#028

Three days had passed since leaving the Imperial Palace. By normal standards, they should have had two more days to reach the marquessate, but they were close. Marquess Exion had given Cullen a map that merchants sometimes used when in a hurry before they departed, and they were following that route. It was to arrive as quickly as possible.

Traveling through the mountains in a rattling carriage was torture. If they had ridden horses, they would have been a day faster, but they couldn’t because of Lasano.

This beautiful, red-eyed individual, who could wield the power of a goddess and was called the Great High Priest, did not have much stamina. He often suffered from motion sickness and would spout childish, minstrel-like words about long journeys being a trial.

The reason I used the word “spout” here is that their relationship had changed slightly over the past three days.

“You two are truly boring. I worry about how you would have traveled without me.”

Even while claiming to be weak, Lasano’s mouth wouldn’t stop flapping. Seeing him utter such shameless words with his innocent and quiet beautiful face for three days had tested Cullen’s patience multiple times. In fact, Cullen had devised several ways to shut him up.

Starting with whether it would be enough to cut only the part with his vocal cords, since he could recover easily, to gagging him, or simply abandoning him.

In fact, if the situation continued tomorrow, Cullen was considering abandoning Lasano and moving on ahead. The previous two methods were also tempting, but he didn’t want to make such a spectacle in front of Kiyen.

It was strange. He had so readily shoved a sword into Kiyen’s neck on the day they first met.

“You must have been born with your mouth sticking out.”

Kiyen, surprisingly, consistently responded to Lasano’s words. Of course, none of his replies were friendly.

“Ahaha, do I look that way? It is an honor that my words have pleased you, Kiyen.”

“There seems to be something wrong with your personality.”

Kiyen squinted and spoke to Cullen. Having been tormented by Lasano for three days, Cullen and Kiyen had developed an awkward bond. It was possible that Kiyen might burn Lasano to ashes before Cullen could even cut him down.

“Kiyen, do you have any intention of changing that stuffy way of speaking? Just hearing it makes me feel 1500 years of age.”

Lasano was persistent despite being ignored and spoke his mind without hesitation.

“Kiyen, can you kill humans regardless of my safety?” Cullen asked. Kiyen shook his head.

“Unfortunately, I cannot. Moreover, that fellow is mixed with Aksha’s power. The goddess would dislike it.”

Kiyen said with a voice that conveyed sincerity, resting his chin on his hand. The tall man seemed very uncomfortable in the carriage, and his irritation grew slightly with each passing day.

“Hoho, now that you mention it, I am curious. I wonder if Kiyen’s magic would work on me. I’ve always had many questions about magic when meeting a Guardian Dragon. How exactly is the great magic of teleportation performed?”

Kiyen narrowed his eyes sharply and looked at Lasano for a moment. He tilted his head and said,

“I could test it by moving only your head separately.”

Lasano laughed cheerfully. It was a genuinely happy laugh.

“I see you can tell jokes now. It feels rewarding to have brought you some cheer over the past three days.”

Cullen finally decided to look for a gag. Just as he reached for his luggage, the carriage suddenly stopped. A loud whinny of a startled horse was heard, followed by the shouts of knights.

“We will stop the carriage for a moment!”

They still had half a day’s journey to the marquessate. The signs were not good. Cullen opened the carriage window and peered outside. The knights had drawn their swords, forming a circle around the carriage. Their tension was palpable. Squinting ahead, he saw a strange scene.

“What is it?”

Cullen asked as he opened the door. A knight standing beside the carriage hastily tried to usher Cullen back inside, but he stopped him. Though he didn’t mean it apologetically, the escort knights were weaker than Cullen.

“There… the carriage has overturned.”

A knight who had been surveying the front rushed over to report to Cullen. His helmeted face was filled with worry.

“The carriage?”

A bad premonition struck him. Cullen walked forward, asking. Kiyen and Lasano also alighted from the carriage.

“Could it be Marquess Exion’s carriage?”

“It seems so. It bears the Exion family crest, and looking at those horses…”

The knight trailed off.

As they approached, the reason became clear. The scene spread out on the mountain path was not a pleasant sight. Anyone who had not grown up witnessing gruesome sights would have immediately felt nauseous. The carriage was overturned with its wheels broken, and bloodstains were everywhere.

The condition of the horses was worse. Their flesh was torn as if by something that had bitten them, and their bones were stark white. Five of them lay dead in such a state.

There must have been more horses than this, so Cullen concluded that Marquess Exion must have fled somewhere.

However, it was uncertain if he was alive.

Lasano, who had approached in the meantime, made a sound, “Hmm,” and looked down at the dead horses. After scanning the horses for a few seconds, he said to Cullen,

“I sense an ill power. It is not a power permitted by Aksha.”

“You can sense that from the horses?”

“More precisely, it is a lingering trace. Beings influenced by this power have attacked the horses.”

Cullen scanned the sky. The sun was still high in the sky. He knew that if night fell, unknown dangers might arise, so he had to find Marquess Exion during the day.

But before that, there was something he had to do. Though he didn’t want to, he had to.

“Kiyen.”

As if he had guessed, Kiyen walked up behind Cullen.

“I must inform the Princess.”

“Yes. Through her, we should ask Viscount Exion for reinforcements. If Marquess Exion has fallen into misfortune…”

“He is unlikely to be alive.”

Kiyen said in a dry voice, looking at the accident scene splattered with blood. His gaze fell upon the horses, and his expression darkened.

“Poor beasts were exploited and put to death.”

After staring at the horses for a long time, Kiyen slowly closed his eyes. Lasano, who had been surveying the surroundings, returned to them. The knights maintained their guard, forming a perimeter around them.

Kiyen opened his eyes after closing them for a moment. The golden light that had faintly lingered in his blue eyes spread completely into his eyes, becoming sharp like a snake’s.

However, the gold filling his pupils was as brilliant as a jewel, making him seem wondrous rather than frightening. He looked into the air and said,

“Fragment created by my will, convey my words to the Princess.”

The knights flinched at the bizarre sight and bowed their heads.

“Marquess Exion’s carriage was attacked. You shall relay this to the Viscount and gather troops to come here quickly.”

Kiyen’s eyes continued to glow for a few more minutes before returning to their original blue. The air around them prickled the skin. It seemed to be due to his exertion of power.

“The Princess has received the message. Judging by her haste, she will likely be informed soon.”

“Can you share your vision?”

“If I wish to. Though it is not a sight I particularly want to see.”

Kiyen looked at Cullen with eyes that seemed to say, ‘Don’t you know?’ Cullen suddenly recalled a question he hadn’t asked Lasano while they were together.

He was curious about what it felt like to be outside.

But now was not the time for such thoughts. Cullen nodded lightly and commanded the huddled knights,

“Since there is a possibility Marquess Exion is alive, divide into teams and search this vicinity. When the sun begins to set, return here and find a place to camp.”

“We will obey your command.”

Seeing Cullen, who showed no particular reaction even after witnessing the horrific scene, the knights’ attitude shifted slightly. They looked at Cullen with a sense of reliance and responded more courteously than any of the Imperial Palace personnel he had encountered so far, obeying his orders.

Following the tracks, they searched both mountain paths, but found nothing except the dead horses and Marquess Exion’s knights. Perhaps due to a lack of time to collect the remains of the deceased, the knights only managed to retrieve cloaks or personal belongings.

When the search parties returned, the group finally began heading towards the marquessate. The carriage’s speed increased. The tension of the knights, who were scanning their surroundings, could be felt beyond the carriage.

“My premonition is not good.”

Lasano, who had sat down claiming exhaustion after briefly helping to salvage the carriage, broke the silence.

“Did you not say it would be smooth when we departed?”

“Did you naively believe that? With something like this happening, there’s no way.”

Lasano replied cheekily. Kiyen, who seemed to be in a bad mood since seeing the dead horses, only stared out the window in silence. Cullen was concerned about Kiyen.

Kiyen was indifferent to the deaths of the knights, but he reacted very sensitively to the deaths of animals that were trapped or exploited by humans. He recalled Kiyen’s sad face as he buried a bird.

Cullen knew it was a side effect of his magic, but he was bothered by Kiyen’s mood and pondered what to say.

However, he was reluctant to speak in front of Lasano. It felt inexplicably awkward to mention memories shared only between him and Kiyen in front of someone else.

They needed time to talk amongst themselves. He also needed an explanation about the curse related to Rodiak.

The mountains quickly grew dark. It was a familiar night for Cullen. The only difference was that despite being deep in the mountains, there were almost no sounds of animals or birds. It was as if they were hiding.

The disappearance of the sounds that had been observed day and night until they passed the point where Marquess Exion had his accident meant that danger lurked.

He needed to be cautious. It was better to stop here. It was better for Cullen to prepare by making camp than to be ambushed unprepared while riding in a moving carriage. He could also command the knights more easily and prepare in advance.

“We must stop here for today.”

Cullen said to Kiyen. The silent Kiyen nodded gloomily. He thought it might be good to find a way to cheer Kiyen up while camping. Such a thought crossed his mind unconsciously.

“Tell everyone to stop.”

Cullen said, slightly opening the window and sticking his head out, to a knight following the carriage.

“Understood.”

The knight nodded and sped up his horse, running ahead. Just as he was about to relay the message to the captain at the front, something strange happened.

A black doll sprang out from the mountain path beside them, where darkness had fallen. It leaped onto the galloping horse, biting its body with a shriek. The startled horse reared its legs and whinnied loudly. The knight was thrown off.

“Attack!”

The knight escorting the carriage shouted.

“Form ranks! Protect His Highness!”

The horses went wild from the sudden attack. The cook, sitting in front with the driver, was seen through the front glass, letting out a gasp. Lasano peered out the opposite window and opened his mouth with a sound, “Hmm.”

“My premonition was correct.”

Cullen turned his head. Lasano, despite his troubled expression, did not lose his smile and pointed outside the carriage.

“It seems we had visitors waiting for us.”

Cullen soon realized the identity of the visitors. What had seemed like indistinct lumps began to reveal themselves one by one in the darkness. The black dolls, revealed by the torchlight, were approaching them in bizarre postures.

A corpse with gray skin, its neck half-severed and dangling, was crawling towards them, repeatedly collapsing and rising.

There wasn’t just one. Those with similar or different appearances quickly lunged and clung to the carriage. The screams of the knights tore through the silence.

“For your information, my magic won’t be of much help. So…”

Lasano said with a shameless smile.

“Please take care of them, Your Highness.”