Chapter 226 : Chapter 226
Chapter 226
“…What did you say, Shion?”
“I said to leave.”
I said firmly.
“I've become certain. You, you have hesitation in your heart.”
I glared at Amethus.
My gaze was so intense that even the jade-eyed man, who rarely faltered, was at a loss for words.
I looked at Amethus's waist.
For 7 years straight, that double-edged sword had been in that spot.
“Truthfully, I was always uneasy. Seeing you care for that double-edged sword with all your heart every day, even though it's old and worn... I couldn't help but be uneasy. You still think of Ferbias as a close friend, don't you?”
“…That is not so.”
“A lie.”
Amethus was suddenly speaking politely, and I narrowed my eyes deeply.
“You might say that, but it might be different when you see his face. You still consider yourself a Cordis person.”
The jade-eyed man could not answer easily.
It was because my words had a way of piercing the truth he had been ignoring.
When I thought about it, it might be natural. He was born and lived in Cordis for twenty-five years.
He even served with more fervent loyalty than others.
No matter that 7 years have passed since leaving the Empire, one's identity doesn't just disappear easily.
He just hadn't been conscious of it until now, but Amethus had been implicitly considering himself a person of Cordis.
“You've realized it too, haven't you?”
“…I am ashamed, Your Highness.”
“There's nothing to be ashamed of.”
My voice was frigid.
“You just have to leave me.”
“…I cannot do that.”
Amethus shook his head.
He lowered his posture and spoke as if pleading.
“Your Highness's Ars, that sixth Ars… isn't it eating away at your body even now. Leaving Your Highness in such a state, how could I……”
“You saw correctly.”
I chuckled and undid the bandages wrapped around my neck.
Beneath where the bandages had hidden, black scales had sprouted.
A wider area of skin had transformed than right after defeating the Demon King Pāpīyān.
The skin around the scales was dead and black.
The pain must have been considerable.
“…How long do you think you can endure?”
“If I think about before the Regression, I'll last about a year and a half.”
The sixth Ars, ‘Dragon of Six Horns’, begins to erode the body from the moment it is used.
To be precise, it was changing my body, which had already become inhuman, into the form it was supposed to take.
For me, having been gnawed at for so long, it was actually more unnatural to maintain a human form.
I had just been suppressing it and enduring it until now.
“But the more I use the Ars, the shorter it will get.”
“…….”
“Don't worry. It will all be over before that.”
“That's not what I'm talking about!!”
My attitude, speaking of my own life as if it were an expendable item, provoked Amethus's anger.
The jade eyes blazed fiercely, but the blue eyes did not back down one bit.
Rather, they grew even colder and harder.
“If not that, then what are you talking about?”
A cold smile.
“Amethus, did playing house for so long make you misunderstand something? You are an Aretion. I am a Pollinglight. We live to bring down the Cordis Empire. That alone is the reason for our lives.”
As I spoke, as if growling, my teeth were revealed.
Just as my skin had changed to black scales, fangs had begun to fill my mouth.
“Have you forgotten 7 years ago? Have you already forgotten the time you pledged your loyalty to me?”
Amethus suddenly felt as if he were on Arete Island.
It felt as if he could hear the sound of waves if he listened, and if he turned his head, the corpse of Light would be there.
And yet, he didn't have the same feelings as back then.
Back then, he had trembled with betrayal and was sharp with resentment.
If only he could bring down the Empire, he wouldn't have regretted pledging loyalty to Shion.
Loyalty remained.
No, rather, he was serving Shion Pollinglight with even more sincerity than back then.
But strangely, the hatred was nowhere to be seen.
The 7 years had worn away the hatred and when Shadi Shandor awoke, even the remaining dregs melted away and disappeared.
“Seeing Shadi's face, didn't you come to harbor a dream of wanting to build a happy home with her?”
“…….”
My tongue, as always, jabbed at the most painful part.
The jade eyes were colored with guilt. His master was still bound by the past, but he had come to dream of the future.
Being a man with a strong sense of responsibility, the weight on his heart was beyond words.
“…I'm not blaming you.”
I moved my lips.
“Amethus, how old are you?”
“…I am thirty-two. Fourteen years older than Your Highness.”
“Five years younger than me.”
7 years had passed since I regressed to an 11-year-old Zionis.
My body was 18, but my mind was still bound to the world before the Regression.
I had lived for nearly forty years, and I felt as if I had lived for at least a hundred.
It couldn't be helped, as I had lived a life with many rough waves.
How could I blame Amethus?
It has been 7 years since Shadi Shandor collapsed.
Worried that her fine skin might get bedsores, worried that his rough hands might accidentally wound her, I had watched him every day tremble as he wiped Shadi's body, with the same hands that parted the sea and split the Demon King.
“I say it again, leave me.”
Amethus was different from me.
The jade-eyed man could still turn back.
His heart hadn't completely burned away yet, so it was worth dreaming of a normal life.
If so, I had to let him go.
That was the right thing to do.
“You have already done enough. Don't throw away the rest of your life. The Hanchamus Islands are good land. You can take as much money as you want, so go and live well with Shadi. And don't forget Serena.”
“…Your Highness Zionis……!”
Amethus knelt.
“How can I leave you behind! I cannot……!”
“Amethus-!!!”
My face contorted.
I let out a furious roar. Foolish man!
This was a chance that would never come again if not now.
Just as I had resentment in my own heart, I knew what kind of state a life became when resentment clung to the heart, what kind of pain began to seep in, so I absolutely could not let Amethus throw away his chance at a new life.
“How many times do I have to make you say it? I said it's an order!”
I revealed my fangs and pointed accusingly.
“Get out of my sight right now, last Aretion!”
“……”
Amethus looked at me.
The skin dying black, the sprouted fangs, the blazing blue eyes, a face whose ruin was all the more wretched because it had been so beautiful…….
“……Yes, you are right…….”
The jade-eyed man raised his body.
He bowed deeply towards me.
“I shall do as you wish, Your Highness…….”
And then, he staggered as he walked.
It was incredibly frustrating trying to force his feet to move when they wouldn't budge.
The jade eyes glanced at me several times, but my lips remained firmly closed.
“May you be, at peace…….”
“Hmph.”
Watching Amethus disappear, I snorted.
The creaking sound of the door closing was grating.
I leaned back deeply into the armchair.
I was alone.
There were many who said they would stay by my side, but I chased them all away.
I, Shion Pollinglight, forced a cheerful voice.
“…It's finally quiet.”
I slowly closed my eyes.
“Ah, it was like that back then, too… The day I left the capital, Lutilium…….”
The night I killed Pies and Nebulo, right after the Succession War ended, came to mind.
My heart was the same as then. Hatred was still blazing. Even after so much time had passed, this flame would never go out.
“As expected, I……”
Wrinkles formed around my eyes.
“…I am more comfortable alone.”
***
“It's right before us.”
Eight-Impact General Zeronimus spoke with his arms crossed.
“By next week, we'll cross the great mountain range and advance into the West. Those western bastards will come to fear His Majesty Ferbias's name.”
“That is correct, General.”
The man to Zeronimus's left quickly expressed his agreement.
At that, the others also mouthed, That's right. Correct, like parrots.
Excluding Zeronimus, there were seven staff officers.
They might have been sycophants, but they weren't incompetent.
Four of the seven staff officers were Imperial Legion Commanders, and the other three held positions not much different.
“Once we pass the great mountain range, it's immediately East-Erta. Just a three-day march to the capital.”
“I hear the lamb chops in East-Erta are exquisite.”
“Doesn't that mean we can eat lamb chops in ten days? I'm looking forward to it.”
Looking at the chuckling staff officers, Eight-Impact General Zeronimus bellowed.
“Quiet!”
There was a Kwang sound.
It was the sound of the Eight-Impact General slamming the table.
“None of you are paying attention!”
A deep mark remained on the table, as if struck by a warhammer.
If the Eight-Impact General hadn't held back, not just the table but the ground beneath it would have split wide open.
Towards the silent staff officers, Zeronimus spoke with feigned gravity.
“We have to advance in a week, so what is all this nonsense! And you still call yourselves loyal subjects of His Majesty Ferbias!”
The staff officers all bowed their heads deeply.
“…….”
“…….”
“…We are ashamed, General.”
Zeronimus clicked his tongue, Tsk, and stood up from his seat.
He tapped a map hanging on the wall.
“Look here. This is a map of East-Erta's capital!”
There were many red circles all over the map.
Eight-Impact General Zeronimus pointed to the circles in succession with his finger.
“This place, this place, and this place! What do you think these places are?”
There was no answer.
Zeronimus raised his voice even more.
“Have you all gone mute! You answer, 33rd Legion Commander! These are the places we must be most careful of in the conquest of East-Erta. What on earth could they be?”
“…Uh……”
The 33rd Legion Commander Wapaes scratched his cheek. Looking closely at the map, something was written below the circles. He read a few circles and the words written below them, and soon found a commonality.
“…Uh, aren't they restaurants?”
“Correct!”
Zeronimus laughed heartily.
“These are the famous restaurants of East-Erta that I specially commissioned the intelligence agency to investigate!”
……. During a brief silence, the staff officers stared blankly at each other and then, they soon burst into raucous laughter.
“As expected of General Zeronimus!”
“I was so nervous, thinking you were really angry!”
“You completely fooled us!”
The staff officers laughed while holding their stomachs.
The stiff atmosphere instantly loosened.
Zeronimus made his hearty laughter even louder.
“Ah, I was angry, you lot! It'd be a disaster if the soldiers happened to destroy these precious restaurants and we couldn't eat lamb chops! We have to be on our toes to eat lamb chops!”
They laughed loudly and chattered noisily.
It was as if war wasn't even on their minds.
“I'm still disappointed I didn't get to eat Horm's Honey Bread.”
“That's right, General. Because His Highness Secundus destroyed all the restaurants……”
“We must have the lamb chops. Would His Majesty the Emperor like it if we starved?”
“Of course, of course. Isn't His Majesty the parent of the Empire? What parent likes to see their children starve.”
Everyone inside the barracks was excited like fools.
Only one person was making a bitter smile.
‘Pathetic lot…….’
There was one woman mixed among the men.
Her name was Nana Nereyades.
Former Nine Streams General.
Current 11th Legion Commander.