Dry Drowning - Chapter 39

He held his breath in the smell of blood that spread in an instant. It didn’t finish eating, but he knew without asking that it came here to eat more. It felt as if he was dreaming. But it won’t be a dream again this time.

“Th… This… one…”

As he slowly opened his closed eyes, he saw a large eye right in front of him. Every time it opened its mouth, the smell of blood spread.

Ian slowly blinked, seeing what he had just eaten. Contrary to the fact that it jumped out from behind and penetrated Turk’s chest in an instant, there seemed to be a sign of hesitation.

Ian only then could understand what Schwartz said.

It was so instantaneous, so I’m not sure. One of the knights was missing, so I went a little further north to find him and saw it. But…

ㅡ That’s what he was talking about.

Well, a large hole under the eyeball sucked in the air as if it was sniffing. Different pupils turn in all directions. It sniffed Ian, who had become stiff as if he were fixed with tweezers, and then blurted out the words as if it was confused.

“Ca…n I… ea….t ….?”

[*T/N: Can I eat?…. Btw that beast is the one talking here.]

There was a broken voice.

As if it were strange, he raised his eyeballs and smelled him, and at that moment, a rustling sound was clearly heard from not far away.

Ian and its head turned at the same time.

The glistening pupils moved quickly, looking forward to the next meal. As it approached, it retreated in an instant and looked around, and quickly began to crawl toward the source of the sound.

“Ha.”

At last, he managed to let out the breath he had been holding back. It was a short moment, but his back was all wet. Ian, who had only seen it in the movie and had never dreamed that such a thing would actually appear, suddenly raised his head. Ah, but…

Who else is here beside me?

“…….!”

At that moment, there was a face that quickly crossed his mind. A person who never returned to the camp like Dayden and who didn’t die like Turk.

Since Turk was here, he must have been not far away. As soon as he realized it, Ian turned and started running in the direction it had crawled. He didn’t have time to think about anything. His heart, which had been throbbing for a while, complained of pain as if it were tightening his lungs.

But he didn’t slow down.

He ran as fast as he could and soon saw it.

As expected, there was a familiar blonde not far away. Ian found Shyu crouching on a wooden pole and ran towards him without hesitation.

Finding Ian, it quickly began to crawl back. If he gets caught here, he’ll be like Turk this time.

Even knowing this, Ian arrived at the place where Shyu was and held the child. He was grateful at times like this because he was small. He didn’t know if it was chasing him, but he thought he would be caught as soon as he turned around. His chest ached like it was going to burst, but he couldn’t stop walking.

He barely remembered the way back, and he didn’t know how far he had run.

Passing the corpse of the beast, he ran frantically across the stream.

And when he finally saw the familiar campsite, Ian lost his mind in the unbearable pain.

….There have been legendary stories about the foundation of every country, but the Shertian Empire was the only place where the legend still exists.

It was so famous that everyone had heard of the story of a white snake, with a huge body wrapped around the vast land and biting its tail, talking to a lover who was passing by, and the lover, who gladly accepted the snake’s request to bring his brother here, later founded this country. It was a legend that had been passed down for a very long time.

The story, which goes beyond belief and leads to the form of faith, was not simply a political device to consolidate imperial power.

The blood of the white and the black snakes who deeply loved this land was still being inherited through the imperial family, so everyone couldn’t help but believe it.

The blood of a snake, which can save anything dying and kill anything that can’t be killed, has protected Shertian in each and every way for a very long time. No one doubted that the blood of the imperial family, born with snake bites from birth, was an old blessing and the basis of the empire.

No, there shouldn’t have been.

ㅡ It’s ridiculous to say it’s a blessing. Ultimately, relying on the blood of the beast, was Shertian’s pride!

The ignition point was that one word.

The word that the envoys of the Rox, who came to the delegation, couldn’t beat their anger and uttered in public, sparked the fire of war.

It was already a long time ago. At the time, the dissatisfaction of Rox, who was bordered by the Imperial rising tariffs, reached its peak over the years.

[T/N: Tariffs – A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods.]

Rox was a small country with three sides facing a great power with the sea above.* Although it was threatened by the great powers every day because it was a strategic location, it was also a country that had not been involved anywhere for hundreds of years.

[*T/N: Here above means in the case of a map, the sea would be above Rox. That’s what it meant here]

In the past, the land was fertile and was a good place to live in, but now it was a barren environment that made it difficult for crops to grow properly. Currently, it has found a breakthrough by handling trade between countries as a neutral country, but if tariffs changed in one place, it was another problem.

The more pitiful side tried to find a compromise, but the arrogance of the Shertian nobles poured out on those who came to represent the country was not tolerable. The envoys, who had been patient with the unspeakable behavior, uttered those words with their eyes just before returning to their home countries.

Rox, who put their abilities to the highest, was pathetic towards Shertian, who relied solely on the blessings bestowed upon the imperial family, and it was natural that Shertian, who believed in the blessings above all, was angry at Rox.

When the delegation sent at best returned after being insulted, it soon turned into a diplomatic issue, which later led to a territorial dispute. The situation was unexpected due to Rox’s strategy of using the already overgrown power of the Shertian Empire to attract other countries. A lot of blood was splattered on the land of Shertian, who was looking down on his opponent as just a small country.

And what put it to rest was the blood of the beast that Rox despised so much.

The predecessor, Grand Duke Hyer, who had just inherited the title of his father, who had a chronic disease, was 16 at the time.

It was not long before the unit granted a boy with a young face and black armor to become a villain on the battlefield. Even Shertian knights, who had faith in the young leader, were all terrified by what was happening in front of them.

It was not because of the skill of running like a thunderbolt and cutting off the head of the opponent’s armed forces like a monster.

Nor did the soldiers of the enemy country, who were suddenly in a state of confusion, see the illusion of a pile of snakes swarming on the floor as a group.

Grand Duke Hyer’s smiling face, narrowed his pupils with dazzling sun-like eyes, the glorious blade of the empire, which is always soaked in blood, and the instinctive fear of heading this way after slicing all the Knights of Rox. Even in the midst of war, where the soldiers had to suffer from anxiety.

The war, which lasted more than a year, ended with Shertian’s victory in just a couple of months. It was because other great countries, which witnessed the blessing of Shertian, which was dismissed as a legend, hurriedly withdrew and proposed a peace treaty.

The people of the Empire cheered at the widely known news of the end of the war, raising Hyer’s name. A saga heard from somewhere filled the streets, and even petals were scattered on the road to the Grand Duchy. The only ones who could not rejoice in peace were those who had seen him on the battlefield. Grand Duke Hyer, who beheaded the last remaining soldier, never looked like a victorious man.

Can he be even called a human being?

However, the questions that sprung up were trampled on before they even sprouted. It was too obvious what would happen the moment the blood of the imperial family was questioned.

A long time had passed since then, and Rox sent its country’s prince. Fifty years ago, the country that didn’t bend its head despite the devastating war defeat.

There was only one condition, the Rox said.

They requested to not let those human-eating monsters who recently appeared in the black forest, scratch the walls of the border with their fingernails.

When told that they were willing to even send the prince for that, Logan Hyer, the current Archduke of Shertian, agreed without hesitation. No one could tell why he accepted such conditions, and never changed his mind despite strong opposition.

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