Cave King – 133
Aston nodded.
“They said that the reason they were wounded when they arrived was because Oren wanted to deceive us. That’s why they lost their limbs… Isn’t that right, Balpas?”
Balpas was also bound up next to Oren. He nodded silently.
If I saw that the men were wounded, I would not reject them. That must have been his reasoning.
However, how could that possibly justify cutting off arms and legs.
Ashton looked at Oren with an expression of pity.
“To think this is a royal…someone who stands above others. No, I would rather not think of it.”
“Me and my brother have very different personalities. However, I find it hard to believe that this one is related to Lord Heal…”
Haines muttered with exasperation.
Baris looked very calm as he said,
“I heard about what he did from Balpas and the other ship’s crew. Whatever your decision may be, we will support you. And everything, including his crimes, will be reported to the king.”
And then Erevan grabbed Oren by the collar.
“It’s decided then. Elto, use this man and save the Chief’s friend.”
“Mmmmghgh! Mmmgh!!!”
Oren began to struggle violently.
Rienna was the only one who was against it. She was worried that this would cause an even larger rift with Sanfaris.
And she was right. It was possible that my father would be outraged by Oren’s death. Even if he heard everything that the crew had to say.
However, this was Oren. If he had the chance, he would come straight back to this island in order to do us harm.
Of course, I did not like the idea of a human sacrifice.
However, Oren was the person who had taken Lopez’s life. And he had killed many others.
Who knew what he would do if returned to the continent.
And so I did not care to stop it.
But Elto stared at Oren and opened her mouth.
Apparently, she had realized something.
“Hmm. Your magic… You have the ‘Sage’ crest, do you not?”
Oren nodded. It was as if he wanted to make an appeal of his worth as a human.
“Ho-ho… Ashton, Haines. I want to be sure about this. Take off his shirt.”
And so the two did as Elto requested.
And then they saw the glowing, geometric pattern on his chest that was the crest.
Elto looked at it curiously. And so I asked,
“Is there a problem with it being the ‘Sage’ crest?”
“Mmm. Some crests are worth more than a life. For instance, his crest would be worth several times that of his life.”
“In other words, the crest would be enough to pay the price?”
“Exactly. It’s almost too much. What will you do?”
If Oren lost his ‘Sage’ crest, he would no longer be able to use powerful magic. He wouldn’t be much of a threat then.
Furthermore, no one in the history of Sanfaris had ever lost their crest. And in Sanfaris, your crest was everything. He would never be king.
“But there are also the crimes he commited on the ship. Not to mention the crimes he must have commited in the capital. There are likely others who will demand justice… Brother.”
I turned to face Balpas.
“Will you help me expose Oren’s crimes?”
“…M-me?”
“I want you to find his other victims. And if any are alive, you must help them.”
With Aries’s poison, we could make Oren confess.
“Very well… I should be able to get the truth from him. I have my own reasons for doing so as well… Leave it to me.”
“Thank you, brother. Now…”
I turned to Elto, and she nodded.
That’s when Oren shook his head and began to move as if he’d gone mad.
“MMmmmghgh!! Mmmghghh!! MMMMGGGHHH!!!”
He wriggled and thrashed on the ground like a worm.
Ashton and Haines moved to hold him down, but Elto said that she didn’t mind. And then she held her hand over Oren.
As she began to chant something, Oren began to smash his head onto the ground. The gag in his mouth shattered and he began to scream.
“NOOO!!!! THIS IS MY POWER!!!! I won’t allow the likes of you to take it from me! I’ll kill you all!! Flame!!”
He had just chanted. However, nothing happened.
On closer inspection, the ‘Sage’ crest was now floating above Oren’s head. The light in it slowly began to dim, and then it vanished completely.
“…Flame!! Flame!! …Hell Storm!!”
Oren’s screams echoed throughout the island. It was all advanced magic. It would have been very dangerous if it worked.
“Thunder!! Thunder!! No…it’s not true!! Someone, unbind me!!”
However, no one moved to help Oren. It was no wonder. He had killed his own men.
Instead, everyone’s eyes moved towards Lopez as he was enveloped in darkness. I too, could not spare another thought towards Oren.
“I am the king!! I am king!! …The kingdom of Sanfaris is mine!!!”
And like that, Oren lost his crest forever.
That’s almost better than giving his life to the Demon god. Almost.
In some ways, it’s crueler–no, more apropos, since he’ll be alive to face becoming lower than those he tormented and he will be able to give information and then face trial. And sentencing.
Thanks for all your chapiterificating!
What a word you got there buddy 😆
Not the end that I’m expecting, but still schadenfreude-inducing nonetheless.
Thanks for the new chapter!
Honestly? Death isn’t too good for people like him. Just kill him and berate the Emperor for allowing a prince to become such a monster that needs to be put down.
But he’ll spend the rest of his life miserable without a crest. Isn’t that really the best outcome we could hope for? Sure he dies and their world may or may not have a hell to torment him. But if they take away his crest and expose his crimes it’s most likely that he will be stripped of inheritance rights, put on trial, and executed. And he will be suffering through the entire process.
One pretty important detail… the sage crest helped Oren cast advanced magic, and overall cast easier. Taking that crest from him shouldn’t mean he can’t use magic anymore.
There are a lot of edgelords in this comment section screaming that Heal should have killed him and it actually makes me kind of worried if they ever got into a seat of power. What would killing him have solved other than bringing Lopez back? Driving a wedge between Sanfaris and Sheorl? Creating a war where innocent lives are lost because of an act of revenge?
I don’t know if I should feel cheated or not…I was honestly surprised that he was actually fine in getting rid of the problem in one move…but of course he’s kept alive in the end.
The punishment sounds awesome, but at the same time not convinced as I’m sure there’s a crest out there with the power to transfer abilities or what not.
Let’s see how it goes.
Or you know, escape, figure out a way to steal crests (if you can remove them for a sacrifice, you probably can steal them), become a crest loaded last boss. Cue Star Wars poster with Heal holding up a pickaxe.
Yesyesyeesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes
A fitting punishment, but terribly inadequate for all the stuff Oren did even in the last chapters. Basically, this should be only the first part, but MCs being foolishly kind is a major trope… sadly. Making the psychopath experience what he did to the crew and his underlings, that should be the second part, and lastly an execution. Huh, seeing so many similar weak punishments made me quite hungry for more realistic stuff, sadly.
Thanks for the chapter! Awesome translation! God bless you!
So basically, in this world, all matters with a crest and all does have one since birth or so.
“Humiliation and Demerit are worst from Death” a Samurai would definitely say that.
Personally I wish they just killed him and used him as a sacrifice. Heck Elto is a demon king so she probably knows a way to separate and preserve for later use or transfer Oren’s crest to somebody else and still use Oren as a sacrifice. Only taking his crest and sending him back doesn’t seem like enough punishment. Oren could escape and look for some way to regain a crest or some other power so he can get his revenge. Then there’s also the possibility that the king will have everyone silenced before the crew can expose Oren’s crimes while the king can just use their deaths as an excuse to invade Sheorl. All he would have to say is that either they never came back because Heal killed them or display their corpses and say Heal sent them back as a declaration of war. Heal should expect something like that because he clearly has no real intention of peaceful negotiations with them. Why else would he send a psychopath and a professional assassin as his representatives for a “peaceful” negotiation? He was just looking for either Oren to cause an incident so he can use it as an excuse to invade or for Balpas to assassinate Heal and/or other high level subordinates so that Sheorl would be thrown into chaos so he can take advantage to send his troops there to invade. At the end of the day he’s just looking for any excuse to invade Sheorl and sending Oren back to him just gives him more options on how he can spin this to invade Sheorl.
Heal could send someone really strong like Elto to make sure he doesn’t do anything but I don’t think Heal is cunning enough to think of that.
I called it xd
This has got to be the satisfied chapter I’ve ever read. Thanks for the treat
Thanks!
\(^^)/
Nice, a date worse than death one could say.
What a well-deserved humiliation.
Typo? Did you mean a FATE worse than death?
Thanks for the chapter
Muito Obrigado por este capítulo.
I much prefer this to all the ppl screaming for blood and moaning about the MC being weak because he didn’t just kill oren
Is not bad at all but Heal is pathetic no because he doesn’t kill but because is a passive person that let everything happens until it becomes mess
Is really stupid how he was most worried about taking his Crest instead of sacrifice him………
Also it would be better if they sacrifice him but he survives instead of use excuse that the crest alone was enough