Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 406

Atan.

A race that appears in the north. They are a unique, belligerent species that feeds on monsters, driven by a raw, primal morality.

It would be more accurate to say they are closer to an identity than a race. It was a title given to those who awakened the instincts hidden within.

Kwaaaang!

The deafening roar made everyone duck and cover their ears. It felt like their five senses were overloaded. Their ears were ringing, and all they could see was a yellowish fog of dust. And the smell of blood.

What had suddenly happened? In a battlefield where beings far beyond human limits existed, what were they even doing? The price for leaving a single line in history seemed too excessive.

A Vergos soldier cautiously raised his head. Then, a faintly visible outline. Someone was blocking Damon’s path.

“Ah, hello, hello.”

“……”

Ziiing. Ziiing.

A woman with an afro hairstyle. She was blocking Ian’s attack with a black sword. Golden eyes. She was undoubtedly a mage. The woman glared and swung her sword at Ian.

“My, you’ve got a handsome face! Are you a lackey of Bariel? Huh?”

Clang! Clang!

Thud! Swish!

Ian parried the sword and stepped back. As his vision cleared, the soldiers near Damon thrust their Idgal spears [Idgal: a type of metal or material] at him.

At the same time, they heard something exploding. It was a capture net, usually used for catching beasts, that had burst open. The nets covering the sky shimmered with amber light. They seemed to be made by slicing Idgal to capture Ian.

It seemed he now understood why Damon rode a conspicuous white horse and provoked Tommy with pain.

Ian quickly retreated, and the Atan woman also rolled to the side, moving out of range.

“Oh my! King Damon! This is troublesome!”

“I didn’t expect you to step in.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we? Huh? Then, we should be considerate of each other, right?”

The woman rested her sword on her shoulder, revealing her wild, muscular physique. She seemed to be the leader of the Atan tribe.

“Nice to meet you! It’s been a while since I’ve seen a mage besides myself. My name is Efdiram. I’d like to shake hands, but it doesn’t seem like the right atmosphere.”

“Waaaah!”

“It’s the Atan! The Atan tribe has joined!”

“Vergos army, advance! Forward! Don’t even think about retreating until you’re dead!”

“Those who retreat will face the King’s severe punishment!”

“Kill! Kill!”

Shouts announcing the appearance of the Atan tribe erupted from all directions. It was to cut down the enemy’s morale and raise their own. The soldiers on both sides, who had paused for a moment, resumed their bloody battle with the Vergos army’s morale-boosting shouts.

Damon grabbed Tommy by the hair and held a sword to his neck. Ian hesitated. The soldiers’ attacks aimed at Ian continued intermittently, but the mages watching from the sky didn’t let them get away with it.

Thud! Thud!

“Ian, I’ll say it again. Take everyone back to Bariel. Isn’t now the perfect time for you, who holds military decision-making power? If you retreat, I will return your mages very kindly.”

Efdiram frowned, wondering what those guys were talking about, and Ian chuckled.

Damon was mistaken. He didn’t know the true nature of the secret Ian held. He thought Ian was a hidden member of the current royal family, so he was advising him to return to Bariel now that he had military power and overthrow the ten-year-old crown prince in an instant.

Ian smiled and reawakened his magic, and Damon, not wanting to lose, pressed his sword deeper into Tommy’s neck.

“I’m serious. If this guy dies, the other two mages in the camp will die too. You better choose wisely. Mages are said to be gifts from the heavens, and their numbers are precious, aren’t they? Huh? Ian!”

At that moment, Tommy, who had collapsed in pain, slightly regained consciousness. His eyes, which had been showing only the whites, gradually became clearer, and he could recognize Ian.

It was a moment when Ian’s resolve, which had declared that the lives of mages could not be prioritized for the sake of Bariel and the war, wavered slightly. It was fleeting, and Ian’s inner self was too deep for anyone to notice.

Tommy, who met Ian’s eyes, smiled slightly. A smile that grew brighter, revealing his blood-soaked teeth. Tommy raised his eyebrows as if he knew everything, and then bit his tongue.

“I-!”

Damon quickly bit his sleeve, but the blood seeping out was ominous.

Now that the king’s head was turned towards Tommy, Ian knew this was the opportunity he had given him, and he didn’t miss it.

Ian clenched his teeth and unleashed his magic. The sword flowed with magic and shone brilliantly, and Ian’s green eyes, as he leaped towards the command center, left only afterimages.

Kwaaang! Thud!

“Oh my! Where do you think you’re going!”

Efdiram, the leader of the Atan tribe, also quickly jumped up. Her ability to easily keep up with Ian’s lightning speed was extraordinary. The moment her sword pierced the right side of Ian’s neck.

Clang!

“What the hell? A new face.”

“Oh my. What’s this?”

Berik blocked Efdiram’s attack.

Taking advantage of the gap, Ian continued to rush towards Damon, and Efdiram whistled, ordering all the Atan tribe to join the war.

Whistle!

Then, warriors jumped from the hillside.

The magic swordsmen mixed in with the Clifford ranks felt an unusual energy. Nearly half of them seemed to be ordinary people, but conversely, it meant that the rest had an extraordinary spirit. They could feel the power of the warriors who had realized they were Atan.

The magic swordsmen of Bariel also flew up at the same time, each facing an Atan warrior.

Kwaaang! Thud!

“Redhead.”

“Why, Afro-head.”

Efdiram tilted her head, puzzled, while her sword was locked with Berik’s. It was because her sixth sense, which recognized races, was tingling. She slowly put strength into her sword without showing any signs of difficulty. Berik’s back began to bend slightly.

“Looking at you, starting with that sharp tongue, you’re definitely one of us? Are you from Bariel? How old are you?”

“Forty-one years old, you bastard.”

“See? He’s an unusual bastard. The way magic flows, he’s not a mage, but a magic swordsman. Where did you get that sword?”

Only then did Berik realize that his black sword and Efdiram’s black sword were similar. Hers was a bit thinner, but the material was definitely the same.

Efdiram grinned and moved her face closer to Berik. Berik was horrified and pulled his body back.

“See? You can’t defy the fate of the Atan.”

“What are you talking about? What’s with all this ‘Atan’ nonsense!”

“I don’t know how, but having a black sword is your fate. It’s like a magnet. The material of our swords is the same.”

The black sword attracts monsters and lures them in. And the Atan fill their bellies with the blood of the lured monsters. It’s a cycle where everything fits together beautifully, like the laws of nature.

“But why are you on Bariel’s side? You look like you can’t think straight, but can’t you tell right from wrong?”

“What? Your head is weirder! Afro-head!”

“There’s a huge rift under Clifford. If it opens, it’ll be a monster-infested hell, you idiot.”

“Ian doesn’t want that!”

Clang! Clang!

Berik barely managed to deflect Efdiram’s attack and rolled backward.

She tilted her head, even more confused. The north was overflowing with monsters, but the political issues intertwined with interests were just as noisy.

If they tried to catch some monsters, they would be told to retreat here, retreat there. The world was already complicated, and there were many cases where people formed vigilante groups to preemptively defeat the Atan and monsters, fearing that the Atan would gain power.

If a new monster outbreak occurred in Clifford, the Atan tribe planned to take the lead. That’s why they came here after receiving Damon’s proposal.

“You, don’t you know you’re Atan?”

“Do you know me? When did you see me to keep calling me-!”

“Idiot, I can tell just by looking. Do you think I became a leader for nothing? This guy is a mess. He’s a magic swordsman and doesn’t even know where his bread and butter is.”

“My bread and butter is in the Imperial Palace!”

“Ah. Why, did they tell you to be the Imperial Palace’s exclusive guard? That’s not bad either, there’s a saying that birds of a feather flock together. You know that, right? Birds of a feather.”

Berik frantically unleashed a flurry of attacks, but Efdiram calmly parried them.

It was a somewhat interesting face. She had just come to pioneer a new monster outbreak area, but she had met an Atan. It felt like meeting a fellow countryman in a foreign land.

“Because we’re birds of a feather, I’m with Ian.”

“Ian? Who? A lackey of Bariel?”

“Hwaaaap!”

In battle, Berik was quite clever. Although he was annoying and unpleasant, Efdiram’s swordsmanship and strength were superior to Berik’s. It was similar to the struggle he had when he faced Jeyrut once.

So what could he do? Even though he was told not to use magic as much as possible, he had no choice but to unleash it. Sword energy flowed around Berik, and his red hair fluttered along with it. Efdiram lowered her body and gripped her sword tightly, as if she was intrigued.

“Looking at you, you’re top-tier.”

“I’m not meat!”

“I mean you look good enough to slice and eat! You idiot!”

“Afro-head!”

“Redhead!”

“There aren’t any muscular guys who are good at fighting!”

“Do you think I became a leader for nothing!? You little brat!”

Crack! Kwaaaang!

The Atan tribe, who were cutting down Clifford soldiers, looked at Efdiram and sniffed. It’s starting again, they thought. Since they were a group of belligerent people, they had all crossed swords with Efdiram. And the result?

Swish!

Efdiram’s sword cut Berik’s side. Very accurately and cleanly. She licked the blood off her sword and smiled.

“Not bad.”

“…Ugh. Pervert.”

“Haven’t you tasted monster blood? It’s the best for awakening. It’s so sweet and delicious that it makes your eyes roll. It’s the ultimate taste that humans can’t feel, that’s the blessing the Atan tribe received.”

Sigh. Berik spat, holding his bleeding side. Since old man Jeyrut, she was a very useful sparring partner. Her eyes were vivid, saying that he was dead today.

“Good. That look.”

“Damn it, you keep talking like a pervert!”

“Come on! I’ll stomp you properly! That’s how the Atan tribe imprint on each other!”

“Yeah, go ahead. I’m going to kill you and eat the meat Ian gives me!”

Ian, Ian, Ian. What was it about the lackey of Bariel that made that seemingly stupid guy keep saying Ian’s name?

Efdiram slightly turned her head and looked towards Ian.

“Hoo.”

His movements, perfectly concentrating on avoiding the swords and spears pouring in from all directions, were flawless. Damon was retreating, dragging a blood-soaked mage hostage, but the distance was getting closer.

What Ian sent flying was finished off by the mages in the sky, their teamwork was so perfect that it was almost awe-inspiring.

At Damon’s urgent gesture, a synthetic monster moved.

“Hey, Vergos! We brought monster carcasses, you know?”

Don’t they know? Efdiram scratched her head, and she saw the Vergos army dragging monster corpses down the hillside.

That’s right. That’s it. They had sucked all the blood, but the corpses were intact enough for necromancers to use.

Swish!

“What are you doing! Stop them!”

“W-we’re trying to stop them-!”

“Isn’t it just one guy? What are you all doing!”

A Vergos general, frustrated, grabbed his sword and stepped forward.

However, Ian was rushing towards him at a terrifying speed. His eyes were coldly frozen. The enemy’s blood that soaked his white cheeks also seemed to match that temperature.

The general shouted and charged at Ian.

“Hwaaaap!”

Swish!

But his shout was meaningless as his head fell in an instant. The sharply fluctuating magic cleanly cut through the space between his helmet and armor. Ian lifted the man’s head and threw it towards Damon.

“Damon. It seems like it’s not enough as a reply for what you sent. Wait. I’ll make you like this too.”