Chapter 273: Sacrifice (3)

Cory remembered the woman’s name.

“Jane?”

From dusty memories, her image surfaced.

Back during the Allied Army days, Jane, who had been captured by the Kurui tribe, had begged Yuri to kill all the captured orcs. After hearing her plea, overflowing with hatred, Yuri massacred the orcs.

Cory had thought she was living well in Briol after being relocated there, so he couldn’t understand why she had suddenly appeared in this place.

While he looked at her in confusion, Jane spoke.

“You can’t hide your true nature, can you?”

Her voice was filled with contempt, an emotion Cory was very familiar with.

Jane looked at him coldly and continued.

“I thought that, after being taken in by His Highness, you would have at least learned a little to behave like a human being, but it turns out you’re no different from those filthy, vulgar orc bastards. You betrayed your own kind and now grovel before the Empire? Damn half-orc…”

Though her voice was weak, as if her body were in poor condition, her tone was sharp as a knife.

Cory stood still, enduring her insults.

“With that repulsive face… your actions are no less disgusting. I suppose His Highness actually trusted someone like you…”

Cory slowly raised his head. Jane kept moving her lips, spewing every kind of curse as if reciting a spell.

Suddenly, Cory moved his hand.

Jane, struck on the cheek, fell to the ground.

Looking down at her, Cory shouted sharply.

“Shut… shut up!”

He no longer wore an awkward expression. His face was twisted, and his words were fierce as he looked down on her.

“I don’t know how the hell you ended up in the Empire, but… how… arrogant.”

“Arrogant?”

Jane, despite the blow, did not shrink back.

“Do you even have the right to use that word? Filthy damn half-orc…”

Cory raised his hand again. Jane curled her lips.

“Are you going to hit me? Go on, do it. You’re exactly what I expected. Orc bastard…”

Many thoughts passed through Cory’s mind, but they all came down to a single question.

Cedric’s voice echoed in his memory.

“Cory, when you saw what Laurent had become, did you feel satisfaction? Didn’t you?”

Cory answered yes in his heart.

It was a genuine answer, without a shred of a lie.

That fact made him realize what kind of being he was. There was no longer room for doubt.

Now he knew clearly what he had to do and how to treat this woman, just as he had nodded without hesitation at Cedric’s question.

That was why Cory smiled.

Jane, sitting on the floor, shuddered at Cory’s expression. He stepped toward her, and Jane moved back. Cory felt satisfaction.

“Jane, now I know why you’re here.”

“Shut… shut up, damn—”

“Shut your mouth.”

Cory extended his hand. His mana sealed Jane’s mouth.

“So you don’t need to keep moving your tongue.”

He remembered hearing from Yuri that all the prisoners rescued from the orcs had been transferred to Briol and that their management had been left to Cedric.

Yuri believed they had all returned safely to their homeland, but most likely Cedric had diverted them elsewhere.

They were surely being prepared as material for black magic rituals.

Cory nodded.

“Now I know what I have to do.”

He gave another smile to Jane, trembling as she sat on the floor.

Cory’s mana brushed against her back. She lowered her gaze and stayed silent.

“Now it’s quiet.”

If Cedric had sent him to Zveta, he had to meet his expectations.

“Jane, I’m going to cast a spell on you. Just endure it.”

“No…”

“Shh.”

Cory murmured toward her.

Kill Order with the Word of Authority.

He released upon her the incomplete power of his Dragon Tongue.

The air trembled.

The world reacted.

“Ah…”

Jane’s eyes flew wide open as her body began to convulse.

Cory felt he was finally starting to understand something about the Dragon Tongue. Words themselves were magic.

Just as invisible mana is used to perform the miracle called magic, invisible thoughts materialize in the world through language.

That was why this was a miracle.

Jane soon stopped convulsing and collapsed to the floor. Cory stepped forward to check her breathing. She wasn’t dead yet.

He smiled with a twisted grin.

“Lord Cruar, I think I understand now. Heh… hehehe…”

It would still take time and more experiments to perfect his Dragon Tongue, but he had already found the clue. Soon, he would be able to master it.

Cory’s heart felt a little lighter.

He knocked on the door.

“Hey, you out there?”

A knight waiting outside entered.

“Yes.”

“T-the… the experiment is over.”

The knight looked at Jane lying on the floor and said without hesitation,

“Understood. I’ll have her cremated.”

“No, she’s not dead.”

Cory nudged her body with his foot.

“This woman is still alive. I want to keep using her, so take her away and heal her. I’m going to have fun with her for a long time.”

“Understood.”

“Are there many captured humans in Zveta?”

“Yes.”

“Heh, I’d like to take a look around.”

The knight, named Santos, looked straight at him. Cory no longer hid under his hood—he showed his ugly face and gave him a twisted smile.

“I think I’ll feel better seeing other humans.”

“As you wish.”

Santos left Jane in the care of another soldier and led Cory through the prisoner camp.

It was a massive prison.

In the center, there was a large clearing where inmates were digging trenches with shovels. Among them, Imperial soldiers wielded whips without rest.

“Work harder!”

“Move it! I said move it!”

“I won’t give you another warning!”

At the edges, as a warning, corpses impaled on stakes were on display.

The prisoners, terrified, kept digging.

It was a brutal scene.

“Wow… impressive.”

Escorted by the knight, Cory walked past the work area.

Upon seeing him, the soldiers saluted with discipline.

“Salute!”

“Salute!”

Cory nodded awkwardly.

“Y-yeah… good work.”

Some prisoners raised their heads to see who was passing by, and upon recognizing him, quickly lowered them with a mix of fear and revulsion.

“What are you looking at? Tsk…”

Cory knew well they were digging their own graves.

He didn’t know exactly how Cedric conducted his human sacrifice rituals, but he was sure he would gather them all here for whatever he had planned.

Suddenly, Cory lifted his gaze.

From a point overlooking the entire camp, there was a strange statue. Like every creation of black magic, it had a grotesque form.

That was when he realized there was someone standing next to it. At first, he hadn’t noticed, but suddenly he saw it was a person.

Dressed entirely in black, the figure stood motionless, like a shadow.

Cory asked his escort,

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Bow your head.”

“Santos.”

“Santos, who’s in charge of Zveta?”

“Count Eduard.”

“Him too for this camp?”

“Yes.”

“That guy over there, is it him?”

Santos looked up.

“No, it’s not.”

“Do you know who it is, then?”

“No. I’ve seen him a couple of times, but I don’t know his name.”

“Yeah?”

Cory nodded and turned his gaze back to the sight of prisoners working while bleeding.

He had to complete the Power of the Voice of Authority as soon as possible.

“In a while, send me about five people. I need to run another test.”

“Understood.”

Feeling the fearful stares fixed on him, Cory smiled.

***

Yuri looked up.

From within the monster’s bubbling fluids emerged the figure of Cedric.

— Impressive.

He spread both arms as if speaking with genuine admiration.

— Yuri, I really didn’t expect you to get this far. Before I could do anything, you accomplished everything, as if you were reading my mind. It’s the first time I can’t predict something, and it even unsettles me.

“Is that all you have to say?”

Yuri looked at him with disdain, no longer treating him like an older brother, only as an enemy.

“In a week you’re going to die foaming at the mouth like this bastard, so start digging your grave.”

— Hahahahaha…

Cedric let out a laugh.

— In my original plan, by now I’d already be besieging Briol.

“Yeah, well, now things are going according to my plan. In a week I’ll kill you and put your corpse on display.”

— Don’t use such harsh words, Yuri.

“Why? Do you sound weak?”

— No. It’s just that it breaks my heart—it saddens me—that someone I like so much would curse me like this.

“You’re insane. You’ve lost your mind.”

Yuri had no intention of listening further. Cedric was a genius, someone who calculated everything before acting. Listening any more would only cloud his judgment.

“Get lost.”

Yuri swung Guilty with the power of Cut the soul and the heart.

Even at the sudden attack, Cedric remained unperturbed. Without changing expression, he rattled off his words at incredible speed.

— VenazZbetatengounregaloparati…tedegustará…sino vienes…tearrepentirásparasiempre…hahahaha—

By the time Yuri’s strike cut through Cedric’s figure, he had already finished saying everything he wanted. It had been like a burst.

“…”

Yuri trembled with rage. It felt as though he had lost.

Beside him, Jared clapped.

“Impressive. Talking that fast and still keeping the pronunciation and projection of voice. There was even rhythm. I think there’s a musical genre where people talk like that… maybe he learned it?”

“Shut up.”

“He said he’s got a gift for you at Count Zveta and that you’ll regret it forever if you don’t go.”

“I heard.”

“His communication skills are amazing.”

“That’s why I didn’t want to hear him… Ah…”

Zveta was quite far from the imperial capital. He had no intention of going; he planned to march straight for the capital.

But Cedric’s words were starting to loop in his head.

“Zveta… what kind of place is it…?”

Laurent cut in.

“Idiot. You’re going to do what the enemy wants? Ignore it.”

“I can’t.”

“What?”

“Cedric might have mentioned it precisely so we wouldn’t go, pretending it’s a trap. Maybe there’s something really important there.”

“He could also have foreseen you’d suspect that and countered with another move.”

“And maybe he foresaw that we’d foresee that and turned it around again.”

“And maybe he foresaw that we’d foresee that he foresaw—”

“Ughhh!”

Yuri clawed at his hair.

“That’s why I didn’t want to listen!”

“But he said it in such a catchy way it was impossible not to pay attention.”

“Damn it…”

Yuri stood.

“Let’s get back to the main army.”

He led the two back to the village entrance, mounted his horse, and rode toward the main forces.

They were already quite close.

At the front, Ainzer smiled at seeing him.

“From your face, I’d say you had quite an encounter.”

Yuri briefly explained what had happened. Ainzer frowned.

“Zveta…?”

“What is it?”

“Nothing… Just that it’s always been called a cursed city. I don’t like the sound of it.”

At that moment, Hernando approached.

“Your Highness.”

“Hmm?”

“I must inform you of something…”

The tone of his voice gave Yuri a bad feeling.

“It’s a warning.”

“Then don’t say it.”

“I must say it.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Your Highness.”

Hernando’s face was more serious than ever. After a brief pause, he spoke.

“The heavens have been disturbed.”

“The heavens?”

“I can read the Mandate of Heaven. I had lost that ability for a time, but suddenly, a wave of ominous energy showed me fate. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“What did you see?”

“Danger. The seed must be eliminated before it’s too late.”

“How?”

“There.”

Hernando pointed with his finger.

“Right now, the capital isn’t what’s important. We must go in that direction to eliminate the seed of tragedy.”

“That direction?”

Ainzer, who had been silently listening, spoke up.

“Oh… That’s the direction of Zveta.”