By Zephyria =======
Giant clouds cast shadows over the mountains and rivers. The river water, like a well-polished mirror, clearly reflected the ashen sky, the towering mountains, and the small ferry. It was a warm day for winter. Silver rowed the oars, letting out a wide yawn.
「Wolf, what happened to your hand?」
「It’s nothing. I think I hit the back of my hand on something while tossing and turning in my sleep. I just wrapped it roughly with a handkerchief.」
「Did it bleed much?」
「No, it had almost stopped by the time I woke up. Don’t worry, Prince.」
Wolf and Red Eagle chatted from the opposite side. Silver looked up at the sky. Judging by the position of the sun, it was almost early evening.
“Hwaaaaam.”
Silver yawned again and frowned. For some reason, the taste of blood had lingered in his mouth ever since he woke up. He suspected the alcohol he drank last night. Some stupid rat must have mistaken the liquor barrel for a cheese box and jumped in, drowning.
None of the three boys had managed to wake up until late morning. It was around noon when Black Weasel kicked them awake and chased them out of the cave. They wouldn’t arrive at the river port until midnight at the earliest.
「Now the problem is what happens after I meet my mother. I wonder if she’ll willingly send me back to Atania…」
「You’re worried about that? They said she made peace with your half-brother. She’ll want to send you back to Atania as soon as possible.」
「That’s true, but I have a strangely bad feeling. I’ve always had a good intuition…」
「Please fold that confidence, Prince. Did you have any inkling that you’d suffer like this when you left Levenon?」
At Wolf’s rebuke, Red Eagle’s face turned beet red. It was a sight of a Prince being scolded by his attendant, but Silver couldn’t bring himself to laugh. Only after listening to their conversation did he realize: there wasn’t much time left to spend with Wolf.
Why am I like this?
Silver blinked his eyes. Just as Black Weasel had said, Wolf truly seemed to be emitting some kind of bewitching aura. If not for that… why would his heart flutter so much the moment he realized his time with the fellow was running out?
Suddenly, his eyes met Wolf’s. Silver was swept over by a strange sensation. It felt as if something unknown invaded through his respiratory system, driving his heart rate faster, and eventually spreading through his veins to seize every corner of his body… His vision was tinted a pale blue-gray, and his body temperature rose.
Silver steadied his breathing and looked down. Surprisingly, as soon as he averted his gaze from Wolf, the ‘strange sensation’ vanished completely. What is this?
A normal human could never be like this. Could some evil spirit be clinging to Wolf?
The river water turned red. The sun disappeared beyond the towering mountains.
* * *
The geographical characteristics of Stohl, where flat land is rare, had a profound impact on everything from socio-economics to military facilities. As waterways centered around rivers replaced land routes, the inland water transport system developed, leading to the birth of unique ports called river ports. Distributed roughly one day’s journey apart along the waterways, river ports are the core hubs of transportation and logistics in Stohl.
The scale of river ports varies. They range from small-scale ports that are little more than ferry crossings to large ports that rival most sea ports. Control over a river port equals regional hegemony. A tribe that secures a dedicated river port can move troops and supplies rapidly. In effect, they possess military power that overwhelms at least ten other tribes. For this reason, territorial disputes over river ports have occurred as frequently as children’s war games in Stohl since ancient times.
Countless stars shone in the night sky. It looked as if pearls had been scattered across a vast, black tapestry. Wolf, who had been staring at the sky, spoke.
「Uncle, aren’t we going in the opposite direction of Morgan Port?」
「Yes, we’re heading northeast. We’ll hit a river port if we go a bit further. We’ll stay at an inn there tonight.」
Black Weasel replied in Atanian and added with a nonchalant expression.
“Silver, those Atanian bastards are cunning, aren’t they? That attendant fellow checked the constellations for direction when we came here. What a meticulous brat!”
“Exactly. He’s a bewitching fellow!”
Silver nodded in agreement. Black Weasel whistled.
“What’s gotten into you, always contradicting me? See? I told you, right? He’s bewitching! Don’t you feel your heart flutter for no reason and get dizzy, as if your mind is being sucked away when you look at the attendant? Like you suddenly want to be nice to him for no reason… huh?”
“Right! You feel it too?”
Silver asked back, surprised. Black Weasel turned his head toward Silver. His sharp gray eyes stared at Silver as if to pierce through him.
“Yeah. I felt that way every time I saw the attendant. That’s the only reason I kept letting him live even when he acted arrogant! Just looking at his physical abilities, he’s no ordinary human. On top of that, he has this strange ability to enchant people! That guy… there’s something about him…”
Silver gulped. Even that Ice Armor Warrior was enchanted by the attendant just like he was!
“Silver. What do you think the attendant’s identity is? A Thunder?”
“Thunder my ass… are you blind? You saw the attendant’s skill at climbing cave walls.”
“Then what?”
“In my opinion… that bewitching ability, no matter how I look at it, is definitely not human power. An evil spirit must be clinging to the attendant. I felt strange the moment I first saw him, so it’s an evil spirit that attached itself at Morgan Port. To enchant Thunders like us, it must be a powerful spirit. You thought the same, right?”
“…Yeah. Seems like an evil spirit…”
Unaware of what they were rambling about, Wolf was staring at Silver. Feeling guilty, Silver stealthily looked down. Whenever they spoke in the Stohl language, Wolf listened with an expression of dying curiosity. Despite the fact that he was deaf to the Stohl language.
But, though those Atanian idiots were cunning, they did it to survive. Honestly, aren’t we more cunning, cursing like mad in front of someone who can’t understand Stohl… Then, Silver flinched. Did I just feel sorry? Doing something unlike me again!
What really is this evil spirit clinging to Wolf?
The evil spirits said to roam sea ports lined up in Silver’s mind. Svatandr, which tempts human souls and traps them in rusted cages. Heimurd, which ruins a sailor’s sense of direction and causes ships to run aground. Calvramor, which plants the illusion of ‘falling in fateful love’ in the first person it meets and leads them to ruin… Even excluding the three great sea port spirits, there were countless others.
Just as the hairs on his body stood on end, a light flickered in the deep darkness. With an excited face, Wolf pointed at the light.
「Prince. You can sleep in a bed today.」
「You’ve worked hard all this time, Wolf.」
It took a while longer for the ferry to reach the river port. Once again, Black Weasel stood at the front, followed by Red Eagle, Wolf, and then Silver. The area was noisy with screaming, foul curses, and laughter. People sat in circles around blazing bonfires everywhere, talking loudly while drinking and smoking hallucination herbs.
They were a motley crew of riffraff who made a living by committing various crimes and obscene acts against visitors to the river port. To categorize them more precisely: beggars, vagrants, pickpockets, snatchers, muggers, male prostitutes, prostitutes, teenagers abandoned by their parents, runaway teenage girls, old men kicked out by their children, and grandmas who ran away after stealing their neighbors’ money, and so on.
It was hard to find anyone with an intact body. Some wore eyepatches, some had all their teeth missing, some had crutches tucked under their arms, or were one-armed. Of course, the majority were fake disabled people in clever disguises.
Corpses of men and women hung from the surrounding trees. All of them had burly builds with arms or legs severed. Nearby tribes had clashed again over the river port. The victors displayed the bodies of the losers’ special forces as trophies; seeing as there were nearly fifty corpses hanging from the trees, the scale of the fight must have been considerable.
“Oh? Oh! Ohhh!”
“Oh? Oh! Ohhh!”
The riffraff who spotted Black Weasel’s party let out shrieks and sprang up. A one-armed woman rushed over and clung to Black Weasel.
“You’re handsome, honey! Let me suck it just once! One coin!”
Black Weasel pushed the woman away and kept walking. This time, some old man lifted his buttocks high next to Silver and spread his butt cheeks with both hands.
“One coin for one time!”
31 – Hell Execution Order