A life spent wandering in search of monsters.
The Atan tribe carried only two burdens: a sword to strip flesh and bone, and a flask to hold the blood.
As they moved instinctively, following the scent of monsters carried on the wind, they had naturally come to shed all other cumbersome belongings.
Somewhere near the northern border of Bariel, Efdiram stretched languidly, greeting the refreshing morning.
“Time for breakfast!”
“Looking for food as soon as you wake up? An excellent decision.”
“We have leftover meat from yesterday, right? How much is left?”
“Half. The kids ate some of it during the night.”
“I knew it. Tell them to stop sneaking food!”
“As if they’d listen. Nothing tastes better than a midnight snack. I’ll start a fire. Hey! Go gather some wood!”
At the subordinate’s shout, the tribe members began to rise and move, one by one. Aside from the fact that they ate monsters, they looked no different from any other community. The only problem was that they had to chew constantly and rarely ever felt full.
“Lady Efdiram. The projected northern route.”
“You didn’t sleep?”
It was Veno, a Sword Master who served as a clan chief. He said nothing, simply holding out a map. Efdiram gnawed on a piece of dried meat as she studied it.
“It will be difficult to procure monsters in Burgos. It would be best to stop by the fully opened rift zone north, beyond the Bariel border, before we go.”
“Good. Tell the others.”
“Yes, and—”
Swoosh.
Efdiram and Veno turned their heads at the same time. They had sensed an unfamiliar presence.
The two stared silently into the undergrowth, their reactions soon diverging. Efdiram raised an eyebrow in amusement, while Veno tightened his grip on his sword.
“You little colt. It’s been so long I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Your head’s still a curly mess.”
“If it were me, I’d at least have the courtesy to hide my presence.”
“Are we really on terms where we need to bother with courtesy?”
“You’re lost, aren’t you?”
“…No, I’m not.”
“Then why are you coming from that direction?”
Beric pushed through the dense branches, scowling. Damn it. Hale had brought him right to the spot, but he’d still managed to get a little lost. Beric wiped his nose, deliberately ignoring the perfectly good mountain path nearby.
The Atan, having noticed the outsider’s appearance, began to arm themselves and gather behind Efdiram.
“Whatever. First, let me introduce myself.”
“The hell? All of a sudden?”
Beric showed them his identification card, the one with the mana stone missing. This was the first thing Ian had told him to do.
‘Beric. State your identity. Announcing that you are from the Imperial Palace and have come to meet the Atan tribe on the orders of His Highness, Crown Prince Jin, is the start of the talks.’
Thrust.
“This is who I am. See?”
Every member of the Atan tribe, including Efdiram, stared at Beric with a look that said, ‘So what?’ They didn’t say it out loud, but their expressions were filled with pity.
“Where’d you lose the other half of your ID?”
“You don’t need to know. Anyway, I’m here on orders from His Highness, Crown Prince Jin of Bariel. Chief Curly, I need to talk to you.”
“…From ‘curly’ to ‘curly-cue.’ Hmm.”
Despite her joking mumble, Efdiram’s eyes narrowed. Well, look at this. Crown Prince Jin, with his coming-of-age and coronation ceremonies approaching, sends a man to the Atan? And a puppy from the Imperial Royal Guard with Atan blood in his veins, no less?
She sat down on a rock and shrugged at Beric, feigning puzzlement.
“As you can see, we, uh, don’t really have anything.”
“I wasn’t expecting anything.”
“So, for what reason did the great Crown Prince of the Empire send a mutt? Even a stray dog passing by would know you’re not suited for this kind of work.”
“It’s a two-for-one deal.”
“Aha. Two-for-one?”
So there’s another mission?
In Efdiram’s eyes, Beric was a goldmine. The kind of goldmine that would drop nuggets of palace intelligence if you just poked it a little. She adjusted her posture and smiled. This cute, insolent little bastard.
“So, what’s the message?”
“The Atan tribe is to stop fucking around in the north and stop bothering the mages while they work. If you don’t, we will wipe you out.”
For a message from the Crown Prince, it was incredibly crude. Beric had probably embellished it himself.
The Atan listening from behind bristled, raising their weapons. The murderous glint in their eyes was an added bonus.
“Ha, wipe us out? Are we trash? I’ll kill you!”
“Chieftain, let’s skin him and teach him a lesson!”
“Take back those words and apologize right now! You brat!”
“Hey, hey, you lot running your mouths over there. I’ve memorized your faces. We’ll see each other after this talk is over. Got it?”
Beric warned them, pointing a finger back and forth between his own eyes and the Atan.
As the atmosphere grew more heated, Efdiram frowned and raised a hand. The surroundings fell silent in an instant.
“Those aren’t very pleasant words.”
“If you want to hear pleasant words, you should come to the Imperial Palace and hear them yourself.”
“…I think there’s a difference in perspective here. We had no intention of bothering the mages. We were just trying to survive. As proof, there have been no armed conflicts between your side and ours. And we’ll be leaving Bariel for a while anyway. Then it’ll be quiet, just as the Imperial Palace wants. So isn’t that the end of it?”
“No. There’s one more thing. You’re going to find Rutherford, right?”
“Did you hear that from the mages?”
“Don’t go. Stick with Bariel, not Burgos.”
Efdiram let out a small gasp. It was a very short sentence, but the information contained within it was too certain. She smiled in disbelief and brought a cigarette to her lips.
“Holy shit. So Rutherford is really back.”
She was on the move to personally confirm the rumor of Rutherford’s appearance. But now, an envoy from the Imperial Palace had shown up and confirmed it for her. Unbelievable.
Efdiram flicked the fingers holding her cigarette, chiding Beric.
“If I were your superior, I would have put this out in your eyeball right then. You know that?”
“Yeah, go ahead. My superior doesn’t smoke that crap.”
Beric cleaned his ear, letting her words go in one and out the other. Then, he recalled Ian’s second instruction.
‘If she hasn’t faded with time, Efdiram is a clever woman. It won’t be easy to take the lead in the conversation or get information from her. Instead, she has a strong tendency to interpret things on her own. We just need to leak the information.’
‘So, you’re telling me to let her know Rutherford is in Burgos?’
‘You don’t even need to tell her. As you talk, she’ll naturally figure it out on her own.’
‘Huh. But is it okay for her to know that? Wouldn’t it be more advantageous for us if she didn’t know, so we can get her on our side?’
‘Not necessarily. It’s information that will lose its value over time anyway. And to the Atan, Rutherford means a great deal.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘A long time has passed. They are no longer in a simple friendly relationship.’
Snap!
Efdiram snapped her fingers at the daydreaming Beric, telling him to focus. Their brief exchange had completely solidified her decision.
“Hey. If Rutherford is really back, then I have even less reason to stay in Bariel. Not for a single moment.”
“Why?”
“You’re asking because you don’t know?”
First.
Bariel’s position was to completely block the rifts, while Rutherford’s was to activate them. As the Atan’s main source of food was the monsters from these rifts, wasn’t it only logical for them to seek out Rutherford?
And second.
Yggdrasil was meant to keep Bariel—or more accurately, the mages of Bariel—in check and maintain a balance of power. But now that the mages were half-disbanded, its original purpose was gone, and Yggdrasil was currently being used to stabilize the rifts.
She needed to confirm if Rutherford’s objective was still the activation of the rifts, and if not…
‘I’ll have no choice but to kill Rutherford, the source of Yggdrasil.’
It was crucial. What Rutherford was thinking, and how he would act from now on. The best way to find out was to face him directly.
“What about being Bariel’s monster disposal unit? Not interested?”
“I’ll kill you. You want us to live like livestock, eating the scraps the Empire throws us? Hunting and battle are our identity.”
“We could give you the entire northern region.”
“On the condition that we become subordinate to Bariel, you mean.”
“Doesn’t seem like you’re interested.”
“Maybe in the past, but the world has changed. With the creation of the Clifford rift, the number of those who awakened to their Atan blood has increased exponentially. Do you know what that means?”
Efdiram flicked the ash from her cigarette and sized up Beric. Specifically, the Black Sword at his hip. A sword that called forth monsters, a sword that all of the Atan were fated to encounter one day.
The very fact that he carried it proved he was one of them, so why was he living as livestock, trapped in the cage of the Imperial Palace?
“The rifts are the Atan’s power, their source. Putting up a fence might let us eat and live in safety, but we cannot grow. You’ll understand soon enough.”
“So, in the end, you’re sticking with Rutherford?”
“Well, not right away. If Bariel were to take a positive stance on expanding the rifts, I might reconsider.”
“Now you’re just talking nonsense.”
‘The Atan absolutely need to meet Rutherford, and we cannot stop them. So, what’s important is to turn the situation to our advantage when they do meet. Beric, this next part is the real key.’
Beric recalled Ian’s instructions and stood up. The atmosphere made it clear his business was done, and the Atan parted to make way for him.
“Anyway, I’ll report it as such. That you’re ditching Bariel and siding with Burgos.”
“The Atan’s goal is not the fall of Bariel, but the activation of the rifts. I’d like you to be precise about that.”
“It’s the same difference, you moron. I’ve made myself clear. From this moment on, we go our separate ways. Got it?”
As Beric loosened his shoulders, Efdiram watched him with suspicion. The madman knew no middle ground. This attitude of severing their relationship so cleanly, like black and white, was highly suspect. It was a move no diplomat would ever make, but since it was Beric, she couldn’t tell if it was intentional or not.
In that moment, Beric grabbed his Black Sword and unleashed his mana.
Ziiiing! Ziiing!
“…You!”
“What? This is part of my orders too.”
It was a show of will—that he could not let those who posed a threat to Bariel leave alive. A palpable killing intent filled the air, and Efdiram, Veno, and the other Atan drew their swords simultaneously.
“You idiot! Do you want to die?”
“No! I want to kill!”
WHOOOOSH!
No matter how strong a member of the Imperial Royal Guard he was, there was no chance of Beric winning here. Efdiram was a seasoned mage, and there were several other Sword Masters, including Veno, though their skills were still raw.
In any case, Beric’s action was the height of foolishness.
BOOM! BOOM!
‘Beyond mere hostility, we need evidence that they have threatened Bariel. His Highness, Jin, will have established his own justifications for war, but the more justifications, the better. If the Atan enter Burgos, Bariel can also enter Burgos. We’ll have a powerful justification: pursuing a threat to Bariel.’
‘What if Burgos refuses?’
‘Then it’s war. And let’s say they accept, and the Bariel army enters Burgos. Since the Royalist faction is allied with Bariel, they’ll be happy to have gained military strength. In that case, who would be unhappy?’
‘The opposition, I guess. The anti-Royalist faction.’
‘Right. And who is the anti-Royalist faction allied with?’
‘Oh, Rutherford?’
‘Exactly. Therefore, Rutherford will find the Atan a burden, and their relationship of convenience will naturally crumble. From the Atan’s perspective, the moment they enter Burgos, they lose their power. If that happens, a time will come when they’ll want to talk to Bariel again.’
‘So, what do I have to do?’
‘Beric, as a member of the Imperial Royal Guard and a diplomat dispatched by His Highness himself, you represent Bariel. So, to establish a hostile relationship between the Atan and Bariel, what do you think you should do?’
‘I don’t know. Fight?’
‘Exactly. Well done.’
Ian had patted Beric on the shoulder and smiled.
‘Go to the Atan, raise a ruckus, and then pull out at the right moment. The mages will be waiting nearby, having set up a perimeter. If the mages get involved, it will become an undeniable conflict, so the Atan won’t be able to pursue you to the end and will turn back and leave Bariel.’
‘Ah, so you’re telling me to go get my ass kicked?’
‘Just try not to get hurt too badly.’
Beric recalled Ian’s instructions and chuckled. This is my specialty! His sword drew a massive arc, cleaving the air, and a huge explosion roared.
WHOOOOSH!
BOOM!
‘Ian! Shit, I think I’m doing a pretty good job!’