Chapter 135

Chapter 135

There was a small town in front of Baron Dubuer’s Estate.

They had arrived just outside the town, but they could already feel the gloomy air around the town.

“This is our destination,” Akshuller muttered and swept his gaze across the town.

There were a few pedestrians on the streets, and they all had something in common.

They all had the same lifeless looks, as though they had given up on life.

Iceline standing on the side clenched her fists at the sight.

“Manager Eiden!”

Akshuller saw a mercenary shouting from inside the town, and Akshuller’s eyes shone as he asked, “Hans, did you do what I asked you to do?” n0vElUsb.c0m

Hans nodded. He took a deep breath first before replying, “Yes, I have already informed the headquarters that the undead has emerged in the heart of the Avalon Empire. It wasn’t that difficult to do because we have a communications infrastructure.”

“Great,” Akshuller remarked.

Joshua standing on the side looked like he wanted an explanation, so Akshuller said, “There are more than two thousand undead wandering the empire right now. If I hadn’t seen them with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed such a story.”

“We should take things a bit slowly because we might be able to lure the mastermind behind all this. If we strike the problem at its roots, then all this will stop—” Joshua started.

However, Akshuller vigorously shook his head and interrupted him.

“We can’t be certain that the undead won’t attack people. In a circumstance where it would not be out of the ordinary for the undead to enter the village, and we cannot take all of the villagers with us. In addition, she does not want that to ever happen,” Akshuller grumbled while pointing at Iceline with his chin.

“...” Joshua remained silent.

Joshua knew what was about to happen, so he knew that Akshuller’s worries were unfounded.

Unfortunately, Joshua knew that it would be difficult to convince them to believe him.

‘It would be difficult to make them believe that the undead would never hurt an ordinary person before the Massacre of the East. If it weren’t the case back then, then the Hubalt Empire wouldn’t have ignored them.’

It had been the case back then, so everything was fine right now.

Everything was fine for now...

After a moment of hesitation, Hans spoke cautiously, “But...there was a small problem.”

“A small problem?” Akshuller tilted his head.

“It seems that the headquarters called to verify that the Avalon Empire is aware of all this, but...”

“But?”

“As soon as we made contact with Avalon, they announced that a huge horde of undead had invaded their land. They’re worried that the dark mages may have appeared once again to cause havoc after hundreds of years.” Hans continued.

“What?” Akshuller’s eyes widened as he muttered, “What do you mean?”

Joshua and Iceline were startled as well.

The words ‘Dark Mage’ carried some weight in the Igrant Continent.

“The undead and dark mages are the continent’s greatest enemies. Our neighbors, particularly Hubalt, could use that information as an excuse to scour the entire continent. Is His Majesty really going to let Hubalt obtain the perfect justification to do whatever they wanted? What is His Majesty doing?”

“That’s...” Hans seemed uneasy as he said, “It seems that Hubalt was already on the move before the news broke out.”

“What?” Akshuller’s frown deepened. It was the first time he heard of such news.

“The Hubalt Empire knew that there are undead here, and apparently, the High Priest Herald of the Hermes received divine revelation. In response, they dispatched a priest to deal with the matter.”

“And what happened?”

“Apparently, it has been three days since they last made contact with the priest. The priest had a portable crystal ball to communicate, but there has to be some kind of issue with it because they still can’t contact the priest.”

“This is becoming very problematic...” Akshuller remarked as he shook his head

The disappearance of the priest the Hubalt Empire dispatched over to Avalon to investigate was a serious issue.

Akshuller then asked, “Where did he disappear?”

Hans immediately responded, “In the heart of the territory, Count Rebrecca’s castle.”

“...!” Akshuller, Iceline, and Joshua were stupefied.

“As such, His Majesty has partially lifted the patrol of imperial soldiers in the area, thanks to the incident. According to rumors, the Hubalt Empire has apparently sent their priests and holy knights—”

Joshua turned around before Hans could finish.

“I shall go first.”

“Wait,” Akshuller said.

Joshua came to a halt.

“Take this.”

Joshua looked behind him and caught the item Akshuller had thrown.

“This...”

It was a hexagonal, palm-sized, sterling silver plaque. The Mercenary Guild’s emblem, which depicted two overlapping axes, was on the silver plaque, while Joshua’s mercenary name ‘Ash’ was written behind the plaque. It was a Mercenary Guild card.

Akshuller said, “You might definitely encounter some difficulties, so I’m giving it to you in advance. I’m not sure if a noble of Avalon will find it difficult to pass through their land. You might also meet one or two Herma, who might find you strange and start something pointless.”

“...”

‘Herma’ was a derogatory term which the mercenaries used to refet to Hermes’ priests.

“I wish I could go with you, but duty calls. I will contact you as soon as possible,” said Joshua while looking at Iceline, whose lips were pinched into a quivering line. She was biting her lips so hard they turned white. The sight was enough evidence to prove Iceline’s current feelings.

Iceline had to stay here along with Branch Manager Eiden. Otherwise, it might become difficult to secure the relief goods.

“I’ll use this well.” Joshua bowed slightly before quickly disappearing from view.

Akshuller groaned and turned to Iceline.

“I know you want to go right away, but I hope you’ll endure a bit more. Take a look at these poor people—you want to help them without attracting the nobles’ attention, right? Something like that can’t be done fast, but it can be done effectively.”

“I know,” replied Iceline while biting her lips.

Akshuller nodded and said, “Great.”

With that, Akshuller turned his attention to Hans and asked while tilting his head, “A priest carrying a portable crystal ball is definitely not an ordinary priest, what’s his name, Hans?”

“It was the first time I heard of such a name. His name is apparently Christian.”

“Christian?”

Akshuller’s eyes narrowed. The name sounded familiar to him as he thought. ‘Ah! A participant of the Masters’ Battle has the same name as his, but it must be a coincidence, right?’?Akshuller muttered to himself.

Hans interrupted Akshuller’s train of thought as he said, “Oh, yeah! They also said that Hubalt dispatched thirty White Justice Holy Knights, the High Priest himself, and a Saintess on a mission to find Christian. They said they would depart the day they received the news, so we expect them to arrive in around half a day.”

“W-What did you just say?!” Akshuller gasped with wide eyes.

The line-up Hans had just stated was basically the core of the Hubalt Empire.

.

The High Priest was second only to His Holiness in the Holy Empire of Hubalt. There were tens of thousands of holy knights, and the members of the White Justice Knights Order were basically the cream of the crop among holy knights.

Moreover, a Saintess would also be participating.

“That craz... no, hmm.” Akshuller coughed lightly to attract Iceline’s attention before saying, “It's getting worse. The Hubalt Empire is sending basically the core of their military into enemy territory just because of a priest, but the Avalon Empire isn’t doing anything to prevent that.”

At the end of his sentence, Akshuller seemed greatly confused as he stared in the direction of the ruins, which had been the border town of Rev and muttered, “What the hell is going on?”

***

A figure was quickly traversing through a forest, leaving blasts of wind in his wake.

‘Have I been running for half a day now?’?Joshua scowled. He covered three days and three nights’ worth of distance in less than half a day.

‘I underestimate the situation too much.’

Joshua gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists. He couldn’t really be blamed because he had little recollection of the Massacre of the East.

‘In my past life, I was fourteen when my mother passed away. ’

At fifteen, he left the Agnus family and spent a long time buried in grief. All he knew about the Massacre of the East was what other people told him about it.

‘The little border town of Rev was where Lich Heinz, Asmodeus’ contractor, established his first base. If he moved somewhere else before I reached him...’?muttered Joshua to himself with a dark look.

There was a huge chance that the Massacre of the East in his past life would happen if he failed to arrive there in time.

In addition, the kid—Ash’s parents would also...

“...!” Joshua came to a halt.

Joshua's eyes lit up upon seeing Rev in the distance.

However, he could also feel a peculiar energy coming from somewhere. It was faint enough that it could actually be considered as nothing but traces, but most importantly...

‘It’s him...!’

Joshua focused on the energy with wide eyes.

The man had always been wearing a mask, so Joshua had no idea of his true countenance.

‘But I will never be able to forget his nasty and sticky energy...’

Joshua was sure of it. It was one of the many energies that pierced his body just before he died, so there was no mistaking it—this dark and ominous energy—which felt more like a curse, belonged to none other than Kaiser’s loyal dog, who was loyal only to power.

“Berbeeer!”

There was no doubt about it.