Ch.363Eastern Affairs (2)

“Mersin…!”

Jahan’s eyes widened in shock.

An unimaginable situation. The core of the Guard Cavalry, the person Haschal trusted most after Jahan, had appeared as the leader of the traitors.

Shock preceded anger.

“Even you, even you betrayed us! Don’t you feel any shame!”

“Why should I feel shame? It was him who betrayed us, betrayed me. He betrayed his subordinates, betrayed a warrior’s pride, and even betrayed our people.”

Mersin drew his curved blade with a composed expression.

Standing proudly as if there was nothing wrong with his actions.

“Surrender quietly, Jahan. What reason does a warrior of your caliber have to die like a dog following a traitor? Will you be buried as a mere appendage of the one who abandoned us? I, we, will not allow that.”

“Mersin-!”

Jahan gritted his teeth and charged toward Mersin.

Clear hostility. It was no longer a situation where persuasion would work.

“How foolish…!”

With Mersin drawing his blade as a signal, the warriors of the Guard all swung their weapons at Jahan at once.

—-

Thirty minutes later.

“This… can’t be…!”

The Centurion let out a dying groan as he dropped his curved blade.

Fresh blood gushed from his helplessly open mouth.

The crescent blade that had pierced his chest had torn apart his heart and lungs.

“Haa… haa…!”

Covered in wounds, Jahan pulled his crescent blade from the Centurion’s corpse while breathing heavily.

“…Unbelievable.”

Mersin looked around with an incredulous expression.

Pieces of entrails floated on a sea of blood, emitting a foul stench.

A battle of one against one hundred and forty in Jahan’s quarters.

Surprisingly, only he and Jahan remained alive until the end.

The 4th Guard Cavalry Division that had betrayed Haschal had all been slaughtered by a single warrior.

Even dismounted, this was not something possible for an ordinary warrior.

If he were an ordinary warrior.

“Champion…!”

Those who master the mysterious power of a warrior’s Karma and demonstrate superhuman strength.

Even Mersin had not known that Jahan had reached the level of Champion.

“Were you hiding your skills? Since when…!”

Instead of answering, Jahan caught his breath, somehow gathering his depleting strength.

His overworked arms trembled, and his vision blurred from blood loss.

The crescent blade in his hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

In truth, Jahan hadn’t been deliberately hiding his abilities. He wasn’t that calculating by nature.

Rather, Jahan himself was inwardly surprised by his own power.

‘To reach enlightenment in such a situation. Is this what they call divine providence…!’

He had reached the level of Champion thanks to none other than this desperate battle.

—-

“Jahaaaan!”

In exchange for cutting down about twenty warriors, he had been impaled through the side by a spear.

Before the pain, what came first was rage toward the traitors and the desperate feeling that he couldn’t die like this.

‘…You talk more than I expected.’

Was this what they called life flashing before one’s eyes?

Like lightning striking his mind, memories from the past vividly surfaced in his head.

‘I will not forget. I will slaughter every last one of them…! Those who drove my mother to her death, those who insulted and despised her, even the one who didn’t even come to her funeral!’

A youthful voice echoed in his ears.

‘…Jahan. Will you follow someone like me…?’

He remembered the face of the girl who looked at him with burning blue eyes, chewing on hatred yet somehow showing an anxious and sorrowful expression.

‘…I knew you would say that. You’re quite a stubborn man.’

Even the memory of her gently smiling while scolding him in a quiet voice, as if relieved.

Yes. He couldn’t die here.

As her warrior, he hadn’t accomplished anything for her yet.

“You think I’ll die to the likes of you!”

His body responded to its master’s resolve.

Awakening Karma.

With a feeling like new blood vessels overlaying his existing ones, unimaginable power filled the crescent blade he swung.

The warrior who had pierced his side was split vertically in half.

—-

Several dozen minutes later.

Having reached the realm of Champion, Jahan slaughtered the warriors who charged at him with unstoppable momentum.

Even after his left arm was pierced by a curved blade, his back deeply cut, and his ribs cracked from being hit by a flail. The minor cuts were too numerous to count.

After a desperately fierce battle, only one enemy remained.

Jahan caught his breath and charged at the last enemy.

– Clang!

The chipped crescent blade and Mersin’s curved sword collided violently, emitting sparks.

“Mersin-!”

“Don’t you understand yet, Jahan! He abandoned us! You know it too!”

Mersin retreated several steps after deflecting the crescent blade.

Though they were both Centurions, his opponent was a Champion. Even in his battered state, Jahan was difficult for Mersin to defeat.

“He left us here and became one of those Imperial dogs. Not just an ordinary Imperial citizen, but their vanguard who massacred the White Banner! Without telling us anything! If this isn’t betrayal, what is it!”

“Stop spouting nonsense!”

Jahan denied Mersin’s words.

There was no way Haschal would have betrayed him.

There must have been a reason, a reason he couldn’t convey to them.

It was an unwavering faith.

Because between him and Haschal, there was a bond that even Mersin didn’t know about.

Since that day, 9 years ago.

“You betray because you didn’t receive an explanation? What flimsy loyalty, Mersin! Were all the words you spoke to me lies!”

Jahan’s momentum grew increasingly violent.

As the shock subsided, anger filled his mind.

The betrayal of the Guard was understandable.

They were a group who had gathered following not Haschal herself but her strength, cruelty, and ferocity.

Since there were even many spies mixed among them, they weren’t the type to remain loyal in such a situation.

But Mersin was different.

One of only two Centurions in the Guard Cavalry. The person Haschal trusted most after Jahan.

Even Haschal, who didn’t trust the Ka’har warriors, had faith in the loyalty of these two.

That’s why it was an unforgivable betrayal.

“You too must have sworn to make Haschal the Khan!”

A tearing metallic sound.

The broken curved blade spat fragments as it was deflected.

“Yes. That was my intention!”

Mersin rolled backward to avoid the follow-up attack, discarded his broken blade, and grabbed a spear shaft lying on the ground.

“I swore it! Indeed I did. I swore to help kill Amin, kill Sahakal, kill Targiyan, and if necessary, even eliminate the Ser Khan, to give her the position of Khan!”

His voice began to mix with passion.

Though he was pretending to be calm, he too was mentally cornered.

“Because I believed she was the one most suited to be Khan!”

Even Mersin had not been disloyal to Haschal.

He hadn’t wanted to betray her either.

Rather, though their directions differed, he too had been a warrior who had given his utmost loyalty to Haschal.

To the extent that he had unhesitatingly sworn what amounted to treason.

He was so devoted to her that he was willing to eventually eliminate their own Ser Khan, Orhan, if he stood in the way of Haschal ascending to the Khan’s throne.

Because he believed that she, Aishan-Gioro Haschal, was a warrior worthy of the name Kagan, a great conqueror who would not only conquer the great plains but place all countries under the name of Aishan.

If there was a difference in the loyalty between Jahan and Mersin, that was it.

Jahan had given his loyalty—no, his heart—to Haschal as a person.

With the desire to protect her, fight alongside her, and fulfill her wishes.

It was an emotion closer to familial love than the loyalty between lord and vassal.

In contrast, Mersin’s loyalty was only to Haschal as a warrior.

An ideal warrior who knew no mercy, enjoyed battle and slaughter, and possessed unbelievable strength and cold-bloodedness.

The seed of a hero who would lead the Ka’har to dominate the world.

That was how he saw Haschal.

Therefore, he could not accept the sight of such a woman abandoning them, abandoning the Ka’har, and becoming one of the Westerners.

What he wanted was the strongest Khan of the Ka’har, not some hero of the Westerners.

“But she betrayed us! Claiming to be the protector of Westerners instead of a Ka’har warrior!”

Mersin, being smarter than the others, could easily grasp Haschal’s intentions.

Her promise to return was a lie. Her claim to ascend to Khan was also a lie.

She had abandoned them and chosen the life of a knight protecting her mother’s country!

‘Yes, for revenge, it might have been better to borrow the Empire’s power than to establish a position here. But…!’

It was an unforgivable betrayal.

To attack the Aishan with the Empire’s power meant placing the fate of the Ka’har in the hands of Westerners.

To Mersin, who had dreamed of a stronger Aishan under her command, what Haschal had handed him was a future of a doomed country and enslaved kinsmen.

“She. No, that woman is no longer our future! Why don’t you understand that, Jahan!”

“…Our future? That’s the future you wanted. It has nothing to do with me.”

Jahan understood why Mersin had betrayed her but couldn’t sympathize with him.

Having watched Haschal grow over nine years, Jahan had developed such deep affection that he wouldn’t hesitate to betray the Ka’har if she wished it.

Mersin blocked the swinging crescent blade with his spear shaft and was thrown backward, rolling on the ground.

If Jahan’s body had been in normal condition, the spear would have been cut in two, but in his battered and exhausted state, defeating a warrior of Mersin’s caliber was a difficult task.

“You don’t understand. You’ve been betrayed too! How can you not come to your senses even after being abandoned like a sick dog!”

“I wasn’t betrayed. You simply couldn’t trust Haschal until the end!”

Jahan believed in Haschal without doubt.

If she had abandoned them and joined the Empire, there must have been a reason why she had no choice.

So, he just needed to find her and ask.

Having finished his thought, Jahan raised his tattered crescent blade straight up, pointing it at Mersin who was staggering to his feet.

==============

“…So, is Mersin dead?”

“He should still be alive. As other troops began to gather due to the commotion, I had to escape without finishing him off.”

Hersella remained silent for a while.