Chapter 110

(110)

Among the most famous stories about the Kelpie, many people choose this tale.

Nine children went to play around a forest pond, and a horse approached, bowing its head. Excited, the children climbed onto the horse one by one.

The last child, the ninth, saw his friends mounting the horse and was so frightened by the horse’s back extending with each friend that he ran away.

‘So it’s not just the back that can stretch in such places.’

Valenciaunos watched with a smirk at its neck, which had grown about 20 meters long.

The Kelpie was restraining Tenitia and Seberik with its six hooves and maw while drawing its neck back.

It looked just like a ridiculous giraffe.

Thud, the deck shook violently, and the flagship that had been following closely behind the supply ships stopped.

“It’s the back.”

Rudi cried out with wide, frightened eyes.

The Kelpie had extended its fish-like waist and wrapped it tightly under the hull.

“Lady Tenitia. Be careful.”

Seberik warned coldly.

“It could entangle me.”

His sword, embedded with blue jewels, glowed brilliantly, and the aura that could sever mountains blazed like cold flames.

Evil!

As the horse-like maw was severed in two, water gushed out.

Seberik left the head that had shot up to 20 meters glowing as it was.

He immediately spun his sword and gripped it tightly, aiming for the dozens of legs that had appeared on the deck.

Tenitia also understood his intent and drew her sword, aiming at the upper legs.

Her sword glowed red, and three of the Kelpie’s legs were cut off.

Again, water gushed forth.

Seeing the cross-section, Tenitia gasped.

“Your Excellency! This isn’t meat.”

“What do you mean…?”

Seberik also looked at it with surprise.

The Kelpie’s body seemed made up of many large, tough orange kernels.

Cutting through the thin but tough membrane only released lake water.

Bubbling.

The sound of bubbling echoed, and the six legs that had just been cut off regrew.

Inside the kernel membrane, lake water was seen rising in real-time.

Lysena took a startled step back, and Tenitia and Rudi instinctively looked at Valenciaunos.

“That body seems to hold no meaning. At least I can’t kill it with a cut.”

Their Duke was watching that strange evil spirit with a cruelly twisted face.

Strangely enough, seeing that expression somewhat reassured Valenciaunos.

He willingly accepted that expectation.

He possessed deeper knowledge about magical realms and infiltrators than anyone else.

Moreover, Seberik had been fighting all sorts of bizarre phenomena and mysteries from the northern region since he learned to walk.

As their gray eyes and yellow eyes met, both understood each other’s thoughts and intentions, as if sparks had flown.

Valenciaunos grinned grimly and took a step back.

Sometimes it was genuinely enjoyable to know that others knew what I knew.

“Duke Seberik. I will scorch that creature’s body with fire. Considering it’s a spirit, it’s not strange if the laws of material do not apply. Let me check if dragon flames can hold it.”

With words befitting a duke, Seberik replied, “Good. Duke Valenciaunos. Then I will restrain that creature.”

The Kelpie stretched its elongated neck to wrap around Seberik.

Seberik submitted to the Kelpie’s restraint like he had been waiting for it.

The slender figure, with shoulders like winter mountains, hair like waves of dark blue, and a beautiful face, disappeared between the constricting black Kelpie’s neck.

Creeeak!

With a dreadful sound echoing, Lysena shuddered, and Tenitia gasped.

There was no way a person could be alive while completely entangled in the 20-meter-long thick neck of a horse-headed creature.

However, considering his heritage, Seberik was closer to the mythological giants and monsters from the north than to humans; he was a sword master with a supreme body.

Creeeak!

The sound of dozens of hooves dragging on the deck was heard.

The Kelpie was not pulling the northern duke underwater; rather, the northern duke was pulling the Kelpie up onto the water.

Tenitia, Lysena, and Rudi simultaneously widened their eyes in amazement.

It was unreal to see a human body pulling such a massive creature that spanned dozens of meters.

“Lady Lysena!”

“I understand!”

“Me too!”

Rudi pulled the trigger, while Tenitia and Lysena surrounded their swords with mana blades.

Tenitia’s mana blade flared brightly, and Lysena’s mana blade glowed like a serene midnight snowfield.

An injured leg burst from a strike of the arrow, and a severed leg was cleaved.

Thud thud thud!

In the end, the Kelpie got dragged out by Seberik.

“Your Excellency! It’s only trying to extend its body.”

As Lysena quickly shouted, Seberik’s gray eyes sparkled coldly.

Suddenly, the surrounding temperature dropped, and the water inside the Kelpie’s body froze like shaved ice.

“Eeeing?!”

For the first time, fear mingled with the evil spirit’s cry.

* * *

Valenciaunos mocked the Kelpie as he ran across the deck.

His eyes, slitted like a reptile, glowed with greedy flames around his sword.

“I don’t know what kind of funny spirit this is, but ‘mixed’ ones mostly have that boundary as a weakness.”

For now, the boundary between the upper body resembling a horse and the lower body resembling a fish stretched below the deck railing.

Zzz!

Valenciaunos stabbed the sword wrapped in incantation flames into the body of the Kelpie and charged forward.

Under the moonlight, his platinum hair sparkled, his dangerous eyes glowed with majesty, and the greedy flames consumed the spirit’s body without a single spark flying away.

“Lord Valen! It’s dangerous!”

Rudi cried out urgently as he saw Valenciaunos drawing closer to the deck without slowing down.

To aim for the boundary between horse and fish, he effectively had to jump off the ship to strike.

She wondered if it would be right to stop him or to prepare a towel and furnace.

Valenciaunos leaped into the air in a white uniform.

Swoosh!

The flame-wrapped sword swung fiercely like its master.

He never diminished his momentum, embedding the incantation flames into both the horse’s body and the fish’s body, causing him to lose his footing.

As Valenciaunos saw the lake water getting closer in February, he shouted.

“Anima!”

The gift from the two counts, the wind-imbued shoes, Anima Lamentum, showed their true value.

Swoosh!

A fierce wind erupted from the soles of the shoes, enough to create ripples on the lake’s surface, launching Valenciaunos back up towards the moonlit sky.

His right hand had already adjusted the grip on his sword, with his left hand firmly supporting his right wrist to avoid bending.

Imperial swordsmanship, Level 3, Jiraiita.

His sword precisely aimed for the boundary line of the two creatures.

As he saw the white-haired duke whose yellow eyes were slit in sadistic excitement, Seberik smiled, while Lysena looked on with a cautious gaze.

Swish!

A clean sound echoed, and the horse’s body and the fish’s body were neatly separated.

The incantation flames dug into both sides and slowly began to consume their bodies.

Valenciaunos stood back on the deck.

Seberik felt the Kelpie’s body, which had been draped over the deck, growing limp.

“It burns even underwater.”

Tenitia remarked as she checked the area beneath the boat.

The fish-like body that had wrapped around the hull was sinking downwards, with the fire that had jumped from Valenciaunos’s sword burning all the thin membrane of the orange kernels.

The red glow reflecting in the water was both mystical and peculiar.

“Since it’s a spirit, you might as well think its soul is burning.”

Valenciaunos replied.

“So that creature has fallen into hell.”

“A wicked spirit that preys on children rightly deserves to fall into hell.”

Seberik sheathed his sword, receiving Valenciaunos’s words.

His low and hearty voice carried an unpretentious comfort.

“Indeed, that’s a legitimate statement.”

Valenciaunos nodded and followed Seberik in sheathing his sword.

“Duke Valenciaunos. I only knew you were a fire mage, but I had no idea your sword skills were that strong. If convenient, could you show them again on the front deck?”

Seberik expressed with curious eyes.

Accepting that request could be seen as a disclosure of the imperial swordsmanship, depending on the perspective.

However, Valenciaunos nodded without hesitation.

“Please show that icy ability once more.”

The two men exchanged smiles with their gray and gold eyes.

While there was much to lose and much to bear, there was also an excuse that they had a lot to gain from each other.

Though they stood on different grounds, that very difference allowed them to look each other in the eye and converse.

* * *

The northern duke and the bandit duke walked side by side toward the front deck.

Tenitia removed her helmet, slightly tousling her suppressed red hair.

She smiled contentedly as she looked at the back of the white uniform with a red belt and a fur-lined coat.

‘A friendship among royalty. Whether preserved or broken, it’s romantic.’

However, Lysena’s black eyes glimmered coldly beyond her monocle.

‘It seems Lord Seberik sees Duke Valenciaunos as different from himself, viewing him as a greedy human.’

She thought she could understand, that she could utilize him, and that she could draw closer.

Her thoughts were different.

She believed Valenciaunos had motivations that were not driven by desire, but by conviction.

So strong was that conviction that it appeared as mere greed to those observing from the outside.

She, too, could comprehend as someone similar to Valenciaunos in a different sense.

His conviction was, by coincidence, very closely related to his own interests; living according to his convictions yielded benefits, hence it appeared as desire.

‘Jeilliris.’

The young emperor who ascended to the throne at the age of 16 two years ago.

A sword master and a great mage.

The kin-killer who slaughtered hundreds of siblings.

The usurping emperor who donned the blood-stained attire.

The bandit prince of the capital, whose conviction was clearly existent.

Ultimately, the emperor’s attitude toward the northern region would become the northern region’s attitude towards him.

What, then, did Emperor Jeilliris truly think about the northern region?

Now that the north was fiercely battling with monsters and anomalies, the central government would likely assist the north even at a loss.

However…

Lysena heard the battle cries of the two dukes coming from the front deck.

Seberik was among the strongest northern duces of all time, and the northern military strength was objectively outstanding.

It almost felt like they could sweep away all magical realms, alien hordes, and monster clusters within the next ten years, or even five.

At that time, how would Jeilliris treat a north that had its morale sky-high?

‘Yes, it’s all part of my directives.’

‘You’re absolutely right. I intended to forever economically subordinate the north to the imperial court.’

‘That’s the path of Duke Seberik, and not the path of Duke Valenciaunos.’

If there were someone capable of saying such a thing, someone with such judgment and conviction, alongside the title of duke and immense power near Jeilliris…

Lysena looked at Tenitia, who was smiling contentedly.

Tenitia, noticing her gaze, turned to her with a question.

“Why the long face? Enjoy the victory. The moon is really bright, isn’t it?”

A courageous face, red lips, and red eyes.

A promising knight clad in shiny platinum full plate armor.

Lysena felt her mouth reflexively open.

“I envy you. Serving a master whose mind works so well.”

A voice tinged with slight sighs and regrets escaped with her breath.

Surprisingly, Tenitia’s eyes widened.

Suppressing the urge to shout that it was nonsense, she replied.

“Me envious? I envy you. Even if His Excellency Valenciaunos were just half as noble as His Excellency Seberik, I would feel so much more at ease.”

Lysena shook her head, her monocle sparkling.

“Lady Tenitia. Even so, a master should be a little shrewd to create ease for a knight.”

Tenitia bit her lip tightly and responded.

“It feels like you’re spitting in my face saying that, but could you still say such things if your master kidnapped a saint for gain?”

“You truly don’t understand how frustrating that is. When it comes to distributing spoils…”

As the two knights serving two vastly different dukes continued their deepening night, their conversation drew on.