Academy’s Genius Swordmaster - Chapter 213
213. The King of the North (7)
#213
“This is… Jaipa writing.”
Ronan looked at the parchment and narrowed his brows. I had seen the graffiti he had scrawled while drinking in Jaipa and Parjan one day. It was unmistakably Zaifa’s handwriting.
‘Are you sure.’
All the parchments were letters addressed to Barca. In the lower right corner of each letter was a separate date that appeared to be the date of receipt.
The letters arranged in chronological order were all worn to the point of tearing the edges. Some of the pages, including the most recent letter, were in particularly poor condition, appearing to have been torn to shreds and then glued together.
‘I must have read a lot. By the way, was Barca’s words true?’
Suddenly, the words Barca said in the ice cave flashed through my mind. Apparently Zaifa mentioned my name in a letter.
‘No way…’
The doubt that was sleeping in the depths was raising its head. Adeshan tilted his head at the sudden stop of Ronan.
“Ronan? what are you doing there?”
“Wait… wait a minute.”
Ronan raised his hand and expressed his intention to wait. It just seemed like something I shouldn’t have missed. He started reading the letter like someone possessed. The first letter was from 8 years ago.
“Brother. Are the preparations to gather soldiers going well…even though I made an oath with the emperor…what the fuck.”
Ronan, who was reading the letter in a whisper, spat out curse words. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this was just a mock plan for a rebellion. Beneath the main body of what to do, confidential information from the Imperial Army was densely written.
What Jayger said is wrong. He said that after the surrender of Zaifa, the relationship between the Turgengs had been completely divided, but this was completely misinformed. Zaifa was in close contact with Barka more than anyone else.
“This damn cat…!”
I felt like I had been stabbed in the foot by an ax I believed in. Ronan continued to pick up the next letter and skim it quickly. Truly rebellious content ensued.
Just three years ago, Zaifa was talking about the liberation of the North and an empire that would be in ruins. I could feel the intent to kill in each letter. It seemed like I knew why Nabi Roze had warned me that it was so dangerous.
I felt a great sense of betrayal, but at the same time I felt sorry for him. I wondered what the hell had happened to people in the past that made people go this far. The occasional story of memories with his wife and children only vaguely reminded him of the past.
‘…They said the whole family died.’
Zaifa in the letter hated the empire more than anyone else. At some point, content related to Nebula Clazie came out, but the main theme was always anger against the Empire and the unity of the North. Ronan, who finished dozens of pages in an instant, picked up the next letter.
“Today, I met a guy named Ronan while carrying out the operation… Huh?”
His eyes widened when he saw the familiar name. Looking at the date, it was written about two years ago. It contained the contents of the day when he dealt with Nebula Klagie riding on a wyvern with Asher Zaifa.
“He was a funny guy… In terms of interest, he’s on the same level as the swordsman named Nabi Rose I talked about before… A guy who hasn’t lived until the age of 20 has a cause…
” I realized that I was watching. It must have been quite interesting for the little ones to go up against the gigantic organization called Nebula Klagier.
From then on, the mood of the letters began to change. The main content filled the blanks as a countermeasure for the future, not hatred for the empire.
“He’s a great guy. Oh my gosh, he asked me to help him move. Can you believe it?”
“I heard the words of a kid named Ronan and investigated it. They’re a lot more dangerous than you think… watch out for Nebula Klazier, brother. Now is not the time to fight among ourselves…”
By some standard, the letter no longer spoke of rebellion. The closer it got to the current date, the more conspicuously the miasma disappeared.
The main content was that this is not the time for rebellion and that everyone should gather their strength and annihilate the fanatics. As if Barca had lost her temper while reading, all the letters from around this time had traces of being torn and reattached at least once.
“Two months ago, I drank with Ronan…I was attacked by a guy named Darman at the top of Parzan…” The
last letter was written about what had happened at the sword festival. Jaifa no longer referred to Ronan as a baby boy. The letter ended with the argument that the North should unite and fight Nebula Klazie.
Reading the letter ended in less than three minutes. Ronan looked away from the letter and smiled.
“…the old man comes and goes.”
Zaifa was no traitor. The ax that believed did not cut the instep. Ronan realized that none other than himself had changed him. This was the ‘part that has changed from the previous life’ that I was looking for so much.
Intentionally or unintentionally, Zaifa’s encounter with me made her forget her hatred and pursue another cause. He seemed to understand why Barka hated his brother so much.
Little by little, the outline of the incident began to emerge. It was the car Ronan was going to pursue again. A cracked voice came from the other side of the door pointed by the blood needle.
“Did you read that…?”
“Barca.”
“To chase you all the way here…you guys are really…relentingly persistent.”
It was Barca. Judging by his giggling, it seemed that the wound in his neck hadn’t healed yet. Throwing away the letter, Ronan fired his sword at the door. Quaang! The whole wall was blown away, revealing the space behind it. A stench rushed over the two of them.
“Ugh…!”
“Lab?”
The space was wider than Jayger’s office. The room, dug entirely out of a sea of ice, was filled with hundreds of shelves and countless lab tools.
Bodies that had been specially treated were neatly laid out on a wide shelf made up of five floors. Most of the stench was coming from there. Ronan and Adeshan frowned at the monstrous appearance that reminded them of the market.
“Come out here!”
It was disgusting, but I couldn’t help but go. The two immediately rushed into the laboratory. Wherever he was hiding behind the shelf, Barca was nowhere to be seen. His voice rang out again.
“Our brothers…whou literally everything was taken away by the Empire.”
“Where the fuck are you hiding?”
It was difficult to pursue because the original body was wide and dizzy. It was close to impossible to go straight along the bloody needle even though he was smashing everything in his way. Barca continued.
“I didn’t have a wife and children, so I was at least better… Heo Eok Zaifa’s family, which he thought was so terrible, was brutally murdered at the hands of the imperial pigs. Aren’t you curious what happened…?”
“Shut up you bastard. Don’t sell your emotions.”
“Originally, both of our brothers would have become hunters… Cool, that happened decades ago from now…” The
chase was still struggling. Barca started talking about her past, ignoring Ronan’s words.
The tragedy of the time when the oppression of the North was severe long before the night of the canine. Barca, who was coughing violently, continued. “It was a day like any other…The borderlands were chaotic
, but our village was remote even in the North…No one expected it to happen…”
had no interest in In the first place, he hadn’t even committed a murder before it happened, so he had said it all. If there was any friction with the imperial army, it was just that they gave a little massage to the soldiers who were messing around and bullying their compatriots.
“Our wish was just to lead a peaceful life… If the Imperial Army wasn’t really evil, they would scare them away and send them away… Hehe, but they treat even such actions as if they were raped… The pigs organized a detached team just because they wanted to retaliate against our brothers…”
The tragedy occurred while the brothers were out hunting. The imperial army took advantage of the slaughter while the Turgeng brothers were away from the village.
On the hunt, what the brothers saw was a burning village, headless corpses scattered randomly, and the heads of the villagers displayed proudly on the guardstones at the entrance to the village.
“The funny thing is that the revenge was done on the villagers, not us… Among the heads with their eyes wide open were my parents and Jaifa’s wife and children.”
Ronan twitched his lips at the obvious yet terrible story. Adeshan’s expression remained rigid throughout the story.
“At the time of Fang Night, Jaifa was a sun burning black… He was a respectable brother who never forgot his hatred even after he falsely surrendered to the Empire… But at some point, the contents of the letter started to get weird… From the point where I met you, Ronan.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Okay…But Jaifa got weird…He tried to placate me, saying that now is not the time to pay attention to the Empire. While talking nonsense that our true enemies are separate…I cut ties with Zaifa at that point.”
bang! Ronan hit the ledge in front of him with his shoulder and knocked it over. I think I saw something like a tail at first glance, but I missed it again. The blood needle’s needle was spinning round and round following Barka’s movements.
“I hate the Empire…and now I hate Zaifa, who have forgotten their hatred, 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…”
“This is not crazy.”
Ronan chuckled. Nome had simply become a member of Nebula Klazie out of rebellion against Zaifa. Ronan learned that he had risen to the position of Bishop of the Northern Diocese of Nebula Clazie.
“So I learned necromancy and curses. Not too long ago, he developed a weapon that would destroy both the Empire and Zaifa. That’s…”
“Now shut up. I am not curious.”
Ronan cut his tongue. It wasn’t even worth listening to anymore. It was a pitiful story, to be sure, but it could not be an abdication of wrongdoing. There are countless people in the world who suffer misfortunes, but not all of them become criminals.
After switching the power source, Ronan pulled the hilt. A sword body covered in sparkling mana was pulled out. He turned to Adeshan and said.
“Stick to me. as close as possible.”
“huh.”
Adeshan did so without further ado. I thought I knew what Ronan was thinking. He fixed the point of the knife facing down and slammed it on the floor. Aaaaaang-! An invisible shockwave exploded around Ronan.
“Keugh?!”
Barca’s bewilderment was heard from somewhere. It was an aura stolen from Bishop Terranil in the past. The shock wave, which became stronger as the attack continued, blew away all the corpses on shelves and experimental tools around it. Seeing the formidable power, Ronan murmured to himself.
“It will be like this a long time ago.”
There was nothing more to hide. The two looked in the direction the needle was pointing. On the other side of the hazy dust cloud, Barca stood in the middle of the messy laboratory.
“Krurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.”
Ronan’s eyes met with a low growl. Being on the defensive, it seemed that his wild nature was revealed.
The limbs that had been severed had already been regenerated. Two large swords were held in both hands. Ronan, who aimed at Barca with the tip of his sword, opened his mouth.
“Kal looks good, is that the end of the will?”
“Wait a minute, Ronan. Something is wrong.”
It was a car about to trigger an aura. Suddenly, Adeshan pulled Ronan’s shoulder. He tilted his head.
“What?”
“That…isn’t Barca.”
“yes?”
Ronan’s eyebrows narrowed at the incomprehensible sound. When I heard it, I thought something was strange. He had a smaller physique than Barca, and his aura was much stronger. However, I was mistaken because the grain of energy was so similar. Ronan tilted his head.
“…then who is that?”
“I do not know either. However, this presence is definitely Zaifa’s… I can’t believe it.”
For an instant, Adeshan’s face froze. It was like someone who had figured out a scary fact that I didn’t even want to imagine. It was in the middle of an awkward silence. The assailant, who had been standing still, lunged at the two of them.
“Kuaaa!”
“What the fuck…!”
Ronan sighed. It was so fast that it seemed to disappear from sight. Ronan, who hurriedly blocked Adeshan’s way, raised his sword. Kaaaang-! A sharp metallic sound rang out.
“Grrr! Aagh!”
“This…!”
Ronan’s eyes widened. The three blades were facing each other, growling as if devouring each other. A wear tiger boy whose entire body was covered with black fur was competing with him.
“Ke-huong!”
“Keugh!”
Baren’s aura had to be activated, but it was so powerful that it was barely pushed out. In terms of speed and strength, he far surpassed Barca. I couldn’t figure out where this monster suddenly came from.
Deep scar marks were carved around his thick neck. The smell of rotting corpses wafted out whenever the boy opened his mouth. Like Barca’s other subordinates, he was like a corpse warrior brought back to life by necromancy. The boy, who had pulled back for an instant, charged again.
“Kyaaaaaagh!”
“What the hell is that?”
Kagagak! A whirlwind of sword strikes poured towards Ronan. There was no gap in the attack that poured out like a raging wave. Barka’s voice echoed from far away in the lab.
“Let me introduce you… Heo Eok, a masterpiece that contains my aspirations. I was able to decipher it barely in time…”
“Barca!”
The two turned their heads at the same time. This time it was really Barca. His wounds had not yet fully healed.
Metal prosthetic arms and legs were crudely implanted into the severed limbs. I tried to run to Barca immediately, but the monster in front of me didn’t allow it.
“Damn it, get out of the way…!”
“Krarak!”
No matter what angle Ronan swung his sword at, the boy avoided or responded. Every time the blades collided, embers bloomed. It was a level that was counted among the five opponents I had fought recently.
‘What is this bastard really?’
Suddenly, what Barca had said just a moment ago flashed through my mind. The weapon that would surely destroy Zaifa and the Empire at the same time was what he was talking about. Suddenly, Ronan’s face stiffened as he was sharing an agreement with the boy.
“You can’t.”
Power went into the hand holding the hilt. It seemed that he knew the boy’s identity. In an instant, goose bumps ran down my spine.
I couldn’t believe that people could be so evil. Although he was still young, the overall outline of his face was exactly the same as that of someone he knew.
“Yes…I am Aradan Turgung, son of Zaifa.”