Chapter 129-130

Chapter 129 – Resignation

"Brother…"

"Tsk…don't look at me like that."

Balpas was on his knees before me as he clicked his tongue and turned his eyes away.

After both of his hands were shackled, Haines had taken him here, close to the storage house.

"Balpas. So, you were lying to me after all."

I began to question him.

He really had been attempting to spy on us. Furthermore, he had a special ability that I hadn't known about. He was able to become invisible and make his magic undetectable… These were abilities that would be perfect for an assassin.

Father must have sent him here because he would be the most capable of acquiring information about this island.

According to Haines, who had been the one to find him, Balpas had seen everything between the port and the cave.

This included the Chimera, other monsters, and the dragons.

Well, we had already declared this a country where monsters would live together, so I didn't really mind that he saw that. If anything, perhaps news of dragons being here would discourage the continent from attacking.

The biggest issue was the cave. But if he only saw the entrance, then there was no problem. All of the silver and gold was stored deep underground.

However, according to Haines…

"He was going towards the World Tree, but then he suddenly stopped and moved towards the cave instead."

Then Balpas turned his face to me.

"Heal… Your crest was 'Cave King,' wasn't it? Considering how much this island has developed, and your magic… It must be because of your crest. You had an awakening in that cave, didn't you?"

I did not answer his question.

However, Balpas smirked.

"All this in just a few months. It must be a great power indeed… Hey, Heal. Why don't we make a deal?"

"A deal?"

"Aye. If you let me return to Sanfaris, I'll send you information about the country. Secrets of the palace. Everything. So, you just have to insure my survival and lifestyle. And when the time comes for you to invade Sanfaris, I can even carry out assassinations for you."

After seeing the island, Balpas must have realized that there was no way that Sanfaris could defeat us. This was no surprise, after seeing dragons and Chimeras.

"Brother… I have no intention of invading Sanfaris."

"Liar. Don't you remember all the hatred and humiliation? You have Chimeras and dragons now… All this power. You can finally get your revenge."

"It's not that I don't resent those who abandoned me. I even want to get even with them. However, I have much more important matters on my mind these days. I have to protect everyone here."

"Heal… I see. Well, that does sound like you."

Balpas chuckled to himself. He looked resigned as he opened his mouth again.

"So, what will you do with me then? Now that I've seen the inside of this island?"

"I won't do anything. Well, aside from having someone watch you from now on."

Upon hearing these words, Balpas let out a sigh of relief.

"I see. Thank you. Well, with someone who has a nose like that around, I won't do anything."

Haines puffed out his chest with pride when he heard this.

And so I turned to Haines.

"Haines, good work. Can I rely on you to monitor Balpas?"

"Of course. This one is not to be trusted. My brother and I will deal with him."

Haines beat on his chest with a smile. 'It's been a while since we had something to do!' he said excitedly to Ashton.

However, just then, the sound of something shattering was heard from the storage house.

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Chapter 130 – I was provoked!?

"What was that? It sounded like something shattering."

Ashton said. And Haines pointed his nose up in the air.

"This scent… The smell of apples is spreading. Perhaps it was a cup of apple juice that broke."

However, Balpas looked at me with a worried expression.

"…I think you better go and look."

I could tell how serious he was. This wasn't a desperate attempt to run away. He was surely thinking about the same man that I was. And he was anxious.

"Haines. Ashton. Keep an eye on my brother. I'm going inside."

"Aye. Please be careful!"

I left Balpas to them, and headed for the storage house.

Angry voices echoed around me as soon as I entered.

"You bastard! How dare you try and make His Highness drink that filth brought in by a monster!"

"F-forgive me! But we all drank it…and we are fine! And it is delicious!"

"Delicious? And you call yourself a citizen of Sanfaris!?"

A young man in a robe was shouting at a middle-aged sailor.

Oren was sitting behind the young man. He wore an expression of disgust, and I could see a shattered cup by his feet.

He must have refused to drink it and thrown it on the ground.

On closer inspection, there were about six other young men who were wearing the same robes.

All of them had magic energy. They must be from the Magic University.

"This is why I hate uneducated commoners! Your Highness!"

The young man turned to face Oren.

"The Duke's people may be sorry excuses for human beings, but even they could do better than this! I will go to Heal and make some demands! No, he should come directly to you…"

"…Shut up."

Oren said in a lazy voice. The young man's mouth fell open dumbly.

"…Huh?"

"Hah… I hate apple juice. How were you unaware of that? The sweetness…the stickiness… It gives me a headache. I get annoyed. It reminds me of something."

"I-I'm terribly sorry, Your Highness!"

"It's fine. More importantly, the fact that you can't even detect the presence of someone with magic just shows how worthless you are."

The young man began to look around. His eyes finally fell on me and his face went pale.

"He-Heal…"

"Now, what kind of excuse will you make for such a delay in detecting him? Well, perhaps you were just hopeless from the beginning. I know it all. You wanted to earn favor with me at the university, and so you used tools and potions in order to hide your inability."

"I-I never did…"

"Well, even if you couldn't use magic, you were one of the highest of nobles, and so I allowed you to stick around as a tool. And I'm sure you'll prove to be rather useful."

While Oren's words were cold, the young man immediately bowed deeply.

"Th-thank you! It is an honor!"

"Then you must be quiet for a while… Dark Press."

Oren said as he raised an open hand towards the young man. Then he squeezed his hand shut.

Without emitting even a sound, the man crumbled to the floor.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding crew slowly stepped away with expressions of horror.

On the other hand, Erevan and I ran towards the fallen man.

I quickly cast healing magic on him.

In the meantime, Erevan shouted at Oren.

"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing!?"

"My, you have a loud voice… You really don't need to shout. I can hear you just fine. Heal. There is no healing magic that can help him now. I crushed the bones in his neck to powder from the inside. Humans can't move once that part is destroyed. Well, he might flap like a fish once in a while."

Oren said all of this boastfully.

Indeed, it seemed that my healing magic was not working. The man looked at me with eyes full of despair.

"Wasn't he your subordinate…? Why would you do this?"

I had known that Oren often killed animals and monsters for amusement. But humans…and a comrade, no less. I had no words.

But it was also possible that he had been doing such things all along without my knowledge.

Judging by what he had just said, this was not the first time he had done this to someone. Being able to destroy a specific part with this kind of precision required some experience.

There wasn't a hint of shame in Oren's voice as he replied.

"Why? Because he wouldn't stop talking about how he would be useful to me. And so shouldn't I be free to use him as I like? I am his master. Besides, I'm going to be the king one day. This is nothing…"

"I've heard enough! I'm sick of it! Try acting like this again… I swear…"

"Are you going to hit me again? Like old times?"

An old memory flashed in the back of my head.

It was years ago. A monster was being displayed in the palace, and I had started to feed it when no one was watching. To be honest, I am no longer sure if it really was a monster. However, I remembered that it bowed and was friendly towards me.

Back then, I couldn't use any magic. And so I couldn't heal it after the onlookers threw stones at it… I could do nothing but give it food.

However, one day, Oren found out about it. And he was the owner of the monster.

But in spite of the dread I felt, Oren surprised me by saying that he would give the monster to me.

You're going to be fine now. I said as I tried to hold the monster to my chest—but Oren, who was watching this, used his magic to burn the monster right in front of me. There were no bones when he was finished.

My memories of what happened after that are hazy. Even though I knew that I couldn't win, I had swung my fist at him. I remember that much.

"That expression… Ah, how I've missed it."

Oren laughed provocatively. Then he took out a vial from his breast pocket.

"Do you know what this is?"

It contained some kind of white powder.

Normally, there was no way anyone would know just by looking at it.

However, I knew. He had kept it in order to show me. It could only be one thing.

The white powder—was the ashes of the monster he had burned in front of me. It had to be. With tears streaming down my face, I had buried them in a grave all those years ago.

This might have been the first time since coming to this island, that my face contorted with rage.

"…Why do you have that? I buried its remains."

"I dug them up of course. I wanted to see your face when I showed it to you!"

Oren said innocently.

He was so very pleased to see that I was angry.

He had always been like this. Whenever I was angry or sad, he would smile.

"…Give it back. That is not something you should be allowed to have."

"Of course! That was always my intention! …Here!"

Oren opened the small vial.

And the ashes suddenly turned into a black mist.