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Elqueeness - Chapter 37




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Elqueeness – Chapter 37

 

What could we do…I could only repeatedly stamp my feet at the feeling of uncertainty.  During all of this, the line for the inspection was getting shorter, and soon they would be next.  After thinking about it for a long time, I decided we have to part our ways from the Champagne Mercenary.

If it was just Isana and I, then both of us could probably enter avoiding detection.  If that doesn’t work, we could use the canal flowing in front of the castle gate to sneak in.  However, we had too many party members, so there weren’t any ways for us to enter without attracting attraction.

If we split apart, there was a strong possibility of us meeting them inside the castle gate.  It would give them a strong impression that we were trying to avoid the inspection.  It would be better to cleanly cut bait.  We couldn’t inconvenience them any further.  If possible, we just had to avoid meeting Irial and the others again.  After I came to a decision, I was about to change my thoughts into action.  However, leader Hosane spoke before I could speak.

“I guess we have no choice now.  El and Rai.  It would be best if we part company here.”

“What?”

“If you are in this party, it’ll be difficult for you to avoid their inspection.  If you follow the left castle wall, you will come to a forest.  If you carefully inspect where the forest meets the castle wall, you’ll find a small tunnel that will lead you inside.  I’ll tell the merchants you guys returned, because you all had something to do.”

“Wha..what?”

At the unexpected suggestion, Rai and I looked at each other in shock.  We had no idea what kind of expression we should make.  Maybe these people…they already knew we were trying to avoid the inspection?  The leader’s sudden words didn’t cause an agitation amongst the party members, so they must have come to an agreement early on.  Why do I have an ominous feeling?

They looked at us with warm eyes.  After checking the surrounding for a moment, they confirmed no one was around.  Then they carefully bowed in succession towards Isana.  However, we were more taken aback by their words rather than their actions.

“I apologize for not having given you a proper reception, your Majesty the Emperor. Please…I wish for you to attain what you want.”

“!!”

“Huk..h, how?”

Isana looked like he couldn’t breathe.  He looked on with bulging eyes.  I asked instead of Isana.  Of course, we would be surprised at such an unexpected development.  Did they know our identity from the start?

I unconsciously met eyes with Tromwell, and he gave a nod with a blank expression on his face.  After seeing this, I realized my assumptions were right. This time Harold spoke instead of Hosane.  He started answering in a calm manner.

“To be honest, I had my suspicion when you tried to cover your face previously. The description of your Majesty’s appearance was widely known, and you tried to hide your face.  Even during dangerous times, you insisted on going to Kalmore, so we became more and more confident.  We were unsure, because you were traveling with a youth with no special talent….However, we were able to accept it when it was revealed he was Elwien’s priest.”

“…such a…”

“Please forgive our rudeness we committed the other day.  Even for a moment, we just wanted to help in your Majesty’s schedule.  We are unlearned lowly mercenaries.  We probably messed up your evaluation of us when we acted without any etiquette.  Please look at your foolish subject’s intent with tolerance.”

“ ……. ”

Isana was speechless. He stared at the Champagne Mercenary with a complicated expression.  He knew better than others that these people had accompanied him without having a single drop of malice in their hearts. If one heard their words, they basically cooperated with us, so Isana could arrive here safely.  When he realized this, he bit his lips slightly as he was deeply moved.

At the present, he wasn’t the Summoner Rai.  Isana’s face had returned to being this country’s only Emperor.  Everyone’s eye were on him, and I could see something that wasn’t present a firm spirit and dignity that wasn’t there previously rose up to the surface.  However, he couldn’t completely hide the rush of emotion he felt.  His eyes started to glimmer incessantly for quite some time.

Even when he parted ways from Felix, Isana never showed an expression like this.  It looked as if he wanted to cry.  When he turned away from the mountain, he showed a firm, but cold figure. He knew that it might be the last time they would ever meet, but he couldn’t throw away the awareness that he was the the Emperor.  Also, that had also been what the knights wanted.

Isana looked at each of the mercenaries, who had accompanied him, with trembling eyes.  He was barely able to calm his heart, and he slowly spoke in a low, hoarse voice.

“I’m sorry.  I’ve caused a lot of trouble for numerous people.”

“No, you haven’t.  Majesty…every one of us pray for you to reclaim the throne soon.  The people of this land believe this is the only way.”

“…could you really put your trust in such a weak Emperor?  Even if I am optimistic about my future, nothing is guaranteed.  If what you did becomes known, you all won’t be safe.”

Isana continued to speak in a respectful manners towards them, since he wanted to be courteous towards the benefactors, who had helped him.  He had replied coldly, but one could feel his worry inside his words.  This caused them to bow their heads toward him.

“What kind of child would go against their parents, who gave birth to him?(TLN:emperor is the parent and the people of the country is the children) If your Majesty hasn’t abandoned the people, then the people won’t abandon your Majesty.  Please safely regain your original glory.  I will forever consider it an honor that I was able to briefly participate in the history your majesty will achieve.  Please forgive our shortcomings as we cannot accompany you to the end.”

“…..one of you.  No one would disagree with me at this moment if I said one of you was more righteous than a 100 knights, who guard this land.  From this day forward, I will never forget this day until the day my life ends.”

“Koo-hook, Majesty…”

This was how Isana and the Champagne Mercenary parted ways.  I also had to say farewell to Tromwell.  We stared at each other without saying anything.  If the others saw us, they would think we didn’t need words to understand each other as we were trying to express our beautiful friendship.  Even though, someone might misunderstand us, we stubbornly used the Spirit Language to converse with each other.

-In the end, we’ll part ways like this, Tromwell.  Did you perhaps guess this would happen?

-I can’t say I didn’t.  Kook kook.

-Ha-ah, you are too much.  I was really surprised.

-Sorry.  I’m sorry.  However, I’m the one who is more sad at this separation.  I really think El picked a really difficult vacation from the start.

-Poot.  Why?  Is it like leaving a child at the water’s edge?

-Huh?  You are the Water Spirit King, so why should I be worried about leaving you at the water’s edge?

“ ……. ”

It had really been awhile since he made me speechless…
I put on a baffled expression.  I looked back at Tromwell, who was rolling his eyes as if he didn’t know what was going on.  When I saw him joke like this, I guess Isana’s future, which was seen through his insight, wasn’t as bad as I thought?

Eventually, I was the one who smiled.

-Please don’t joke with a serious expression.  I’ll get confused….

-Kook kook.   El was the one who tried to sound out my feeling.  Of course, I’ll worry about you.  Even though it won’t be like leaving a child at the water’s edge, I’m feeling a similar emotion.  I’m worried you would run into a weird human like before…

-Hmmm.  I doubt there is another perverted noble like him.

-You never know, El.  There are a lot of people on this continent.  I can’t guarantee there won’t be humans who will show up to bother El.  Aren’t I right?

I realized I had answered his question too carelessly, so I made an apologetic expression.  Truthfully, he was right.  If it wasn’t for Tromwell, who else would worry about me to this extent?  Every member of the Champagne Mercenary, who I had spent two month with, asked me to take care of Isana.

-I understand, Trowell. I’ll be careful.

-I’m sorry I can’t travel with you until the end, El. I’ll occasionally send some message through my servants.  You should occasionally come back to the Spirit World, and we could put aside some time to update each other.

-“Ok.  So where are you going to go, Tromwell?”

-I’m not sure.  If I receive the reward, I’ll probably have to go to the Mercenary Guild’s headquarters at the capital.  I’ll have to take my Advancement Test.

Ah ah, now that I think about it, didn’t Tromwell say he’ll receive his Gold plate after this winter passed?  If war breaks out soon, they’ll probably march upon the capital first.  I was worried he would get swept up in the commotion.  The peole directly involved, Tromwell or the Champagne Mercenary, didn’t show much worry about this fact.

“A mercenary’s life is basically a constant war.  If we are afraid of such thing, then we wouldn’t be able to get a Silver badge.”

Harold cheerfully answered back, while he looked at the worried Isana.  This consoled him a little.

After telling them several time to be careful, we said our goodbyes to the Champagne Mercenary.  Is it because I’ve done this once before?  Even though it was a sad farewell, I felt more calm than the first time.  Maybe it was the fact that Tromwell was part of their party.  I wanted to believe everything would be ok.

“Oh yeah.  What are we going to do about Mr. Kai?”

Isana and I departed from the Champagne Mercenary, then we headed towards the secret tunnel we learned about from Hosane. It was only then did I think about his face, so I frowned with dismay.  The priest, who was my accomplice, had promised to guide us to Elwien’s temple.  However, we had left Mr. Kai in the merchant’s party.  We had never decided on where to meet if we inevitably got separated. I was uncertain as to when we’ll see him again.

Still, he was probably being inspected by the knights right now, so I couldn’t go back for him.  Eventually, we decided to cleanly give up on Mr. Kai.

“I can’t do anything about it.  Any ways, he had some business at Elwien’s temple, so we’ll be able to meet him there.  It wouldn’t be too late if we explain our situation at that time.  ”

“Mmm.  If we are lucky, we might coincidentally meet him inside the temple.”

If Mr. Kai heard what they said, his eyes would redden with tears from disappointment.  We didn’t care about this, so we went deep into the forest as we snickered.  We approached a long castle wall, and it made us automatically admire it.  It made us wonder how long it took to build it.  The wall was shaded by the thick forest, and it was covered in vines.   Then we found the small crack, which would have been hard to find unless one was looking for it.  It would have been impossible for a big bodied adult, but Isana was still lacking in terms of muscle.  The hole was big enough for Isana to squeeze through it.

I used the Naiads to scout the surrounding, and I let Isana enter first after I verified there was no on across the wall.  My original form was water, so if I wanted to, I could pass through wall like it was nothing.  We had easily entered inside the castle walls.  We let out a sigh.  We had on an expression of disbelief as we mumbled.

“If I had known we could enter like this, then we didn’t have to worry about the checkpoint?  How did Hosane find out about this place?”

“He said he previously visited this city on a request, and by chance, he saw the village children use it.”

“Hmmm. I see.  Let’s go, Isana.  Do you want to visit the temple of Elwien first?  We could ask passersby for direction to the temple.”

As if he understood my intention, Isana quickly nodded his head.  Then he suddenly looked towards me with a curious expression.

“By the way…why is it necessary for me to become Elwien’s priest?”

“…huh? Well, if I have to come up with a reason…It’ll probably be easier to ask for the god’s Crest from him than the other gods?”

“You are going to ask…Does this mean El is acquainted with Elwien, the god of Punishment?”

“Uh, huh?  Didn’t I tell you?”

Huh-guk.  Now that I thought about it, I only told Isana that I had become Elwien’s priest. I hadn’t explained the exact circumstances.  He looked back at me with plenty of meaning in his gaze that said, ‘I didn’t know.’  I laughed awkwardly.

“That is…To tell you the truth, I have a personal relationship with Elwien.”

“He-eh?  Spirit Kings and gods can interact with each other?”


“It is impossible from our side, but it is possible for the gods.  Of course, I’m barely able to meet him since he is very busy?”

“T, then how about the Demon god?  Is it possible to interact with the Demon god?”

“…huh?  I guess… I’ve never met the Demon god…I don’t think it is impossible.  Why?”

I had asked his question carelessly, then I quickly closed my mouth as I remembered a single fact. The previous Emperor of the Soltere Empire, who is the father of Isana, had been executed.  The divine revelation from the Demon god played a crucial role in putting the blame of the 10 year calamity on his father.  Immediately, I made an expression of regret, and I shook my head from side to side.

“I’m sorry Isana. I said some unnecessary words.”

“Mmmm, no….to tell you the truth, I wanted to ask the Demon god why he gave such a divine revelation.  I want to know if my father did something wrong.  Also, I want to know what it was…  However, I shouldn’t think about such thing right now.  It is more important for me to regain my seat as fast as I can.”

After answering this way, Isana smiled brightly.  It seemed he had resolutely made up his mind.  He thought of all the people, who had led him to this place, and he decided he couldn’t show his wavering form once again.  His eyes showed a lot of maturity compared to our first meeting two month ago, and it also made me feel relaxed.

“Yes.  Once you regain what is yours, I’ll even threaten Elwien to bring the Demon god.  Then we could argue with him to our hearts content.  No, maybe I should join forces with Tromwell, Ifrit and Minerva?  Even a Demonic god can’t do anything if four Spirit Kings confront him?”

“Ke ke, ok.  When it is time, I will leave it to you.”

If I hadn’t been careful, the atmosphere could have turned heavy, but it eventually turned light.   From that moment on, Isana and I went into the street to find the temple in earnest.  As the saying goes, we had to strike while the iron is hot.  Since we were already here, we had to meet Elwien as fast as we can.  Then we can negotiate with the Marquis.

Inside the castle wall, the city was filled with numerous people and carts.  It held up its reputation as the free trade city.  There were people from all over the place, and they were all moving their goods, or they were bartering over the price of the goods.  The street was filled with energy. It reminded me of being in the center of a marketplace, so it felt quite chaotic.

However, unlike the overall bright atmosphere, everyone’s expressions were showing signs of being cautious of something.  It seemed the archduke’s knights had started showing up, and they frequently inspected the people.

The knights traveled with their hoods on, and they cracked down specifically on groups with a lot of members.  Fortunately, snow had come down, so when we stepped into the street, they had pretty much taken a step back.  Everyone had their hoods on since they didn’t want to get their heads wet, so it would be difficult to check everyone.

If Elwien had control over Arkadon’s seasons, then I wondered if this phenomena was intentional.  The timing was excellent.

“Hmm.  The first sprinkle of ice is finally falling from the spear held by the evil saint.  His break must have really started.”

….when translated, it basically meant, ‘Wow, it’s the first snow.  Winter must really be here.’

Isana mumbled this with a awed expression as if the snow falling was something amazing.  He wasn’t conscious of other people’s gazes as he started receiving the snow on his palm like a little child.  The snow flake would inevitably turn in to drops of water when it touched his sin, but he didn’t give up.  He worked hard to capture another snowflake.

It was fun to look at him, so I decided to leave him alone.  I started stopping passersby, and I started asking for direction to the temple.  Finally, I was able to get a comparably detailed information from a middle-aged woman, who seemed to be a resident in this city.

“Excuse me. Do you know where Elwien’s temple is located at?”

“Mmm? Ah ah.  You mean Elwien-nim’s temple.  You will have to go to the edge of the forest located north of the city. There is a white temple over there, but it is located on very rough terrains and the temperature is the coldest there.  It would be difficult for you to go there in that outfit.  You’ll have to climb a mountain.”

“What? A mountain?  Is it far from here?”

“Well, I don’t know how long it would take to go from here to the mountain.  However, I know it takes about a day for one to go from the mountain to the temple.  At a time like this, it would be best for you pack some clothes and food.  Many humans have died from the cold as they went to worship him.  In other words, Elwien-nim’s temple is known as the ‘Crossroad of Life and Death.'”

“ ……. ”

Mmmm.  He really has an ill-tempered personality.  Why would he put his temple in such a place….  Any ways, as I thought about buying Isana a thicker coat, my body froze at the scene I encountered when I turned around.  There were 4 gang members with rough faces.  They had surrounded Isana, who was alone, and they were smiling.

They didn’t look to be mercenaries.  They look to be simple delinquents.  They wore a vest over worn-out shirts and pants.  They looked to be wearing normal clothes and they didn’t possess any weapons.

The mercenaries valued their lives, so they would equip their protective gears, and weapons they normally use in battle even if they were going for a simple walk.  They never knew when they might get swept up into trouble, and a person could show up at any time to give them a  commission.  It was basically advertising with their bodies, and it said, ‘Anyone who needs a mercenary should come to me!’

The Champagne Mercaries were famous, so they didn’t have to use such inconvenient tactics to be flooded with requests.  This was a method used by normal mercenaries to make some money.  Also, even a mercenary with a violent personality wouldn’t threaten or bother Isana, who wasn’t even an adult.

If a person, who made his living through battle, fought and won against a minor, it would hurt his pride instead.  They were challenging us by believing in their numerical superiority since they didn’t possess any weapons.  It was more correct to look at those rough looking men as thugs.

Even though, these large men were suddenly surrounding him, Isana didn’t show much nervousness.  He didn’t have any fear in his eyes.  As if this didn’t sit right with him, one of the thugs frowned, and he started to mock Isana.

“Isn’t he quite daring?  He isn’t thinking about running away? Ho-oh~  Are you a young master from some important family?  Are you waiting for your underlings to help you?”

“…I don’t know what is going on, but there is no reason for me to be treated like this.  My party member is waiting for me, so can you move aside?”

The men hesitated, because they thought a remarkable man would show up.  The men turned around to see the direction Isana was looking at, and they discovered me standing there with a blank look.  They were letdown.  First, even though my face was covered by a hood, they could see my height, and body build.  They determined I was around their age.  This made me think maybe they were mercenaries, or even if they were, I was able to confirm they weren’t reputable mercenaries.

If a person was skilled, one wouldn’t determine the opponent’s ability through only their outer appearance.  If they knew about Tromwell, then they wouldn’t look down on a kid.

I mumbled inside, ‘These guys are annoying.’, then I looked toward Isana with a calm expression.

“Rai, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.  These people suddenly…”

“Hey, little kids.  There is a toll for using this street.  Is this your first time in this city?  If you come here, then you must pay us money.  Shouldn’t you share what you have with the poor?”

Huh huh huh.  By their out appearance, they seem to be gang members.  They want us to help the unfortunate?…this was quite unlikely.  They were really using a old scam.  I clicked my tongue inside, and I decided I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this incident. So I passively answered him.

“As you can see, we are young, so we don’t carry a lot of money.  How much do you want?”

“He-eh.  This bastard knows how to speak my language.”

“Ggil ggil.(TLN:laugh sfx)  We would be disappointed if he wasn’t.”

The men chuckled ominously.  They took their eyes off of Isana, then they started to approach me.  They assumed from my speech and manner that I had money.  Most of the people in this line of business had a good nose for sniffing out money, and these guys wasn’t an exception.  I felt dirty in such a situation, but I thought it would be easier to be patient. So I looked over their slights.

Even though, I made a resolve to do this, one of the men roughly grabbed my shoulder.  I couldn’t help but frown.  The pain was secondary to the contents of the words he was saying.

“ Stop talking, and give us one gold.”

“What?”

One gold!  I had found out that 500 shillings were equivalent to 1 silver, and 200 silver were equivalent to one gold.  A normal laborer would make around 10 silver a day, so for a laborer, it was equivalent to one month salary.  Even though I was overflowing with money after I sold the gems, I had a hard time handing over such an amount.

Also, what about us made them ask for so much money?  I looked at them with a dumbfounded expression, and the man smirked as he pointed towards the clothes Isana was wearing.

“Even though he is covering it up with his old cloak, don’t think I wouldn’t be able to recognize it.  Isn’t his clothes made out of pretty expensive leather?  Even at a discount, it should be worth around 3 gold?”

“Huk…that was given to him by his parents…”

“If you are having difficulty paying right now, you can go get it from his parents.  Ah.  Of course, he’ll have to wait here with us.”

“ ……. ”

We treated ourselves by buying expensive clothes, and it had come back to bite us in the ankles.  Should I just beat them up and run away?   As I was thinking furiously about what to do, I suddenly felt an absence on top of my head, and I was dismayed.  These damned hoodlums had taken off his hood without permission.

Even then I thought it was fortunate that they didn’t do this to Isana.  When our eyes met, they were surprised, and an unpleasant feeling crawled over me.

“Why are you being like this?”

“Heh-eh.  You were a woman?  The blue hair color is killer.”

“It isn’t your business if I’m a woman or a man!”

I snapped back, because I was annoyed at having to deny I was a woman every single time.  However, this made the men think I was really a woman.  I started feeling oily gazes, which was comparable to the perverted nobleman.  I didn’t want to believe what was happening, but the man, who seemed like the leader, spoke.

“If you can’t immediately produce the gold, then you can pay it off with your body.””

“What, what did you say?”

“It’s simple.  Just spend 3 hours with us.  Then we’ll return your companion safely.”

‘You think I’m crazy!’

If I held back any longer, I was afraid of what I would hear.  I finally decided to use violence on them.  I wasn’t as flashy as Tromwell, but I thought about making them all faint at once.  As I was raising my water energy to my fist, someone suddenly made an entrance, and he started taking down the thugs before I could…

Puk- Kwah-ahk- Puh-uh-uk-

“Ggueeeeek-  Which bastard…”

“Ooh-wahhk-”

“Ggo-roooooook.” (TLN:sfx fainting+foaming at the mouth)

At that moment , my eyes would only see flashes of movement.  A large red fire storm had taken down the thugs.  It was hard to believe that someone with a physical body could move like this.  Something red was making the men faint with one blow.  I didn’t know what was going on, so I could look on while blinking my eyes.  When I realized that red object was someone’s hair, my mouth opened in shock.

‘Is…is it a person?’

When I realized this fact, I couldn’t help, but be in awe.  When I came to my sense, the 4 thugs were sprawled out on the floor, and he started turning slowly towards my direction.  He was tall as he was roughly around 180 cm, and his red colored hair reached his waist.  It was hard to think of his face as human since it was beautiful like a sculpture.  His red eyes looked like embedded rubies, and when our eyes met, I was shocked.

His feelings must have been opposite of mine.  His handsome face frowned, and he spoke in a blunt manner.

“ Why are you struggling to face off against such small fries? ”

“ ……La…pis? ”



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