HEO 29

The stench, like that of rotting corpses littering the field, made him feel sick. That night came back to him after so long.

Fire licking at the window frame. His mother lying face-down on the floor. A huge man approaching while holding an axe dripping with blood.

‘You. Are you this woman’s child?’

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Wolf couldn’t speak. He stared at Silver without blinking for a long moment before saying,

[Did that man kill your mother and make you his slave?]

[Don’t ask.]

Silver turned away.

[And you and the prince won’t die. Ask Bingapsu for the details.]

***

“Hey. Face me.”

Silver waved at Black Weasel and walked forward. Wolf hung on the wall, unable to come down even halfway.

“You promised, right? Three punches.”

Black Weasel couldn’t close his gaping mouth. Silver was dumbfounded by the look of shock on his face. Had this bastard really thought Wolf would win?

His plan to end it quickly vanished like dust. Silver clenched his fist tightly.

“Hold your breath. Here it comes.”

He lowered his body as much as possible and thrust his fist upward from below. The accelerated punch slammed deep into Black Weasel’s abdomen. The buffalo-like giant convulsed, as if he were pierced by a spear. Red Eagle, watching nearby, gasped and covered his mouth with both hands. Black Weasel took the second and third punches without so much as a groan.

Silver shook his wrist and stepped back. Black Weasel’s resilience was terrifying every single time. Is that bastard made of rock?

“Hmm. Hmmmm! This is really unexpected.”

Black Weasel, who had been muttering while stroking his beard, burst into laughter.

“Haha! Hahahaha! Amazing, Silver! Throughout the history of Stoll, there will be no thunder that surpasses you!”

“Why go that far… “

The grandiose praise made Silver feel uneasy instead. Black Weasel shook his head.

“No, you’ll become the greatest warrior in Stoll’s history. You just effortlessly defeated a guy worthy of being the protagonist of a legendary tale!”

“That bullshit again. The legendary tale protagonist you keep babbling about? He was just the leader of a gang of beggars.”

“If he was even a beggar gang leader, that’d be lucky. He was a guy who accomplished nothing and died young. He had the skill to take down not just the thunders of his era, but hundreds of assault troops single-handedly. But in his early twenties, he suddenly started bleeding from the nose and died.”

Silver grew even more baffled.

“Except for dying young, he sounds pretty formidable? You thought that person and the servant were on the same level? Why?”

“Well… it’s just… that guy’s face looks… what’s the word? Demon-like? A sinister aura? I felt it the moment I saw him. Don’t you agree? You couldn’t take your eyes off the servant either.”

Silver was startled by that. Black Weasel had also been struck by a powerful impression the moment he saw Wolf. If he was so adamant about Wolf being on par with a legendary folklore protagonist, it seemed he’d been even more intensely affected than Silver. Like, ‘as if a storm had ceased and the entire world was engulfed in flames’?

Anyway.

“Stop believing in legends. People’s memories tend to diverge from the truth after a few days. That protagonist’s abilities were probably inflated like dough in a furnace.”

“True. Since it’s a legend, the exact quantity might differ from reality.”

“Not quantity. Abilities.”

“……Huh? Ah! Right. His abilities.”

Black Weasel pulled dice from his pouch and sat down.

“Let’s play dice until the servant comes down. The loser gets flicked on the forehead.”

“Why not. Hey, what was that legend’s protagonist called again?”

Silver sat across from Black Weasel and asked. His curiosity vanished the moment he tossed the dice.

***

Wolf stepped onto the cave floor. Red Eagle, now close, whispered in a voice as small as an ant’s.

[Did you hurt yourself out there? Why did you come down so late?]

[I had to mind my manners.]

[Manners? Ah… right.]

Red Eagle asked no more and stepped back. Wolf silently dusted his palms. Even then, Black Weasel and Silver were still playing dice, flicking each other on the forehead without holding back.

Black Weasel turned his head toward Wolf.

[Disappointing, servant. How could it take this long to come down a mere wall?]

[I’m not Silver. I was carrying a bag too.]

[Hmph, excuses. Enough! Cave life is over! Sleep soundly tonight and we leave tomorrow!]

Black Weasel tossed the dice and jumped to his feet.

[Prince and servant, are you curious about recent events? Here’s the rundown. White Deer made peace with the prince’s elder brother. I’ll deliver the prince to his mother and collect the final payment, then we’re done. It’s just a five-day boat ride from here.]

[Really?!]

Red Eagle and Wolf looked at each other and then hugged.

[Wolf! We’re saved!]

[Your Highness! We can return to Atania now!]

Silver pushed aside the sniveling fools, and moved to stand beside Black Weasel.

“Hey. Were you late because you were gathering info?”

“I had a hunch. Just in case, I stopped by a brothel near Ekvos.”

Ekvos was a region close to White Deer’s tribe.

“Where do warriors in their prime always stop after battle? Brothels, right? I decided to wait five days, drinking myself silly. Right on the fifth day, the warriors stormed in. Word is, the prince’s elder brother led the warrior legion to the area near Ekbos. White Deer hastily gathered her warriors and rushed over.”

“And then?”

“Well, then, it ended with the next king and White Deer getting married. They’re staying at a nearby lakeside castle for now.”

A story known to the assassin and his assistant, but unknown to the prince and his attendant. The king’s fifth prince, now the victor in Stoll, proposed to White Deer immediately after his father fell ill. He calculated that marrying the most powerful tribal chieftain in the southeast of Stoll would be advantageous for his succession to the throne.

But White Deer refused the proposal. The designated next king was a widower who had lost two wives in succession, leaving him with seven children. Stripped of the title of queen, it was a marriage anyone would refuse.

All this happened before the ‘Blood Unity Assembly’.

“I’m disappointed in the prince’s mother. If this is how it’s going to be, why did she even bring her son here? He’s the only one suffering for nothing.”

“What can she do? That bastard’s power has grown too great.”

Black Weasel kicked the door and threw his arms up.

[Tonight, let’s just drink our fill! You guys have a drink too! Down it in one go!]

[No, thank you. Just you and Silver…]

Wolf and Red Eagle desperately tried to refuse, but they ended up taking the cups and were knocked in one shot. Beside the unconscious prince and his servant, Black Weasel and Silver drained the barrel. Perhaps because it had been a particularly complicated day, Silver got drunk faster than usual. Black Weasel started looking like dozens of people.

“Ah, right.”

Silver suddenly remembered and spoke up.

“I told those idiots about the Ash. They were all wondering where they pee from. How do they pee?”

“What the… Of course they pee with their dick, you idiot.”

“Huh? But you said the Ash doesn’t have a dick?”

Black Weasel paused mid-lift of his cup. Silver hiccupped and waved his finger in circles right in front of Black Weasel’s face.

“Did you say it and forget? You said the Ash doesn’t have a dick.”

“…No. They do. You misunderstood my explanation.”

Black Weasel rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

“Silver, think back. I said, ‘An Ash is a bastard that doesn’t need a dick.'”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“It’s different, you idiot. ‘Doesn’t need a dick’ means the Ash has a dick but it’s useless. In other words, the Ashes have dicks. Silver, you’re probably the only one in the world who heard my explanation and immediately took it to mean ‘Ash mutants are dickless bastards’.”

“You bastard.”

Silver’s face turned red and purple.

“You explained it like a dog and now you’re blaming someone else? And there’s no such thing as an Ash, you bastard! You’re always believing whatever half baked legends you pick up somewhere.”

“It’s legend studies! I told you Director Erem is researching it!”

“You believe that crazy old hag?”

“She’s more trustworthy than you. More than you, who never thinks about anything!”

“You want to get hit again…!”

Silver couldn’t finish his sentence and immediately lost consciousness.