The Requiem of the Nobility (3)
“Guuuh!”
A voice of agony escaped from Altonius’s mouth.
The reason why Altonius was crying in pain was that his hands were grabbed where Kulm broke them a little while ago and tied together with a chain and then he got taken away.
When the weight of the chains around his hands clinked against the ground, severe pain assaulted his arms.
Altonius was made to drag along the chains all the way to the Salbuveir. The people of the Salbuveir who came to the capital lined up in an orderly manner and set off for the Salbuveir territory. The people of the Empire who were turned into Undead followed behind them silently.
The Salbuveirs treated all the capital’s Undead equally. You might get such an impression at first, but they were all treated as slaves. Whether their social status was high or low, no matter whether they had any property or not, or whether they had a considerable ability, they were all treated as slaves.
No, some of them were treated particularly cruelly. The members of the military who took part in the massacre of the Salbuveir were treated much worse than the citizens of the Imperial Capital.
Among the horde of dead, only Altonius alone was a living being. In a sense, that made the situation for Altonius even worse, but no one really cared about it.
Three hours passed since the departure from the capital and the day started darkening, but the Salbuveirs advanced without concern.
As Undead, there was no reason for them to take a break because they had no general concept of fatigue.
“Haah… haah…”
Altonius, who was feeling the fatigue, was running out of breath. There was no doubt that a month of torture had drained Altonius. He had been given the proper treatment, but even so, he was still not able to recover completely, so he was slowly wearing out.
“Oi, that scum is falling behind.”
“Tsk… what an irritating fellow.”
“He’s the leader of worthless bastards, after all.”
The Salbuveir retainers threw their merciless words at Altonius. Altonius was not happy to hear their words. He had walked for three hours straight, so it was only a matter of time before he got completely exhausted. The merciless words of mockery thrown at him gouged out his heart further.
“Tch… it might be better to take a short break.”
“How troublesome.”
“Even if you say that, it would be troubling if he kicked the bucket.”
The retainers nodded at each other and spoke to Altonius.
“Oi, we are taking a break.”
“The rest of you just go ahead.”
“Alright.”
Abou five retainers who instructed Altonius to take a break stopped in place, while the rest ignored Altonius and continued forward.
The Undead glanced at Altonius sitting on the side of the road with a look of contempt and hurried ahead. It was unavoidable that Altonius’s mind wasn’t able to rest with all these cold gazes pouring on him.
“I’d rather not keep him company until he’s rested.”
“True. Can’t we do anything about it?”
When the retainers talked with irritation, Altonius mind couldn’t rest even more.
“Oh, right.”
Then, one of the retainers said such and walked into the forest around the highway. The other retainers exchanged glances as they silently saw him off.
“What’s up with him?”
“Who knows.”
About twenty minutes later, the retainer who entered the forest returned. He was holding several body-length branches in his hands.
“What do you want to do with those?”
“I thought of making a stretcher with these.”
The other retainers showed disapproval at the retainer’s thoughts. They thought Altonius would have it too easy then.
“Well, don’t be like that. I have thought that through.”
As soon as he said that, he started working on the stretcher. He made a stretcher about the length of Altonius’s body. It took him about ten minutes to make.
Altonius followed the retainer’s instructions in silence. He laid down on the stretcher and the retainer tied him up.
Then, he took the chains tied around Altonius’s hands and began dragging Altonius behind him.
“Gaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Severe pain assaulted Altonius through his broken arms, but the retainer continued walking without a care. Looking at the scene, the other retainers felt satisfied. They will be able to continue on the move while hurting Altonius at the same time.
“I see, you are smart.”
“You flatter me. He can rest while we continue moving like this.”
“Yeah, taking a break just for this scum is ridiculous in the first place.”
The retainers proceeded while chatting happily. Of course, Altonius who was dragged along was experiencing a tremendous amount of pain on the move.
Since the Undead did not have a general concept of fatigue as mention earlier, the party moved to the Salbuveir territory nearly without a break. That means Altonius was made to suffer from constant pain.
It took four days to reach the Salbuveir territory, during which the Salbuveirs proceeded with almost no break. They rested for ten hours at most during these four days of travel. It was the minimum rest they had to take so Altonius wouldn’t die.
For Altonius, this move was probably the most painful torture he experienced. Seeing the agonizing Altonius, the Salbuveirs decided to wait for him to recover.
And on the fifth day, when the Salbuveirs arrived at their destination… the execution of the last remaining Fildmerk was to take place.