Chapter 59. Disturbance (1)
1.
Late night, close to midnight.
A shadowy figure was loitering near the north gate of Arsen Academy. A girl with gray hair wearing black glasses.
It was Silfi Rudrik.
“Hoo.”
Upon arriving near the north gate, she let out a sigh as if to relieve her tension.
And who could blame her?
Today was the day she had promised to meet Count Deorg. She had come here to head toward the northern forest, the meeting place.
‘It used to be poorly guarded…’
Originally, the north gate of the academy wasn’t as heavily monitored compared to other exits. She would often use it when she needed to go outside.
But those days were over.
That was because just recently, Elvin, a candidate for student council president, was caught dealing illegal drugs. So, security had tightened significantly since then.
‘Of course, it’s not really a problem for me.’
Silfi pulled out a large nail from her pocket.
Taking a deep breath, she quickly drove the nail into the edges around the wall.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The large nails were being hammered along the boundary where her shadow fell. This was a form of black magic used by the Desert Order.
‘Shadow Passage.’
A spell that allows transportation through the overlap of shadows, relocating one to another shadow beyond.
It might feel like teleportation, but strictly speaking, it’s not. It could only be used if the shadows were connected.
‘Anyway, it’s useful in situations like this.’
She could go outside without having to climb over walls or pass through the main gate. Silfi then exited the academy using the Shadow Passage.
A little while later.
As she stealthily approached the northern forest, she suddenly sensed a familiar presence.
“Right on time.”
A tall man in a gray mask.
He was Count Deorg’s right-hand man. She didn’t know his name, but he was undoubtedly more powerful than a high-ranking knight.
“Follow me. Your Excellency is waiting.”
“…Yes.”
Feeling her breath catch in her throat, Silfi weakly nodded. She then followed the masked man deeper into the forest.
How long had it been?
Just as her legs were starting to ache, the masked man stopped in his tracks. He bowed his head towards the inner part of the forest and said, “I’ve brought the cultist, Your Excellency.”
“Good job.”
A low, deep voice followed.
Silfi tensed up her shoulders.
Just hearing the voice felt like a heavy pressure weighing down on her.
“It’s been a while since we met.”
Then the owner of the voice revealed himself.
Golden hair shining brightly under the moonlight. A man with eerily dry eyes, Istan El Deorg.
To the Desert Order, he was the embodiment of fear and a curse, the embodiment of a cultist hunter, and Silfi trembled with instinctive terror.
“I came to find you because I have some questions.”
At that moment, Istan got straight to the point.
Silfi, regaining her composure, forced a calm expression and replied, “I already told you everything I knew when we last met.”
“No, you’re mistaken.”
Istan immediately dismissed her words.
With a firmly shut mouth, he flashed a sharp gaze, adding the reason for his denial.
“You only answered my questions, not what you volunteered yourself.”
“That’s…”
“I won’t accept counterarguments. I will ask questions and you’ll answer what you know.”
It was rude and unreasonable, but Silfi couldn’t say a word of protest. Istan had casually tapped the hilt of his sword.
Being quick-witted, Silfi immediately grasped the significance of that action and promptly sealed her lips.
“I have two main questions.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t too many.
Swallowing hard, Silfi silently awaited Istan’s questions. After a while, the first question came out.
“Have you ever witnessed Count Dermore having contact with forces other than the Desert Order?”
“No.”
The answer came out without hesitation.
But perhaps because the response was too quick?
Istan narrowed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe her answer.
“…You’re not lying, are you?”
“I-I swear! I haven’t even met Count Dermore since enrolling!”
Silfi hurriedly protested.
Yet Istan’s skeptical gaze didn’t waver. His eyes were soaked in distrust. But a moment later, he nodded slowly.
“I see. I’ll take that at face value.”
His sudden switch in demeanor occurred right after a golden light suddenly sparkled deep within the forest.
What that phenomenon meant was a mystery, but Silfi quietly sighed with relief at Istan’s newly dropped skepticism.
“Now for the next question.”
The second question related to a report Istan had heard from his subordinate before coming to the academy. It was about the recent strange phenomenon occurring in the desert.
The sudden increase in numbers of demon beasts.
Moreover, the cultists scattered throughout were converging in the desert’s center, completely unrelated to the order.
“Do you know anything about this phenomenon?”
After a lengthy explanation, Istan turned back to Silfi. She rolled her eyes awkwardly and chuckled.
“Haha, well I’m not sure about that either…”
Then, at that moment.
A chilling sound echoed near her ears.
Whoooosh! Snip!
Along with the sound of the wind slicing through the air, there was the sound of something being snipped by a blade.
Gray hair fell to her feet. Silfi’s eyes widened in shock when she belatedly saw it.
“…!”
It was neither seen nor felt.
Just as she stumbled through her answer, her hair that had been down to her waist was now cut short. Just when the color drained from her face due to disbelief.
A chilling warning followed.
“Next up is your head.”
“I-I’ll talk! I can just tell you!”
It was then Silfi realized.
That falsehoods wouldn’t work against this brutal man. If she wanted to deceive him, she’d have to lay it all out and be completely convincing.
The problem was she lacked the guts to do that. But shifting her thoughts, Silfi decided to come clean.
“Well, the large-scale movement of demon beasts in the desert is probably because Rudrik’s minions came out of the order.”
Rudrik’s minions.
At that word, Istan raised an eyebrow.
It was a name that was etched in his memory. Not only that, but it was a name known to anyone in the imperial army stationed at the southern battle line.
‘Abnormal grade demon beasts.’
Known as the demon beast king, it was said that not even masters or high mages could handle a single entity.
According to the testimonies from captured cultists, there were a total of three minions of Rudrik, each possessing special abilities.
『A monster bird that breathes eternal flames.』
『A poisonous snake that continuously multiplies.』
『A white wolf that hides in the fog.』
Here, the minions believed to be held by the Desert Order were the monster bird and poisonous snake.
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of the white wolf were unknown, but Silfi had found clues in her previous testimonies.
‘I remember it was sealed in the academy.’
She didn’t understand why such a beast was sealed in Arsen Academy, but this was part of her reason for enrolling at the academy.
After recalling her past memories, Istan snapped back to reality and posed a question.
Silfi held up two fingers.
Then, folding them one by one, she continued.
“One is that the depths of the order came under attack from enemies, forcing them to go to battle, and the other is that a new leader was born.”
There wouldn’t be any other reason for the minions to appear.
After all, only the head of the Desert Order could mobilize the minions. When Silfi included this explanation, Istan silently nodded.
“I see. Then what about the reason the cultists are converging toward the center of the desert?”
The center of the desert, the place where the ancient oasis once was, is one of the order’s sacred sites.
“Sacred site?”
“Yes, it is where the capital of the ancient kingdom that fell a thousand years ago was located, and where Rudrik’s minions were born.”
And one more thing.
It was also where the Desert Order began.
Of course, it was an environment where no one could live normally, so nobody approached it, but it was still called a sacred site because of such a grand history.
“And the reason the cultists gather at the sanctuary is for only one case.”
“What case is that?”
“When the leader changes.”
The leader of the Desert Order.
This was an entity commanding over 90,000 cultists, along with numerous demon beasts and Rudrik’s minions.
“That means…”
“It’s highly likely that the reason Rudrik’s minions have stepped into the world is the latter.”
The possibility of a new leader being born.
As soon as Silfi realized this, Istan’s expression turned as hard as stone. Upon further reflection, Silfi’s assumption seemed far more probable.
‘The competition for succession has been intense lately.’
The current leader of the cultists had grown old.
Accordingly, there were reports of the successors battling it out to choose a new leader.
‘And…’
Reports had recently come in stating that only two successors remained. In other words, it wouldn’t be strange for the fight to conclude at any moment.
Immediately after recalling this fact, Istan began to murmur.
“Turden.”
Just after uttering someone’s name, the sound of rustling leaves echoed, and a man stepped out from the bushes.
“Did you call, Your Excellency?”
This was the masked man who had led Silfi here.
Bowng his head politely, Istan relayed the instructions he had premeditated.
“Convey what we just discussed to the Raven Brigade and keep an eye on the desert’s movements.”
“I will obey your orders.”
The masked man promptly vanished with a resolute response. Afterward, Istan looked up at the southern sky where the desert lay.
A new leader of the cultists had appeared.
That fact alone had plunged the southern battle line of the empire into an emergency.
‘Something similar happened before.’
About twenty years ago.
When he had just been deployed to the southern battle line as an officer of the imperial army and a war knight.
A new leader of the cultists had been born.
Though now he might be old and ready to retire, at that time, he had been quite the headache.
The leader turned his sights toward the desert, eager to use the power and influence he had just acquired.
And as a result.
In the process of repelling the cultists’ massive offensive, countless soldiers lost their lives, and Istan found himself frequently teetering on the brink of death.
‘So probably, this time will be similar.’
Istan was certain of it.
Thus, he sought to promptly relay this information to the southern battle line to prepare countermeasures.
Meanwhile, while he was lost in thought, Silfi began to cautiously step back, glancing at the silent Istan.
“Then I guess I’ll take my leave now…”
“Stop.”
“W-why?”
“You still have business to attend to.”
It contradicted what he had said earlier about there being just two questions.
For a brief moment, Silfi wanted to argue, but she quickly composed herself and fell silent. She feared her head might actually roll if she spoke up.
“W-what business are you talking about?”
“There are people who want to talk to you. They seem quite curious about the desert.”
Istan pointed into the depths of the forest.
Then, at that moment.
A memory suddenly flashed through her mind.
‘Oh, speaking of which…’
Recently, someone had approached Silfi for information about the desert. A girl with hair as black as the night sky, Noa Darshen.
Just as she recalled that, a presence was felt from deeper in the woods.
“Hello.”
It was a familiar voice.
The black-haired girl she just thought of, Noa, appeared. Moments later, Silfi’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“…Huh?”
It wasn’t just Noa who showed up.
There were also girls with silver and golden hair and a hulking barbarian man.
Faced with the suddenly appeared classmates, Silfi stood frozen like a statue.
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