Chapter 240

As soon as the warship appeared, the merchant ship’s keel was destroyed under the Blue Lughs’ assault. The ship was snapped in half and started to sink under the water.

“Uwaaah!”

“S-Save me!”

“Please! Do something about those monsters!”

The crew screamed while hanging onto the sinking merchant ship.

Tssh!

When Raon put his hand back inside the river water while using Glacier, red objects poured out from the South-North Union’s warship.

Those long and round objects fell right in front of the crew, who fell in the water, as if they had eyes of their own.

“Huff! Huff!”

“I-I’m alive.”

They were floating on the water despite supporting the crews’ weight. It seemed they were made with some special material.

“Alright, guys!”

A majestic voice filled with aura burst from the deck of the warship.

“Wipe them all out!”

The owner of the voice jumped down on the river as he said that. With long purple hair reaching his back, he had soft and well-defined facial features, and his skin was as clean as white paper. The young warrior looked like an exemplary young nobleman.

“Woaah!”

“Sir Tyler is here!”

“We’ve been saved!”

The crew cheered while shouting his name, even though they were barely floating on the water.

“Hap!”

The man called Tyler ran on the surface of the water, as if he were on the ground. Raon could guess that he was using footwork designed to run on the surface of water, judging from the ripples of mana that appeared where he stepped.

‘Amazing.’

Raon resonated the Ring of Fire to take a close look at the mysterious footwork that the man was using.

Cring!

The man reached the group of Blue Lughs in no time, piercing the center of the river with the spear he was carrying on his shoulder.

Whaam!

The blue astral energy flowing from the tip of his spear started to rotate in a spiral to create a huge explosion.

“Keeee!”

“Kieee!”

The Blue Lughs were unable to withstand the huge wave, faltering like leaves inside a storm.

“Woow!”

“They are mere beasts, no different from monsters!”

“Kill them all!”

The warriors on the deck shot the aura blades and aura spears towards the Blue Lughs, throwing spears and harpoons at the same time.

“Kiee!”

“Kiaa!”

The Blue Lughs hurriedly withdrew, unable to endure the powerful attack from the South-North Union’s warriors. Green blood was flowing from their skin where they were hit by the aura blades and aura spears.

“Kuaah!”

An eccentric roar burst from the biggest among the Blue Lughs, and the river water surged like an upside down waterfall to block their vision, a blue cloudy fog forming.

“Kieeh!”

The Blue Lughs didn’t miss the confusion, diving underwater to disappear.

“You aren’t going anywhere!”

Tyler snorted, kicking the thrashing water. He held his spear in a reverse grip, stabbing underwater as if he were trying to catch a fish.

Whaam!

The river water peeled back into a semi-circle, and the young, small Blue Lugh that used to be under him could be seen on the spear, completely in tatters.

“I won’t let all of you escape.”

He swirled his spear to cut the young Blue Lugh’s body in half and gave a cool smile.

“Woaaah!”

“As expected of our captain!”

“Those dirty monster bastards!”

The South-North Union’s warriors giggled from the top of the warship while watching the green blood pouring out from the dead Blue Lugh’s youngling.

“Uha!”

“I-I’m alive.”

“Th-Thank you!”

“Sir Tyler! Thank you for saving us!”

The crew that managed to survive bowed at Tyler from the river.

“It wasn’t a big deal.”

Tyler smiled brightly, reversing his spear to swing it as if he were trying to row.

“Ah, I’ve heard about him.”

Rimmer scratched his chin while looking at the man called Tyler.

“Tyler Sayton. He’s the fifth disciple of the leader of South-North Union, and he’s a warrior at Master level. Because of his excellent appearance and the countless good deeds he’s done, I heard he’s called the Graceful Knight of the Tide by the people.”

“I’ve also heard about him.”

Raon nodded. Just like Rimmer had said, Tyler was a virtuous man with many supporters from the Six Kings because of his heroic deeds, despite being from the South-North Union.

“Graceful Knight of the Tide?”

Martha frowned while looking at Tyler.

“No matter how I look at him, he looks like a traitor with a cringy and disgusting face.”

“Bullshit.”

Burren came next to Martha and shook his head.

“Even though he’s affiliated to the South-North Union, he’s done a lot of good and heroic deeds. He’s completely different from an average bandit.”

“Oh, are you even defending a bandit now?”

“I’m not defending him. I’m just stating the truth.”

Those two were arguing with each other, just like always.

“He’s not damn handsome.”

Runaan shook her head after looking back and forth between Raon and Tyler.

[We aren’t attacking him, are we?]

Raon sent an aura message to Rimmer, his eyes fixated on Tyler, who was riding the tide towards them.

[I can’t just start swinging my sword at him when he’s bringing the people he’s saved. A war is going to break out if we attack him now.]

Rimmer chuckled while answering him.

Tyler brought out the crew from the water, then treated their wounds before coming towards them.

“Oh?”

His mouth became round open upon noticing the burning sword emblem on the Light Wind’s uniform.

“You are from Zieghart!”

Even though he found out at a glance that they were from Zieghart, he turned his spear backwards as if he wasn’t cautious of them at all.

His eyes rolled as quickly as a bead rolling down from a hill. They stopped for a very short instant on Runaan, Martha, Raon, and Rimmer.

“N-No way, are you the Sword of Light from Zieghart?”

“I am.”

“I’m honored to meet you!”

Tyler’s expression turned bright as he bowed.

“I see.”

Since Raon was expecting it, he simply nodded. Everyone inside the village was currently fond of Tyler.

‘And they are also closer.’

The South-North Union was closer than Zieghart to the village. It wasn’t strange for them to ask help from the people who would visit them more often because they were located nearby.

“I-I also have a question. Including the Zieghart’s investigators who came earlier, whose request did you receive to come here...?”

“That’s...”

“I requested them.”

When Raon was about to answer, a deep voice could be heard from outside. The door sprang open, and two young men entered the room. One of them had a build as sturdy as a general, and the other one had clear eyes despite being thin.

“Belga! Morin! Why did you do that?”

The village chief frowned, but the young men didn’t care about him and simply bowed to Raon and Rimmer.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Did the two of you call us?”

“Indeed.”

The bulky young man called Belga nodded.

“Why did you call us when it looks like you are on good terms with the South-North Union?”

Rimmer tilted his head.

“That’s because we can’t trust them.”

“B-Belga! You rascal!”

“Even though they are pretending to be kind neighbors, they were originally bandits. They are people who steal from others, and don’t value lives.”

Belga continued, despite the village chief trying to stop him.

Raon created an aura barrier around the place just in case, so that they wouldn’t be heard from the outside.

“Bandits create a road at least, but pirates simply extort money by placing a ship on a river that already exists. Tyler is no different. He’s pretending to be a hero, but what he’s doing is still the behavior of a pirate. That’s why I can’t trust them.”

“N-Nonsense! He asked nothing in return after helping us!”

“Gazel River will be included in their domain once they take over our village. I’m sure they are stopping themselves from extorting from us because of all the potential gains!”

“Seriously, you rascal!”

“Moreover, it’s strange that the South-North Union made their move as soon as the Blue Lughs changed...”

“Belga! Morin!”

The village chief shouted so loud that the room felt like it was trembling, and Belga and Morin closed their mouths in surprise.

“Be careful of what you say. The entire village could end up burning because of a single word from you.”

“But...”

“Kids have no say in this matter! Since the Blue Lughs are gone, you should set sail as planned! Morin, you should also go there to help them!”

“Ugh...”

Belga bit his lip. He looked at Raon for a moment before bowing at him and left.

“Huhuhu! They are just too young. I’ll apologize in their stead.”

The village chief smiled awkwardly and wiped off the sweat falling from his temple.

“It’s okay, I understand. Young ones are bound to act up,” Rimmer insisted while grinning.

“Thank you for understanding.”

“About that, I heard this place had some famous liquor.”

“Are you talking about the White Red Wine?”

“Yes, that one! Can I have a taste of that? I’d like some liquor because I came a long way.”

“S-Sure.”

He requested some liquor while pretending he wasn’t interested in the mission. He was bobbing his finger at the same time. He was apparently telling Raon to go outside to talk to the young men.

Raon silently stood up and left the village chief’s room. The two young men he saw a moment ago were walking towards the village’s outskirts. The smaller one among them was limping, and that must’ve been why they were still nearby.

“We met a moment ago.”

Raon caught up to them in no time, blocking their way.

“Gasp!”

“Th-The Frostfire Sword of Valor!”

It looked like they knew who Raon was, since they didn’t hide their surprise, unlike when they were in the room.

“I-I’m honored to meet you. My name is Belga!”

“I’m Morin.”

They nodded, Belga vigorously and Morin calmly.

“I came to see you because I was curious about something.”

“What?”

“What did you mean when you mentioned earlier that there was something strange about the South-North Union and the Blue Lughs?”

“Please come here for a moment.”

Belga looked around him as he guided him to a narrow alley. He leaned his back towards a wooden wall and slowly opened his mouth.

“The South-North Union originally didn't use this waterway. However, they suddenly appeared when the Blue Lughs became extremely aggressive and started to attack people, becoming heroes in the process.”

Belga frowned.

“The timing was just too perfect to be a coincidence.”

“That’s right. I’m glad they’ve saved the people, but it’s just too big of a coincidence.”

Morin nodded in agreement.

“It’s impossible for them to know when people are dying, no matter how knowledgeable they are about the waterway.”

“Hmm...”

Raon licked his lips. They were right about that, but that couldn’t be considered proof.

“Additionally, people’s impression of those thieves is currently too good because the South-North Union had no influence on our village before.”

Belga sighed.

“I have a friend in a village that went under the South-North Union a few years ago. He said that he was happy about that at first because it became safer, but he turned into a completely different person in a few years. He just kept chasing after money, with no room to think about anything else.”

“He didn’t tell me the reason why, but he kept freaking out whenever I mentioned the South-North Union. I’m sure they’ve done something to them.”

Morin also shook his head, telling him that the South-North Union shouldn’t be trusted.

“The elders forgot about the fact that the South-North Union can’t easily attack us because we are located right next to Zieghart’s domain, and they are being too optimistic about receiving the South-North Union’s help.”

“We will convince him, so can you give us some time?”

The two people begged him as they bowed.

“I...”

As Raon was about to respond, someone was shaking their hands towards them from the village’s main entrance.

“Belga!”

“Come here already!”

They seemed to be Belga’s companions who were about to go fishing with him.

“You should go. We should continue this talk later.”

“Yes! We will visit you again after putting our thoughts together.”

“See you.”

They bowed at him again, then ran out of the village.

“Tyler from the South-North Union.”

He remembered the way Martha said that people like Tyler were huge snakes on the inside. Her judgment about appearances was unexpectedly correct sometimes.

‘She might’ve been right about that.’

He couldn’t completely believe what Belga and Morin had said, but he did find Tyler’s reaction slightly strange.

It was probably a good idea to prepare to fight the South-North Union, on top of the Blue Lughs.

Raon smiled while thinking about the wave of Tyler’s footwork.

‘Shall I try walking on the water?’