213. King of the North (7)
#213
“This is…Zaipa writing.”
Ronan looked at the parchment and narrowed his eyes. One day while drinking in Jaifa and Farzan I saw his scribbles. It was unmistakably Jaipa’s handwriting.
‘I’m sure.’
The parchments were all letters addressed to Barca. The date that appeared to be the date of receipt was separately written in the lower right corner of each letter.
The letters arranged chronologically were all worn to the point where the edges were torn. Some of the pages including the most recent letter were in particularly poor condition and looked as if they had been torn into pieces and then glued together.
‘It seems like you’ve read quite a lot. By the way was what Barca said true?’
Suddenly the words Barca said in the ice cave flashed through my mind. Apparently Jaifa had mentioned my name in his letter.
‘no way….’
The doubts that had been sleeping deep inside were raising their heads. Adeshan tilted his head at the sight of Ronan suddenly stopping.
“Ronan? “What are you doing there?”
“Wait…wait a minute.”
Ronan raised his hand to indicate that he would wait. I felt like I couldn’t just pass this by. He began to read the letter like someone possessed by something. The first letter came eight years ago.
“Little brother. Are the preparations for recruiting soldiers going well? Even though I made a pact with the emperor… what the fuck.”
Ronan who was reading the letter in a whisper cursed. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this was just a plan for a mock rebellion. Below the text that stated what to do confidential information of the Imperial Army was written in full.
What Jager said was wrong. He said that after the surrender of Jaifa the relationship between the Tergeng brothers completely split but that was completely incorrect information. Jaipa was in closer communication with Barca than anyone else.
“This damn cat…!”
I felt like I was stabbed in the foot by an ax I trusted. Ronan continued to pick up the next letter and quickly scanned it. Truly rebellious content followed.
Until just three years ago Jaifa was talking about the liberation of the North and an empire that would be reduced to ashes. I felt murderous intent in every word. I felt like I knew why Nabirose warned that it was so dangerous.
He felt a tremendous sense of betrayal but at the same time he felt sorry for him. He wondered what on earth happened in the past to make a person like this. The occasional story of memories with his wife and children only vaguely gave us a glimpse of the past.
‘…did you say the whole family died?’
In the letter Jaipa hated the empire more than anyone else. Although content related to Nebula Clage appeared at some point the main theme was always anger against the Empire and unity in the North. Ronan who had finished dozens of letters in an instant picked up the next letter.
“Today while carrying out an operation I met a guy named Ronan…huh?”
His eyes widened when he saw the familiar name. Looking at the date I saw that the letter was written about two years ago. It contained the details of the day when Nebula Clazie riding a wyvern was dealt with with Asel Zayfar.
“He was a funny guy… In terms of interest he was on a level comparable to the swordsman named Butterfly Rose I mentioned before… A guy who hasn’t even turned 20 yet had a great cause…”
Ronan learned that Jaifar was watching him very carefully. It seemed like it was quite interesting for a small thing to face off against a huge organization called Nebula Clage.
From then on the tone of the letter began to change. The main content was not hatred of the empire but measures for the future filling in the blank space.
“He’s a great guy. He asked me to help him move. Can you believe it?”
“I heard from a kid named Ronan and investigated. They are a lot more dangerous than you think… Be careful with your little brother Nebula Clazier. Now is not the time to fight among ourselves….”
By any measure there was no more talk of rebellion in the letters. It was noticeable that the closer it got to the current date the less toxic it became.
A brief update and the main content was that now is not the time for rebellion and that everyone should join forces to exterminate the fanatics. Barka must have lost his temper while reading and all the letters from this time had traces of having been torn and put back together at least once.
“Two months ago I had a drink with Ronan… I was attacked by a guy named Darman at the top of Farzan…”
The last letter was written about what happened at the Festival of the Sword. Jaifar no longer referred to Ronan as a derogatory term such as a brat. The letter ended with the argument that the North should unite to fight Nebula Clazier.
The reading of the letter ended in less than three minutes. Ronan took his eyes off the letter and laughed.
“…old people come and go.”
Jaifa was not a traitor. The trusted ax did not sting the foot. Ronan realized that he was none other than himself and that he had changed him. This was the ‘change from my previous life’ that I had been searching for so long.
Whether intentional or not meeting me made Jaipa forget his hatred and pursue another cause. I also thought I could understand why Barca hated his brother so much.
The outline of the incident began to emerge little by little. It was the car that Ronan was about to pursue again. A cracked voice was heard from beyond the door pointed to by the blood acupuncture point.
“Did you…read that?”
“Barka.”
“To chase you all the way here…you guys are so persistent.”
It was Barca. Judging by the way he was giggling it seemed like the wound on his neck had not healed yet. Ronan threw away the letter and fired sword energy at the door. Quang! The entire wall flew away revealing the space behind it. A rushing stench assaulted the two people.
“Ugh…!”
“Lab?”
The space was wider than Jager’s office. The room was created entirely out of the ice sea and was filled with hundreds of shelves and countless experimental tools.
Specially treated corpses were neatly laid out on five layers of spacious shelves. Most of the odor was coming from there. Ronan and Adeshan frowned at the bizarre appearance that was reminiscent of a market.
“Come out here!”
It was disgusting but I had no choice but to go. The two went straight into the lab. Barca was nowhere to be seen hiding behind a shelf somewhere. His voice rang out again.
“Our brothers…huh literally everything was taken away by the Empire.”
“Where the fuck are you hiding?”
It was difficult to chase because it was wide and dizzy. Even though I was destroying everything that stood in my way it was nearly impossible to keep going straight along the acupuncture points. Barka continued.
“I was better off because I didn’t have a wife or children… but even his family whom Heo Eok Zaipa thought so horribly were brutally murdered by the imperial pigs. “Aren’t you curious about what happened…?”
“Shut up you bastard. “Don’t be emotional.”
“Originally both of my brothers would have become hunters… lol that was decades ago now…”
The chase was still difficult. Barka ignored Ronan’s words and began to talk about his past.
A tragedy that occurred at a time when oppression against the North was severe long before the Night of the Fangs took place. Barka who was coughing violently continued speaking.
“It was a day like any other…the border area was chaotic but our village was in a remote area in the north…no one expected something like that to happen….”
Originally the Turgen brothers had no interest in war. He had never even committed a murder before it happened in the first place so he was saying everything. If there was any friction with the imperial army it was only to give a little reassurance to the soldiers around them who were talking nonsense and mistreating their compatriots.
“Our wish was just to lead a peaceful life… If the imperial army wasn’t really evil we would just give them a moderate amount of fear and send them away… Ugh but they felt even such an action was shameful as if they had been raped… The Empire’s The pigs organized a separate unit just to take revenge on our brothers….”
The tragedy occurred while the brothers were out hunting. The imperial army took advantage of the time the Turgeng brothers were away from the village to carry out a massacre.
What the brothers saw during the hunt was a burning village headless corpses strewn about randomly and the heads of the residents displayed on a protective stone at the entrance of the village.
“The funny thing is that the revenge was not on us but on the villagers… Among the heads with their eyes glazed over were my parents and Jaifa’s wife and children.”
Ronan twisted his lips at the obvious yet terrible story. Adeshan’s expression remained stiff throughout the story.
“At the time of the Night of the Fangs Jaifa was a black blazing sun… They were respectable brothers who never forgot their hatred even after falsely surrendering to the Empire… But at some point the contents of the letter started to get strange… “From the moment I met you Ronan.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“I guess so… but Zaifa got weird… he tried to cajole me saying now is not the time to worry about the Empire. “They started saying things that didn’t even seem like they were saying that our true enemy was different… From that point on I ended my relationship with Jaifa.”
bang! Ronan crashed his shoulder into the ledge in front of him knocking it down. I thought I saw something that looked like a tail just now but I missed it again. The needle of his blood meter was spinning round and round following Barka’s movements.
“I hate the Empire…and now I hate Xyfar who has forgotten to hate me just as much. That’s why I started calling the stars by their names. “I will destroy the empire with the power he is so wary of…”
“You’re not crazy.”
Ronan laughed. He became a member of Nebula Clage simply out of repulsion against Zyfar. Ronan learned that he had risen to the position of Bishop of the Northern Diocese of Nebula Clage.
“So I learned necromancy and curses. Not long ago they developed a weapon that would destroy both the empire and Jaifa. that…”
“Now shut up. “I’m not curious.”
Ronan cut off his horse. He wasn’t worth listening to anymore. It was certainly a sad story but it could not excuse evil deeds. There are countless people in the world who experience misfortune but not all of them become criminals.
Ronan switched the power source and pulled the hilt of the sword. A sword body covered in sparkling mana was pulled out. He said looking back at Adeshan.
“It sticks to me. “As close as possible.”
“huh.”
Adeshan did so without comment. I felt like I knew what Ronan was thinking. He held the tip of his sword pointing downward and struck the floor. Kwaaaaaaaaaa! An invisible shock wave exploded around Ronan.
“Ugh?!”
Barca’s bewilderment could be heard from somewhere. It was an Auror stolen from Bishop Terranil in the past. The shock wave which became stronger as the years passed blew away all the corpses on the shelves and experimental tools in the surrounding area. Ronan muttered to himself after seeing the incredible power.
“It should have been like this a long time ago.”
There was nothing to block the view anymore. The two people looked in the direction pointed by the blood gauge. Barca was standing in the middle of the lab which had become a chaotic place beyond the hazy cloud of dust.
“Krrrrr….”
He met Ronan’s eyes and growled lowly. As they were put on the defensive their true wild nature seemed to be revealed.
His most severed limbs had just regenerated. He was holding two large swords in both hands. Ronan aiming the tip of his sword at Barca opened his mouth.
“The knife looks nice but is that the end of your will?”
“Wait a minute Ronan. “Something is strange.”
It was a car that was about to activate its aura. Suddenly Adeshan grabbed Ronan’s shoulder. He tilted his head.
“What is it?”
“That’s not Barca.”
“yes?”
Ronan’s brows narrowed at the inexplicable sound. When I heard it clearly it seemed like something was strange. He was smaller than Barka and the energy he gave off was much stronger. However because the texture of his energy was so similar he was mistaken. Ronan tilted his head.
“…Then who is that?”
“I don’t know either. However this presence is clearly from Jaifa… no way.”
For a moment Adeshan’s face froze. He seemed like someone who had discovered something scary and hard to even imagine. There was an awkward silence. The gunman who was standing still rushed towards the two people.
“Kaaaa!”
“What the fuck…!”
Ronan took a deep breath. It was so fast that it seemed as if it had disappeared from sight. Ronan hurriedly blocked Ade Shan’s path and raised his sword. Kaaaaang-! A sharp metal sound rang out.
“Grrrrrrrrr! “Kaaaaak!”
“This is…!”
Ronan’s eyes widened. The three blades were snarling as if they were going to eat each other. A were tiger boy whose entire body was covered in black fur was competing with himself.
“Kuheuung!”
“Ugh!”
It was so powerful that only when Varen’s aura was activated could it be barely pushed away. He was far superior to Barca in terms of speed and strength. I couldn’t figure out where this monster suddenly appeared.
His deep scars were engraved all the way around his thick neck. Every time the boy opened his mouth the smell of his rotting corpse wafted out. Like Barka’s other subordinates he looked like a corpse warrior brought to life through necromancy. The boy who pulled his body back for a moment lunged again.
“Kyaaaaaak!”
“What the fuck?”
Kagagak! A whirlwind of sword strikes rained down on Ronan. There was not a single loophole visible in the barrage of attacks. Barca’s voice rang out from far away in the lab.
“Let me introduce you… a masterpiece that embodies my longings. I was barely able to decipher it in time….”
“Barka!”
The two people turned their heads at the same time. This time it was really Barca. His wounds were not yet fully healed.
Metal prosthetic hands and legs were crudely sewn into his severed limbs. I tried to run to Barka right away but the monster in front of me wouldn’t allow it.
“Get out of the way…!”
“Krarak!”
No matter what angle Ronan swung his sword at the boy dodged or responded. Every time the blades collided embers bloomed. Among the opponents I’ve fought recently he was one of the top five.
‘What is this guy really?’
Suddenly what Barca had said a moment ago flashed through his mind. He was obviously thinking about a weapon that would destroy both Jaifa and the Empire at the same time. Suddenly Ronan’s face who was making out with the boy hardened.
“No way.”
His hand holding the hilt of his sword tightened. I felt like I knew the boy’s identity. For a moment goosebumps ran down my spine.
I couldn’t believe that people could be this evil. Although he was still young the overall outline of his face was exactly like that of someone he knew. Barka catching his breath opened his mouth.
“Yes… I am Aradan Turgeng son of Jaifa.”
