Side Story Chapter 36
Carmen flinched when she heard the rumbling and stopped climbing down the mountain. She had the most developed senses in her group. Some knights also tensed up a little later.
“Did you feel that? It felt like the ground was shaking.”
“It’s not an earthquake, right?”
“Don’t. That’s not even funny. We’re on a snowy mountain, so if an earthquake happens… Gosh, don’t make me imagine how awful that would be.”
As the knights were talking amongst themselves, their “if” came true. They looked behind them and discovered a white wave pouring down toward them filling the air with a deafening roar.
“An a-avalanche?”
“Oh, shit!”
The entire rebel army panicked. There was no way an avalanche would occur out of nowhere like this.
“Joshua Sanders…!” Carmen gritted her teeth. Although she hated to admit it, Joshua was as monstrously strong as his reputation. He couldn’t move a muscle, so how did he do this?
“Things are getting interesting.”
“Demon! Stop that avalanche right now,” Carmen demanded.
“Why should I?” Barbatos said with feigned innocence. “Carmen, you’re misunderstanding something. I don’t take orders from you.”
“Don’t you want something from me?”
“That’s why this is the perfect opportunity to test your qualifications.” Barbatos offered her a little smile.
“Qualifications…?” Carmen’s face crumpled up. What in the world was Barbatos talking about?
“Survive, then I’ll treat you as an equal partner, not just a lowly human,” Barbatos said.
A black hole was created in the air and the demon stepped into it..
“That damned demon…!” Carmen clenched her teeth.
“Ma’am, we should get out of here now!”
The sound of the avalanche got louder and closer. It was mayhem. The chain of command she had established was useless—everyone was busy screaming and running down the mountain, overwhelmed by their fear of the natural disaster.
Carmen’s face darkened. “…Get out of my way.”
“Ma’am!”
“I’ll buy time,” Carmen said.
The knights who had stayed beside her until the end stared at her, wide-eyed. However, Carmen didn’t give them any more time to question her order.
The sky thrummed as her wicked power spread everywhere, corroding the area. Carmen fixed her grip on her greatsword and then created a layer of her aura over her greatsword that grew with every passing second.
“He-Her mana is…?”
The first ability of the power of envy was enlargement and enhancement, but it wasn’t just about making things bigger. It allowed her to condense her aura over her sword while maintaining its volume. Ultimately, she could even split a mountain using this power, so she was definitely not going to lose against a mere disaster.
When the layer of her aura grew to the size of a house, Carmen swung it at the white tsunami as it arrived right before her.
The knights' eyes widened. It was a truly marvelous sight. The seemingly unstoppable avalanche was split exactly in half just like the old legend about crossing the sea.
“Now’s your moment! Go down!” she shouted.
Carmen was already drenched with sweat, but she raised her greatsword once more, readying herself for the next stage.
However, no one descended the mountain. In fact, they gained courage from what they had just seen. All of them drew their swords.
“Let us help!”
“…Hmm?” Barbatos stuck his head out from the black hole he had disappeared into and then grinned. “She definitely has the talent.”
* * *
When Kireua and the others reached the western border, he suggested splitting the group in half.
“Are you really going to be okay, Your Highness?” Cain asked.
“Don’t you remember? I left the Palace on my own when I was a boy, and I came back from the Thran Kingdom on my own.”
“But, Your Highness…”
“No, stop. I actually prefer working alone now. Sir Cain, you’re the forever-alone knight, so you should understand me,” Kireua joked.
Although Kireua’s remark could be interpreted as very cruel for the forever-alone knight, Cain’s expression was still grim.
“You’re not planning to do anything dangerous, are you?” he asked.
“It’s just reconnaissance, reconnaissance.”
“In that case, I’ll go.” Cain took a step forward. “If something happens to you, I won’t be able to bring myself to face Her Majesty Charles again.”
“It’s okay. Besides, you have work to do, Sir Cain. You need to keep an eye on those traitor knights so they don’t plot anything.”
Many of the traitors had died in transit, so one hundred and fifty of them remained now. Nevertheless, even tied up as they were, there were still too many of the traitors for the other knights to handle.
“Then I’ll go with him.”
Kireua and Cain turned toward the voice; it came from Anna, who was watching them with a grin on her face.
“It’s the same for you, Anna.” Kireua shook his head.
“What? Are you really asking me to follow them?”
“You know that we lack manpower.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You haven’t forgotten our deal, have you?” Anna strode toward Kireua. “I promised I’ll stay loyal to the Second Prince of the Avalon Empire for ten years, not the country itself, so I have no obligation to follow them.”
“…What if this is an order, not a request?”
“I dare you. You won’t have my full cooperation anymore.” Anna grinned menacingly.
Kireua sighed quietly because Anna had a point. Most of Avalon’s nobles knew that the Emperor of Avalon had been looking for the North Witch for a long time, so there was no telling what the loyal nobles would do to Anna without Kireua; his guarantee of her life was her life insurance.
‘This complicates things. My original plan was to research Coal while traveling alone,’ Kireua thought.
-You want to know about me?
‘So freaking much,’ Kireua answered.
-I want to know about me too, hehehehe!
Kireua could feel his annoyance rising with every word from Coal.
“I also believe that bringing the North Witch with you is a good idea,” Cain interrupted. “She won’t be able to harm you anyway because of the oath she made on her elemental spirit.”
“I knew it, Combat Emperor. You’re experienced enough to know the right answer!” Anna smiled, pleased.
In the end, there was only one answer Kireua could give.
“Yes, let’s go,” Kireua said. “I can always ditch you later if you become a nuisance..”
* * *
A week later, a group of people were roaming around Hohent Castle, which was the western rebel army’s headquarters, on top of the highest mountain in the Avalon Empire. Obviously, they belonged to the western rebels, and one of their main jobs was to stand guard around the castle.
Right now, that was 3 A.M., the time when people were the most tired. However, Jack was assigned to stand guard at this hour.
He yawned noisily. With his shaggy beard and bulging muscles, he looked like a bandit.
“This guard duty seems to get harder as days go by,” Jack grumbled.
“You really don’t know? It’s all because of that disturbing rumor.”
“What rumor? That ridiculous rumor about the Second Prince making a contract with the Demon Spirit?” Jack laughed.
“You can’t treat that like it’s just a false rumor. It was witnessed by one of the members of our reconnaissance party. There’s a good reason why the executives have been in an emergency meeting for days.”
Nevertheless, Jack shook his head. The idea of the Second Prince making a deal with the Demon Spirit was outrageous.
“Conrad, you must have forgotten that Joshua Sanders himself killed the previous emperor and his own father for signing a contract with the Demon Spirit. So why in the world would Joshua Sanders’s own son join hands with the Demon Spirit, no matter how urgently he needs the power?” Jack shrugged.
“The Emperor is away right now.”
“Do you really think that would be an issue? What would the people of the Avalon Empire think? The Martial God drove out the previous emperor for making a contract with the leader of those evil demons. His son would lose his justification to inherit the throne, so why would he do it?”
“There’s nothing more dangerous than a cornered beast, even a rabbit.”
“A rabbit… hehehe. Come to think of it, I do want to see that famous bunny-like Second Prince.” Jack licked his lip with his scarlet tongue.
Conrad quietly sighed. “Come on, are you relapsing again?”
“It’s a preference, not an illness, you bastard.”
“How can doing that stuff to a man’s asshole be a preference? I’m asking because I genuinely don’t understand.”
There had always been many gays in the western region of Avalon. Although one of the reasons was due to the imbalanced gender ratio, which was inclined towards men, the other main reason was that many mercenaries had settled down in the region.
“Besides, he’s the son of Joshua Sanders, the most handsome man on the continent, so I’m sure he won’t disappoint me.” Jack smiled.
“Well, the First Prince was very handsome too. I prefer women, but I wouldn’t mind having a good time with him.”
“Wow, are you finally opening your eyes to this awesome world?” Jack asked, delighted.
“Just the First Prince. I think the other guys would also go nuts over him.”
“Ah, I really want to meet them,” Jack blissfully murmured. His nether region had gotten hard for some reason.
“No, I can’t help it,” he decided. “I don’t care if I run into the First Prince or the Second Prince, I’m going to fuck them when I them.”
“Oh, don’t. You just became a Class-B Knight, so it’s impossible. There’s a good reason why there's a rumor that the Second Prince made a deal with the Demon Spirit. Besides, the First Prince is already notorious for being monstrously strong. He’s killed dozens of people on his own.”
“So Marquess Turtler himself will come forward next time. There’s no way he would lose.”
Marquess “Black Turtle” Turtler was famous across the continent. Even before his authority manifested, he was considered strong enough to be a Superhuman. For fifty years of his life, his defense had rarely been broken. Although he might not always win, he fought battles where he wouldn’t lose. After he had acquired the power of the Black Tortoise, one of the Four Guardians, he had quickly remedied his shortcomings.
“Marquess Turtler won’t kill the Second Prince right away since he’s the Emperor’s son, so Marquess Turtler will lock him in the dungeon first and use him to negotiate later. If I use that moment…”
Jack’s breathing became ragged. Conrad chuckled, dumbfoundedly.
There were other people who had been listening to the whole conversation. After Anna and Kireua arrived at the destination, they had taken cover on top of a dense tree located at the entrance of the mountain.
“Did you hear that? He says that he’ll fuck you, Your Highness.” Anna quietly giggled. “Ah, holding back my laughter is killing me. Your Highness, will those misters take your virginity?”
“…Those baldies…” Kireua seethed, his voice dripping with murderous intent. A vein bulged on his forehead. “What would be the best possible way to kill them?”
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