Madigan's Prophecy

"You tell me first—why were you here, and who owned this camp?"

Juan sprawled on the ground, his face slick with sweat from the pain. He stared blankly up at Li Ang. "You attacked us without even knowing who this camp belonged to?"

Li Ang brought his hammer down beside Juan's head, smashing a crater into the ground. "The hell—am I asking you, or are you asking me?"

Juan trembled, his words speeding up. "The Lion Knight Order was hunting me, so I came here to hide... This camp belongs to Young Master Foucher! Please don't hit me anymore... I'm begging you..."

Foucher's?

Hadn't they said it was built by Duke Alma's nephew?

Oh, right... These days, an illegitimate son was usually presented to the public as a "nephew."

Li Ang slapped his forehead. He had actually overlooked that detail.

Foucher had sent men to build this camp near his father's territory while going to Mistveil City to secure a Pioneer Lord certificate. That was indeed a perfectly reasonable arrangement.

"Foucher is still on the west coast, right? Then who's in charge of this camp? Also, how much do you know about Foucher's dealings with the Gatu people?"

Juan stared at Li Ang blankly. "I'm currently in charge of the camp, but I only arrived yesterday... The previous person in charge went back to Lion Lake City yesterday."

After swallowing, he cast another frightened glance at the blood-smeared hammer and continued, "My lord, I only know that Young Master Foucher said he wanted to take control of Count Oden's territory. I also know he has some connection to the Gatu people, but I truly know nothing about the specifics... I'm just a nobody..."

Hmm, that made sense.

A thug like Juan probably did not know many details...

"Then what was going on with Fletcher Village? Has Foucher already taken control of that village?"

Li Ang recalled the strange things in the village.

"That village... the captain of the militia patrol was one of ours..."

No wonder. The patrol must have known everything, while the elderly village chief had likely been kept in the dark by them.

Having sorted out the external situation, Li Ang decided to ask properly about matters concerning himself.

"Back in Lion City, whose orders were you following when you tried to kill me?"

Juan's forehead was no longer sweating, though his face remained deathly pale. "No one gave the order... my lord... We weren't targeting you specifically... The higher-ups in the organization once posted a two-thousand-denar bounty for the capture or killing of a foreigner with black hair and black eyes... That bounty has been out for nearly a year and was never withdrawn."

"Who posted the bounty? I'm not the only person with black hair and black eyes, am I? You could collect it based on those features alone?"

Li Ang was deeply puzzled.

Juan now looked like he would tell him anything. "Someone like me has no way of knowing where the bounty came from... I don't know who exactly we were supposed to hunt either. But since the higher-ups gave that requirement, we would try anyone who matched the image of black hair and black eyes. It was two thousand denars, after all... If we found the right person, we would never have to worry for the rest of our lives..."

Sarah added from beside them, "Even if they killed the wrong person, they wouldn't care... Robbing foreigners is part of their everyday business anyway."

Juan painfully forced out an ugly, ingratiating smile and nodded vigorously.

"Don't lie to me... I saw Foucher in Mistveil City, and he didn't seem to want me dead! What's the real reason? Who are these higher-ups you mentioned?!"

At the Mistveil City arena, Foucher's attitude had been awful, but he clearly had not intended to seize him for the reward. Otherwise, Li Ang probably would not have escaped Mistveil City!

Seeing Li Ang's hostile expression and the raised hammer, Juan curled up in fear and hurriedly answered, "I wouldn't dare lie to you! Young Master Foucher is only our sponsor; he isn't a member of the Brotherhood! As for the organization's higher-ups, orders have always been delivered through secret letters, and we've never seen the real higher-ups. Really! I swear!"

It seemed the Crimson Brotherhood was extremely secretive internally...

That made sense too. For an illegal organization involved in every kind of criminal activity—assassination, slave trading, robbery, drug trafficking, and more—it was only natural that its upper echelon remained unknown.

But Li Ang felt somewhat anxious. A bounty with no apparent cause was more troublesome than pursuit born of deep hatred. He had no idea how to resolve it.

"You truly have no idea why?"

His mood worsened, and the look in his eyes as he stared at Juan naturally became more and more hostile.

Juan hastily blurted out, "We guessed... we guessed! It seemed to be related to a legend... Madigan's Prophecy! Oh, and it might also be connected to the Bloody Plague..."

Li Ang looked at Sarah in confusion. Just the day before yesterday, Sarah had told him about this famous prophecy on the road.

In fact, it was a story widely circulated in taverns throughout the continent...

It was said that more than a hundred years ago, a renowned prophet named Madigan—meaning a charlatan—had foretold that a hero would unite the Pande Continent and rebuild that glorious ancient empire.

Li Ang actually found that perfectly ordinary. It was practically standard charlatan nonsense—after prolonged division came unity. Sooner or later, someone like that would always emerge.

A fortune-teller in Li Ang's previous life had even told him he had the face of an emperor... Yet he had still ended up as a shut-in geek...

But in that era, the charlatan had swiftly drawn the united pursuit of every nation. Freedom of speech was hardly a thing back then, and Madigan's Prophecy was basically a curse declaring that the current rulers of every nation would eventually see their bloodlines exterminated.

The consequences were severe. Madigan was executed for insisting on his prophecy.

He died in Lion City, beneath the tallest structure on the entire continent, in what had once been the square of the Pande Noble Council. That place was now King Ulrich's back garden. Who knew whether it was haunted.

Though he had been a charlatan, his willingness to die for his beliefs was at least worthy of respect.

So this had originally been a tragic and solemn matter.

Later, however, as one self-proclaimed "Child of Prophecy" after another appeared, Madigan's Prophecy gradually became a joke.

The first "hero" was an outlaw knight. Relying on his formidable swordsmanship, he occupied several villages and claimed that he would lead the people in rebuilding Pande. But within days, every vile deed he had committed was exposed.

He had robbed caravans, raped women, plundered villagers, sold drugs... He had done nearly every shameful thing imaginable. In the end, his corpse—or rather, his skin—was found within D'Shar territory, with all flesh and organs gone, like a cicada's cast-off shell.

The second was a slave trader who used his enormous wealth to lead a sizable force of mercenaries across Pande, burning, killing, looting, and capturing civilians to sell as slaves. But he had barely enjoyed himself before his entire force was inexplicably wiped out beneath the Misty Mountains. It was said that only the heads of him and his men remained, neatly piled into a small hill on the ice fields, while not a single body could be found.

The third was a wizard who proclaimed himself the "Child of Prophecy" through his sorcery. But he was eventually exposed as a Snake Worship Cult leader who spent every day brainwashing his followers. He had even creatively staged the first livestream sales pitch in Pande history—at an illegal gathering, he aggressively promoted a mysterious medicine that supposedly cured every ailment and reportedly earned tens of thousands of denars in one go...

But perhaps he had amassed too much wealth. In the end, this broadcaster drew the Bacchus Empire's extermination campaign. His corpse was said to have been equally bizarre—his entire body covered in green scales, his eyes bearing reptilian vertical pupils, making for an utterly savage sight.

By now, "Child of Prophecy" had basically become a tavern insult. Nearly every adventurer joked by calling others "Scrap of Prophecy," and the image of a hero had long since vanished.