Turning Chapter 762

Chapter 762

In the ensuing days, the hours passed in a blur, too quick to even catch one's breath. When night fell and Yuder arrived at Kishiar's lodging, an involuntary tension swelled within him. However, the man who had insisted on Yuder staying by his side simply smiled as usual.

"It was a tiring day, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Shall we rest first?"

"..."

He didn’t press Yuder to speak about his dreams, as if he knew that Yuder wasn’t yet ready to talk. Perhaps because of this consideration, that night Yuder dreamt of nothing.

The following days were much the same.

Yuder's mind gradually calmed. Watching the man issuing relentless commands to the Cavalry members, he thought to himself.

'Yes, I must have dreamt that due to the stress of the many battles we fought, and my worry about Kishiar's injury. Still, I can't be completely at ease yet... But, it’s a relief not to be continually disturbed.'

"Yuder!"

Just then, someone called him from not too far away. Turning, he saw Yergin Schiller, a member from the southern branch. Since the recent major battle where she had assisted Yuder, she had become friendlier, but now she approached him with an unusually serious expression.

"I thought I recognized some faces outside. The ones who protested in front of our branch before are back, aren't they? They said they were summoned here this time. Is that true?"

"Yes, the Commander called them. Don't worry, just let them in."

Kishiar's reason for summoning them was straightforward. The branch alone couldn't handle both the monster aftermath and administrative tasks from the battle. The work had to be delegated, typically to those who owed the branch.

'And, I'm planning to assign some other tasks to the mages as well.'

Hearing Yuder's explanation, Yergin smiled slyly.

“I see. Got it. I was a little scared, thinking they might start a new dispute with polite lies, but there was no need for that.”

Wind attribute Awakeners from his past life were known to be more mischievous than other attribute users, and Yergin Schiller fit this stereotype perfectly. Known for her antics within the Cavalry, if she had really ‘slightly’ intimidated them, there was a high chance that they would have been terrified enough to wet themselves. But Yuder simply said,

"Just bring them in cleanly."

"Aww, of course. Would I bring guests to the Cavalry in tears and snot? How could someone as delicate and weak as me do such a thing?"

"…"

"Ahh, that didn't work. As expected of the Baron."

What did his baronial title have to do with this? Seeing him not responding, Yergin shook her head and then lowered her voice, "Oh, and there's one more thing to report."

"The Southerners who were brought in unconscious are now awake. They've been fed and treated, so we can start the investigation."

"Really? How are their health and attitude?"

As Hern reported, the priests sent by Lady Herne said they were beaten up pretty badly but miraculously didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries, so they should be fine. The guys from Star of Nagran are noisy compared to the Southerners who are unpleasantly quiet. They’re under close surveillance except for meal times, in case they decide to die on their own. That… Reneve? She’s also been keeping a close eye on them.”

Indeed, as Yergin described, the attitudes of the captives from the Star of Nagran and the Southern merchants, though captured in the same raid, were starkly different. The Awakeners from the Star of Nagran, mostly having followed without fully understanding why they were involved in this, were quite noisy and disorganized. Their only commonality was a stubborn silence when asked about who had hired them.

'Surely, this is the aftermath of brainwashing to protect the sage,' he thought.

On the other hand, the Southern merchants had been extremely quiet since regaining consciousness. Their silence, despite surely being curious about their situation, suggested they had some level of training and knew how to respond to such circumstances.

"It's good you made sure they didn't die. The Commander and I will start the interrogation later, so keep watching them until then. If you notice anything suspicious, let me know immediately."

"Understood. Finally, you and the Commander are stepping in. Those guys haven’t said a word to us, which was really frustrating. It's a relief."

After saying this, Yergin didn't immediately leave but glanced somewhere else. Her gaze fell upon Kishiar La Orr, whom Yuder had just been observing. He was currently in conversation with the Captain of the Charloin security force, Kurga, Sunz, and Emon.

The Captain, possibly having heard something beforehand from Baron Jacob, was excessively polite, his eyes flitting between Kurga, Sunz, and Kishiar's waist. It was not hard to guess his thoughts.

‘It seems that the security force is quite bothered by the fact that they didn’t cooperate with Kurga’s party. Plus, the divine sword Kishiar wielded seems to invoke both curiosity and fear.'

It appeared that fear was slightly more predominant. Fortunately, this made the conversation flow smoothly, which was a relief.

"People's hearts are as fickle as the wind," Yergin murmured, pouting her lips.

"When we tried to deal with them kindly, they took us lightly. But now, after demonstrating overwhelming power, they're scared and polite. Still, I don't understand why they are so reluctant to trust the Commander."

Yuder turned to look at her, and sensing his thoughts, Yergin waved her hand and added,

"Well, I wasn't entirely convinced at first either. I could accept the divine sword, but there hasn't been a case of a swordmaster Awakener. But how can I not believe it when the evidence is right in front of my eyes? Maybe it's more because of Sir Nathan Zuckerman? He used aura too, right?"

Her guess was somewhat accurate.

While Kishiar had fought using both the divine sword and aura, he wasn’t the only one to use aura that day. The biggest reason people still looked at Kishiar's waist with expressions like that of the Captain was likely due to the confusion stemming from the rumors about Nathan Zuckerman.

Kishiar had already anticipated this turn of events and had shown a rather pleased reaction.

'If news of this battle spreads, the fact that both Nathan and I used aura will become known. If there was only one swordmaster, it might have been believable, but two appearing simultaneously seems too unrealistic, making people more likely to think it's a fabrication. On the other hand, they can't completely dismiss the possibility that it might be true, and this uncertainty will give us more freedom to operate.'

However, the rumor of two aura users emerging actually aided in quelling the existing rumors about Kishiar being the new owner of the divine sword. The prior debates over whether Kishiar was the rightful successor to the divine sword suddenly receded in the face of this more shocking revelation.

Of course, these rumors were still confined to the south and would take some time to reach the capital. Nonetheless, ultimately, they would contribute to proving that Kishiar indeed possessed the qualifications to be the owner of the divine sword.

Initially, Kishiar only revealed the divine sword to the public, and later, he demonstrated his own powerful mastery of the sword, thereby rendering the previous doubts relatively insignificant and factualizing the truth. This approach was much more cunning than revealing everything at once, piercing through people's petty minds and perceptions effectively.

Yuder, keeping all these thoughts to himself, quietly responded,

"...No need to worry. Eventually, everyone will understand what kind of person the Commander is, and what the Cavalry really stands for."

At this, Yergin's face brightened considerably.

"Is that so? Hearing your confirmation makes me feel better."

According to his memory, in his previous life, Yergin was one of many who left in disappointment when rumors spread that Yuder, after becoming the Commander, had killed Kishiar. However, this time, Kishiar successfully revealed his power to the world, and the Cavalry was doing the same, so such a situation was unlikely to occur again.

Yuder quietly gazed at Kishiar's retreating figure, exhaling deeply.

He then once again pushed away the lingering image of white gloves from his mind.