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“Remnants of the rebel forces from Arbalde?” Juan asked.
Nienna rode her horse at high speed on the snowy field. Behind her was the cavalry that was chasing her to try and catch up to her. At a glance, Juan immediately noticed that the number of cavalrymen had nearly halved. One could guess that the other half was carrying out a separate operation.
“Yes. To be precise, they are the remaining villagers—the remaining villagers who remained in the village after the warriors of Arbalde took their forces to attend war… Maybe I should call them survivors instead. Anyway, I was gathering all of them in a single place,” Nienna answered.
“Have you been gathering them for them to be taken to the cavalry?”
“I would have, but the northeast is too big. There’s too many of them to be gathered into the cavalry. Instead, I made sure to trample on the villagers and deteriorated the climate to create an environment that is impossible for the villagers to survive in. Then they will have no choice but to gather in large groups naturally.”
Juan nodded; he realized that the soldiers’ suspicions about Nienna causing the snow to fall nonstop was correct. It was Nienna’s plan to trample on even the smallest means of survival for the survivors and drive the starved villagers into a single place—it was an operation to exterminate them by the roots.
It was a cruel and ruthless plan, but no one would be surprised; after all, Nienna had never stopped at anything to get rid of the Crack.
Meanwhile, Nienna took a glance at Juan as if she was wondering what was on his mind after hearing about what she had done.
“Do you think that I’m a terrible person for doing what I did?”
“Not really.”
‘You gotta do what you gotta do in order to deal with the Crack.’
Juan believed in Nienna’s judgment—the judgment of the person who had long since been protecting the north from the Crack. In fact, Juan was the one who had to learn from Nienna how to deal with the Crack. Gerard’s failure to do so had caused the tragedy of Arbalde.
“I’ve already allowed you to do the same thing in the past. This time around is just an extension of that time, and I would be nothing but a hypocrite if I oppose it or feel bad about it just because it is happening in front of my eyes this time around,” Juan said.
“I wish Gerard could also have thought like that,” Nienna muttered, smiling weakly. “Gerard was expressionless throughout the slaughter of the Arbalde residents. I couldn’t figure out what was on his mind. I wish he would have at least opposed me and made a fuss about it. Then… maybe none of this would have ever happened.”
“Nienna, I was the one who placed him in a position where he could take charge and be responsible for himself. He was in a position where he was capable of making his own judgments. If he couldn’t accept or understand my order, he could have come to me to protest or petition in person. But he didn’t do anything,” Juan said with a firm expression.
“That’s true. If he’s a commander, then he should be responsible.”
Nienna had never once listened to Juan’s order to move the troops at once—she had only moved when she was thoroughly convinced that it was necessary, regardless of the emperor’s order. It was only natural that she was used to thinking for herself and taking matters into her own hands; unlike Juan, who had to think about the balance of the entire empire, Nienna was only focused on dealing with the Crack in the north.
Even her earlier decision to invade the East when the Crack began to spread its roots there was based on her independent judgment.
“I think yours is an extreme case of that, but… do you really think that Gerard will come? I heard that there are only a little over a thousand survivors. And you expect Gerard to come to save only that many survivors?”
“It’s clear that Gerard is somewhere nearby. Besides, you and I are also here. Right now, it’s the moment when the tragedy of Arbalde is about to repeat itself, albeit on a smaller scale. I honestly think that Gerard will definitely show up if he has something he wants to say to us—whether it’s to rebel against you, or because he feels a sense of obligation to protect the people. Even him not showing up at all can be a message too, in the sense of him obeying your order after what happened in the past.”
Basically, Nienna was forcing Gerard to give her an answer about how he felt about what happened in the past. It was her way of confirming whether she was in the right or Gerard was in the right, with the emperor acting as the judge. Thus, Nienna was confident that Gerard would show himself.
“Hela will cooperate with us even if he doesn’t come out.”
Juan looked back at Hela who was following him from behind. Juan had to admit that Hela was quite a brave warrior unlike what her age would make you believe. But he couldn’t imagine how she would be useful as bait. It was true that Hela used to be Gerard’s lover at one point in time, but Juan couldn’t be sure that Gerard would appear to save her while knowing that she was a bait.
Then Hela made a gesture of touching her lips—it was a message that she had something to say to Juan. So, Juan slowed down his horse and approached Hela.
“Juan, I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you about this back in the fortress of Beldeve. But…”
Hela carefully brought up a story, almost as if she was still hesitant. Juan intuitively felt that she was about to bring up something serious upon seeing Hela being so hesitant.
“Do you remember the day that I fell from the fortress of Beldeve?” Hela asked.
“I do. I thought you must have fallen into the ocean.”
“I didn’t get even a single drop of water on my body; Gerard Gain came to save me.”
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Juan immediately froze upon hearing Hela’s words.
“...How?”
“I’m not too sure either. I thought I was dead the moment I felt a huge shock, but Gerad was right in front of me. In fact, I even doubted whether I was already dead at that moment.”
“But I didn’t feel even the slightest trace of Gerard.”
“That’s probably because of the Crack. Just before I fell into the water, I felt a strange distortion of space. Then the direction of my fall changed and the landscape changed into one I had never seen before. Then I saw Gerard after that.”
“Did you see his face?”
“His face was covered with bandages, but I could tell just by looking at his eyes—after all, those are eyes that I’ve never forgotten. I couldn’t even talk to him, since I lost consciousness almost immediately. I was already in General Nienna’s barracks when I woke up after that.”
“Did Gerard take you to Nienna himself?”
“They didn’t meet in person, but General Nienna said that she received Gerard’s message in her dreams. Thanks to that message, General Nienna was able to save me. That’s why General Nienna believes that she can use me or the lives of others to get Gerard to show himself.”
“Do you think there’s a possibility that he will show himself?”
“I think so.”
Juan quietly stared at Hela.
Gerard was a child made by cloning Juan’s own soul. Gerard was quite similar to Juan in many ways, including his way of thinking, his behavior, and his appearance. But there was one thing that was definitely different from Juan: Gerard was not a born emperor. He had been in close contact with humans on the lower rung of society.
“I feel embarrassed and sorry to ask this favor off of you, but can you first listen to what Gerard Gain has to say instead of killing him right away when you meet him?” Hela asked with a desperate look.
“I thought you hated Gerard,” Juan said.
“‘Hate’ is not a good enough word to explain what I feel toward him. How could I ever judge the severity of his crimes with my trivial thoughts? I’d even like to kill him with my own hands considering the harm he did to the empire. But…” Hela continued speaking with a painful expression. “I can’t help but hope that he’s still the man I used to know. His eyes that I saw in that moment inside the Crack have not changed the slightest bit from the past. I can’t believe his eyes were able to shine like that even within the Crack that distorts everything.”
“You could be delusional due to your nostalgia, Hela. You might even have been agitated because you were faced with the fear of death.”
“Then I would like to leave the judgment to Your Majesty. I won’t argue or protest even if you decide to cut off his neck, since it is true that he has committed terrible crimes. I just want you to give him some time to leave his last will.”
Hela’s tone was desperate. Juan didn’t answer, but Hela saw him nodding slightly.
***
It was hard to find a plain snowfield around the coast. The coast was full of sand, mud, traces of horse hooves, scattered footprints, and blood.
As the survivors got closer to the beach, the messy traces of the tragic battle caught their sight. But when they finally arrived at the sea, the surroundings became cleaner than ever. However, the winter waves were still rough.
The survivors of the northeastern rebels were gathered in one place with their backs facing the rough sea. They were no longer able to find a route to retreat and were almost dipping their feet in the cold seawater—they were completely cornered.
The survivors who were not even dressed appropriately for the cold weather trembled in the cold sea breeze and the rising waves. Some unexpectedly ran out, as if they were looking for a gap to escape, but were immediately blocked by the cavalry. Unlike the warriors of Arbalde, the survivors stepped back as soon as the cavalrymen pointed their spears at them.
“You’re all doing quite a good job at keeping them in one place.”
The eyes of the survivors became even more desperate when they saw Nienna and the rest of the cavalry arriving at the scene. There were about ten thousand heavily armed cavalrymen behind Nienna. On the other hand, there were only about a thousand hungry survivors who were completely unarmed. What was even more devastating was the fact that the opponent was Nienna Nelben; there was no way she'd let any of them live.
It was only a little over two hundred cavalrymen who were actually driving the survivors into the corner—most of the cavalrymen were just watching them from the hills surrounding the beach. But the fact that there was no room for them to escape didn’t change.
“I don’t think Gerard is here yet,” Juan said.
“Probably not. Don’t you think we need to stimulate him a bit? I don’t like killing people like this… but he might not show himself if we go easy on them,” Nienna said as she tilted her head.
The cavalrymen began to move forward upon seeing Nienna’s signal. The survivors were gradually pushed out to the sea, almost as if they were being pushed by the tip of the spears. The survivors in the rear row were already waist-deep in the water.
On the other hand, Nienna looked utterly uncomfortable upon seeing such a sight.
“Gerard, please show yourself quickly…” Nienna muttered.
“You’re going to kill them anyway, aren’t you?” Juan asked.
“Slow and painful deaths are only suitable for monsters, not humans. Although I’m good at killing people, I’m not a huge fan of murder, dad.”
Complaints, screams, and cries broke out among the survivors. Juan felt like a villain upon hearing the cries of the children. In fact, Juan was willing to be a villain as long as he could achieve his goals. But that didn’t mean he didn’t feel anything from seeing such a terrible sight.
‘I’m glad that Sina’s not here.’
Sina couldn’t follow them to the sea; since Hela was coming with them, and at least one commander needed to stay and look after the fortress of Beldeve, it was decided that Sina had to stay. There was no way Sina would have been able to stay still if she had seen this situation. She would have constantly tried to think of ways to save the survivors and reverse the encroachment of the Crack.
‘But that’s impossible, Sina.’
Anyone who understood the properties of the Crack knew that to be eroded by the Crack was like pottery being broken. They could be put back together, but the effect of the Crack in their soul would last forever. The worst thing was that those who were encroached upon by the Crack would also corrupt those around them.
‘Maybe they can be saved from the Crack when ash can become wood again and rust can be turned into iron.’
In other words, saving one from the Crack was impossible. Juan recalled feeling helpless about the Crack even during his time as the emperor. Juan had a feeling that the reason he relied so much on Nienna for issues related to the Crack might be due to that feeling of helplessness.
“He doesn’t seem to want to come out at all…” Nienna muttered with a grim look on her face.
Juan couldn’t tell whether this was good news or bad news. Juan wondered whether Gerard was silently agreeing with Nienna’s policy, or he was simply indifferent toward the fate of the survivors of Arbalde.
‘He would have shown his face when the warriors of Arbalde were being wiped out if he really cared about them.’
The survivors were now shivering in the sea with water reaching up to their chest. There were a few people who had lifted the children above their heads to allow the children to breathe while they themselves were almost drowning. But even the children who were being lifted had started to turn blue already.
The rough sea waves and the harsh wind would end the lives of the survivors in just half an hour. More than a thousand people were bound to quietly disappear into the sea without even having a chance to bleed.
“He won’t show himself, dad. I mean, I guess it’s only natural that he can’t show his face if he knew that this was a scheme. Let’s just end it. I’ll have to ask Hela for a difficult favor.”
Nienna frowned and turned her head. As she raised her hand, the cavalrymen raised their spears and prepared to advance.
Just when Nienna was about to give the order to the cavalry, her eyes turned toward a place. Juan also turned his head in that direction.
Something was flying toward them from beyond the sky. Nienna’s face distorted and she screamed.
“All troops, retreat! Get out of here as fast as you can!”
At that moment, a huge shadow fell over everyone’s heads.