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Chapter 14

I had no idea what it had been like in the past, but currently, assassins pointed to one major group, the enemy of the Great Houses and the greatest danger to The Empire: the Church of Darkness.

One of the five gods of disaster worshiped by that damned organization, the Demon Lord of the Blood-Lit Moon... They were followers of Hadenaihar.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Osel said.

“Don’t act clueless. How are you going to explain this?”

As I smirked while pulling out a dagger, Osel’s expression worsened.

This wasn’t my dagger. Rather, I had taken this dagger out of the pocket of one of the guys I’d just thrown. 

I showed the marking engraved on the dagger.

“You’re not going to tell me you got this as a souvenir, are you?”

Emotions seemed to course through Arzan when she saw the marking of the demon lord on the dagger. 

Honestly, I was pretty surprised as well.

I had never expected informants of the cult to have infiltrated the Bednicker family.

Within The Empire, House Bednicker was the house that those bastards were most afraid of.

I don’t think I ever heard about this in my previous life.

Of course, House Bednicker didn’t usually communicate with the other houses.

Naturally, that meant news about them spread slowly. A similar incident could’ve happened in my previous life as well, but news of it might have just been suppressed.

There was also a slim chance that they had never been revealed.

“...”

Osel let out a sigh and then glared at me, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

You want to kill me?

As I let out a slow laugh, Osel kicked off the ground and charged at me. I could see the sword in his hand become dyed black.

So he’s a Cursed One.

The power opposite to mana and blessings... that power was called the Demon Lord’s Curse by the Great Houses, and the Blessing of the Gods of Disaster by the Church of Darkness.

But unlike blessings, this power wasn’t only available to those born from a great bloodline.

A power that anyone could obtain was generally pretty dangerous.

But this guy looks fine.

I had heard that the Cursed Ones usually went a little insane, but Osel seemed sane enough.

He might be more powerful than I expected.

While I was thinking, Arzan recovered her senses and stood before me.

“Please stand behind me, young master!”

With that, she kicked up the dagger she had dropped and responded to Osel’s attack.

“Victor!” Osel shouted as he swung down with his blade.

The knight I had just thrown ran toward me.

I noticed Arzan’s shoulders flinch a little.

“I’m fine,” I quickly said, “so just focus on them, butler.”

With that, I took out my Ring Sword and immediately swung it.

Clang!

It had been a while since I’d felt the sensation of steel on steel.

Although I had swung my sword to kill that troll a few days ago, fighting people definitely had a different feel to it.

Schwoo!

The edge of the knight’s blade was imbued with a blue energy.

Sword aura. That was a mana blade.

“Tsk.”

In a fight of mana or internal energy, there was no way I could win.

And the quality of my weapon wasn’t good either. The Ring Sword was a magic item, but it wasn’t very durable.

In the end, I gave up on a direct confrontation and focused more on dodging his attacks.

As I observed the attacks while focusing on my defense, I started to get used to the knight’s movements.

He uses imperial swordsmanship?

Why was he still fighting like a knight even though their identities had already been revealed?

The answer was obvious: these guys were assassins. They were more proficient in sneak attacks than direct fights like this.

He was trying to act like he was going all out while still aiming for an opening...

The knight spat toward me. Ttu!

...Like that.

It wasn’t spit but a thin needle.

I swiftly tilted my head backward.

“Hah...!”

I heard him laugh, thinking his attack had worked...

But I lowered my head to show him my face.

As I showed the needle I was holding between my teeth to the knight, the smile disappeared from his face.

Since I had been attacked like this, it was only fair that I reply. I punched the knight’s face as he just stood there like an idiot.

“Kugh!”

Blood spilled from the knight’s nose and mouth.

Maybe he hadn’t expected me to punch him with the hand that was holding the sword, but the attack worked better than I’d expected.

Even while bleeding from his nose, the knight tried to counterattack with his own punches, but I would be truly stupid if I got hit by his flailing.

I grabbed the knight’s collar and punched him repeatedly in the face before kicking him with my feet.

Bam! Boom!

The knight tumbled to the ground.

He tried to regain his stance and get up, but I wasn’t such a novice that I would let go of this advantage.

I moved forward and stomped on the knight’s chest.

Push...

“Kugh...”

I couldn’t bind his limbs, but after putting enough pressure on his chest to fracture his ribs, his flailing slowed.

It wasn’t enough, so I stabbed the knight’s right hand with a sword, practically nailing his arm to the ground.

“Kuaah!”

It seemed even an assassin couldn’t bear the pain of being impaled by a sword. 

At that moment, I took his sword and stabbed his left hand as well. Another blood-curdling scream echoed into the forest.

Only then did I take out the needle I’d been holding in my teeth.

“Shut up before I stab your tongue as well.”

“You... you...”

“‘You’ what? You bastard. Talk properly.”

At that, the knight’s expression solidified a little, and he slowly began to talk.

“You... Who are you...? Where is Luan Bednicker?”

“You don’t look stupid, but your questions sure are.”

At my taunting, the assassin’s eyes started to shake a little.

A lot of thoughts were probably going through his head right now.

Wicked people usually had a lot to think about.

“I’m not a double, nor am I wearing a skin suit. I am Luan Bednicker. I’m the young master you’re trying so hard to kill.”

“...”

He didn’t seem to believe me even as I told him the truth.

Of course, there was no reason for me to reason with him, so I just said what I wanted to say.

“So, what are you guys doing? Why did you impersonate the Fang Knight Order? And who did you receive the mission to kill me from?”

“...”

“No, this probably isn’t an impersonation. The walls of Bednicker aren’t that fragile. You were probably knights to start with, and you came into contact with the cult through some means and betrayed us. Something like that?”

This guy’s just a small fry, I thought as I saw his shocked expression.

Osel wouldn’t have even reacted to my words.

* * * * *

* * * * *

In any case, since it didn’t look like he wanted to talk, there was nothing for me to do here.

Smack.

As I once again delivered a strong punch to the knight’s face, he fell unconscious without a peep.

It didn’t actually matter to me if I killed him here or not, but since I could try and get some information out of him later, I decided to hold on to him for now.

“Then...”

I retrieved the Ring Sword from the knight’s hand and looked at the battlefield.

Arzan was still in combat with Osel, and it didn’t look like the fight was going to end any time soon.

It’s neck and... not neck. Looks like Osel has the upper hand by a little bit.

The two looked to be of similar skill, but Arzan was being pushed back due to her condition.

This is troublesome.

Even if I were to join the fight, I wouldn’t be that much help.

In addition to my body’s current state, I was lacking in internal energy.

Of course, that didn’t mean I had no way of helping.

I observed the situation for a bit before taking the knight’s sword and throwing it toward Osel.

“...!”

Osel was surprised by the sudden intrusion and swerved his body to dodge.

At that moment, a huge opening was created, and Arzan didn’t let the opportunity go.

Slash!

The sharp dagger cut from his hip to his collarbone.

He wasn’t dead, but it was still a fatal blow.

However, Osel didn’t even let out a groan as he showcased his incredible tenacity and kicked Arzan’s hip instead.

Tumble!

After rolling on the ground for a moment, Arzan coughed as if she’d choked on something.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes.”

Arzan’s reply sounded tough as she looked toward Osel.

“Drop your weapon, Osel.”

“...”

Osel looked toward us as his blood dripped to the ground.

“You should know better than me that you won’t be able to win with a wound like that.”

“...”

“Why are the assassins of Hadenaihar hidden within Bednicker? If you tell the truth, you can save the lives of others.”

“Keuk.” The ends of Osel’s lips twisted. “Do you think a scratch like this can stop me?”

“I suggest you stop talking. Unless you want to die of blood loss, that is.”

“Blood loss? From just this?”

As Osel let out an ominous laugh...

I threw my Ring Sword at him.

Stab!

“Kugh...”

“...!”

Arzan looked at me in shock.

Osel also looked like he couldn’t believe it as he put his hand up to his neck and touched the blade that had stabbed him.

He let out a horrid gurgling sound, like blood had mixed in with his spit. Then he collapsed to the ground.

“Y-young master?”

“Bulter, there’s no point trying to listen to someone like him. It’s obvious he had something up his sleeve.”

“But...”

“Maybe if he was a small fry, but you can’t interrogate a Cursed One. It would just be a waste of time to try and press him for answers.”

Cursed Ones were people whose bodies had been tainted by demonic energy, and their brains were no exception.

Just like people on narcotics, he would be dull to pain, meaning that even professional interrogators would have a hard time acquiring information from him.

From what I knew, the only people who could interrogate them were the inquisitors of the church.

“I knew this would happen and kept one alive, so let’s hear it from him—”

At that moment, I heard something rip through the air.

I sensed the attack coming, but responding to it was a whole different problem.

“Young master!”

Stab!

I felt a blade pierce my skin.

***

“Kekeke...”

Osel laughed as he rose from the ground.

Crack, crunch. The horrible sounds of bone and muscle moving around could be heard.

However, he felt no pain. Rather, Osel was in the depths of joy like he had never experienced before.

“Young master, we need to quickly treat your wound—”

“I’m fine, so stay still.”

Even while Osel was feeling this catharsis, there was no way he couldn’t interject into their conversation.

“There’s no way you’ll be fine...”

During this time, the transformation of his body finished.

Even without looking in a mirror, Osel could tell that he was no longer human. Even so, he didn’t feel bad about it at all.

“...You look like a walking toad,” Luan said as he saw Osel’s new form. “But your body’s as big as a troll—”

“Seems you still have the energy to talk.” But not for long.

Osel didn’t say the rest, but Arzan’s expression was deathly serious nonetheless.

The dagger had penetrated Luan’s shoulder. It wasn’t a critical spot, nor was the wound that big, but even so, Osel was looking at Luan like a hooked fish.

“...Did you coat the blade?”

“That’s right. You seem pretty smart in our ways,” Osel said with a smile. “It’s the most terrible poison in the world. Be honored. I was planning on using it if we ever had to fight the gem beast...”

“The gem beast?”

“We were planning on fighting the Sapphire Snake after this. It’s a gem beast with extreme yin energy, so most people freeze to death just from approaching it.”

Osel felt like he could fly through the air right now as he continued to spout information without care.

The demonic energy had twisted his brain a little, but he didn’t particularly care.

The two of them were going to die anyway, so what did it matter if he told them?

“To pierce the scales of the Sapphire Snake, we looked for a mystic herb with extreme yang properties, and we were finally able to obtain it. The poison that was coated on the blade was the essence extracted from that mystic herb.”

“Mystic herb...? Then isn’t it medicine—”

“You are a fool. The line between medicine and poison is razor thin.”

Arzan finally understood the situation.

“Hand over the antidote.”

Osel gave up trying to sound polite as he joyfully looked at Arzan.

“You are also a fool. Do you think an antidote exists for such an extreme poison?!” 

Osel opened his mouth and a thick tongue flopped out.

Fwish. His tongue whipped around the forest, and all the trees it hit were crushed like twigs.

Arzan was busy just trying to dodge it.

Unlike the previous confrontation, this seemed impossible for her to deal with.

“We tested this multiple times before using it on you! Even the salamander, with its strong resistance to fire, screamed for over 10 minutes before burning up into a pile of ash!”

“...”

“I’m getting excited! Luan Bednicker, just how long can you hold on?”

Osel had expected Luan’s expression to be filled with fear and despair, but he was wrong.

Luan was spacing out. It seemed that idiot still couldn’t come to terms with his impending doom.

But then Luan spoke like he was in shock.

“Five minutes. I think it’ll take about five minutes.”

Osel felt something was off with what Luan was saying.

No, before that... How is he still talking?