Chapter 85: Division (3)
Chapter 85: Division (3)
The knight lost all of his will to stand firm and resist the moment the young man identified himself as the Fourth Prince. In fact, from the Eastern knight’s standpoint, he had no reason to stop a member of the Imperial Family when the commander did not specifically order them to stop people. The commander just told them to limit contact with the outside world as much as possible. However, he was still worried about the rebuke and reprimand that he would receive later. But what can a mere knight do to stop a member of the Imperial Family from entering?
In the end, the knight bowed politely before stepping aside.
“Forgive me for blocking your way, Your Highness.”
“It’s my fault that I came here without any appointment. I feel sorry for dropping by unannounced.”
The Fourth Prince patted the knight on his shoulder. It was his brief consolation for the knight who would definitely be reprimanded later.
“I feel sorry for you so I will say what I need to say before coming out. I will only briefly stay inside.”
“I’m grateful for your consideration.”
After accepting the Fourth Prince’s considerations, the knight bowed his head and informed the officer inside that the Fourth Prince wanted to have a meeting with someone. Not long after, a senior officer rushed out and greeted the Fourth Prince.
“I greet you, Your Highness, the Fourth Prince.”
“Nice to meet you.”
The Fourth Prince reached out his hand to shake hands with the senior officer.
“I’m Colonel Holloway, the operations’ officer of the Eastern Command.”
Colonel Holloway gave a brief salute after shaking hands with the Fourth Prince. Seeing his brief salute, the Fourth Prince grimaced for a moment before hurriedly returning to a smile.
There was no order that they had to unconditionally and faithfully follow the military salute whenever they met with the Emperor, the Crown Prince or any member of the Imperial Family. The higher the officer’s rank became, the more this situation became clearer. The military was a place where they would only salute those who were worthy of respect or those who have accumulated high merit. This was the reason why Colonel Holloway only gave a brief salute to the Fourth Prince.
‘Crown Prince…’
The Fourth Prince’s status was only that of a prince that was being pushed back by the Crown Prince. However, whether it was in terms of power, abilities, and ideas, he was ahead of the Crown Prince. But Alexar had taken that noble and dignified position just because he was the eldest son.
Anger surged in his head for a moment but he was forced to endure as he spoke to the operations’ officer.
“I came here because I want to meet with Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter…”
“I believe you should go to the Commander first.”
The Fourth Prince’s eyes narrowed when he heard Colonel Holloway’s words.
“Uhmm… I want to meet with Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter first… can’t I do that?”
“Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter is currently with the Eastern Commander.”
The Fourth Prince’s eyes grew wide when he heard those words. Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter was suddenly called in by the Eastern Commander as soon as he came here. He found it suspicious.
However, when the Fourth Prince realized that the officer in front of him was confident even if he was asked for the reason for Iron suddenly being called, his expression couldn’t help but harden.
“Hoo… Then, should I go to the Commander’s Office?”
“No.”
The Fourth Prince tilted his head when Colonel Holloway shook his head.
“What…?”
“Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter is currently in the Command Control Room.”
“An officer from the Northeast is there? What in the…”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you the reason since that is confidential. Forgive me for my rudeness.”
The Fourth Prince smacked his lips in disappointment when Colonel Holloway drew the line.
They were probably discussing the dimensional crack but the Fourth Prince had the feeling that there were other things that they were discussing too. After all, he was sure that the key officers of the Eastern Command should have been officially called for if it was only about the dimensional crack. In addition, with the situation in the East, the Fourth Prince thought that the Eastern Commander was planning something. No, he was now sure that the commander was planning something.
He had thought that Iron would be at the center of everything so he tried to find him first. He thought that he would probably be able to coax some good information out of him since he was still young. But the Eastern Commander slyly blocked him from doing so. Just like a snake.
In the end, the Fourth Prince was forced to follow the operations’ officer as they headed towards where the commander was.
“I greet Your Highness.”
The Fourth Prince forced a pleasant expression on his face when Richard Burton greeted him with a light bow. He even went so far as to shake hands happily with him before turning towards Iron.
“Ho. You must be the Northeast’s Hero? Nice to meet you. I’m Eiscand sol de Granciel.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter.”
Iron lightly saluted before shaking hands with the Fourth Prince.
This time again, the Fourth Prince’s eyes shook harshly at the greeting that ended with just a light salute.
Everyone in the capital knew that the Crown Prince had received a formal salute from the Northeast. This was why the Fourth Prince had expected a lot from Iron. But Iron had just smashed his expectations to pieces.
“What business does Your Highness have to do with me?”
“I wanted to see Lieutenant Colonel Iron Carter.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Iron?”
Richard Burton was aware of his plans but he pretended not to know.
“Yes. We’re of the same age. And I wanted to meet him after hearing my brother brag about what happened in the Northeast.”
Richard Burton smiled deeply when he saw the Fourth Prince speaking as if nothing had happened.
“The stories about the Northeast… They’re definitely interesting.”
Richard Burton looked at the Fourth Prince as he spoke.
The Fourth Prince couldn’t help but feel nervous when the Eastern Commander looked at him with a strange smile. It seemed like the commander had expected this scene since he was strangely relaxed despite his obvious words.
“How about waiting for some more people if you really wanted to know more details about the Northeast?”
“More details? Is there anyone in the East who knows more about the Northeast in detail than the Hero who protected the Northeast himself?”
The Fourth Prince looked at Iron subtly as he spoke. However, Iron remained expressionless as he sat straight at an angle that did not even look at the Fourth Prince.
Richard Burton smiled brightly when he saw the Fourth Prince trying to talk to Iron whenever he had the chance.
“The commanders of the North and the Northeast are coming here right now.”
The Fourth Prince, who was secretly looking at Iron, turned his head creakily to look at Richard Burton.
“What did you say… just now?”
“I told you that the two commanders who protected the North are coming here right now.”
“Ho…”
“From what I have heard, the tower masters of the Southern and Central Wizard Towers have also arrived. They should have received a message asking them to come here by now.”
Richard Burton’s words made the Fourth Prince’s expression harden further. It was as if the Eastern Commander knew everything that he had been doing in the East. Seeing his sly and relaxed expression made Eiscand stiffen.
In fact, he really did not come to the East just to play. He came here to create a force to keep the forces of the Crown Prince that was backed by the Emperor in check. He already roughly finished the work in the Center so he came to the East to meet the nobles and merchants under the pretext of a dimensional crack. He also tried to meet with Iron to get information, something that the Crown Prince had failed to do.
However, the Eastern Commander knew everything. The Fourth Prince thought that he was weak since he kept his silence about his actions but it seemed like that wasn’t the case at all.
‘Shot down in one go…’
The Fourth Prince’s expression remained stiff after realizing that he had been properly hit by the Eastern Commander.
“I believe everyone will arrive soon, so let’s have a chat first.”
“Haha! That’s good.”
The Fourth Prince hurriedly gathered his expression as he turned to talk to the Eastern Commander. Iron just glanced at him from his position.
While the three of them were busy trying to create an uncomfortable but friendly atmosphere, Kim Jungtae, the Eastern Commander’s source of headaches, entered a small pub in a remote corner in the East.
“Yo~ Long time no see?”
Kim Jungtae tapped the shoulder of a man wearing a black robe.
“Have you confirmed it?”
“Are we going to talk about work as soon as I arrive?”
Kim Jungtae beckoned a waiter as he ordered some alcohol and simple snacks.
“Tch! You look like you ate some shit. Do you do that in the real world too?”
“Stop speaking nonsense and just get to the point.”
The man in the black robe looked at Kim Jungtae coldly.
“I don’t know about Iron Carter.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
The man in the black robe secretly increased his killing intent in response to Kim Jungtae’s answer. However, Kim Jungtae just looked arrogantly at him. It was as if he was waiting for what he was going to do. He even smiled as he spoke to the black-robed man about what he had found out.
“His divine beast is sealed and he only showed off his swordsmanship. How can I even know? How can I even figure out if he’s related to the real world when I haven’t even talked to him properly?”
The black-robed man frowned before asking Kim Jungtae.
“That’s all?”
“That’s right. I feel like he still hasn’t done his best even after he smashed those three new stars to pieces.”
“Are you saying that he has an overwhelming strength?”
Kim Jungtae nodded lightly upon hearing the black-robed man’s question.
“Maybe it’s because he belongs to the Northeast? He seems to have a lot of hands-on experience. And his skills and force are stronger than what we knew so he just played with them.”
“What if you fight with him?”
“I think it’s worth a try if he just has his swordsmanship but I don’t know how much he’s hiding.”
The black-robed man sighed when he heard Kim Jungtae’s words. He knew that despite Kim Jungtae’s arrogance, he was someone who had a firm grasp on his skills and strength. If he gave this evaluation, it meant that Iron Carter’s abilities were far better than what they had expected.
“What else?”
“The dimensional crack?”
The black-robed man nodded lightly in answer to Kim Jungtae’s question.
“It’s still a bit difficult to figure out. But it seems like the dimensional crack here is a bit unique. Just like the one in the Northeast.”
“Is it different from the one during the beta test?”
“Yeah. Just like what the prophet in our real world has warned us, there really seems to be a lot of different people this time around.”
The black-robed man nodded heavily when Kim Jungtae gave his own analysis of the information that they had gathered and from what he had personally learned so far.
“Are you saying that there might be forces that are using the divine beast just like what happened in the Northeast?”
“That’s right. The problem is that the forces that are behind it seem to be similar to us. Ah, what a headache.”
“Are they trying to fight for this world?”
“I don’t know. But if the forces behind these dimensional cracks really do exist then we should assume that they also received something from God.”
The black-robed man nodded his head in agreement to Kim Jungtae’s words.
“I’m done talking about the things on my part… Did you find the person that you needed to find?”
“Not yet.”
“Ha! You still haven’t found Lee Junghoo?”
The black-robed man remained silent when Kim Jungtae frowned deeply.
“What did you do while I was busy running around like a dog and collecting information?”
“There are too many people coming over unlike during the beta test.”
“Then, it should be easier! It’s their first time coming here with their bodies so it should have been easy!”
Kim Jungtae looked at the man opposite him in anger.
“We need that bastard to make things easier.”
“I know that.”
“We only survived up to a certain point. But that bastard survived even longer than us. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
The black-robed man replied heavily to Kim Jungtae.
“The most important factor in this fight is Lee Junghoo. Just think about the beta test. If that bastard becomes our enemy, then we’ll be in big trouble.”
“I know.”
“That’s right. Whether we coax him or kill him, we should do something before he grows stronger.”
After saying those, Kim Jungtae bit aggressively on his snacks as he poured alcohol on his glass.
“All of the useful people have created their own power. Lee Junghoo is the only one who hasn’t appeared yet. And that bastard is most likely to be the last survivor. We must be the first to find him.”
Kim Jungtae’s eyes turned brutal as he spoke to the black-robed man. Then, he stood up to leave.
While Kim Jungtae and his colleague were talking about something important, a shady meeting was taking place in another area in the East.