Chapter 4 – The Leader's Mantle
Victory had been achieved. There was enough blood running down the village hillside to show for it. Blackbeard had been killed and he lay dead at Vol's feet as proof of it. And yet, none moved.
Vol still stood in silence, a terrible brooding weight on his shoulders. He wasn't even sure why it hung there. He'd dismissed it for months, just as he'd dismissed it when the System had forced him to engage in the path of a summoner merely to keep his sanity, but it continued to hang there. An oily, swampy feeling. Each victory only brought him further into its depths and yet he could not shake his desire to keep rushing forward.
His men maintained the silence that Vol had set, shifting uncomfortably, waiting for him to say something. Eventually, he did. A single, simple statement.
