CH 114

“You speak too much, traitor bastard.”

Cloud tightened his grip on Lewis’ neck. His breath faltered, but only the word ‘traitor’ hovered in Lewis’ head.

Count Sentry moved his army along with the Kingdom of Carta in the pretext of supporting the Kingdom of Alitia.

However, it was an unmistakable fact that the justification was only a justification, and their ulterior motive was close to treason.

“Traitor… Kek, Hero… can you take responsibility for that statement…?”

No matter how close they may have been to treason, there was a big difference between admitting it yourself and not.

That was why Lewis desperately resisted, even while his consciousness was fading due to lack of oxygen.

Of course, the reason why he could was because he was sure that the Hero wouldn’t kill him.

He was the heir of a noble family.

Even though Cloud was a Hero, Lewis thought himself to be colloquially not taken lightly.

Cloud stared at him for a moment to see if he was adamant, then released his grasp from around the neck.

The freed Lewis sighed, catching his breath. As his breathing stabilized, his mind cleared. The moment he scowled and rose to argue with Cloud, Cloud grabbed the back of his hair and slammed him on the table.

Bang-!

A dull sound echoed through the room.

“Young Master!”

“Hero, what are you doing!”

The escort knights came to their senses at the sound of their master’s head hitting the table.

Tried to draw the sword to rescue Lewis, but…

“I said it before. Choose, but choose along with the consequences.”

The let go of the hilt of their swords to Cloud’s bloodthirsty gaze. The knights who swore to sacrifice their lives could not draw their swords. The aura Cloud radiated was so vicious.

To the point where they couldn’t fantom the entity in front of them was humane.

“Kkeuheugh… Are you really trying to push me to be a traitor…?”

Instead of responding, Cloud lifted Lewis’ head.

Bang!

And slammed it down on the table.

“I-I’m not a traitor… trust me—”

“That’s not the answer I want.”

Bang!

Lewis’ face hit the table harder than before. When Cloud lifted his head, the table was covered with what he assumed was his blood.

Cloud swept the table with his arm and flickered the slick blood onto the floor.

He slammed his puffy face down once more on the clean table.

Bang!!

Feeling the intensity growing stronger, Lewis realized. Cloud was sincere. If he were to stay still, he would really die like this.

Wanting to do something, he decided to apologize first.

“Come on, Hero. Forgive me…”

“Well, that’s not the answer I want to hear.”

Bang!!

* * *

“I’m a traitor. I’ve committed a great sin.”

His face was a mess as he spoke on his knees. His skin was torn, and his flesh was swollen, to the point where the scars he had suffered from Neria seemed like children’s scuffle.

After hearing Lewis’ confession, Cloud nodded his head.

“Now you’re going to say that a little more properly. If you were so truthful from the very beginning, there would’ve been no harm done, how good would that been had?”

He tugged out the potion he had prepared before coming here and threw it to Lewis.

“It’s a high-level potion. Drink it.”

“Yes… I’m sorry…”

Lewis cradled the potion in his bosom. He then looked up and stared at Cloud. He was still sitting on the bed, looking down at Lewis.

Looking at what he was doing.

“You want to mend yourself, right?”

…could he refuse?

“Yes…”

Lewis started picking up his teeth that had fallen to the floor.

The knights who had been standing uncomfortably until then hurriedly squatted down and tried to help their master.

“You guys stay still.”

But had no choice but to stand up awkwardly at Cloud’s command. In the end, Lewis had to put all the missing teeth in by himself and drink the potion.

Still, it was a high-level potion, the effect was pronounced.

The teeth assorted into their places, and all the swelling on his face receded.

As the pain subsided, Lewis’ face returned to normal. However, after taking a look, Cloud drew his sword and aimed it at Lewis” neck.

Lewis’ face went red.

“Why are you doing this to me…”

The blade shifted to Lewis’ chin.

Lewis lips screwed shut.

Cloud started to speak.

“Let me have a guess at your thoughts. Well, it’s obvious. I will never forget today’s shame, I’ll pay back several times someday, and bla bla. Was that what you were thinking?”

“Oh, no. How can I…”

The tip of the sword pricked Lewis’ throat.

The signal to shut up.

Lewis shut his mouth.

Cloud smiled and continued.

“If you would rather not forget, don’t forget. I won’t forget either. I will remember your name, face, and even family.”

“…”

“So, treat yourself well. Next time it won’t be as light as today.”

Cloud withdrew his sword.

As the sword propping his head disappeared, Lewis’ head fell down helplessly.

Cloud left him behind, got up and walked to the door.

Before leaving the room, he frowned as he looked at the stiff knights by the door.

“What you’re looking at. Won’t you bow your heads?”

“…”

“…”

The two knights ceremoniously bowed their heads in silence.

* * *

She scribbled with her pen, then craned her head to the ink stained parchment of squares, runes, circles, and other symmetrical patterns.

She was in the middle of resuming her scrawling.

“Ugh..!”

When a tingling jolted to Eri’s wrist, and she put her pen down.

‘Once again.’

Currently, Eri was literally grinding her body into research. The wrist was no exception. Perhaps the strain on the wrist to fill dozens of sheets of parchment with ink was the strongest.

Anyway, the important thing was that the cycle of wrist pain had been shortened considerably.

Inversely proportional to that, the recovery time increased.

She let out a deep sigh.

Since her wrist started to cramp, her research got hampered.

‘It’s not the time to sleep, let’s go for a walk.’

Eri put on her skimpy coat and came out of the inn with her staff. Warm sun greeted her. While she was enjoying the sunlight she hadn’t felt in a long while, she heard the sound of a conversation from somewhere.

– Really? They’re giving us something to eat?

– Yeah, right! The line in front of the east gate is no joke! It’s already quite long, we’ve to hurry to forage some for ourselves.

East gate? Something to eat? Long line?

What did that mean?

‘Come to think of it, I don’t see any vagrants around.’

Since the city was in ruins due to the descent of the Heavenly King, there had been many vagabonds wandering the streets. There were quite a bit around her inn where she was staying too, which was annoying, but now they were scant.

Apparently, just as the vagrants had said, they went to the east gate.

‘Curious. Shall I go?’

It wouldn’t hurt to take a look while she was on a walk. She regretted that thought the moment she arrived at the east gate.

“Calion? Why are you here…”

Because there was a person she hated the most. Calion had a surprised expression, probably not expecting to cross her either.

“I thought you were kicked out of the Hero’s party, given I wasn’t seeing you around, but I guess that wasn’t the case.”

“What? Why would I get kicked out? I was just staying at the inn for some reason!”

“I didn’t ask.”

F*ck him…

A cry rose from the depths of her chest, but she held it in.

“…why are you here? What is that line for?”

She asked, pointing her finger.

At the east gate, people gathered to form a long line, but people were confused by people trying to cut in the line or take away their place.

If there were no soldiers around, it would have spread into great chaos.

“I wonder why I have to explain this to you, but I have something to tell you, so I have no choice but to explain.”

“Thank you very much for that.”

Although Eri’s tone was sarcastic, she was carefully waiting for Calion’s explanation.

The space between her brows narrowed as she listened to the explanation.

“Are you going to treason?”

“Treason? Sounds like a big allegation. We are going to provide humanitarian aid to the Kingdom of Alitia. Even now. Look around. Do you see this as a callous act, like treason?”

“Even if you say that, it’s just a blindfolded lie. I understand everything. So don’t be silly and answer straight. Is this really our father’s will? The Oller family’s stance?”

As Eri spoke in an argumentative manner, Calion’s expression turned cold.

“Why do you wonder if this is the family’s will or not?”

“Well? Yes, of course I…”

“Ah, sorry. I forgot to state. I forgot to tell you, didn’t I? I will tell you that now.”

Clearing his throat, Calion put his hands behind hia back and spoke in a solemn voice.

“Eri Oller. Calion Oller conveys the will of the family head as the heir of the family. As of today, I will retrieve your surname of Oller granted to you.”

“…what? What… does that mean?”

“What that means, you say?”

Calion smiled as he looked at Eri, whose eyes quivered.

“It means that you are no longer a part of the Oller family. Simply put, you’ve been dug out and flicked off of the family register.”