What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 537

Aftermath Play (3)

Evening of the next day. Barun County, the northernmost part of Phenetian.

The lord’s castle dungeon.

—Clang!

“Hey, Warden! What’s going on? Why are you locking people up and not feeding them for three days, huh?”

A prisoner shouted, throwing himself against the bars.

The black bars, as old as the lord’s castle, creaked and made unpleasant noises.

In the moldy, damp underground, not a single ray of sunlight penetrated.

Two soldiers, who were passing by busily, stopped for a moment.

Then, they looked around at the familiar faces of the inmates and sighed deeply.

They scratched the back of their heads or the bridges of their noses, looking quite embarrassed.

They didn’t want to starve these people, whom they had known for at least a few months, or even over a decade.

But the situation was truly dire.

No, perhaps the entire continent was in a serious state.

“There’s… a problem upstairs, and food supplies aren’t coming in, old woman. I’ve been eating nothing but watery bean porridge for four meals straight.”

“I can’t tell you the details, but it’s a complete mess. It’s like a curse from the gods…”

The soldier added, taking a rough piece of bread from his pocket and passing it through the bars.

It was roughly wrapped in a dry cloth, so it seemed he had diverted his own rations again today.

However, it was naturally impossible for two guards to secretly feed over a hundred prisoners.

The bread smelled sour, as if it was about to go bad, but the old man quickly handed it to a young woman huddled in the corner.

Surely, it would be more beneficial for the young woman to eat than for himself, who was already on the verge of death.

“Hurry and swallow it, quickly. You have to eat it before it goes bad, so you don’t get sick.”

“…”

“You were a mercenary, right? Mercenaries have to eat a lot. My son was a mercenary too, and if he was hungry, his legs would lose strength and he couldn’t use them.”

“…”

However, the woman couldn’t bring herself to put the bread in her mouth and hung her head.

Since being captured by Lord Sem outside the lord’s castle last month, she had believed that this place would be her final resting place.

She hadn’t expected this kind of death, but if this was fate, she was willing to accept it.

The mercenary quickly shook her head and handed the bread back to the old woman.

She also gave her the canteen that had been rationed for her.

“Grandma, you often get choked.”

“Oh, young one…”

—Clang!

‘Clang!’ Silence was broken again, and anger erupted.

This time, the shouting came from the opposite side of the hallway.

“Curse, my foot! We’re going to die without a curse!”

“We may be prisoners, but we’re not animals! Huh?”

“What on earth happened…?”

“Are you planning to starve us to death because you don’t have the money to execute us?”

“Does that even make sense? I didn’t even come in here as a death row inmate from the start!”

“Thank you, Warden. This is something, at least…”

The sound of another old man thanking them for the bread could be heard.

The soldiers patrolled the dark underground hallway with gloomy expressions.

They weren’t in good condition themselves, as they were also starving, but it felt even worse to be cursed at without even being able to give a proper explanation.

At that moment.

“Hey, Guard.”

A powerful voice, out of place in the musty dungeon, echoed.

The yellow eyes of the two soldiers rolled towards the corner cell.

Then, they widened simultaneously.

The woman who occupied the largest cell in the lord’s castle was holding onto two bars tightly, staring at them.

The guards reflexively straightened their backs and stood at attention in front of her. ‘Thump, thump!’

“L, Leijestra-sama!”

“High Priestess.”

“There’s no need to be so formal. I am neither a high priestess nor a noble now.”

Martier, trying to appease the two, had an old, worn-out ether restraint [a device that suppresses magical abilities] on her neck.

It was an item that the guards had searched for over half a day in the warehouse, after receiving orders from above to bring it, even if they had to search the entire lord’s castle.

The battle priestess looked back and forth between the two guards and quickly lowered her voice.

Her vanilla-colored eyes were emitting an unusual light in the darkness.

“What’s going on?”

“…”

“That…”

Even though she didn’t raise her voice or show any force, the soldiers opened their mouths for a moment, unable to find the words to say.

They just shifted their eyes back and forth, sweating profusely as if it were not the right season.

They had heard that the battle priestess in front of them was a very important person.

They were just lowly soldiers in a remote area, so they didn’t know the details of her achievements, but the modifier ‘Right-hand of Princess Elissa Phenetian’ was not something easily forgotten.

One of the guards finally parted his lips.

“W-well, it’s nothing much…”

“Nothing much? In this harsh northern region, the winter cold and the Orcish monster hordes should be the biggest concerns, but you haven’t mentioned either of those two things.”

“Ah…”

“Tell me the truth. What on earth happened that the rations were suddenly cut off, and even the lord’s castle soldiers are only getting bean porridge? Did something happen to Lord Barun?”

As she pressed them with a serious look, the soldiers swallowed hard and looked at each other.

The one who was a few years younger nudged his colleague’s side.

It meant that he couldn’t confess himself, so the senior should handle it.

Immediately, Martier’s gaze was fixed on them, and eventually, the senior soldier let out a breath that seemed to sink the ground.

He looked around to make sure no one was listening, then whispered in a voice that could barely be heard.

“That is… it’s been dark outside all the time, High Priestess. The lord’s castle, everything is black.”

“…What?”

The high priestess frowned deeply. The junior next to her quickly added.

“We mean the sun isn’t rising, High Priestess.”

“What are you talking about? The sun isn’t rising?”

Martier now had a bewildered expression. The soldiers were just as bewildered.

The two moved closer to the bars and explained.

“We haven’t heard exactly what happened… but it seems something happened in Atsuma.”

“Yes. Suddenly, flames spread into the sky in the middle of the night. I was sleeping at the time, so I didn’t see it, but half of my colleagues said they witnessed it with their own eyes. It was so big and terrifying that they thought the whole sky was on fire.”

“When?”

“It was last night.”

The guards were now taking turns confessing the secret to her.

Martier rubbed her bald head and frowned.

If what the two said was true, this was clearly an ‘anomaly.’

Besides, no matter how she looked at it, they didn’t seem like the type to tell such absurd lies.

She carefully asked again.

“Is this common in the north? Is the lack of sun just a simple weather phenomenon?”

“Oh, no. People in the south sometimes think that, but it’s definitely not.”

“T-there hasn’t been a ‘polar night’ in the north since Phenetian was founded. Rather, the days have been getting longer and longer. The elders in the village say it’s a blessing from the gods.”

“…So, the sky really did burn…? Alright. Let’s move on from that for now.”

The high priestess said, washing her face with her hands.

Since the sun doesn’t shine underground anyway, there was nothing she could confirm right now.

Besides, there was another point that didn’t make sense.

“The dungeon rations have been cut off for three days now. But that was last night? Then the lack of sun and the food problem aren’t related?”

“Hmm…”

“That is…”

“Tell me quickly. I need to know the situation clearly so that you can receive help from Princess Elissa if necessary.”

Martier usually hated selling Elissa’s name, but there was no other way right now.

The high priestess was a prisoner of Lord Barun.

She was in a situation where she could lose her life at any moment due to his whims.

To be precise, the mysterious ‘guest’ who had taken the lord’s seat was very suspicious.

The sharp eyes that looked down at her from the upper seat behind the bamboo blind.

“…Is it ‘Božena’s’ doing?”

Flinch. The soldiers trembled as if they had been splashed with cold water.

Martier stared at them as if she would devour them and remained silent.

Then, this time, the younger soldier couldn’t withstand the pressure and revealed the secret.

“…Yes. That person, that person locked the gates of the lord’s castle and is dragging all the remaining territory residents to arm them. Most of them are old people who can’t even draw a sword…”

“Shh! How far are you going to go!”

“Keep talking. You too. If you truly want to save the territory residents.”

“Ah…”

The high priestess warned solemnly, and the senior soldier eventually buried his damp forehead in his palm.

His fingertips, covered in bread crumbs, were trembling.

“…Originally, we were planning to depart for Atsuma today, but because the sun didn’t rise… it seems it’s been postponed for now.”

“Gods.”

“That person said that they would lead the troops themselves. They said not to worry because there are wizards who will follow. And that they will definitely get Atsuma to surrender… The sick Lord is going with them in a carriage…”

“Nonsense!”

Martier suddenly shouted. The shoulders of the two soldiers jumped as if they had been struck by lightning.

“If the person I’m guessing is correct, that person is a weakling who has no talent for combat, even less than you. There’s no way they’ll reach Atsuma’s lord’s castle. Only the territory residents will die in the process!”

“Oh my…”

“Tell me. Have you seen Božena’s face? What does she look like? Doesn’t she have light purple hair?”

At the storm of questions, the two soldiers hunched their backs.

Of course, there was no proof that Božena was Werner.

But Martier had no intention of letting go of her current premonition.

The fact that the late Prince Yeser appeared in her dream last night kept bothering her.

“W-we are not in a position to enter the lord’s guest room…”

“Haven’t you heard any rumors?”

“T-they always wear robes…”

Right then.

-Clang!

A loud noise came from the cell diagonally across. Immediately, the eyes of the three people flew over.

A large woman was pressed flat against the iron bars, glaring at them.

The guards quickly recognized her.

It was the mercenary who had refused the bread from the old man a little while ago.

She was always huddled in the corner, so they didn’t know she was so tall. What’s going on today…

“I saw Božena’s face.”

“Gasp!”

It was a shocking statement. The high priestess’s eyes widened like lanterns.

The soldiers gaped in astonishment.

“Y-you! Do you know who this person is, making reckless lies—”

“I am the mercenary who escorted that person from the Yeriho black market.”

“What?”

“I know everything about what that person did to survive and how they got all the way up here.”

“…”

Martier gripped the bars so hard she seemed like she would crush them.

The mercenary’s empty eyes were filled with deep regret.

“…Brown eyes, light purple hair. A man with a shiny prosthetic arm and leg, pulling a blue carriage.”

*

Late at night.

Werner Phenetian was in armor.

It was heavy and uncomfortable, which he hated very much, but he also needed preparations.

A noble person’s ‘big deal’ was originally like that.

“The sun will rise in the morning. Then come with me on the expedition.”

“Sss…”

As he bent over the bed and whispered, Abeloner Barun, buried in the blanket, made a metallic sound.

Her slightly blurred eyes groped the ceiling and repeatedly looked up at the man.

Her angelic eyes were imprinted and blurred like prints everywhere in his vision.

“Se…”

“Hmm?”

She was already suffering from an incurable disease, but she had become even thinner since meeting Werner.

The pain should have been lessened by the painkillers he gave her, so her expression should have brightened, but the reality was the opposite.

The Lord, who could no longer feel pain, became increasingly dependent on the Royal Consort’s medicine.

Then, her reason quickly faded, and it became difficult to distinguish between dreams and reality.

If he told her to stay awake, she would stay awake until late at night, and she would carry out whatever he whispered in her ear.

Strictly speaking, he gave her the power and authority to do so.

First, he scraped together all the adults in the territory to form an army.

He declared a state of emergency, requisitioned all the winter food, and prepared to invade Atsuma day and night.

He slapped his only son and chased him away, preventing him from ever setting foot in the lord’s castle again.

By doing so, her body was deteriorating without her even knowing it.

She now vomited blood more than five times a day.

“Sem…”

“You have nothing to worry about. The preparations are perfect.”

‘Trust me, the Royal Consort of this country,’ Werner whispered into her pillow.

A slender drop of water flowed from the corner of Abeloner’s eye.

At that moment,

-콰아앙! [Sound of a door being broken]

The door to the Lord’s bedroom burst open, and knights poured in.

“What is the meaning of this!”

“Lord, Božena-nim! It’s a rebellion!”

“A rebellion has broken out in the dungeon!”