Chapter 178

Chapter 178

***

It seemed God's love dwelled in the pure laughter of children. More than flowers it suited the spring sunlight best. The rolling laughter giggle was also truly nice to hear.

About five or six children, around 7 to 10 years old, ran around the vicinity of the village. At that age it was about time to slowly help adults with work, but was it a period when work wasn't that busy yet.

A field where flowers bloomed, the children fully enjoyed spring and without doing any particular play they merely ran around feeling good.

There was a child holding a stick in their hand, and there was also a child flailing their both arms exactly as if imitating a flying bird.

However looking at children playing, there was bound to be a child who fell away alone. It wasn't exactly that they were ostracized, but they didn't seem to feel much interest in playing with many people.

There was a child wearing clothes like a tattered mat who was squatting and only scratching the ground with a short tree branch, but that child abruptly stood up and went to the ditch next to the village. They were barefoot.

There were stepping stones sparsely connected with wide stones there, and the child jumped hop hop and crossed one by one.

Across the ditch was a forest named 'Weisfeld'. So the village's name was also Weisfeld taking after the forest's name.

Strictly speaking Weisfeld was the hunting ground of a certain Count, but for a forest it was originally not easy to set boundaries. So the village people often gathered things necessary for living here and there in the forest.

The child entered that forest. It was a place where a cool shade that seemed to harbor a secret was cast.

A smile finally spread on the face of the child who was bored. It seemed to be an innate disposition, they seemed to like playing quietly alone rather than playing boisterously with many people.

The child moved their steps familiarly. Even in the forest they particularly headed to the place they liked.

Going there they picked up pinecones in between. Making a temporary basket by grabbing the hem of their tattered mat-like clothes, they put in quite a large number of pinecones. They intended to give them to the birds.

The child walked for quite a long time and arrived at the place they liked. Deep in the forest, it was a place with a small spring.

It was a place where birds drank water or washed their bodies, and the child liked giving food to the birds here and watching them falling far away.

But the child who arrived at their favorite place stood still, and ended up spilling the pinecones they had gathered onto the ground trickling.

Without even knowing the pinecones were spilling, the child blankly looked at something. That something was none other than a collapsed corpse.

In the midst of the quietness only the sound of water dripping falling into the small spring trickling was heard. The small spring had turned half red from the blood spewed by the corpse.

It would purify as time passed, but not now. And that also meant it hadn't been long since the person died.

Right then a thud thud thud sound was heard. It felt extremely urgent, and it sounded like a person running. The child's head reflexively turned whoosh toward that side.

Thereupon a pitch-black shadow covered them, and something like a large beast seemed to pounce on them. The child squeezed their eyes shut tightly. Immediately the sound of wind brushing past their ears was heard.

HWIING!

CHEOMBEO-EONG!

The child had absolutely no abnormalities. They themselves thought it was a little strange too. Definitely something large was supposed to pounce on me, but because time passed and there were no abnormalities.

Right then a soft touch was placed gently on their head, and they naturally opened their eyes and looked up.

It was a beautiful blond man. Eyes like the color of pinecones, blood drops were sprinkled on his fine skin.

The man looked down at the child and smiled softly, and it was similar to a smile harboring God's love. Even though he had aged.

"Go play somewhere else."

Saying so to the child he was seeing for the first time, Rickart raised his sword again and entered the forest. The eerie blade was in a state where not a single drop of blood was smeared on it.

When the child turned their head, a headless corpse plunging its neck into the small spring was seen. When they turned their head again, Rickart had disappeared like a Ghost and wasn't seen.

Every time Rickart moved his steps there were corpses collapsed here and there in various postures, from various causes of death.

Some leaning against trees, some with their chests opened, some with no heads.

The more he walked the more sounds of fighting uniquely heard were heard. Metallic sounds clashing clang, or dull sounds thwack were heard. Occasionally screams too.

Hearing those sounds Rickart accurately drew the direction the fight was happening and the rough situation in his head. Not consciously, but complex information was naturally reconstructed in his head.

Sense of sight, sense of hearing, sense of smell, etc., without letting finely transmitted senses slip sparsely, he accurately saw through the essence of all of them. From those complex and diverse pieces of information Rickart accurately pinpointed the place where Roy was.

Putting strength into his legs, disappearing in a flash thud almost seemed like the movement of a beast.

Dodging trees and arriving at the place, Roy was in the middle of pulling out again crack an ax he had embedded in the back of someone who was lying face down. The ribs on the back side were completely shattered and even the lungs were split.

"King."

Roy looked back at Rickart and said.

Even though he was at a young age his combat power had reached a master level, but his gaze was not yet at a level to fully conceal the excitement of battle. His pupils were enlarged and he panted.

"Because we took care of the guy fleeing the furthest I think it's roughly over now. Let's go."

"Yes."

"He's not dead yet. Finish him properly."

"Ah, yes."

Although it was no different from being dead with lungs severely injured and ribs broken, the enemy was letting out breathing sounds swoosh, swoosh and wasn't completely dead.

Roy swung his ax exactly like splitting firewood and split the back of the head. Thereupon the enemy flapped their body once like a fish.

Roy pulled out the ax once again and roughly wiped it swish swish on the enemy's clothes.

Taking Roy Rickart headed to the center of the fight. Walking to a certain extent they could arrive at the place quickly, there were several cabins in a wide clearing.

This place was exactly a place similar to a gathering place of the One-Eyed Clan. There were several such places, and they had smashed one of them.

Living utensils were rolling around carelessly outside the gathering place, places were broken and smashed in every place, or fierce sword marks were wildly made here and there.

The people who had taken control of this place now were members of the Council of Six Ice and Bori, the Viola Clan people, and a few excellent students and disciples dispatched from the Beringen Academy and Michela Sword Monastery.

Altogether they seemed to be about 20 people, but conversely the corpses strewn about wildly here and there seemed to be roughly 50.

Because there were as many as three Sword Masters including Rickart, fighting and winning against them wasn't a problem, but annihilating them without missing a single person was quite a difficult task.

They had just now precisely finished that difficult task, and the people captured alive were about five or six. They were all kneeling with their hands and feet bound.

When Rickart revealed his appearance at the place, everyone looked. The Academy students who still lacked experience and his disciples who followed Ice, were making expressions with disheveled hair and excitement not subsided.

As Rickart put his sword in its scabbard and approached the prisoners, Bori said with an indifferent expression.

"They won't sing right?"

Ice was in the middle of wiping his bloody hands, and his disciples attended to him from the side.

Looking at it Rickart saw Ice stepped forward and seemed to have done simple torture but the prisoners didn't seem to open their mouths. Because Ice was from the Cult of Condemnation he had an opinion highly regarded in torture.

To think of a prioritizing monk torturing. He wondered if that was okay, but passed it over. Rickart looked down at the prisoner Ice was torturing.

Unable to even collapse he was trembling his body rattle rattle while kneeling. One eye was swollen stiff, his lips were torn, and a few teeth weren't seen.

However what the tortured one said was truly unexpected.

"Fuu...... ckers, bastards......"

"Oh."

Whether because he showed unexpected spirit, Bori let out a low exclamation of admiration.

Rickart quietly looked down at him and said.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Thereupon he whose face became a mess surprisingly laughed chuckle.

"Do you know who is behind us? You guys will die soon too. We'll go first and wait. You fucking bastards."

"Who is behind you? Isn't it the 2nd Prince?"

"?"

"Did you think we did this not knowing?"

"......What do you mean? Could it be, the 5th Prince?"

"That's not it. It's not that the 5th Prince can't do what the 2nd Prince does, but if both do wouldn't the fight become messier? Decisively the reason you guys are dying now is purely because you touched the Viola Clan, and because you harmed innocent people. Don't look for the reason somewhere else."

"V, the Viola Clan?"

The prisoner made an expression of not understanding with common sense. It was none other than because the Viola Clan he knew didn't have this level of combat power.

"Forget it, your Clan Master is 'Steel Arm' Randel right? A person who was previously one of the Empire's 9 Swords. Where is that person now?"

With information he found out a while ago, Rickart knew that the One-Eyed Clan's Master was Steel Arm Randel.

The most important information right now was Steel Arm Randel's location.

"......Wh, who on earth are you guys? Who is looking after your backs? Is it Adelorn's Philosopher King?"

In the prisoner's common sense, to oppose the Princes currently fighting the succession war for the Emperor's throne only a big shot of that level came to mind.

However he couldn't even dream that the person in front of his eyes right now was Adelorn's King, Rickart.

As time passed rumors would spread, but from the current point of view the formation of the Master's Federation, or the Council of Six were in a state not well known.

Rickart was purposefully using that point. Before the enemies knew about us, giving an unfathomable blow remarkably.

When the prisoner couldn't recognize the person even putting them in front of his eyes, Ice who always made a cold expression also smiled softly whether he found it funny, and Bori and Roy also giggled giggle giggle.

The other students or disciples couldn't laugh. With 50 corpses strewn about they couldn't understand them laughing in a situation like now.

However the party involved Rickart wasn't particularly amused either, and merely shrugged his eyebrows and said.

"It's a pity but I am not a person who acts up putting someone behind me."

"Then who on earth are you?"

"Ricky."

Answering like that, Rickart kicked the prisoner's head strongly with his foot. As he fed a powerful kick at a speed not seen by the eyes, at the same time his skull broke to pieces his neck snapped completely and he died.

BBEOGEOK!

The prisoner who had spirit in his own way collapsed sideways flop and died.

"Hiik!"

The other prisoners who were trembling rattle rattle next to them and waiting for torture freaked out. There were even personnel who peed.

Rickart looked at the prisoners and said.

"If you're from adventurer backgrounds we all know how things proceed right? Right? There's a thing called procedure. If you know Randel's location just say it. If you don't know there will be torture and you will die in pain. Because I don't know if you guys are hiding it or lying."

Thereupon one person who couldn't overcome the fear urgently shouted.

"Caldebern! He's at the Caldebern Count's castle! I heard he's staying there as a guest! Whether he's still there now I don't know but what I heard was that! Really! It's really! Believe me!"

Finally one prisoner who couldn't overcome the fear said the most important information.

The Caldebern Count was the main family of the Caldebern family of the Stormhearts line. Rickart had only seen the Count a few times while living, but because it was the main family anyway there was a feeling of it being somewhat uncomfortable and difficult. And Doctor Reno was there as a guest and advisory council member.

But at that moment, the atmosphere that seemed somewhat light cooled chillingly. At the word Caldebern Bori and Ice reflexively looked back at Rickart.

Looking outwardly there was no expression at all. However the bright hazel eyes were different from usual. Was it concern or worry, or anxiety, or anger. It was hard to explain what it was.

One thing was clear it wasn't a face harboring God's love. For a moment, exactly as if God had closed his eyes.

Rickart said to Bori.

"Bori, you should go to Adelun and come back for a bit. You know Ray right? Raimund. The Royal Standard Bearer."

"I know."

"Tell him to send just a few knights for a bit."

"To where?"

"To the Caldebern Castle."

Bori nodded his head. And Rickart killed all the remaining prisoners, without torture. The King's request he just made did not leak out.