Chapter 229 - Discovery (2)

Hector answered the man’s question.

"I am... For now, let’s just say I’m a lost traveler. Who are you then? No, before that, what’s wrong with this place? What exactly happened here?”

His answer was a mix of anger and curiosity. However, instead of feeling scared, the man felt strangely relieved at Hector’s irritated attitude.

The man stayed silent as he contemplated. After a while, he finally made up his mind. He had been at crossroads on whether to trust Hector or not. He ended up giving Hector the benefit of the doubt and answered his question.

“First, first of all... My name is Baeb... And this is a special city called Killive where all the criminals of the empire are gathered.”

“Killive? I’ve never heard of Killive before.”

“What...? How does someone from the continent not know about Killive?”

“You said I was a ghost before, but now you suddenly treat me like a human? Hey man, just decide on it so I don't get confused as well.”

The joke was a bit on the harsh side, but luckily, it seemed like Baeb took it positively. Thanks to this, he let out a small laugh, which allowed Hector to speak more casually.

With that, the two talked for a while. Once Hector got most of the information he wanted, he slowly summarized everything they had talked about.

“So you’re telling me that you’re not a felon, but you were just sleeping at home, got kidnapped, and ended up here?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re sixteen?”

“Yes.”

“You sure? What’s up with the beard then? Are you sure you’re sixteen?”

“I’m going through puberty...”

“Alright, I guess that makes sense... Okay then, let me go over this one more time. You said that this place is some crazy wizard’s laboratory?”

“At least from what I saw.”

Surprisingly, Baeb was just a teenager. He explained that he had always had long hair and that he had grown a beard because he thought the beards of the elders in his village looked cool.

As for the laboratory, it seemed that Hector’s assumptions had been right: this was indeed the laboratory of some crazy black magician.

Unfortunately, Baeb didn’t know the wizard's name, but on the bright side, he did know what the wizard did. He knew that the wizard frequently created monsters from living humans and did bizarre, horrible things on a regular basis, which normal people couldn’t even comprehend, such as ripping out people’s hearts and eating them.

‘Just listening to these atrocities makes me sick.’

Baeb should’ve been among the victims of those atrocities, but fortunately, he had managed to escape from his cell and survived by taking advantage of the loopholes scattered around the prison, just like a rat.

His life was as miserable as it could be.

Baeb also mentioned that he would stay close to the walls all day to avoid being noticed by the Chimeras or wizards wandering around the prison, and that he would drink dew and eat bugs in order to survive. He then shared that just when he was on the verge of despair, Hector had shown up.

Hearing this, Hector asked, “Have you ever thought about running away?”

“I constantly think about running away, but I’m on the seventh underground floor. How on earth could I run away from here?”

Baeb’s reply made Hector realize that he had asked a stupid question, so he immediately apologized and took a moment to recollect his thoughts.

‘Baeb did say there are Chimeras... But does he actually know what Chimeras are? Never mind, I think he does know, and whatever he saw are most definitely Chimeras. On this note, Arthus is the only one currently dealing with Chimeras on the continent.’

Hector was a little doubtful, but he had some sort of gut feeling.

‘I guess there’s a lot more I need to tell Henry than I thought.’

With all this information he obtained from Baeb, Hector felt an even more intense sense of duty. He also wanted to somehow help this poor boy. He looked at Baeb with eyes full of sympathy.

After pondering on it for a while, Hector finally said, “Baeb, you might find this hard to believe, but with a bit more time, I might just be able to take down that sadistic wizard.”

“Really? The wizard here?”

"Yeah. I have this friend who’s pretty amazing, so I’m thinking of returning with him within ten days. You think you can hang in there just a bit longer?”

“Ten days...”

Baeb thought about Hector's proposal for a while. So far, he had survived by only eating mice and bugs and collecting the water that leaked from the ceiling. He had even considered suicide a few times, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that.

Because of all that, ten days would seem like an eternity to Baeb. However, he still wanted to survive, even if that meant having to overcome that eternity.

“Ten days... Do I really just have to wait ten days?”

"Yeah. Ten days at most. It might take less than that. I’ll try to find a way to bring my friend here within ten days. You just need to hang in there and wait for me to come back.”

Deep down, Hector wanted to escape with Baeb right then and there, but he knew that the boy was in bad shape and that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. Thus, Hector thought that the best course of action was to leave for now and return within ten days.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

With that, Baeb's eyes glittered with hope. Ever since he had been kidnapped and taken to Killive, this was the first time he had any semblance of hope. After Hector explained the plan, Baeb gave him precise directions on how to get out of Killive.

After Hector disappeared, Baeb knelt down and prayed.

"Oh Goddess Irene... Please guide me away from temptation...”

Baeb had once been a member of the Church of Peace that worshiped Irene. However, after being taken to Killive, he had lost his faith, but after his conversation with Hector, he decided to try and have faith once again.

With a sincere heart, Baeb clasped his hands and prayed intently.

...But at that moment...

-Kiaaa?

One Chimera took notice of Baeb’s muttering.

* * *

The empire only had seven corps left. Of course, the commanders of those corps were still unaware that Rockefeller, Kinless, and Batz had been defeated.

So, under Arthus’s orders, the seven corps commanders redirected their troops to Zipan instead of Shahatra. They made that decision because they thought Zipan would be easier to attack than the kingdom in the desert.

As the corps moved, the earth shook violently as if there were an earthquake. This was because the seven corps had about a hundred thousand troops. The commander-in-chief of this massive army was none other than Kington, the first sword of the Imperial Ten Swords and the current Knight King.

‘Seven corps, huh...’

The only thing that Henry could think about at the moment was the huge numbers of the imperial army. He was well aware of how impressive Arthus’ army was. A hundred thousand troops was more than the population of Vivaldi.

Therefore, the upcoming battle would be very important in determining the outcome of the war, more than the previous two battles Henry had won.

Henry thought about the troops he had before he entered the meeting. Amaris, who had joined the Allied Powers from the beginning, had twenty thousand troops, Shahatra had fifteen thousand, Zipan had another fifteen thousand, and Deucekain, who had just recently joined, had around twenty thousand troops.

If Henry also took into account the ten thousand troops from Sore Empire that would be joining later in the war, he would have a total of eighty thousand troops at his disposal, which, of course, wasn’t too far behind the hundred thousand troops that the empire had.

On top of this, if he considered the illusionists of Shahatra, his wizards, and the spirits that Alfred had, Henry thought he could easily make up for the difference of twenty thousand troops.

However, the real problem wasn’t the number of troops. In fact, it was the topography of Zipan.

‘Zipan doesn’t have a mountain in the rear, nor is it next to a river. The country is literally in the middle of an empty plain, so it essentially has no topographical advantages.’

Due to its topography, it was extremely easy to surround Zipan in an invasion, and the empire probably knew this too, which was why they prioritized attacking Zipan.

Henry simulated in his head the battle that would soon take place.

‘It’ll probably be a bit more challenging to win, but it shouldn’t be too bad. I think we have a shot.’

Henry wasn’t behind by a lot in terms of numbers, and the quality of their troops didn’t differ that much either. So, all in all, he thought he was pretty much equal to the empire.

'Alright, enough planning and strategizing. The only thing left is the actual battle.’

Even Henry couldn’t help being a bit nervous at the decisive battle that lay ahead of him. Because of that, Henry visualized his victory multiple times before he slowly made his way to the meeting with the leaders of the Allied Powers.

* * *

The Highlander region, which had been elevated from a fiefdom to the capital of the empire, turned out to be unexpectedly peaceful.

The reason for this was rather simple: the people of the new Aenia Empire believed that Arthus would not fail with his conquest of the continent. On top of that, Arthus had lowered the tax rate by twenty percent and was keeping the prices from skyrocketing due to the war.

Arthus was the best emperor they could ask for.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Arthus was able to completely eliminate the fear of war from people. That was why Arthus had taken advantage of the artists from the Art City of Musereal, which had recently sided with the Aenia Empire.

Under the orders of the imperial palace, the artists spread throughout the continent and sang songs wishing for peace on the continent and victory of the imperial army.

Furthermore, Arthus had requested the sculptors from Musereal to carve stone statues depicting him as one of the greatest kings the empire had ever seen. He had also asked them to carve statues of the corps commanders, who were destined to become heroes. These statues were then strategically placed in various locations across the continent.

Arthus had done all of that in order to have the people of the continent believe that the war wasn’t a serious issue.

The same thing was happening in a town called Bellatie, not too far from the capital. Bellatie was renowned for its exceptional bread, to the extent that almost all the celebrated bakers in the major cities had come from Bellatie. The reputation of this town extended far and beyond, particularly for its confectionery and baking.

Presently, the scent of fresh bread and cookies flooded the streets of Bellatie, just like it always had. In the middle of the city, Musereal sculptors were working on the stone statue of Emperor Arthus the Great to honor him.

Many people in the town had gathered to watch the sculptors go about their craft. Not a single person was against the idea of Arthus’ statue being in their town. In fact, they were happy for it to go up.

The statue would be finished that day.

After the sculptors finished carving the statue, Nailri, a high priest from the Church of Peace, offered a prayer for the well-being of the townsfolk in front of the newly erected monument. More and more people heard this and came to the center of the town. This was because, unlike the attendant priests and low priests who appeared pretty often in villages and towns, high priests were only seen in larger cities.

“A stone statue of the great leader, the sage, Arthus Highlander, has been erected. Therefore, I pray to you, Irene, the Goddess of Peace, for the well-being and peace of Bellatie...”

People generally liked it when priests delivered longer congratulatory messages because they believed that the duration of their prayer was directly proportional to the amount of grace the god would bestow on them.

The high priest, who was well aware of this mentality, happened to be a kind-hearted one. Thus, he ended up delivering a much longer prayer than usual.

But at that moment...

Whoosh!

It sounded like something was making its way toward the village, but nobody seemed to notice.

Whoosh!

There was another one.

However, someone finally noticed it and turned to where the sound was coming from. It was Kamuel who had noticed the sound. He was a new baker whom all the people of Bellatie held in high regard.

Even though he knew in which direction the sound had come from, Kamuel couldn’t see anything unusual.

‘Am I hearing things?’

Kamuel scratched his head once, then closed his eyes and sagged his head, thinking that he just wasted time when he should’ve concentrated on the prayer the high priest was giving.

But at that moment...

Crack!

A long, skewer-looking pole went through his head.

“Ka-Kamuel!” screamed one person who had been praying next to him. However, their scream didn’t last long. In a few seconds, they were pierced by the same thing that killed Kamuel.

“Everyone, take cover!”

“AHHH!!!”

-Keruk, keruk, keruk!

In a matter of seconds, Bellatie was plunged into chaos, and the eerie laughter that had taken over Nosco now permeated the streets of Bellatie as well.

Thud! Thud!

Every step it took made the earth rumble. The gigantic monster from Nosco had appeared again.

“Go, Grumpy!”

-Roooooooar!

The monstrosity was almost as big as a mountain. It was called Grumpy.