Chapter 108: Prisoner Lee Han (1)
by Afuhfuihgs
Clop-! Clop-!
The sound of a mule’s hooves knocking on the ground echoed softly through the quiet forest path. However, unlike the soft footsteps, the cart pulled by the mule had to go through the rough surface of gravel and root-filled path without any help. Seeing how the mule walked tirelessly for 20 km without stopping while pulling a cart loaded with luggage, it was easy to understand why old merchants always favored mules over others.
At that moment…
“Stop. We’ll be resting here!”
“Stop!”
“Give water to the mule!”
“Soldiers, finish your meals quickly!”
With the shouts of the fierce men leading the whole procession, the mule also stopped walking.
But then…
“U-Uggg… K-Kill me…”
“W-Water…! P-Please… give…water…”
“Ugh…”
The previously quiet forest path was quickly filled with the screams of humans. If it wasn’t because of the muzzles covering their mouths–the same ones normally used for animals–their voices would probably echo further through the forest.
But, even with those muzzles, the soldiers still found their repressed screams annoying.
These fucks!!
Bang-! Bang-!
A fierce man or, rather, one of the escorts, started to beat up some people with a look of annoyance on his face. The club that he used was so big that it wouldn’t be strange if the ones he hit just became paralyzed on the spot from the beating. But the escort didn’t seem to care about that.
On the contrary…
“Die! Die, you criminal bastards!!”
He just kept on hitting them with all his might.
“Keuuuugh!”
“Ahh! S-Spare me…!”
Though those who were being beaten might seem like helpless, pitiful people, the young man and frail old man who were screaming out of pain in particular, had committed extremely heinous crimes.
In the case of the young man, he had ruined more than ten families through more than a dozen frauds, while the old man was a serial rapist.
Even a young child became his victim.
In any case, they weren’t people who should be pitied.
[Criminals are no humans, they don’t deserve any rights! Since they made someone shed tears of blood, let them bleed from their entire bodies!]
That was the absolute rule uttered by the Great Knight King, the founder of Pendragon. Criminals, regardless of age, gender, or status, must be made to know that they were curs who didn’t even deserve to breathe.
However…
“Hey, Rookie. While no one cares if they die or not, don’t beat them up.”
“Why? They are just criminals.”
“…Kid, questioning your superior is an insubordination. Well, I guess in your case, your insubordination is out of passion, huh?”
“I’m sorry…”
“Why are you apologizing…? Haa, forget it. Rather than that, why don’t I satisfy your curiosity, instead? These people over there are the ones who are going to be sent to the ‘tunnel’.”
“I-If it’s the Tunnel, then…”
Hearing the word ‘tunnel,’ the escort soldier made a pitiful expression. He knew that most of those who got sent to the Tunnel were not like those trash who didn’t even deserve to breathe, but those who were being dragged there in a somewhat unfair way.
“Don’t feel sorry for them. They are all soldiers, or maybe knights, who had killed their fellow countrymen. Some of them might even be farmers who revolted against the rotten nobles.”
“…”
“…You’ll meet different kinds of people while doing this job, so don’t let your emotions rule over you. Or else you’ll get tired quickly.”
“…I understand.”
However, the rookie was still a rookie, and his emotional control was clearly immature.
The person who seemed to be his superior let out a bitter smile, thinking to himself that he had expected the rookie to act this way. But then he recalled that he experienced something similar when he was still a rookie, and for a moment, he looked at the criminals who were going to the Tunnel.
Of course, unlike the rookie, he didn’t have any particular emotion when staring at them.
…Hmm, I heard that there would be knights and noblemen among the people we had to escort, were they the ones?
He was just staring at them because he heard that there were some big shots among the criminals.
And then…
Wow, those two have such fierce bodies! They’re just like human weapons. Are all knights like that?
Most of the criminals were only wearing pants and had their upper bodies exposed. It was a precautionary measure in case they were hiding their weapons.
But in the next moment…
“…!!”
The escort’s breath was caught in his throat.
C-Crazy… I-Is that really a body of a human?!
A man whose body made even the two men’s bodies he had seen earlier look thin appeared. He looked significantly wilder than the two knights.
Those are all muscles?
If there was a body made up of tightly woven chains, it would look like that. Just looking at the muscles, he was certain that he would never win against that guy.
…Or rather, even if everyone here attacked him, they wouldn’t be able to handle him.
How could such a monster exist…?
Just looking at the man made him stand in awe and daze.
Thankfully, he is just following us quietly.
Is his family or acquaintances being held hostage? Or is there any other reason why he’s so…tame? There’s no way someone like him would just follow us quietly…
…Whatever it is, it’s great that it happened—huh? Wait. The list said four knights, no…?
Since he was in charge of escorting the prisoners, he was told that out of the 48 people going to the ‘tunnel’, there were four knights included in there.
But except for the three people…
I can’t see anyone else…
Of course, no one could judge a knight just by seeing their bodies. But, after seeing such high standards from the other three, it wasn’t a wonder that his perspective became skewed. He couldn’t see anyone who looked like a knight, and instead just scratched the back of his head.
Did I hear wrong?
The escort wasn’t sure…
But, there were indeed four knights there. The knight he was looking for was a young master with silver hair—no, a young master who looked like a wild dog with messy gray hair.
And that knight, Arren de Pendragon, was wearing a blank expression.
…Why me?
Still unable to accept reality, he looked at the guy in front of him—the monster that had dragged him to this hell four days ago—with resentful eyes.
This vicious—!
“I don’t like that look on your face.”
“…”
“You want me to tear your eyes out or what?”
“…I’ve been casting my gaze forward, why are you saying such scary things?”
“…”
“…I swear, one day I’m going to make you unable to say anything anymore…”
Arren tried to enact a little rebellion, but it was easily squashed.
After all, what was scarier than power far away was a fist close by.
“You’ve been acting pretty wildly it seems.”
Sands—no, those were bricks, fell down with a thud.
“…I’ll reflect on my actions.”
“Yes, you should. What you destroyed is the royal property.”
A simple clash between two men caused a whole disaster in the royal prison.
It was said that the two men only took five minutes to shatter about twenty iron cages inside the prison, which was a little hard to believe.
However…
“Still, it’s a sight to behold indeed.”
The fight wasn’t actually evenly matched, it was completely one-sided.
One of the men—Lee Han’s appearance was a mess. There were bruises and contusions all over his body. If someone had seen him, they’d probably think that he had fallen down a steep slope or something. Although, Lee Han would probably prefer that instead, as he’d suffer less in that case.
“That guy hit me so many times. He just caught me and went wild.”
Although the report said it was a fight, in reality, Lee Han was just being beaten one-sidedly by Baltar. Actually, ‘beaten’ was way too soft of a word to describe what exactly happened.
“Do you know? That guy just grabbed my leg, and started swinging me around so hard that the iron cages and the walls collapsed. Did he think I’m a doll or what? I really thought I was gonna die there…”
“…”
…It’s more surprising that you didn’t end up dying after going through all that.
Isis conveyed those words with her expression, but unfortunately Lee Han didn’t see it.
“So, did you come here to tell me to take responsibility? Well, tough luck, I have no money. Ask that guy instead. Besides, he was the one who broke everything.”
Lee Han was still staying in the collapsed prison. There were no iron bars to stop him, but the bed the soldiers had prepared was so soft and cozy that he felt comfortable staying inside. Besides, he knew that if he escaped, it would bring him nothing but trouble, so he figured that he might as well stay here.
In any case, the guy who thought that a prison bed was cozy tried to tell the princess that she came to the wrong address if she wanted to ask for money.
“…If this lady were to ask Sir Baltar for money, all the knights in this country would treat this lady as their enemy. That suicide method is such a novel one that even this lady refuses to think about doing it.”
“…That guy is that respected?”
“Hehe, probably the only one who treats Sir Baltar lightly like the uncle next door is you, younger brother. Do you think he’s called a great hero for nothing?”
“In my defense, I’ve only been seeing him playing around.”
“The ‘great achievements’ he achieved were all from back when he was young. As long as he lives in this kingdom, all the knights would admire him as their role model. After all, they grew up while hearing the story of his accomplishments as if they were fairy tales.”
Isis’ calm voice had no highs or lows, and it didn’t even show any emotions. To anyone, it sounded like even the heir to the kingdom respected Baltar.
Huh, they don’t get along, I see.
However, Lee Han knew. She was currently mocking the other person. In her seemingly even tone, there was a slight trace of irritation.
…She’s still the same.
He didn’t hear the details, but according to the rumors circulating in the Knight Order, around 25 years ago, she ‘asked’ Baltar to support her. Back then, she was still called ‘princess’ instead of crown princess.
But who was that man? Even back when the princess was still in her twenties, he had already become a nobleman who held great achievements. He was also famous for being a loyal knight who decided to follow only the former king.
So, what happened next was obvious.
-Don’t bother me, Princess. Play house on your own.
…That’s what he said.
Lee Han could bet his head on the fact that it was true. That man would indeed say such a thing. Word by word.
“In any case, don’t worry about the iron cages or the Silver Lion. The great Baltar will take care of it.”
“…”
“This lady isn’t being petty. It’s just, whether it’s twenty or fifty years, this lady will never forget the humiliation she suffered that day.”
“…What are you even on about all of a sudden? Anyway, are you saying that I don’t have to take responsibility?”
Lee Han had no intention of getting involved in other people’s affairs, as to him, things that were concerning himself were more important than anything else.
Isis looked at him with a disgusted expression for a moment, thinking that the man in front of him was truly a shameless person.
“…If they know any shame, could they really hold you responsible? It’s already shameful enough that they were defeated by one person, but they couldn’t even take it like men and called in reinforcements. They even moved the soldiers for petty reasons. In both strength and justification, they’ve already been completely defeated. If anything, if they don’t realize their own mistakes… They won’t be worth keeping alive.”
“…You speak so fiercely all of a sudden.”
“This lady is just being honest.”
“…”
“This kingdom doesn’t need a Knight Order who has neither honor nor strength.”
“…Nah, not that, you’re just cruel…”
Lee Han shook his head as he said that.
In the meantime.
“Do you remember when this lady, no, when I said that I’d need something for you to help me with?”
“…Yes, I do.”
“Then, we can start with that now.”
“Hmm….”
“Can you?”
“…”
Lee Han let out a bitter smile.
Though she said she wanted him to help her, she was actually asking for a favor.
This is too much…
Memory of an old conversation flashed through his mind.
Back then, the white-haired butler had served him some tea.
While serving him, he…
-The princess often refers to herself as ‘This Lady’. However, this is not simply a way for her to elevate her position. To borrow your words, Sir Lee Han, it’s like a mental management method.
-Who are you talking about? Is it that Older Sister?
Lee Ham thought that his ears had malfunctioned.
He wondered what kind of mental management method a person who was naturally arrogant would need.
As he believed that she seemed like someone who would have shouted ‘This Lady is her own lord.’ as soon as she was born.
However…
-She’s more delicate than you think, Sir, but she feels comfortable with someone on the same side as her. That’s why she often uses the words ‘I’ in front of you, Sir. And I…like seeing her doing that.
-…Suddenly, I feel uncomfortable…
That was what the butler—or rather, the superhuman in butler’s disguise told him. Also, this was something that Lee Han always tried to forcefully remember. He did it out of habit, because he’d always remember everything that scary people said or did.
In any case, this was why he knew, when his elder sister spoke while lowering herself, it wasn’t an order, but a request.
-Butler, I find that trust and respect burdensome.
-Hehe, that’s how important Sir Lee Han is to the princess.
Lee Han laughed bitterly at the butler’s voice that automatically played in his head.
And just like that…
“…As long as you can take care of my child’s affairs properly, I’ll listen to any of your requests or whatever, so don’t worry.”
“Haha, you really are very sincere to your disciple.”
“That aside, do I have to do it alone?”
“Hmm, it indeed would be easier if there were talented and trustworthy people helping you. Are there any people you want to bring?”
“There are two. They are talented and trustworthy.”
“I have a rough idea who they are.”
“I knew it, you know too much… Oh, wait, there’s also another one…”
“?”
Isis made a puzzled expression. Her expression suggested that she wasn’t aware that he had another acquaintance.
However, the guy wasn’t his acquaintance.
On the contrary…
“There’s someone I want to give some mental education to.”
“…Hoo, is that so?”
Their relationship was bad. The problem here was that he couldn’t do anything careless against that guy.
“I like that. Do it.”
However, as long as he had permission from one of the most powerful people in the royal family, there was no one he couldn’t bring to the depths of hell with him.
And currently…
“Heok… Heok…”
“Walk faster. Even a mule can walk better than you!”
“I-I’m not a mule…!”
“What did you say?”
“…I’m not a mule, Sir!”
“…You’re such a rascal even until the very end, huh?”
Even though the man was cocky to the end, his servitude as he tried to reduce his cockiness was really funny.
Or rather, his cockiness itself was funny.
However…
There’s nothing to laugh about from now on…
He could see the destination the mule’s footsteps were leading to, and Lee Han slowly stopped laughing.
…Blood Cross, huh?
It’s crazy…
Did the original author read martial arts novels while writing his rofan?
As a martial arts novel reader, he couldn’t help but be bewildered by the organization name that made him suspect that it might be a copycat of the Blood Cult.
Footnotes
Footnotes
Footnotes
- 1. Just like the Demonic Cult and the Northern Sea Ice Palace, they are another major evil faction in murim. They are significantly crazier than anyone else usually as they’re the only ones who dabble in human sacrifices and black magic.
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