Chapter 142

It had been half a month since Gion’s hounds had all been reduced to a mere handful of ash in the Great Jungle. Beginning with news that rose from the southernmost edge of the continent, the scent of war slowly began to linger over the Aphahiel Empire.

The first to begin discussing the matter were, as expected, the nobles.

“Hmm… this is not good. Lately, the atmosphere within the Imperial Palace seems rather ominous. They say they are inspecting weapons and equipment as if war could break out at any moment, and are even carrying out training close to actual combat. It sounds like quite the uproar. It seems the news coming from the Great Jungle was true after all.”

“You mean that rumor about His Highness the Fifth Prince being alive?”

“Ahem, Count Honecut, I didn’t think you were the type to be this late with information… In the central regions and the capital that Tindal has swallowed up, they are making a fuss trying to dismiss it as mere rumor, but how can one hide the sun with the palm of a hand? In the south, they say the rumor that His Highness the Fifth Prince is alive and well has already spread far and wide. Especially those Valaris troops who went to the Great Jungle this time and actually returned alive, you know?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“They say there isn’t just one or two eyewitnesses.”

“Hoho… if that really is true, then Tindal must be burning with impatience.”

“Indeed. The central region may be tightly united around Tindal, but if you look at the places his influence does not reach, the Fifth Prince’s popularity is still as strong as ever. Especially among those… candidates to become the next lords who will inherit their families. The support is tremendous. I don’t know how he won them over, but they’re at the point of persuading their own fathers.”

The man who had been listening silently put on a sly expression and replied.

“That sounded an awful lot like a personal story just now. Could it be…?”

“Ah, yes. That would be my story. Ever since returning from the last Houkijisu Tournament, it’s as if my child has been afflicted by some kind of black magic that twists people’s hearts. He just can’t stop talking about His Highness the Fifth Prince. Even when I scolded him, saying that if he was going to keep spouting such nonsense during such an unstable time after His Late Majesty passed away, he should give up his position as next lord, he wouldn’t bend at all.”

“…That’s not much different from us. I completely understand.”

“Tsk, so that household’s child was the same.”

“What’s the point of saying more? Tindal already has power firmly in hand, so for the time being we just have to keep our children in line and lie low like dead mice, just as we are now.”

It was not only among the nobles that this matter was whispered about. With the news carried up from the south and the central region acting as if war might break out at any moment, the atmosphere of war quickly seeped into marketplaces all across the land.

“Ahh, so it’s come to this in the end. War. War!”

No, perhaps the situation among the nobles, who received higher-quality information, was actually better. Merchants coming up from the south and merchants traveling up and down from the central region each relayed what they had seen and heard in their own ways. And therein lay the problem: their mouths.

Every day, stories related to war rang noisily through the marketplaces across the nation, where people from all over the world gathered.

“They say His Highness the Fifth Prince, who unified the Great Jungle, is preparing for war. The white lion that lost its seat to a surprise attack by a pack of jackals is coming to reclaim the throne. Tsk, tsk. Those lightning-struck bastards. Anyway, those cunning jackals killed the lion and tried to pin all the blame on its cub and kill him too, but not only did the lion cub escape, he’s alive and coming back, they say. That Gion fellow probably can’t sleep these days.”

“Oh my, oh my. So that’s how it was. I never would’ve guessed!”

“Just wait and see now. His Highness the Fifth Prince will come marching up with countless troops and wipe out all those traitors. Until then, we just need to stay quiet—just quiet~ly—and make our profit, that’s all. Got it?”

While merchants from the south hurried to deliver news favorable to the Fifth Prince based on what they had seen and heard, merchants coming down from the central region did the opposite, distorting the facts as if the Fifth Prince were the root cause of everything.

‘Turns out that Tindal and his dogs, who seized the central region, assassinated His Late Majesty and pinned all the blame on the princes.’

‘Among them, of course, His Highness the Fifth Prince, who had been revered as the next emperor, was charged with assassinating His Late Majesty.’

‘His Highness the Fifth Prince was the true emperor whom His Late Majesty had chosen as Aphahiel’s next ruler.’

‘The Fifth Prince, obsessed with black magic, finally awakened those vicious powers in the Great Jungle and became a monster that devours people.’

‘All the troops sent to the Great Jungle to capture the unfilial Fifth Prince ended up becoming a single meal for him.’

‘They say the Fifth Prince isn’t a black magician but the reincarnation of an evil god. They say that even the past clash between the Church of Lehl and the Empire was because of him.’

‘The Fifth Prince….’

‘His Highness the Fifth Prince….’

‘The true Emperor of Aphahiel, His Majesty the Fifth Prince….’

‘That unfilial wretch….’

‘That monster….’

‘The reincarnation of the evil god….’

Amid the chaotic tangle of truth and falsehood, Yuwon’s reputation swung between heaven and hell with each passing day. The rumors that began with Yuwon and the Great Jungle spread dozens, hundreds of times faster than a horse with wings, and before long they completed a full circuit and returned to Yuwon himself.

It was a letter brought to Yuwon by a small snake he had sent back together with Renania Valaris. There was no need to look closely; it was a letter sent by either Count Valaris or Lady Valaris.

A note without the sender’s name written on it. It had clearly been written in great haste, the hurried scribbles conveying the writer’s anxious state of mind.

Crunch—!

After reading it, Yuwon crumpled the note in his hand.

“Gion, you bastard… you finally did it.”

Gion was preparing for war. Yuwon had not the slightest intention of sitting still and waiting.

“I had a bad feeling, but to think it’s really war. I thought he was a bit more cautious than this….”

Yuwon had expected that they would clash hard someday, but this was sooner than he had thought.

‘Gion Tindal… he must be burning with impatience.’

This did not feel like one of those lukewarm expeditions toward the Great Jungle that had dotted Aphahiel’s history. It felt like the prelude to a massive war, one prepared with the resolve to completely sweep the Great Jungle away.

‘…The Great Jungle is not a place that even Aphahiel can take lightly. If Gion pushes this through, the largest war in Aphahiel’s history will soon break out.’

Having experienced the Great Jungle firsthand, Yuwon knew this better than anyone. He knew what kind of power the mystery-filled Great Jungle harbored.

‘The mediocre monsters that sometimes stray into the southern lands after losing out in the jungle’s struggle for food are nothing like the true denizens of the Great Jungle. If a war breaks out between Aphahiel and the Great Jungle, the Great Jungle will swallow all of Aphahiel’s soldiers whole.’

It had been barely one hundred days since Yuwon first set foot in the Great Jungle. In one sense it was a long time, but in Yuwon’s view, it was far too short.

‘I still know almost nothing about the Great Jungle. If people who don’t even know a speck of what it is step into it, they’ll be annihilated on the spot.’

The pursuit force Gion had sent last time had been the same. Each and every one of them had been excellent soldiers, lacking nothing. But they knew nothing at all about the Great Jungle, and in the end they had buried their bones here. Literally.

‘Provoking the Great Jungle without knowing anything is no different from plucking the whiskers of a sleeping lion. The Great Jungle is a place that must not be touched.’

Realizing that the timing of war was drawing closer than expected, Yuwon’s expression darkened.

‘Gion is sharpening his blade. War is already unavoidable. If that’s the case….’

The Great Jungle had its own culture and ecosystem. To the outside world, it was regarded as nothing more than a breeding ground for all kinds of monsters, but Yuwon knew better. He knew that the Great Jungle was not such an irredeemably terrible place. And so, Yuwon could not abandon either the Great Jungle or Aphahiel.

After a short but deep deliberation, Yuwon made his decision.

“Yes, perhaps… the reason I came to the Great Jungle in the first place was all because of this.”

A resolute determination settled into Yuwon’s eyes. He was resolved to fight a battle in order to prevent a war.

‘If my fate calls for blood, then I will gladly join that bloody struggle. I will not drown in that blood.’

Yuwon quickly moved his steps toward Terrien, who was preparing for the day’s training not far away.

“Terrien. I have somewhere to go, so train on your own today.”

“Where are you going? Do you have some business?”

At Terrien’s question, Yuwon hesitated for just a moment before answering.

“There’s someone I need to settle things with.”

There was something he had to do first in order to face his enemy.

‘The unification of the Great Jungle.’

The words that the southern merchants had carelessly spoken echoed in Yuwon’s mind.

—Your Highness. There is urgent news that I must convey, so I am contacting you through the liaison you left behind.

—Recently, rumors have been circulating daily within the Empire that rebel forces centered around you and Tindal will soon fight a great war. There is no way to confirm whether these rumors are true or not here, but at the very least, it appears to be true that Gion is preparing for war, so I humbly pray that Your Highness will take care to preserve your precious health.

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