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Pavan’s eyes widened as he stared at Hela.
Hela’s suggestion wasn’t something that had been discussed with Pavan, and he didn’t know what to do in this situation, since he had been tasked with protecting Hela.
Meanwhile, Dismas twisted his lips in a sneer.
“What a ridiculous suggestion. A worthy hostage, you say? Why would I give up the young Captain of the Order of Huginn for a handicapped senior like you?”
“The Order of Huginn’s fame is all in the past. Their legendary knights are all dead, with Dilmond being the last one to have died. The only ability that they had left was their Captain’s necromancy, but Anya doesn’t even have that anymore. It’s a waste to call her the Captain of the Order of Huginn,” Hela said.
She thumped her chest.
“On the other hand, I created my own value regardless of my ability to use magic or swords to begin with. I am the ruler of the East by myself, am a Duchess, and now hold the core power of Torra. As you know, the East has no successors. So the capital giving up on me is no different from them giving up on the East.”
Hela’s story was convincing enough to intrigue even Pavan. It was quite a famous story that there was no successor in the East. In fact, the East had suffered from great confusion and chaos due to the absence of a successor when Hela was assumed dead for a while. It was certainly guaranteed that the people in the east would be quite shaken if Hela was known to have been taken as hostage.
However, there was no change in Dismas’ expression.
“I don’t care about any of that political bullshit. All that matters to me is that I have to be loyal to His Majesty.”
“His Majesty would have gladly agreed to my suggestion if he could occupy the entire east without shedding a single drop of blood.”
“Having you does not mean that I will have the East. Besides, I am not His Majesty. I just follow his will, that’s all. It is my duty to preach his will, teach people of his will, and cleanse those who do not accept it. So tell me. Why shouldn’t I burn Anya, you, and this Captain of the Order of the Capital?”
Pavan felt the strong urge to ask Dismas if he was really planning to kill the envoys sent from the Capital, but he barely managed to hold himself back. After all, it was Hela who was sitting at the negotiating table. It was not Pavan’s place to step up.
But Hela seemed to focus on the other part of Dismas’ words. Given that he had also mentioned Anya, she certainly seemed to be alive.
Hela sighed.
“You would have already burned us all as soon as we arrived if you were really intent on killing us. I have nothing more to offer you other than this. But I think this is an attractive enough suggestion already. I would have offered you the Captain of the Order of the Capital as a hostage as well if I could, but…” Hela shrugged.
Pavan looked at Hela with a shocked expression, but Hela didn’t even spare him a single glance.
“He wouldn’t agree with me because not only does he never listen to me, but he is also a terribly selfish human being. Besides, we already have a lot of things we need to get back from you, Doctrinal General Dismas. I’m afraid you will start to doubt us if we offer you too much. Let’s call this a nice start, shall we?”
Pavan grew nervous upon seeing Hela's arrogant attitude, while Dismas smiled as if he was interested. His face which had been expressionless like a frozen mask suddenly turned into a kind and warm face just like when he first met Hela and Pavan.
“Duke Henna, you never fail to impress me. I must say I am quite amazed at your guts to be able to put yourself up as a bet,” Dismas approached Hela again and shook her hand. “To be honest, we were also thinking of sending back Miss Anya for humanitarian purposes. She was quite a pain to deal with. But it would be rude of me to turn down your offer. Please, do stay with us and provide a bridgehead for negotiations with those who are currently illegally occupying Torra.”
Dismas and Juan could never tolerate each other in the first place. Being a faithful believer of the Church, Dismas couldn’t forgive Juan who had ‘illegally’ occupied Torra and expelled the Pope. Meanwhile, Juan had many things he had to get back from Dismas including his original body as well as the Pope.
Hela wondered if it would be meaningful to serve as a bridgehead for negotiations at a time when both sides had no choice but to fight unless they suddenly made up, yet she was relieved that Dismas had accepted the negotiations for now.
“Then can I see Miss Anya please?” Hela asked
“Yes, of course. Please follow me,” Dismas answered.
Hela tried to follow Dismas, but Pavan suddenly grabbed her by the hem of her sleeve.
“What the heck are you doing, master? You should have let me know in advance if you had a plan like this.”
“A plan, my ass. Even His Majesty doesn’t know about this.”
“Then what is it? You could be burned to ashes at any time if you stay around Dismas. I wasn’t surprised to hear that the Captain of the Order of Huginn was burned earlier. Rather, I was surprised to hear that she is still alive.”
A terrible rumor about the west had spread throughout the Capital. The atmosphere of Torra which was dominated by the Church was considered rather secular compared to the west. This was also due to the influence of the House of Peers and Barth Baltic. But in the west where there were no such checks from different forces, stories related to flames, ashes, and chains were heard quite often.
“Do you really think I’d be afraid of being burned to death at my age? Save the maiden and sacrifice the old lady—that’s good enough trade in my opinion.”
“Maybe for you, but I have to send you back safely to be acknowledged by His Majesty. You can’t just recklessly make decisions on your own and…”
“Well, that’s even better. I will be able to damage your career.”
“Master, please…”
Pavan sighed and shook his head. Then, he suddenly asked a question as if something had inadvertently come to his mind.
“Come to think of it, how did you know that the Captain of the Order of Huginn doesn’t scream no matter what?”
“I didn’t. I just threw a bait and Dismas took it. I didn’t have much to lose since the ashes can simply be gathered up again,” Hela shrugged.
Pavan was left speechless.
At that moment, Dismas’ voice was heard.
“Duke Henna and Captain Pavan, we are here.”
The place that Dismas led Hela and Pavan to was an unusually large tent.
***
A vile smell burst out when the door of the tent was opened. It was a smell that both Hela and Pavan were familiar with—it was the smell of rotting corpses and blood. The two flinched and got nervous.
‘They have kept Anya in a place like this?’
Hela glared at Dismas.
“Please go on in. Don’t worry, none of the people in there are dead.”
Pavan grabbed Hela by the arm, but Hela shook off his hand and entered the tent. Dismas and Pavan followed right behind her. The inside of the tent was so dark that it took some time for their eyes to get used to the darkness.
As their eyes slowly got used to the darkness, the red flesh and blood that was scattered everywhere began to fill their sight.
Hela covered her nose with her sleeves and hastily looked around.
In the middle of the pieces of flesh was Anya, who was tied to a pillar.
Hela was about to rush toward Anya, but was once again stopped by Pavan.
“Master, please move with caution. We don’t even know what these are.”
“You’re right. I wasn’t careful enough. Of course my life is more important than yours. Pavan, you take the lead.”
“Master, please.”
Pavan was forcibly pushed by Hela to approach Anya first.
Meanwhile, Anya was helplessly tied to the pillar, almost as if she had lost consciousness. While Hela was taking a closer look at her to examine her condition, Pavan glared at Dismas to check whether he was planning something behind their backs.
However, Dismas didn’t do anything other than standing far behind to watch them.
Meanwhile, on Anya’s back, they found clear wounds and scars caused by whipping. It was a clear sign of harsh torture.
At that moment, Dismas suddenly opened his mouth.
“Oh, by the way. There’s one thing I forgot to tell you.”
Hela and Pavan turned their heads toward Dismas.
“What we are doing is making something that I like to call a ‘Cainheryar.’ It’s nothing too special; its purpose is to bring the fake divine beings back to life and control them using the power of His Majesty. The gods used to enslave us humans, but now we get to be the ones to enslave the gods.”
Hela knew what Dismas was talking about, since she had heard about Iolin’s resurrection. However, she couldn’t understand why he suddenly brought up that matter in the midst of their conversation.
“That woman in front of you ended up destroying Iolin’s Cainheryar. Unfortunately, I don’t even have a chance to fix it. At the same time, she lost her necromancy and became nothing more than an ordinary human in return. So, I had originally thought about burning her in flames of repentance, but then I happened to find a unique potential from her while trying to urge her to repent,” Dismas said with a benevolent smile. “That woman has the potential to become Nigrato’s Cainheryar.”
After he finished speaking, Dismas immediately pulled the device that was hanging down on one side of the tent. The ceiling of the tent suddenly split in all directions, and the gloomy light of the cloudy sky poured in to brighten the surroundings.
For a moment, Pavan saw a fierce light. He hurriedly pulled Hela off of Anya.
“Master! Stay away from her!”
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“What the hell are you doing, you bastard!”
Hela punched Pavan in his nose. Blood spurted out of Pavan’s nose once again, but he did not let go of Hela.
“It’s a trap, master! That asshole has no intention of sending Anya back!”
“I know that!”
Instead of persuading Pavan, Hela reached out her hand and drew a sword from the sheath on his waist.
Seeing this, Pavan freaked out and let go of Hela, and Hela did not miss her chance. She immediately ran straight to Anya as soon as she drew out the sword, while Dismas smirked at the sight.
“There is a high possibility of failure, since her body isn’t completely divine, but a possibility is still a possibility. A Cainheryar of the god of death is definitely worth trying for, don’t you think so?”
Anya, who was still tied to the pillar, began to tremble after the sunlight hit her body. The color of the meat that was scattered everywhere quickly changed as it all began to dry up at the same time as Anya started trembling.
At the same time, Hela took Pavan's sword and hurriedly rushed toward Anya to cut off the rope tying her to the pillar.
Seeing this, Pavan bit his lips at the sight and took something out of his pocket.
“I’ll take it that the negotiations have failed, master!”
His hand reached out and aimed for the sky as he tightly held some kind of a stick.
Hela could not understand his actions nor did she know the identity of the stick.
‘Is it supposed to symbolize a white flag or something?’
At that moment, flames soared into the sky, piercing through the clouds and soon spread out in the sky.
Dismas looked at the sky in curiosity, but soon became expressionless.
“A signal flare?”
A small dragon began to descend through the clouds.
“Your Grace!”
Horhell and Orca were approaching Hela and Pavan at a rapid pace. Although Orca was a dragon, Dismas laughed upon seeing its small size; it almost looked as if it had just hatched yesterday.
“Duke Henna. That dragon is way too small compared to the ones I saw in Beldeve back in the day. If you thought that a dragon could act as your plan B, you are too…”
However, at that moment, the air throughout the basin was being swept away. The tents on the basin were immediately blown away and scattered as if they were simply dust. The shock was so great that even Dismas staggered on his feet. His face hardened once again as he turned his head toward the sky.
The shockwave that destroyed the tents had also scattered the dark clouds in the sky. However, the clear sky was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a huge dragon that was hundreds of meters long and seemed to cover the entire basin was hovering in the air.
It was Entalucia.
***
[I have come hither only to protect Orca. I have vowed not to intervene or release I’s flames, whether the opponent be a giant or a human, so thou shouldst handle the rest.]
“I know, I know,” Juan calmly replied. Dragons had vowed not to intervene directly in the wars between humans, and Juan also remembered hearing about such a vow.
Meanwhile, Juan’s eyes turned to Haild, who nodded upon receiving his signal.
Juan quickly jumped into the air. Flames appeared around his rapidly descending body, and Juan’s body fell into the center of the Loen Basin like a falling meteor. A huge dust cloud rose as he fell, but the fierce heat soaring up from the middle caused the dust cloud to burn even before it could rise up to the sky.
Dismas silently stared at Juan who was approaching him while covered in flames.
“I apologize for messing up the negotiation table like this. But…”
Juan opened his mouth first.
“I assume that you don’t have much to be upset about, since you also used the negotiation table as a trap, right?”