Shadow's Oath

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Chapter 53: The Village Trial (3)

Descending the slope of Elum Village, Terdin asked,

“Before entering the final siege of Born Castle, do you remember the plague that was spreading?”

Aedun, who had been waiting at the base of the village hill and rushed to the general as soon as he arrived, smiled even in response to the sudden question.

“Of course, I remember.”

At that time, Aedun was not yet in the position of deputy commander, merely a knight barely allowed to attend strategy meetings.

“My superiors and subordinates alike were all terrified. The term Born Witch was openly spoken even by the commanders. Even you, General, resorted to threats you’d normally never make.”

“Indeed. I told them if the word witch was mentioned in the strategy meetings again, I’d behead them.”

It backfired.

Banning the word witch only made the commanders fear her more than ever.

It was a mistake.

To make up for it, Terdin pressed forward relentlessly.

“And then you ordered the advance, despite everyone calling it reckless. Back then, you said it was better to fear death than to fear the witch, didn’t you?”

Aedun spoke with reverence.

“If you’re too busy dodging arrows and swords right in front of you, there’s no time to be distracted by witches or magic…”

And so they won.

See? It wasn’t superstition but your swords and shields that brought us victory. The witch’s sorcery can’t kill us. Only our fear can.

Terdin believed he had provided his soldiers with a valuable experience.

But that was only Terdin’s delusion.

When they returned to the capital, strange rumors began circulating.

And now even Aedun was repeating them.

“…Yes, and on the very day we marched in, Archbishop Aikob offered prayers for victory. How could he so perfectly predict the date of our advance? I thought he was in direct communication with you, General, but no, he wasn’t!”

Aedun nodded repeatedly, as if still in awe.

“Did you think so as well?”

“Of course!”

As if he had found an opportunity to display his piety, Aedun made a gesture of prayer toward the Sun Cross and continued,

“Archbishop Aikob’s prayers reached the heavens, driving back the witch’s curses. Doesn’t that prove his prayers were more powerful than the witch’s sorcery?”

Terdin wanted to remind Aedun that his order to behead anyone who mentioned the witch had not been rescinded.

“The most frequent request among the soldiers during this war was for the archbishop’s prayers. It was exhausting turning them all down.”

Terdin could not tell Aedun or the soldiers to stop spewing nonsense.

He too planned to visit the sanctuary as soon as the war was over.

He would pray, giving thanks for their survival and for the ability to fulfill the will of the divine.

He would praise that all of this was the will of the heavens.

…But was that really true?

If so, what was the meaning of the trumpet sound that shook the skies back then?

And what did the recently erupted volcano signify?

Was the young slave who ended the endless war a gift sent by the heavens?

He had to be.

Otherwise…what explanation could there be?

“For that reason, seeing the archbishop accompany His Majesty this time was moving. When they departed, we hadn’t yet achieved victory, but he showed up, didn’t he?”

Aedun marveled, while Terdin lamented inwardly.

‘Why does that man always appear only at victorious moments? If that’s divine fortune, then so be it.’

Sure enough, the soldiers praised Aikob’s sanctity.

They flocked daily to receive even a drop of the holy water he distributed near his tent.

They were desperate to hear his “effective prayers,” even borrowing their war rewards in advance to make donations.

Before long, a donation box appeared outside the archbishop’s tent.

“Donations to the archbishop are sacred religious activities, but ritual duels to appease Akamantum’s wrath are barbaric superstition?”

Terdin accidentally muttered his thoughts aloud and hastily shut his mouth.

He was not one to talk to himself, but it had become a recent habit.

Looking at the grim tactical map, such words escaped him involuntarily.

“What was that, sir?”

Aedun, perplexed, couldn’t understand how the general’s recent comment connected to the conversation.

“Of course, duels that lead to death are barbaric!”

“But we too once held trials by combat in the name of the divine.”

Until the Empire’s church banned it a century ago, such duels were called holy.

“There is only one true divine being. The gods of the heretics are false and nonexistent. Naturally, duels fought in their name are meaningless.”

Aedun emphasized the word naturally.

Anyone in the Kingdom of Trittan would say the same.

A knight like Aedun, who had sworn allegiance to the church, would say it even more fervently.

In his younger days, Terdin would have agreed with him.

He felt weary.

He wanted to stop this talk of religion and focus on organizing the battlefield.

“What’s the scout’s report?”

Terdin asked while observing Prince Damion returning to the temporary camp.

Ram followed behind him, but Jedrick was nowhere to be seen.

Although the negotiations from yesterday’s feast were complete, Jedrick would remain hostage until they were fully executed.

But Damion had left him behind.

Ikarum hadn’t even mentioned Jedrick’s fate during the negotiations.

It was as if Jedrick had no value as a hostage from the beginning.

The real hostage was the village of Elum itself.

If Terdin’s army retreated now, Elum and the two other surrendered villages would become targets for the other seven villages.

If the seven allied together and captured the three villages, they’d have to fight the entire war over again.

The war wasn’t over yet.

Moreover, scouts reported that the Tagda tribe, known to be the most belligerent among the seven, had not fully withdrawn but was lingering nearby.

“The Tagda forces are still a day away. It seems they suddenly stopped while returning to their village.”

Aedun lowered his voice.

“How large is the force?”

“Not significant enough to cause concern. By our standards, about two units.”

“Does Captain Rusef know?”

Terdin watched as Rusef led Charlon away.

She briefly resisted her brother but soon bid farewell to Damion and followed him.

“He does. If we stay here for more than a day, he’ll want to bring his entire order of knights. Yesterday, too…”

Aedun shrugged as if to say you know what I mean and continued.

“…his affection for Charlon is extraordinary. He’d do anything to protect her.”

“They hadn’t seen each other for years until now, so naturally, he’s protective.”

“With such a beautiful younger sister, wouldn’t any brother be like that?”

“You don’t have a sister, do you?”

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“What? No, I don’t, but…”

Aedun trailed off.

Stopped their retreat?

And only one tribe among the seven?

Terdin’s head spun more than during the bleak days when defeat loomed.

“Send more scouts. Find out where the Tagda tribe and the other six tribes are. Did they return to their villages? Move elsewhere? Are they lying in ambush? I want to know.”

“Yes, sir.”

At that moment, a mounted messenger was galloping toward the camp from a short distance away.

Upon spotting Terdin, the rider changed direction.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“Isn’t that one of our scouts?”

Aedun quickly identified the rider.

“No, that’s not one of mine. Looks like a courier from the main camp.”

Terdin glanced back toward Elum Village.

Even now, he wanted to mount his horse and confront Ikarum.

‘What are you scheming? What was the point of requesting the king’s duel earlier? Did you really think the prince would agree? Even if we lose the war and accept conquerors, were you trying to show the villagers that we hadn’t truly been defeated? Was it just for show?’

Terdin shook his head.

‘If that were the case, he should’ve said so when the first volcano erupted. But instead, he waited until the second eruption. Was that really just a coincidence?’

One thing was clear: Ikarum couldn’t have intended for the volcano to erupt.

Unless, of course, he had some kind of sorcery that could cause volcanic eruptions…

Terdin’s thoughts were interrupted as the courier arrived and began reporting.

“General, I bring news.”

“Speak.”

“Archbishop Aikob is on his way.”

“Who?”

“Archbishop Aikob, sir.”

Terdin wanted to ask again, as if he were a deaf old man.

‘Who?’

But he held back, a question forming in his mind instead.

“There’s no reason for him to come here.”

“It was a sudden decision made last night. Preparations began at dawn, and he departed immediately. That’s why I could only report now.”

‘The old man still has energy. Is it because old people don’t sleep much?’

Without much thought, Terdin gave instructions.

“Prepare to receive the Archbishop and inform the prince.”

As the courier hesitated, unsure of where to go, Terdin directed,

“Lieutenant, guide him to the prince.”

“Yes, General. But the Archbishop is truly something else. If he departed at dawn, that was even before the volcano erupted. How did he know to come?”

Aedun’s comment puzzled Terdin, who asked,

“What does the volcano have to do with anything?”

“There’s talk among the knights that the volcanic eruption caused all this business about trial by combat. Some even criticize the prince, saying he was too intimidated by barbarians. If Archbishop Aikob were to denounce such practices as heretical, it would surely quell the discontent.”

“The Archbishop didn’t predict the volcano and come here for that. He must have had another reason for coming. But once he hears about the eruption, he’ll undoubtedly use it to his advantage, claiming it as divine will and tying it to his holiness…”

“That’s the role of priests, isn’t it? To discern whether a coincidence is divine will or not.”

With a devout expression, Aedun left to guide the courier.

‘That’s just another way of saying they exploit coincidences,’

Thought Terdin, startling himself with the realization.

‘Exploit coincidences?’

Once again, Terdin looked back at Elum Village.

‘Ikarum couldn’t have caused two volcanic eruptions. But he might’ve used the opportunity created by the eruption to further his plans.’

Terdin had always thought of Ikarum as an emotional, belligerent warrior.

But since yesterday, he’d started to have doubts.

Could Ikarum be deliberately acting recklessly to make others underestimate him, all while being far more calculating than anyone suspected?

‘Coincidence is just coincidence. It’s neither divine will nor some prophecy of Hag. Ikarum is simply using coincidence to his advantage.’

Terdin noticed faint black clouds darkening the northern sky.

It was too distant to confirm, but it looked like volcanic smoke.

While it wouldn’t reach here, it was ominous enough to unsettle people.

‘But what did he do? He hasn’t used the coincidence for anything yet.’

Suddenly, Terdin found it suspicious that Jedrick hadn’t returned from the village.

His aging eyes couldn’t spot where Jedrick might be among the houses on the hill.

He only knew Jedrick had gone somewhere with Ikarum in the last moments.

At the time, he’d let it slide.

But now, it struck him that someone who had been held captive in their camp had gone back to his village, met his chieftain, and then returned.

If Jedrick were acting openly as a spy, there would be no way to stop him.

‘What could Ehodin hope to gain from a king’s duel? Humiliate the conquerors? Put forth their strongest warrior to defeat the strongest in the South? Boost morale and pride in the village? But the war is already over. What would they gain by killing one of our knights?’

Terdin realized he’d overlooked something obvious precisely because it was so blatant.

‘No, Ikarum wasn’t trying to kill a southern knight. He’s not an idiot. He knows the prince is the one who can protect him. He planned to achieve his goals while treating the prince with the utmost respect.’

Although Ikarum provoked the southern knights, the person he pointed out for the duel was oddly not a knight.

Rather than asking who the strongest southern knight was, he had deliberately chosen someone specific.

It was in that moment, when he could no longer hide his true purpose, that his intentions were revealed.

‘Ikarum was trying to kill Ram.’

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