Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 123

123.

“The Duke seems to have great faith in you, so His Highness must feel very secure. By the way, I heard an interesting story on my way here. I heard that everything we collected to present to the Grand Duke individually was all released?”

“We are only here for the pursuit, and we have not received any other missions.”

“Haha, why are you saying that now? The Grand Duke started gathering children more than ten years ago. Ah, I heard that the Duke didn’t like that. I heard that he clashed with His Highness several times because of it. I couldn’t imagine that a loyal subject like the Duke would defy His Highness’s will, so I thought it was just a rumor, but it seems it wasn’t entirely false?”

“……”

Caribdis did not answer. A sly smile appeared on the Count’s face as he looked at him.

“Do you know? A seasoned hunter orders his hunting dog to bring back a rabbit, and after the hunt is over, he eats the dog too.”

“……”

“The capital is already buzzing with rumors. The Grand Duke is ready to cook the hunting dogs.”

A moment of silence fell, and the two men stared at each other’s faces. Caribdis was still expressionless, as if he didn’t know what he was thinking, but he didn’t spew out harsh words like before. Interpreting it as being intimidated, the Count wore an elated expression.

“Anyway, thanks to you, I’m sure of it. Come to think of it, the Duke seems to have been aware of the connection between this serial murder and the weapons from the beginning. However, the fact that the matter was handled so late is definitely something that cannot be overlooked. I will never sit idly by and will report it to His Highness in detail—the number of knights sacrificed and the amount of loss caused by it.”

“Report……”

“I wonder what measures the Grand Duke will take.”

The Count, who added meaningfully, smiled triumphantly and turned around. Caribdis stared at his back for a moment and then sighed softly.

*I swear.*

*Even if you get dirty, my blood will cover it.*

*So, don’t look back.*

A conversation from a long time ago lingered in his head. Even though it had been more than a decade, what happened at that time was always as clear as if it had happened just yesterday. He probably would never forget it. From that day on, he took on the yoke of a hunting dog himself. The shackles he wore sometimes suffocated him, but he had never regretted that oath even once. But…….

“What, who are you?”

“……?”

Caribdis snapped out of his short reverie at the voice he heard at that moment. The flustered voice belonged to Count Setnio. He raised his head and looked back at the Count. A black-haired man was standing in front of the wide-open door. Everything from his appearance to his attire was unfamiliar. Moreover, he was soaking wet from head to toe. He was holding a large wooden box with both arms, which was also wet. The water dripping from it was soaking the floor.

“Who are you!”

“…….”

“Hey! Can’t you hear me asking who you are!”

“Shut up.”

“Shu, shut……?”

Ignoring the Count, who had stiffened at the rude words, the man strode towards Caribdis with the box. The knights, who were on duty, drew their swords and took a defensive stance at the unusual sight. However, the man lightly snorted and dropped the box he was holding as if throwing it.

*Thump!* The lid of the closed box opened due to the heavy noise, revealing the things inside, and the knights all widened their eyes. It didn’t take long for them to realize that the box contained magical weapons with fancy decorations that they had collected and thrown into the sea a few days ago.

“Th, this is!”

“Wh, what! Where did you get this?”

The Count, who followed, also recognized it and wore a shocked expression. However, the man seemed uninterested in all of that and was just brushing his dripping hair. The Count, who was glaring at him, suddenly realized that the man was quite handsome. He was a handsome man with dark hair and a flamboyant appearance that made even his slightly annoyed face feel attractive.

The man scanned his surroundings without a word. His eyes were as black as his hair, but strangely, his pupils were a clear gold color. It was an unusual color, so it would be normal to feel repulsed, but it felt even more beautiful because of it. Not only the Count but also the knights were mesmerized, looking at his eyes. At that moment, the man’s tightly closed mouth opened.

“Which bastard is it?”

“Wh, what?”

“Who told you to throw this into the sea?”

Perhaps because they were bewitched by his eyes, for a moment, the Count and the knights did not even recognize that he was speaking informally. When they belatedly grasped the situation and hardened their faces, a low voice answered.

“It’s me.”

The one who answered was Caribdis.

He had been silently watching him since the man appeared. Soon, just as it was thought that the two men’s eyes met,

*Whoosh! Clang!*

A sharp noise rang out with a strong wind. The Count and the knights were shocked by the sight that unfolded before their eyes. Before they knew it, the man and Caribdis were facing each other with swords.

“Yo, Your Excellency!”

None of them even saw him draw his sword. The flustered knights hurriedly tried to approach him. Caribdis rebuked them in a low voice.

“Don’t interfere.”

Even at that moment, his gaze was fixed on the man in front of him. The man also seemed to have no interest in them and was only looking at Caribdis. The knights hesitated and stopped, looking at each other. It was clear that the situation was unusual, but they couldn’t understand how things were going. They, who were from noble families and had only studied orthodox theories [conventional wisdom] all their lives, could never have imagined that an assassin would appear to assassinate the Duke in broad daylight (and so openly). However, the man’s next words shocked them again.

“I received the invitation, you son of a bitch. You dare to bury my weapons in the sea?”

*My* weapons.

The man’s identity was clear with that one expression. The invisible enemy, the serial killer who had been making the Grand Duke’s knights tremble with fear.

“You really came.”

“Yeah, I really came. Damn it, don’t you know what you’ve done? Do you know how much *개고생* [suffering; hardship] I went through to get this back?”

The black-haired man—Meseterius—gritted his teeth. The still-wet moisture clearly showed where he had been until just now.

*‘Damn blue guy. You dare to bargain with me with my stuff.’*

When he first sensed the weapons gathering in one place, he was relaxed. He was already getting tired of killing them one by one, so he found it interesting that the other party had noticed his intentions. *So, what are you going to do?* He smiled inwardly, asking someone who couldn’t hear him. But,

……I never dreamed that they would throw it into the sea like that.

Yeah, but it was okay up to that point. Humans are weak, so they might do that if they get scared, so I thought. After all, magical weapons don’t rust, and all you have to do is pull them out of the sea. I could generously understand this much as a last resort. But an unexpected being interfered with his relaxed work(?). The place where the box fell happened to be in the territory of the water dragon, Blue Dragon.

It might seem like it’s not a problem between dragons, but it was quite serious for him. The Blue clan didn’t have a very good feeling about him. No, to be exact, it wasn’t him but his younger brother, Lapis Lazuli.

His eccentric younger brother threatened other dragons not to contract with Elquines as revenge for not being able to contract with the Water Spirit King. In fact, if someone tried to summon him, he would find him like a ghost and cause trouble. His actions were clearly unfair, but the Dragon Lord in charge of mediation did not intervene unless it involved the survival of the clan or was related to hatchlings. The dispute between *성룡* [fully-fledged dragons] was to be resolved according to the logic of power.

Here, the misfortune of the Dragon clan was that there were few *성룡* [fully-fledged dragons] who could beat Lapis with strength. The only *성룡* [fully-fledged dragons] who could be said to be a little stronger were the parents who gave birth to Lapis, and they were rather on their child’s side, so it was better not to have them. Most of the *고룡* [ancient dragons], the only hope, were in a state of hibernation and it was unknown when they would wake up. In short, no one could stop Lapis’s *독주* [one-man show; unchecked power] for the time being.

Thanks to this, most of the dragons knew that a new Water Spirit King was born, but they had not even met him yet. The White and Blue clans with water attributes were the most dissatisfied with this. In particular, the Blue clan, who lived in the sea, often needed Elquines’s help in their daily lives. Especially recently, they had to rebuild their lair, which had been destroyed by a long drought, so there was a lot of work to be done from the process of rebuilding their base. Of course, they could ask the lower spirits, but they had to go the hard way on purpose when they could do things more easily, so they were naturally angry. However, since they lacked the courage to protest to Lapis, their complaints were poured out on his brother, Meseterius.

In fact, even if they were brothers, from the perspective of the general dragon world, they were already *성룡* [fully-fledged dragons] and were different clans, so they were like strangers. Nevertheless, the reason why the dragons blamed him was simple. He usually defended Lapis Lazuli’s attitude.

Of course, it was a very unfair misunderstanding for him. He was forced to do it because he was threatened. However, his claims were not accepted by other dragons.

“Ah, really! That’s mine! You can tell by looking at my energy! Give it back!”

“Hmph, no. Once it’s in the sea, it’s mine, the Blue Dragon.”

“Where is that!”

“It’s here. You can’t help it even if you feel wronged. It’s your fault for not taking care of your things in the first place?”

“Ah, are you really going to do this!”

“You should have behaved well in the first place. Who would side with that unlucky Lapis? If you agree with his actions, you’re the same guy.”

“I was threatened too!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s true! He said he would kill me if I didn’t act like a good brother in front of others! Don’t you know his personality? Do you think I can disobey him!”

“I can’t hear you at all.”

“Ugh, I’m really going crazy!”

The memories after that are terrible. He begged with his hands and feet, pleaded loudly, and desperately begged before he barely got it back. Thanks to this, he had been stuck in the sea for the past few days, and now his body and mind were all in tatters.

“Oh, I really get angry even when I think about it again! It’s all because of you!”

He pointed at the culprit of all this and shouted. And Caribdis indifferently stared at the finger pointing directly at him and replied.

“It’s none of my business.”

“Ha! Are you done talking? Come to think of it, you didn’t bury one of the weapons and left it behind, what does that mean? Were you planning to lure me to your side?”

“As you guessed.”

“Hmph, you’re so confident. Aren’t you overestimating your skills as a Sword Master? Do you think you can easily beat someone like me?”

“It’s not a matter of winning or losing. If it’s an enemy, I’ll cut it down, that’s all.”

“……Okay, then. You son of a bitch that I can’t even chew up enough. You should know that you’re going to die today.”

Meseterius glared at Caribdis with dark eyes. The eyes contained a terrifying murderous intent. Caribdis, who was quietly watching it, suddenly realized that his body had stiffened. The palm of his hand, which he was unconsciously holding, was already soaked with cold sweat.

“……You are not human.”

At those words, Meseterius blinked for a moment and then smirked.

“It’s a pity that you know that now, but you’re still going to die today.”