The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 238

177. Civil War in the Duchy (3)

Thud—!!

Fran Lurein stormed into the room, violently throwing off his helmet. His face was blackened and covered with scabs.

“So, it’s you.”

“You have a strange way of saying thank you.”

Caryl said without even glancing at him, scribbling on a blank piece of paper as if doodling.

He filled several sheets, gripping the pen and writing unrelated words.

Clack-

At that moment,

Fran snatched the pen from his hand and broke it.

“You son of a bitch…”

He muttered, his face flushed crimson. He threw the shattered pen onto the floor and said,

“What the hell are you doing?”

“You should know better.”

Caryl grabbed a new pen from the desk, twirling it on his finger as he spoke.

“…….”

Fran’s face twisted.

“You think it’s ridiculous too, don’t you?”

Caryl’s actions mirrored what Fran had done to him when he first came to find him.

“More importantly, why don’t you dismiss those around you? Including those hiding in the headquarters.”

Caryl raised his head towards Fran and smirked.

“Judging by your behavior, it seems your noble duke persona was an act, even without the robes? Or are you still being cautious, perhaps watching your subordinates’ reactions?”

Caryl spoke, recalling the time he secretly met Fran.

When he first arrived in Korb and visited the harbor defense force, Fran greeted Caryl as a member of the Wooden Cloud [a clandestine organization], not as the Second Duke of the Duchy.

He couldn’t help but chuckle whenever he recalled the arrogant and haughty man who had completely shed his polite and respectful demeanor.

“…….”

However, Fran’s face hardened at his words.

Bang—!!

As he slammed his sword, still in its scabbard, onto the floor, the presences felt throughout the room vanished without a trace.

Caryl nodded in satisfaction.

“Can’t have you losing face in front of your subordinates. I’m being considerate, you know?”

“Stop talking nonsense and tell me. Did you bring the Sea King here?”

“You must be so grateful that you’re losing your mind. Well, it’s hard to believe. You never imagined someone could tame the Sea King [a powerful mythical creature]. It’s something no tamer on the continent could do.”

At Fran’s words, Caryl lowered the corners of his mouth and spoke as if praising himself.

Thump—!!!

It was then.

“…….”

Fran slammed the desk with all his might, shattering it into pieces. Caryl raised his hand in the air, clicked his tongue, and shrugged.

“Nothing’s going to be left intact.”

“Do you even know what you’ve done?!”

“Do you even know that you’re pointlessly throwing away tens of thousands of lives right now, you moron?”

Caryl brushed the debris from his knees and stood up, taking a step towards Fran.

“……!!”

As his pent-up anger exploded, Fran felt a momentary sense of suffocation from the overwhelming pressure emanating from Caryl’s entire body.

‘What is this…….’

He doubted if the Caryl he knew was really the same person, as Caryl had completely changed in just a few years.

It was inevitable.

The last time Fran had met Caryl was before he had even obtained Laminue’s power [a source of immense magical energy].

He had received reports that Tatur had declared independence, but he hadn’t given it much weight at the time.

The growth rate at which humans could become stronger was limited.

The five Sword Masters [elite swordsmen] and four Archmages [powerful mages], known as geniuses of the century, all had similar growth curves, even with slight differences.

Just a few years.

He thought Caryl would only reach the ranks of an Advanced Sword Expert or an Intermediate Mage at best.

But he didn’t know.

That Caryl’s mind already contained swordsmanship surpassing Sword Masters, a repository of knowledge created by the primordial mage that no Archmage had ever reached, and that he had even subjugated the powers of the Flame King and the Dark King [entities of immense power].

“I’m quite angry right now. I’m only tolerating your tantrums this far. If you act up any more, I might lose it. So shut up and answer my questions.”

“Kuh…… Keuh.”

However, the energy emanating from Caryl before him was an overwhelming force that even Fran, a veteran of the battlefield, had never experienced.

Shiver…….

His legs trembled like aspen leaves.

It would have been better if he had been ignorant.

But perhaps because his skills were so outstanding, he felt the gap between himself and Caryl even more acutely.

‘Sword Master……? No, the surrounding mana [magical energy] is so heavy that it’s suffocating. Only an Advanced Mage could do this.’

Fran’s mind was in turmoil.

He knew that Caryl used a sword, but as the concentration of mana he emitted grew denser, he couldn’t gauge it at all.

“Be grateful that I’m not making you kneel just because you’re a duke of the duchy.”

Thud-

Caryl pressed down on Fran’s shoulder with his hand. He didn’t resist and sat down in the chair, swallowing hard.

His back was soaked with sweat.

“…….”

The angry momentum from before had vanished without a trace, and he rolled his large eyes, twitching his lips.

“Alright, let’s hear your excuses for doing this with that gaping mouth of yours. But you better explain yourself well. Unless you want your head blown off, not just your mouth.”

Caryl kicked away the debris of the broken desk and leaned against the window, arms crossed.

As the pressure that had been choking his neck eased slightly with the distance, Fran let out a low breath.

“I know that Tuli launched the first attack. And Rakhiell’s betrayal too. Fighting with an enemy at your back isn’t pleasant, but do you think it makes sense for you to still be stuck in Korb?”

Fran couldn’t offer any resistance to Caryl’s harsh words, even though he was much younger than him.

“Not answering?”

Fran, who had been staring blankly as if overwhelmed by Caryl’s momentum, looked ahead as if jolted awake by his question.

“Tuli’s attack and Rakhiell’s betrayal were all planned.”

“What……?”

It was an unexpected answer.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

Caryl frowned slightly and asked him again.

“Are you saying this fight is a play being performed with mutual agreement?”

“……Similar.”

Caryl looked dumbfounded at Fran’s answer.

‘That’s strange……. He dies in the Duchy’s civil war. That’s why Anthem Howard goes to find Viola after the defeat.’

Could there be a secret he doesn’t know?

Caryl sensed that the war in the Duchy was not simply a power struggle between the First Duke and the Second Duke.

‘Could it be…….’

A hidden mastermind moving the civil war.

Caryl suddenly felt a throbbing headache at the thought that flashed through his mind.

“Did the Wooden Cloud order you to do this?”

“…….”

No answer was needed.

It was enough that Fran’s eyes were subtly shaking, even though he didn’t show it.

Crack—!!!!

At that moment.

Caryl grabbed Fran’s shoulder.

“Answer.”

It was so fast that he couldn’t even react. Fran looked at him with a face full of astonishment.

Snap……!!

As Caryl put strength into his thumb, his collarbone broke instantly.

“Argh……! Aaaargh……!!!”

But only for a moment, Fran thrashed in the chair he was sitting in, letting out a scream of pain.

However, Caryl’s expression didn’t change at all, and he instead tightened his grip on the broken collarbone as if clutching it.

“Didn’t I tell you to?”

“S, s, save me……!!”

As Caryl released his hand, Fran collapsed to the floor with the chair, gasping for breath.

“You guys. The moment you come out, you die. And this guy dies too.”

“Keuh……!!”

Caryl grabbed Fran’s head, raised it again, and spoke towards the ceiling.

“If you want to save your master, get lost again.”

He couldn’t hear any sound, but Caryl knew instantly that dozens of blades were aimed at him.

They were well-trained assassins, but that seemed to make Caryl even angrier.

If they had used those guys, the outcome with the Silver Wing Fleet would have already been decided.

“So answer me properly.”

Fran nodded repeatedly, even as he broke out in a cold sweat from the excruciating pain every time he moved his body due to the broken collarbone.

“What conditions did the Wooden Cloud offer you? What did they promise you that made you do such an absurd thing?”

“…….”

Fran hesitated to answer, even though he had just tasted terrible pain.

“Hey.”

Caryl said in a low voice.

“T, Tuli agreed to take the Duchy. And in return, I would take over as the head of the Wooden Cloud!!”

“You? Then why start a war if you could just merge the Duchy?”

“Because we needed a justification. Even if she was the First Duke, not everyone would follow her. We had to eliminate any possibility of rebellion. The remaining forces would only follow her if the Second Duke completely disappeared.”

“The fact that the Wooden Cloud is giving you the position of leader…… does that mean Tuli is the head of the Root [the core members of the Wooden Cloud]?”

Fran shook his head.

“No, she’s just one of the Roots. But she’s the most influential one.”

Caryl couldn’t even laugh at his foolishness.

‘Fool, you don’t know how tempting the Wooden Cloud is, but you’ve drunk from a poisoned chalice. If that position is so tempting, there’s no way Tuli would just give it to you.’

Only then did he understand the whole story of Fran Lurein’s death.

“The war will end soon. This was just to create the stage for it. The Duchy will become one and have a force large enough to stand against the Empire.”

Caryl scoffed at his words.

What Tuli had given him was not the head of the Wooden Cloud, but death.

“A stage? You’re calling this a stage now?”

As his voice changed, Fran trembled without realizing it.

“What do you guys think of life anyway? You sacrificed your soldiers just to create that justification?”

Caryl grabbed Fran by the collar.

“Take a good look. It’s not just your soldiers. Even the enemy soldiers fighting over there. Over 100,000 people are dying without knowing anything.”

Fran even held his breath, more afraid of looking at Caryl’s enraged face than the pain of his broken collarbone.

“Is your life precious and theirs disposable? I don’t think so.”

“……What?”

“If they’re insignificant, then you’re the same in my eyes. You’ll suffer like them. You’ll have to struggle hard. If you don’t want to die.”

Caryl said coldly.