Chapter 556

“ Haa…”

Krein sighed intensely enough to get rid of the early morning fog.

“I didn’t think that he would seriously make us train until last night. He is way too ruthless.”

He thumped his shoulder with his weakly clenched fist, murmuring that he wanted to faint.

“I know right? I also thought that he would let us go in the afternoon. I never expected that I would have to swing the sword until night.”

Burren nodded in agreement. His face also showed exhaustion from the training.

“How pathetic!”

Martha knit her brows while looking at Burren and Krein.

“What are you going to do if you can’t even endure that much training when you pick up a sword to become a swordsman?”

She smirked and clicked her tongue in disdain.

“Miss Rakshasa, your legs are shaking.”

Runaan came up next to her before she knew it and poked her thigh with her finger.

“Aaack!”

Since it was the spot where Raon’s sword had smacked the day before, Martha screamed and jolted.

“Y-you crazy thing!”

Martha growled like a hungry beast and extended her hand towards Runaan.

“You’re just bluffing.”

“Do you have a death wish?!”

Runaan stuck her tongue out and ran away while Martha drew her sword and followed her.

“Th-they are brimming with energy even in the morning,” Dorian gasped, rubbing the dark bags under his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not. But I’ve gotten somewhat used to it now.”

“You’ve gotten used to it?”

“Yes. When we stayed at my company last time, I went through training that could have seriously killed me.”

“What kind of training can seriously kill you?”

“He ordered me to climb a cliff and rolled boulders down to it. He even destroyed the entire cliff.”

His forehead broke out in cold sweat despite the cold weather as he said that he thought he would really go to the afterlife back then.

“Hmm…”

Mark Goetten, who was standing next to him, was also reminded of that time and closed his eyes tightly.

“H-how is it in the annex building? Is it also hellish?”

Burren left Dorian and Mark Goetten trembling in fear and looked at Yua and Yulius instead.

“No! He takes good care of us! He does everything we ask.”

Yua energetically raised her hand and shook her head.

“She’s right. He doesn’t say anything in the annex building even if we take a break.”

Yulius licked his lips as if he wanted it to be the other way around.

“Then why does he become a mad dog whenever he is here?”

Burren shook his head, saying that it was so painful.

“It’s going to be seriously exhausting if he starts to rampage again today.”

“But his mood seemed to have improved yesterday, so he should be fine today. We should have a quiet journ—”

Dorian was smiling faintly when the training ground’s door was opened and Raon made his entrance.

Whir!

Even though he didn’t kick the door like Rimmer, the overwhelming pressure emanating from Raon made the Light Wind division unable to take their eyes off him.

“H-he looks like he’s in a seriously bad mood. Are you sure his mood was improved?”

Burren poked Dorian with his elbow and swallowed nervously.

“Huh? That’s his state of madness… E-emergency! Emergencyyy!”

Dorian ran up to the platform while shouting emergency. The other swordsmen also noticed the dangerous atmosphere and quickly lined up in front of the platform.

“Uhaha…ha!

Rimmer, lying on the platform, started to yawn but briskly stood up upon noticing the raging fire in Raon’s eyes.

“You’re here, Si—I mean, you are here.”

Rimmer unconsciously started to call him Sir, only to barely manage to keep his mouth shut and retain his pride as the division leader.

“Division leader, can I lead the swordsmen today?”

Raon looked at Rimmer fiercely, as if telling him that he wasn’t allowed to refuse.

“S-sure.”

Rimmer nodded like a marionette and leaped back.

“Thank you.”

Raon lowered his head at Rimmer politely, then stood in front of the platform.

“I’m sure everyone is aware, but this mission is a simple investigation. However, a battle might break out if a problem occurs during the investigation, and we might fall into a situation that we can’t handle with our might, forcing us to run away like we did before.”

He continued, meeting the eyes of the swordsmen standing in front of the platform one after the other, “That’s why we are going to practice our footwork at full speed, starting from now until we reach Sinigan. The only time you are allowed to stop moving your feet is when you sleep.”

The Light Wind swordsmen’s shoulders trembled upon hearing Raon’s quiet yet frightening voice.

“What?”

“Err.”

“Are we going through that hellish training again?”

“What the…?”

The Light Wind swordsmen murmured in disbelief, but they closed their mouths tightly upon seeing the dry looking Raon’s eyes.

They looked at Rimmer, their eyes damp, as if they were begging for help.

“Ahem! R-Raon? How about we save the training for after we finish the miss—”

Rimmer reluctantly stepped forward, unable to withstand the gazes from the swordsmen. Just as he was about to suggest saving the training for later, Raon’s eyes sparked crimson.

“Didn’t you just say that you were leaving it to me?”

“Huh? That’s…”

“Moreover, it was you, division leader, who said that the entirety of life is training. Am I wrong?”

“Ah, I did say something like that before…”

He smiled awkwardly and returned to his position. He murmured by only moving his lips after that.

‘I’m also scared of that guy!’

Raon confirmed that Rimmer had shrunk back and looked down upon the Light Wind division once again.

“We are doing this to improve your skills. I hope you understand.”

“Yes…”

The Light Wind division responded as loudly as possible with teary eyes.

You are destroying your subordinates instead of your enemies…

Wrath sent a round of applause in admiration.

You truly don’t belong to a place like this! Come to Devildom with the King of Essence!

‘You go there.’

The King of Essence can’t go even if he wanted to!

* * *

Raon looked behind him while supporting Yua and Yulius so that they could run faster.

“Huaah!”

“W-we’re really not stopping…”

“…I’m going to die.”

The Light Wind swordsmen were panting in exhaustion while running on a frozen lake. It was a natural outcome when you considered the fact that the intensive footwork journey started at daybreak and continued until evening, well past noon.

“I-is he seriously planning to even skip the meal?”

“That crazy bastard…”

“Raon, damn ugly today.”

Burren, Martha, and Runaan were also exhaling white puffs of air from exhaustion even though their conditions weren’t as bad as the plain swordsmen.

Raon chuckled and waved his hand towards the swordsmen behind him.

“It’s bearable, isn’t it?”

“I-I feel like I’m dying.”

Dorian shook his head while wiping the sweat streaming from his face.

“If it’s too hard, eat some beef jerky while running. It will get a bit better.”

Raon told them to eat on their own and looked away.

“Uuh…”

“That guy is an evil fiend…”

“You are the only one who can do that!”

“How are we even supposed to eat beef jerky while running at this speed? We are only going to bite our tongues!”

The swordsmen swore at the back of Raon’s head in extremely quiet voices.

“Haa…”

Rimmer breathed out a sigh of relief while running at the back of the line.

“I’m glad that I’m his superior, at least.”

He shook his head while looking at the back of Raon’s head. If he was a plain swordsman, he would’ve resigned from the Light Wind division right away. He didn’t expect that he would be so glad to be old.

‘But at least this training isn’t simply painful.’

Raon wasn’t just pushing the Light Wind division into a corner.

As he said, practicing footwork on the way was an excellent way of training that could save time and fill the parts of training that were lacking at the same time, since they’d been mostly practicing swordsmanship so far.

Rimmer watched Raon and the Light Wind division with a refreshing smile on his face when a cheerful wind blew from the sky.

He raised his gaze and saw that a blue hawk was descending like lightning, as if it had found its prey.

Whoosh!

Rimmer extended his arm without being surprised in the slightest. The hawk rapidly decreased its speed mid-air as if it were pulling a stunt and smoothly landed on his forearm.

“A hawk from the Shadow Agents?”

Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at the hawk standing on Rimmer’s arm. Considering that the Shadow Agents sent a message when it hadn’t even been a day since their departure, something must’ve happened in Sinigan.

“Hmm…”

Rimmer caressed the hawk’s head before he took out the paper from its leg and started to read. His relaxed expression hardened in an instant.

“What’s the matter?”

Raon exhaled the rough breath from his lungs and approached Rimmer.

“You should read it yourself.”

Raon spread the paper Rimmer threw at him out. The message was just a single line, but the content was extremely heavy in comparison.

“The Sinigan branch has been annihilated?!”

The letter was stating that they should go to the Sinigan branch as fast as possible since everyone in the Sinigan branch had died.

“Annihilated?”

“But why?”

“Did the South-North Union attack them?”

The Light Wind division’s eyes were blazing in fury because a branch was also part of Zieghart.

“We are changing our approach.”

Raon used the heat to burn up the letter before he went to stand in front of the Light Wind division.

“Decrease the speed from now on and focus on recovering your body and aura. Manage yourselves so that you are always prepared to fight at peak condition.”

“Yes!”

The Light Wind swordsmen didn’t chat or complain anymore. They responded firmly and prudently caught their breath as if they were about to fight.

Raon gave a nod of satisfaction and took the lead.

“We aren’t resting until we reach Sinigan. Let’s go!”

* * *

What remained was a grotesque village, filled with blood over the fissured land. It looked like there had been an earthquake.

Raon furrowed his brow upon seeing that Sinigan Village, which once symbolized warmth, had turned into a scene from hell.

‘The branch wasn’t the only thing that was destroyed.’

On top of the Sinigan branch being destroyed, the entirety of Sinigan Village was destroyed.

There were no corpses in sight, but blood was leaking from every single house and wall that had been destroyed. It almost looked like a battlefield.

“This is so cruel…”

Burren’s eyes trembled as he gazed at a well that was stained with blood. The other swordsmen also recognized the gravity of the situation, biting their lips and unable to say anything.

“Haa…”

Raon blew away the scent of blood with his sigh and walked inside.

People who seemed to have lost their families were gathered around the village, and they were unable to enter because swordsmen with fiery eyes were blocking their path.

“What are those things?”

Martha knit her brows while looking at the swordsmen blocking the path.

“They are swordsmen from House Lakion.”

Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at the red lion emblem engraved on their chests.

“This branch and House Lakion are rather close. They must’ve come for reinforcement.”

Lakion was the vassal house located at the east of the Sinigan branch. Raon could guess that they came running to help as soon as they found out about the situation.

“Let’s enter.”

Raon shook his hand towards the Light Wind division and entered the village.

“You are the Light Wind division.”

House Lakion’s swordsmen lowered their heads upon seeing Zieghart’s emblem. The Shadow Agents must’ve already delivered a message.

“What even happened here?”

“We haven’t received accurate information yet either. Please come inside. We’ll guide you to our division leader.”

The swordsman raised his hand in a disciplined and respectful manner.

Raon nodded his chin and followed the swordsmen into the branch that looked like it had been bombarded.

There were lots of people inside, but the most noticeable one was the one-eyed middle-aged man standing at the center. Raon could feel a huge amount of energy from him.

“W-welcome!”

The black haired young man standing next to the middle-aged man came running toward him with a tearful expression on his face.

“Greetings, Light Wind division leader! Ah, and the Light Wind vice division leader, too!”

The black haired young man lowered his head towards Rimmer and Raon one after the other.

“I’m an information agent from the Sinigan branch called Gelf!”

He introduced himself as Gelf and lowered his head once again.

“You managed to survive.”

Raon breathed out a sigh of relief. It would’ve taken a long time if everyone was dead. That was why he was relieved that one person had survived, at least.

“What even happened here?”

“To be honest, I’m not too sure.”

Gelf swallowed regretfully and shook his head.

“What?”

“I delivered a letter to the head of House Lakion according to the branch manager’s order, and the br-branch was in this state when I returned.”

The tips of his fingers were trembling as he said that he didn’t know the exact circumstances either.

“Then who would he be…?”

Raon turned his gaze and looked at the one-eyed middle-aged man. He came up next to Gelf and lowered his head.

“My name is Beltz, from Lakion. I’m ashamed that we couldn’t prevent such a disaster despite living nearby.”

He couldn’t raise his head, as if he were really sorry about it.

‘So he is Beltz Lakion.’

Raon had heard about him before. He was a swordsman who had already become the successor of House Lakion, and he was an unrivaled monster in his area.

“Please explain what you know for now.”

Raon made them stand and told them that they should start by putting the situation together.

“We can’t be sure, but the group that we thought were bandits were probably the White Blood Religion.”

“White Blood Religion?”

Martha was the first person to react to Gelf. She stepped forward and leaned into Gelf’s space.

“What do you mean?! Why are you suddenly mentioning the White Blood Religion?”

“Th-that’s what we found out after examining the traces in this place.”

Gelf frantically shook his head and stepped back.

“All personnel in the branch and residents in the village have disappeared, but we could only find half of the corpses!”

He finished his sentence even though his lips were trembling.

“Moreover, many corpses left behind had traces of being bitten or being killed cruelly. I-it’s almost the same as the Wh-White Blood Religion’s bloody festival.”

“Kuh…”

Martha frowned while looking at the destroyed buildings of the branch and the village.

Raon gave a small nod while looking at the wall that had collapsed towards the inside of the office, and the blood scattered around like a fountain.

‘White Blood Religion… That might be the case.’

He did think that it might be the White Blood Religion’s doing instead of the South-North Union when he saw the destroyed buildings and scattered blood on the way.

However, it was necessary to check the remaining corpses in order to confirm that fact.

“Can I see the corpses?”

“Of course. Please come this way.”

Gelf nodded and went outside the branch.

Raon patted Martha’s shoulder, which was trembling in anger, and followed Gelf towards the training ground located outside the branch.

A black tarp was covering the ground, and the fact that it was protruding slightly implied that it was hiding corpses underneath.

Raon signaled with his gaze, and Krein and Dorian came forward from behind him to remove the tarp.

“Ugh!”

“What the hell…?”

“Those filthy blood demons!”

The Light Wind swordsmen bit their lips tightly while looking at the corpses that the tarp had been hiding.

Lots of corpses were heavily damaged to the point where the swordsmen who had experienced countless battles had difficulty looking at them. A few swordsmen even averted their gazes, unable to look at them.

Raon came closer instead and calmly examined the corpses.

‘It does certainly look like the White Blood Religion’s doing.’

There were almost no corpses that remained intact. The flesh being torn off was average, and many corpses had their limbs cut off or their heads and spines pulled out.

It did look similar to the bloody festival, which was a devouring of blood and flesh as an offering to the blood god.

Crack!

He gritted his back teeth and examined the closest corpse to him.

The corpse was a young woman. Her waist was cut apart by something sharp, and her neck looked like it was torn out by a wolf.

She had died without even closing her eyes, as if she had perished from a sudden attack.

Raon looked at the neck of the corpse and tilted his head. He turned around and looked up at Gelf and Beltz, his eyes full of doubt.

“This corpse is strange.”

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