The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 249

The barracks were thick with smoke.

“It’s been a while, Your Highness Fran,” Terix, commander of the Wyvern First Division, said, a thick, leaf-rolled cigarette dangling from his mouth.

He sat in his chair, his eye level nearly matching Fran’s. Muscles twitched in his massive frame with each exhale, making him seem like a wall of a man.

He was a giant, comparable to Gordon Fabian, commander of the Order of Knights Mercenary Corps.

“Seems you’ve had a rough time. Land battles don’t suit a master of naval warfare like you, Your Highness.”

Terix blew another plume of smoke.

“……”

Fran didn’t turn his head, despite the acrid smoke drifting into his face.

“That’s rude! What security are you talking about……!!”

*Kwaang―――!!!!*

As if ignoring Anthem’s outburst, Terix slammed the armrest of his chair with all his might.

“What security? Watch your mouth. Remember your position, coming to me like this.”

“……”

Anthem fell silent, staring at the shattered armrest.

Low laughter rippled through the barracks.

The members of the Wyvern First Division, surrounding them, watched with fierce eyes. They were unlike other knights.

Their armor was mismatched, their weapons varied. The only unifying feature was the red dragon emblem on their cloaks.

The Wyvern First Division, handlers of the most violent Drakes, felt more like mercenaries than knights.

“Anthem, enough. Sir Terix is a knight worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Duke’s family. I still remember learning the sword from him as a child.”

Terix chuckled, his heavily bearded chin moving as if he were chewing cud.

“I remember it too, Your Highness. You were such a cute child. Now you’re grown and brandishing a sword at my sister… Hahaha, time flies.”

Instantly, the pressure in the barracks intensified. Anthem, less physically capable than Fran and the other knights, clutched his chest.

“Not only Your Highness, but everyone in the Duke’s family is precious to me. This civil war itself is regrettable.”

Terix spoke with an indifferent expression.

“I worried I might end up killing Your Highness with my own hands.”

He casually mentioned killing the Duke, as if certain of the Vinfredo front’s victory from the start.

“……That’s why I came, Sir Terix. I want to explain the real meaning of this civil war.”

“The real meaning?”

“……Could you ask everyone to leave?”

Fran scanned the knights of the Wyvern First Division in the barracks.

“Understood.”

Terix nodded and waved his hand. The knights retreated, though Fran knew they remained close, watching intently, ready to move at any moment.

The killing intent still permeated the air outside.

They made no attempt to hide it.

‘They are certainly one of the strongest knight orders in the Principality. Rude, perhaps, but undeniably skilled.’

Perhaps it was because he was seen as an enemy first, a Duke second.

Fran, feeling the tingling killing intent, was more satisfied than displeased.

‘If it’s them, it’s enough. Karil… I can cut that bastard’s head off.’

He fixed Terix with a burning gaze.

“I want to reach an agreement with Tuli. Or rather, reaffirm an existing one. I want to end this unnecessary civil war.”

“Is Your Highness saying you’ll surrender to Her Highness Tuli?”

Fran nodded.

“That’s right.”

Anthem’s face darkened.

Terix, however, remained suspicious.

“Let’s be honest. The fact that the outcome of this civil war was already agreed upon also means that Tuli’s victory was predetermined. But everything was messed up due to the sudden intervention of one guy.”

“Intervention, you mean……?”

“Karil, the king of Tatur across the strait.”

Terix frowned.

“Why is he involved in the Principality’s civil war?”

“I don’t know his purpose. I don’t know what possessed him to do such a useless thing… He’s trying to advance to the White Bunker through the Moon Aether [a strategically important region]. And he’s leading the northern barbarians!”

Fran couldn’t bring himself to admit that Moon Aether had already fallen.

It was to cover his own mistakes.

It would take time for Terix to lead his troops to Moon Aether, so if he lied about its fall, he could blame everything on Karil.

“Your Highness.”

Terix’s voice was low.

“No one helps others without reason or reward. If Karil crossed the strait to help Your Highness, he wants something. I can’t be sure if your intention to meet Her Highness Tuli is truly for an agreement, or a trap.”

“Wh, what……!! Are you saying I’m lying, that I intend to kill Tuli!”

Fran shouted.

“Haha… Your Highness, isn’t war waged to kill someone?”

Terix smiled at his reaction.

“Th… that kind of…….”

Fran was at a loss for words.

‘This is frustrating……!! Why doesn’t anyone understand my intentions? Everything I did was for the Principality!! There was no reason to persuade them like this in the first place……!! If it had gone according to plan, the civil war would have ended already……!!’

Fran felt like the boy who cried wolf, no one believed him, no matter how much he told the truth.

Terix’s suspicious eyes.

Anthem Howard’s disappointed gaze.

‘It’s all that bastard’s fault.’

*Thump……! Thump……! Thump……!!!*

His head swam, his heart raced.

“Keuk?!”

Fran fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a medicine bottle and shaking it.

Only one pill remained. He shook the bottle nervously, and the pill bounced out and onto the floor.

“Damn it……!!”

Fran threw the bottle and frantically searched for the fallen pill.

“……”

Terix watched, then picked up the medicine.

“Hmm, I didn’t know Your Highness was into these kinds of jokes.”

His tone was cold.

‘What kind of medicine is that?’

Anthem stared at the pill in Terix’s hand.

“Don’t you know?”

Terix asked, as if reading his mind.

“I travel around, so… I don’t know it well, but I heard it’s popular among the nobles these days. A kind of game. Everyone’s using it… Well, probably nothing.”

He shrugged.

“But I didn’t know Your Highness would bring it to the battlefield. And you, supposed to be His Highness’s confidant, didn’t even know about it, let alone His Highness’s health. Tsk tsk.”

Fran snatched the medicine from Terix and swallowed it.

‘Since when…….’

Anthem frowned. He had served Fran for a long time, but had never seen him take medicine.

He had kept it a secret.

Karil’s words at the Vinfredo estuary flashed through Anthem’s mind.

‘Wooden Cloud [a secret organization]…….’

When he first heard about Fran being stuck in Cove, he asked about it without asking why.

At first, he was puzzled because he didn’t know what the civil war and they had to do with each other, but when Fran revealed the secret in Cove, Anthem also learned that Wooden Cloud was behind this civil war.

And like that medicine, Fran had kept this civil war a secret from him.

‘Could it be……? No way.’

Anthem picked up the fallen bottle, staring blankly.

“……”

The medicine spreading like wildfire among the Principality’s nobles.

It might be a simple amusement, but Anthem felt an inexplicable unease.

‘Well, if that medicine was dangerous, Her Highness Tuli wouldn’t have allowed it. She said many nobles have already used it.’

Anthem shook his head.

“Hoo…….”

Fran seemed calmer.

“I don’t want anything else. I just want to meet Tuli.”

“Hmm…….”

His eyes were earnest, not seeming like a lie.

‘Is it real?’

Terix stroked his chin, studying Fran.

*Kwaaaaaang―――!!!*

Just then.

“What?! What’s going on!!”

The barracks shook violently with a deafening explosion. The door burst open, and a guard shouted.

“Commander, we’re under attack!!”

“……An attack? Who the hell is it!”

The leader of the opposing enemy was right here. He wouldn’t start a battle while seeking an agreement.

“That’s… it’s our own troops.”

“Our own troops?”

“Soldiers from Moon Aether!”

“What?!”

Terix stared at Fran, disbelief etched on his face.

Fran trembled, his face restless. Terix’s suspicion turned to anger.

“Your Highness!!! Why are soldiers from Moon Aether here!! That place is the back door to the White Bunker. Their presence here means the back door is wide open! Did you recruit them to betray us?”

“……What?”

Fran looked bewildered. Terix roared.

“Fran Lurein……!!! Tell me the truth!! Did you join hands with Moon Aether to stab us in the back! Is this how someone seeking an agreement behaves!”

“Wh, what!! Wa, wait a minute!!”

A shadow fell across Fran’s face. He looked up at the towering figure of Terix, his face crumpling.

He desperately searched for an explanation, but his mind was blank.

“For Lord Fran!!”

A shout filled with magic echoed from afar.

“Waves, be eternal!!”

And as the slogan of the Steel Fleet followed, Fran didn’t even have time to make excuses.

Suspicion solidified into certainty. Terix glared at them, ready to kill.

*Waaaaaa―――!!!*

*Waaa―――!!*

The shouts of soldiers echoed from all directions.

“You wanted the truth? Good. I’ll tell Her Highness Tuli everything. Fran Lurein, your courtesy as a Duke ends here. We are enemies on the battlefield!”

Terix grabbed the hammer beside him.

*Kwaaaang……!!*

*Kwagang……!!*

“Keuek?!”

His massive body staggered.

He blocked the sword strike, tearing through the barracks tent, but couldn’t withstand the impact.

“Next time……? You’ve grown complacent living comfortably inside the White Bunker? Thinking you can return alive? You presume to promise a ‘next time’ on a battlefield where life hangs by a thread?”

“Who are you……!!”

A knight passed by Fran.

The smile visible inside the helmet mocked him.

Ridicule for the foolish.

He knew who was laughing without needing an explanation.

“You…… you…… you, this…….”

Fran, humiliated and enraged, sputtered, unable to articulate his fury.

*Thump……! Thump……! Thump……!!*

His heart pounded, and he moved his mouth, but no words came.

“Don’t worry. I have come to bring you victory, Your Highness Fran.”

The knight of Moon Aether, Karil, knelt on one knee.

“Ye…… Yes……!”

A knight pledging allegiance to Fran without fail.

“You bastard……!!!!!”

Fran finally shouted. Karil slowly rose.

Fran flinched, stepping back.

*Clang―*

He opened his helmet slightly.

Karil’s cold eyes met Fran’s.

“You don’t look like you want to win.”

Karil whispered, his voice barely audible.

“But what to do? You’re going to win this time too.”

“Euh…… Euaaaa!!”

Fran screamed. Karil looked at him.

Fran flinched without realizing it and took a step back.

Clang―

He opened his helmet slightly.

Karil, visible inside, was looking at Fran with cold eyes.

“You don’t look like you want to win.”

Karil whispered to Fran as if muttering in a small voice that couldn’t be heard.

“But what to do? You’re going to win this time too.”

“Euh…… Euaaaa!!”

Fran shouted at him like crazy.