Chapter 172 : Chapter 172
Chapter 172
Niko was a giant.
Amethus was tall himself, but Niko was so large it was as if he had two more heads stacked on top and yet, his massive frame was solid.
Despite his size, there wasn't a single gap; his muscles and sinews writhed.
If not for his white beard and deeply etched wrinkles, he wouldn't have looked like an old man over seventy at all.
There was no part of his physique that wasn't enormous, but his hands and feet were especially gigantic.
Both his hands and feet were as broad and firm as cauldron lids.
With such thick and long fingers, it must have been easy for him to grip the handle of the super-sized oar, which was no different from a crossbeam.
A thick vein popped on the forehead of Niko, who held the super-sized oar on his shoulder.
He did not hide his anger.
“I remember you.”
Niko opened his mouth.
“Kid Pasionus. You were on gold-toothed Kifkos's ship.”
“Will you believe me if I say you saw wrong?”
“Even the way you tell such a lame lie is exactly the same as back then.”
The old fisherman scoffed. His gaze shifted to Amethus standing beside me.
“And the last Aretion. Seven years ago, you were chasing and being chased by each other, and now you’ve become allies.”
“Tsk.”
I made a clicking sound with my tongue.
“To be honest, I didn't think it would take you a whole ten days to arrive, Niko.”
I was still gripping the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’. Ready to swing it at any moment.
“Still, I thought it would take at least five days, but half a day… your love for your granddaughter is profound.”
“I believe I told you seven years ago. I don’t have a granddaughter.”
“…Didn’t you just call her your granddaughter?”
I furrowed my brows. Niko Nereyades and Nana Nereyades.
The Regressor Prince knew why they denied each other.
He also knew of the complex circumstances that couldn't be expressed in just a few sentences.
However, separate from what I already knew, I was dumbfounded by Niko’s shamelessness.
“Then what is Nana?”
“She is my direct superior.”
“While carrying her on your back like that?”
“And she is also my son’s daughter.”
“…Let’s just say that’s the case.”
Having lost the will to deal with him any further, I shook my head.
I was curious about their family matters, but it wasn't an issue to be touched upon now.
“Legion Commander Niko.”
Nana, who had been on his back, spoke.
She no longer called Niko ‘grandfather’.
A moment ago, her heart had slipped out because her life was threatened and her mind was dazed.
The Nine Streams General commanded with a firm face.
“Put me down now. Even if you hate it, let’s join forces for now and crush those bastards.”
“I cannot do that.”
Nana’s face hardened.
“…This is an order.”
“I am aware.”
“…And you still intend to disobey?”
“Yes.”
Niko was composed.
He casually took the ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’ from Nana’s hand.
The sea-colored carapace remaining on her body crumbled and vanished all at once.
Feeling the Ancient Weapon rampaging in his hand, the Whale of Hobel Bay clenched his fist.
“General Nana, I have not grown weaker than when I was an Imperial Ten Great General.”
His strength may have diminished, but his wisdom had grown.
He was confident he could even defeat his younger self.
“Which means if we fight like this, I can kill one of those two.”
“In return, we can kill both of you.”
My tone was scathing.
However, far from denying it, Niko nodded his head.
“That is correct. You two are stronger than the two of us.”
“……”
Nana bit her lip.
She was an Imperial Ten Great General. One of the ten generals the Cordis Empire prided itself on.
Niko had also once been an Imperial Ten Great General, and his skills were even better now than they were back then.
There were two Imperial Ten Great Generals, yet they couldn't match Amethus and me.
It was tantamount to the pride of the Cordis Empire being broken.
Nana felt an emotion close to humiliation.
“General Nana, if it were up to me, I’d want to beat those two to death as well.”
He speaks harshly.
I grumbled, and Niko steadfastly continued what he had to say.
“It wouldn’t matter if I were the one to die. It is time for old Niko to rest.”
“……”
“However, do not forget that you are the future of the Empire, General. Let us retreat today.”
With him bringing up the future of the Empire, Nana couldn’t bring herself to retort further. She answered by not struggling to be let down.
“I’d like to ask where you think you’re going, but… the 11th Legion must be close by, right?”
I scratched my chin.
A sense of regret washed over me at the thought of having missed the perfect opportunity to kill Nana Nereyades.
In any case, the Whale of Hobel Bay, Niko, was a man who was not easy to predict, even for a regressor.
“Alright. Let’s both back off. How should we do it? Shall we both raise our hands and walk backward or something?”
“First, send back your subordinate, the last Aretion. I will also send back General Nana.”
Niko looked at me.
His gaze was heavier than I expected, so I couldn't look away.
I, too, deepened the blue of my eyes.
“Kid Pasionus, I have something to talk to you about.”
***
Nana returned to the ship of the 9th Legion.
As Niko said, she withdrew the ships and the fishmen.
Amethus also ran toward the shore.
He looked worried about leaving me behind.
However, knowing that I had not yet used the ‘Hunchback,’ he moved his feet.
An old man and a young man stood on the great sea.
Niko and I faced each other.
The entire sea was quiet.
“Kid.”
Niko’s voice was even somewhat benevolent.
He looked down at me, who only came up to his chest.
No matter how he looked at me, I was younger than Nana, yet so strong; it was a strange thing.
Then again, thinking back, I felt a similar way seven years ago when I was really just a kid.
“I suppose I can hear your real name now.”
“Shion.”
“I am Niko.”
“I know.”
The Whale of Hobel Bay looked at the horizon.
My gaze followed his.
“The 11th and 14th Legions will arrive within the day.”
“So you had already dispatched them before Nana gave the order?”
“Yes. I’d have no excuse if my head were to be cut off for insubordination.”
“Executing Niko Nereyades for insubordination? That would be impossible unless the Great Emperor Continua himself came.”
“No. His Majesty the Great Emperor failed too.”
Niko chuckled, thinking of his younger days when he had struck the Great Emperor Continua’s face.
I felt a sense of vicarious relief and laughed along with him.
In fact, if I had the chance, I also felt like I wanted to strike the Great Emperor Continua.
I just never had the opportunity.
“…There will be a war.”
Niko blurted out.
The general who had lived for a long time now had sad eyes.
“Cordis will wage a war. This incident is only the beginning. A disaster you cannot even imagine will cover the West.”
“I know that too.”
I ground my teeth.
How could I not know?
It was still echoing inside me.
Cordis, Cordis, you hateful ones, our blood and screams, do not forget, you must not forget, it was wailing.
Even if I tried to pretend I didn't know, it rang in my ears, making it impossible to ignore.
“Yes. Kid Shion, I thought you would know. The others don’t seem to have noticed, but……”
His suspicion began when he heard the news that Nana had failed to assassinate Santia.
Could someone know the Empire’s plan?
And the moment he saw my face, his suspicion turned into certainty.
Shion knows the Empire's plan,
and he is struggling to stop it.
That was why Niko had no choice but to speak to me.
“…The justification for this war is to avenge the humiliation of 53 years ago. Is that right?”
“Can a war be right?”
“You are right about that.”
Shion and Niko looked at the same horizon. It was terribly far away.
Everything was flat and everything was truly blue.
That was why the fact that it was so far was sad, and sad again.
When would that quiet blue be reachable?
Would it ever be reachable?
“But you and I are both warmongers.”
“I didn’t want to be.”
“Neither did I.”
It was a strange feeling. Niko had lived half of a century as a soldier.
Yet he felt a similar grain in me.
He had felt the hidden time of the Regressor Prince that no one else could feel.
Because of that, he had no choice but to say words he normally never would have.
“…Kid Shion.”
Niko Nereyades said.
“Would you not try to reduce the bloodshed?”
“That sounds weak, coming from you, Niko.”
“That’s what it means to get old.”
He clenched his fist.
It was still firm.
So huge and strong it could crush a warship in a single blow.
But Niko had come to realize.
There were many things that couldn't be done with a fist, no matter how strong.
No, rather, there were countless times he had ruined things because of his strong fist.
Great power is heavy, and it was difficult for Niko to bear that weight.
“You can no longer run away from the mistakes you’ve pretended not to see and have piled up. To the point where I resent my younger self……”
“That’s also you, so what can you do?”
“Thank you for the kind words, but those are not words for someone your age to say.”
“What can I do about this, either? I already know.”
Because they were two who had lived with deep-seated sorrow, they knew the weight of blood.
They couldn't not know that another's pain hurt as much as their own.
They also knew what a terrible war was, where such wounds were endlessly created, and yet they were sick and tired of the fact that they had no choice but that terribleness, and yet they had to live for today.
So they had no choice but to wear down.
They had lost themselves without even realizing it and had no choice but to just run, following the flame in their hearts.
But strangely, Niko and I found comfort in each other’s situation.
“Tomorrow morning.”
The Whale of Hobel Bay said.
“I will come here alone. You come out alone too.”
“And when we do?”
“You and I, let’s finish the fight from seven years ago.”
I raised my eyes.
Niko realized anew that my eyes were astonishingly blue and he realized that their blue hue resembled that of the Great Emperor Continua.
I posed a question.
“Will that change anything, Niko?”
“An ordinary fight won’t change things.”
Niko looked down at me.
“Let’s have a very fierce fight. We have to shed enough blood to make the young bastards who want to fight without even knowing what a fight is run away in terror. We can do that much, can’t we?”
“It seems there are many such foolish bastards in the Empire, huh?”
“It is so in every era, in every place.”
“You’re right.”
Shion Pollinglight took a breath.
He still hated Cordis.
He hated it and hated it and had to bring it down.
Of course, he hated Niko and Nana, and every single citizen of the Empire, but… he wasn't so mad as to say they all deserved to die.
At least, not yet.
“Alright, Niko. Tomorrow it is.”
The Regressor Prince swept back his blond hair.
“If you win… I’ll tell you my real name.”
“Good. I’m curious.”
Niko saw the sunlight shatter over my blond hair and at the same time, he was certain that he already knew my real name.
Not a single feature of mine resembled the Great Emperor, yet strangely, he was reminded of him.
Niko swallowed the name of the prince who was known to have died seven years ago down his throat.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Niko and I stood up.
We looked at each other.
“When the sun rises.”