77. You’ve Made a Good Marriage
The lush forest was ablaze.
It was the result of the fire spell cast by Andres, the 8th Circle mage.
Attacking from all sides while the enemy was in chaos were the swordsmen of the Cheonrang Sword Clan, who had been lying in wait.
They had not been detected by the enemy, even though they had checked ahead, because Huanwang had disguised them with an illusion spell.
The swordsmen were all wearing black clothes, which had two purposes.
First, it was to confuse the enemy.
The enemy had been on edge, wary of the men in black.
They were bound to be bewildered if dozens of men in black suddenly appeared.
Second, it was to protect themselves from the flames.
The black clothes they were wearing were fireproof suits secretly made by the Egret Workshop.
They had been developed to counter the fire magic used by Yeomje’s subordinates, and they were proving useful in this situation.
“You bastards…!”
“Gaaah…!”
The Red Salt transport unit was comprised of a select group of elites from the Southern Branch.
However, they collapsed in an instant when they were ambushed by the Black Cloaks in the burning forest.
Despite being outnumbered, they were unable to counterattack and were swiftly defeated.
“Damn it…!”
Aleion brandished his magic sword and rushed towards Olters, an executive of the Southern Branch.
After glancing at him, Sirius turned his gaze back to the Branch Head.
“It seems you’re the one after all.”
The Branch Head glared at Sirius and gritted his teeth.
“One of the duo that’s been active since the beginning… Are you the unidentified magic swordsman?”
“I told you, you don’t need to know.”
“Shut up!”
“You ask me a question and then tell me to shut up? How rude.”
Sirius’s words distorted the Branch Head’s face.
At that moment, Andres approached and stood beside Sirius.
“I think setting this much on fire should be enough.”
“Good work, brother.”
Watching the two Black Cloaks conversing so casually, the Branch Head’s body trembled.
“Just who in the world are you people…?”
“You don’t need to know that…”
“Brother, I spoke first.”
“Oh, is that right?”
Andres’s voice was slightly disappointed.
“Listen here, Branch Head. Who do you think we are?”
“What…?”
“Did you think we were saboteurs sent by another faction in the Alliance? Or perhaps assassins dispatched by some righteous noble house?”
“…”
Looking at the tight-lipped Branch Head, Sirius nudged Andres’s side.
“Brother, why don’t you show him your face?”
“Is that alright?”
“After all, the best time for a Black Cloak to reveal their shocking true face is when making an unforgettable impression.”
“Well, I suppose I have no choice.”
Andres removed his mask.
The Branch Head’s eyes widened as he recognized his true identity.
“Impossible…!”
“Brother, what do you think?”
“It seems I made the right choice in showing you.”
Watching Andres put his mask back on, the Branch Head’s body trembled.
“T-this is ridiculous. How could you possibly be…!”
The Branch Head seemed to be losing his mind.
There had been executives who had suspected that Andres might be the true identity of the Black Cloak.
However, it was simply unthinkable that the eldest son of the Letiwood family would wear a mask every night and burn the wicked.
That was why he had never doubted it, but why…!
“Have you lost your mind?! How could the eldest son of a prestigious family do something like that…!”
“He was led astray by a bad friend.”
The branch manager’s eyes widened as he listened to Andres’s nonchalant words.
“In that case, you are…”
The branch manager realized the truth and tried to raise his voice.
However, Sirius was already flying.
He used the air step to close the distance in an instant and unleashed the white wolf’s sword energy towards the branch manager.
“Ugh!”
Thud!
The branch manager instinctively drew his sword and defended himself.
He instantly deployed a flame magic sword and confronted Sirius.
“Now I see that this was all your plan! You tricked the entire Southern Branch…!”
The branch manager is an 8th-circle wizard and a flame sorcerer.
As a direct disciple of the Flame Emperor, his flame control skills are incomparable to the likes of Shahit and Pasaria.
He perfectly controlled the blazing flames and lunged at Sirius.
“Why did you do this…!”
“Because you managed the Southern Branch too well.”
“What?!”
“Think about it.”
Sirius said, clashing his sword with the branch manager’s.
“The Southern Branch has a very well-organized structure. When the guy at the top gives an order, the guys in the 1st rank relay the order to the guys in the 2nd rank, and the guys in the 2nd rank relay it to the guys in the 3rd rank, and the 3rd to the 4th… It’s structured like that.”
“……”
“Because of that, it was very difficult to reach the top. Even the guys in the lower ranks don’t know much about the guys in the higher ranks. No matter how much I poked around, I couldn’t find out where you usually were or what you were doing.”
Unlike the Eastern Branch, they didn’t even have a fixed base.
That’s why he couldn’t directly attack and settle things in one go.
“That’s why I decided to overturn the system you guys created.”
Clang!
The white wolf’s energy-infused blade grazed the branch manager’s left shoulder.
The branch manager gritted his teeth and retreated, spewing flames, but Sirius easily countered with his cold sword wind.
“There’s no need to kill all the members of the Southern Black Society. All we have to do is destroy the Alliance’s ruling system. What authority can the Alliance have when they’re struggling against two unidentified men in black?”
“Ugh…!”
“If we do that, the Southern Black Society organizations will just become a rabble. They won’t be a threat to the people of the South anymore.”
Puff!
Sirius’s blade, which had pierced through the flames, pierced the branch manager’s right wrist.
No blood gushed out. The icy cold energy seeped into his flesh and froze the wound.
“Finally, if we lure out and kill you, who are at the very top… It’ll all be over.”
“You…!”
An intense heat emanated from the branch manager’s body as he dropped his sword.
Flames engulfed not only the blade but also the branch manager’s entire body.
It was a desperate secret technique he had honed in preparation for this day.
He confronted Sirius, indiscriminately spewing flames from his body.
However, Sirius did not yield.
He spread an impenetrable veil of frigid air, blocking all the flames.
Then, he unleashed a series of sword strikes, lacerating the branch manager’s body.
The wounds allowed the flames to penetrate, causing the branch manager to burn his own body.
“Oooooh…!”
Even so, the branch manager continued to rampage.
Roaring like a beast, he tried to pounce on Sirius.
Sirius remained calm even as a giant fireball charged towards him.
He planted his feet on the ground, his blade radiating an icy aura.
The first form of the Black Shadow Swordsmanship, Shadowless, was unleashed.
The branch manager may have been a beast of flames, but Sirius’s blade was a wolf that hunted even such beasts, sinking its teeth into their necks.
“Gasp…!”
The blade that had pierced from the side dug into the branch manager’s neck.
It was a decisive blow.
“It’s over.”
“C, cough…”
The branch manager staggered.
His body was still engulfed in flames, but he no longer had the strength to charge at Sirius.
“You, you bastard…”
Mustering his last ounce of strength, Sirius spoke.
“You think you can control the South just because you drove out the Alliance from the South…?”
A voice like a curse escaped the branch manager’s mouth.
“Even if you destroy the Southern Branch, the rulers of the South will be the Southern Union… There’s no way they’ll tolerate the Rigel family’s advances…!”
The Strauss family.
One of the continent’s five great noble families, in charge of the Southern Union.
Its patriarch, Shadien Strauss… is said to be a Grand Magus who has reached the 9th Circle.
“What are you going to do?! Are you going to pick a fight with Shadien Strauss too…!”
“Branch manager.”
Sirius’s voice was cold as he addressed the branch manager.
“You don’t need to know.”
“……!”
“You won’t have enough time to repent for your sins, so don’t concern yourself with trivialities.”
The branch manager’s eyes were filled with humiliation.
However, he could no longer speak.
“……”
As he stared at the branch manager’s burning corpse, Alleion’s voice came from behind him.
“Master.”
Aleion was breathing heavily.
His black uniform was soaked in blood, but it wasn’t his own.
“I think we’ve cleared them all out.”
“Good work. Then let’s get going.”
The flames were growing more intense.
Even with their fireproof suits, it was hard to stay there for long.
“So, the Federation’s southern branch has been annihilated.”
Andres said with a cold expression as they made their way out of the forest.
“I guess this is the end of the Black Cloaks.”
“There are plenty of evil people in the world, so there will be another chance for you to become a Black Cloak. Or you could work independently.”
“R-really?”
Andres’s expression brightened slightly.
But then he quickly cleared his throat and shook his head.
“N-no, I’ll think about that later. There are more important things to do now.”
“Yes, of course.”
More important things.
That meant the matter with the Southern Union that the Branch Chief had mentioned.
“The Southern Union will be holding a meeting soon. You will attend as the representative of the Rigel family, together with Justitia.”
The Southern Union was a gathering of prestigious families from the south, as its name suggested.
However, as the daughter of the Rigel family, one of the five great families of the continent, she could attend the meeting as a ‘special guest’.
Sirius would simply accompany her as her ‘husband’.
“Sirius, the Southern Union usually just holds meetings to socialize. It’s just a social gathering in normal times. But… it won’t be like that this time.”
The Rigel family was currently expanding into the south, led by the Thousand Wave Banner and the Thousand Wave Sword Sect.
The prestigious families of the Southern Union would want to have a word with the Rigel family.
Moreover, the rampage of the Black Cloaks and the collapse of the southern branch would be hot topics… It was unlikely to end as a mere social gathering.
“It will be a completely different fight from dealing with those Black Cloaks. So even for someone like you…”
“You don’t have to worry.”
However, Sirius was calm.
“I’m used to dealing with such people.”
“…?”
Andres didn’t know.
That Sirius had lived surrounded by many prestigious families in his previous life.
Of course, in his previous life, he had been betrayed by those prestigious families and met a tragic end.
From Noble mtl dot com
But this time… it wouldn’t be like that.
* * *
After the battle with the southern branch, Sirius returned to the Retirued family.
Now that there was no need to deceive the southern branch, he could finally establish a full-fledged cooperative relationship with the Retirued family.
He planned to have detailed discussions with Andres before the Southern Union meeting began.
“You’re here.”
“Justitia?”
Entering the annex, Yustitia was waiting for him while drinking tea.
“Weren’t you out on business for the Cheonrangpyo Kingdom?”
“I finished early and came back. How about you? Did you do well on your errand?”
“I came back because it went well.”
“That’s good.”
Yustitia didn’t ask for a detailed explanation.
Just as Sirius didn’t ask her about her work in detail.
It was because they trusted each other to ‘know what to do.’
The two of them were in such a relationship.
“Take this.”
Yustitia handed him a box.
“What is it?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Sirius opened the box.
Inside the box was sphagnum moss for moisture control.
And among them… a red herb was visible.
“Scarlet feverwort…?”
“Yes, use it if you need it.”
Lost for words, he looked at Yustitia’s face.
“You’ve been making a fuss about finding the Snowflower for a while now. So, the Cheonrangpyo Kingdom has been in regular contact with herbalists all over the continent.”
“……”
“This time, it seems that they have started looking for Scarlet feverwort, so I contacted the experts I had been in touch with again.”
Yustitia said while taking a sip of tea.
“A few days ago, a reply came from the Respada family, a prestigious family in the East. They said that they found a few Scarlet feverworts on an island in the southeast, and that they would give me one.”
“Ah…”
Originally, Scarlet feverwort was a herb found only in the hot southern regions.
That’s why the Alliance only explored the southern regions like crazy.
However, Yustitia contacted herbalists all over the continent and found Scarlet feverwort.
Furthermore, since Yustitia was also the daughter of the Rigel family, one of the five great families on the continent… she was able to receive herbs from the Respada family, a prestigious family in the East.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Even when they met last time to exchange news, Yustitia didn’t mention this.
“You’re planning to trap the Alliance with fake Scarlet feverwort, so there was no need to tell you. If information leaked out of someone’s mouth, things would get complicated.”
“……”
“I didn’t have a chance to talk to you alone either.”
After saying so, Yustitia put down her teacup.
“If you don’t need it, please return it. I’ll dispose of it.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Sirius closed the lid of the box.
He should say thank you… but the words wouldn’t come out easily.
“That, what should I say…”
After clearing his throat, Sirius carefully spoke.
“I married well.”
“What do you mean.”
Eustia blushed and turned her gaze away.