Chapter 521

Chapter 521

"A friend?" The beastfolk, muttering somewhat dazedly, finally rolled his eyes to look up at Ian’s face. "Aren’t you from the Great Church?"

So that’s why he’d calmed down.

Ian, who had paused, let a slight smile curl one corner of his lip. He didn’t need to think hard about why the beastfolk had made such a mistake. The Platinum Barrier was embedded right next to his neck, after all.

To those who didn't know, a weapon forged by the Platinum Dragon could easily be mistaken for a holy relic. Considering the Platinum Dragon was also a Saint of the Order, the assumption wasn’t exactly wrong. It even supplied weapons to the purification squad.

However, that wasn’t the only reason Ian’s lips curved.

So, it’s not for killing, I see.

Even though he had struck the beastfolk quite hard with the Willful Grasp, the beastfolk seemed fine, apart from a slightly dazed head. The only visible injury was the blood trickling from one nostril. Even that might have been from having his back slammed down by Ian’s knee.

Maybe beastfolk were just that sturdy, but it didn’t change the result. Monsters were likely just as tough. Still, it wasn’t disappointing. Proving its stopping and restraining power was enough for now.

"I’m not unrelated to the Order, but I wasn’t sent by the Great Church. As I said, I just came to meet a friend," Ian said, withdrawing his hand from his pocket dimension.

It was practically right in front of the beastfolk’s face. As the beastfolk reflexively sniffed, his eyes widened.

"Charlotte. Ever heard of her?" said Ian.

The reason he had taken out the tail so abruptly was because of a promise Charlotte had made in the past. She’d said it could serve as a pass.

"Charlotte? Don’t tell me!"

Before the wide-eyed beastfolk could speak, a sharp gasp rang out from behind. It came from the one Thesaya had pinned down. With his back crushed beneath her knee and his left arm twisted behind his shoulder, he had managed to lift his head just enough to glimpse Ian’s back.

"Dragon Slayer? The Dragon Slayer, Ian Hope?"

"That’s right, Spotty. This man is the Agent of the Platinum Dragon," answered Thesaya, still holding the dagger to his neck. She even twisted his left arm further up.

As the beastfolk instinctively lowered his head again, she added, her words brushing against his pricked ear, "So don’t interrupt rudely, and stay quiet until you’re asked a question, oh?"

Her brow then furrowed. "You son of a—"

The beastfolk, growling through clenched teeth, had begun to struggle. It seemed he was trying to shake Thesaya off at any cost.

Though his shoulder would likely dislocate or the blade at his neck would pierce his skin first, the beastfolk thrashed as if none of that mattered.

The horses, which had been sitting with their bellies to the ground, snorted and looked around in alarm.

"S-Stay still! I don’t really want to stab you, you know? If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to pop your shoulder!" Thesaya said, grinding her knee into his spine.

She shot a quick glance at Ian. However, Ian still didn’t look back. His eyes stayed fixed on the beastfolk pinned beneath his knee.

"Ian? My butt is starting to cramp. Can I just knock him out? Or maybe just freeze him a little?" asked Thesaya.

"Stay still, Brooks!"

The one who shouted was the beastfolk pinned under Ian’s knee. As if that were a signal, the strength drained from the beastfolk called Brooks.

"Damn it…" A low curse followed, along with panting breaths.

Thesaya’s eyes, looking down at the beastfolk, finally narrowed slightly.

"Name," Ian said flatly.

His gaze, as cold and hard as his voice, was still fixed on the beastfolk’s profile. The emotion in the beastfolk’s orange eyes was not just surprise. Tension and fear flickered more strongly.

As the beastfolk’s trembling eyes turned back to him, Ian moved Charlotte’s tail aside and added, "What’s your name?"

"It is Idris, Dragon Slayer." The beastfolk’s voice trembled as much as the emotions swirling in his eyes.

Putting Charlotte’s tail back into his pocket dimension, Ian nodded. "Good. Idris. I’ll ask you, where is Charlotte now?"

Idris’s breathing hitched.

Ian added calmly, "Don’t make me ask twice. If you don’t answer, I’ll just kill you both and go find another beastfolk. It seems the situation warrants it."

"So. Something is wrong with Kitty, isn’t it?" said Thesaya. Unlike her leisurely tone, there was no longer a smile on her face.

Twisting Brooks’s arm harder over his shoulder, she lowered her head.

"You’re involved in this, aren’t you? I can tell just by your reaction. I’ve changed my mind. Hurry up and resist again, Spotty. I’ll kill you very painfully. No? You won’t be able to die even if you want to until you confess everything that happened—"

"The former Chieftain is in El Karam," said Idris, just then.

Brooks, who had been clenching his teeth as if to endure the pain, raised his head with wide eyes. "Idris! Are you going to spill the clan’s secrets?"

"Shut up! This man has the right to know. Don’t you forget that you and I both owe a debt to Chieftain Charlotte!"

Idris whipped his head around and shouted, even baring his fangs in a snarl. Though Brooks let out a similar growling breath, he no longer argued.

Crunch—

Brooks wouldn’t have been able to add anything more anyway. Thesaya, who had tossed her dagger aside, had grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the ground.

"You shut up now. Don’t even breathe," Thesaya said, rubbing Brooks’s face into the dirt as if to grind it in.

Her voice was devoid of laughter. Worm-like veins were already writhing around her eyes.

"El Karam?" Ian asked at almost the same time.

Idris, who had turned his head again, answered readily. "It is south of Maro Tel. We call the Table Mountains and the swamps beyond them by that name."

"A place of exile," Ian murmured lowly.

Charlotte’s words about making the area beyond a place of exile for corrupt beastfolk flashed through his mind. From the looks of it, it seemed she was the one who had been exiled instead.

"What happened? Is she safe? Why aren’t you asking those things, Ian?" said Thesaya from behind.

When Ian glanced back, Thesaya met his eyes with a frown and added, "Don’t tell me you’re going to hear it from Kitty herself, Ian. I might die of anxiety before then. Didn’t you hear? This kid said former Chieftain. There’s no way these talking beasts kicked her out peacefully."

Ian let out a short sigh through his nose and looked down at Idris again.

With one side of his face pressed against the damp dirt, Idris answered, "The former Chieftain was defeated in a duel with the current Chieftain, Nehat. Both times."

"Don’t be ridiculous." Thesaya’s voice followed immediately. "You don’t know how strong Kitty is! I don’t know what kind of dirty tricks you pulled, but—"

"This Nehat fellow, are they by any chance a great warrior of Kruxica?" Ian cut her off.

Idris paused and looked into Ian’s eyes for a moment. Ian just waited for the answer, his eyes sunken and deep.

Finally, the beastfolk’s mouth moved again. "Yes, Dragon Slayer."

"Idris! You crazy—" Brooks, who had been panting, lifted his head and shouted.

Before he could finish, Thesaya smashed his face into the ground again—and this time, she didn’t stop at one.

"I told you to shut up, didn’t I? Do you think my words are a joke? Huh? Do you?" Thesaya whispered, grabbing his hair as if to pull it out and repeatedly slamming Brooks’s face into the dirt.

Blood-mixed soil splattered around, but she didn’t even glance at it. The slumped warhorses snorted and whinnied as if in fear.

"Thesa. Quiet," Ian said, and only then did Thesaya freeze.

She looked down at Brooks’s head for a moment and smiled. "Sorry, Ian. I got a little carried away."

"No matter how messed up you guys are, I doubt you’d go so far as to accept an Apostle of Kruxica as your chieftain. Charlotte must have already dealt with the ones who strayed." Ian added instead of replying to Thesaya.

Idris, letting out a growling sigh, answered, "Yes. That is correct. But Nehat’s case is a little different."

"How is it different?"

"The blood of the great warrior flows through Nehat. Though the world calls them an archdemon."

It was enough to make Ian’s brow furrow slightly. "Inaskurgl?"

"Yes. Nehat inherited Inaskurgl’s blood."

As Ian’s expression twisted strangely, Thesaya gasped. "A child of an archdemon is alive? How?"

"All beastfolk are brothers and sisters. When we are born, we grow up together without knowing who our parents are. Aside from rare exceptions, we live with only our names."

However, the elders of the clan couldn’t have been unaware. Beastfolk, who guard their own so fiercely, would never share such a secret with outsiders. Even Charlotte had never mentioned such a thing. Of course, it was quite possible she hadn't known.

"No, even so, are you guys really out of your minds? A child of an archdemon became corrupt again, and instead of kicking them out, you gave them a pardon? Even though Kitty explained your situation to you?" Thesaya said with a frown.

"We were not the ones who gave it."

"Then?"

"Chieftain Charlotte was waiting for a visit from the Great Church. But even after several months, the Great Church did not dispatch an investigation team."

A conversation he had with Charlotte in the past flashed through Ian’s mind.

After restoring order to the clan, she decided to take Ian’s advice and personally request an investigation team from the Great Church before the fairies could send in their allied purifiers.

It seems she followed the plan faithfully up to that point.

The Black Wall must have been the variable. The Great Church was likely too busy dealing with the aftermath of the erosion to have any capacity to spare.

"Instead, Nehat returned. And said the Great Church had given an order."

"What?" Thesaya asked.

Idris added calmly, "Nehat said there were those carrying out a great plan. To use the darkness that would inevitably come as a stepping stone to greet a new morning. Nehat said the clan had been given a noble role as part of that plan."

"Ha…" A dry laugh escaped Ian’s lips. It was a load of nonsense he had heard many times before. "So he was being sponsored by the Round Table. But Charlotte should have already known what they really were. Palmer was by her side, after all."

"Nehat claimed he’d known about the pointy-ears’ scheme all along. In fact, Nehat said the plan had been to wait for it and lure them into the trap. According to Nehat, Chieftain Charlotte wasn’t protecting the clan at all, but destroying the only chance to reclaim the former glory."

There’s no way the pointy-ears didn’t have a hand in the Round Table.

Ian nodded.

The truth didn’t matter at all. There was no way of knowing until the results were out anyway. Even the members of the Round Table seemed to have their different agendas.

"It must have been tempting," said Thesaya, coldly.

With one corner of her lip curled up, she pressed down on Brooks’s head as if to grind it in, and added, "It was a chance to slit the pointy-ears’ throats and serve that beast god again. Kitty was the one who cut off your tails, right? You must have been very happy to have someone come along to kill her for you. Weren’t you?"

"We were. A little," Idris answered in a subdued voice, a hint of regret and sadness in it.

"So, where in El Karam do I have to go to meet her?" Ian asked without even blinking.

There was no need to hear the story that would follow. They had resolved the issue with a duel, as beastfolk do, and Charlotte must have lost.

The fact that they had fought twice likely meant she had taken the Elixir of Life and challenged him again. And that meant she might have suffered an irreversible injury in the second defeat.

It was an assumption that Thesaya was better off not knowing for now.

"I will guide you," Idris said just then.

As Ian’s eyes twitched, Thesaya snorted. "Don’t make me laugh. How can I trust you? Just prepare to die, Spotty. I’ll do what Kitty couldn’t."

"I am not begging for my life. I have already been to El Karam. I know the fastest way. And the search routes of the other warriors." Idris said, looking up into Ian’s eyes.

He didn’t hide the emotions in his eyes. Ian just stared down at him.

"Are you serious, Ian? You’re going to take this traitor with you? Surely, you’re not planning to let this Spotty go alive, are you?" Thesaya asked with a frown, as if she had guessed Ian’s intentions.

She seemed to have no intention of forgiving anyone related to Charlotte’s downfall. Perhaps she couldn't forgive herself for not being able to provide any help in this situation.

Ian looked at her and answered. "I’m letting him go alive."

"Ian!"

As Thesaya’s frown deepened, Ian’s gaze dropped to Brooks, pinned under her hand.

"Go back and tell beastfolks this: Ian Hope is going to see Charlotte. And anything that stands in my way—I’ll kill it. Make sure they understand that."

Thesaya’s eyes widened, as if she had never frowned.

Without even glancing at her, Ian added, "Tell your chieftain, too. That I will kill them with the sword that killed their father, so they should wait."

Not only Thesaya, but Idris and Brooks’ breathing hitched for a moment.

Ian, who had stood up, lifting his knee from Idris’s back, added, his Platinum Barrier hanging loosely, "If they don’t feel like waiting, they can come find me."