“Why are you sleep talking when you haven’t even fallen asleep yet, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces?”

“Don’t change the subject. You could’ve handed me over to the Templars earlier and gotten the ten thousand gold pieces you’ve been talking about nonstop. So why did you choose the dangerous path?”

“It seems like Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces has no trust in a person’s good faith or occupational professionalism. Are you suspecting me right now for protecting you rather than betraying you?”

“Well it’s easy to get stabbed in the back if you trust people easily.”

Swallan tried to smile, but couldn’t lift up the corners of her mouth. She realized that she felt timid in the face of the energy coming out of Juan even before she knew it. The black-haired young man sitting loosely in front of the pit and simply staring at her could easily kill her before she even blinked her eyes. Although no murderous intent could be felt from Juan, Swallan wiped off the cold sweat on her forehead under the heavy atmosphere which made it difficult for her to breathe.

“It seems like I won’t be able to get away without answering your question,” Swallan said.

“I won’t kill you, only because you have to show me the way to Durgal.”

“Fine, I’ll admit it. I was planning to take Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces to Durgal in the first place.”

“Even if it meant going against the Templars?”

“People of the eastern territory have always been shunned by the capital anyway. Did you know that there are no Bishops or Templars in the entire eastern territory? Those bastards from the Order of the Evil Snake are the odd ones here. They probably only came here because Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces’ existence is so exceptional. I’m sure they’ll leave eastern territory once Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces leaves.”

“Okay. I understand that going against the Templars is not a big deal for you now. But still, why would you take me to Durgal if the gold pieces aren’t your purpose?”

Swallan’s expression seemed like she was blaming the Templars for making things complicated. In fact, Juan didn’t care whether or not Swallan gave him an answer. All Juan needed was a guide to take him to Durgal, and he didn’t care about Swallan’s purpose for helping him as long as she took him to Durgal. Juan thought that it wouldn’t be too late to consider cutting off Swallan’s neck after they arrived at Durgal.

However, Juan wanted to hear Swallan’s excuse; he knew that there wouldn’t be many people that would be willing to help him by becoming hostile to the empire.

“Um,” Swallan hesitated for a while, but soon opened her mouth. “To be honest, it’s for the same reason as Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces.”

“What?”

“It’s just as I said. You told me that you plan to kill someone in Durgal, right? Well, same here. But um… I was thinking that I don’t stand a chance of killing him alone. That’s when I heard the rumor about Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces—that a troublesome brat had appeared in Hiveden. Furthermore, I found out that Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces was looking for the location of Durgal. How could I miss this opportunity?”

“Who is it that you’re trying to kill?” Juan asked.

“Hey, come on. I didn’t ask Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces any personal questions, so you do the same and let’s move on.”

Juan looked at Swallan with a dumbfounded expression, but he was convinced by her words; he agreed that such information wasn’t important to him. Juan was very likely to kill many people and make piles of corpses in Durgal, and he might unintentionally kill the person that Swallan wanted to kill in the process of doing so.

“So you’re saying that the person you want to kill might try to kill me.”

“The possibility is very high. It would be hard for me to handle him, but I feel like Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces might be able to. Even if you can’t, it’d still be worth it for me since I’ll be getting Ten thousand gold pieces.”

In summary, Swallan considered Juan to be a bomb she was about to throw in Durgal.

“Is the person you want to kill called Gerard Gain?”

Juan asked as if it wasn’t a serious question, but the weight of his question was certainly not light.

Swallan blankly stared at Juan upon hearing his question, then soon waved her hand in denial with a surprised look.

“Gerard Gain? The emperor’s killer? Are you insane? Why would he even be in Durgal? Oh, wait—nevermind. It’s Durgal, so he really might be there. But still, why would you think that I was involved with that guy? If I was, I would immediately run to the opposite side of the empire.”

Juan smirked at Swallan’s exaggerated reaction. Swallan didn’t seem to be lying.

The reason for Juan heading to Durgal was to find out about the connection between Gerard Gain and the Crack. It was unknown if it was simply a coincidence or not that Swallan had someone she wanted to kill in Durgal, but Juan felt that she wouldn’t have approached him in a poor way if she really had something to do with Gerard Gain.

At that moment, Juan turned his head. Swallan followed Juan’s gaze as he was looking in an odd direction all of a sudden, but there was nothing but empty darkness.

“Is something there?” Swallan asked.

“No.”

Juan thought he felt someone’s presence, but there was nothing there. Juan expanded his senses as much as he could, but he could only detect the presence of those he had already been sensing; the Templars and few pursuers chasing after Juan, then…

“It seems like there’s no one at close distance,” Juan said as he raised his head to look up at the sky.

Swallan turned her gaze toward the sky just like Juan, but she could only see an empty sky.

However, Juan was clearly looking at a specific spot in the empty sky.

***

Velkre stood on top of the hill to look over the horizon. Somewhere in that vast wasteland, the target that the Pope had ordered to capture was hiding. Velkre could have immediately tracked the target, but he had been patiently waiting and ordered his subordinates to be on standby.

Waiting while holding their breath, snatching the neck of the prey, tearing their limbs to pieces to make sure they can’t resist, then swallowing them whole to make them face an irresistible death—this was the Order of the Evil Snake’s, the ‘snake’s’, way of performing their duties.

This time was their only exception. As they had encountered their target out of the blue without any preparation, they weren’t able to move according to their usual methods. At the same time, the opponent’s capabilities far exceeded what had been described in the reports, not to mention the fact that they had an unexpected disrupter.

Velkre could give many excuses for not having been able to catch the target, but he could summarize all of it in a single sentence; he had let his guard down.

It was only natural for Velkre to let his guard down; an entire knight order, which was capable of destroying an entire city if needed, was mobilized to catch just one person.

Now that their existence had been revealed to the opponent, he had to approach the target in a much more meticulous and stealthy way, unlike earlier—he had already paid the price for his carelessness with his eyeball.

“Brother Velkre.”

At that moment, someone spoke to Velkre from behind his back while concealing her presence. It was a woman with long silver hair which moved limply in the air translucently like a mirage. Her eyes were green and vertical right now.

“Sister Nora.”

“We’ve confirmed the location of the target. It seems like their horse was too tired to run any longer. It’s a dark night, but it won’t be too hard to catch up to them. We have taken measures to prevent them from running away quickly.”

“Is that so? How did they look?”

Velkre wasn’t asking about their condition—he was asking how much Nora could achieve with the power of the ‘snake’ that was granted to her. Nora hesitated to answer, but soon opened her mouth.

“It would be easy to slit the woman’s neck. But the black-haired one would be very difficult.”

Velkre was a little surprised to hear Nora’s answer. The power of the ‘snake’ granted to Nora was special even within the Order of the Evil Snake, and was the best in its ability to assassinate. If Marco could kill his enemies as fast as the wind, Nora could completely hide her presence and kill her opponents without them even knowing—even an archer who pierced Velkre’s eyeball would stand no chance of surviving her assassination attempt. For such a talented Templar to say that it would be difficult to kill someone, it could only mean that the opponent would be impossible for ordinary people to assassinate.

“Did he notice you?” Velkre asked.

“It’s unclear whether he did or not. I managed to get very close to him, and my eyes met his eyes for just a moment. Although I couldn’t tell if our eyes had just met by chance or if he had really felt my presence, I stepped back as I figured that he was dangerous.”

“Well done. We still have time, and I’m sure there’s a reason why he hasn't moved yet either. Good work, sister. Thanks to you, we were able to track the heretic with stability. I hope you continue to carry out your mission successfully.”

“Yes, captain. Also, an unexpected name came out of his mouth.”

“Who?”

“The name of Gerard Gain was mentioned.”

“The apostate? In what way was his name mentioned?”

“It’s ambiguous. The female mercenary said that there was someone she wanted to kill, and the black-haired man asked if it was Gerard Gain. I couldn’t tell whether or not the black-haired man was hostile to Gerard Gain.”

Velkre frowned upon hearing Nora’s words.

“I already knew that Gerard Gain had something to do with the Priests of the Crack. But never did I expect him to be involved with the devil of Tantil as well. I have a feeling that this is a much bigger deal than I originally thought. Now I understand why His Holiness considered this issue to be so important.”

Gerard Gain had not been officially sighted ever since the assassination of His Majesty. Until and unless his death was confirmed, the empire’s number one enemy was Gerard Gain. There would be no greater honor for anyone in the empire than being able to catch and kill him.

Thinking that he might be able to unexpectedly catch Gerard Gain, Velkre’s heart began to race. However, he soon shook his head—he had to focus on his target, as his target ordered by the Pope was the black-haired heretic. He was bound to let him escape again if he got distracted.

“Keep an eye on the black-haired man for now. It seems like more and more people are beginning to notice him. Also, find out more about that woman with the horn bow—her archery skills far exceeded the level of ordinary mercenaries.”

***

Sina Solvane looked at the dead horse in front of her in despair.

Losing a horse in the middle of the wasteland was the equivalent of a death sentence. Fortunately, the black being that was munching on the dead horse didn’t seem to care too much about Sina’s existence. Whenever the black beast opened its mouth wide to take a bite, huge chunks of the horse’s body disappeared. The entire body of the horse seemed to only be enough for less than ten bites for the black beast. Sina thought that she might be the next victim, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of the black beast.

“My apologies.”

Sina turned her head to the voice that came from behind her back. A man about thirty years old wearing an imperial uniform and carrying an incredibly long spear on his shoulder was looking down at Sina. Sina blankly looked up at him, then turned her head back to the black beast.

“Is… is that what I think it is?” Sina asked.

“A dragon, yes.”

The black beast had a white horn, black scales, and an enormous size that made the horse look like a small dog. The black beast looked exactly like the dragons Sina had heard about as a child.

As a knight, it was only natural for Sina to be interested in the stories of dragons. But Sina was left speechless upon seeing a dragon that was said to be extinct suddenly fly down from the sky and start munching on her horse.

‘Honestly, I don’t even care about the horse.’

Sina was sad that the horse was dead, but she was more surprised to see a live dragon. Looking closely, Sina noticed that there were saddles and equipment on the dragon’s back to control it.

“I heard that the dragons went extinct after the Order of Lindwurm was forced to disband…” Sina muttered.

“Well, there’s still one left,” the man answered softly, but soon realized that his words needed more explanation and continued. “I release him in the empty wasteland sometimes when we are resting, but I didn’t think there would be a person nearby. I’ll pay you double the price of the horse, and I’ll also take you to the village if that’s okay with you.”

“No, I don’t care about the price of the horse, but… are you a soldier of the Imperial Army?”

“Oh.”

The man held out his hand toward Sina.

“I’m Horhell Helmer, the centurion of the fourth division. I’m carrying out a mission under the order of Duke Henna. Do you happen to be a knight?”