Duke Pendragon

The orc warriors led the way through the dark cave with dozens of torches in their hands with Karuta in the lead. The entrance was narrow but soon widened into a space that could accommodate six people walking side by side. The dark, damp cave was complex like a maze, and it seemed like one could easily get lost in it.

This didn’t seem troubling to the orcs as they were born with heightened hearing and a sense of smell. They were able to detect the smell of water or the flow of air to find their way through the cave without hesitation.

“Kueh? W, wait.”

It must have been several hours after they started walking. Kratul, who was standing in lead with Raven and Karuta, suddenly stopped.

“What? What is it?”

“I feel the energy of life… Kueee… Kuet! Spirit, it’s a spirit!”

Kratul busily moved his nostrils with his eyes closed, then opened his mouth wide.

“This way.”

Kratul started to move, following his senses. After a while of walking, a faint sound of flowing water could be heard, and Kratul stopped in his tracks.

“There.”

Kratul pointed at a fairly large spring from which a small waterfall was flowing. It was a fairly decently-sized waterfall, as tall as the average human. Raven stepped forward past Kratul and narrowed his eyes. Something was faintly flickering from inside the waterfall.

“Dangerous. There is a smell of a water spirit coming from there.”

Kratul hastily stopped Raven. Raven frowned.

“Water spirit? Are water spirits dangerous?”

“Not originally. But this cave has no feeling of life, which means the protection of the earth god is not here. A spirit that resides in a place like this can’t be normal. I’m sure that it is a cursed spirit.”

“Hmmm…”

Raven stroked his chin while taking turns looking at Kratul and Karuta.

“Which way is the exit? Don’t we have to pass through there?”

“Kuhem, the wind is coming from that direction…”

“Kuuwuu… Karuta is right. We have to get past that to get to the exit.”

Kratul added on to Karuta’s comments with an uncomfortable expression. Hearing the orcs’ words, Raven stood still and observed the waterfall for a little while longer before narrowing his eyes.

The faintly flickering glow coming from inside the waterfall seemed suspicious.

“So what is that?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

Karuta and Kratul frowned and looked in the direction that Raven was pointing towards. Unfortunately, it was impossible for orcs, who had terrible eyesight, to be able to see the light.

“There’s something flickering, a light, inside the waterfall. It’s shaped… like a plank or a board…”

“Kuek!”

Kratul let out a squeal similar to a pig, and Raven frowned.

“What? What is it all of a sudden?”

“F, f, flickering lights shaped like a plank is coming from inside the waterfall? It’s shaped like a plank?”

Kratul, the orc druid, who had always maintained a relaxed atmosphere and talked smoothly, stuttered at the mention of the light.

“Well yes, but is it something weird? If it is dangerous…”

“This is wondrous news! It’s the earth god’s blessing!”

Kratul shouted in a loud voice that caused the cave to rattle and everyone to cover their ears.

“What is it? What do you mean by that?”

Raven asked in an angry voice to which Kratul responded, unable to hide his excitement.

“Water spirits like precious things! Expensive! Shiny things! Kuek! It was strange in the first place that a water spirit would be residing in such a weird place devoid of any life energy whatsoever! Pendragon! This is really marvelous! Having run into the blessing of the earth god as a mere scarecrow… Kuek!”

Bang!

Karuta smacked the top of Kratul’s head with a big fist.

“You little monkey-like orc! Talk a bit slower so we can understand what you’re gibbering about!”

“Kuee… There is no life energy here. That means that the water spirit is residing here for a certain reason, it means that the spirit is protecting something. Something precious.”

“Something precious? Okay, so?”

Raven’s eyes lit up at the mention of something precious and he hurriedly asked back.

Kratul continued his words while stroking the feathers of his headdress.

“Water is the source of life along with the earth. The precious thing that the water spirit is protecting should be related to life. It’s an item that has most likely been collecting all the life energy of this place over a period of time.”

“An item related to life…”

Raven couldn’t really get a sense of what kind of item it was.

But he soon took large strides towards the waterfall.

“Kuek? I, it’s dangerous, Pendragon! The water spirit…”

Kabooooosh!

Before Kratul finished his sentence, something jumped out and made its appearance from behind the waterfall with a large splash. Raven quickly avoided the pouring water, and promptly pointed the Widow’s Scream at the entity before speaking.

“Are you the water spirit? I’m sorry but you need to hand over what you’ve been hoarding, and get out of the way.”

A turtle made of water, that was easily three times larger than Karuta, opened its jaws wide open as if to devour Raven.

***

Raven, Karuta, and Kratul took the lead going up a pile of stone that resembled steps.

The sound of the wind became louder as they climbed higher, and the surroundings became brighter. Kratul, who was busily walking up behind Raven and Karuta, kept stealing glances at Raven.

Rather, to be precise, he was looking at an object hanging behind Raven’s back.

There was a shield that hadn’t been there only a short while ago dangling on Raven’s back. Even at first glance, the cool blue shield didn’t seem to be an ordinary object.

Naturally, a shield that the water spirit had been protecting and concentrating life energy into for years could not possibly be ordinary.

Recalling the events that unfolded just moments ago, Karutal carefully walked to Raven’s side and asked.

“By the way, Pendragon. What you did, did you do it knowingly?”

“What? Oh, this? Well, the odds were half and half.”

Raven grinned as he glanced behind his back.

Kratul shook his head.

“I don’t know about any odds, but Pendragon is amazing. It was the first time Kratul saw a water spirit act so docile.”

“It’s nothing.”

Raven shrugged, and Karuta snorted in response.

“Hmm! What’s so great about it. It’s all thanks to the power of the guardian deity anyway.”

“But you never thought of it, and I did. Soldrake made an oath with my family, not yours. Isn’t that already amazing enough?”

“Keeung! Hmm!”

Karuta had no words to retort with, and could only simply snort his nose. It was ridiculous what the Pendragon scarecrow did when he thought about it, but it was still amazing.

When the giant turtle water spirit opened its jaws, Karuta thought that the Pendragon scarecrow would be swallowed whole. Everyone else must have had the same thought as well.

However, the giant turtle water spirit that resided in the cave for tens of years, flopped down on its belly and kowtowed towards Raven. Everyone became drenched thanks to the giant body splashing water everywhere, but what happened afterward was even more spectacular.

The giant spirit acted completely different than what was expected from its large size. It trembled its entire body in fear, and splashed water droplets and blew bubbles…

It was ridiculous, but also natural.

The spirit had succumbed to the aura contained within the sword of the Pendragon brat. Unsurprisingly, the aura belonged to the guardian deity of the forest, the being whose name Karuta dared not speak, the great dragon Soldrake.

For the spirit who lived in a cave directly connected to the resting place of the guardian deity, the aura of the Pendragon scarecrow was basically god itself.

The sword that contained the aura was pointed towards it, which caused the spirit to lose its mind and go insane. That’s why with only a few words from Raven, it handed over its most prized possession and opened the way for the group.

“But that really is amazing. It really is rejuvenating the soldiers over there, and myself as well.”

Karuta glanced at the soldiers who were following behind them. The injured soldiers who needed help walking just a few hours ago all seemed mostly healed. Those who suffered from major injuries were still limping slightly, but they were incomparable better compared to how they were in the morning.

“Well, it’s an artifact, hmm? An artifact.”

Raven gave a satisfied smile and tapped on the shield.

Even he hadn’t thought the shield would have such fantastical abilities. Although it was incomparable to his own ability of immortality and regeneration, the power contained in the shield could be counted among the top ten in the entire empire. It was a tremendous power.

Just having the shield in possession healed creatures that were in a 50-yard radius…

Of course, the shield didn’t provide complete regeneration, but it improved the natural healing speed by several times. Just this ability alone made it completely adequate to be called an artifact.

“I think we’re almost there. Just a little bit more, everybody.”

“Yes!”

The soldiers who walked uphill for several hours felt no fatigue and gave a vigorous reply to Raven. Karuta looked towards Raven and the human soldiers, then shrugged his shoulders.

‘A mere scarecrow is really receiving the divine blessing of the earth god… Pendragon…’

Karuta swiftly climbed the stone stairs. He knew that if his guesses were correct, then he should unconditionally stick next to the feeble-looking scarecrow.

Whoosh!

As they reached the end of the staircase which led to the outside world, a strong wind rushed to greet the party.

Raven squinted his eyes. After the wind had calmed down, he observed the surroundings.

Flat land formed from soil and gravel spread out around him, and pointed mountain peaks formed from rocks stood in the far distance, looking like spearheads challenging the sky.

“That’s…”

Raven’s eyes slowly widened. Even though it was early summer, naked trees were scattered across the land.

A grey building was erected upright at the end of the flat ground, surrounded by the rock cliffs in an arc. The building was created by stacking elaborately carved rocks together. Its appearance was similar to a huge ancient altar Raven had seen at the edge of a desert during his days in the demonic army.

Even from a far distance, its size was massive, at least twice as big as Bellint Gate.

Woooong!

Widow’s Scream let out a cry while shuddering. With that, Raven was convinced. The grey building was the mausoleum of the Pendragon Duchy.

“Let’s go.”

Raven walked towards the mausoleum without hesitation. The soldiers and the orc warriors who were staring at the building with blank expressions hurriedly followed behind Raven.

***

The road to the mausoleum was eerily quiet. Only the occasional wind made any noise, and no living creatures could be felt in its vicinity. Soon, the surroundings became darker, and a bright yellow moon peeked out from behind the mausoleum. Perhaps because they were on top of a mountain, the moon looked to be several times larger than usual. The soldiers surveyed the surroundings with anxious eyes. They had never experienced a strange environment like this before.

Growl…

Even the orc warriors, as ferocious as they were, seemed to be on the edge.

Finally, the troops arrived in front of the mausoleum with Raven in the lead.

Large statues of dragons, easily three times the height of a person, lined the entrance to the mausoleum. The statues glared intensely at the uninvited visitors.

Raven suddenly looked down.

Woooong! Woooong!

As he got closer to the mausoleum, the treasured blade vibrated more intensely.

Step. Step…

Leaving the soldiers behind, Raven slowly walked towards the entrance.

Wooooooong!!!

The vibration became even stronger, and Widow’s Scream caused its sheath to tremble as well.

Shink.

Raven drew the sword.

A white light decorated the length of the long blade. Its appearance was similar to when he had fought the lich the night before.

It was then.

Ruuuuuumble!

Along with a loud roar, the ground trembled and kicked up dust in the area across from the dragon statue.

“Kuek!”

Raven took several steps back and glared at the mausoleum.

“Gasp!”

T, that’s…!”

Those who stood behind Raven were also shocked.

Thud, thud, thud!

A horse was running from the mausoleum, breaking through the dirt and raising dust above the gray sky. The translucent horse was surrounded by a strange blue glow, and a knight sat on the saddle with his sword unsheathed…

“……!”

Everybody’s bodies quickly froze, regardless of whether they were humans or orcs.

The knight, whose whole body flared as if wrapped in a deep, blue flame, was wearing the same armor and wielding the same sword as the man who had led them here thus far.

The two people who knew the identity of the knight, Killian, and Karuta, spoke simultaneously.

“Duke Gor…”

But one person who was unfamiliar with the knight unknowingly spoke his name faster than the two.

“Duke Gordon Pendragon…”