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Chapter 85
Ruger found his closest companion; that man called himself the ninth worshiper.
The ninth worshiper was in Mittil. When Ruger asked why the man, who was supposed to be stationed in a village near Confosse, went to the aforementioned city, the worshiper said that he was chasing a pilgrim who had ruined his carefully crafted ritual. Perhaps that pilgrim was the protagonist in the rumors that had Confosse in a huge stir. Feeling that the two were strangely intertwined, Ruger had traveled all the way to Mittil.
The ninth admirer was just about to cross the river when Ruger arrived. He stated that the pilgrim he was chasing had escaped by boat just last night.
Ruger coaxed that man and asked him to find Luisen using the hair that the attendant had gathered. He had even brought the sacrificial materials the man had demanded: a young, weak, and desperate living person.
Though, by now, that person would have served his purpose and was no longer a living sacrifice.
“Leaving in the middle of a rite? How arrogant.”
The ninth worshiper and the eleventh worshiper followed him. The eleventh worshiper was a man that ran with Direwolves and exterminated the village of refugees hiding in the forest. That man moved according to his devotional duties rather than being led by his own interests.
Blood and dirt were splattered all over the two men’s robes and bodies.  What they had done was clear. Their faces were filled with joy, and their hands trembled with excitement.
“The way you guys go about it is disgusting–you should at least make it pleasant if you want others to watch,” Ruger said sarcastically.
“You’re the one who brought the sacrifice and asked for our help. Why act all noble now? Did you, of all people, dream of becoming a knight?”
The worshipers were sarcastic right back as if they had heard something incredibly ridiculous. Ruger’s expression immediately distorted. It was true–he had once aspired to become a knight. That dream was an indelible wound; the attendant would not suffer anyone poking that scar. “If it weren’t for my father, I wouldn’t be rubbing shoulders with you people.”
“You don’t even have a father. Your mother didn’t have a husband, after all. Or, was it something like this–a virgin had a baby so she was pregnant with the devil’s child? Then, I suppose we’re the ones that have to take care of and rear you!” The worshipers giggled at Ruger.
Ruger clenched his fists. He would strangle them if he could, but that wasn’t possible.
After a good laugh, the two patted Ruger on the shoulder, “We’re just joking. Of course we know who your father is. He’s our only patron after all. That’s why we’re helping you.”
“Now, I’ll tell you where the duke is headed.” The ninth worshiper’s eyes turned red. The blood on his body quickly transformed into black smoke, climbed up his body, and wrapped around his arms. The wisps turned into a finger pointed towards the river before stretching away into the distance. “So he’s on that river. It just so happens that he’s on the same boat with the pilgrim that I’ve been looking for.”
Ruger recalled his map; Luisen’s movements were quickly drawn with his mind’s eye. ‘I’ll catch up with you in no time.’
Though the distance between them was wide, the attendant thought he could catch up quickly with the worshiper’s power. ‘No, rather, I’ll go ahead a little.’
Carlton wasn’t a pushover; he wasn’t an easy target to pursue or to defeat. Rather, it would be better to set a trap in Luisen and Carlton’s path, separate the two, then devour them both all at once. Taking advantage of a beneficial position and a surprise attack would allow the attendant to perfectly capture the young lord.
“Let’s go together. I think the pilgrim I was searching for is in that direction as well. I must take revenge for the deaths of my carefully reared children,” the ninth worshiper said.
His children were the pair of giant centipedes that turned Confosse upside down. Actually, Ruger was the one who rescued the baby centipedes and gave them to him. At that time, those centipedes were definitely ordinary; the attendant couldn’t figure out how the worshiper raised them into such huge monsters.
Ruger was working with them, but he only really followed orders. He didn’t really know everything about their cause and methods…taming and creating monsters… all that. He only knew that they used strange powers.
The night worshiper chanted a spell and out popped a monster he had prepared in advance. The monster–a giant eel–meandered through the water before coming back with a small boat in its mouth.
‘Did he personally make this one too?’ Ruger quietly observed the eel.
“Shall I make you one too?” the eleventh worshiper said. The worshippers giggled once more when the attendant ignored them. “You have a gift.”
Ruger ignored those words and returned to the ritual site. Bloodstains remained intact on the ground, but the bones had somehow disappeared. He tamped down his disgust as he picked up the golden locks of Luisen’s hair, which had been placed underneath the goat bust.
Strands of hair drenched with the blood of an innocent victim.
It had served its purpose, but the attendant didn’t want to leave it like this. Ruger diligently wiped away the blood with a handkerchief.
‘I took so much care to grow this out.’
Ruger remembered how, one morning, his ward rolled around hungover in his pajamas. He oiled the young lord’s hair and brushed it carefully. Those were happier times.
What would have happened if he weren’t a spy? Perhaps he might still be touching Luisen’s hair. At the very least, he wouldn’t be forcing his young lord to cut his hair to sell it for travel expenses. Carlton, that bastard, was too incompetent.
‘If it were me, I would never have let that happen.’ He was confident he could protect Luisen–keep the young lord safe–better than anyone else. However, these were all futile fantasies. Ruger was a spy from the very beginning; his real master was someone else.
It was only at the command of his real owner that he became Luisen’s servant. Somehow, he had gotten attached, so the attendant often imagined what it would have been like to be the young duke’s knight. But, in the end, it was all meaningless.
No matter how his heart may be swayed towards Luisen, he had to obey his master’s orders. Like a knight loyally serving his lord. Although he did not officially become certified as a knight, the knightly teachings and code were always within Ruger’s mind.
As he was commanded, he would take the Duke of Anies.
He only followed Luisen based on his commands–nothing more, nothing less.
Despite repeating those vows, Ruger still cherished that blood-soaked hair contained in his pocket. Looking back, the attendant saw the two worshipers giggling back at him.
***
The Anies duchy at a similar time:
Despite the lord’s unprecedented disappearance, the people at the duchy weren’t frustrated nor desperate. They had prepared for the winter in advance and had been working through the backlog of work to solidify the duchy.
There was a shortage of manpower and capital, but no one complained. During the past month’s crisis, Luisen held out for the duchy, so the denizens garnered strength as they recalled the young lord’s strong visage.
At the heart of this endeavor was the general. At times like this, he maintained his role as a steady anchor without wavering; he believed he could only help Luisen by returning the duchy to its former strength. However, today’s news was a little too much for him.
The general pressed hard at his two eyes. In his hand was a reply to a letter he sent to the king.
A considerable number of personnel had been relocated from the duchy to support the second prince; those men were still unable to return after they had been taken prisoner. As a result, even though Luisen had disappeared, he couldn’t properly arrange a search party. So, the duchy informed the king of Luisen’s disappearance and requested for the return of some of those prisoners.
He received a rejection. To summarize the king’s response–the letter was nearly two pages long–returning the prisoners was impossible unless Luisen himself pledges and proves his loyalty to the king and requests their return. In other words, the king was dissuading the duchy from even searching for the young duke.
‘How could this be?! Does his Highness mean to say that he cares not what happens to the Duke now…?!’
Despite the fact that Luisen sided with the second prince, he was still one of the few Great Lords. If he wasn’t planning on abandoning the South, the king couldn’t treat Luisen like this. The general pressed down on his throbbing eyes when someone else came into his office. Judging by the rough and heavy footsteps, it must be one of Carlton’s subordinates and not one of the duchy’s vassals.
Because the general didn’t believe Ruger’s words from the beginning, when he caught Carlton’s men, he treated them politely and asked them for further details.
After meeting the first prince’s messenger, Carlton went ahead to pick up Luisen; the mercenary’s men followed. They had informed him of the monster’s attack, the ensuing fierce battle, and that they had found traces of someone trying to purposefully drag Luisen away.
The general learned that Carlton was travelling with Luisen–both people were safe and on the way to the capital. The men had even told him that Ruger had lied.
As soon as the general heard everything, he released Carlton’s men and tried to capture Ruger. Though they had failed to capture the attendant, the men remained in the duke’s castle and lent the people their strength. Because Carlton was with Luisen, the duchy’s retainers and the men were naturally in the same boat.
The duchy even helped to bring together Carlton’s scattered soldiers; the men were filling in for the duchy’s scarcity. Now, there was nothing more pleasant than their visit.
“We have news from the royal city.”
The general’s eyes opened wide at those words. The first thing that he did with the duchy’s power was to contact an informant that Carlton had planted within the royal castle. It seems that their efforts produced results faster than expected.
“What did they say? What are the capital’s noble’s reactions to the Duke’s disappearance?”
“It’s nothing very good. Apparently, there’s this rumor going around.”
“What is it?”
“That the Southern Great Lord will be replaced.”
“What?!” the general roared. Honestly–the Duke of Anies is still alive and well. What are these ridiculous rumors circulating in the capital? “What about his Highness? Is he really letting such an insolent rumor stand?”
“That’s… It’s very rare for the King to hold back his thoughts. It seems the first prince is taking care of all the state affairs…and is sitting on the sidelines on the matter of the rumor… But, it’s clear that he thinks negatively of the Duke of Anies.”
“That can’t be.” The general stumbled to his knees. “No way… Had the first prince staged the kidnapping…”
“I don’t believe so. He wouldn’t have told our captain to escort the Duke if that were the case.” Carlton’s men actively denied that train of thought, but inwardly they were similarly anxious. Strange happenings were occurring. If the first prince was really behind Luisen’s disappearance, what will happen to Carlton? And what about themselves?
In trying to deny the first prince’s involvement, they continued to comfort the general. “At the very least, the Duke should be safe. Our captain is with him. They’ll make it to the capital safely.”
“…That’s right. Of course. The Duke is so ignorant of worldly matters; I’m just glad Sir Carlton is with him.”
At the very least, the young lord wouldn’t be murdered by thieves or starve to death.
The fact that the mercenary was with the young lord brought him relief. The general smiled bitterly as he recalled how he had tried his hardest to separate the two.
That wasn’t all. Carlton’s men were of great help to the understaffed duchy. How ironic that the enemy that oppressed them–that which they considered the most dangerous–was now their most reliable ally.
The general rubbed his face clean with his hands and steeled his heart. Though he ached as he thought of Luisen, his charge, suffering from far away…but the general must get a hold of himself. Now, more than anytime else.
‘I’m not sure what the prince is thinking, but… I can’t just wash my hands of this crisis and surrender. I must make provisions.’
If the first prince was truly behind this, then Luisen wouldn’t be able to relax even after he entered the capital. Carlton wouldn’t be of much help there either. But that didn’t mean there was no solution. The general was worried but worked laboriously.
There would be people who would protest if the prince tried to change the Southern Great Lord willfully. To be exact, the other three Great Lords. It was difficult to say that they had good relations with Luisen or the duchy in general, but they wouldn’t want to lose their own authority if the prince set a precedent by transferring a Great Lord’s power to another family. The enemy of an enemy is one’s friend.
The general hastily penned a letter to the other great lords. He deliberately provoked them by distorting the story–that the royal family was violating their authority. The letters could be delivered quickly with the help of Carlton’s men.
After finishing his business, the general looked out the window at the blue sky. He remembered a young Luisen who had often caught colds in the chilly air. That same Luisen who he’d embraced after he came tearfully up to the general with a runny nose would now have grown up to adventure all by himself under that same sky.
The general prayed earnestly that this young man whom he had raised–the young man who was now beginning to soar despite the hardships facing him–would not be crushed.