Apocalypse Hunter

< Curse Play (Part 4) >

She is safe, then… That’s good news.

The SMCP fortress was unable to pursue Charlotte because of the surprise attack, and Charlotte seemed to have escaped from the Korean Peninsula safely.

“The captain was looking down at the soldier and started to arm wrestle with him. The captain gave so many stupid excuses after he lost the arm wrestling. Phew, we were lucky that the soldier was a gentle person. We were all so anxious…”

It seemed like the captain tried to pick a fight with Charlotte. Zin didn’t know Charlotte too well, but she didn’t seem to be someone who would get into trouble. It appeared that she had left the castle quietly. And obviously, she had no time to waste getting caught in a fight.

“But anyways, he was looking for someone.”

As the resident talked, Zin was surprised. “He was looking for someone?”

Charlotte had to hurry back to headquarters, and was not in a situation to search for somebody.

“Yeah, so he didn’t stay too long and left soon after replenishing food. Hmm… what did he say then…”

The resident was thinking hard for a while, and then he snapped his fingers as he remembered. “He said that he was looking for a ‘hunter who uses a dark sword’.”

The hunter who wielded a dark sword was Zin. Leona was also surprised.

“I don’t who know who he was, but that’s a pity. If the Wargrave is looking for him, that can’t be good…”

Is Charlotte looking for me?

It was possible that she needed Zin’s help for an urgent matter.

Zin asked the resident, “Was the soldier’s hair blonde?”

The resident shook his head and replied, “Blonde? No, he had dark hair. I remember him being a sharp-looking man with a tidy uniform. He looked like a cold-hearted man, though.”

The resident looked at Zin and said, “Is that soldier looking for you, o sorcerer?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure about that.”

Zin knew Charlotte, but he didn’t know who the dark-haired soldier was. The dark sword that the resident talked about was Zin’s Phantomvein.

In the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula, the only people who had seen Zin use Phantomvein were Charlotte, Leona, and the White Witch.

No… actually there’s one more.

That was not all. Zin thought about the fight with the White Witch, and remembered that there was one person at the battle scene. There was a soldier who was overpowering the witch. During the last moment when Zin shot the witch, the arms and the legs of the soldier had been crushed. Zin thought that the soldier was killed when the witch’s power exploded.

But the soldier had received a megaframe procedure, and it was very possible that he had survived… and the soldier whom Zin saw through the rifle scope had dark hair. He had engaged in the battle with the witch in a very calm and cool manner.

Is he looking for me?

Zin didn’t know his name, but the only person who would possibly be looking for him was that soldier.

As Zin was thinking with a serious look in his face, the resident grew frightened. Leona tapped his shoulder and pointed towards the door.

The resident left, and only Zin and Leona were left in the inn.

Zin left earlier than Ramphil, but since he was travelling with Leona, his pace was slower. They had rested at different places for a couple of days. It seemed like the dark-haired Wargrave soldier was pursuing Zin.

“Oh man…” Leona muttered.

“That’s troublesome.”

“… that’s right.”

As Zin and Leona made some stops to take a rest, Ramphil had passed Zin.

It was a situation that was hard to explain. Zin thought about the reasons why Ramphil might be looking for him, and determined that it was not going to be dangerous to meet with him.

“Hmm… we may come across him.”

It didn’t matter much for Zin whether he met Ramphil or not. He was getting tired after a long day working as a psychic reader. Leona was organizing all the things that people brought in to pay him. She placed the fabrics in the pile of fabric, and grains in the pile of grains. She also took the items that had no monetary value aside.

Although the residents were living in a castle, they possessed quite a fortune. Zin earned quite a bit of money, and he was wondering if he should change his job to a psychic reader.

Leona sighed and said, “They say people in the castle share all their wealth, but it looks like they get to keep their own wealth.”

“Let’s rest up. We will have more visitors coming tomorrow.”

Until the guard captain gave up, Zin was going to work as a psychic reader in the meantime.

—–

The next day, an accident happened at the morning roll call time. The guard captain who should be gathering all the residents and starting the roll call didn’t show up at all.

The lord asked, “Where’s the captain?”

One of the guards answered with a trembling voice, “Well… he is not coming out from his room.”

“He is not coming out of the room?”

“I don’t think anything is wrong with him, but…”

Everybody knew that the captain was acting weird because he was terrified of the curse. The lord was speechless and shook her head. That morning, she went ahead and performed the roll call herself.

Zin said, “He should be coming soon.” Leona smiled with her mouth covered. Today was the third day…!

As Zin expected, after finish eating the breakfast, the captain came running to Zin. He was extremely terrified, and he looked like he was about to pass out at any moment. His eyes were red, and Zin figured that he did not get any sleep last night.

Most likely, he was in panic while imagining how he would get killed. And in fact, he had gone through many horrifying and inexplicable accidents.

He was certain that he could die at any given moment!

“Remove this curse from me!”

“You said that you didn’t believe in the curse. If you die tomorrow, I will win the bet, and if you don’t die, you’ll win the bet. Are you going to give up with only one more day left? That’s a shame.”

“Remove it right now!”

“Are you admitting defeat?”

Zin taunted and mocked the captain, and the captain trembled with anger. Zin was not going to remove the curse until the captain gave up, and the captain strongly believed that he was going to die at midnight tomorrow.

Blind faith was easily disproved, and once the blind faith was disproved, a person would start to believe in another thing.

“I lost. Sorcery is for real, and you are a real sorcerer. So remove the curse!”

“Removing the curse is pretty simple. You need to hold this anti-curse item with you.” Zin took out a wooden doll made out of the wooden block.

“This will take away the curse from you-”

“Give that to me!” the captain yelled desperately, and was ready to take the doll away from Zin. But as the captain stretched out his hand, Zin grabbed and twisted his arm.

“Arg! Aaaaaaaarrgh!”

“Watch your hands, fella. I have something to say to you too, you know?”

—Bam!—

Zin pushed the captain back, and he was thrown down on the ground. Zin stared and looked down at the captain.

“I am a sorcerer, and a hunter as well. And you tried to cheat me of a hunter’s reward.” Zin smiled and waved the anti-curse item in front of him. “In such situations, hunters usually negotiate for ‘extra fees’.”

It meant that there was going to be an extra charge. The lord was not able to pay Zin the rest of the reward, as the captain was against it.

“This item will cost you 100 chips,” Zin said as he waved the doll. It was an outrageous price for a chiseled wooden block.

“What! How could you…”

“Don’t like it? Then get lost and die.”

The captain was astonished at the expensive cost for the anti-curse item. “I don’t even have that many chips!”

“That is not my problem.”

The captain had two options. He could wait and die, or pay 100 chips for the anti-curse item. Zin had no intention of letting the captain get off the hook so easily. Leona looked at Zin and smiled bitterly.

He is one nasty hunter…

And Leona liked that specific trait of Zin. Leona and Zin were not the type of people who would allow others to take advantage of them.

But the guard captain only stared at Zin. “I see. If that’s the case…” The captain might have become a person who was now afraid of the sorcery, but he was still the same bully.

“Guards!” he yelled. He was in charge of overseeing the area, and he did not have to pay the 100 chips. He was probably planning to steal the item by force.

“What a moron,” Zin sighed, and stood up slowly.

—Thump!—

“Get him! And take that item away from h-”

“Stop it! Right now!”

“… my lord…”

The lord came in with the guards. She was extremely angry, and stopped the guards from doing anything.

“I heard that you have a slush fund from embezzling chips from storage. Why don’t you pay him right now?”

“Lord! What nonsense are you talking about? Do you have any proof of that…?”

The lord frowned at the captain’s excuses.

—Flap! —

She took off her apron, and slowly walked up to the captain while rolling up her sleeves. She looked like a beast slowly approaching its prey.

—Slap! —

“Ack!”

She slapped him in the face. The lord’s arms were bulging, and she was staring at the captain, ready to kick his butt.

“I have been too lenient on you.”

“W, What…”

“I am this castle’s lord. And you are a guard captain who is neglecting his duties.”

Everybody knew about it, but it was problem that people didn’t talk about.

“Keep this in mind.” The lord talked to the captain as she looked down on him. “Everything in Jule is mine. Nobody will eat a single potato without my permission.”

The lord let the people have their own way until now. She allowed the people to keep some wealth to themselves. But a lord was still a lord. She made sure that the captain knew that only she was the owner of the castle.

“Take him out and tie him up.”

“Yes, my lord!”

At the words of the lord, the guards moved in quickly and apprehended the captain. Because the captain was putting pressure on the lord, the lord came to the inn as soon as she heard that the captain conceded to Zin.

The lord was also looking for the right time to fire the captain.

She started talking to Zin.

“I will prepare your reward right away. How much is that anti-curse item?”

“It’s 100 chips.”

“Okay, I will pay you 500 chips in total. Please give that to me.”

Zin passed her the item, and the lord put it in her pocket.”Thank you, hunter.”

“It looks like you don’t plan to use it?”

“That’s right.”

It was an extra payment from the lord. She was not planning to give the item to the captain. She was going to take out her political enemy with the help of Zin. The extra 100 chips was a reward for that help.

As gentle as she was, she was still a lord. She was the owner of the castle, and she was not going to allow anyone challenging her power to live.

—

Later that day, the lord stopped all scheduled tasks, and made an announcement to the residents of the castle.

“The guard captain has been disobeying to my orders continuously, and he has been misusing the chips of Jule. This time around, he did not trust my decisions. The hunter that I hired turned out to be a real sorcerer, and the captain has admitted this fact as well.”

The lord held a leather whip that was made of a monster’s leather. The captain was tied to a execution platform, and he was gagged and unable to speak.

The curse play became a method to prove who was right between the lord and the captain, and the captain lost.

The loser paid the cost of the loss. The lord stood on top of the execution platform and talked to the residents.

“My decision is absolute.”

The residents were terrified when they saw the seemingly gentle lord shouted out with anger.

“And even when my decision is incorrect, you will need to follow my direction!”

The most important thing that a lord had to do was establish their authority. A castle would be unstable if the lord did not have the authority to rule the castle. And the best method to establish authority in a small group of people was the display of force.

The lord proclaimed with a serious expression, “The captain challenged my authority, embezzled the property of Jule, and neglected his duties. For his crime, I sentence one hundred lashes as punishment.”

—Crack! —

“Mmmffffph!!!”

As soon as the whip cracked, the captain moaned in great pain, and the residents were all astonished at what they were seeing.

—Crack! —

“Arrrrgh!!”

The lord executed the punishment herself. Without anyone else’s help, she whipped the captain. All the residents watched him get lashed mercilessly.

The captain displayed his ambition to become a lord, and the lord sensed his ambition. She was not planning to let the captain live after the start of the curse play.

The lord was punishing the captain, and warning everyone at the same time.

Do not challenge me or disobey my orders. You will end up like him. I will punish you and kill you publicly.

A hundred lashes meant sure death. It wasn’t easy for the one executing the punishment, either. The lord was soaked with sweat, but she did not slow down the whipping.

After the first seven lashes, the captain lost consciousness. His back was ripped apart, with blood all over the place, but the lord did not stop whipping.

After the next twenty or so lashes, nobody thought that the captain would still be alive at that point. However, the residents had to remain and watch the scene. The residents were terrified to see the lord lash the dead body another seventy times.

The children were so scared that they did not dared not cry out loud. The residents felt terror, and a tangible and visual dread.

After the hundredth whip, the lord was soaked with sweat, and her white clothes were stained with blood.

The residents did not think that the woman who had lashed the dead body over and over again was a human at all. Leona was watching the unusual scene with her eyes open wide.

This was the reality of the environment of a castle. A lord cannot be too nice, and had to appear as an untouchable being.

The lord threw away the whip, and bluntly ordered, “Dismissed!”

At the lord’s command, all the residents ran away from the execution platform. The captain’s body was motionless, and to Zin’s eyes, none of his bones seemed to be sound. The guards took down the body of the captain, and dragged it off somewhere.

The lord came down from the platform, and walked over to Zin.

“I will bring the rewards to your room. Please take them.”

“That was quite brutal.”

The execution was brutal to the captain, residents, and to the lord herself. The lord smiled at Zin’s comment.

“Don’t you think that was necessary?” She had to brutally carry out the execution. Zin understood why it had to be done without saying anything, and Leona figured it out as well.

Zin nudged Leona who seemed to be out of it. “Let’s get ready to leave.”

“… Okay.”

There was nothing left to do in the castle of Jule.