The Executioner
Translated by Wook
Edited by Wook
The butler’s dry fingers were pressing on the buttons.
The collar of the shirt was wrapped tightly around the neck, and what was seen above it was a man who looked upright and had profound perception.
His name was Cardo Ruber. He was a man who had successfully climbed his way up, and was now a marquis.
Marquis Ruber was reading a letter, and left his clothing to the butler. It was a letter from Rena Ruber, which just arrived earlier this morning.
“Was there any mistake?”
“I have checked over and over again, there was no mistake…”
The butler hastily made excuses for the Marquis’ question. However, he could not end his sentence. This was because the words that Rena had uttered the day before while laughing, came back into mind.
—What if, just what if I’m found dead tomorrow?
Rena had said that in front of the cart where the poison was prepared.
Recalling that event, the butler swallowed his saliva.
What was that? It was sinister and overwhelmed the anxiety. He couldn’t even guess what the Lady meant when she said that.
When the butler held his breath in affirmation, a large hand suddenly enveloped his shoulder.
“I don’t think you made a mistake.”
“Master…”
“I know how meticulous you are.”
His gentle voice stopped the butler’s trembling, but not because the fear had disappeared. It was actually the opposite.
“I, I will get it done. This time, for sure…!”
The butler turned fearful and clung tightly to the Marquis. He didn’t want to be considered a useless old man, because he knew about his master’s secret.
Therefore, he lowered himself and begged, until the monotonous sound of the door being knocked echoed.
“Enter.”
By the Marquis’ permission, a young female servant came into the room. She courteously greeted the Marquis before handed him a note.
As the butler looked on anxiously, the Marquis opened the note and muttered.
“This’d better be good news.”
The Marquis smiled bitterly and handed the note to the butler. The butler hesitated for a while before he received it, there was a brief information.
—The Southern Duke was the one who invited Rena Ruber.
The butler’s expression turned relaxed because of the information contained in the letter.
Yesterday, he had personally looked further into Rena Ruber. He wanted to find out how did the lady who was supposed to be dead, just appear out of nowhere.
However, there was no ‘Rena Ruber’ name on the official invitation list by the Imperial Palace. So he had thought about where the hell did she come from, and it turns out she was a guest invited by the Southern Duke himself.
The butler was surprised about the abrupt appearance of a hotshot, and his mind was immediately filled with doubts.
‘Then why…’
Then why did she come alone yesterday? Why was she by herself, and why did she reveal her name without borrowing his status as a distinguished duke as a weapon?
The Marquis, who had the same thought as the butler, laughed menacingly.
‘You’ve seen it.’
She wanted to know her father’s feelings, so she hid her backings and appeared just like that. All in order to find out in what way Cardo Ruber would appear.
And the outcome was open hostility, and even attempted poisoning. Had she come over as a guest of the Southern Duke, she wouldn’t have experienced it.
The Marquis looked back at Rena’s letter.
And felt that the piece of letter was meant to mock him.
The father smiled at the daughter’s intelligence. It was a smile filled of sorrow.
***
“My lady, please wake up!”
Under the bright window, the young maid raised her voice.
“Come one, the old man is calling!”
Rena buried her head under the pillow at Uni’s unceasing cry that was not too different from a foreman’s.
She had slept too late yesterday because she didn’t realize how much time had passed because of Lynn, whom she had met by chance in the garden. After that, she had stayed awake until dawn to write the letter.
Thanks to those things, Rena, who was currently lacking sleep, put her head on top of the pillow and mumbled.
“Just tell him that I was poisoned and died…”
“Stop saying those awful things and open your eyes!”
Uni shouted as she seized the blanket.
As a matter of fact, Rena had never beaten Uni, and because this matter was inevitable, she finally got up without resisting too much.
After the fuss, Rena, who had once again turned into an elegant lady, walked out the door. There was a servant outside who had been waiting for a long time for Rena. He was the attendant of the Master of the Southern Dukedom, Bill Alles Gracia, who had invited Rena to the Imperial Palace.
***
The old man’s rough skin was full of scars, from small scratches to deep cuts. They were all sore traces of the Southern War.
An ominous stone called the altar appeared just 100 years ago and threw the world into chaos.
The altar awakened the dead which possessed bizarre appearances, and thus, Gracia, which was divided into the North, South, East, and West, fought a terrible war with the dead.
The East was the first to defeat the dead and recovered the altar.
The North declared their victory afterwards.
The West had become the land of the dead by surrendering, and the South, which had been fighting fiercely until just recently, triumphed.
Bill Alles, the Ruler of the South, had ended the war of several generations. It must be nice to have a lot of medals under his girdle as an accomplished military commander. However, what came out of the old man’s mouth was not a radical saga, but a deep sigh.
“I hope you had a peaceful evening yesterday, Your Grace, Duke Alles…”
The lady who entered the reception room greeted him by raising the end of her skirt. The little maid who followed her also nodded her head.
The Southern Duke sighed after taking turns seeing the beautiful lady and the little maid, Rena and Uni.
“My subject never fails to surprise me.”
“You’re overpraising me.”
“You didn’t send any message upon arriving, changed your name as you wished, and even went as far as visiting Ruber of the North yesterday? I’m truly at a loss for words.
The Southern Duke scowled and showered her with criticism, and Rena apologized in pretense.
“I have nothing to say about that, but I just had to meet him first. Please forgive me.”
“Are you saying you still want my forgiveness? But we both know that is not the real question here, aren’t we?”
The Southern Duke set his jaw and glared at Rena. He had been angry at first, but seeing that figure had truly amazed him.
He was made speechless for a long time, and when he finally did, he spoke as if being strangled.
“The real question here now is, why is my subject a woman?”
It was a stupid statement. He realized it himself, but still, he couldn’t help it.
Rena’s eyes also widened at the absurd question, while Uni intruded immediately from the gap.
“How are we supposed to reply to that question? I bet nobody had ever asked you why you’re an old man.”
“I have always been an old man for the past 10 years, but my subject here was not a woman just half a year ago.”
It was not a polite retort, but the Southern Duke replied without anger. After that, Rena and Uni covered their mouths as if they were surprised.
“Don’t tell me all this time he thought I was not a woman just because I didn’t wear a skirt.”
“Whoa, what an old-fashioned person.”
“It’s not that, Uni. No matter how old one person gets, it’s just…”
“Whoa, what an old-fashioned way of thinking that is useless aside from its historic preservation value.”
“Much better.”
“I didn’t call you here to joke around.”
The Southern Duke bared his teeth at Rena and Uni’s banter.
“I’m asking why is the mercenary that I hired at a high cost showed up with a skirt.”
Then he asked with his white brows raised.
“Answer me, Executioner.”
***
The Southern War, which ended only half a year ago, was also called ‘The Silent War’.
It was called this way because there was no sound in that war. There was no commander barking out his orders, no spirits of the soldiers, no wailings of the wounded. The only sound that could be heard once in a while was the screams of the dead. It was a war that began and ended in thorough silence.
The reason why the soldiers of the South so desperately swallowed down any form of sound was because of the dead.
The dead that crawled out to the South were those who were subjugated to ‘The King Who Swallowed the First Cry’, and those dead reacted to sound.
They wandered around with skinny bodies, but changed their forms when they heard any kind of sound. If one heard even the smallest sound, because they had no lips nor cheeks, it would rabidly thrust out its teeth by opening its mouth wide. They were even capable of destroying iron armor with their teeth alone.
For this reason, the army of the South stuffed down any kind of sound under any circumstances, and so, the terrible war earned the strange nickname of ‘The Silent War’.
Only a handful of people could keep their sanities intact under this kind of situation.
Following the disgrace and savagery brought by the dead, the long battles, the successive defeats that resulted only with sighs, the soldiers were really hoping to just die.
‘Just until here…’
The Southern Duke sighed as he looked at the dark sky. Even that was merely half a sigh, as he held back the sound.
It had been two years since the South fell into this dire situation.
Those under The King Who Swallowed the First Cry devoured the South, and even the ones who managed to survive with difficulty were still destined to become chunks of meat soon.
Defeat was upon them, but the Leader of the South did not leave the battlefield. It was all to make time until Northern Army arrived.
If he pulled out, the last line of defense would be scattered like sand. Then the South would become the land of the dead like the West.
And so, with a resolve to die, he smiled bitterly as he looked at the troops he had gathered in a hurry.
‘My last meal was too shabby.’
The South had already lost most of its troops. As a result, the only recruited mercenaries left were the ones who were too young, too old, or too wounded. This was natural. It was obvious that these people would only serve as the kindling flame.
Despite the terror, the Southern Duke stood tall and did not give up. Then he looked at the mercenaries again and clicked his tongue.
‘That will be the first one to die.’
Among the rough mercenaries, there was one shorty who stood out from the others. Their face was covered with a mask, but looking at their hands, one could tell that it was a youth.
‘To think that I have to let even those kind young people out.’
The Southern Duke ordered the march with a heavy heart. Then he opened his eyes wide. He couldn’t even give any word of encouragement, so he thought he’d at least watch the way they were going until the end.
In spite of the bloody lines that were filling his sight, the Southern Duke still tried to engrave the scene of the last battle to his memory.
However, in the last moment, a miracle happened.
The black blood of the dead spurted in the middle of the battlefield in an instant.
The Southern Duke couldn’t believe his eyes.
He thought that if the dead had grabbed onto some of the soldiers, they’d at least make some noise. But at that moment, the blood of the dead was splattering without a sound. And every time the blood spurted out, a dead’s neck fell off.
The Southern Duke’s hand dropped from his bosom, and he quickly scanned through to see who had done such a thing.
It was that guy. The guy who he had thought would die first.
The young mercenary attacked soundlessly in the battlefield, focusing on striking the necks of the dead with a dagger. The poison from the dead was awful, but the guy did not give in even just for a little bit.
There was no hesitation in the actions. No, it seemed determined.
This is my hunting ground.
I am the only hunter.
Stop everything and become my prey.
If you don’t like that, then surrender to me.
Only then the Southern Duke realized. Among the kindling flame he had gathered, there was a hidden burning torch.
From that moment on, the game turned over. The knights raised their spears again and followed the young mercenary. The people praised the Southern Duke and his courageous knights when the news of their victory broke.
However, those at the forefront knew exactly who was the real contributor of this war.
They gave the mercenary a nickname in reverence.
The Executioner.
It was a ruthless name, befitting the person’s appearance when calmly executing the dead.
***
“Umm…”
Rena closed her mouth and laughed awkwardly. In fact, as the person involved, Rena didn’t like the nickname of Executor very much. To be honest, it was childish.
Rena endured the criticism and spoke to the Southern Duke solemnly.
“First of all, to clear the misunderstandings, I’ve never pretended to be man.”
“Yes, she only wore clothes that fit in that situation.”
“Because I couldn’t wear a dress and work as a mercenary.”
“True.”
Thanks to their glib tongues, the Southern Duke began to cough.
Likewise, ‘The Executor’ had never introduced themselves as a man. In a situation where they couldn’t even hear each other’s voices, the Southern Duke just misunderstood as he pleased.
Realizing the truth, the Southern Duke looked at Rena in embarrassment.
He invited the Executioner to the Imperial Palace because he had his own agenda. He was planning to turn the shabby mercenary into his representative.
But when they saw each other again, the mercenary came all dressed up in gorgeous clothes without the need of any extra touch. In a dress, even.
As the Southern Duke sighed gloomily, Rena asked while watching him quietly.
“Forgive me, but is there a problem?”
The Southern Duke raised an eyebrow, as if saying ‘what are you implying?’
Then Rena smiled at the foolish-looking old man, and added.
“That the one you’ve invited was not a man, but me.”
The Executioner
Translated by Wook
Edited by Wook
The butler’s dry fingers were pressing on the buttons.
The collar of the shirt was wrapped tightly around the neck, and what was seen above it was a man who looked upright and had profound perception.
His name was Cardo Ruber. He was a man who had successfully climbed his way up, and was now a marquis.
Marquis Ruber was reading a letter, and left his clothing to the butler. It was a letter from Rena Ruber, which just arrived earlier this morning.
“Was there any mistake?”
“I have checked over and over again, there was no mistake…”
The butler hastily made excuses for the Marquis’ question. However, he could not end his sentence. This was because the words that Rena had uttered the day before while laughing, came back into mind.
—What if, just what if I’m found dead tomorrow?
Rena had said that in front of the cart where the poison was prepared.
Recalling that event, the butler swallowed his saliva.
What was that? It was sinister and overwhelmed the anxiety. He couldn’t even guess what the Lady meant when she said that.
When the butler held his breath in affirmation, a large hand suddenly enveloped his shoulder.
“I don’t think you made a mistake.”
“Master…”
“I know how meticulous you are.”
His gentle voice stopped the butler’s trembling, but not because the fear had disappeared. It was actually the opposite.
“I, I will get it done. This time, for sure…!”
The butler turned fearful and clung tightly to the Marquis. He didn’t want to be considered a useless old man, because he knew about his master’s secret.
Therefore, he lowered himself and begged, until the monotonous sound of the door being knocked echoed.
“Enter.”
By the Marquis’ permission, a young female servant came into the room. She courteously greeted the Marquis before handed him a note.
As the butler looked on anxiously, the Marquis opened the note and muttered.
“This’d better be good news.”
The Marquis smiled bitterly and handed the note to the butler. The butler hesitated for a while before he received it, there was a brief information.
—The Southern Duke was the one who invited Rena Ruber.
The butler’s expression turned relaxed because of the information contained in the letter.
Yesterday, he had personally looked further into Rena Ruber. He wanted to find out how did the lady who was supposed to be dead, just appear out of nowhere.
However, there was no ‘Rena Ruber’ name on the official invitation list by the Imperial Palace. So he had thought about where the hell did she come from, and it turns out she was a guest invited by the Southern Duke himself.
The butler was surprised about the abrupt appearance of a hotshot, and his mind was immediately filled with doubts.
‘Then why…’
Then why did she come alone yesterday? Why was she by herself, and why did she reveal her name without borrowing his status as a distinguished duke as a weapon?
The Marquis, who had the same thought as the butler, laughed menacingly.
‘You’ve seen it.’
She wanted to know her father’s feelings, so she hid her backings and appeared just like that. All in order to find out in what way Cardo Ruber would appear.
And the outcome was open hostility, and even attempted poisoning. Had she come over as a guest of the Southern Duke, she wouldn’t have experienced it.
The Marquis looked back at Rena’s letter.
And felt that the piece of letter was meant to mock him.
The father smiled at the daughter’s intelligence. It was a smile filled of sorrow.
***
“My lady, please wake up!”
Under the bright window, the young maid raised her voice.
“Come one, the old man is calling!”
Rena buried her head under the pillow at Uni’s unceasing cry that was not too different from a foreman’s.
She had slept too late yesterday because she didn’t realize how much time had passed because of Lynn, whom she had met by chance in the garden. After that, she had stayed awake until dawn to write the letter.
Thanks to those things, Rena, who was currently lacking sleep, put her head on top of the pillow and mumbled.
“Just tell him that I was poisoned and died…”
“Stop saying those awful things and open your eyes!”
Uni shouted as she seized the blanket.
As a matter of fact, Rena had never beaten Uni, and because this matter was inevitable, she finally got up without resisting too much.
After the fuss, Rena, who had once again turned into an elegant lady, walked out the door. There was a servant outside who had been waiting for a long time for Rena. He was the attendant of the Master of the Southern Dukedom, Bill Alles Gracia, who had invited Rena to the Imperial Palace.
***
The old man’s rough skin was full of scars, from small scratches to deep cuts. They were all sore traces of the Southern War.
An ominous stone called the altar appeared just 100 years ago and threw the world into chaos.
The altar awakened the dead which possessed bizarre appearances, and thus, Gracia, which was divided into the North, South, East, and West, fought a terrible war with the dead.
The East was the first to defeat the dead and recovered the altar.
The North declared their victory afterwards.
The West had become the land of the dead by surrendering, and the South, which had been fighting fiercely until just recently, triumphed.
Bill Alles, the Ruler of the South, had ended the war of several generations. It must be nice to have a lot of medals under his girdle as an accomplished military commander. However, what came out of the old man’s mouth was not a radical saga, but a deep sigh.
“I hope you had a peaceful evening yesterday, Your Grace, Duke Alles…”
The lady who entered the reception room greeted him by raising the end of her skirt. The little maid who followed her also nodded her head.
The Southern Duke sighed after taking turns seeing the beautiful lady and the little maid, Rena and Uni.
“My subject never fails to surprise me.”
“You’re overpraising me.”
“You didn’t send any message upon arriving, changed your name as you wished, and even went as far as visiting Ruber of the North yesterday? I’m truly at a loss for words.
The Southern Duke scowled and showered her with criticism, and Rena apologized in pretense.
“I have nothing to say about that, but I just had to meet him first. Please forgive me.”
“Are you saying you still want my forgiveness? But we both know that is not the real question here, aren’t we?”
The Southern Duke set his jaw and glared at Rena. He had been angry at first, but seeing that figure had truly amazed him.
He was made speechless for a long time, and when he finally did, he spoke as if being strangled.
“The real question here now is, why is my subject a woman?”
It was a stupid statement. He realized it himself, but still, he couldn’t help it.
Rena’s eyes also widened at the absurd question, while Uni intruded immediately from the gap.
“How are we supposed to reply to that question? I bet nobody had ever asked you why you’re an old man.”
“I have always been an old man for the past 10 years, but my subject here was not a woman just half a year ago.”
It was not a polite retort, but the Southern Duke replied without anger. After that, Rena and Uni covered their mouths as if they were surprised.
“Don’t tell me all this time he thought I was not a woman just because I didn’t wear a skirt.”
“Whoa, what an old-fashioned person.”
“It’s not that, Uni. No matter how old one person gets, it’s just…”
“Whoa, what an old-fashioned way of thinking that is useless aside from its historic preservation value.”
“Much better.”
“I didn’t call you here to joke around.”
The Southern Duke bared his teeth at Rena and Uni’s banter.
“I’m asking why is the mercenary that I hired at a high cost showed up with a skirt.”
Then he asked with his white brows raised.
“Answer me, Executioner.”
***
The Southern War, which ended only half a year ago, was also called ‘The Silent War’.
It was called this way because there was no sound in that war. There was no commander barking out his orders, no spirits of the soldiers, no wailings of the wounded. The only sound that could be heard once in a while was the screams of the dead. It was a war that began and ended in thorough silence.
The reason why the soldiers of the South so desperately swallowed down any form of sound was because of the dead.
The dead that crawled out to the South were those who were subjugated to ‘The King Who Swallowed the First Cry’, and those dead reacted to sound.
They wandered around with skinny bodies, but changed their forms when they heard any kind of sound. If one heard even the smallest sound, because they had no lips nor cheeks, it would rabidly thrust out its teeth by opening its mouth wide. They were even capable of destroying iron armor with their teeth alone.
For this reason, the army of the South stuffed down any kind of sound under any circumstances, and so, the terrible war earned the strange nickname of ‘The Silent War’.
Only a handful of people could keep their sanities intact under this kind of situation.
Following the disgrace and savagery brought by the dead, the long battles, the successive defeats that resulted only with sighs, the soldiers were really hoping to just die.
‘Just until here…’
The Southern Duke sighed as he looked at the dark sky. Even that was merely half a sigh, as he held back the sound.
It had been two years since the South fell into this dire situation.
Those under The King Who Swallowed the First Cry devoured the South, and even the ones who managed to survive with difficulty were still destined to become chunks of meat soon.
Defeat was upon them, but the Leader of the South did not leave the battlefield. It was all to make time until Northern Army arrived.
If he pulled out, the last line of defense would be scattered like sand. Then the South would become the land of the dead like the West.
And so, with a resolve to die, he smiled bitterly as he looked at the troops he had gathered in a hurry.
‘My last meal was too shabby.’
The South had already lost most of its troops. As a result, the only recruited mercenaries left were the ones who were too young, too old, or too wounded. This was natural. It was obvious that these people would only serve as the kindling flame.
Despite the terror, the Southern Duke stood tall and did not give up. Then he looked at the mercenaries again and clicked his tongue.
‘That will be the first one to die.’
Among the rough mercenaries, there was one shorty who stood out from the others. Their face was covered with a mask, but looking at their hands, one could tell that it was a youth.
‘To think that I have to let even those kind young people out.’
The Southern Duke ordered the march with a heavy heart. Then he opened his eyes wide. He couldn’t even give any word of encouragement, so he thought he’d at least watch the way they were going until the end.
In spite of the bloody lines that were filling his sight, the Southern Duke still tried to engrave the scene of the last battle to his memory.
However, in the last moment, a miracle happened.
The black blood of the dead spurted in the middle of the battlefield in an instant.
The Southern Duke couldn’t believe his eyes.
He thought that if the dead had grabbed onto some of the soldiers, they’d at least make some noise. But at that moment, the blood of the dead was splattering without a sound. And every time the blood spurted out, a dead’s neck fell off.
The Southern Duke’s hand dropped from his bosom, and he quickly scanned through to see who had done such a thing.
It was that guy. The guy who he had thought would die first.
The young mercenary attacked soundlessly in the battlefield, focusing on striking the necks of the dead with a dagger. The poison from the dead was awful, but the guy did not give in even just for a little bit.
There was no hesitation in the actions. No, it seemed determined.
This is my hunting ground.
I am the only hunter.
Stop everything and become my prey.
If you don’t like that, then surrender to me.
Only then the Southern Duke realized. Among the kindling flame he had gathered, there was a hidden burning torch.
From that moment on, the game turned over. The knights raised their spears again and followed the young mercenary. The people praised the Southern Duke and his courageous knights when the news of their victory broke.
However, those at the forefront knew exactly who was the real contributor of this war.
They gave the mercenary a nickname in reverence.
The Executioner.
It was a ruthless name, befitting the person’s appearance when calmly executing the dead.
***
“Umm…”
Rena closed her mouth and laughed awkwardly. In fact, as the person involved, Rena didn’t like the nickname of Executor very much. To be honest, it was childish.
Rena endured the criticism and spoke to the Southern Duke solemnly.
“First of all, to clear the misunderstandings, I’ve never pretended to be man.”
“Yes, she only wore clothes that fit in that situation.”
“Because I couldn’t wear a dress and work as a mercenary.”
“True.”
Thanks to their glib tongues, the Southern Duke began to cough.
Likewise, ‘The Executor’ had never introduced themselves as a man. In a situation where they couldn’t even hear each other’s voices, the Southern Duke just misunderstood as he pleased.
Realizing the truth, the Southern Duke looked at Rena in embarrassment.
He invited the Executioner to the Imperial Palace because he had his own agenda. He was planning to turn the shabby mercenary into his representative.
But when they saw each other again, the mercenary came all dressed up in gorgeous clothes without the need of any extra touch. In a dress, even.
As the Southern Duke sighed gloomily, Rena asked while watching him quietly.
“Forgive me, but is there a problem?”
The Southern Duke raised an eyebrow, as if saying ‘what are you implying?’
Then Rena smiled at the foolish-looking old man, and added.
“That the one you’ve invited was not a man, but me.”
