The Chief could not hide his anxiety.

He peeked out the window where the subjugation squad was still not visible before looking back at Choi Han.

Like a silent lake… The area around Choi Han was quiet. It felt as if even the sound of the gusting wind outside the window could not reach him.

“Sir Choi Han.”

The Chief ended up speaking up.

"The subjugation squad will be here soon.”

It was something both Choi Han and he knew.

“It should be okay, right?”

He could not help his shaking heart and asked again.

Choi Han stopped wiping his sword and looked up.

“Chief.”

The Chief into the silent and desolate eyes. The eyes that were too black to be called lakes were calm.

Choi Han moved his gaze. The Chief's gaze moved with it as well.

In the complete opposite direction of where the subjugation squad would be coming from… Choi Han was looking out the window toward the Erghe Mountain Range as he spoke.

“Senior, please trust the things you have seen.”

The Chief could not see anything there.

Yes, he could not see anything at all.

The Black Castle.

It clearly existed but was not visible.

That was the proof.

Aipotu. Individuals who had broken the laws of the world that had changed since the cataclysmic period were breathing inside that invisible Black Castle.

He could believe it because they were not visible.

The Chief's shaking calmed down. Of course, inside his mind still felt like a roaring ocean compared to the still Choi Han, but at least it wasn’t overflowing now.

Plop.

He plopped down on a chair and curled up his body.

He then looked toward the direction the subjugation squad should be coming from.

The Holy Empire’s greatest Knights Brigade that consisted only of Dragon half-bloods.

The First Knights Brigade.

Half of that brigade was coming here as part of the subjugation squad.

The Chief clasped his hands together as if he was going to pray.

Choi Han looked at the Chief before looking back toward the Erghe Mountain Range.

‘I wonder if Lock is heading over with no issues?’

Lock was heading with Koukan to meet the Wolf tribe leader hiding in the Erghe Mountain Range.

He did not think that Lock would be in danger.

‘Gashan-nim and Archie went with him. Nothing terrible should happen to him.’

Furthermore, Mila-nim was with them as well.

Choi Han stopped worrying about Lock.

He then turned his gaze to the side.

He could see the people who came with him.

One of those people…

“What are you looking at?”

Sword master Hannah. She grumbled to Choi Han before leaning against the wall. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

However, Choi Han could tell that all of her senses were fully alert.

Hannah, the younger sister of the Saint. She was waiting for battle.

‘Am I the same?’

Choi Han started wiping his blade with the cloth again.

His face that reflected off the blade was still calm.

He knew what he was hoping for.

‘His will be done.’

For everything to go as Cale-nim wished.

Choi Han was wiping his sword with such thoughts on his mind.

As their enemies were Dragon half-bloods, fighting against them-

‘I'm sure it won't be easy.’

That was why Choi Han wiped the blade over and over.

He was sharpening the blade in his heart over and over as well.

* * *

At the same time, there was someone who was fully alert for a different reason.

It was a member of the Holy Empire's First Knights Brigade, Nine.

“Seriously, it would have been easy if they all just died off. Why the hell do we have to suffer like this in the cold?”

Nine looked extremely annoyed as he brushed snow off his shoulders.

“Hmph.”

He heard someone sneering at him at that moment. Nine made eye contact with Wei. Wei, who had casted a shield using magic, had only a thin robe on while sitting on a horse as if he was nowhere near snow.

Flames burned in Nine's eyes.

“That son of a bitch-”

It was clear that Wei was sneering at him for not being able to use magic.

Nine's hand immediately headed for his scabbard. He wanted to pull it out and slice Wei’s head in half.

“I'm already annoyed coming to such a run-down place, but this damn little magician-”

The Haru Kingdom.

Nine had been angry since they left the Empire that he had to come to this run-down place.

“Stop.”

However, Nine had to stop his movements as soon as Captain Zenyu started speaking.

However, he kept his hand on his scabbard.

“Boss! How can I not be annoyed right now? Can you please tell me?”

“Stop it. We are currently on a mission.”

“A mission my ass!”

Nine was famous for not holding back his temper.

He shared all of his inner thoughts.

“It would have been fine if those damn Wolves all kicked the bucket in advance. How does it make sense to dispatch half of us to kill some **ing dirty bloods? Especially to a **ty run-down craphole like this?!”

He was truly annoyed.

Who was he?

He was a precious Dragon half-blood.

‘I am a chosen one!’

But they wanted to use someone like him to kill those dirty Beast bastards who just hide away to live?!

And they sent him to such a cold, rough, and run-down place?!

‘I'm going to have to complain to the temple when we get back!’

No matter how much he thought about it, this was not right.

“Nine. Watch yourself.”

Zenyu calmly warned him again.

However, one corner of Nine’s lips curled up.

"Boss, I know you feel the same way. You also believe that they shouldn't use us for such **ty tasks.”

“…This is an important mission. There are records of how the Wolves in the Haru Kingdom, especially those that served the Archduke's House of Snow, are extremely strong warriors. The people of this continent will be in danger if they came out into the world and showed their violent sides. Do not act so rashly.”

“Ha!”

Nine did not hold back his sneering.

“Strong warriors my ass. Why are you talking so highly about those weak ass **ers who won’t be able to take a single slash of my sword even if they go violent? Those losers are just animals that ran away from this perished kingdom because they were afraid of dying.”

“Nine.”

Zenyu stared at Nine.

Nine finally shut up. Even trash like Nine had to stop when Zenyu stared at him like this.

‘Shit!

However, he could not stop being annoyed.

“Ah.”

He then saw something.

There were quite a lot of people in the Holy Empire's subjugation squad in addition to the seven members of the First Knights Brigade.

However, their group had more than just those individuals from the Holy Empire.

Since they were visiting the Haru Kingdom, people from the kingdom were serving as their guide and would observe them.

One of those individuals caught Nine’s attention.

It was a young knight.

He seemed to be one of the knights guarding the people from the Haru Kingdom.

“You.”

‘I got you now.’

“…Excuse me?’

Nine smiled and asked as the knight flinched.

"Why are you scowling like that since earlier?”

Nine was showing no respect toward the knight of another kingdom.

Nobody stopped him.

In fact, some of the members of the First Knights Brigade seemed amused.

It was as if they found a small amount of joy in this cold and long path.

“I, I have not.”

The young knight urgently shook his head.

“You have not?”

Nine tilted his head to the side.

“Then are you saying that I, a glorious Dragon half-blood who carries the noble blood of Dragons, did not get a clear look at your face?”

“!”

The knight’s eyes started shaking.

“When I called this a perished kingdom, when I called those Wolves animals that ran away… You scowled. You scowled while looking at me.”

The knight’s face turned pale.

Nine’s eyes sparkled at the same time. His long vertical pupils became enlarged.

The smiled on his face became wider.

“Hey. Say something. You definitely scowled because of what I said. Did you not?”

“Ah, no-”

“Hey.”

Nine nonchalantly commented to the knight who was trying to say no.

“I definitely saw it. You’re not trying to say I, with my noble blood, did not see properly, are you?”

The young knight clenched his hand that were holding the reins of a horse.

He definitely did not scowl at Nine's comments. Of course, he was extremely angry on the inside, but he did not show that anger. He had received a lot of training in that regard.

That was why he knew he just had to say no, but he could not answer.

‘I guess I'm the prey this time.’

The Dragon half-blood Knights Brigade that visited the Haru Kingdom…

Although they were called a Knights Brigade, the brigade itself consisted of swordsmen, mages, and all sorts of battle-type members. Their only common factor was that they were all Dragon half-bloods.

They were famous.

They were famous for being arrogant.

That was the reason the people of Haru Kingdom had received information and training to not get on their bad side from the moment they learned about the upcoming visit.

They especially focused on not showing emotions on their faces.

However, this subjugation squad did not care about the Haru Kingdom's people’s attitudes.

They would start someone whenever they got upset.

Like they were doing right now.

It would be great if it ended at this level of provocation. They sometimes used sparring as an excuse to pummel knights from the Haru Kingdom. As for those who were not knights, they would extort them out of compensation and put them in difficult situations to force apologies.

They would do worse things as well.

‘What do I do?’

The young knight, Sam, did not see a way out of this.

“Haha-!”

Someone started laughing at that moment.

Sam saw a small back moving in front of him.

‘Bailey-nim!’

Bailey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, stood in front of Sam.

“Nine-nim. Sam, this kid, has really bad eyes. That must be why he subconsciously scowled a bit because of all of this snow. It just so happened that it must have been when you were speaking, Nine-nim! Haha!”

Nine immediately retorted.

“Do you seriously think such a lie-”

“Nine.”

Zenyu called out to Nine again.

Nine clicked his tongue. He looked at his boss with a disgruntled gaze.

‘Why do you care about some punks from a perished kingdom?’

That was what his eyes were saying.

The Haru Kingdom.

They were a kingdom that dared to defy the Holy Empire, the worshipers of the noble Dragons.

Nine thought that it was only right for such a kingdom to disappear and did not want to even be associated with them.

“Thank you very much.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of a kingdom was lowering her head to the Knight Captain of a foreign nation.

Something that would normally not make sense for diplomacy reasons was happening right now. However, that was the reality.

“I simply do not want any more chaos as we are about to embark on an important mission.”

Zenyu lightheartedly answered Bailey before looking toward Nine.

“We are dispatching a reconnaissance team.”

“A reconnaissance team?”

“That’s right. The Empire requested that we approach a bit more cautiously for a detailed investigation.

Bailey's eyes clouded over at that moment.

‘What kind of contact came from the Holy Empire last night?’

Zenyu had gathered the Knights Brigade last night to have a short meeting. Of course, people from the Haru Kingdom were not even allowed near them.

However, Bailey had a feeling.

‘There must have been some sort of variable.’

The subjugation squad that had been moving with only plans to massacre the Wolves…

Their actions had changed.

‘He said investigate, right?’

What were they investigating?

Bailey was curious.

She thought that it might be a way to save the Wolves and the small amounts that remained of the Archduke's House of Snow’s territory.

However, she could not easily gather any information.

Nonetheless, she did not give up. She had led her old and feeble body to the north to gather even the smallest amounts of information as possible.

‘I need to give even the smallest of assistance to his Majesty.’

That was what was needed for the Prime Ministers, who was just as old as her but working his ass off, and the young yet intelligent King of theirs.

Bailey made eye contact with Zenyu at that moment.

‘Mmm.’

She was most wary of Zenyu.

Zenyu looked calm as he controlled this pack of arrogant Dragon half-bloods.

However, she knew the truth.

‘This guy is even worse than the rest of them.’

Zenyu started talking almost as if he was responding to her assessment of him.

“Nine has agreed to go scout first. He is the swiftest so he will arrive at the village first to meet the Chief and look around. They will be even safer as this mage over here, Wei, will be going with him.”

What was going on? Why was he telling her all of this? Bailey questioned it before soon finding the answer.

‘Oops.’

Zenyu, this guy was just like Nine. No, he was even worse.

Thinking about it that way, she figured out the answer.

She urgently opened her mouth but Zenyu spoke even faster.

“It would be great if you put one person from the Haru Kingdom as their guide.”

Zenyu's eyes looked past Bailey's shoulder.

“I think that young knight will be good. Did you say that his name was Sam? Based on what I have seen until now, he seems to be the most agile. Hasn’t he been the one to scout until now as well? It would be great for the three of them to go scout together.”

Smirk. Nine started smirking.

Bailey clenched her eyes shut.

Zenyu was basically telling Bailey to give Sam to Nine as prey.

‘I need to say no.’

Sam. She had no idea what would happen to this promising young knight.

Nine was someone who would go to the village and kill the Chief after saying that he didn't like the Chief’s answer. He would then kill Sam saying he didn’t like the way he was treated.

As for Zenyu, he was the one to toss Sam to such a bastard.

‘These terrible bastards!’

How could these individuals be the First Knights Brigade of the Holy Empire who were supposedly trying to save the continent?

Bailey opened her mouth.

She needed to answer such things without any hesitation.

“Yes. I will go.”

However, Sam was even faster. He answered brightly with a now calm face. However, Bailey could see that his hands that were holding the reins were pale and shaking.

Bailey looked into Sam’s eyes.

The young knight nodded his head. It was as if he was telling her to trust him.

"I am very familiar with the path to the village so I am able to lead the way.”

“Hooo.”

Nine seemed amused as he looked at Sam, who stepped forward while speaking energetically.

“Sam!”

“it’s fine, Bailey-nim.”

Bailey called out to him but Sam stepped forward and stood next to Nine and Wei as if nothing was wrong.

She could not hold Sam back.

She knew that a different knight of the Haru Kingdom would need to go with them if she said no to Zenyu’s suggestion. Zenyu would make sure that happened.

Furthermore, Zenyu would do whatever he could to make Sam pay a price for saying no.

‘These terrible bastards.’

Bailey was extremely angry. However, she smiled.

“Okay. You head there first and we will be right behind you! Isn’t that right, Zenyu-nim?”

Zenyu smiled instead of answering.

In a few moments, Sam led the way on his horse with Dragon half-bloods Nine and Wei behind him.

The three of them slowly disappeared in the distance.

Bailey raised her head.

She could see the Erghe Mountain Range in the distance.

‘I hope you find a way.’

Bailey prayed desperately.

She prayed that Sam would be okay.

That the Beast people in the Erghe Mountain Range would have escaped.

That nothing will happen to the village.

Her prayers increased in number just like the wrinkles on her old body.

* * *

“I see them.”

Choi Han, who could see three people on horses approaching the village from a distance, stood up.

The Chief cautiously asked.

"Are you coming with me?”

Choi Han opened the door as he responded.

“Yes, senior.”

Someone else stood up as well.

“I'll go too.”

It was not Hannah. She was still leaning against the wall.

Choi Han nodded his head as he looked at the sea-like blue hair.

“Of course.”

Witira headed out the open door and toward the village entrance with her hands behind her back as if she was going for a walk.

Next to her was the Chief with Choi Han on the other side of the Chief.

However, that formation soon changed.

The Chief took the lead while Choi Han and Witira quietly followed behind him.

* * *

“Is it over there?”

Sam was breathing heavily as he answered Nine’s question. His body was drenched in sweat.

“Yes. That is correct.”

“Hoooo.”

Nine looked at the person coming out of the wooden entrance and snickered.

"At least the Chief is showing up to greet us on time.”

Nine licked his lips while looking at the run-down village.

His boss said something last night.

‘Her Holiness said that the laws of the world were broken there.’

It could be a Dragon having fun, but…

It might also not be that.

‘Investigate it thoroughly.’

This was how Nine interpreted those words.

‘Do with the village as you please.’

“Pfft.”

He couldn't help but chuckle.

“Hoohoo.”

He turned his head. His fellow Dragon half-blood, the mage, Wei, was smiling as well.

Nine was certain. This punk was feeling the same way.

He also knew that their boss, Zenyu, felt the same way as he was the one to send them as scouts.

‘The boss truly is the most vicious.’

The group in the back, especially the people from the Haru Kingdom, will come to find a completely destroyed or almost completely destroyed village.

‘How fun.’

Nine was becoming happy for the first time since coming out to this run-down place.

That was why he stepped forward.

"Are you the Chief?”

“Yes sir.”

The Chief bowed as he answered. Choi Han also bowed while observing Nine.

* * *

“Human, they're here!”

“Yeah. I see them too.”

Cale was looking down at the village from the hidden Black Castle.

—

Translator's Comments

They want to destroy the village? Destroy them, Cale!

TCF is currently posted Mondays and Fridays at evening time GMT. Join our discord to be notified as soon as the chapter posts!