Chapter 139 : Padlip Model Student
Padlip Model Student
The scenery of the village as the sun set. The only sound echoing in the place that had begun to glow reddish was footsteps.
Rugar, me, Serena, Barkal.
And Gor.
The five of us were walking side by side, yet nobody opened their mouths.
The barbarians were each finishing up their daily routines and returning to their tents.
A peaceful scene. But the three of us were far from feeling peace in our steps.
'Gor.'
I looked at Gor's back as he walked ahead of us.
His back, which was usually upright and confident, was now hunched and slumped.
Even at the coming-of-age ceremony, even when Turtle kid faced the "dungeon master", he'd never appeared this dispirited.
But now, that guy couldn't say a single word.
I could understand, after all. His lover had become a traitor to the tribe.
So, I didn't know what to say to him—maybe Gor himself didn't even know.
"You can still turn back, Gor."
Rugar finally broke the silence.
Perhaps because of his position as the priest, he seemed to know exactly how to act in such situations.
He offered neither shallow comfort nor harsh scolding.
"I'll see this to the end."
Of course, Gor refused.
"Manly, Gor! She's your partner! You have to be able to witness the end, that's what it means to be a barbarian!"
In the midst of things, Barkal spoke up.
Wow, is this guy out of his mind or what.
How long did we walk like that? Soon, we arrived at the outskirts of the village.
A small area surrounded by wooden fences and leather tents began to come into view.
The Red Wolf Tribe's detention place.
I'd heard it was usually used to imprison tribe members who committed crimes or captives.
"Stop."
When we reached the place, rugar started reminding Gor again.
"Gor, do not act ruled by your emotions."
At that warning, Gor simply nodded.
With that, rugar stepped forward again.
As Rugar the priest approached, two barbarians guarding the entrance stepped aside.
Inside, it was darker than expected. Only a few torches flickered dimly; sunlight hardly came in.
Thanks to that, the damp smell of earth stabbed at my nose.
'This place...'
It would be a disaster if a dungeon formed here. Whenever I had these kinds of bad thoughts, they often came true.
Anyway, the atmosphere was not normal. It was much heavier than a simple detention cell.
Probably, countless interrogations had taken place here.
Barbarian-style interrogation.
Even just imagining it was horrifying.
"Over there."
At where Rugar pointed stood a woman, tied to a wooden post, sitting on the ground.
Melissa.
Thick ropes were wrapped around her wrists. One of her wrists was bandaged, likely the one Serena had broken.
She looked up at us as she sensed our presence.
She said nothing.
"Melissa!"
Seeing her, Gor suddenly took a deep breath and stepped forward.
Yet he didn't look like he planned to rush up and do anything.
"I told you before we entered, Gor. If you let your emotions lead, I'll throw you out."
At Rugar's cold admonition, Gor, who had been breathing heavily, clenched his fist and stepped back.
Only then did Melissa's lips slowly part.
"So you have come."
A hollow smile formed on her lips.
A pale face. She must have been in pain from her broken wrist, but her expression was composed.
There was no cloudiness in her eyes either. Gone was the unfocused look she wore before she was captured.
"Priest."
Melissa's gaze swept over Rugar, then moved to me.
"Sage."
Finally, her eyes found Gor.
"Gor."
At the moment her eyes met Gor's, her pupils flickered like candle flames.
Was it sadness, regret?
Or was it a deeper emotion? Something unreadable briefly crossed her face.
"Melissa."
It was Rugar who broke the silence.
"You poisoned the village well. The poison is closely related to the plague currently spreading through the tribe."
Rugar's intense gaze turned to Melissa. Although he seemed to value her achievements as a healer, there was no personal feeling in his voice.
"Do you admit it?"
"Yes."
Melissa nodded.
"I do not deny it."
With her unhesitant confession, Gor's shoulders slumped further.
"I have something to ask too."
Leaving Gor behind, I joined the conversation.
"Whose order did you poison the well under?"
"Alone. I wanted to do it...."
"Was it not the order of the Seven Abyssal Brands?"
The moment I mentioned the Seven Abyssal Brands, melissa's pupils shook violently.
But only for a second. She soon smiled.
"So you even know that. No wonder they call you the sage."
"Yes. My brother, Dmihtan, has the keenest mind of any barbarian!"
"Puhahahaha!"
At Barkal's words, melissa burst out laughing.
"The sharpest mind among barbarians? A bird-brain is still a bird-brain, no matter how sharp it is!"
"You cursed witch! I can forgive you insulting me, but not the Sage!"
When Barkal tried to stride up to the pillar where Melissa was tied, I stopped him.
Honestly, aren't you pretending to be mad because you got insulted, just using this as an excuse to vent? This wasn't the first time.
"Yes, as the Sage said, I did get help from the Seven Abyssal Brands."
As expected.
"But spreading the plague in the village was entirely my own will."
She spat out her words clearly with her red lips.
"You all, everyone in the Red Wolf Tribe—I want every last one of you dead. Barbarians, sorcerers, elders, children—no exceptions!"
Melissa, who uttered such spine-chilling curses, had eyes burning with hate.
"Is that really your true intention?"
Gor asked. She flinched at Gor's gaze and drooping eyes.
Then Rugar, his eyes sharply focused, spoke, trying to calm Gor.
"Why did you do it?"
He asked as the priest, representing everyone present.
"What wrong did the tribe do you? Weren't you a member of the Red Wolf Tribe?"
Melissa was silent for a moment. Then, slowly, she opened her mouth.
"... Wrong?"
A bitter smile spread across her lips.
"Priest, that's a strange question."
"What's strange about it?"
"You ask what wrong the Red Wolf Tribe did to me?"
She stared at Rugar as if to bore a hole through him.
"Everything."
A cold voice.
"This tribe stole everything from me."
"What do you mean?"
"Twenty-five years ago."
Melissa continued.
"Do you remember the Kreta tribe?"
The Kreta tribe.
Hearing the name, rugar's expression hardened.
A tribe I'd heard of before.
They fought a war against the Red Wolf Tribe and lost.
They were also the tribe that left a great wound on the chieftain's face.
"I remember. They fought our tribe and lost."
"That's right. I was a member of that defeated Kreta tribe."
Her eyes trembled.
"The defeated tribe scattered; the survivors were separated, some enslaved, some fled."
Ssk.
Melissa drew a breath.
"I was four years old when it happened."
Her voice started to tremble.
"I watched my parents die right in front of me. Killed at the hands of Red Wolf Tribe warriors."
Her shaken eyes quickly regained an abyssal calm. Melissa went on, cool and unhesitating, as if driving in a spike.
"So."
Melissa spoke calmly.
"I waited 25 years for revenge."
When she finished, silence fell over us.
"Kuhahahaha!"
The one who shattered the heavy silence was Barkal's wild laughter. The eardrum-shattering sound echoed throughout the place.
"So you were a Kreta tribe survivor!"
A hearty voice.
Considering what Melissa had said regarding her connection to Darsan's matter, I'd thought Barkal would be emotional.
But Barkal's attitude was far from that.
"Hiding for 25 years, plotting revenge! You really are like a rat!"
Despite the insult, melissa did not respond.
She just stared at Barkal with unwavering eyes.
"It was a war between tribes. We won, kreta lost! Surely you know what happens to the losers?"
"I do."
Melissa answered.
"That's why I tried to get revenge. In the very same way."
"Thank you for stating it so plainly!"
Barkal twisted his lips and declared firmly.
"You will not die as the healer of the Red Wolf Tribe, but as the last remnant of the Kreta tribe."
Whether it was praise or mockery, I couldn't tell.
But Barkal's expression was serious.
"Priest, what will you do with this woman?"
At Barkal's question, rugar nodded.
"A survivor of the Kreta tribe and the criminal who spread plague to the village."
He looked down at Melissa with cold eyes and spoke.
"She cannot be allowed to live."
Execution.
It was the obvious conclusion.
"So in the end, the last survivor of the Kreta tribe also dies at the hands of the Red Wolf Tribe."
"Melissa."
At Melissa's self-mocking mutter, Barkal snorted.
"Don't get the wrong idea."
His gaze turned cold.
"You won't die honorably as a warrior, but as a criminal who crawled in like a rat and got caught spreading poison."
His words stabbed Melissa's heart with the sharpness of a dagger.
"Maybe your parents died as warriors protecting their tribe, but you're just a cowardly rat. You're leaving the Kreta name besmirched by your own hands!"
At Barkal's words, melissa's once-calm face crumpled in utter despair.
As expected of Barkal.
No one can beat him when it comes to padlip[family insults].