#167

Chapter 84 Ten thousand leaves(4)

Marco blankly stared as his holy sword bestowed with grace broke in front of his eyes.

As it broke, a piece scraped past and cut one of his eyes but he still couldn’t take his eyes away from what had happened.

A holy sword never broke.

It had never happened, since the eternal rule. Not even once.

Marco finally then realised during the fierce battle, Juan had been concentrating his attacks on one area on his sword.

His out of context messy attacks had in fact a purpose behind it.

Like droplets piercing through a rock.

The moment Marco lost his balance in shock, Juan swung his dagger to end him.

But at that moment, Beltre unleashed his sword. Juan, who’d been focused on his battle with Marco, failed to avoid it which resulted in his cape being cut.

Upon missing the opportunity to wound Juan, Beltre frowned at seeing a black substance flow out from above Juan’s shoulder.

It was no ordinary cape.

It was radiating a creepy, filthy aura. Meanwhile, Juan tumbled his body away to get out of reach of the Paladin knights.

“Brother Marco, you alright?”

Beltre didn’t particularly like the disobedient Marco but still, he was a valuable asset of his order.

Marco was still silently looking down at his broken sword as if it shocked him more than he’d expected. Beltre was surprised at how easily Marco had been beaten.

“I did have my suspicions. And all is well, now they’ve been confirmed.”

He was definitely the demon that the Pope had instructed him to exterminate. Beltre who was initially lifeless from accepting this dishonorable mission, now found a new will burn inside him.

Upon signaling with his green flag, the other Paladins promptly surrounded Juan.

Though Juan looked very tired, it looked as though he had plenty left to continue fighting.

“Are we going at it again?”

“Excellent skills I’ll admit. Though I didn’t get to see it properly………I’m going to guess that it’s Valte swordsmanship? 4th stage?”

“Well, it’s my first time stretching it this far. Hard to say which stage that was at. Lets just say I gave it a quick swing.”

Though he’d already used stage 4 ability ‘Sea of fog’, he didn’t need to elaborate on that point.

And plus, the swordsmanship he’d just shown focused the importance on use the most minimum movements required.

Which was a product of just stage 3 Valte swordsmanship.

In the first place, Marco’s speed was his only trait to be aware of, as his swordsmanship was disappointing to say the least. There wasn’t a need for Juan to pull out all of his tricks.

However, Juan simply wanted to rub their arrogant noses into the ground.

While Beltre wasn’t sure, his feet and the way he handled his sword made him judge that Juan was for certain a master of Valte swordsmanship.

Able to use the high rank grace ability ‘blink’ and well versed in Valte swordsmanship……… Beltre understood why the Pope was so eager to kill his person.

‘A traitor’s child or their disciple……. Anyways he’s evil whichever way you look at it.’

“Keeeuuk…….. You, you little shit……..”

After coming back from his shock, Marco gritted his teeth and stood back up.

Beltre frowned at Marco’s attitude, as he had his eyes firmly on Juan and largely ignoring him.

“Back off, brother Marco. He’s not your match. This bastard has been well trained.”

“Brother Beltre nim! For 10 years I’ve trained, breaking bones and shedding skin while doing so. 10 years! If we’re talking about how long I’ve trained my swordsmanship, it’s over 20 years. And you still think I’m beneath this brat?”

“Yes.”

Beltre answered sternly.

“You think he can reach that speed because he can simply swing his sword fast? No. Human joints, acceleration, air resistance…..there are multitude of factors that one must consider.. Every last cell inside this person is imprinted and set to move at high speed. That’s why he’s able to reach speeds that can match blink.”

It could be said that this could be another trick of Valte swordsmanship. While Valte swordsmanship was considered as the core swordsmanship in the empire, there was only a handful who mastered its limits.

And it seemed, this teenager hadn’t just brainlessly trained, but was well versed in practical skills and how to respond. At once, Beltre knew he was dealing with someone more than what he was seeing with his eyes..

“Bullshit. Hey! Someone lend me their sword! Once more and I’ll……”

Marco wasn’t easily convinced.

Beltre sighed. Did Marco truly not understand the meaning of being able to strike a sword at the same spot with a mere dagger.

On par, no, if this person had half the physical strength of Marco, he would’ve already had Marco’s head in his hand.

“Calm down.”

“Please give me a chance to redee……..”

“I ordered you to calm down.”

The green flag slightly shook. Marco’s green snake like eyes suddenly turned back into a normal human’s eyes. Marco realised what had happened to his body.

“Thi, this is……..”

“I’ve judged that you’re no longer useful anymore Marco. By the authority given to me, I now relieve you of your ‘snake’. You will need to earn it back if you want to retrieve it.”

“Brother Beltre nim!”

Marco cried out in despair but Beltre turned a blind eye. Beltre’s eyes fixed themselves back onto Juan.

“I didn’t expect anything like this. Who are you really. Am I really dealing with a demon or something?”

“You wouldn’t believe even if I told you.”

Beltre stood his spear of wrath straight upon noticing how his knights were a moment from charging in. Juan wore a sneer on his face as he continued the conversation.

“I’m curious to what sort of guesses you have in your head. One of the 4 knight orders from the days of the emperor? A hidden emperor’s child? Or one of the apostates turned young after making a deal with the devil? Imagining one of these?”

A few Paladins made an agitated look upon hearing Juan’s words. It appeared as if some were actually imagining this.

Juan flashed a grin as he looked up at Beltre.

“Or better yet, are you aware? Of a certain rumour? That I could be the emperor himself?”

“Enough!”

Beltre lifted his green flag as if he was going to slam it down.

As Juan was about to jump towards Beltre, inside his visor, a set of pupils turned green and ripped vertically.

An aura far more menacing than Marco was emitting from Beltre.

But then, an air cutting sound whizzed between Beltre and Juan. Beltre quickly swung his flag pole and hit the arrow away.

The iron flagpole was still vibrating from the shock left from stopping the arrow. Green pupils flashed and turned around.

Swallen already had her second arrow aimed at him.

“You dare!”

“Step away. Mr Paladin knight.”

Beltre who saw Swallen’s smiling eyes felt as if he’d already been pierced between his eyes by her arrow. The Paladins made their way and surrounded Swallen.

Swallen didn’t move an inch.

“Don’t put your nose where it doesn’t belong, mercenary! You should know what it means to aim your weapon at a Paladin!”

“You’re the one who put your nose where it doesn’t belong in the first place. Try to understand what it would mean to not have a hole between your eyes. I’m saying that I’ll let you live if you don’t do anything stupid.”

“You really think it could penetrate a Paladin’s armor? Maybe you think you can hit us because we don’t have shields, but what I just snapped away was a flimsy stone not an arrow.”

“Only because I wanted you to hit it away. The gap on a visor is plenty big enough for me, Mr Paladin. You’re welcome if you want me to confirm that.”

Beltre glared at Swallen. The bow in Swallen’s hand certainly didn’t look like any ordinary bow.

The arrow that Beltre had just obstructed had a destructive force behind which left his hand numb.

But still, there was no changing that with one flick of his hand, his knights would turn Swallen into dust.

Beltre decided on talking this out for now. His eyes turned back to his normal colour once he shook his flag.

“He’s not someone worth protecting.”

“Who said 10,000 gold leaves isn’t worth protecting? Are all Paladins that rich?”

“………..10,000 gold leaves! Are you really protecting him just for that? Lower your bow immediately and I’ll make sure you get your reward.”

“Hmmm….? That doesn’t sound bad.”

Swallen nonchalantly continued to talk.

“But, unfortunately not. 10,000 leaves is the commission fee that was promised after I got that young master to his destination. It’s not in the nature of a mercenary to be awarded without fulfilling the terms. So why don’t we all get going now that we’ve had a breather?”

While Beltre was left baffled by listening to her strange talk, Juan was already on the move.

Juan who had plenty to rest, had better things to do than listen to Beltre and Swallen’s conversation.

From beneath Beltre’s chin, a dagger rushed up. Beltre, who’d noticed Juan’s movement late, did his best to dodge away.

But Juan wasn’t aiming for his throat. Juan cut through the string holding Betlre’s saddle in place.

Having lost his balance, as Beltre was about to fall, Juan went for his neck. But then, in a flash Juan saw his eyes light up as it turned green.

No.

Juan narrowly stopped himself. He wasn’t going to kill him today..

Not because he was scared or smelled death, but felt something else. Some evil grudge or malice that was lurking beneath.

Instead of cutting Beltre, Juan pulled him off and jumped onto his horse. Beltre who was expecting to be cut at that moment toppled down with a confused look.

“Get going, 10,000 leaves!”

A Paladin rushed at Swallen from behind. As if she’d expected this, she turned her bow and let loose on the Paladin’s face.

Though it was blocked by a protective shield, the arrow had enough force to blow the Paladin off his horse before shattering into pieces.

Juan rode Beltre’s horse forward straight at Swallen. But the Paladins got in between them. Juan inhaled deeply and shouted out loud.

“Halt!”

Using just enough power so that it wouldn’t strain him, Juan roared with a slight touch of the emperor’s voice.

The Paladins faltered on the spot, confused to why they were unable to move. They couldn’t understand why they were having these reactions to his voice.

While they were meandering in puzzlement, Juan rushed towards Swallen. No signal required, Swallen quickly got on top of Juan’s horse.

“Grab on!”

Beltre’s eyes turned deep green simultaneously as he swung his flag.

Swallen slowly stood up at feeling an unnerving energy from him.

The other Paladin knights couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Standing up on top of a horse? To add to their surprise, Swallen tucked an arrow into her bow and aimed at Beltre.

Impossible.

Finding balance on a galloping horse…… To even stand would require the very attention of every nerve in your body.

But to find the concentration to aim a bow, focus and shoot….. The Paladins were shaking their heads, but the arrow had already left.

And before Beltre could notice, the arrow landed inside the gap on his visor. Beltre toppled onto his back.

“I shot so that your armor wouldn’t break so don’t get too mad!”

Swallen waved her hands as she gradually disappeared. The Paladins were unsure whether to follow them or look after Beltre. It was the first time the commander and the vice commander both fell in battle.

Then, Beltre wiggled up.

“Don’t need to give chase.”

“Brother Beltre nim! Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry. It’s not a big wound.”

Beltre ripped out the arrow from his eye. His eyeball was destroyed but the arrow wasn’t pierced deep due it hitting his visor before on the way through. With a bit of healing ‘grace’, he would fully recover before long.

Beltre didn’t care about his eye being destroyed. What angered him was that he’d let the traitor get away due to him showing mercy. He snapped the arrow shaft that he held in his hand.

“One of the ‘snakes’ is on them. It’s only a matter of time before we catch them.”

*****

“Seems like they’re not pursuing.”

Juan looked back but there wasn’t a dust cloud in his view. If they’d ignored their leader and simply chased, it may have been tricky to get away.

A horse putting up with two people wasn’t going to be the quickest and Juan would have had his hands full to protect Swallen. But for some reason, there was no pursuit.

The wind was chilly for the sun had already set. Night inside the red wasteland was cold and cruel.

Juan prepared the encampment for the night.

While he didn’t need to rest, Swallen and their horse were fatigued from spending the whole day riding.

Juan looked at Swallen who had her head on his back and arms tightly around his waist and mumbled.

“Carriage is ruined.”

“I know the way so don’t worry about that.”

Swollen answered in a worn out tone.

“Okay then. Get ready to rest.”

As if she was used to spending the night in the red wasteland, Swollen didn’t take long to get ready. Concerned for the potential chase, they decided against the warmth of a fire.

Swallen tucked herself into a small ditch they’d dug. Juan sat on the side and looked down at her.

“Back then, why did you not hand me over to them?”