#134. Prophecy (3)
Pavel was surprised by this unexpected situation, but only for a moment. He looked down at Naina, lost in thought.
‘A prophecy…’
It was a hard power to believe, but Pavel—who had the “blessing of mana” and could read others’ thoughts by touch—could accept that seeing the future might be possible too.
When Sasha taught him to be a successor, she said there were rare cases of prophets in history. Pavel believed her, because Sasha never lied and always knew everything.
But Pavel remembered that Sasha did not think highly of prophets.
“You can’t treat prophets carelessly. That’s why people always got pushed around by them. But you shouldn’t do that. Because of prophecy, the future people wanted to avoid became real.”
Sasha explained how society fell into chaos because of prophets, and how most prophets ended up with unhappy fates.
Because of that, Pavel could stay calm and not be influenced by others.
‘If this woman can really make prophecies, where did that power come from?’
Pavel guessed maybe, like his own ability, too much mana came together and created a new power.
‘Is that why I can’t read her mind?’
Maybe their similar powers were interfering with each other.
But then—
‘If that’s true, she shouldn’t be able to read my future either. If she’s a real prophet… but that wasn’t the case.’
Instead, she saw Pavel’s future and came to save him.
‘To save me… Is that really her true goal?’
He decided to check it for himself.
“What is it?” Naina asked carefully. She sounded confused, like she didn’t understand what was happening.
Hearing her voice, Pavel snapped out of his thoughts and controlled his emotions.
He still had to finish the questioning.
But—
‘If I don’t use my power, I’m not enough.’
Pavel decided coldly, let go of her, and walked out of the tent.
Igor, waiting outside, saw Pavel’s troubled face and silently closed the tent door.
Pavel went to Chernomor’s tent and tried to use his power the same way.
‘It’s not working again.’
Just like with Naina, Pavel felt only darkness from Chernomor—deep and frightening. He couldn’t sense any feelings or thoughts.
‘Damn it.’
Pavel clenched his teeth.
“Is something wrong?” Chernomor asked, pretending to be innocent after hearing Pavel’s rough breath.
“No,” Pavel answered, quickly calming himself. He looked down at Chernomor, who was tied up and showed no fear.
‘He’s definitely hiding something. But what is it?’
The knights had been convinced too quickly, but Pavel did not miss the suspicious clues.
He wanted to find out their secrets as soon as possible and decide whether to expel or deal with them.
But now, the fastest and most certain way—reading their minds—was impossible. Pavel had to back down for now.
When Pavel left, Igor took over the questioning. Igor was usually very harsh, but because he wasn’t sure about their true identity, he had to be careful.
After one round of questioning, Igor reported back to Pavel, looking dissatisfied.
“From what I can tell, they aren’t lying. At least, they truly believe what they’re saying.”
Igor also shared more details about the “trap” Chernomor warned them about.
“I think we need to check it ourselves tomorrow. Of course, we can’t trust them, but it’s worth preparing just in case.”
After hearing everything, Pavel gave his order.
“Send a scout team to check.”
“Yes.”
It seemed they would only get a clearer picture tomorrow.
The next day.
“It’s true! There are monsters hiding back there!”
The report from the scouts, who had moved carefully in case of danger, made the leaders anxious.
‘Monsters… hiding in ambush? Monsters can set traps?’
It was shocking enough that monsters had started acting in groups and showing strange behavior in recent months.
The real problem was that monsters, once considered simple-minded, were now showing complicated thinking. This could change the entire war.
Before, fighting monsters was only hard because of their huge numbers. The endless waves were terrible, but strategy wasn’t important—unlike war between humans.
‘That’s why we were careless.’
If they had started the fight as usual, just following the monsters’ trail by reading memories, they would have missed the ambush and been trapped on the narrow cliffs—at a huge disadvantage.
Just imagining that made Igor shudder.
‘If we were caught off guard, there would’ve been heavy casualties.’
He wasn’t the only one with this thought—others who understood the situation turned pale.
If things kept going like this, morale would only get worse. Igor tried to act before that could happen.
But Pavel stepped up first.
“Everyone, focus! There will be a battle, but we have the advantage. We know the enemy’s plan, and they don’t know we know.”
“We already have the upper hand in this information battle, so we are overwhelmingly favored to win. Remember the last battle—we are strong! We will win again!”
Pavel’s speech calmed the army, and he led them into battle.
The battle was one-sided.
If they hadn’t known, things could have gone badly. But because they were prepared, the monsters’ trap was useless.
Luckily, the humans won a big victory.
The knights were used to winning with Pavel’s help, but they were still happy and relieved—no one was lost in a battle that could have been a disaster.
“Long live the prophet! Long live the Grand Duke!”
“Long live Volkov!”
The cheers spread like a chant.
Even while people praised him, Pavel’s face grew darker.
He left the celebrating knights and read the memories around him, trying to find traces of Chernomor and Naina, hoping for proof to justify his suspicions.
But he found nothing.
‘Did they really predict the future? Or did they set this up behind the scenes?’
Pavel looked at Naina suspiciously, but she just smiled back at him, as if she didn’t know what he was thinking.
Pavel, annoyed, cooled down the festive mood.
“This could be information you found by accident. It’s not enough proof that you’re a prophet.”
When he revealed his doubt, Naina nodded as if she expected it.
“Yes, I understand. I’ll try my best so everyone can believe me.”
She promised, clenching her fist with determination. Some young knights gave her kind looks.
After that, Naina predicted the future several more times.
Most were small things, but sometimes she gave important information.
After watching for nearly two weeks, even Igor—who had been as cautious as Pavel—had to admit:
“It seems true that she can predict the future.”
“Then, we need to discuss what to do next.”
Pavel and Igor entered the big tent where the leaders gathered for a meeting.
Unlike before, the purpose was different—to decide what to do with Chernomor and Naina.
Since Naina had proven her ability many times, the meeting took on a different tone.
“That woman really can see the future.”
“I thought prophets only existed in legends.”
“Why did she come here? It’s hard to believe she only wanted to help us.”
“I agree, something feels off.”
The discussion was more careful but unified this time.
Everyone looked at the two main leaders—Pavel and Igor—for their final opinions.
Igor spoke first.
“My lord. We can’t just let them go.”
He chose his words carefully.
“After all that’s happened, their power is dangerous.”
He continued, firm and steady:
“We don’t know what they’ll do out of our sight. We must keep them close and watch them.”
No one disagreed.
Everyone silently waited for Pavel’s decision.
They would follow him, no matter what he decided—even if it went against their own opinions.
Pavel, knowing this better than anyone, quietly thought.
He still wanted to get rid of these suspicious people, but his head said something different.
He looked around at everyone.
He knew that, especially here in the North, fighting monsters, the Grand Duke had great power, but he couldn’t act as he pleased.
“…I agree. We shouldn’t let them go.”
After careful thought, he decided to keep them close and watch them for now.
So, the journey with the suspicious newcomers began.
The two outsiders soon blended in with the group. The veteran knights were still wary, but the new knights, who were less suspicious, became friendly.
The outsiders were watched all the time—everything they did, everyone they talked to, was observed and reported to Pavel.
‘Even if they’re hiding something, there won’t be any secrets here.’
Igor was confident that their surveillance had no blind spots.
That night—
“Um, Grand Duke. I have something to tell you.”
Naina quietly came to Pavel’s tent.
