Chapter 300: Here is the Northern Lands
Frozen Furnace Castle was built after the Supreme King unified the Northern Lands. The castle sat high upon the mountain, towering as the highest point of Frozen Furnace City.
Outside the outer walls of Frozen Furnace Castle was a descending road leading toward the residential district of Frozen Furnace City.
So when Hode woke up and stood by the window looking out, he could see that the residential district was in chaos.
Or rather, it was a massacre.
His pupils contracted. Hode quickly turned around, pulled on his tattered leather armor, and ignored the naked woman still asleep on the bed. He pushed open the door directly, then found Cooper snoring loudly in the bathhouse, and gave him two resounding slaps across the face.
Reeking of alcohol, Cooper opened his bleary eyes, even seeing double when he looked at Hode.
“Wake up! Frozen Furnace City is in a massacre. We have to leave!” Hode said urgently.
The word “massacre” snapped Cooper awake at once. He shoved away an arm draped over him, hurriedly put on his leather armor, and asked, “What happened? Why suddenly a massacre? Have the Fiends already broken through?”
Hode answered, “No. It’s the city guards slaughtering the residents. That’s too strange, so we should run.”
The two women had already been frightened by Hode’s sudden actions. They clutched thin silk cloths to cover themselves, shrinking into the corner.
Cooper ignored the women he had spent the night with, strapped on his gauntlets, and followed after Hode, asking as he walked, “The city guards are slaughtering? But when we entered yesterday, wasn’t everything peaceful here? Could it be that some great figure has gone mad?”
Hode replied, “Who knows. Either way, we need to get out first.”
Cooper asked, “What about King Aureus? The deal we made with him hasn’t been fulfilled yet.”
Hode’s steps quickened as he pushed open the door to leave, saying without looking back, “Wait outside. He said himself that whether we are here or not, his command will be announced across the entire Northern Lands in three days. We just need to wait for his message.”
“Alright then,” Cooper answered.
But when the two of them quietly reached the main hall, they found it already filled with people.
The guards on both sides wore iron armor, a rarity in the Northern Lands. In the middle of them was a pile of severed heads and a man kneeling on the ground.
That man was drenched in blood, his eyes filled with terror.
“It seems I’ve disturbed you,” came Aureus’s aged voice. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling upon Hode, who had tried to slip away into hiding.
Aureus continued, “Hode, even if you refuse to take the surname Ferdinand, your blood still flows with mine. You are my guest, so I will not harm you.”
Hode listened, yet remained cautious, coming forward with Cooper.
It was not that he believed Aureus’s words, but because two figures had appeared behind him at some unknown moment—figures wrapped entirely in black clothing, with only their eyes exposed.
Those two were undoubtedly warriors of the fourth rank, yet their secretive aura of battle was nothing like that of Northern Warriors.
Northern Warriors never moved like them.
Hode gave a slight bow and said, “I saw a rebellion breaking out in the residential district. Just as you said, my blood carries your lineage, so I was preparing to help you quell the rebellion.”
At this, Aureus laughed in satisfaction. “Haha, as expected of a brave warrior. But you are a guest. How could I let a guest help me kill?”
His gaze shifted to the kneeling man. “Only this one remains. Once he is killed, it will be finished.”
With that, Aureus’s finger on the throne’s armrest moved slightly. At once, a guard stepped forward.
The man kneeling made muffled sounds, “mmph, mmph,” mouth wide open in terror.
Only then did Hode notice—his tongue had been ripped out, leaving only the bloody stump.
The guard raised his hand and swung down his hand axe. A head rolled to the ground, and the headless body slumped to the side.
The guard cleaned the axe, then dragged the corpse away.
Aureus finally said, “His name was Atticus. He was in charge of the Rat Path of the Northern Kingdom. At first, I only wanted to capture him alone. But since he was of the Rat Path, he discovered my intentions early and contacted his associates for help. So I had no choice but to kill them as well.”
No one answered. Hode realized Aureus was speaking to him, and after a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Why did you kill him?”
“Because he deceived me,” Aureus replied.
Hode was stunned. “Because the Rat Path said the strength of the North could drive back the Lords of Annihilation’s army?”
“Yes,” Aureus said. “That is what they told me. But in truth, the Lords of Annihilation are far more dangerous. So they deceived me.”
Hode opened his mouth but did not know what to say.
Aureus paid no mind and continued, “If you only looked at that man’s strength, only at these armies, only at the Fiends still stationed in the East, then naturally the North could drive back the Lords of Annihilation. The Rat Path merely gathers information and analyzes it. Perhaps they cannot see beyond the anchors in the sky. From that perspective, perhaps they were not lying.”
“But compared to your information, that becomes a lie. And since your blood flows with mine, my kin, you would never deceive me. So it must be them who lied. And those who deceive the King must be punished. I granted them a merciful death.”
Hode swallowed hard. To him, such reasoning for killing sounded worse than none at all.
Following the traditions of the North—killing merely because the weak were weak—that would even have felt more fitting.
It was as if Aureus knew his thoughts, for he said, “By Northern tradition, because I am King, I may kill them outright. That is their fate. But that is tradition of the Northern Lands, not a rule mankind ought to live by.”
“If we truly followed Northern tradition, killing whenever one wished simply because one wanted, then what of the others here? Wouldn’t they all live each day fearing that the strong may slaughter them at any moment? Then the strong would fear those stronger, the weak would fear the strong, and the weaker still would fear even the weak. The North would become a land where all mistrusted all, abandoning human exchange.”
“And without exchange, could humans still be called humans? Without exchange, could a country still be called a country?”
“So I must give them a reason for killing. At least on the surface, the common folk will not think I kill at random. They will believe I follow a rule.”
“It is not about protecting anyone, nor defending anyone. It is only the ruler telling the ruled—I am one who abides by rules. So you need not fear me.”
Aureus spoke slowly, word by word, with precision and clarity.
Hode suddenly felt the illusion that King Aureus was like a scholar of the monastery, teaching him as though he were a student.
No—it was not an illusion.
Hode saw the look Aureus gave him. It was as if asking whether he understood.
Hode lowered his head slightly to avoid that gaze and said, “But such a fragile reason cannot deceive them, can it?”
“Heh…” Aureus chuckled softly. “Indeed. Of course it cannot deceive them. If they wished, they could easily see that I killed them because of the Rat Path. And those people were, in fact, connected to the marquises.”
“Then tell me—do you think they would choose to reflect deeply, or choose to believe my words?”
The question felt like a test upon Hode.
For some reason, a pressure weighed on his heart. After some hesitation, he answered, “They will choose to believe your words.”
“Why?” Aureus asked.
“Because they do not wish to die. Because your actions show them you know everything they know. Because they are loyal to you,” Hode replied.
“No,” Aureus said. “The reason is far simpler. Because they know they cannot kill me. So when I give them a reason, they must accept it.”
Hode froze, blurting out, “Then what difference is there from Northern tradition? It is still the strong deciding all, the weak forced to endure.”
Aureus shook his head. “No, there is still a difference. I give them a reason.”
“But that reason is accepted only because of your strength,” Hode pressed.
He had long suspected that Aureus’s frail appearance was a façade. He never truly believed that Aureus survived only because the four marquises tolerated his weakness.
Now, after seeing that overnight he had eradicated all nobles in the capital connected to others, Hode felt his suspicions confirmed.
This King of the North was hiding his strength.
“Yes, it is because of my strength that they accept it,” Aureus said. “But have you considered? Other strong ones would not even bother giving a reason.”
“The result is the same—death,” Hode countered.
Aureus raised a withered finger, tracing lightly through the air. “Yes, in the end they all die. But those who kill without even giving explanation treat lives as something to be trampled casually. Whereas when I give an explanation, I tell all people—I am one they can communicate with.”
Hode fell silent. He thought of the laws of Greenwood.
Aureus lowered his finger, as if reading Hode’s mind, and said, “Just as you feel from Greenwood’s laws—that is the final form of this act of giving reasons. To have all believe in the law, to have all follow the law—that is the ultimate aim. And such a thing could never be achieved by strong men killing and seizing lives as they please.”
Hode remained silent, deep in thought about Aureus’s words. He glanced at the tense Cooper beside him, then finally said, “You are right, but this is the Northern Lands. So what you are doing is meaningless.”