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Chapter 241
Golden Dragon Odograsado
The end of a bloody war was sweet one way or another.
They took the treasures in the castle as spoils, held festivals with others' grain and livestock, and disbanded to unwind from the war.
But this war was different.
Only hardship remained at the war's end.
"Move it, move it!"
Е̌ n̆ú m̆ a
"No time to rest! The faster you move, the sooner we go home even by a day!"
The knights' faces still looked like they were in battle as they commanded.
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Post-war work should originally have half the forces sent out, and the remaining half handle the cleanup.
Even that system wasn't properly established because there was just that big of an incident.
Even the knights who should be commanding were participating in that manual labor.
The king died.
W̊ ê b n̆ ǒ v̆е̇ l Е̄ nǔ m̃a
The king who had bravely charged into enemy lines died inside the castle.
The king is the symbol of the nation; his remains must be recovered without fail.
If not the remains, then even a single finger, even a speck of dust must be retrieved.
The allied nations with a shared goal were combining forces to conduct excavation work.
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"Th-there!"
In that desperate situation, someone pointed at the ridge.
Wе̃b̄n о̃v̈ е l̇. Ёn uṁ ă
Someone was coming over from there.
The numbers were many enough to be called a great army.
"Those bastards... they're not planning to steal the feast we prepared, are they?"
"Just like flies swarming a famous feast..."
"It's not a feast, it's a funeral..."
It was a common occurrence in war.
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That anxiety was brief; seeing the flag's emblem visible at the ridge's end, people felt relief.
That flag shining brilliantly as if it would never fall even if the whole world corrupted.
It was the flag of the Odograsado Holy Kingdom.
They arrived at the site leading a large workforce, and the responsible parties gathered to welcome them.
"We are the Odograsado Relief Knights. I am the Relief Knights Captain, and also the acolyte Leo. We came by order of His Holiness Gregorio to serve you all."
"We were just in need of hands. We are simply grateful that the Holy Kingdom sent the Golden Grace."
W е b ǹо̂v́ ė l̀ Еńŭ mȧ
The knights welcomed them, but the priests couldn't view them favorably.
There's no way they don't know their ulterior motives.
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Converting soldiers through charitable missionary work while helping in difficult times was a classic method.
But no one dared refuse or resist.
They're in a position where they can't even go home despite winning, stuck clearing stones, aren't they?
If it were just a single dead soldier they'd have left him to rot; if a knight they'd have worried a bit then discarded him, but a king died.
Ẅ е.b̀ n ö v ӗ l̀. Е ñ ū m̂ а̇
In the Arken Empire, the favored Count Rooster, and the Second Prince, Ureas Arken, died.
If they were placed before Hell's entrance, it was a situation where they'd have to recover them even at the cost of their own lives.
They couldn't afford to be picky about dirty hands or clean hands.
The Holy Kingdom's Relief Knights healed the wounded, supplied provisions, and filled the lacking manpower.
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The Relief Knights' chief, the middle-aged man who called himself acolyte Leo, moved somewhere.
That place was where King Hudret's army was among the allied forces.
Ĕ n̆um̈ä. і̂d
Hudret was the Allied Forces Commander, directing the work of excavating the kings' corpses from the debris.
He was overflowing with vitality to the point it was unbelievable he'd only slept 3 hours after countless fierce battles.
Hudret glared at the man entering the tent.
Straight posture, fierce eyes, an impression that looked like he couldn't make a single joke.
Hudret welcomed such a man gladly.
"Welcome, acolyte."
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"It's an honor, Your Highness Hudret."
"Is His Holiness well?"
"Isn't he the miracle incarnate who received the Golden Light's grace? He's still healthy."
"Must be tough. Serving an old man for decades."
"It's fine."
"I heard the story. I was deeply moved that the Holy Kingdom would provide such support."
Ěn úṁã
"Direct combat support goes against His Holiness's will, and further against the Great Golden Dragon's will, but post-war is a different story."
"Is that so?"
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Hudret didn't like it.
But he forced a smile and let it pass.
"Understood. Thanks for the hard work."
"Yes. But before that..."
Е̃ n ûḿ а. і d
Leo didn't seem intent on leaving right away.
"Won't you return it?"
"What?"
Hudret played dumb perfectly.
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"The Golden Grace."
"Golden Grace?"
E n ŭ mа́
"....."
"Ah, you mean Odograsado-nim's scale."
Hudret scratched his head awkwardly.
"I lost it."
"....."
"You lose things fighting, don't you?"
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"To use that, you'd have to embed it in your body; can it be lost that easily?"
"Someone might have gouged my hand to pull it out?"
"His Holiness ordered recovery by any means. The Golden Grace is something even the Order's people cannot use. It cannot be resolved by saying it was lost."
"It's not in my hand, so how do I recover it? You don't listen to reason."
Leo demanding it be handed over, Hudret refusing.
"Captain, you need to come for a moment."
Е̊ n̊ u m̆а̌
"What is it?"
"There's a part where we need to coordinate with the priests in the healing work, and etiquette is involved. It seems only you can handle this..."
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The timing was truly impeccable.
Seeing Hudret's insolent face, he wanted to just hold his ground, but as the person in charge, he couldn't.
"...The conversation isn't over. I'll come find you later."
"Do that."
Ẁеb̄nô v̀ e̊ l Е̃ nū m̃ а̄
Leo exiting the tent.
Hudret smiled playfully, wondering if he should just run away right now.
As Leo went out, another Relief Knights member entered the tent.
"I greet King Hudret."
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"What is it?"
"Your ordered delivery has arrived. That is..."
W е̄ bn ov̇ еl Е̃ň u m̀ а
He checked the order form again and spoke.
"You requested 100kg of ham in an oak barrel, correct?"
"...Yes, that's right."
"Where should we put it?"
"Bring it inside here."
"Understood."
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The soldier rolled the oak barrel and placed it beside King Hudret.
"Then I'll be going."
The oak barrel before him.
The wood scent and faintly wafting and subtly fragrant aged protein smell stimulated his appetite.
"Truly delicious-looking ham."
Tapping the oak barrel with his index finger, he brought his hand to his waist.
W̄ е̊b̃ ṅóṽ ё l̄ Ěṅ.u m а̊
"Shall we try opening it?"
Hudret drew his sword and slipped it between the oak barrel's wooden staves.
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Then the cylinder twitched momentarily, and a bouncing laughter flowed out.
-What heaven and earth opens an oak barrel like that?
A nasal girl's voice.
Hudret chuckled at that sound and responded.
W̃е_b̃n о vӗl Ê nu̇ m̂ а
"Seems like spoiled ham. Since it's talking."
-What would the Holy Kingdom's ham be? It's holy beyond measure. It doesn't just fill the stomach but preaches wisdom too, how holy is that?
"If it's holy ham, the knife won't go in so you can't even eat it?"
-Heung-heung, even if I look like this, I have a frail body, baby. If you poke it deep~ it'll hurt and pop out?
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"May I try once?"
-Hang-hang, you impious thing. Go ahead and try.
Ė nuṁ а
Hudret released his aura and stabbed with all his might.
The sword going in puuk.
And the oak barrel's lid soared skyward as something popped out.
"Ow~!"
The most trivial scream Hudret had ever heard.
The one who screamed was a girl small enough to hide comfortably in an oak barrel.
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Deep golden hair with lovely beauty.
She was not a person who should be stored in an oak barrel, wearing a never-dark-colored robe and smelling entirely of ham.
No, she was a person who shouldn't be inside.
Who would believe a dragon was hiding in ham?
A pair of dark golden horns, darker than the girl's hair color, exactly resembled the flag emblem on the Odograsado Holy Kingdom's flag.
That girl was the Golden Dragon, Odograsado.
Е̇ n ǔm̈а̄ . і̌d
"You damn thing pointing a sword at me, my side hurts so much I feel like dying, hang-hang-hang!"
The girl fiddled with her side, but naturally there wasn't a scratch on her body.
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Rather, only the stabbed sword bent and got stuck in the oak barrel.
Hudret frowned and glared at the girl.
"You have to compensate for this sword."
"Don't be so stingy. If it's that kind of sword, your armory is overflowing with them, isn't it?"
Ӗ n̈ um̆а́ . íd
"It was a sword I resolved to walk the path of hegemony with. It has that much worth."
"Pahang-hang! Can't be helped. Fine, I'll have one of my swords prepared for you."
Hudret grinned secretly at her.
But as they say, there's always a higher flyer above the runner.
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"Then I must get something back from you too."
The girl gestured in the air.
Е̄n̄umа̌
Then the piled luggage vibrated, and something sharply pierced out and caught in her hand.
It was a golden scale.
The very item they'd been disputing over, claiming it didn't exist just minutes ago.
Hudret clicked his tongue.
"There must be tens of thousands of those scales; can't you give just one?"
"Hang-hang! You too have countless swords; couldn't you spare just one?"
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"My thinking was short."
"You should have had a kind heart, you foolish thing."
The girl bursting into nasal laughter and the middle-aged man laughing 'pfft' in disbelief.
Odograsado placed the scale slightly behind her head, the light vanished, and it began glowing faintly on her head.
"So the one who should stay in the Holy Kingdom came all the way here secretly worried I'd eat your scale?"
"Do I look like I'd do such troublesome work? Huddling in a narrow barrel isn't easy either. Oof, my bones."
Ẅё bǹ о̀ ve l Ēǹ u m̄â
"Then why?"
She leaned her back backward and answered with a beaming smile.
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"I came to see our baby's fiancé?"
"My son is studying hard at the castle, though?"
"Hang-hang, that's an amusing thing to say. I'm not talking about your baby."p>
The lazy-looking girl pointed at herself with her thumb and spoke confidently.
W̃ е́ b̊ṅо̌v е̃l Е̄ ñû ḿ a
"My baby."
Odograsado's baby.
Hudret had deep ties with her, but this was the first he'd heard of a baby.
She looks more like a baby herself, so who could it be?
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'And on a battlefield at that...'
Before Hudret could guess something, Odograsado flipped her robe over her head and walked.
Е n̆u ḿ ӑ
Hudret naturally followed her.
"Where are you going, reeking of ham?"
"I'm going alone, so don't follow."
"Since the Great Golden Dragon is gracing us with her presence, shouldn't I serve as your palanquin?"
"Pahang-hang! No need, you bastard! If a big guy like you carries me, we'll only stand out!"
Odograsado walking away laughing hong-hong.
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Hudret quietly watched that back and realized where she was going.
"Baby..."
That woman called baby might be small to Odograsado, but to Hudret, she was an existence too enormous.
* * *
Ferda opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the tent's ceiling.
Е n̈ ũm.ӑ
And Ruri.
Sensing his presence, Ruri was poking her head in.
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"Ruri..."
"Have you awakened?"
"Yeah."
"....."
Ѐ n u m̊ a . і d
She started to say something but stopped.
From her mouth shape starting with 'gi', she was definitely going to ask how he was feeling.
Ferda knew well why she couldn't even ask such a simple question.
Worried his neck wouldn't turn, he tried wiggling his right hand just in case.
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Nothing was felt there.
Wrapped tight in cloth, shot with painkillers, no sensation at all.
Е n ùm̀ ӓ . i̊ d̀
That first aid couldn't have been done by Hudret.
Ferda quietly looked at her.
Just as he was about to say something,
"Do you know what happened?"
Ruri beat him to it.
Ferda ultimately closed his mouth and shook his head.
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"The citadel collapsed, and the outer castle completely collapsed too. But victory celebrations couldn't continue."
"Right, since all the kings died..."
The allied forces had five kings.
Four of them stabbed each other to death, and one died by Ureas's hand.
And Rooster tried to kill that Ureas, but Ureas counter-killed Rooster, and ultimately he died too.
Whatever the process, aside from Ferda and King Hudret, there were no surviving leaders.
W е b̌n ô v ё l̂ Ё ǹ u m̄ а
Right when it was about to become ruins, King Hudret threw Ferda to Ruri, and Ruri, having received Ferda's body, escaped the scene at the fastest speed she could muster.
"Sir Jed and Sir Arwen who followed behind me also got out safely."
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"What did they do?"
"They contributed to killing and weakening the castle's monsters."
"They did their best."
For Ferda, it was a relief that his close people didn't die.
Еn ŭ ḿa
Ruri's words continued.
"And there was a brief internal conflict."
"Internal conflict..."
"Wouldn't it be suspicious if the kings didn't all die and some returned alive?"
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The high commanders already knew all the strategies the kings had planned.
Since the ones trying to monopolize the book all died, they must have thought either Ferda or Hudret killed them.
En ǔm̂ а́
"So what did you do?"
"King Hudret resolved it."
"How?"
He said exactly this.
-I killed them all.
He spat out the words that he killed the kings with tremendous confidence.
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-They were all led by black magic, and tried to make their kingdoms like the Heinkel Kingdom, so I killed them all on the spot. Under the name of God and my conscience, there's not a shred of shame; if you doubt my intent, I can wage war with you all right here and now.
Ferda couldn't understand his actions.
'If he'd pinned it all on me, it would've been easier...'
The troubled one would be Ferda, and Hudret could just push it off and watch with hands behind his back.
On the other hand, he also thought that judgment was correct.
Because ultimately it ended the cleanest.
En̆ ů m̈ а .і d
No one could make a peep at Heinkel King's words.
They'd lost too many people and were exhausted through the Heinkel Kingdom siege.
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Besides, right now recovering the kings' bodies was top priority.
Moreover, Hudret who said he killed the kings also helped them recover the bodies, according them minimum courtesy.
He'd thought Hudret was simply an arrogant human, but that appearance of not being swayed by emotions and not sparing a hand for necessary work overturned everything Ferda had evaluated until now.
That must be the Emperor's Vessel Hudret spoke of.
Ë n̂ ü m̂à
"That's how it went."
"I see..."
"Yes."
"....."
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"....."
Ruri swallows her breath.
É_n̊ûmа̄
Ferda felt a storm in that dry breath.
"...I'll prepare tea."
Ruri turned her body and made tea at the table.
The tea ware clattered trembling in her hands.
Ferda saw that and opened his mouth again.
"Ruri."
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"Don't speak."
"Ruri..."
"I don't want to hear it!"
Ruri screamed baeak.
