Chapter: 45. The Rebel
The snow-capped mountains are beneath a dark sky, with wind and snow covering the narrow paths of the valley, the wind is fierce, causing the torches to flicker and almost go out.
A brown-haired man, dressed in thick winter clothing and looking worn, sits atop a towering cliff, gripping a cigarette that he has difficulty lighting, watching the massive marching army in the canyon.
He gazes at the grandeur, overlooking the military might.
Yet, inside, not a shred of ambition rises.
The man brings the cigarette to his mouth, and with a sigh mixed with the frozen breath of the Northern Region, he blends all his worries into the smoke swirling against the falling snowflakes.
Holding the smoke ring between his fingers, the demon race man slowly raises his head, so he can see the scar on his weathered face, a badge of honor from war.
He casts a glance at the side.
At the edge of the cliff stands another man, relatively younger, with one hand on his hip, surveying the troops. He is a five-winged man dressed in noble, elaborate light armor.
He wears a pure gold medal inscribed with the number “Three,” symbolizing his command of the Demon King’s Third Legion.
This person is Murolov Yalin, a grand noble who was transferred from the Demon Capital Canbino a year ago to temporarily replace the long-absent Princess Ailer, serving as the commander of the Third Legion.
And the brown-haired man, with the cigarette, is Brianno, the Chief of Staff of the Third Legion, who has been stationed at the border for over fifty years.
Brianno has never seen such a large-scale troop mobilization in decades of guarding this snowy land.
He spits out the tobacco from his mouth, touches the scar on his face, his strong arms resting on his sturdy thighs, and turns his head to frown, staring at the young man in the luxurious cloak at the cliff’s edge, who seems to be enjoying the sight of the advancing army.
“Murolov,” the man’s weary voice comes through the wind and snow, mixed with the biting cold, “I may no longer have much to say, but I still want to advise you, if you go further…”
Briant squints, facing the soaring snowflakes as he watches the army advance.
Beyond the valley, the blackened sky is the wide expanse of the Northern Border — the place bordering the territories of the High-Level Races.
“Go further… and there will be no turning back.”
“Eh? Senior Brianno, what did you just say? The wind is too strong, I couldn’t hear you clearly.”
“I am saying… hss!”
A flash of dark light rushes in. Briant instinctively tilts his head to dodge, a chunk of his dry brown hair neatly cut off.
Hearing a creaking sound, Briant half-turns to look at the perilous rock he had just been sitting on.
The stone has been easily split in two, the clean cut surface already covered with a thin layer of fallen snow.
If Brianno had been a moment too late in dodging, it wouldn’t just be the stone that would have been cut.
At this moment, Murolov has just turned around.
His black hair partially obscures the dark gleam of his smiling eyes; his turn is polite and graceful, as if in a noble ballroom rather than in this harsh environment of extreme cold.
“Senior Briant, if I call you senior, you should know to hold back a little, right?”
“Tsk…” Even though Briant is furious, he has to suppress the curse that rises in his throat, “This is downright unbelievable… Hey, I’m not saying anything else, kid! Once we reach the Northern Border, can you fulfill your promise?”
“Of course, when the Third Legion meets up with the High-Level Races, Senior Briant can ask the soldiers if any of them want to go home with you. If there are, you can take them along, of course, only after they have witnessed the Origin of the world~”
“I don’t know what the Origin of the world is, a bunch of nonsense. I just want to know, can I trust what you’re saying?”
“Hah, whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter, does the senior really have a choice?”
“……”
Indeed…
Brianno has no choice.
He feels it’s truly uncanny!
This new legion commander transferred from the capital, who had once been diligent and honest, has suddenly become a different person in the past few months, unpredictable, acting recklessly, with no proper system of rewards and punishments.
If it were only that…
What Brianno never expected was that he actually issued orders to advance towards the Northern Border in the name of the legion commander, directly overriding the Demon King’s directives.
Mobilizing troops stationed at the border without authorization is tantamount to treason!
Brianno has conveyed this meaning to the soldiers through various means, hinting at them to leave or to turn their weapons against this rebellious traitor.
But these soldiers, who have followed him for decades, seem bewitched, focused only on following orders, not even realizing they are rebelling, believing they are achieving something great.
What a nonsense achievement!
Brianno doesn’t know what Murolov told them, but it is obvious that now his words hold no weight among the army.
It shouldn’t be like this, but reality is what it is.
He could leave on his own.
But he hopes to save even one more brother, as much as he can, and once they reach the Northern Border, he can negotiate with the High-Level Races, at least to bring back those who still have a conscience, not let them perish alongside this traitor in the vast icy plains!
Because…
“Murolov, you must have heard the news from Canbino, right? The First Princess and the Second Princess are personally leading the army to quell the rebellion; they are bringing the Second Legion here. It’s still not too late to retreat. Once the Princess gets truly angry… there will be no opportunity to salvage anything; are you really going to take all these brothers down with you?”
“Hahahahaha! When did [Brianno of the Ice Plains] become so timid? I’m telling you, senior… you don’t understand anything, you don’t get it. The Princess is coming to lead the attack; isn’t that great? If she doesn’t come, then I would be worried!”
“What do you mean…?”
“Because senior, think about it, if I easily crush the Second Legion, when we meet the High-Level Races in the Northern Border, won’t it be easier to talk? Hahaha… bringing the heads of both princesses as gifts, is there a more perfect way to show loyalty? It’s simply heaven helping me, a chance given to me by the heavens!”
“You brat… you’re completely insane…”
“Hah!”
The manic laughter echoes over the mountain peak.
The heavy footsteps of the marching army crunching through the snow drown out all madness.
Murolov’s laughter seems to celebrate his victory in advance.
It also seems to mock Brianno’s words without restraint.
As the laughter gradually fades, in Murolov’s chaotic dark eyes, the black sky reflects back. The Brianno, who once held comparable power, now seems to lack any authority in his sight.
“Hah… you think I’m crazy? Senior Brianno, is it possible that just you can’t see it? But I can see it… a brand new world, real power, once I have this strength… I no longer need to obey anyone! Ah, thank you, thank you for letting me witness the vastness of the world… I realize the scenery I have seen until now is such a pity…!”
Here it begins again.
Murolov sighs deeply, shakes his head in silence, and quietly lights another cigarette, as if this could help him hear less of the mad words.
“Do you know? The power that ‘that person’ has given me… is enough to overturn everything! You definitely don’t understand, senior! After all, I am the one chosen by ‘that person’, the only one who can see this world! You are all so weak… weak to the point of being less than ants.”
Murolov places a white-gloved hand over his chest, performing a noble gesture towards the starlit night sky.
—And at the end of his white glove, there is a certain glow, flickering with a faintly eerie golden light.
Brianno has heard the term “that person” from him more than once.
Indeed, Murolov’s rapid rise in power and his strange changes in personality might be due to his encounter with ‘that person.’
Brianno has often tried to ask who this person is, but Murolov avoids the topic as if he has gone mad.
It’s as if he was instructed not to speak of it.
A cigarette is quickly finished, and Brianno throws the butt into the snow, seemingly giving up, and sits back down on the broken stone.
“Kid, I don’t know what you have been through, but you… can’t really think that just because you gained some strength, you are the opponent of the two princesses, right? They are royalty, you really don’t understand how powerful the bloodline of royalty is?”
“Ah, senior… do you still remember how the Princess Ailer lost to me?”
“That was just sealing.” Brianno has been furious lately, giving a bitter smile, and can only vent with words, “I have seen it; when the Princess came to attack you, you didn’t dare to face her, using that bizarre magic to trap her. Ha, it was just someone else lending you some dubious trick, and once you use it up, it’s gone, right? You think I don’t know your weight?”
“Oh…? Are you trying to provoke me, senior…?”
“If you think so, then so be it.”
Brianno doesn’t care; having been the Chief of Staff for so long, he has some ability to think.
If Murolov really wanted to kill him, he should have done it long ago. Since he hasn’t died, it means Murolov still sees some use for him; even if it’s just for the sake of banter, he wouldn’t kill him.
Didn’t the First Princess once say a famous saying?
—As long as you can talk, it’s not saying anything for nothing.
But the next second…
“Eh?!”
Brianno is surprised to find that in just the blink of an eye, Murolov has actually disappeared from before him.
In just the moment of sensing something was off.
There wasn’t even time to turn his head to look.
Murolov’s voice has already come from behind.
“So, senior, you… are just short-sighted.”
“What…?”
Brianno breaks out in a cold sweat, trying to appear calm and slowly turns around, creating some distance.
This guy, is his speed really that fast?
Even the highest-level [Teleportation] should be able to detect the preparation for spell casting.
Yet he has silently moved to his back.
Even with rich combat experience, the general can’t help but break out in a cold sweat.
But Murolov seems to have no intention of attacking him.
This noble from the Canbino capital brushes the dust off the Third Legion commander badge on his shoulder, continues to smile, shrugs nonchalantly, and replies.
“What did the senior just say? Oh, oh… you said I don’t dare to confront the Princess head-on? Haha, senior, you misunderstood me; if it weren’t for the army needing to march, why would I need to use the most time-efficient method to trap her? Hmm… let me think, if we were to confront directly, while it would take more time, I should be able to defeat the Princess in an hour, right? It’s just that being immortal is a bit troublesome? Well~ so, even one hour is too long, what if it delays big matters? Don’t worry! After we finish our business here, I will go back and kill her, by then, you’ll have nothing to say~”
“Arrogance… must lead to retribution.”
“Let’s give it a try then.”
The strange light under the white glove gradually stops flickering.
—But from the other side of the narrow path where the army is advancing, a sudden blaze of fire and drumbeats erupt!
The marching troops all instinctively fall silent and await orders.
Murolov claps Brianno on the shoulder, steps over the cigarette he had thrown to the ground, and laughs freely.
“The Second Legion is indeed fast, huh? They have already circled ahead of us? This is great; it means that the [Calamity Witch] is here too, right?”
Changing the cover!
Xue Fei has changed the cover, upgraded to back projection; refresh to see it, everyone pay attention to the new cover, don’t get lost~
The characters on the cover are Xue Fei and Xiya, with Xiya holding the Little Holy Sword (Holy Sword form!)
Also, the wings of Xue Fei on the cover can be counted carefully; there are eight, you have to count them to find out.
Lastly, today’s update might be slightly delayed, so let’s write!
