caesar laughed casually at his regretful teacher.
When he first learned of the side effects, Zendia regretted his hasty actions and tried to stop teaching Caesar the martial arts. However, Caesar threatened that he wouldn’t stop polishing his skills in the martial arts even without Zendia’s tutelage, so he had no choice to continue teaching. If Caesar was left to his own devices, he would inevitably suffer from trial and error and would likely die of aging even before he became strong.
"Jeez, brat."
"But aren't you going to call Arwen to the capital?" Caesar asked Zendia, recalling Arwen, who Zendia picked up two years ago.
"Yeah. The capital will be quite crowded for a while. I think it'll be better for her to be with Duke Asteria and Talaria."
When he heard that the capital would become crowded, Caesar’s fighting spirit rapidly fired up. Zendia tapped Caesar's shoulder as he momentarily exposed some killing intent.
Caesar was fumbling in his pocket, and he laughed lightly, reducing his fighting spirit. "Hahaha, I guess so. Arwen's safety is more important than touring the capital."
"Okay, then let's go." Zendia casually jumped over the railing.
After seeing that, a railroad official ran over in surprise, and Caesar sighed and jumped down after his teacher.
* * *
Caesar followed Zendia to the Adventurers' Guild headquarters, and he waved at a familiar face he hadn't seen in a long time. "Oh! Rosellis! Long time no see!"
Rosellis frowned and stared at Caesar. "Who are you to be pretending to know me? If you're here for crumbs, get lost while I’m still calmly speaking to you."
At her aggressive appearance, Caesar was flustered and pointed at his face. "It, it is I! You don't recognize me?!"
Rosellis frowned and retrieved a giant ax from her back. "I believe I told you to get lost?”
When she began to release martial aura as if she was going to attack him, Zendia intervened. "Huh-huh-huh, calm down."
"Huh? Sir? It's been a while since I saw you." Recognizing Zendia, Rosellis rested the ax blade on the ground and bowed politely.
"Yeah. It's been a while."
"But where did you ditch that old-fashioned guy, Flam?"
When Rosellis looked around as she stood in front of Caesar, he pointed at himself as if he were dealt an injustice. "It’s me! No matter how much I've grown, isn't it too much to not recognize me at all?"
"What? You're that old-fashioned kid? Why did that old-fashioned kid suddenly become an old man?!"
To Rosellis's astonishment, Caesar smiled embarrassedly. "Haha, that happened somehow. But why are you here? Are you on vacation?”
Rosellis smacked her lips and took out an adventurer's identification plate. "No. I gave up. Now I'm a gold plate adventurer."
"What?! Why did you quit? Wasn't that what you wanted so much?"
When Caesar made a fuss, Rosellis scratched the back of her head, annoyed. "That’s true, but the military is so rigid that there are a lot of troublesome things, and there are a lot of people outside saying that I joined due to my father's backing.”
Before becoming an adult, Rosellis had been knighted due to her unique prowess and skills from training under Glont. All of her comrades in the Black Water Buffalo knights acknowledged Rosellis's skills, but anyone outside of that group did not believe in her. Yet, it was against military rule to fight outsiders to prove her skills, and it was against military law to disclose her training.
Only then did Caesar seem to realize why Rosellis left.
"Being an adventurer is comfortable and nice. You can beat up all the guys who doubt your skills, and my father’s not here."
"I, I see." Although he complained, there was nothing to say to Rosellis as she seemed to have already accepted everything.
"But I guess my father has looked so happy these days because he knew you were coming, right?" Rosellis looked at Caesar with a dissatisfied gaze as she said this.
With her grumbling, Zendia asked nervously, "Hmm, is the Guild Director still depressed?"
"No. These days, perhaps because time is the best medicine, he has regained some of his old vitality. But I'm worried because he gets depressed from time to time."
Glont, the father she admired, has always been depressed since he was discharged from the military. The number of times Glont smiled could be counted on one hand, but when it happened, it was always before and after meeting Caesar. As she didn’t know the details about Caesar’s background, Rosellis didn't like this very much. However, she didn't bring this up because she preferred to see her father smiling rather than being depressed.
"I see. But I'm glad he’s brightened up again. I have an appointment with your father, so I'll head up. Disciple, you wait here." Leaving Caesar behind, Zendia smiled kindly and went up to the fifth floor, where the Adventurers’ Guild director’s room was located.
"Um, if you're a guest of the Guild Director-nim, would you like some tea while you wait?" The woman named Fiona carefully asked as she worked at the counter.
Rosellis quietly snorted. "He's fine. What's so good about this little old boy? Hey, it’s been a while. Let's see how good you’ve gotten."
Rosellis gently kicked Caesar’s butt and headed toward the training area, putting her hands behind her head. She called out, "What are you doing? Follow me!"
Caesar smiled awkwardly before he gave Fiona a small bow of his head and followed Rosellis.
"Hurry up!”
"Okay!"
Fiona and Caesar later became colleagues at the same workplace, but they didn't remember today's meeting since they only passed by each other briefly.
* * *
When Bloody entered the imperial palace’s secret conference room, Arcanta carefully asked, "What did the Guild Director-nim say?"
Seeing Arcanta’s worried expression, Bloody gave a faint smile. "He said he will help you with this."
"I, I see.”
After seeing Arcanta grow slightly relieved, Orphina and William looked at him with curious eyes.
"Prime Minister, why do you become cautious every time you talk about the General- no, Guild Director-nim? Did you do something wrong?”
"That's right. It's a bit unusual."
Arcanta smiled awkwardly and avoided the question. "Ha, haha. When did I do that? Rather, let's continue to discuss this Spider Trap operation."
Bloody unknowingly smiled bitterly when he saw the prime minister’s unusually awkward appearance. Although he knew the situation, Bloody thought that Arcanta had brought this on himself, but on the other hand, he also felt sorry for Arcanta. After what happened five years ago, he lived with insomnia and gastrointestinal disorder because he couldn't sleep properly and only concentrated on work.
"This Spider Trap operation will begin in a few days. It will commence on the third day of his Majesty the Emperor’s birthday festival, starting around the evening."
William crossed his arms and asked nervously, "Are you really going to use His Majesty as bait to wipe out the Twelve Zodiacs or whatever? Isn't that too dangerous?”
"I feel the same way. Of course, it has only been a few years since I came here, but even in our brave village, our Dragon King is not used as bait. Isn't that the same for the Crow Tribe?” Orphina also agreed with William and directed a question toward Bloody.
As he heard this sudden question, Bloody answered with his hands locked behind his head. "Uh, probably not? The chief of the tribe, my eldest brother, is one who’d shake his butt, hoping for this situation.”
"What?"
"He's someone who might beat up the Twelve Zodiacs, along with the guards around him, saying that they are annoying,” Bloody added.
Everyone in the secret conference room looked at Bloody, dumbfounded.
"Well, anyway, it is true that His Majesty is bait, but we will distract the enemy's eyes with several stand-ins. In addition, Guild Director Glont-nim and Bloody be serving as secret escorts to ensure that the real Majesty is as safe as possible,” Arcanta said.
William nodded. "I suppose that works. I'm also someone who's supposed to be in the middle of the Demon’s Territory."
Currently, William's stand-in was in the Demon’s Territory while William had disguised himself and returned to the capital in secret.
"Bloody and Orphina’s stand-ins are also being sent away to make it look like there’s a gap in His Majesty's escorts, right?” William asked.
Arcanta only half agreed with this. "Bloody’s will, but if we did the same with Orphina, it could cause the opposite effect and draw suspicion. So, Orphina will be publicly escorting His Majesty.”
"Ah, then release this stuffy seal at that time."
As Bloody tapped his forearms and pointed to the seal, Arcanta nodded. "Of course. Since publicly, we will be exterminating mountain bandits, there's a reason to unseal it.”
"Oh yeah!" Bloody was excited at the thought of being unsealed and running wild after a long time.
On the other hand, Arcanta's stomach pain seemed to rise to the same level as Bloody’s excitement. As if predicting the future, his stomach ache seemed to hurt as much as the trouble Bloody would cause. At the moment, he wondered if releasing the seal was the right choice, but he couldn't help it as the emperor's safety was at stake.
"And the former emperor is also coming here in time for this birthday banquet, so please note that,” Arcanta added.
"What? That damn old man?" Bloody frowned and grumbled, "Damn, if Glont hyung finds out, he might secretly try to assassinate him if there’s a commotion ."
Arcanta sighed. "That's why I told you. Try to block him somehow. If the former emperor dies, it'll be a headache."
Since the former emperor wanted to return to politics, he would not stay quiet anyway.
"Ugh. That’s annoying. And I don't like that old man,” Bloody complained.
Arcanta let out a long breath. "Do you think anyone likes him? Then, I’ll excuse myself. I have a lot of work to do."
After saying this, he got up from his seat and staggered out of the secret conference hall.
When Bloody saw this, he clicked his tongue, followed after Arcanta, and gently hit his hunched-over back. "Walk around with your back straight!"
Slap!
"Argh!"
"Oh, sorry. I meant to softly hit you to cheer you up."
Arcanta was in so much pain that he shed tears. "You! I'm going to strengthen your seal after this operation! I'm going to make you like a normal person!”
"Ah, no! Hang on!" Bloody clung to and begged Arcanta, but it was useless.
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