Chương 48: A truth

KURT I stood before the cheering crowd at attention, thinking about the previous battle. If I were a bit stronger, I wouldn't have needed to bring him forth. But now there's no hiding; I somewhat feel free. And unfortunately, a thought eluded me the whole night. Jen. Oh sweet, Jen. How do I tell her? How would she react? Will she be disgusted or ashamed? I hoped not. I really didn't. I can already see guards make space around me as if I were diseased.

"Captain", Breatrice called me. I was used to her small smiles and quiet compliments. So to have her demeanour completely flipped on me is saddening, to say the least.

"His Grace hasn't thrown you out, but that doesn't mean your deception is forgiven. I never will. Who knows, your deception may still continue as you aid your brothers in the north as their spy."

"Don't call them my brother. I am not their kin."

"Then what are you then, 'SHAVED'? You certainly aren't an Osberg guard." That stung deeper than I could convey.

"I am a warrior who sought a different way. Who sought a better leader. A better life. I am the duke's guard." I said. My answer caught Beatrice by surprise.

"I am watching you…" and Beatrice walked away to meet Bieye. I think of Jen again. A challenging night of explaining to come ZHI I stepped away to the edge. My Bieye was held by her lover, weeping tears of relief. I took out the sword I gave her from the bastard's head that I should have smashed myself. A wind rune. Western ways intrigued me; they may brute force their way through everything, but sometimes they come up with an ingenious use of mana like this. The concentrated power of will.

A few letters can alter and change aspects of the world if one is skilled enough at resonance and has opened their mind. Closing my eyes, I ignored the cheers and focused only on the engraved letter on the steel sword.

"Zhi? Doctor Zhi." A low, gruff voice full of experience resembled the duke's. I turned around, hearing heavy crunches of gravel and stone, and all I could see was thick leather. I kept looking upward until I found his head on wide shoulders. These Greystones never make it easy on the neck. He noticed and did me a courtesy and bent down until I looked down on him. A sword of incredible energy jingled by his side. So this is the famed Frost Knight.

His Greystones features were very striking, except for his kind, brown eyes. Tarion's eyes pierced through me as though he could see what I was thinking; the kind of man born to rule, on top, his gaze intimidated all. The Frost Knight smiled, bringing himself down to my level. I did feel like I was able to feel at ease around him.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." He held out his hand. Remember this odd Western custom; not feeling obliged to do so, I still gave him my hand for him to kiss. But I believed it was reserved for ladies of higher peerage, not a sketching Liu town doctor.

"Loran Greystone."

"The Frost Knight. I know of you." I retracted my hand.

"What is it that you need, My Lord?"

"I need to give my thanks. Without you… My nephew." The large man looked away, tears bubbling in his eyes. He sniffed the tears back. And grabbed my hand roughly.

"Thank you for saving his life. I owe you my life. Ask from me, and you shall receive." I twisted my hand with qi, removing his hands from mine.

"I don't need anything. As his master, it is my duty to keep my student in tiptop shape. So do not thank me for my duty."

"But-!" I waved my hand. But as he begged. I looked closer at the handsome man who cried in front of a person he just met. Dark shadows in his eyes. Varicose veils. His hue is a mess. I sighed hard.

"I can ask for anything, my lord?"

"Anything. On my honour."

"Bring a carriage for us." I faced away, hand behind my back.

"We are travelling back together."

"S-Sure, Ma'am." He stood up, becoming a tower again and trudging away. I sighed once more. Why do I give myself more work? LORAN GREYSTONE I couldn't stop staring back. Her hair, almost snow-white, blew in the gentle breeze, capturing my heart like bait to a fish. I was enamoured for the first time in my life. She noticed me staring.

"I'm waiting, you know; my bones can't stand the chill."

"Yes, ma'am. On my way, ma'am." Alone, she focused on a blade, and a current blew my knights to the floor. My men wondered, looking around aimlessly as she grinned. No one noticed but me. Returning was the best decision I have ever made. TARION"Take care of Rokkrs' remains. Although in tatters, it is good research material. A sane cursed human is worth looking into."

"Understood, Your Grace." Kurt nodded, bringing a few men with him. A shaved. Who would have thought? Known for the pride. To leave the hair to grow would seem like disrespect. Only prisoners or the banished would have their hair grow more than a millimetre. He doesn't seem banished. And merge with a highland wolf spirit at that. No one could banish him. Not even the jarl. Not without suffering heavy losses. In a carriage back home, my wife snored on my shoulder. Our hands had not parted since Black Shade.

An inch away from her, my heart pained me. I never knew I would long for someone like this. I never knew I even could. Even with a face less dashing than my current one, I was not new to relationships. Though they mostly lasted for one night. This is a different type of desire. I wished to embrace her whole, her everything. Her thoughts, opinions, mannerisms, and the way she giggles. All of it stunned me. I felt like a swine. Should I yearn for someone this much?

How much different am I from the twerp with the spells? By chance I am married to the best woman in the world, and she wants to stay with me. I would pity the boy if he wasn't an insufferable prick. To think that he was behind everything the entire time. The blizzard, the Mouve attacks… Yet he sauntered around my city without a care. Thanks to Vanessa, we know he has a base somewhere near. Only a matter of time. Speaking of a Spellman, the man of the hour sat opposite me, working away and preparing runes.

Unmasked and his hood down, a spell flashed and zipped out of the carriage window. Drac shut it.

"She is very special," Drac said, using his magic spectacle thing to inspect Vanessa.

"You better not be seeing anything you shouldn't." I kid.

"It don't work like that… Well, it can, but I am not a pervert." Drac turned dials.

"I am examining her mana. She has the telltale signs of a priest. However, her mana is brighter than any I have seen before. Stronger holy mana than a paladin, maybe."

"Not maybe. Will be." I watched her still snore beside me, feeling proud.

"Drac, underground, did you notice anything of note?" Drac sat back to remember.

"After my battle, I found Vanessa crowded with the captured girls who wept together. The stench was unimaginable. Two bodies lay on the dirty ground. A husk and a priest becoming one. After asking Bieye, after the priest and Vanessa came to a tussle on the ground, a mana shield blocked anyone from entering. Vanessa was not conscious of it. As they fought, gold energy shifted from the priest to Vanessa."

"Mm…" Is the priest the energy-sucking vampire? What the fuck is going on!?

"Feast…" My wife yawned from her short sleep.

"Fjord said to the Mouve priest…

'Feast. I may need your services later.'""Befuddled," I said.

"And what would he need the priest for…damn…" I remember breaking Fjord's vial.

"Holy water." Drac folded his arms, contemplating the implications of all this. We all sat in silence as we all thought the same thing. But it was too crazy to even speak out loud. It was the church, for heaven's sake. Speaking ill of the church was blasphemy of a higher degree. And being reincarnated myself, I can help but feel extra tied to the lands above for obvious reasons. I could ask the blue box. But they weren't an encyclopedia of knowledge. Good cheerleader, though.

Drac moved forward, turning dials on his glass.

"Vanessa, do you mind?" Vanessa let her holy mana burn on a finger, and the carriage was illuminated in splendid gold light. Drac's eyes followed up her stomach and chest, moving further up until his chin was facing the carriage roof.

"Special indeed… I am not a Friedman by blood, but I know the stories. Long ago, a being created perfect was brought down from heaven to fight the cursed below on Gaia. After a holy war spanning centuries, the cursed were put to rest, and the war was won. But at the cost of the being that saved Freidland."

"But her grace did not end there, for she loved the children under her care," I spoke, quoting the scripture that was etched to my soul.

"Above the steel, above the blood, above the chaos, she sacrificed it all. Brighter than the sun, her light brought day to the night sky. Exploding in a blast of light. Raining upon the land in her power, ensuring the descendants of Friedland will continue her service to Friedland."

"Oh…" Vanessa sat up, stunned by the citation.

"Didn't know you were such a devotee."

"Well… my prayers were answered." I held her hand, feeling her cold, slim fingers.

"Devotion was the least the gods could ask of me."

"Saint." Drac's voice echoed in the small space. It felt taboo to even say it out loud.

"A new saint!" Drac smiled, frowned, and then mused in thought.

"Veil… He spoke of being special. So much has happened; what he said never really made sense to me. But he wasn't so out of his mind, was he?" She said, looking at me. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Let's… Let us get ourselves home and rest after a long day." Vanessa gazed into my eyes, and I was engulfed by her green gems again.

"I'm ready…for everything."

"Good…" I had been waiting sorely for this moment, yet I feared it for the change it may bring. When things were going as expected, I could plan. Now new events twist the story I vaguely knew into a quagmire. However, I had always been good at rolling with punches. I can endure. I will learn. I will succeed.

"Drac, once you learn of this—""This is the most interesting job I have had in a while. Plus… I still owe you. Tarion. I'm not running away."

"You couldn't run from this. This concerns the fate of not just Osberg and Friedland but of the whole world." Drac leaned in closer.

"Silentium." After the air trembled, the crunching of wheels against a stone could not be heard. All I could hear was their nervous breaths. I coughed, cleared my throat, and mentally prepared myself.

"The world will no longer be as we knew. This long-lasting 'peace' is gone. The saint's emergence is evidence of this. Fate had decided my wife should be the one who bears the weight of responsibility, and as your husband, I had to make sure you would never notice. But it seems I have failed spectacularly. But that means my methods were wrong." I moved so I directly faced Vanessa, taking hold of both her hands.

"You need to know. My people too. For I alone cannot protect you from enemies unknown."

"Which enemies?" My wife asked me.

"That… I have no clue. This is beyond what I anticipated, but what has not changed is the fact that the new enemies want to bring the same conclusion. To summon Ibis and cloak this world in his darkness again." Vanessa's hand started to sweat. Drac sat still with a tense expression.

"Ibis!" Vanessa worried.

"Another holy war…?" Drac asked, and I nodded. He grumbled.

"Shit."

"But in scripture, Ibis was defeated, leaving his curse, his evil spirits, behind in revenge."

"Ibis' curse… But it appears that it is not as scripture claims. The curse's existence…means he has not been slain. Rather, Ibis is caged. Confined." Vanessa's hand squeezed tight; she looked to the carriage floor in thought.

"Scripture…Wrong…?" She turned to me, confused.

"How do you know?"

"I…" Suddenly, my tongue was tied. What should I have said? That I was reincarnated from another world into a manhwa where Vanessa marries the prince of Freidland? Convincing them of anything after that would be a challenge.

"Let's just say the gods above chose me to be the 'seer' of fate. But to properly explain the future, we must go to the past." Here we go…

"A thousand years ago, a holy war ended. After defeating Ibis, the saint gave her power to the people of Osberg, and for centuries, the church ruled the land. But as you know, Ibis' curse wrought its head to consume any living being and turned them into mist-like monsters. Many places, like Sika, couldn't escape the mist, and some were severely affected by its presence, such as the Liu states. However, only Friedland remained strong, with the retinue of holy knights under the command of the then-king.

And since it has been an eternal battle between the forces of good and evil. But the unforeseen revelation revealed that for 300 years, Ibis's cage had been deteriorating bit by bit. And through the cracks the cursed escaped." Drac and Vanessa were engrossed, watching me speak this tale I had been hiding for so long. To speak it felt so relieving.

"I am not exactly sure when, but from about one and a half years from now, the cage of Ibis will be broken, and the demon's influence will grow on Gaia. Furthermore, if it isn't stopped in time, the shaved will be the first under its control.

"The tattoos?" Vanessa intelligently deduced.

"Exactly." I commended her.

"Tattoos?" Drac wondered.

"Not as well travelled as I thought." I jest.

"Their tattoos are a unique part of the culture that is important not only spiritually but militarily as well. From birth to their coming of age, they are kept bald in anticipation of their tattoo. Going through a religious trial designated by the summoners." Another group that deserved a discussion.

"They must 'battle' against captured spirits. In a ceremony that could take a day, they are challenged by stronger and stronger spirits until they reach their limit or are chosen. A warrior chosen by a spirit usually becomes one the greatest in their generation, giving them the strength to lead an army despite their youth. A knock from the wolf came at the right time. He gave a thumbs-up and, on his horse, rode with us to Jen's side.

"For example, Stone Face McIceman over there would be leading a thousand men by now. Especially with the wolf he merged with."

"Hold on, Tarion." Vanessa shook her head in disbelief.

"Are you saying… Kurt is…?"

"Yep, a true shaved. Like Fjord. Unlike Rokkr…"

"Ahaha! Lands above!" She swore with the biggest smile on her face.

"Jen is going to flip her top! A merchant's daughter with a man of the rough north!? It would be easier to believe Kurt was homeless than shaved." She was right. His demeanour was the opposite of what a shaved man was like. But that could be the reason why he merged with a wolf whose previous partners were known to be driven mad with anger.

"As I was saying. These spirits are how they decide everything. From their place in society to the position on the battlefield. Even the cut of meat you get. Every man of working age is tattooed. From forest sprites to wyverns."

"These spirits…?"

"They are the cursed that will take over Osberg. Spirits and humans made partners to form a symbiotic relationship; their bodies will be hijacked, making them into an army of ghouls seeking nothing but destruction." Vanessa remained silent. Drac was somewhat amused by the information.

"Interesting. Very interesting indeed… Kobi was possessed by these cursed spirits?" I nodded.

"We call it the curse, but do people really consider why it is named such? It is not mankind that is cursed but the apparitions beyond life and death. Ibis's power was the ability to dominate them, to control souls against their wills. Vaness spoke up.

"So with their partner, the spirit is free from the madness of the curse, and the human gains strength?"

"Certainly," I answered.

"Their strength is proportional to the spirit's age and ability. For example, the Jarls of the northern lands merge with fallen wyverns, consequently keeping the families in power." Vanessa asked.

"How do you know so much about the cursed?" Mermoires is rummaging through hundreds of books to discover the weakness of my family's enemy.

"A mix of 'visions' and knowledge I learnt in order to defeat my father's killers." Drac asked a terrifying question that even the manwha didn't ask.

"Can human souls be merged together…?"

"I…am not sure… But with what I have seen throughout these months, anything can happen. But they are smarter than their beastly counterparts; maybe they will seek refuge from the curse before their return to heaven. But when the end comes, even they will be unable to escape."

"If the shaved will be under the total control of Ibis," Vanessa started counting.

"That's about a million people… Land above…"

"And those shaved…" I continued.

"When they come down in their droves, killing anything in their way, Osberg will be their first casualty." I remember the vision I saw when I connected with Vanessa's circle. Osberg was destroyed beyond recognition; not even the city walls were left standing.

"My goal is to stop it before it happens." Before I realised it, Vanessa had let go, holding herself in her arms. Staring into nowhere, the weight of her job finally weighed on her. A sight I wished I never had to see.

"My job is to stop that and…" Your job, Vanessa, is to fix the cage before the true power of Ibis can be released. Everything else?" I found her hand again.

"Leave it to me." Vanessa had calmed down somewhat but not enough to clear the fear in her eyes.

"Where will this Ibis emerge?" Drac asked, carefully listening and contemplative.

"In the highlands, the deep ice."

"That far north? I need to learn some better heating runes," Drac joked. Vanessa then made an interesting point.

"It took thousands just to win a border war; many were sacrificed for a few acres of land for mining." Although he was poisoned, my father was one of them.

"How are we to get past them and reach the deep ice? I answered.

"One plan was to finally get the church on board and begin a crusade to Ibis' cage."

"A crusade?" Vanessa said, her voice trembling.

"The Shaved wouldn't let the church take a step on their lands. Thousands would be slaughtered on both sides!"

"My thought as well," I said, agreeing with Vanessa wholeheartedly.

"And with the new information we had gathered. I don't like the idea of them knowing you exist. It all smells… funky." Plonk. Good judgement.

"There it is again. Looking at something invisible," the annoyingly perceptive Drac said.

"It's them, hm? It's how you 'see' fate?" Drac turned dials on his spectacles.

"But nothing is there." It doesn't exist physically but in my mind. Interesting. I smiled.

"Maybe I am crazy; stop interrupting me. As I was saying, the church is too suspicious." Vanessa interrupted me instead.

"What if we sneak past them?" I leant forward, intrigued.

"Go on…"

"There are two barriers, if I remember correctly," Vanessa thought with her fingers on her chin.

"The main barrier between the duchy of Osberg and Hallaut is a natural barrier made by mountains and rough terrain that makes it hard for armies to traverse without the Shaved's help. Then there's a man-made wall blocking the City of Hallaut from the rest of the deep ice." I slightly combat her plan.

"A place made forbidden to outsiders. And that is not taking into account that we must be let into Hallaut." Vanessa smirked, as if I said something dumb.

"We simply need a compelling reason to bring a small retinue of men. Our best men. And once we reach inside the mountains. Kwaba over here will sneak us past the wall. You can make several people invisible, am I wrong?"

"I can do more than that… they will never notice you had left." Drac grinned confidently. I sat back. The plan made sense. No invasion. No casualties. Clean and quick. Less fun but less guilt. The plan gets better and better. But what would be a justifiable reason? After decades and centuries of war, dying for land, for revenge. My own father fell to a Jarl's axe. If anyone should have hated them, it would be me. But I grow tired of fighting for revenge.

My job is simple: to save this world, and nothing will stop me from completing it.

"I have a plan." I smiled; they became nervous.

Finally, we arrived at Greystone Manor. Outside, Charles and Jennifer waited for us. As soon as the carriage door was open, Jen ran to hug Vanessa for dear life.

"Please, never do that again! Don't leave me behind! So many hours I waited…!" Vanessa hugged her best friend tight.

"I can't promise that. I will keep you safe no matter what, Jenny." Unexpectedly, I saw my uncle as a short luien walk together. Laughing together up the stairs to the front door, it seems they have made fast friends. I hoped they weren't talking about me. But with how loud her laughing was, it was definitely stories. His other stories aren't as funny. After a short dinner, we gathered everyone to report the situation and debrief. Vanessa requested that we tell them tomorrow.

I understood her feelings; it was her last day of being treated as just the Duchess, something that took months to get accustomed to. Tomorrow everything will change, but in truth much has been altered so far. Charles and Beatrice saluted, and I thanked them with my own hard salute. I wondered how they would react when they learnt they saved the Saint. Before our bedroom doors, Vanessa and I lingered like something needed to be said. Vanessa was first to speak.

"I want you to be the first face I see in the morning," and she opened her door; a slit of firelight illuminated my stunned face. A single arm carried a gleeful wife into the red bedroom. In a giggling fit, caring not for the sweat and dirt from the exhausting day, we ripped our useless clothes away. I laid her on the bed as softly as I could, holding myself back ever so much. She held my hand as I held her face. Her body, shaped and full. Months of training accentuated her gorgeous form.

The incredible sight made me hungrier.

"From the time we kissed on the hill, I had been preparing for this moment," I said while feeling her softness. My kisses made their mark across her body, tickling her. Lying under me, her hand gently caressed my chest, slowly descending to an interesting place. Vanessa smiled.

"I have been waiting since I first saw you." She took hold, and a night of full ecstasy lay ahead of me.