The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 155

121. Ventilation

“Let’s go to White Bunker.”

Kamma shouted, bursting through the door and hurrying down the hallway.

“We can’t.”

“What do you mean, we can’t! Is this the time to be lounging around so leisurely! All the troops have really gathered at Korb now, you know.”

Kamma looked at Cal, who was lounging on the sofa eating fruit, with an incredulous expression.

“Shouldn’t we go to White Bunker to sell Fran’s information, just like you said? Huh?”

Then, he clasped his hands together, trying to coax him, and spoke softly.

“We do need to sell the information about Fran. But we don’t have to go ourselves. Do I need to say it again? Master said a strong support force would come…….”

“When is that damn support force coming! Who will take responsibility if the war breaks out and we all die?”

Cal Mcaine shook his head, seeing Kamma’s tearful outburst, which was nothing new, and took a bite of the apple on the table.

“Just wait. Selling Fran’s information doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be Tully who buys it.”

“What does that…….”

Toc- toc- toc-

It was then.

Cal tilted his head slightly and said.

“Could it be… that support force?”

Tadatadak……!!

No sooner had he finished speaking than Kamma ran towards the door at the fastest speed he had ever run in his life.

“Mikhail!! I’ve been waiting so long…….”

Kamma, who had been grinning widely as he opened the door, hesitated slightly when he saw someone else standing there, not the face he knew.

“Who… who are you?”

“Nice to meet you. I apologize for arriving so late amidst all the commotion. Are you the head of the Lavat Guild?”

“Ahem. I’m not the head, but I am the manager here.”

Kamma cleared his throat and spoke to the young man standing at the door with a haughty expression.

“I am Radios. I would like to establish a trade relationship with the Lavat Guild.”

Seeing the neatly dressed young man extending his hand, Kamma laughed heartily and guided him in.

“Hahaha, so you’re a customer. Hey, show this gentleman in.”

“Yes, sir.”

A servant standing in the hallway approached the man and led him to the reception room. As he entered the reception room, Kamma grumbled with an annoyed expression.

“What trade is he talking about now… when we’re on the verge of war. Where did this idiot come from? Don’t you think so?”

But Cal, who seemed uninterested in Kamma’s words, suddenly stood up with an apple in his mouth. Then, he tilted his head as if lost in thought.

‘Radios…? Where have I heard that name before?’

Seeing him not responding, Kamma snorted as if he was dumbfounded.

“Look at this guy…….”

The moment he clenched his fist to give Cal Mcaine a knuckle sandwich on the forehead,

“……Ah!!!”

“Ah, geez, you scared me!”

Kamma was startled by his exclamation and stepped back, releasing his clenched fist.

“What, what is it, you!”

But Cal Mcaine raised his hand to cover Kamma’s mouth, raised his index finger, and brought it to his lips.

“Shhh!! Shhh! Be quiet.”

Cal glanced around and whispered in Kamma’s ear.

“Don’t you remember? Radios. It’s one of the two names Master told us about.”

“Ah……!! Oob!!”

Only then did Kamma seem to remember, but he was once again blocked by Cal Mcaine’s hand as he tried to shout.

-Radios, Douglas. If you stay here, one or both of them will definitely approach you. After confirming which side they are on, Tully or Fran, sell them the information.

Before leaving Korb, Caryl had summoned Kamma and Cal Mcaine and left them with instructions.

-To them?

-Yes. It would be even better if you could find out who is behind them during the transaction.

-Isn’t it either Fran or Tully anyway? Or the other dukes who support them.

-That’s the most likely scenario, but it might not be.

-Huh? Who are they?

-You guys must have heard of them too. Wooden Cloud.

-Eek?! Isn’t that a secret organization in the Grand Duchy that’s only rumored to exist? Why them?

-That’s right. I’m looking for them. It’s a personal matter, but it’s also a matter for the continent. It’s hard to find the higher-ups.

Caryl continued.

-They probably know about me. But after investigating, I realized that the reason they work might not necessarily be for the Grand Duchy.

-Hmm……. You’re saying to investigate the Grand Duchy and Wooden Cloud separately.

-That’s right.

Quick-witted Cal Mcaine nodded as if he understood Caryl’s words at once.

After coming to Korb, it was confirmed that Fran Lurein belonged to the Wooden Cloud, but not all Wooden Cloud members were necessarily on Fran’s side.

In other words,

There could be factions within the Wooden Cloud.

In the first place, if they were the ones who fought for the dukes after the Grand Duchy was destroyed, their goal should have been to rebuild the country, not to establish a cult.

-It’s difficult to tell you everything in detail. But remember. Even if you find them, don’t push yourselves to take unnecessary risks. This isn’t Tatur [a lawless region]. Your safe return is the most important thing.

-I will keep that in mind.

Cal Mcaine recalled Caryl’s story, removed his hand from Kamma’s mouth, and said.

“Uncle, you know what we have to do, right?”

At his words, Kamma finally smacked him on the forehead, which he had been holding back.

Thwack-!!

“You brat. I told you to call me Manager, not Uncle.”

Kamma said that and instantly changed his expression, straightening his clothes.

“You’re saying we’re the real customers who need to sell information to. From here on out, it’s the adults’ domain. Just watch quietly, kid.”

He loosened his hands and grabbed the doorknob of the reception room.

“It’s been a while…….”

He was a little excited, but Cal Mcaine was confident that Kamma would not fail.

He was, after all, the manager of the lawless Tatur, even though he was underestimated because of the prominent people around him.

Kamma opened the door, stepped into the hallway, and said to Cal Mcaine.

“I’m going to show off my skills.”

* * *

“Hoo……. What a foul smell.”

While traveling south, Gordon frowned slightly at the pungent odor that stung his nose.

After waiting two more days in the Vestal Marquisate,

After confirming that Olivern was preparing to return to the Empire, he headed south with Caryl.

The destination was, of course, the Fortress of Specters.

The massive barrier that had to be crossed on the way there was so high that it could be seen with the naked eye, even though the distance was still far.

“It’s because it’s the Land of the Dead. The dead earth isn’t just inside the barrier. Well, everyone is the same when they die. Leaving only bones and rotten flesh.”

At Gordon’s words, Miliana pulled up the cloth covering her face, covering her nose a little more, and said.

“Everyone is the same, but at least normal corpses can be used as fertilizer. This is the first time I’ve encountered such a terrible poison.”

[Krrr…….]

The master of the hill, galloping through the desert, also let out a faint groan-like roar, as if he didn’t like the smell.

“It took quite a while.”

“But this is still fast. If we had ridden a Cargen [a type of large, slow-moving beast of burden], it would have taken fifteen more days.”

“Who rides something like that? We have airships.”

Gordon shrugged his shoulders at Caryl’s words and spoke proudly, but Miliana scolded him instead.

“Seriously, aren’t you just openly letting the Emperor know that you abandoned the prince and returned to the south? The Cult Mercenary Corps will be finished that day.”

“I’ll be fighting Digon before that, so don’t worry.”

“Who, us? The Empire? Or your mercenary corps? We can fight right now if you want.”

“Ha, seriously……. Such a young one…….”

Gordon looked at Miliana, who didn’t give in, and let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded.

“Those two……. Will they be okay?”

Aidan asked Caryl, looking worried.

If strangers saw them, they would be nervous, thinking they were about to fight, but in Caryl’s eyes, the two of them strangely looked like a father and daughter bickering.

“When do we attack?”

“We’re not going in right away. There’s an order to everything. The Fortress of Specters is completely different from any other demon nest we’ve encountered so far.”

Caryl pointed to the barrier and said in response to Miliana’s question.

“Hmm…….”

“Then? What are you going to do?”

At her question, Caryl looked at Aidan.

“Aidan, when you come back to a house that’s been empty for a long time, what’s the first thing you should do?”

“Um…….”

At his question, Aidan seemed to think for a moment and asked cautiously.

“Ventilate… it?”

“That’s right. It’s the same here. No, it’s even worse. It’s a land where people haven’t set foot for over a thousand years, and the specters and corpses have been trapped and piled up in the barrier. If we just go in like this, breathing alone will be like eating poison.”

Caryl spread his fingers and made a gesture of slitting his throat.

“First, it’s important to purify the land around the barrier of the fortress so that we can go there.”

“It’s like a giant Gu poison [a type of venomous poison made by sealing many venomous creatures inside a container, where they devour each other until only one remains, which is then used as a potent poison]…….”

Aidan shuddered slightly at Caryl’s words, recalling one of the Eastern Kingdom’s poisonous arts.

It was the most vicious and cruel ancient secret art, passed down only by word of mouth within the Eastern Kingdom.

Monsters with various poisons are gathered in one place, and special drugs are used to weaken the toxicity, so that even touching it can cause the flesh to rot and make it impossible to breathe.

“That’s right. It may not seem like much, but time is a scary thing. The accumulated and condensed poison can exert a more powerful force than black magic or spells.”

Caryl nodded.

The period of time that the poison had accumulated was a whopping 1,000 years.

“Haven’t you seen it? It’s one of his specialties.”

“Yes?”

“Simon Coden. I’m talking about the master of your Eastern Kingdom.”

When he mentioned his name casually, Aidan looked at Caryl with wide eyes, as if surprised.

“Do you know my master?”

“Well, I don’t know him yet. Just a little.”

An ambiguous answer.

Since the organization called Amyeon itself was a secretive place, the existence of the master of the Eastern Kingdom was, of course, a top secret.

‘Did he hear it from Dushala…?’

That was the most likely possibility, but in fact, it didn’t seem like the black market would have much information about the Eastern Kingdom.

Even among the people living on the island, only a few executives had seen Simon Coden’s face.

‘…I really can’t figure him out.’

Aidan smiled wryly as he thought so.

It was because he thought that this was no longer surprising.

“That’s right. You mean we should open the door wide open before we go in? I don’t want to go in while smelling that nasty stench either.”

Miliana nodded at Caryl’s words and said.

“Yeah.”

Squeak… Creak…….

Clatter…….

Caryl smiled faintly, imagining the countless undead waiting for them behind the barrier.

“I need to tear down that barrier that’s been standing for over a thousand years.”