Chapter 318
Rayon was dead.
As a traitor, he died with a smile on his face in the end.
Frechen, his knights, and the explorers all witnessed the scene.
Lean stood up from his bent position, but since his back was to them, no one could see his expression.
Lean remained standing still, as if trying to suppress his emotions.
At the moment when everyone thought no one would dare speak to Lean, a voice broke the silence.
“Ha. Quite generous treatment for a traitor, huh?”
The explorers all glared at Frechen.
Frechen, however, didn’t seem to care about their gazes. Instead, he argued back as if he had said nothing wrong.
“Have you all lost your minds? The guy was a traitor. For 32 whole years, he hid the truth to keep us trapped in this hell. And now you’re mourning his death? It’s beyond ridiculous.”
“Watch your mouth! What do you know to speak so freely…!”
“What do I know? Fine, I might not know everything. I didn’t know that lunatic lived solely for the fight. But does that matter? Here’s what I do know. We’ve been wandering this frozen wasteland and hiding from the Frost Giants because of that traitor.”
Frechen pointed to Rayon’s corpse.
“It’s all because of that traitor.”
“…”
The explorers who were about to shout at Frechen fell silent.
They couldn’t completely deny Frechen’s words.
They, too, wanted to ask Lean why he had let the traitor die so peacefully.
Considering what Rayon had done, eternal suffering wouldn’t have been enough.
Lean could feel the survivors’ dissatisfaction even without looking.
Lean turned around. Countless eyes were on him. Everyone waited for him to say something.
“First, deal with the body.”
That was the first thing Lean said.
“Because we have to hold a Memorial Festival.”
“Now, of all times….”
What are you talking about?
How could we hold a Memorial Festival in this situation?
Before anyone could protest, Frechen burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha! This is just hilarious!”
“Y-Your Majesty.”
Even his loyal knights were taken aback by Frechen’s reaction.
“Fine. A traitor is a traitor, and the dead are dead. The Memorial Festival is the Memorial Festival. We can’t cancel the annual festival over something like this.”
“…I’m counting on you.”
Leaving those words, Lean tried to leave.
As he was about to pass by Frechen, Frechen quietly asked him.
“What are you going to do?”
“The truth.”
Lean’s eyes were filled with sadness.
But more than ever, they burned with a clear flame.
“I need to reveal it.”
In front of everyone.
Why the world had come to this and what they had to do.
It was time to unveil the hidden truth of this world.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Frechen nodded and led his men away.
The remaining explorers stood there, unsure of what to do.
Lean didn’t bother to explain to them. Yu-hyun clenched his fists at the sight.
“What are you all standing around for? Let’s get moving. Aren’t we holding the Memorial Festival?”
“Y-Yes! Let’s move! We can deal with our grief later.”
With even Ringug agreeing with Yu-hyun, most of the explorers reluctantly started to move.
After everyone left, Yu-hyun also left the scene with Ringug.
“S-Sis? What about Lean?”
“Leave him be.”
Even if others didn’t know, Yu-hyun understood.
Lean was crying right now.
Kaira’s prosthetic body shared Lean’s grief and mourned with him.
“He needs some time alone too.”
When everyone had left and Lean realized he was alone.
He would let out the emotions he had held back with tears.
There was no need to stay and watch him.
Their task was to wait for his return.
* * *
The Memorial Festival was grand.
Having never seen the previous Memorial Festival, Yu-hyun couldn’t compare, but even so, it was clear this one was held on a large scale.
A huge bonfire blazed in the central square of Gard City.
The flames rose upwards.
Originally, the flames should have reached the sky, but they extinguished upon meeting the cold air from the frozen ceiling.
Still, people didn’t mind.
This was something they had grown used to over the past 32 years.
‘The atmosphere doesn’t seem very good.’
Looking around, the explorers’ moods were all somber and heavy. It was as if the recent joy over fewer deaths had been a lie; they were still in shock from the earlier events.
This gloom spread like an epidemic to the ordinary people who wanted to enjoy the Memorial Festival.
At that moment, someone stood next to Yu-hyun.
“Tsk. Even if we hold a grand festival, it’s no use with everyone so down.”
“…You seem quite relaxed, Your Majesty.”
“Does it look that way? You’re right.”
Frechen was alone, without his usual guards.
“Where are your guards?”
“My knights? They should rest on a festival day too.”
“In this atmosphere?”
“If they can’t enjoy it, that’s their problem.”
This man was excessively arrogant and selfish.
Yu-hyun had felt it before, but now understood why Frechen was consistently called an emperor.
He was as arrogant as a true emperor. And he had the power to back it up.
“Your Majesty….”
“Ah, stop. Don’t call me that. Just call me Frechen. No need for formality.”
“Suddenly? You’ve been fine with it until now.”
“That’s because my followers were around. When we’re alone, just use my name. I don’t care about things like blasphemy. I’ve never cared about that stuff.”
Yu-hyun suddenly recalled what Rayon had said while fighting Frechen.
“He said you were a low-ranking prince….”
“That was a long time ago. Nothing to hide. Everyone who needs to know already knows.”
Frechen grabbed a passerby and took their beer.
He drank it in one gulp and wiped the foam from his lips with the back of his hand.
“Ah, beer is the best.”
“So, what do you want?”
“Hm?”
“Since you’re approaching so blatantly, you must want something.”
“Well, it’d be a lie if I said I didn’t. I’m just curious about something.”
“What are you curious about?”
“You crossed the ice barrier, didn’t you?”
Yu-hyun nodded. It would be foolish to think Frechen didn’t know that Rayon had hidden the path and that Yu-hyun and Lean had gone beyond it.
Especially Frechen.
“I’ve always thought that the Curse of the Frozen Land came from beyond that barrier.”
“…Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because there was no point. Even if I did, what could we do? The path was blocked, and getting beyond the ice barrier required a long detour, risking encounters with Frost Giants. So, I kept my mouth shut, thinking we should just find a way beyond the ice barrier.”
But Frechen laughed bitterly, saying he hadn’t expected Rayon to have hidden it all this time.
“Did you know Rayon was spying and tailing you?”
“Of course. Just as he tailed us, we had someone tailing him.”
“That’s…”
Yu-hyun recalled the events of the day.
“So you weren’t aware of the entrance but were following Rayon’s traces.”
“Right. When his tracks suddenly disappeared, we pressed on and found you. Honestly, I was surprised. We ran into you shortly after his tracks vanished. The moment our weapons crossed, I realized it was Lean.”
“Why did you run?”
“Would you stay there and face us? Staying there would have looked suspicious no matter what. No one would believe otherwise.”
“…”
“And I suspected you too. After all, it was Lean who assigned Rayon to me. And you, who looked like Kaira, I thought you had something to do with Lean.”
“I suppose it could have looked that way.”
“It was mutual. After parting ways with Lean, I rejoined my men and heard that you and Lean had rushed back to Gard. I felt it then, that something was happening.”
Frechen shrugged.
“But to my surprise, Lean wasn’t involved, and Rayon had acted on his own. And Rayon even tried to kill you.”
“I appreciate you saving me.”
“Is that all?”
“What more do you need?”
“A kiss on the cheek?”
“Say more if you want another punch.”
“Alright, alright. It was a joke.”
Frechen laughed, but Yu-hyun couldn’t take it as a joke.
True to his tyrant reputation, Frechen was disgustingly lecherous. His attitude of not caring about gender if the person looked pretty was evident.
He must have been a scoundrel during the days of the empire.
“How did you know Rayon was the culprit?”
“Honestly, I didn’t know for sure. I had doubts. I knew he was following us, but I also knew Lean had assigned him. He was so loyal to Lean. That’s why I suspected Lean.”
“That’s…”
“I told you. When I faced him on the field, I almost knew for sure.”
“It was the same for us.”
“Of course. To you, we must have looked suspicious wandering around.”
“So, you didn’t join forces with Lean because you didn’t trust him…”
“What could I rely on to join forces? I couldn’t trust Lean.”
“…”
Distrust.
In the end, their mutual distrust had brought them to this point.
Rayon had cleverly exploited the relationship between the two groups. No one suspected him.
For 32 years. For 32 years, Rayon had worked with Lean as an explorer and fought against the Frost Giants.
He had fought sincerely to protect his comrades during explorations.
Who could suspect him?
“Well
, if my attitude made them suspicious, I can’t say much. But we found the traitor, didn’t we?”
Despite his casual words, Yu-hyun’s suspicion of Frechen hadn’t completely disappeared.
Even if Rayon was the traitor, Frechen’s long presence near the ice cliff was still suspicious.
The first thought was the imperial capital beyond that cliff.
Was he searching for something there?
“Oh, it seems today’s main character is coming.”
As Frechen spoke, Yu-hyun also saw Lean approaching.
People recognized Lean and either greeted him or stepped aside to make way for him.
No matter what, Lean was the leader and hero of Gard.
Surprisingly, Gondulbor was with Lean.
“Lean?”
“Are you not feeling well?”
While everyone was puzzled, Lean spoke quietly to Gondulbor at the center of the square.
“Please.”
“Sigh. Alright.”
Gondulbor sighed and waved his fingers in the air. With his magic, runes were inscribed in the air.
“Ah.”
As Lean spoke, his voice was amplified and spread throughout Gard.
All eyes turned to Lean.
Some were curious about what he would say.
Others mistakenly thought he was about to announce the start of the festival.
Amidst them, Lean spoke the words he had kept in his heart.
“I regret having to say this during the Memorial Festival.”
“Huh?”
“What is he going to say?”
The citizens murmured anxiously at his ominous start.
“But I decided I could no longer hide the truth, and now, with everyone gathered, is the perfect time to reveal it. So, please, listen to my words.”
After surveying the square engulfed in silence, Lean took a moment to catch his breath.
“A few days ago, I moved for an exploration of another region. With the help of a companion, I discovered a suspicious area we hadn’t noticed before and ventured beyond it. There, we found something we thought long gone: our god, Georn.”
Gasps of shock erupted from various places.
Ignoring the commotion, Lean continued.
“Georn. He was covered in ice, becoming the Frost Giant we feared so much. His breath carried the cold air, freezing everything around him. Yes, Georn. He was the cause of the Curse of the Frozen Land, the reason for the appearance of the Frost Giants. Our god Georn was the culprit behind all of this.”
Our god is trying to kill us.
Could there be any words more horrifying?
“And the problem didn’t stop there. There was a traitor among us. Someone who discovered Georn’s existence first and found the path to him but kept it hidden for a long time. That person was Rayon.”
“What, what?”
“Rayon was a traitor?”
“What on earth is going on?!”
“Where is Rayon now?!”
“Rayon is dead. When his crime was discovered, he tried to destroy the evidence and was killed by me in the process. He is no longer here.”
The appearance of a traitor and the god’s punishment.
For the people, it was a sequence of truths too dreadful to accept.
But seeing the reactions of the explorers who already knew some of the truth, they realized this wasn’t a simple lie.
“Gard must now choose. Whether to remain idle. Or to fight back.”
In a calm voice, Lean crushed their hopes.
“The choice is yours.”