Chapter 153. The Son of a Bitch and Putting You in Your Place
The central plaza of Baidun Village.
It was lunchtime, the time when crowds should be at their thickest, but the ones occupying the space were only two people.
A hulking mage and an old, scrawny knight.
The two sat side by side in front of the fountain as if enjoying the sunlight, staring ahead—so peaceful it looked like a painting.
A vast blue sky, pure white clouds, pleasantly warm sunshine, and even a breeze that lightly tickled the hair.
Conditions perfect for a nap.
But.
It didn’t take long for that peace to break.
“So, old man. Did I hear that right?”
“Shouldn’t you start by telling me what you heard? It’s not as though I can read your mind.”
“…….”
The hulking mage, Hollend, fell silent for a moment. Then, with bloodshot eyes fixed forward, he opened his mouth.
“Lortel intends to raise the flag against Deculan. That’s how I understood it.”
That was the moment Hamelan burst into laughter.
“Hahaha, raise the flag! Raise the flag, huh……. Well, setting the terminology aside—your talent for making matters bigger than they are is something else. Just how did you hear it for the conclusion to come out like that?”
Hamelan curled the corners of his mouth up as if it were genuinely ridiculous.
His laughter stopped when a puppy of unknown ownership approached him.
When Hamelan’s hand stroked its fur, the yellowish puppy quietly yielded to the touch, tail swishing softly.
Hamelan picked the puppy up into his arms, continued petting its soft fur, and went on.
“Listen here. We merely broke the deal because we had circumstances we couldn’t avoid. So how does that become ‘raising the flag’ against Deculan? Calling it ‘raising the flag’ just because we couldn’t keep a promise—honestly.”
“So in the end, you’ll lend your support to the Magic Tower and the Sword Garden. Those nameless ones.”
“For heaven’s sake, I’m telling you it’s not that, and you keep at it? For a young fellow, you’re awfully rigid. Look—handing the Infinite Chain over to the Magic Tower and the Sword Garden is something the main house can only apologize for. But what can we do? It was the Head of House’s choice. That’s all it is. The deal’s termination. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“…….”
“And don’t even think about using this deal as an excuse to do something foolish to the Magic Tower and the Sword Garden. If you do, then the situation you’ve been hoping for will truly arrive.”
Hollend didn’t respond.
He only stared ahead in silence.
It was a peaceful landscape, but the scene reflected in his red, bloodshot eyes was a blazing hellscape. And Hollend’s inner state was not much different.
Just forcing down the killing intent rising up inside him had him tasting hell.
Hamelan, on the other hand, looked calm. He simply watched, pleased, as the ownerless puppy played around in his arms.
“By the way, did you know?”
“…….”
Still petting the puppy, Hamelan cast his gaze far away.
Was the boy around ten? A child stood at the mouth of an alley, only his head peeking out as he looked this way. He was probably the puppy’s owner.
Hamelan shifted his eyes back to the puppy, and his hand tickled it. A little while later, he spoke.
“Dogs resemble their owners. That kid there is probably very polite. He’ll sulk just the right amount, and he’ll do cute things just the right amount, too. If I’d gotten married, I might’ve had a grandson about that age.”
“So…… is the old man the one who doesn’t know his place?”
“I certainly don’t know my place. I’m not so poor a creature that I’d share a table with the likes of you. But what I’m talking about now is a story about a certain mad dog Deculan keeps.”
“…….”
“Is that why? Maybe because it’s mad, it doesn’t know its place at all. It runs that worthless tongue of its and puts Lortel in its mouth. And what—does a son of a bitch bark however it likes without its master’s permission? Hm?”
“……You’re saying that about me.”
“Stupid, too. Dogs are supposed to resemble their masters, and yet—hmm.”
After saying that, Hamelan set the puppy down on the ground.
The puppy panted and swished its tail, then sprinted off toward the alley mouth.
But it didn’t run to the boy, so unlike Hamelan’s earlier guess, it seemed to have a different owner.
Anyway.
“There’s not much point worrying about some other house’s bastard mutt, but don’t go judging the main house’s intentions however you please. If you’re a bastard mutt, then act like one and do what your master tells you to do properly—that’s what I’m saying.”
It was a warning.
Stop spouting nonsense that won’t even fly, and just go back and report the facts as they are.
It was a deeply humiliating way to put it, but Hollend showed no reaction at all.
And into the ear of that unresponsive Hollend, Hamelan’s voice drilled in.
“There are two things you’ll deliver. Lortel terminated the deal due to unavoidable circumstances. The counterpart is the Magic Tower and the Sword Garden, and they are Lortel’s allies. That’s it. If you intend to run your mouth beyond that, tell me in advance. It’s someone else’s bastard mutt, sure—but I can at least give it a good scolding.”
Having said that, Hamelan brushed himself off and stood. That was when he glanced back at Hollend.
“Do you need proof that the main house isn’t treating Deculan as an enemy?”
Hollend’s bloodshot eyes lifted to Hamelan.
Hamelan met those eyes like an evil spirit’s and gave a faint smile.
“If you need proof, go to your master and show him your neck. And say this.”
- The thing sitting atop my neck is the token of goodwill sent from Lortel.
“How about it, Captain of the Crimson Jade. If they sent your head back still attached, wouldn’t that make a fine token of goodwill?”
There was no answer.
But Hamelan wasn’t looking for one.
He simply kept smiling at Hollend, then yawned so wide his mouth looked like it might tear as he faced the bright sky.
After a long, languid stretch, Hamelan shuffled his feet and started walking.
“If you understand, then I’ll be going now. Unlike you, I’m a busy man.”
With that, Hamelan walked out of the plaza.
Even after his figure disappeared completely, Hollend didn’t move from the spot.
He only stared forward with bloodshot eyes.
He kept repeating it endlessly.
Lortel.
And…….
‘Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. Magic Tower, Sword Garden. …….’
The existence of those rat bastards who had raised the flag against Deculan.
So, how much time passed like that?
Hollend rose and began to move. Just then, the raven that had been keeping its distance to avoid Hamelan returned.
“Hollend, how did it go?”
“Report to the Head of House.”
“……?”
“The deal is terminated. Lortel handed the Infinite Chain over to the Magic Tower and the Sword Garden. And she said she’ll shelter them.”
“What the—”
The raven panicked at the one-sided notice, but Hollend didn’t give it space.
“One last thing.”
“……?”
“Tell him I’m taking the seat I’ve been putting off.”
With those words, Hollend walked out of the plaza.
The raven didn’t understand, but the “seat” Hollend had been putting off meant the throne of the Seven Mages.
A throne that looked fine on the outside, but from petty political nonsense onward, all sorts of flies clung to it.
A position that could seize power incomparable to that of a captain of a mage corps—yet he’d delayed it all this time because it was bothersome.
But.
‘I will… burn every last one of them alive.’
To repay this unerasable humiliation, he had to become a player himself.
Not a chess piece, but the player who moves the chess pieces.
Hollend repeated to himself the location of the nearest one among the Seven Mages, and then strode forward.
To inherit the throne.
And so Hollend vanished.
On the rooftop of a certain building that overlooked the plaza in full.
Hamelan watched until even the raven left its spot, then took a communication crystal orb out from his chest.
“Head of House, this is One Sword.”
[I’m listening.]
“As expected. It went exactly as predicted. It wasn’t only Hollend who came. Deculan’s raven came along as well.”
[…….]
Muhad gave no answer.
It was a silent signal to continue the report.
Recognizing it, Hamelan calmly reported the situation to the Head of House. When the report ended in full—
The Head of House, who’d been listening in silence, spoke.
[How was he?]
“Are you asking about the Captain of the Crimson Jade?”
[Yes.]
“He truly wasn’t someone to take lightly.”
In front of him, Hamelan hadn’t hesitated to insult him—calling him a bastard mutt and so on—but Hollend was still not an opponent Hamelan could laugh off.
Setting aside realms, the man himself was like that.
[More detail.]
“As you likely realized from the fact I contacted you today, this old man missed the promised deadline by about three days. I’ll accept any reprimand gladly, but….”
[Was it a test? Your bad habit is flaring up again.]
“I apologize. But honestly—turns out it’s exactly as I heard. He was furious to the very top of his head, venom rising thick… but that was all. He doesn’t even let killing intent leak. He just endures it. Ah, those eyes… you’d have to see it yourself, Head of House.”
If Hollend had simply let killing intent spill, Hamelan wouldn’t even have kept him in mind.
If he’d hidden his thoughts behind a snake’s smile, it’d have been the same.
But Hollend was neither.
He was furious to the point he couldn’t possibly hide it, and inside his chest he carried a burning urge to kill—yet he didn’t let out even a speck of killing intent.
That 모습 was like… yeah.
“A well-trained Tosa fighting dog. He can even suppress his own instincts. I tried insulting him a few times, but he didn’t budge.”
[Are you disappointed?]
At the Head of House’s question, Hamelan answered without hesitation.
“Of course I’m disappointed. As far as I could tell, he’s a powerhouse on par with the Seven Mages… and how often do you get a chance to cut down a neck like that? Hmph. Why is a man like that still playing at being a captain?”
[You endured as well. It’s the same.]
“Is it because I’m old…? Even if I could handle Hollend alone, I wasn’t confident I could also catch that raven far off.”
[Better than doing it half-baked.]
“Thank you.”
Hamelan smiled easily and looked up at the sky. The Head of House’s voice came right then.
[Compared to the owner of the Tower, how is he?]
“……Hollend, you mean?”
[Speak without holding back.]
“……Hm.”
Hamelan chose his words for a moment.
The comparison itself wasn’t difficult.
But he couldn’t read the Head of House’s intent.
Still, the hesitation was brief. Hamelan soon spoke his thoughts aloud. Regardless of intent, he only needed to answer the question.
“The owner of the Tower and Hollend. If I compare the two….”
The answer was simple.
“If they fought head-on, I’d die ninety times out of a hundred.”
[And the other ten?]
“I’d barely keep my life and run.”
A cold assessment.
But that much was accurate.
‘It seems the owner of the Tower has also reached Transcendence, but….’
The Hollend Hamelan saw looked like he’d entered the realm of a fully matured Transcendence. Hamelan couldn’t gauge the exact level without clashing directly, but by instinct, Hollend was at least that much—perhaps beyond even the owner of the Tower.
Of course, it wasn’t that the owner of the Tower had no chance.
If he used that… terrifying magic he used on Hamelan at the right moment, he might catch Hollend as well.
But in truth, even that was a slim probability.
Hollend wasn’t just any mage—he was the head of Deculan’s mage corps, a battle mage tempered across a hundred battles.
But why?
Head of House Muhad asked back, sounding surprised.
[……Hmm, is it really that much?]
“Yes, it is.”
[You’re being quite generous.]
“Am I? But the same realm… hmm. Put that way, it gets vague. Let me phrase it differently. If the conditions are the same, I believe the owner of the Tower wins no matter what.”
[…….]
Head of House Muhad fell silent.
It wasn’t because he didn’t believe him.
He trusted Hamelan’s eyes as much as his own.
Sometimes those eyes were wrong, but such cases weren’t common.
Perhaps that was why.
Head of House Muhad spoke.
[Then it’s fine to put a bit more weight behind him.]
“……Pardon?”
[Get some rest.]
“……?”
Hamelan tilted his head.
Putting weight behind him meant giving the owner of the Tower a bit more help—so why was he suddenly ordering Hamelan to rest?
The question didn’t last long.
[Go take a trip near Deculan.]
“…….”
[A direction with a suitable vassal house wouldn’t be bad, either.]
What did that mean?
It meant: take the attention that was originally meant to be focused on Deculan, and instead of merely focusing it—hook it and rake it in even harder.
‘……Is this a vacation?’
Hamelan forced down the question rising to the tip of his chin.
Instead, he put a timid… yet pointed joke into his mouth.
“I think I’ll support the Young Head of House.”
It meant he’d cast a vote for the Young Head of House’s anti-mage stance. Anyone could see the Head of House’s change of heart was because of the owner of the Tower.
In truth, it was a joke that wasn’t really a joke.
The successor was the Young Head of House either way.
But Head of House Muhad wasn’t someone who played along.
[Is that an official statement?]
“…….”
[Then I should send an assassination squad. It’s been fun.]
Hamelan crushed the sigh boiling up inside him, then chewed the words out through clenched teeth.
“……It was a joke.”
Muhad replied.
[So was I.]
Yeah, sure.
