Chapter 117

The Infiltrators that soared on the flagship soon turned into ground meat at the hands of the northern knights.

The corrupted water spirit was released from the summoning, and the Infiltrators were captured by the Holy Knights and placed in a box.

The inspections continued, and gradually, the eastern sky began to brighten.

No further Infiltrators appeared.

“Your Majesty. I have utilized all the powers granted by the God of Radiance, but I cannot find any more beyond this point.”

“According to the analysis using blood magic, all are pure human beings. There are no living creatures hidden in the cargo holds or belongings.”

“The Amon God also does not burn with fervor like the other ancient beings.”

Clerics, mages, and Amon God priests crossed over and reported with the flagship signboard.

The disturbance had ended.

But none believed the disturbance was over.

“…….”

The Infiltrators’ last cries as they were stabbed to death remained vivid in memory.

The most uncomfortable and disrespectful glances came from the blood magicians.

No matter how royal they were, the blood of Valenciaunos was simply not like human blood.

It was a doubt they could not help but have, not knowing it was a result of the dragon ceremony.

Tenitia shot a fierce glance at the magicians.

“You! Do you need to lose both eyes to show some courtesy? You stand before Duke Valencius. Bow your head.”

The blood magician hesitated for a moment but could not endure the killing intent of the Platinum Knight.

He ultimately bowed his head.

Yet his gaze remained arrogant and filled with suspicion.

“You!”

“Lady Trentia. That will do.”

Valenciaunos shook his head.

He was used to being the subject of unfounded doubts and rumors.

At that moment, a priest approached and said.

“Your Majesty. I am concerned that you may have been splattered with dirty blood. May I once again bestow upon you the light of purification?”

Valenciaunos nodded immediately.

The gentle light of purification enveloped his body, but, as expected, nothing happened.

That did not prove his purity.

People believed what they wanted to believe.

It was unclear which captain or crew member spoke first.

It did not matter if the one who spoke was from the central region or the northern region.

“But it may not necessarily be that the Infiltrators were trying to kill Prince Seberik!”

“!”

In the imperial capital Silentalouon, there was a rumor that the northern duke was deliberately not killing all the monsters.

The rumor suggested that if all the monsters were killed, the imperial court would then set its sights on the north.

There were also rumors that the amount of grain and weapons supported by the imperial court was deliberately being reduced.

It was said that they feared the northern region would turn its blades southward if all the monsters were killed.

“The Emperor’s Majesty is trying to keep our Prince Seberik in check…”

“So, he sends his elder brother…”

“There has already been a clandestine deal made with the Infiltrators…”

They were increasingly sensitive not only to the notion that Valenciaunos was an Infiltrator but also to whether he had attempted to kill Seberik or not.

A captain shouted.

“His Highness Valenciaunos commanded that corpses be hung on every mast along his way! Every ship had corpses hanging, swaying in the river breeze!”

“!”

The north was a land where mystery, strangeness, and superstition lived and breathed.

Hanging hundreds of corpses on masts would be perceived by anyone as some kind of ritual.

The gazes of Amon God priests turned ominous.

A large man jumped over the flagship signboard.

“Your Highness Valenciaunos. I seemed a bit uncertain earlier. There is an unusually powerful presence I feel… Is it because you are of the royal lineage, or is it truly mixed with another energy?”

Valenciaunos thought that must be due to the dragon ceremony.

It had no meaning to mention that.

“Your gaze is already arrogant.”

The northern knights exchanged glances one by one.

The Holy Knights began to gather slowly above the signboard.

A captain from the northern region shouted.

“Speak clearly! You’re the one who let the wicked kelpie attack Prince Seberik!”

Upon hearing those words, Rudi immediately pulled out his gun and aimed it at the man.

“This…!”

“Rudi!”

Had Valenciaunos not hurriedly stopped him, he would have truly pulled the trigger.

The gazes of the northern people and crew members grew even colder.

Though they did not know what a gun was, ignorance was often more fearsome.

A soldier tried to draw his sword.

“Stop!”

Lysena shouted sharply to restrain him and clicked her heels as she approached the signboard.

Other knights stepped back, clearing the path for the administrative officer and knight, with tidy black hair and calm black eyes, wearing half-moon glasses.

“Your Highness Valenciaunos.”

“Lady Lysena.”

“I apologize for the discomfort caused by the lies of the Infiltrators.”

“It is enough to know. Will you separate me from those disrespectful individuals?”

“However, given the nature of this matter, I seek your understanding.”

The gaze behind the half-moon glasses glimmered chillingly.

“Attend to your duties.”

Hearing that voice, Valenciaunos sensed.

‘I do not believe in the Infiltrators or assassinations. But those who are both capable and dangerous are to be removed first. I have raised too much suspicion in Lysena’s eyes. Flaunting my connection to Seberik has backfired.’

Northern knights surrounded Valenciaunos.

At that moment, Tenitia drew her sword.

“I am a knight of His Highness Valenciaunos. As long as I live, no one will lay hands on him!”

* * *

The northern knights, who were unparalleled in battle, alongside elite heavy infantry, warriors with the spirit of wolves, and Holy Knights blessed by the gods.

Blocking the way of the great figure Lysena and Duke of the North himself.

The red-haired knight shouted.

“Lady Trentia.”

The voice of Valenciaunos trembled.

“I must try doing this once in a truly dangerous situation.”

Tenitia cut through her lord’s concerns with a voice brimming with joy.

“Lysena!”

“…….”

“Are you ultimately choosing to be an administrative officer instead of a knight? Answer!”

“……!”

The first to move in this standoff was an Amon God warrior.

He could not distinguish between the energies of the spell and the ancient one he felt from Valenciaunos and reacted sensitively to Tenitia’s killing intent.

“How dare you draw your sword before Prince Seberik!… Aaah!”

The Amon God warrior lunged swiftly.

Tenitia grabbed his outstretched hand with her left hand, twisting her waist and pulling him hard, throwing him into the river.

Plop!

Seeing their comrade helplessly flying, the other Amon God warriors began to mutate.

Their muscles swelled, steel-like claws grew, and armor-like fur covered their bodies.

Tenitia wrapped the mana blade around her sword as she responded.

A red miasma like steam began to rise from the joints of her armor.

The northern knights and Holy Knights, perceiving this as provocation, also drew their swords.

Tenitia gazed with blazing eyes at the fortress-like enemies charging at her.

Her body started to heat up again, and although the enemies were strong enough to be proud of losing, still, for some reason, she felt she wouldn’t lose, and she wanted to try it at least once.

She stood firmly before her young lord, feeling as if she had become the heroine of knightly exploits.

“Lady Trentia! Stand aside.”

“I may die, but I will remain an honorable knight, while all of you will be remembered as cowards.”

“He is not an opponent worthy of your life as a knight.”

“Even if everyone keeps their mouths shut, you all know it. It is merely unfounded slander!”

“To confirm that…”

“Are you trying to ease the vague anxiety flowing between the north and the imperial court in this manner? Rather, draw your swords and settle it!”

“Your words are nonsensical!”

“You cowards!”

Tenitia and the northern knights began to clash their swords.

Valenciaunos gazed at Seberik.

Even while Tenitia and the northern knights were entwined in combat, the distance between the two remained only a few steps.

Valenciaunos adjusted his golden eyes to appear like dragon eyes and spoke.

“Seberik.”

“……”

“I understand.”

“!”

Seberik widened his gray eyes.

Even if they battled alongside each other against numbers, fought against kelpies, stared at each other from the deepest depths, and put their lives on the line once to become friends, ultimately, they were individuals who lived not for desire but for conviction.

Seberik could have been Valenciaunos’ friend, but the Duke of the North, Septentrion, could not become a friend of the elder brother Solletarass.

Clang! Clang! Kshhhh!

Swords clashed between them, and steel fists struck steel helmets.

A northern knight kicked Tenitia’s shins, and Tenitia elbowed the werewolf on the crown.

Valenciaunos and Seberik faced each other beyond the melee.

A man with white hair and gold eyes, donned in a white uniform, exuding an arrogant, lively, yet cruel impression.

A man with dark blue hair and gray eyes, projecting a serious, responsible, yet strong impression.

The sharpness of both their gazes was not merely coincidental.

Valenciaunos believed that Seberik would not kill him.

It must have been an action already discussed with Lysena, using him as a bargaining tool to extract more grain from the imperial court.

Thus, he now had to turn his back on himself.

Distorting that responsible face.

“Eh?”

Valenciaunos twisted his face and scattered the fire magic he had been secretly casting.

Seberik drew his sword and leaped into the fray.

* * *

Seberik’s swordsmanship was the very definition of textbook technique.

The accurately timed slashes of his sword knocked the knights entangled with Tenitia away.

Clang!

He parried Tenitia’s flaming mana blade while simultaneously catching the cloak of a northern knight targeting her side, throwing him out of the fray.

“Your Grace?”

Clatter!

The swords of Tenitia and three northern knights were entangled.

Seberik tilted his sword upward, disrupting the balance of all four blades, and with his shoulders, elbows, and wrists, spun his sword rapidly.

While pushing the three northern knights’ blades downward, he stretched out his left hand and struck Tenitia’s breastplate sharply.

Screech!

Tenitia staggered back several steps from the signboard.

Valenciaunos, bewildered, joined the fray.

He could not understand how the situation was unfolding.

“Forget it! Let everyone die!”

He grabbed the cloak of the werewolf that was hanging on Tenitia and seared it with his heated hand, delivering a long kick to the Holy Knight attempting to tackle Tenitia, throwing him out of the chaos.

Two Holy Knights charged in, ready to strike down with their holy power igniting their swords.

He instead angled his body to catch them off guard.

“Ugh!”

“Eh?”

They too could not kill the Duke, and Valenciaunos was well aware of that.

In an instant, the tips of swords shifted, and at that moment, Valenciaunos forcefully kicked up the chin of a Holy Knight.

“Anima!”

Boom!

The Holy Knight, struck with the force of erupting wind, rolled over.

Another Holy Knight tried to grab Valenciaunos by the hair.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Struck by three arrows and crumpled in the armor, he laid down, clutching the injured part.

“I shot a Holy Knight… I might fall to hell. But for Lord Valen…!”

Clang! Wham! Pow!

The final northern knight that intruded into the melee and Tenitia unleashed a terrifying flurry of punches and kicks.

The steel gauntlets had spikes protruding, and seasoned knights also wrapped mana blades around them.

A long sword was not particularly good for confronting armor inscribed with an incantation circuit from close range.

Tenitia’s uppercut struck the northern knight’s jaw, while the northern knight’s kick struck Tenitia’s shin.

Clatter!

Sparks flew, and the steel plates screamed.

Seberik caught the last northern knight from behind and shoved him aside.

Simultaneously, Valenciaunos grabbed Tenitia’s arm, which was about to deliver a strike to Seberik.

Seberik gazed at Tenitia silently and spoke slowly.

“Lady Trentia. May I meet with my friend?”

Valenciaunos nodded with a dazed expression.

Tenitia stepped back, scattering the red mana blade wrapped around her sword and gauntlets, while Seberik stood before Valenciaunos.

With a voice that resonated like magic, he shouted so everyone could hear.

“I, Seberik Highness Septentrion, declare.”

The authority he had built over time.

“I have fought alongside the Duke Valencius against numbers, faced kelpies, battled giants, and have become friends after saving each other’s lives once.”

Soon it became belief.

“Our friendship is not shallow enough to be toyed with by the tongue of Infiltrators; do not speak carelessly.”

An atmosphere of silence akin to a snowy night settled.

‘What the hell…!’

Lysena, next to the cabin, fell over with a mouth full of foam.

Valenciaunos chuckled softly and asked.

“What on earth are you trying to do?”

Seberik replied softly as well.

“I do not know. As the Duke said, I do my best in the present. It may lead to some cowardly and shameless remarks from time to time.”

“Ah.”

“Isn’t that something friends might say to each other?”

* * *

A few knights from the imperial court arrived on wyverns equipped with a two-person saddle, coming to the first fortress city.

While it took them nearly a month to come, returning would only take about a week.

Valenciaunos and Seberik finished their farewells at the wyvern fit there.

“Seberik, are you now heading to the front lines?”

This was the last fortress of the north, and getting to the front lines would take several more days.

“Yes, Valen. To reach the capital by summer, we need to hurry and smash the large colonies.”

“!”

It was a declaration of loyalty.

“I believe you will fill the next supply ship to the brim with grain.”

Valenciaunos widened his golden eyes and nodded.

“I will do so, even if it means pillaging the entire central region.”

“Please don’t. If you do, I might flee in terror.”

The Duke of the North and the elder brother shook hands after removing their gloves.

Tenitia and Lysena also shook hands.

Lysena was bandaged here and there, stemming from a duel disguised as betrayal with the wounded Tenitia.

“Lady Lysena, I hope to meet you next time as a knight, not an administrative officer.”

“That depends on what you esteemed lords choose to do.”

“Then we should meet as knights.”

Valenciaunos waved his hand until Seberik disappeared from sight.

The most intense and dreadful enemy before his return had become an unparalleled friend.