172. Arrival

Four stood people stood side by side, Horus, Krisa, Julius, and Ellaine before them was the newly arrived Warships that had just arrived in the Continent.

A handsome young man wearing white trousers and an overall outer garment with the same color was walking towards the group of four with two other people behind him.

Horus and Krisa both lowered their head with respect, “We greet the Leading Apostle, Prince Fjord.”

Fjord stood tall without so much as an expression. He was stoic and had a majestic air around him, but as he approached Horus and Krisa, he went ahead and hugged the two.

“It had been so hard for you… I’m sorry for not being there with you, my brother and sister.” Fjord said with a low voice. Though he could not show much emotion on his stoic face, he still managed to get through the hearts of his siblings.

Horus and Krisa who knew the Prince well felt their hearts hurting as they apologized while in his embrace, “We are sorry, my Prince… Older Brother Olivier, he, he was killed without us even managing to do anything. We cannot even avenge him. I apologize for being so useless…”

“Shhh, that is enough, Horus. You are not at fault, Horus, and neither are you, Krisa… to save the world and bring back the light, we are risking our lives. Olivier decided to give his everything to bring back the light if we want to honor his death, the best thing to do is to end the suffering as quickly as possible.”

Fjord closed his eyes as he tried his best to suppress his emotions, but still, a single tear escaped him… sadness did not spare him. Horus cried for a while but eventually stopped, he and Krisa reunited with the other Apostles, who were both males, Rusa and Harga.

“It had been a while, runt, did you finally grow some hair down there while being here?” Rusa, who had jagged teeth smiled as he ruffled the hair of his brother.

Harga smacked the back of Rusa’s head, “Stop that you idiot, you know what kind of sacrifice they had to make when they came here, if nothing else, Horus should already be more mature than you. He… he had already committed to the cause and took it upon himself to do IT, you do not know the burden he carries.”

Harga who wore glasses and carried a book placed his hands-on Horus’ shoulders, “Good job, holding out this long, Horus. It is a shame about Olivier, but… this we will not forget about his heroism.”

Horus nodded his head, “Thank you, Older Brother Harga, your words are so much more refreshing to hear compared to the farts that ass is spewing.”

Rusa ground his teeth, “I was trying to lighten up the heavy mood, okay!?”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up, for now, Rusa.” Harga said as he waved his hands around.

Krisa was observing Horus’ reaction to all this, and she smiled as she found him acting normally.

Fjord saw Krisa’s way of looking at Horus from the corner of his eyes and took a mental note, ‘Is there something wrong with Horus?’ his thoughts spun, but as he shook his head, he turned to Ellaine who was smiling all throughout.

Julius stayed on his spot while Ellaine approached the Prince with her usual confidence, “We finally meet, Prince Fjord. You’re more handsome and sophisticated than I thought, I knew handwriting reflected someone’s personality.” She half-joked.

“Please, do not call me as such. I may be a prince in the Empire, but here, I am but a mere man with a mission. Referring to me as Fjord will be fine.” Fjord said with an unfeeling tone, he then remembered something and began explaining, “Please, do not take my tone of speech the wrong way, I am not looking down upon you or anything… it is just that, this is me talking normally.”

Ellaine reacted with an “oh” and then giggled about, “You must have led a rather harsh life, but I thought you’d actually be colder… after all, it takes someone really dubious to give the okay of releasing the Red Vein Epidemic into the Continent.

“But it appears that I am wrong. You are more humane than I initially thought.” Ellaine’s words came out of her mouth and then saw a weird expression appearing from Fjord’s face as if something was wrong, “Did I say anything wrong, Fjord?” Ellaine tried confirming.

With trembling lips, Fjord asked to confirm, “Do you mean to say the Red Vein Epidemic, our last resort was used… now?”

“Huh? Yes, why?” Ellaine was confused, then she saw Fjord wanting to go and talk to Krisa and Horus, but then, his body stopped all movement…

Fjord’s eyes changed multiple times, and his expression reverted to being unfeeling. The Prince then spoke with his usual cold tone, “…it appears that I lost control of my emotions just now. It is nothing, and regarding the thing with the Red Vein Epidemic, please refrain from mentioning it to either Harga or Rusa.”

“…okay?” Ellaine decided to agree after some internal deliberation. She then decided to lead Fjord away as she spoke, “Now, regarding the thing we talked about, are you still willing to do it?”

Fjord nodded his head as he followed, “If you’re talking about helping you eradicate the Elders of your Family, then do not worry, I am more than willing to accept. All evil shall be eradicated without fail.”

Fjord and Ellaine passed Julius. He was still confused about the talk he had with Ellaine earlier today, ‘She’ll eradicate the Elders for Mother’s sake…? She was the one who planted that void in mother’s brain by following the Elder’s orders, and now she’s saying she’ll eradicate them?’

The young feline beastman met gaze with Fjord for a moment and saw the supposed awkward Prince glaring at him. Julius froze, his instincts told him that Fjord was someone dangerous beyond reason.

Fjord passed by him, and then Julius was left staring at his back.

‘W-what happened to him? He’s like a different person altogether.’ Julius thought.

Up on the Divine Realm, the three Goddesses were watching this unfold with creased brows, “This is bad…” Light said with as she felt sorry for these Apostles.

Light watched a screaming Fjord.