A red mountain that resembled the color of the wasteland appeared on the horizon.

Juan had been keeping an eye on his pursuers, but they didn’t show much movement. Rather, the spirits of two of them disappeared to a far distance that Juan could no longer sense.

However, three of them were still steadily following Juan and Swallan. Juan intentionally moved at a faster pace to leave them behind, but their presence could still be felt—making it clear that they were quite well-trained knights.

Instead, it was Swallan who was suffering from Juan’s fast pace. Swallan hadn’t been able to eat or drink anything for the past two days as they had left all their luggage in the carriage. At the same time, in this devastated wasteland, all the sources of water had already been contaminated.

“...Finally. A lifesaver,” Swallan muttered as she looked at the red mountain.

She lifted her finger with difficulty, pointing toward the path in the valley between the mountains. Juan could see a tent and few people gathered around the area.

“Go that way, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces. Those are people who are trying to get through the Manas Mountains.”

“Is it like a village?”

“It’s not a village, but it’s more like a place where mercenaries from all over the region gather. The lord of Durgal has always been quite eager to find mercenaries, since going to Durgal by yourself alone is considered a suicide.”

Juan recalled the information about the Manas Mountains. In the past, there was an incident where he had torn apart a god to death in the area near the Manas Mountains. Juan only had a very faint impression of the Manas Mountains, since it had already been a long time since he gained the true power of the emperor at that time—it was simply not worth paying attention to the Manas Mountains in the past. Other than the fact that he had killed a god in the area, Juan hadn’t heard of any rumors saying that Manas Mountains were particularly dangerous.

“Is it really that dangerous there?” Juan asked.

“I think Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces will be fine, but… they say that you won’t be attacked as long as you move in groups.”

Upon reaching the tent where the mercenaries had gathered, Juan could see merchants selling water, bandages, arrows and other items needed by the mercenaries.

Swallan gulped down water as soon as she arrived at the tent, and then threw a coin out of her pocket to the merchant before he could complain about her drinking the water before paying. Swallan had given the merchant a silver piece, but the merchant didn’t show any sign of giving back the change.

“I thought there would be more, but I don’t see a lot of mercenaries here. It seems like they are already all gone.”

As Swallan said, there were only two mercenaries wandering around the tent. The two mercenaries were complaining at the ridiculously high prices mentioned by the merchants, but they still bought and stocked up on the necessary items as much as they needed. Juan noticed that they both had a silver brooch on their shoulders.

“Are there no useful items in Durgal?” Juan asked.

“No, there are. In fact, the lord provides it all for free. But still, the way to get to Durgal is quite dangerous so they need to get prepared before they leave,” Swallan explained.

In the meantime, the mercenaries began to walk toward Juan and Swallan as if they had finished bargaining for their items. One of them was a bald man carrying an ax on his back, while the other one was a man covered with scars and holding a spear in his hand. The scarred man opened his mouth to speak to Juan and Swallan.

“Hey, you two. Are you guys also on your way to Durgal? Do you have any other company?”

“It’s just the two of us. What about you two?” Swallan asked.

“There were five of us originally that came together in a public carriage, but three of them changed their minds and returned upon seeing a mercenary who returned from the red forest, completely wrecked. It was a sight so terrible that even I flinched and almost changed my mind after seeing him. All the other mercenaries ran away too, and our comrades went back with them. If you join us, there will be five of us including the horseman.”

The scarred mercenary lightly chinned at the empty carriage parked in the middle of the open space.

The horseman slightly nodded to greet Juan and Swallan.

“It seems like the two of you also had some issues on your way here too. Your appearance tells it all,” the scarred mercenary said.

Swallan opened her mouth at the words of the mercenary.

“We had an accident, so the rest of our comrades went back and our carriage broke down.”

Swallan lied without even batting an eye, and the mercenary seemed convinced.

“My name is Jaeden. Jaeden Joir. And this is Orel. Would you like to accompany us if you don’t mind?”

“My name is Swallan. And this is…Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces.”

“Ten thousand gold pieces?”

Jaeden made a curious look, and soon laughed as he saw a smile on Swallan’s face.

“Oh, I see. Is it because the Church offered to pay a reward for the black-haired kid? You must have had a lot of trouble in the eastern territory. Everyone’s making such a big fuss about it—there are so many ignorant men among mercenaries, you know? But it seems like you have the guts to work as a mercenary despite being young. You must be quite good at swordsmanship,” Jaeden said to Juan.

“Kind of,” Juan answered with his arms crossed.

Jaeden narrowed his eyes at Juan’s answer, then grinned as he looked at Juan.

“Who cares if you come from beyond the border or if you get mistaken for a wanted criminal? It’s rather fortunate to have one more hand holding a sword when we might be entering into a monster's mouth. So are you guys in?”

Swallan didn’t think too long. She liked Jaeden as he looked like a veteran mercenary.

“If we ride the carriage, we will arrive in about a day. What do you say?” Jaeden asked.

Juan nodded at Jaeden as if he was telling Jaeden to do as he pleases.

“Alright, then let’s get going.”

***

The road along the valley of the red mountain was well polished; it looked like quite a few people traveled on this road. As the carriage passed through the mountain range along the valley, a disordered but flourishing forest of red trees appeared. The red maple leaves would feel cozy and warm at normal times, but it only felt creepy due to the gloomy atmosphere and humid environment of the forest.

“The territory of Durgal is located in the basin inside the Manas Mountains. It’s really humid in the red forest since it’s surrounded by mountains from all directions. The wasteland would become fertile again if even half of this moisture flowed into the area, don’t you think?”

Jaeden explained and talked non-stop about the things that no one asked him about; he was a very talkative person.

Meanwhile, Swallan constantly answered him and repeatedly asked him questions to act like she had never heard of anything that Jaeden said.

Swallan seemed to come across as the type who valued the bonds between mercenaries, but Juan was not interested in such conversations at all. His nerves were entirely focused on the energy surrounding the whole forest.

‘It’s strange in here.’

The forest was filled with a strange energy, and Juan wondered if the source of this energy was something similar to divinity. A god’s power came in two different kinds—divinity and unholiness. However, not all divinity was always good, and not all unholiness was evil; they simply had conflicting energies.

Then the categories split again into several branches under it.

Juan’s powers as the emperor were close to divinity, especially closer to being the power of fire. However, his powers might not necessarily be the same as they used to be, given that he had absorbed numerous different powers. The energy flowing through this forest had a nature similar to that of Juan’s current condition.

‘It’s similar to the condition of my mana right now.’

There was something with divinity somewhere inside this forest, and there was also something with a terrible unholiness at the same time. They were constantly mixing in a disorderly manner causing the mana here to be completely mana out of pattern.

‘It would be better to call it the smell of rotting corpses rather than simply mana…’

When a body gets decomposed, all kinds of rotten waste flows out of the body and maggots grow on it. While it is a terrible scene of unholiness, it is also the ideal place for the birth of new life.

Due to this logic, Talter and Nigrato had incompatible energies.

The mana flowing within the forest seemed to be in complete flux, mixing with each other in an unorganized form.

Juan couldn’t even imagine what would happen to the creatures that remain exposed to such a messy environment for a long time.

Juan took a glance at Swallan and wondered what she had been through.

Meanwhile, Swallan was still chatting with Jaeden.

“Hey, the young man worth ten thousand gold pieces over there. There’s nothing to be afraid of—there’s no one that would charge at a running carriage. A bandit could cut down a tree to overturn the carriage, but they’re not clever enough to do such a thing.”

Jaeden made a joke to lighten the atmosphere; he thought that Juan was nervous upon seeing him remain quiet for a long time.

“What exists in this forest that you’re so wary of?” Juan asked.

Jaeden’s face stiffened at Juan’s question. When he turned his gaze toward Swallan, she simply smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

“You don’t want to explain it to me or something? It’s even my first time asking a question…”

“Well… ah, whatever. I’ll explain it to you. There are no wild beasts or demonic beasts here in this forest,” Jaeden lowered his posture and whispered. “But there are mercenaries.”

“Mercenaries?”

“Yes, mercenaries who ran away from Durgal and went insane. They are so completely insane that they can’t escape from the forest and keep wandering around. Those who move alone or slowly will be caught and become their prey.”

The wind blew into the carriage and shook Swallan’s hair, clearly revealing her ear that had been cut off. Swallan was still smiling even after her eyes met with Juan.

At that moment, Orel cleared his throat loudly.

“My comrade must be a little cold,” Jaeden closed the window with a smile. “The lord of Durgal puts a reward on the necks of the mercenaries who go insane and run away, since it's unknown what they’re gonna do? All they know is murder, and all they have are weapons. They are most certainly dangerous. The worst out of all of them is a guy called Jules…”

“Jules?” Swallan frowned and asked back. “That bastard is still alive? I heard about him about six years ago.”

“So this lady knows of him. You’re right, Templar Jules. He went to Durgal to find a heretic, but he went insane and ran away into the forest. He threw all the armor he was wearing and jumped into the forest naked. Although he no longer has any of his Templar equipment, no ordinary mercenaries are a match for him, since the power of Grace still remains in his body. I heard he still wanders around the forest and eats alive any mercenaries unlucky enough to meet him.”

“The Templars just left him to be like that?”

“They don’t seem to care too much since they retrieved his equipment already. Besides, the Church has been deliberately ignoring the eastern territory in the first place. Anyway, it would be nice to catch those mercenaries if anyone wants to, but the reward for it is less than the reward for exploring the dungeon under the command of the lord of Durgal. So hardly anyone goes out of their way to catch them.”

Juan paid attention to the word that caught his ears.

“Dungeon?” Juan asked.

“Wait, you don’t even know about that? I honestly have no idea what you came here for. But yes—there is a huge dungeon under the mansion of the lord of Durgal. There’s a story that says that it was built by an ancient heretic or something… Anyway, I heard that there are tons of treasures coming out of the dungeon nonstop, and most of them are used to pay the hired mercenaries.”

“Why would they go that far to search the dungeon?”

“Think about it. What do you think would be at the end of the dungeon that constantly spits out treasures? There must be the most valuable treasures out of all of them. Of course, there are a lot of mercenaries that end up dying or going insane, but the pay is really good. The treasures from the dungeon make people even crazier, so there is a huge demand for them. Also, there’s another rumor,” Jaeden whispered quietly as if he was about to tell Juan a precious secret, and put his face close to Juan. “A rumor that the relics which belonged to the killer of His Majesty, Gerard Gain, can be found inside the dungeon. If it’s the relics of a man who had been the eldest adopted child of His Majesty and also the one who killed His Majesty, of course they would be no ordinary treasures. I’m sure they are priceless. People have been saying that the item that the Lord of Durgal is after is this.”

Juan had no particular interest in Gerard Gain’s relics, as he was only interested in Gerard himself. Meanwhile, Juan observed the condition of Orel who had been sitting next to him. Orel had been showing odd signs of nervousness ever since earlier, and Juan didn’t think this was because he had a silent personality. Orel had now broken out in a cold sweat, and repeatedly grasped his hands.

“Is your comrade all right? He doesn’t look very good,” Juan asked.

“He must be nervous after seeing that injured man in the red forest earlier. Are you all right?” Jaeden laughed and lightly tapped Orel on the shoulder.

Orel tried his best to smile and nodded his head with difficulty.

“By the way, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces. Can I ask you the reason why you came all the way here when you are absolutely clueless about this area? Do you have acquaintances in Durgal? Or do you maybe have…”

“Is the treasure you’re talking about—”

Juan cut Jaeden’s words off, as he grabbed a pouch out of his pocket. When he opened the pouch and dropped its contents into his palm, the finely shattered pieces of a purple gem appeared; it was the fragmented Indeterminate Polyhedron.

A bright purple light filled the inside of the carriage.

“—something like this?”

Jaeden’s eyes widened.

“T-this is…! Where did you get this from?”

“That’s none of your business.”

The moment Juan put the pouch back in his pocket, he felt a very blunt murderous intent.

As soon as Juan tilted his body, a long spear pierced through Jaeden’s back and out of his chest.