The reason why they weren't keen on capturing Zarya was that they deemed her to be too weak to engage in an altercation. For Fluger, it was as if he was assigned to care for a child who had lost their parents.
'Ivar has more patience than me. Why did Ius give me this task?' Fluger thought as he knitted his eyebrows.
The young man then sighed, deeply to regain his concentration. Regardless of his complaints, the lengthy time that they had invested in resolving the case would soon come to an end. Fluger had that belief to keep his discontentment at bay.
The Valk League was tasked with a total of three major missions by the Duke of Romanoff, one of the grand elders of the wolf clan.
First and the latest, they had to capture the person responsible for attacking Herkel.
Second and the least important, they were to heed the knights' request to track down the runaway of the Orschetta's.
Third and the most imperative, Ius and the rest of the Valk League were to uncover the anomalies happening within the most influential wolf clan in the continent, the Romanoff Clan. They had been at it for a handful of years without any progress.
But now, they had finally hunted down the nuisance.
They might not just fulfill one of the three tasks but the entire list all at once.
Truth be told, Ius wouldn't mind ignoring the latest mission given to him by his father. He could care less if he wasn't able to participate in the Urduhel Bout. What mattered to him the most was exposing the atrocities committed by the traitor in front of him.
All of a sudden, Erwin's raspy voice resounded much too blaringly within the quiet forest.
"Do you think that you've won, Ius Romanoff?! Huh?! No, I won't let you!" The old man screamed until the corners of his eyes had reddened.
Erwin had yet to recover from the wounds that he had gotten and was still getting. He couldn't move an inch from being impaled by several wooden spikes. Following his scream of agony, he coughed up twice a handful of blood.
Even if he willed it, his body wouldn't be capable of transforming in either his wolf or snake form. He was in an utterly weakened state due to the snake clan's inheritance, added to the fact that he was gravely injured.
The fearlessness that he was showing was nothing but a facade. In all honesty, he was hurting from every inch of his bones and muscles. If he lost sight of his goal for even a second, he would definitely succumb to his wounds. Nevertheless, Erwin had no intentions of displaying just how much he was struggling afore Ius. The old man didn't want to give the young man the satisfaction of accomplishment.
Erwin Pelt was sentient that he was going to die at any moment. Hence, with a last-ditch effort, he longed to throw Ius' mind into disarray.
"Young pitiful master, there was still a myriad of things that I wanted to teach you -- The cruelness of the world and those who were controlling it. But it seems that you're bent upon ending my worthless life in this instant."
Erwin himself couldn't figure out how he could speak clearly. However, he didn't care enough to stop and contemplate the uncanny occurrence.
"Evil lurks in the darkness, young master. Unfortunately for you, I couldn't put a hand on them, even when I was at my strongest! You!" Erwin uttered as attempted to raise his hand to point a finger at the young man, yet he was barely able to move his arm. "You are too naive to face them! At the level of strength that you have, you would only serve as their toy, young master!"
Later in his speech, Erwin began to guffaw. His laugh irritated the calm out of Ius who had refrained from doing anything.
"You will regret killing me now, Ius Romanoff. As my parting gift, let me tell you something. The person who attacked candidate Herkel wasn't Zarya. It was one of the evils I'm talking about. I can o-- uck"
Before he could even lay down his warning, Erwin started to cough up blood. He couldn't hold back the urges of his body to surrender anymore.
That marked the beginning of his struggle to delay his eventual end.
Be that as it may, he felt the need to tell Ius about the evils he had previously brought up. It was the last favor that he could show to Ius. Despite the woeful circumstances that were surrounding their present, there remained a sliver of attachment to the young man inside Erwin's old heart.
However, the essence of his efforts would have no hope of reaching Ius' compassion. Erwin simply has no room in his consideration.
Allies that had turned into enemies were, in the end, enemies.
Ius had no regard for the time he had spent with Erwin, no matter how long and deep their relationship was. The moment he let down his guard, it would trigger a series of misfortune for him and his clan.
It wasn't something that he desired to happen, even more so when he's about to inherit a Dukedom.
To put it simply, he didn't allow anyone salvation from their wrongdoings.
He had even prepared himself to confront his own parents despite how grateful he was to them.
"Why don't you just keep your mouth shut instead of prattling nonsense? I'll conduct an investigation on my own about those evils. Don't bother telling me because I won't listen."
Ius approached Erwin once more.
"Serve as their toy? I thought you knew me best, old man. Do you think I'll let myself become their toy? How laughable considering you've become one."
Once he was merely a meter away from the battered Erwin, Ius stopped and put his hands in the pocket of his trousers. He proceeded to give Fluger a look before returning his attention to the old man.