Chapter 101 – The Snowstorm Arrives (5)

“Argh… you crazy bastard! What on earth are you doing all of a sudden!”

Yan, kneeling before me, shouted in spite.

Yes, Yan was still alive. Because I had shot his thigh, not his head or heart.

There were three reasons for not killing him immediately.

The first was to guarantee my own life by taking Yan hostage, and the second was to avoid unnecessary killings that would occur between the two forces.

And the remaining third was what would happen from now on.

“You will find out what I have done starting from now.”

“What…?!”

Bang, bang, bang!

Using Yan, who was groaning in pain, as a shield, I poured all the bullets into the air, leaving only the last round. Then, as if they had been waiting, some things appeared.

“Stop, rebel! Who do you dare point that at!”

“You crazy bastard…! Was Lord Yan’s word that you were trying to swallow the ember really all true?”

“Yes, that was also why you secretly studied magic engineering. Because if you kill your father, Lord Demian, there will be no one to manage the Eternal Embers! To take his place!”

The hunters and leadership members who had been hiding like rats rushed out, occupying all directions. They surrounded me, armed with mana guns and bows.

They had precarious faces that looked as if they would pull the trigger or draw the bowstring at any moment, but they could not do so in the end. Because the mana gun in my hand was touching the head of Yan, whom they followed so much.

I spoke.

“They hid a lot. Seeing them babbling incomprehensible words about swallowing the ember and killing Demian, it seems the instigation was even worse than that.”

Indeed, people were extremely excited by my sudden action.

Partly because of the fact that Yan was shot, but the focus was on the fact that my conspiracy, which he must have made up, was revealed as truth at this moment.

Then Yan, gritting his teeth in pain, said with a fishy smile as if it were rather a good thing.

“Thanks to you shooting me, all suspicions about you have been revealed as facts. You created the justification to kill yourself on your own. It means there is no longer anything holding us back from killing you. Was this what you were trying to show?”

“…”

“Foolish bastard. No matter how much you fly and crawl, it is only in magic engineering. If you thought you could be my match with this ember as the stage, it is a big mistake. Even your father could not defeat me!”

He was clearly welcoming this situation. Rather than killing and getting rid of me without a sound, he considered that obtaining a clear justification to kill me, even if it meant being seriously injured, was important for his future rule.

And just now, I had created that justification with my own hands.

Yes, justification. That damn justification.

I threw the words back at Yan, who did not know that I had not killed him to obtain that justification, and that he was alive because of it.

“Foolish bastard. Do you not know that the reason you are alive is precisely because of that justification?”

“…What?”

“You asked what I was trying to show? You will see what it is starting from now.”

It was right when I yanked Yan’s hair back.

“What is all this…?”

“L-Lord Yan? A-Aylen?”

“H-Hey. What are you guys doing? Why is the entire hunting squad out in the middle of the night, and why are you armed?”

People poured out of the shelters in crowds. In the snowy backdrop, the gunshot of the mana gun resonated loudly like the exhaust sound echoing in a tunnel, and at that sound, the citizens all came outside.

No, it could not be said to be all of them. Because the door of the leadership shelter, which was probably being controlled, was firmly closed.

So, those who came out at this moment were the citizens of the magic engineering department and the hunting squad shelters. In other words, they were only those who could not be called Yan’s unconditional supporters. Since such supporters had already been selected and assigned to the leadership shelter, Yan had effectively tied his own hands and feet.

“Now everyone has come to watch. Everyone except your side.”

What Yan had initially designed was Aylen Vale, a shameless rebel who tried to kill the leader without anyone knowing in a situation where only the two of them remained.

However, contrary to the original design, the situation turned into Aylen Vale, who had no choice but to take him hostage to survive the leader’s scheme mobilizing the armed hunting squad.

“Was it really only you who needed a justification?”

“…!”

Although Yan was skilled at controlling his expression, even he could not hide his inner thoughts this time, as his face crumpled heavily.

He also realized that the turning situation had become ambiguous.

However, though young in age, he was a shrewd politician.

“Do you think anything will change because of this? You and I are both cornered. Unless you convince them of what is real, nothing changes. And you have no evidence, nor any witnesses.”

It was just as he said.

It became important what the situation was—whether I had noticed Yan’s scheme and taken him hostage, or whether the hunting squad had rushed out upon noticing that I was trying to kill Yan.

In that sense, it was an unfavorable fight for me. Because there were no eyewitnesses to take my side.

Jeremy, Natasha, and others might be there, but since they were hiding in the background to guard me, they could not be witnesses.

On the other hand, Yan was different. Since the hunters who unconditionally followed him, though few in number, existed as the sole eyewitnesses of this matter.

Moreover, even if not blindly, the citizens were basically favorable toward Leader Yan. Even if the situation had tilted, it meant it was still advantageous to Yan.

Yan made the first move.

“Citizens! A moment ago, Aylen summoned me, saying there was something urgent we needed to discuss in private regarding the Eternal Embers, and when I came out, he tried to kill me! However, Hunting Captain Archer, who found it suspicious, appeared leading the hunting squad, and now Aylen has taken me hostage to preserve his life!”

The surroundings fell into a buzz. The people asked if that was really so, and the hunting squad replied that it was indeed so.

Yan was looking back at me with eyes asking what I would do now. He seemed confident that he would be the one dominating this situation from beginning to end.

However, he overlooked one thing.

That among the five hundred people he assigned to the leadership shelter, there were those who were close to me.

“It’s all a lie. A lie!”

Two people who had been mixed in the hunting squad with hoods on suddenly stepped into the center. When they unstrung their bows and took off their hoods to reveal their identities, everyone could not hide their questions at the unexpected faces.

“Thomas, Willus?”

“Why are the Wayne brothers there…?”

Thomas Wayne and Willus Wayne.

The Wayne brothers, whom the leadership had carefully groomed, were precisely the ones who would be my mouthpieces.

“All of this is a conspiracy of Yan, the leadership, and the hunting squad. They have been fully prepared for a long time for the dictatorship of the ember. That is precisely why they excessively checked Demian and the magic engineering department, and trying to kill Aylen was also to nip him in the bud lest there be a setback in their plans. And it is the same for why our ember’s population did not grow…”

The situation began to change rapidly. The Wayne brothers were clearly on the side of the leadership, yet they were taking my side.

To put it simply, the Wayne brothers had become whistleblowers and were making a declaration of conscience.

“There is no way…”

At first, the people did not believe the words of the two. Because Yan had built up his public image as a man of character for as long as twenty years.

However, the Wayne brothers’ nineteen-year-old story had the power to shatter that image.

However, there was one strange thing in the Wayne brothers’ words.

“Thomas, the population not growing is because of the leadership? What does that mean?”

Demian asked with a stiffened face.

Population meant labor, and labor meant survival capability, so the statement that the population did not grow due to the leadership was not an issue to be dismissed lightly.

“I will explain that.”

It was precisely when that question arose that I stepped forward.

“Most of the people who come in search of our ember are those attracted by the reputation of the next Grand Magic Engineer, Demian Vale, just as you all were. Thus, Yan Casellos has intentionally regulated the inflow of outsiders to prevent the magic engineering department head’s supporters from increasing.”

“Aylen, how was that possible? Our ember is a place that has neither the manpower nor the margin for that.”

Whether he did not want to believe such shocking news, or considered it practically impossible, Demian spoke as if defending Yan.

However, through the facts heard directly from the Wayne brothers and the documents Natasha smuggled out, I knew that Yan had intentionally controlled the population. Such as manipulating signposts set up on the snowfield, or telling refugees he happened to meet to take other paths.

And that frequent direct and indirect acts of murder occurred in that process…

Having laid out those cruel stories, I continued after a brief silence.

“Was it not strange that our ember’s population, where that Demian resides, did not grow further? Do you really think it is a coincidence that it did not even become a small town, despite being an ember that receives aid from the First Ember?”

“…”

“It is not. All of this is an intended outcome, and those who led it were Leader Yan Casellos and Hunting Captain Archer Fordham. The reason they tried to kill me was also because I learned of this fact.”

“…!”

Once I spoke to that point, the situation came to an end.

“Archer, is it true? Is everything he said really true!”

“Say something… say something! Did you really commit such a terrible thing?”

“There is no way. There is no way…”

The people grabbed Archer’s collar demanding the truth, but he merely stared at them in silence with trembling eyes.

Although he was also a person who had attached himself to Yan, he was not rotten to the core, and since the citizens were also no different from family to him, a shred of conscience remained.

“I, I… I am sorry…”

As he, the captain, laid down his weapon and admitted his guilt, the muzzles and bowstrings of the members pointed at me also lowered to the ground.

Now, for them to overturn this fight, they would have to kill or subjugate everyone in this place. However, how could they do that when their families, friends, and lovers, whom they had lived with for twenty years, were here?

Although it was said they harbored bad intentions, they were not ones capable of committing such ruthless slaughter.

Thus, I pressed the mana gun against the forehead of the kneeling Yan. It was time to pass judgment.

“Rebels of the ember are dealt with by summary execution. Do you have any last words?”

This guy was a murderer. Even if he did not dirty his own hands, he was a murderer who led people who had risked their lives to cross the boundless great snow for days into a mirage.

Yet even if he was a murderer who hid his black heart, the fact that he had worked for the ember for twenty years did not change.

Although things turned out this way now, whether he was sincere or not, he had cared for the citizens of this ember with all his heart and soul.

Even for the sake of the citizens watching his end, it was right to give him time for a final statement.