Bab 134: Volume 6 Chapter 133 – Those with Poison (1)
At the Huphester Alliance, Joshua's secret residence.
With his back to ten black-robed knights, Joshua looked at two kneeling people.
Kuzan Marius and Beris Marius.
Still with reddened, wet eyes, they were waiting for Joshua's reply.
"Alright… so Taimyun dismissed you guys."
"Yes…"
"Sir Joshua, we will do anything. Please help us. Please make her change her mind. We are nothing without our mother…"
Beris kneeled and begged, slowly inching towards Joshua. The guardian knights pushed her down and stepped on her shoulders.
"Do not approach him without permission."
Beris muttered apologies while wailing, and Kuzan sighed in misery.
"Beris, even our mother hasn't made such a sight in front of Sir Joshua. Remember that she may not be too happy about this. Stop crying and think straight."
Kuzan's sharp voice brought Beris's muttering to a halt.
As the guardian knights tried to violently grab and throw Beris back to her spot, Joshua gently raised his hand to stop them.
"Stop. That's enough. Please be a little more understanding. Right now, my knights are quite sensitive."
Beris sobbed.
"…Thank you. Thank you, Sir Joshua."
Joshua made a bitter smile and looked into their eyes.
'They're stuck to their mother even though they aren't blood related. They wouldn't know that they were only hunting dogs for the now-dead Taimyun. Seeing it myself, it's scoffable.'
However, Joshua wanted these scoffable fellows for himself for a long time.
Taimyun had treated them like underlings, but Joshua really valued their 'loyalty'.
'A skilled dog is easy to get. However, there aren't many dogs that would set themselves on fire when ordered to.'
Joshua saw Beris and Kuzan exactly like that. Dogs with skill that would even go through a painful suicide from their master's orders.
Unfortunately, the problem was that their loyalty was towards Taimyun. Taimyun was Joshua's subordinate, but Kuzan and Beris weren't.
They only worked for Taimyun. Even when they were helping Joshua, they didn't budge if it wasn't on Taimyun's orders.
'That would be the same for Taimyun. If I told her to attack Luna and not the youngest, then she would've betrayed me.'
Taimyun's heart was with Luna, and Kuzan's and Beris's heart were with Taimyun.
Joshua never really liked that from the very beginning. Especially Taimyun, who didn't offer her full loyalty despite knowing his secrets, so he had to get rid of her at some point.
And the opportunity presented itself.
The opportunity to turn the nice hunting dogs into his own henchmen after getting rid of Taimyun.
"Kuzan, Beris."
"Yes, Sir Joshua?"
"Unfortunately, I cannot fulfill your request."
"Ah…"
"And seeing as you have come like this, it seems you haven't heard. Taimyun frantically dismissed you, yes?"
"That's right. Until now, we've never failed her missions, but who knew she'd fire us after one failure."
"It isn't that."
"Pardon?"
"…I can see how much your mother cared for you. She never cut ties because she was disappointed."
"P-Please tell us more."
Kuzan's voice shook while Beris's quaked, as if she were someone having a seizure. She held onto Joshua's ankle.
"Then… Then why did our mother…?"
Joshua shook his head and continued.
"…She was killed. By the unknown swordsman you fought. To be exact, his guardian black dragon took her life."
"Ah… A-Aaah… There's no way… Our mother—No…"
"Taimyun desperately requested help, so I sent five of my enforcement knights. They all died while fighting the black dragon, and the other dispatched knights were wiped."
Beris fell to the ground like a corpse, and Kuzan cried thick bloody tears.
They couldn't doubt it. To the two, Joshua was their mother's boss as well as a good supporter.
"Was our mother's final moments… comfortable?"
"I hope so. Ha, no. I should tell you truthfully. She resisted until her body decayed, and then she died."
"That magic swordsman… Who is he, Sir Joshua?"
"I'm trying my best to identify him, but I don't know yet. He was someone that Taimyun knew. When you fought Solderet's contractor, she knew that she wouldn't stay alive for long. She wanted to save you. She knew you would come to me after being dismissed from your positions."
"That person… Why did he attack our mother and not us?"
"No idea… That person was investigating your family name, so it meant that he had disputes with Taimyun in the past. Thankfully, he didn't have his guardian dragon when you fought him, but his motive since the beginning was to go for Taimyun."
"His face was covered, but he didn't look too old. So having resentment with our mother…"
"He may have lost a family member to her. Then, he gained power through his contract with Solderet and came back for revenge… That seems to be the situation. Well, I still need to investigate, though."
Kuzan lowered his head. As he began to tremble from his tears, Joshua embraced him.
Then, Beris's body convulsed.
"We will—We will find that bastard and kill him…!"
"You guys can't fight him now. It seems like you were evenly matched because he didn't have his guardian dragon, but with his black dragon, you stand no chance against him. You think Taimyun cut you off because she wanted that?"
Kuzan couldn't answer.
"Wait with me. I, too, have some business with him for killing Taimyun and my soldiers. And if the world finds out about Solderet's contractor, the Zipfels will begin to move as well. They will have to either make him theirs… or kill him off."
"We won't leave him in anyone else's hands. Even if it's the Zipfels."
Kuzan ground his teeth and continued.
"They have no right to take away his life. Only Beris and I can kill him."
Joshua suppressed his laughter and met Kuzan's eyes.
"Alright, I will offer you some support for your resentment."
"…We will withdraw for today. Please give us time to reconcile."
"Of course. But do not be too late. I'm a little frightened that I might lose you to him as well."
The two left the hall, and Joshua bit on a cigar. The glowing light made his thick eyebrows and defined nose very prominent.
"Sir Joshua, are you alright? If those guys spew nonsense or cause a commotion…"
"Fufu, don't worry. I'm just planting a violent will into them since that's the best way to manage hunting dogs. They will return to me quickly, with hatred as their weapon."
Phewww…
As the smoke from his cigar spread, Joshua thought about his sister who would come for him.
'It doesn't matter how much that old hunting dog blew before she died. If Elder Sister Luna and the youngest strikes without reason or evidence, that would be better for me. Everything will go my way.'
Crash!
The massive steel door ripped and shattered from Luna's fist.
"What is the meaning of this, first flag-bearer?"
At the same time, the Runcandel guardian knights in the residence drew their swords and blocked her way.
Behind Luna, about a hundred guardian knights were unconscious. They all suffered the consequences of standing in her way.
"Is Joshua here?"
"First, please calm down. Why are you doing this? If you approach further, we will only take it as a declaration of war."
"Answer my question. Is Joshua here?"
"Even if the second flag-bearer is here, we will not open the gates. Even if this is a war between siblings, barging in like this is outside of the Runcandel Clan's rules—"
Kurgh!
Luna stomped towards the rambling man and gripped his throat. It wasn't some ludicrous speed, but the other guardian knight just couldn't counterattack in the presence of her aura.
"Rules? Joshua's knights should never even utter that word. If you want to stop me, just fight me. I will not punish you for it."
The knights charged at her simultaneously and swung their swords.
Without even dodging, Luna threw the guardian knight in her hands and proceeded to the main building.
Clang! Kiiiiing!
Seven blades scratched and scraped Luna, and the guardian knights started to draw back without their knowing.
Even if they attacked again, the result would be the same. Just dodging the remnants of the flickering aura wrapped around Luna was hard enough.
"You have come, Sister."
Joshua—who had been watching the fight—emerged from the central hall of the residence.
And he had ten robed knights behind him.
"It seems you are very scared, Joshua. I didn't know you'd station all of the clan's dark knights."
"My sister is this angry, so I should prepare some forms of defense. Why have you come here?"
"Pfft…"
Luna burst into laughter.
"Wait, you thought I would kill you over your actions? I'm embarrassed because of how stupid you are. I should have never come to see your shameful face."
Joshua smiled.
And Luna knew best about the face that her second sibling makes when he wants to hide his humiliation.
"Oh my, you say that you're taking down all my knights… Since it seems you are a little sad, I'll turn a blind eye over your actions towards me as your kind younger brother. Afterwards, please come back when you are in a good mental state."
The dark knights couldn't be taken down by Luna.
So, Joshua wanted Luna to swing Crantel, which was hanging on her back. He had no intention of killing Luna, but he wanted to have a little control over her for once.
'If she strikes me in this situation, Mother will have a reason to control her. She has to stay alive before I become the patriarch. After all, someone has to keep the Zipfels in check.'
A blade that would guard the clan.
Joshua still thought that she was needed. He had been waiting for this moment. It wasn't a one-on-one confrontation, but it would be the first time he could humiliate Luna.
Everything was going as planned.
Concluding his train of thought, Joshua tried to provoke Luna once more.
However, Luna spoke first.
"My brother. Even though you are trash lower than a dog, you are still the second flag-bearer. So I am here to give you a love-filled warning."
Words spoken with all of her genuineness.
Disappointed, Joshua opened his mouth, only to be interrupted once more.
"Once that kid comes back to the clan, you will never be able to stop him. So, before it gets too late, I advise you to run away."
Luna—who was walking away quickly—stopped and laughed.
"You can't even attack me when I am showing you my back? Even with all of those dark knights? Nothing really has changed since our youth."
Even until Luna exited the residence after stepping on all of the corpses, the smile on Joshua's face didn't disappear.
The smile that suppressed his humiliation.
—————
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