Chapter 278: The Child of Tallian (3)

‘Is this guy crazy?’

Staring at Roan Lancephil, Delk gave a scoff.

‘He’ll take care of all of us?’

He found it outrageous.

‘There’s roughly 70 here and around the area there were more than 200…’

When his thoughts reached there,

‘Uh?! Now that I think of it…’

Delk felt his face turn rigid. A chill ran down his spine and cold sweat fell down his cheeks.

‘Our brothers should’ve been completely surrounding this area…?’

No-one should’ve been allowed to approach without his orders as approximately 200 assassins had been completely surrounding this area, enough to not even allow an ant escape.

‘Then how…?’

Delk had a frown as a puzzled expression floated up. Staring at that, Roan made a bitter smile.

“There were a few bothering me along the way.”

With a light wave of his right hand, a black mask fell down onto the ground – it was the same mask as the one Delk was wearing.

‘Huu…’

Roan let out a sigh inwardly.

‘I was delayed dealing with those guys.’

In fact, it was because of a strange skill that hid people’s auras put up by the 200 assassins that he had been delayed in his pursuit. The ones taking care of them directly were the Amaranth Taemusas.

‘The ones that didn’t have to die have died.’

It was all because of that skill that hid people’s auras and presences.

‘I have heard rumours that there was a skill like that back then.’

A well-known rumour back in his previous life.

‘The Black Moon Guild.’

It was a massive assassin guild with the entire continent as its stage, but in fact, it was closer to a union of assassin guilds. They were extremely skilled assassins that were well-known especially because of a strange skill that forcibly controlled mana to cut off people’s presences.

Of course, humans controlling the natural mana was not an easy task so there were tiny leaks in between for short amounts of time. Roan hadn’t let that escape, and that was how the pursuit had carried on.

However, he was indeed late.

‘The Black Moon Guild. They had done a lot during the Great Warring Period, or rather, it was assumed that they had.’

They mostly did not leave any tracks behind and hid their identities so exactly who had been assassinated and taken care of by them were not clearly known.

People just assumed.

‘The first pope of the Tallian Church, Latio. There were rumours that he too had been assassinated by the Black Moon Guild…’

That too was yet another theory. Roan raised his head and stared at Delk.

‘From what happened today, that theory must’ve been right.’

Although the time and the method were different, the Black Moon Guild had aimed their fangs at Latio both in the previous and the current life.

‘We don’t know who requested for the assassination but…’

It was easy to deduce.

‘The Church.’

Roan gave a bitter smile and glared at Delk. He thought that perhaps he should catch him to find out who the one behind it was but soon shook his head.

‘An assassin of the Black Moon Guild wouldn’t open their mouths that easily.’

And torturing wasn’t to his personality either.

“Y, you bastard, don’t tell me our brothers…?”

Delk made a fist. With no words, Roan just replied with a nod. His soft, innocent face gave off a relaxed feeling.

“This son of a bitch!”

Spewing out profanities, Delk kicked off the ground. At the same time, more than 70 assassins that had been surrounding Roan and Latio kicked off the ground as well.

Pabat! Pababat!

The sounds of wind had dug into their ears as the old man and the old lady in front of Latio closed their eyes tight. On the other hand, Latio looked calmly at Roan, with eyes that seemed to know what was going to happen.

And,

Pabat!

Roan’s two feet danced confusingly. His body blurred and strands of light escaped in all directions.

Slash! Swing!

The light strands penetrated the assassins that painted the surroundings dark, and their shadows were divided by white light.

“Kuk!”
“Kuuk!”
“Kuruk.”

Along with horrendous sounds, the flying dark shadows had all lost their powers and collapsed.

Kukung. Kung. Kukukung.

A cloud of dust rose up as the sound fell. Hopeless. The assassins of the Black Moon that had ran in with a fierce aura had all lost their lives without even attacking a single time. There were only around 20 including Delk remaining alive.

“Y, y, y, you…”

Trembling his body, Delk forced out some words.

“You bastard, what in the heck are you!”

Words that barely left his throat, and Roan replied instead with a wide smile. He in fact didn’t like the Black Moon Guild and other assassins too much. Instead, he hated them a lot.

‘Because of these bastards, too many innocents had lost their lives.’

The reason why the Great Warring Period had been lengthened and become complex was largely due to the Black Moon Guild. These guys killed lots of nobles and members of the royal family without regard to allies and enemies, resulting in frustrations and hatred between kingdoms, empires, and even between races.

‘I can agree to the Mercenary Guild and the Thieves Guild but you lot I can never allow.’

He would not allow assassins to wreak havoc in the Amaranth Kingdom.

“Damn! Open the formation! Fight with the resolve to die!”

Delk raised his voice and his two arms. The 20 surviving assassins ignored Latio’s group and surrounded Roan in a new formation.

‘T, that just then was because we were looking down on him.’
‘It was because we ran in too blindly.’
‘With the Black Moon’s formation, we can capture this guy.’
‘Kill!’

The assassins including Delk all clenched their teeths hard. They were filled with pride and confidence in their Black Moon guild.

“Die!”

Along with his shout, the synchronised attack began, but Roan lightly rolled his feet and moved his right hand in response. A longsword that had been carried by an assassin lying on the ground had been pulled up into his hands, and strands of light that were sharper, and longer than before bisected the dimension.

Slash.

A ruthless sound rang once. The light passed through the assassins’ bodies but no other sound was ever heard.

“…?”

Even the assassins themselves had no idea what had exactly happened to them.

Tuk! Tutuk!

The arms carrying their weapons fell powerlessly onto the grounds.

Chang! Chang!

And soon later, sounds of metal could be heard. Staring at the cleanly dismembered arms, the assassins opened their eyes wide.

“I, impossible…”
“To think there’s someone with this level of skill…”

They could not continue their words any further as they had literally lost the ability to.

Slick.

Their faces hidden by the black masks started being tilted off to one side before dropping onto the grounds. The only one still left standing was Delk alone.

“T, this is not in the realms of a human…”

His two eyes opened wide and he bellowed as his head and his body started to become crooked. Staring at that scene, Roan whispered in a small voice.

“I have heard that several times as well.”

A low and calm voice.

“That my skills are more like a ghost’s than a human’s.”

Those were the last words Delk had heard before his death. Within his eyes that were gradually losing its light, astonishment and admiration flashed by.

[Roan Lancephil!]

His eyes had definitely been screaming that out.

Breathing in deeply, Roan stabbed the longsword directly onto the ground.

Smack!

The blade entered the ground deep. There were no more screams and sounds of steel that had been heard for a while now, and a weird quietness had covered the area.

Turning his head, Roan stared at Latio. He who had been standing behind the old man and the old lady smiled a little and lowered his head giving the unique greeting of the Tallian Church.

“Thanks for helping.”

A still polite, and elegant attitude. Smiling a little hazily, Roan scratched his right cheek.

“I heard the Tallian Church repays a favour no matter what happens?”
“Yes, that’s right. Was there anything you had wanted me to do?”

Latio asked back with a bright smile and Roan lightly gave a nod.

“It’s quite a hard request but would you like to hear it?”
“Please. As long as it doesn’t bring harm or danger to others, I will definitely accomplish it.”

He responded with a calm voice. Those were words that anyone could say, but it sounded more trustworthy when it came from him. Roan gave a bright smile that showed off his teeth.

“Let’s make a good world together.”

A proud and calm voice.

“A good world… is that something a wandering merchant and a wandering believer can do?”

Latio asked back with a soft smile. His two eyes flickered with light as if they could gaze through Roan’s disguise at his real identity. Roan lightly covered his face with his right hand from the top to the bottom.

“I’m not a wandering merchant…”

In an instant, his soft innocent countenance had disappeared as a manly face replaced it. It was Roan Lancephil’s original face.

“I’m the Amaranth Kingdom’s Roan Lancephil.”

He stared directly at Latio’s eyes.

“I’ll help you.”

With a voice full of certainty.

Carrying a small smile, Latio calmly met Roan’s gaze. Roan moved his feet until he was standing right before Latio and with a small, yet powerful voice, he whispered.

“And you, please become the pope of the Tallian Church.”

***

“The compensations that were meant to go to the citizens of the Plant district in the Northwest region of the kingdom were stolen by a prominent figure of the area Weiss Canom. He has quite the relationship with Baron Greg Plant, and Baron Plant knew about the embezzlement but had turned a blind eye on it. It seems that it needs some handling as well.”

Hainz, the official under the administration, and an aide of the Administrator Swift Clock, gave a report while going through several letters. Swift, who had been examining thick documents, asked in a careful voice.

“Was this one also from his majesty?”

In response, Hainz nodded his head with a face that said, of course.

“Yes indeed. Also, the several cases – Gordon area’s prominent figure illegally having the citizens be his servants, the fallen noble in the Woods area taking the citizens’ land without permission as well as the redevelopment of the Gladden area are taking more time than we initially thought…”

When his words had reached around that point, Swift clicked his tongue and waved his hand.

“His majesty is really amazing. How could he move so diligently…”

Wearing a happy grin, he called three officials.

“Set the tasks under each department following the regulations.”
“Yes, sir.”

Organising the several letters that were there, the officials soon left the room. However, Hainz, who had given the report before, had left behind.

“Are there more reports?”

Swift, who was about to return back to the pile of thick documents, asked with a curious tone and Hainz replied with a small nod before handing him a letter.

“I think sir Administrator should check this personally and take care of it. It’s a letter from Minister Chris Taylor of the Argens.”
“Hmm.”

Along with a low murmur, Swift received the letter. It was extremely rare for Chris to directly write him a letter. And when he did, they were usually tasks that could be checked and handled by the officials.

The letter was opened giving off the sound unique to papers. Words filling it from the top to the bottom were seen.

“Ah…”

Swift let out a small sigh – the words written on the letter were outrageous.

“Have you read it as well?”
“No. There was a strict order to not open the letter by the Minister Chris Taylor.”

Hearing that, Swift lightly nodded his head as his hand waved. Hainz left after a little bow as the farewell, leaving Swift alone to re-read the letter in detail once again before closing his eyes in thought.

“Huuu…”

He heaved a long sigh.

It was a completely unexpected situation.

“I must contact his majesty.”

This was not a decision he could make, thought Swift as he grabbed a writing tool. Black letters soon placed themselves on top of the white paper.

[Your majesty, we have received contact from Duke Voisa]

That was the first line of the letter.

***

“Whoa! A beggar! A beggar!”
“He’s poorer than us!”
“Isn’t he dead?”

Kids around ten years of age created a fuss. In the area they were pointing at, there was a young man who seemed to have collapsed onto the ground, but actually, he was lying down. Wearing a big luggage, he laid on the ground showing no signs of movement.

His face was dirty and his yellowish clothes had become extremely dirty towards the end. It was no different to a beggar, but surprisingly, he was Roan.

“Maybe he’s really dead.”
“He’s not moving an inch.”

Two boys who had the most courage stepped towards Roan with care. It was then,

“This old man is not dead.”

Roan flashed his eyes open and raised his upper body.

“Uak!”
“Aaak!”

Surprised into screaming, the kids then fell onto the ground on their bums.

“Uak!”

Roan was similarly surprised by the kids’ screams and shouted slightly. Roan and the kids – they looked into each other with widened eyes of shock.

Then,

“U, u, uu, uu…”

The smallest kid started making a teary expression and trembled his shoulders. It was the preparation stage before breaking out into a cry.

“Uh, uh, uh… don’t cry…”

Roan quickly waved his two hands in surprise but it was already too late.

“Uaaaaaang!”

A loud cry entered his ears.

“Uaaa!”
“Uaaang!”

And following suit, the other kids started crying after that one kid. At this point, Roan was at a loss.

“Guys. D, don’t cry and look at me. I’ll give you a sweet lolly.”

Due to not having the experience of lulling a child from crying, Roan’s words and actions were very unnatural. The kids’ cries continued without an end. At least that was how it appeared, until,

Dudung! Dudung! Dudung!

Sounds of drums came from somewhere, and in that instant,

“Uaaa… uhup!”
“Mm!”
“Kuhup.”

The kids all clenched down and stopped crying. Hiding the drops of tears from their eyes, they collected their unsettled breaths. It was a very intriguing and strange scene.

Roan gave a frown.

‘The kids stopped crying the moment they heard the drums.’

An incomprehensible situation.

Dudung! Dudung! Dudung!

The drums sounded slightly louder. His gaze followed the direction of the sound and found a large group going through the untidy roads, with the drums being played at the front of that group.

And following that,

Bababababam! Babam! Babam! Bababam!

A strange music was carried by the wind and filled the streets.

‘This is…’

Roan still had a frown.

‘I heard this from somewhere…’

His head started to spin fiercely. Going through the mountains of memories, he struggled to find the one that fit. And,

“Ah…”

A short mutter escaped his lips.

<The Child of Tallian (3)> End.