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Chapter 207 - Chasing Tails (8)

Balak’s journey continued.

He walked according to the directions he had received from Humbri without a moment’s rest. Along the way, he met numerous more warlords.

‘The entire continent is doomed,’ Hector thought to himself as he followed Balak.

Warlords.

This wasn’t just a problem for the soldiers who had lost their country.

The Eurasia Empire had maintained law and order on the continent, and its downfall naturally prompted several armed groups to resort to criminal activities. This included individuals with criminal backgrounds, soldiers who no longer had anyone to serve, and mercenaries trying to earn a living.

Every time Balak encountered such warlords, he always responded the same way. He would crush the head of one of the criminals and suggest that the others convert to the Aenia Empire. He also encouraged the mercenaries to join the Aenia army.

Of course, this didn’t mean that all the warlords listened to Balak. However, he succeeded in turning most of them into his subordinates. It was either that or having their heads blown off.

‘What a maniac.’

Balak was justice itself, and the material that represented him the best was steel.

Justice of steel was what Balak believed in. His unwavering loyalty to Arthus stemmed from his strong beliefs.

Soon, the sun set, and the closest city to the mountain range, Enkelmann, was still a few days’ walk away.

The journey would have been much faster if they had ridden a horse, but since Balak considered theft to be wrong, he didn’t take a horse even though he had the chance to do so.

Balak got ready to camp out. He finished his preparations by setting up a simple campfire inside a cave and completed his meal by roasting a wild animal that he had hunted. He then took off his armor.

He had a long journey ahead of him in the morning, so he had to make sure he could rest well.

Hector watched all of this from far away.

‘I don’t think he\'s a bad guy...’

From what Hector had seen throughout the day, Balak was an aggressive, cold-blooded man, but he was also more righteous, conscientious, and dignified than anyone else, even if it made things inconvenient for him.

‘Just how did a guy like him side with Arthus?’

The more Hector thought about it, the less he understood. How could Balak serve Arthus when he knew what kind of man he was? Did he follow his orders because they aligned with his personal sense of justice?

Such questions kept flashing through Hector’s mind, endlessly stirring his curiosity.

‘Should I ask?’

All he had was time anyway. He figured that even if Balak became aggressive and tried attacking him, he could quickly hide in the cave. Hector knew that he was vulnerable to Aura and magic, but he thought that if he projected his spirit into the cave, he could walk away unscathed.

Hector pondered on what to do.

‘How can I start a discussion with him naturally?’

Hector thought about what Balak was like based on what he had observed so far. After contemplating for a while, he devised a plan.

“...”

Balak leaned against the wall and prepared to take a short nap.

His eyes were about to close. As his eyelids became heavier, he was about to fall into the oblivion of sleep, but just then...

“Chirp, chirp!”

“...?”

“Chirp, chirp!”

Just as he was about to slip into unconsciousness, Balak clearly heard the sound of a sparrow chirping at night.

‘A sparrow?’

At the sparrow’s chirp, Balak slightly opened his eyes.

Crackle.

The campfire was still burning strong in front of him. Besides the crackling and hissing of the fire, everything was quiet.

He once again was about to drift off to sleep to the soothing lullaby of the crackling fire. However...

“Chirp, chirp!”

“...!”

Balak initially thought he was mistaken, but he had not misheard or hallucinated the sound of the sparrow. He had clearly heard the chirping of a sparrow.

Balak opened his eyes and slowly scanned his surroundings. Both his eyes and his ears were on high alert. However, no matter how closely he listened and how alert he was, there was no one else there other than himself.

But then...

“You’re finally awake.”

“Who are you...!”

Balak couldn\'t sense anyone’s presence, but nevertheless, the voice of a man echoed throughout the cave. He quickly gripped the Black Punisher.

“Do you want to know who I am?”

“Show yourself right now. If you don’t, I will destroy this whole area.”

As expected of the Punishment King, he issued a terrifying warning. However, for Hector, who could easily escape with his spirit body, Balak’s threat was useless.

“Your threats are futile against me, so why don’t you put that ugly thing down if you want to have a conversation with me?”

“And why should I?”

“Why? Can you not face me without that metal pole of yours?”

“You’re talking nonsense. I have nothing to lose.”

“I just want to have a conversation with you, that’s it.”

“...Alright.”

Surprisingly enough, Balak complied with Hector\'s request. He threw his Black Punisher far away, but remained alert just in case he had to recall his weapon into his hands.

As soon as Balak discarded his weapon, Hector said, “I like your confidence.”

“I did what you asked, so why don’t you reveal yourself?”

“You’re quite slow... Look down.”

“...?”

Balak looked down, and below him was Hector, a blue spirit, looking up from between his legs.

“...”

“You’re no fun.”

Hector expected Balak to be surprised, but perhaps because he had seen weirder things in Killive, Balak wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Hector in the form of a blue spirit. Instead, he maintained his composure and merely frowned at Hector, casting him a look of disgust.

“Hmm.”

Hector soon pulled himself completely off the floor and stood before Balak, revealing his massive stature. Although he was a spirit without a distinct outline, he was still just as big as Balak, who was giant himself.

“How odd. I would’ve been very surprised if I were you. How can you stay calm like that?” inquired Hector.

“I’m not calm, just composed. And you’re... the alchemic being that fought against me, right?”

“Who do you keep calling me ‘alchemic being’? I never once said that I was one.”

“But you’re not human either.”

“Hmm, I’m human, but at the same time, I’m not. Oh well, since I look like this, I can’t really think of a way to argue against you.”

“How long have you been following me? Were you ordered by the wizards?”

“Ordered, my ass. Also, aren’t you a little too laid back for being my interrogator?”

“Even if you followed me, it’ll be no use. It’ll take some time, but I’m not going to go to Salgaera alone this time.”

Balak was adamant, just as Hector expected, but he was also so predictable that it almost made Hector laugh.

“Why don’t you have a seat? I’m a spirit, so it doesn’t matter to me, but you’d be more comfortable talking to me sitting down, wouldn’t you?”

“My comfort is none of your concern.”

“You\'re so blunt. I’ll tell you everything, so just sit down. I’m more used to conversing when sitting down, so sit.”

At Hector’s irritating insistence, Balak finally sat down, but he was still on edge.

Watching this, Hector asked, “What’s your name?”

“Introducing yourself first before asking for someone else\'s name is the polite thing to do.”

“Despite being such a big guy, you sure like your manners, ugh... My name is Hector. I was once a knight for a small kingdom, and I’m not an alchemic being created by a wizard. And now, I’m roaming this world in this state for a few reasons.”

At Hector’s introduction, Balak pondered his answer, and soon frowned and asked, “Is it black magic?”

“No.”

“Then all the more I can’t understand you.”

“Let’s just say that I borrowed a divine power, but because I’ve been resurrected by the right kind of divine power, rest assured no one was harmed in the process.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I mean... there’s no way I can prove it to you right now, right?”

“...You do have a point. Then why don’t you tell me what you want now?”

“Look at you, trying to change the topic. You haven’t introduced yourself yet.”

“I’m Balak the Onir, the new justice of the Aenia Empire.”

“Hmm, as expected, I don’t know who you are.”

“Tsk.”

“Shut up! Anyway, why are you serving a guy like Arthus when you’re powerful enough?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know who you are, but from what I’ve seen today, you’re an incredibly law-abiding and loyal man. If justice and heartlessness had a child, it would be you.”

“What are you trying to get at?”

“I’m simply curious about your beliefs. Would you still remain loyal even if the emperor you’re serving turned out to be an immoral person?”

“His Majesty carries the will of the fallen Eurasia Empire and seeks to bring the filthy wizards to justice on behalf of the late emperor. I’m also very grateful to him because he was the first one to reach out to me for the safety of the continent that no one else would care about.”

“So you’re saying that the emperor you serve is a perfectly moral person?”

“There’s no such thing as a perfectly moral person. Morals are something determined by human justice anyway. I’m just saying that I would sacrifice myself as a soldier if I could keep the continent peaceful.”

“Hmm...”

Hearing this, Hector thought that maybe Balak was just a powerful idiot who wanted to act smart.

‘They say there’s nothing scarier than an idiot with strong beliefs, but he’s literally a prime example of that.’

Balak’s words were full of contradictions, and it was also clear that he didn’t know much about Arthus.

“Then what do you think about black magic?” asked Hector.

“The empire has already forbidden black magic. Black magic is like a parasite that eats away at the empire.”

“That’s right. It’s like a parasite that ruins the empire. Now, what if I told you that the emperor has been secretly using black magic to kill innocent people?”

“I despise hearing unproven accusations.”

Balak’s gaze turned fierce at Hector’s comment. It was a good attitude because whatever the case was, there was nothing more stupid than only listening to one side of the story and jumping to conclusions.

‘He’s smart when it comes to things like this.’

Balak was a man with strong values.

Hector couldn\'t help but smile even more at this.

“Aren’t you curious? It seems to me that you’re being completely fooled by the emperor you serve.”

“What a joke. You\'re just the subordinate of a wizard. Who are you trying to slander?”

“I’m not trying to slander anyone, I just want to tell you facts that you don’t know about. If you don’t believe me, you can check for yourself.”

“How?”

“I will show you proof that Arthus is practicing black magic.”

“Okay. If you can prove it, then I’ll do whatever it takes to stop His Majesty.”

“Good. I guess that’s a deal then.”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone will come visit you soon, and when they do, you’ll finally understand what I mean.”

Hector\'s curiosity was satisfied. All he had to do now was to tell Henry about this before Balak attacked Salgaera with Arthus’ army.

“Bye, then.”

After finishing his business, Hector disappeared with a big smile because he no longer needed to follow Balak.

Crackle, crackle.

Following Hector’s departure, everything went quiet again, with only the crackling sound of the fire echoing in the cave.