Chapter 143 – Episode 143. Secret Weapon
Anesthesia.
It’s a disease I’ve heard about as well.
Usually, in the case of people suffering from drug or severe psychological sequelae, the senses felt in the body are worn out and become insensitive to pain or emotional changes.
But even that is only an acquired symptom.
In the case of Darkan, unlike them, he was born with insensitivity, and unlike those who suffered from acquired symptoms, he had never felt pain at all.
“People who know her say that she has her constitution blessed to be her warrior. Even I get nervous when her life is in danger, but she never showed it to me.”
And that constitution may be the secret to her rise to the top 10 powerhouse.
She is strong because she survived limbs, and because she does not feel pain, she will be able to keep her cool in any dangerous situation without fear.
But…
“It feels like a curse, not a blessing.”
“… Curse, you mean?”
Verdia responds immediately to my words.
I faced her, and gave her an answer with a nod of her head straight to her.
“If she doesn’t feel pain, it means she can’t understand the pain of others. As much as we live in the world from a different point of view than others, it must be difficult to get along with others.”
Loneliness.
Having lived a life of running away alone, I knew very well how painful that feeling was.
I am at an age where I can only live by deceiving others because I am separated from important people and no one can be trusted.
“Certainly it may be, but…”
Verdia quietly agrees with my words. But there was still an expression of uncertainty on her face as she rested her chin on her chin.
“Actually, Darkan himself probably doesn’t even have the awareness that it’s a curse. As much as he doesn’t feel pain, he won’t even be aware that he’s put himself in a painful situation.”
“… Yes, I guess.”
She answered quietly, and I drew back the curtains covering her carriage and checked her side.
A single knight riding slowly at a distance from the carriage followed.
Even in the midst of walking on the rough road, there was not even a slight movement of her body as she rode on her horse.
***
Afterwards, she had conversations with Verdia, but in the end, she did not hear anything about Dar Khan.
Before entering the king’s vassal, he spends time training every day, and even when he is resting, he just stares blankly at the wall or the sky rather than socializing with others.
But just by hearing such a story, I was able to get a rough idea of her personality.
I can’t say I’m sincere like Verdia, but I’m the type who doesn’t care about anything other than my work…
In a sense, it can be said that it is suitable for an escort knight who only needs to protect the monarch, but that is only when the purpose is in mind.
Ironically, Dar Khan lacks the human side of her, and her innate high knowledge is such that even the lord she serves cares about her.
So at least… Okay.
With such a consistent personality, you should take comfort in the fact that you’re not doing anything wrong.
-Smart.
As he came to that conclusion, a knock was heard from the exit of the carriage.
As soon as I opened the door, I saw Darkan getting off his horse and guarding his seat.
“Im here.”
“Yes, Darkan. Thank you for escorting me here.”
Verdia gets off the carriage with a formal bow. As I was about to follow her, I began to hear the sound of her wrangling from inside the carriage.
“Ymir, we have arrived.”
“Five minutes. 5 more minutes…”
Ymir is still sleeping in the sleeping compartment. Hearing her voice, it seemed that she hadn’t woken up yet.
But can it be overlooked?
Soon after, Heira came out of the sleeping compartment and began to cry in front of me with her pale face.
“Dave, what are you doing? If Ymir doesn’t wake up like Celica… !”
“That’s just because I’m lazy, so you don’t have to take it seriously.”
Well, it will take a little more time to prepare, so you can sleep a little longer.
Still, after asking Heira to protect her just in case, she quietly left the carriage and approached Verdia.
Just as she was leading her renegade out of her transport bay, to her.
“Hey, why don’t you drag it a little slower? No matter how strong I am, the rope rubs against my skin and it hurts…”
“Don’t ask too much. I might just let it go and run away.”
“Heh heh, I have something I want from Your Highness, so would you run away? If I had intended to hit it, I would have hit it sooner.”
Bardos shrugged and smirked.
As if Verdia was looking at him disapprovingly, he began to frown at her.
“… If I could have really run away, I would have.”
“Anyway, there’s no way it would be possible to escape even to the fastest sword in the yard that was pushed back by that side as well.”
Bardos burst into self-deprecating laughter.
Certainly, unlike the two people who have been growing stronger through the battlefield, he has lived in the shadows, drunk with drugs and alcohol, so it is inevitable that his level itself is low.
Under the circumstances, it would be impossible for him to resist.
Still, while keeping my vigilance in mind of possible dangers, Bardos soon noticed my presence and began to show interest.
“Ah, that’s the villain, right? It’s the first time I’ve seen it in person like this~”
Quite frivolous tone.
I didn’t care because he was a guy who went to the shadows in search of freedom anyway, but the word villain sounded pretty jarring to me.
“… Are you referring to me as a villain?”
“Well, isn’t that wrong? It’s true that you betrayed humanity and joined the demon king’s army.”
Apparently, I heard a lot while negotiating with Archen.
Damn King. I’m talking useless things for no reason.
“Don’t treat them the same. At least I don’t commit the foolish thing of putting my hand on a hero for money.”
“No matter what, I won’t touch you. I don’t know if you’re trying to use it indirectly like the King.”
But from his point of view, do I look ridiculous? Spewing out nerve-racking words, he grinned and began to carry on his words.
“It seems like he doesn’t like me, but I have a pretty high opinion of him? Going beyond just living in the shadows and eating knives and going directly to the Demon King’s territory. If you don’t have a lot of kkang, isn’t it something you can’t eat?”
“… Bardos.”
Was it because he felt that his attitude was intrusive? When Verdia pointed out that name, Bardos started to look back at Verdia as if he had waited.
“What’s the matter? From that point of view, he must be a villain that should not be forgiven, but seeing how strangely different he is from me, he seems to have attached a lot of affection to that older brother in various ways.”
“Stop thinking about it. He is an important collaborator of our…”
It took a while to calmly respond to Bardos’ provocation.
At some point, Verdia’s speechless eyes turned to me and began to widen.
No, not exactly me, but by my side.
“Quietly.”
A low voice is heard immediately after that.
Around the time I, too, stiffened at the familiar sound, Bardos, facing the main character, also began to hold his breath.
“This is an important person whom the lord directly ordered to escort. I will not forgive any more rude remarks.”
A woman with a helmet who is fully armed with thin armor.
Darkan, who had been silent all this time, threw a warning directly at Bardos at this moment.
“… Ah, uh, uh yes, what If you want to be quiet, you have to be quiet.”
Did he never expect her to react like that?
Dar Khan shows a puzzled reaction, having lost even her previous composure.
Afterwards, Dar Khan, who confirmed that he had been subdued after seeing her avoiding her gaze, quietly turned to me and talked about her business.
“Your call is ready. Come this way…”
“Uh, uh. Okay.”
Darkan briefly talked about business and left.
Around the time he was staring at the back, Bardos, who was watching it from behind, began to release his hardened breath.
“… Darkan, did you even know he could talk that long?”
To speak long
No matter how reticent he may be, he doesn’t take business matters seriously.
Looking back at Verdia, feeling her doubts, I could confirm that she, too, opened her eyes as if feeling a difference in Dar Khan’s attitude.
“Sure, she’s known her for a long time, but I’ve never seen her go out on a business not under her orders. She thinks His Highness may have given Dave instructions to pay attention…”
“Um, well. It seems to me that that older brother may have seduced you, but I think.”
“… Do you twist?”
Verdia responds to Bardos’ muttering.
Verdia had growled at him before, but as if she couldn’t bear to ignore her current words, her eyes as she looked back at me began to become colored with embarrassment.
“Well, come to think of it, she asked me about her Dar Khan earlier, but I can’t believe she already laid her hand on her…?”
“It’s not like that.”
Damn, why is that guy talking nonsense?
He is also a guy I don’t like, and I finished my evaluation and followed Dar Khan.
To the shore, not far from where the carriage was leaning, where the waves were clearly visible.
“King of Argentina. I arrived at my destination in the wagon you sent.”
– Oh, have you already arrived? It’s quite a bit faster than I thought.
“… It seems that they are quite busy.”
Even when he said that he was ready for contact, he felt out of breath.
When I pointed out that part and asked, along with a thumping noise from the other side, I started to hear his vague laughter.
-Yeah, it’s hard to do things that don’t respond, so what? When I returned later, I thought that I should improve the policy on workers’ wages.
“… While fleeing from the rebellion, I would like to admire the spirit of looking down on the people while jumping on their feet, but unfortunately, isn’t the current phone call prepared for political consultation?”
– Anyway, let’s get right to the point. Are Verdia and Bardos nearby?”
“Yes, I have answered the call. Majesty.”
“I didn’t respond, I was half-brought, but well, I came as you said, Your Highness~”
Verdia being polite.
On the contrary, Bardos greeted him sarcastically.
It was a sharply divided attitude, but Archen considered even that desirable and only let out a good laugh.
Whatever it is, it’s as if it’s important that the top 10 strong people gathered together.
Of course, Verdia belonged to the party, so she had to be excluded, but even so, she couldn’t help but feel curious about attracting two teenage strongmen.
“… King of Argentina.”
But in the end, I decided not to question him.
There was one reason why he came all the way here in the wagon he prepared. It was because they had the same interest in escaping the hero’s party to the Demon King’s Territory.
“The means of transportation to the Demon King’s Territory are prepared, right?”
I just believe in the truth of that one assertion that no matter what he does, he will not harm the warrior party.
-… Dave. If I hadn’t been there, how would you have brought the hero to the Demon King’s Territory?
Archen asks back as if to answer him. First of all, I answered honestly to match his rhythm.
“It must have gone by land. Through the path my organization has laid out…”
– That’s probably the best you can come up with. However, there is probably a demonic eye, and if strangers such as a warrior party who are not affiliated with the Anti-Human Alliance enter, there is a risk that the entire demon king’s army will notice.
Yes, that’s why I came all the way here, trusting the word that he had the means to escort the warrior party safely to the Demon King’s territory.
And the place where I arrived at the end was the vast expanse right in front of me.
If this is the end, I couldn’t erase the thought that I was complacent about the Demon King’s army.
“You don’t think you can safely go to the Demon King’s territory by using the sea route, right?”
In the sea on the side of the Demon King’s Territory, the ‘Ocean Tribe’, who live on an island on the sea, and the pirates they created are camped out.
He wouldn’t be unaware that some of them invaded the human realm and robbed them from time to time.
-… Whoops, it can’t be.
When he pointed that out, Archen burst into laughter as if he had waited.
It was at that moment that the sea in front of the land soared.
-Shoot it!!
The moment when something huge rises from the bottom of the sea to the ground.
I stiffened my body, wondering if it was a red flag, but I could feel the energy in the voice coming from the crystal in my hand.
-Now, the head of the Anti-Human Alliance. Let me introduce myself to you. The secret weapon, the underwater fortress Atlantis, secretly created by our human union!
A mobile fortress beyond the means of transportation created by the Human Union.
That was the identity of something gigantic that appeared in front of me.
