Chapter 32 Paladin(3)

Editor: BaeBae

Juan ran at Arwen like an animal.

And in that moment, from somewhere a dagger flew at Arwen’s helmet, dealing a heavy blow.

The helmet tilted to the side and left Arwen startled. Seeing his chance Juan thrusted his dagger into the nape of his neck.

“………?!”

Arwen tried screaming but no sound came out from his mouth. Arwen cupped his neck in astonishment and came to realise what had happened.

Endless blood was flowing out and had covered his armor and hand.

Arwen toppled to his knees.

“You dare turn your back to run when you’ve proclaimed yourself as the emperor’s fist? And you call yourself a knight of the empire!”

Juan shouted as he kicked the dying Arwen in the chin.

His helmet flew off and rolled into the mud.

Juan grabbed Arwen’s hair and continuously slammed it on the ground. His nose broke and blood exploded from his nostrils.

Puking blood, Arwen was desperately trying to move and get away from Juan.

Anger swelled Juan once more and swung his fist. In fear Arwen squirmed away from Juan.

Juan only stopped after Anya came and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s not stab his throat. There’s information we need out of him.”

After letting out a deep sigh, he glared at Anya as if he was going to stab her.

“As I recall you said that Paladins are extremely talented?”

“There are always exceptions. You’re the same, you don’t seem like the average child from outside the border.”

“This is the first one I’ve met and if this is their level, I’m not sure if I’m going to like them.”

“There are not many people that like Paladins. Dear is not alone.”

Arwen let out a coarse moan and while struggling he turned his head to look behind. Anya’s face could be reflected in his pupil.

Arwen’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped at seeing her face.

Anya gave him a mischievous smile and with her stiletto, cut his eyes.

At losing his eyes in a flash, Arwen again coughed out blood and trembled.

Seeing Arwen shudder and unable to breath, Juan made a face.

“Why isn’t this guy dead yet?”

“Paladins not only get their equipment ‘graced’ but their organs as well. Eyes, heart, liver, intestines, brain and even lungs.”

“……..They put too much of their effort into making this trash…. significant.”

During the war with the gods, there were some who thought of innovative ideas to strengthen humans, but he’d never seen nor even thought about this method back then.

At this point, it was hard to even call him human.

“Then can he still fight back?”

“Well, if he was a normal Paladin then yes. But it looks like he’s lost all spirit to continue. He didn’t fight back when he was in a better state than this.”

Juan remembered how Arwen had thrown the spear of wrath. The moment the spear passed his body his mind went blurry, but to his surprise there was no wound mark on his body.

After that, Arwen had basically given up. At the time, he thought Juan hadn’t taken any damage because his spear strike was made up of fire, but now…..

Juan fumbled around his chest.

“You, what did you just use? Was it the emperor’s ‘grace’ or whatever you guys call it?”

Arwen opened his mouth and mumbled something. His reply was not what Juan had been waiting for.

“My identity?”Juan snickered as he stooped down.

Arwen felt a cold chill up his body.

Till now, as a Paladin serving the emperor, he thought of the emperor as the sun and the moon, following his words faithfully.

In the moonlight and sunray, he found warmth. However, now that his eyes and voice were taken from him, he could no longer feel anything.

It was dark and empty. Every bit of heat was taken and only a void of empty space was left.

Even the emperor’s light couldn’t reach the darkness that swept over him.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

Juan came up to Arwen ear and whispered a word. Arwen’s jaw dropped upon hearing Juan’s reply.

Trying to scream which resulted in him puking out more blood, he floundered his limbs in order to try distance himself away from Juan.

Juan happily looked on at the scene and laughed heartily.

Curious, Anya asked.

“What did you say?”

“Not much.”

Juan remembered his promise to Arwen. That he’d make him blind and go crazy.

He felt good about delivering good on his promise.

*****

With a loud explosion, the soldiers standing by outside the village saw the outer walls being destroyed and a flame explode.

The surrounding area was instantly brightened up.

The panicked soldiers realised that Arwen was using his spear of wrath.

“Arwen nim!”

Knowing that the battle had commenced, the soldiers rushed into the village.

What they saw inside, was a screaming Arewen with his hands on his face. A dagger was protruding from his neck and it looked like he wouldn’t live much longer.

“Tha, what happened…?”

“Captain! It’s uh…. it’s the black haired boy that Arwen nim was looking for!”

The captain only then located the black haired boy. For several days, they had been looking for his description so they immediately recognised him.

The entire village guards had him surrounded and yet no one approached him.

“Get him!”

The soldiers closed in around Juan. A woman was standing next to him and his face was hidden deep beneath a hood.

While the Captain had him surrounded he didn’t know what to do. Frustration boiled within him seeing Arwen struggle to breath.

‘Why of all people, an Illde family member!’

Arwen was the youngest from a family that had powerful influence in the capital.

If he reported that Arwen died from facing the enemy alone, then he was certain most of the blame would fall on him.

Biting his lips, the captain fell into an endless thought of what he needed to do.

“Ca, captain. What should we do now?”

“I don’t know. Shit. At the very least we need that bastard head to keep our lives intact.”

But how were they supposed to overcome an opponent that bested a Paladin?

The captain felt the child stare at him.

“You there.”

“Wh, what do you want you heathen!”

“Why are you…..why are you all ahlil[1]?”

Anya spoke upon seeing the soldiers face in confusion.

“Dear, no one uses that term anymore. Even the half breeds themselves are more used to being called demihumans.”

“Okay. So now they know. I’ll ask again. Aren’t you part of the imperial army? Why are you all ahlil?”Like Juan said, every soldier in his surrounding were demihumans.

Considering the empire ostracized them, this was an uncommon sight.

The reply came not from the soldiers but Anya.

“They’re the Laus mountains scout force. Made up of those proficient in mountain climbing. They’re brave and don’t retreat in the face of enemies. Their work mostly involves orders given by the White crow order so they have a tight mouth as well.”

“Hmmm.”

Even after having listened to Anya’s explanation, Juan didn’t move.

Anya felt a little anxious.

Right now, the soldiers were intimidated seeing Arwen defeated, but they were an adept archer force.

If they began attacking from long range, it could pose some trouble.

“Child, I’ll explain everything later, so for now…..”

“Then were you the lot that looted the village?”

The soldiers flinced hearing Juan’s question. The captain quickly rebutted an excuse.

“What do you mean looting! We simply conducted our orders given by the church to protect Paladin Arwen. A stark doctrine execution!”

“I only need to hear if you did it or not.”

Staring quietly at the captain, Juan asked a question. He’d noticed their curved horn, shaggy hair, reverse jointed legs. Their appearance was of a Faun.

“It’s probably nothing, but looking at you guys I keep remembering someone. He was also proficient at mountain climbing so I had suspected he had a military background. I suppose some of you will have to stay and answer my curiosity.”

The soldiers didn’t understand Juan’s words. And Juan wasn’t going to give them time to understand.

As he rushed forwards, Anya sighed and took a step back.

The fight didn’t last long.

Although Juan had fought Arwen just before, for some reason he had no shortage in strength. He’d felt this way ever since he was struck by the spear of wrath.

Already feeling down from Arwen’s defeat, Juan made quick work of ten or so demihuman soldiers.

None had died. Every single one was strewn across the mud.

Juan walked up to the captain who unlike his subordinates had many of his bones broken.

“St, stop! Why me, why are you doing this to only me….”

“Because you’re the boss. I only need to interrogate you.”

“I uh, I’m the captain of the empire’s scout force! Good luck trying to get information out of me through torture!”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Give me your word that you’ll let me live and I’ll tell you everything.”

Juan turned and looked at Anya. She simply shrugged.

“Laus mountain scouts consist of over a thousand soldiers. We know this guy is a part of that force. And there are always exceptions. If you believe every propaganda of the empire then that’s foolish.”

“Okay then. I’ll be nice since you’re so willingly eager to give us information.”

“Wh, what do you want to know? Supply route through the Laus? Secret shelters? Assembly location? Just say the word. Laus supply route is an important path that transports the goods produced in the southern region. You could stop 20% of the north’s food supply. Secret shelters are used for spies infiltration plans. If you destroy these, it would limit the radius of operations into the mountains. The assembly lo…..”

“No, I don’t need such detailed information about the empire’s operations.”

Beside him, he saw Anya with a disappointed expression but Juan ignored it.

“I knew a Faun Ahlil just like you lot. Do you by any chance know if one of your soldiers became a slave recently? I’m guessing he was part of military descent.”

The captain’s expression flinched.

This person who was willing to even reveal the empire’s core security information was hesitant to answer Juan’s question.

His mouth only opened as Juan grabbed his dagger.

“I, I’ll speak. Pu, put the knife away.”

After a deep sigh, the captain started talking.

As you know, we’re part of the imperial army. However, we’re not considered as military but more like security guards/scouts. And being security guards, those who act wrongly are promptly dispensed. There was one in our group.”

“Get on with it. Concise.”

“……While it’s not very often, we do attack villages. Mainly targeting villages with demihumans. Our goal is slave capture. While this order comes from a great noble family at the capital, most of the slaves are taken to the southern province.”

“Tantil?”

“Yes Tantil is included. Two month ago, we struck out on a village in the mountains. It was located further deep in the mountain range than usual. However, we were simply following the orders as instructed. Once we arrived, we realised it was a hidden elf village.”

Juan’s heart was pounding.

[1] – Referred in Chapter 3. (What half breeds were called back when Juan was emperor)