Musou Knight: Crow of Cinders-Chapter 26: Interlude - Legend of the Three-Legged Crow

Chapter 26 - Interlude - Legend of the Three-Legged Crow

Zoli Diripio was an ambitious man. He had been serving King Choi Fraus for 30 years, yet he had been eyeing the throne since the first day of his service.

He desired wealth, fame, land, women, and power.

He wanted to be king.

He wanted everything that Choi Fraus had.

Thus, Zoli Diripio devised a plan. Together with other great generals, he poisoned Choi Fraus and created a fake edict to declare war against the Invidia. He then sent Cash Fraus, the crown prince, and the royalist generals to the front line while he stayed at the back.

The battle’s result was as he had predicted. Cash Fraus and his retainers ran into Louis Zen and were defeated, but they managed to decrease Invidia’s vanguard troops by half. One of Louis Zen’s subordinates, a level 5 knight, had been killed.

Following a safe withdrawal from the front with few casualties, his intelligence network gathered intriguing data from Constantia. Lenitia, the princess of Constantia, was sent to marry Choi Fraus as a political maneuver to bolster the cooperation and alliance between their nations.

Desiring the rumored princess, Zoli set up troops on the main road to intercept the convoy. However, Lenitia didn’t show up as predicted.

Given her unpredictable route, Zoli sent their fastest unit to secure the likely paths towards Invidia, the capital city. Having waited a considerable time, Lenitia’s escort troops appeared on a route that Zoli had previously assigned to his own troops. Zoli rushed to the ambush site and waited for his chance.

His troops reacted. They secretly killed some of the escorts and impersonated Lenitia’s followers. As soon as Lenitia left the camp for personal reasons, the spies alerted Zoli. The ambush force struck Lenitia and poisoned her bodyguard as planned.

As for Zoli, he singlehandedly dealt with Lenitia’s escort soldiers. However, there was a variable.

Among the escorts, Zoli sensed a faint aura of a level 2 fire knight.

At first, he did not think much of it since level 2 knights were basically cannon fodder to him. However, the situation quickly changed. Lia and Lenitia defeated the ambush unit and broke through the encirclement.

This enraged Zoli. He chased after the two women.

But along the way, his troops spotted the level 2 knight, who had escaped his grasp. A few of his men were killed.

Annoyed by the inept subordinates, Zoli briefly changed his path, following the knight to remove the variables. He managed to corner the knight in the abandoned mine.

They fought. The knight pulled a fast one on him with his Musou attack, but Zoli disregarded it. By negating the knight’s enhanced senses, he overwhelmed the opponent with his superior power.

The knight fell to the bottom of a pit. Zoli observed that the knight’s body was irreparably damaged, and his own flames would be his demise. Thus, he returned to pursue the women without delivering a finishing blow.

Zoli’s injury, however, had a profound and lasting effect. The fire on his wound, for some reason, persisted.

Zoli grumbled as he slapped and scratched his neck. A portion of his flesh healed, and the fire dissipated. Yet, the moment Zoli took his hand away, the fire reignited and began to burn his skin again.

"He’s definitely dead. His aura died out, but what in the tarnation is this flame?!"

The situation posed no threat to life, just the annoyance of mosquito bites. Yet, Zoli worried the fire could spread if he dozed off.

The flame prompted Zoli to abandon his pursuit of Lenitia and return to camp for a consultation with his personal physician. Upon returning, Zoli headed directly to the infirmary, where a level 4 medic knight was dozing while waiting for patients.

The water knight, Goonus Meister, had a square-shaped head and no hair. His body frame was almost the same as a walking skeleton, yet his movements and demeanor were as energetic as an athlete.

"Hey, pervert! Are you dead yet?!" Zoli yelled.

Goonus raised his head and yawned. He frowned at his master. "Oh, have you changed your mind and wish to try my white wine, my lord?"

"I don’t need your damn sperm! Treat me!"

Zoli sat on an empty bed and removed his armor, revealing his charred neck and the patch of burning skin caused by Crow’s flame sword.

Goonus sighed and stood behind Zoli. He inspected the neck and the flame. Upon seeing the flickering smokeless fire, he figured out its traits.

"Ah, flame musou. Did you pick a fight with Louis Zen, my lord?"

"I’m not stupid enough to fight with that brute head-on! Tell me, what’s wrong with this stupid flame?!"

"So, does the flame persist after you tried to dispel it?"

"Don’t you have eyes? Stop asking questions!"

Again, Goonus sighed. He picked a sterile bandage and held it in his hands. Murky white water emerged from his palms and soaked the bandage, producing a strong and distinctive smell of rotten fish. He then wrapped it around Zoli’s neck.

The bandage suppressed the flame. The liquid also healed Zoli’s neck.

Goonus explained. "That fire appears to be the Three-Legged Crow Flame in legends. As the stories go, the fire can only be put out when the person it’s on perishes. However, the flame on your neck is far less intense than what the legends describe."

"Ptut! What legend? That fairy tale is for slum brats who don’t even know what real knights are."

The legends stemmed from a historical narrative that was inherited from one generation to the next. Moreover, the books were still in the royal capital’s library. Goonus wanted to argue, but he gave up convincing his lord. He played along to make life easier for himself.

"Indeed. It’s just a weak attempt at imitation. The fairy tale is for children."

"Ha! Right. Are we done here? I’m heading out now."

"Keep the bandage on for two days, and the fire should be extinguished."

"Tsk! Two days?! You incompetent. I should have hired someone better!"

After spitting on the clean bed, Zoli stood and stomped out of the infirmary.

"..."

Goonus glanced at the bed and snorted. Pointing to the bed, he caused a substance of clear liquid to materialize, which then engulfed the bed and removed impurities and dirty marks. The dirty water mass vibrated as though it had been microwaved. They evaporated into smoke instantly, leaving behind a sparkling clean bed and a wooden bed frame.

Done with his work, he returned to his seat. Instead of dozing off as usual, he thought of the tale of the Sun Empire, the mythical kingdom before the 14 kingdoms were established.

"...Three-Legged Crows. Those immortal birds exist, though. We can’t just find them."