Chapter 158

Valenciaunos looked at his fingers and burst into a nonsensical laugh.

His red lips and gaunt cheeks curled upward.

“Hahahaha.”

That was the kind of person Marquess Benechion was.

He was a lord who loved his province and citizens, a leader of the Crown Prince faction.

He had once been on the brink of grasping the future of the Empire but was a single ambitious man whose fifty-year ambition was shattered.

Despair transformed that ambitious man into a vengeful ghost.

To the extent that he would reach out first to the corruption cult he despised.

“Benechion.”

“Long.”

Benechion firmly dismissed Valenciaunos’s lingering voice.

“You haven’t even called my name yet, have you? Just listen a bit longer.”

However, the old noble with white hair and golden eyes was not easily intimidated.

“I said it was long.”

“What will happen to your children if you die like this? You have grandchildren and granddaughters that wouldn’t hurt even if you put them in your eyes.”

Marquess Benechion did not flinch at the rude attitude of mentioning his bloodline.

“I am still in my prime. Who the hell is deciding to kill me? Besides, those kids were imprisoned while trying to stop me, who became an infiltrator. Even if I die today, nothing will happen to my family.”

A change flickered on Valenciaunos’s face.

He truly seemed like an old noble who would remain active in the forefront for several more decades.

Benechion continued speaking casually.

“You too won’t be able to stay here for eternity. Whether I die or live, you will eventually leave here, and my vassals will place this black iron crown on my grandson.”

Even if his revenge failed, he could not destroy the things he loved.

“Listen, kid. Remember this well. When you consider life after vengeance, you can’t possibly seek revenge.”

His brown eyes sparkled, and Valenciaunos felt as if he had been struck soundly on the back of the head with a wooden club.

It was something he had said to many people repeatedly from before his return until now.

“Wow. You really are more spirited now than before.”

Benechion stepped forward, detaching his back from the railing.

“I don’t know how you knew there were infiltrators in my court.”

The atmosphere was one where it was unclear who was capturing whom.

“I don’t know how you knew I was dealing with infiltrators.”

Hearing that, a sly smile emerged on Valenciaunos’s face.

“But what does it matter if it was the truth from the beginning? From what I see, you seem to have come here with the intention of just killing me.”

The old noble, who had manipulated the capital’s social circles for fifty years, spoke that way.

Every shrug of his shoulders and every gesture of his fingers bore the dignity and leisure of a high noble.

Valenciaunos nodded with a glimmer in his vertically split golden eyes.

As he combed his disheveled hair with his scaled hand, he wore a cruel yet frivolous smile.

“I will make a proposal as the plenipotentiary ambassador. I will reduce taxes by 5% for ten years. Swear your loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor.”

It was a frivolous and arrogant tone.

“I refuse.”

“I’ll offer one more. I will build a duty-free trade city on the lower river with imperial funds. Swear your loyalty.”

Yet it was surprisingly desperate.

“I refuse.”

“Doesn’t it annoy you to have those court vassal counts beside you? I won’t say a word if you devour up to three of them through territorial warfare for the next fifty years. Swear your loyalty.”

It almost felt like a beggar’s plea.

“Still long.”

“If you have any desires, feel free to speak. I will plead so much to His Majesty the Emperor that my hands and feet will be sore.”

“What I desire is only one thing: the death of Jeilliris, that so-called empress who isn’t worth chewing on.”

Valenciaunos’s voice quivered slightly.

“Anything else… you don’t desire?”

Benechion wore a chilling sneer on his middle-aged face.

“What do you think I would desire?”

Finally, a murderous glint darkened Valenciaunos’s gaze.

He seemed to look relieved as if he had cut off all his lingering attachments, yet paradoxically seemed agitated.

“Good. If you absolutely refuse to pledge loyalty, there’s no need to keep you as a vassal.”

Crack! The duke charged forward with his dark-red scaled hand leading the way.

“Die here today. Before you crumble further.”

A knight in golden full plate armor emerged from below the balcony to block him.

“How dare you!”

It was the commander of the Gremoryus knight squad, Jerphas.

* * *

Crack!

It was the sound of a flail smashing down upon my left arm.

“Such a world!”

The dark-red scale peeled and split.

Jerphas exhibited his might as the head of a duchy-level knight order, as horrifyingly powerful as he was.

He swung a flail that appeared to weigh over 5 kg and was 1.4 m long like a switch, its six menacing spikes adorned with glaring blue mana blades.

Seeing the cracks in my scales, a single hit would likely pierce even standard knight armor.

“I’ll crush that pretty little head of yours!”

Whoosh!

Whooosh!

He swung the flail, creating a terrifying sound.

Flesh tore away from the tip of my nose as he barely grazed me.

Now!

I lunged towards one exposed thigh and armpit.

“You brat!”

Crack!

I had to hastily retreat to avoid the left-hand gauntlet engraved with the ‘Shock Strike’ spell.

“You’re really damn fast!”

I was already using the sixth stage of imperial swordsmanship, ‘Asa,’ but there were no evident gaps.

It wasn’t that my skills were lacking; Jerphas was simply strong.

His bulky body closed the distance in the blink of an eye, leaving me no chance to counter.

If his armor were just a bit weaker, I could have burned him from a distance with flames, but his armor was a high-quality piece imbued with an array of incantation circuits.

Weak points like the back of the elbows and knees had been reinforced with additional plate, and his gauntlet was designed with numerous small openings to block knife thrusts.

Although wearing such armor might have dulled his sight a little,

“Such damn brutal hands! He must be a sadistic noble from the Empire!”

Clang! Crash! Bang!

Jerphas blocked all my attacks aimed at his neck, shoulders, armpits, waist, and inner thighs.

It was quite clearly engraved with the ‘Sight Expansion Spell,’ like Lady Trentia’s helm.

“Damn it!”

I took three steps back to catch my breath.

Though I had been a formidable fighter before my return and had grown ferociously since my return by utilizing my experience, that commander likely had more than forty years of sword-wielding under his belt, even accounting for the time before my return.

Besides, I had inadvertently become less interested in swordsmanship since receiving the dragon’s blessing.

Why struggle to wield a sword when I could just endure and burn them? Such was a cocky thought.

Lady Trentia had said that among sword magicians, there were none who had reached a higher realm, and many knights were reluctant to use attacking magic tools.

If one only thought about mastery in swords, it would actually be better to have no armor at all.

…Considering my scattered thoughts, it seemed I still had room to live.

Right. I was gradually realizing how to win this.

“Yes. I am a sadistic noble! You and your lord will all die in suffering!”

I summoned the energy of the incantation.

The dark-red scales covered both my arms, rising up to my shoulders and neck.

An audacious, groundless confidence surged within me as if I could block any attack.

I unleashed the first stage of imperial swordsmanship, ‘All-in-One,’ and drove the ground head-on.

Jerphas gauged the distance with his left hand and raised the flail with all his strength.

I lifted my left arm to block the flail.

The vicious chunk of metal with six protruding spikes came crashing down onto my arm.

Crack!

It sounded like wood breaking, and my scales, as solid as the armor engraved with incantation circuits, shattered, and my elbow joint bent downward.

“Ugh!”

I groaned as I grabbed at the gap between Jerphas’s right breastplate and armpit with my heated right hand and slashed downward.

My hand, heated by the incantation flames, tore the leather belt connecting the front and rear of the breastplate, and I rolled on the ground holding onto the breastplate.

“Ugh!”

Jerphas struck me with the spikes on the back of the flail, aiming for my heart.

Thud!

The dark-red scales shattered, and the vicious spike penetrated into my body a finger’s depth before withdrawing, but I nonetheless tore away part of his breastplate.

“Sharply piercing flames!”

“Inoon!”

Now all that was left was to burn him alive.

Jerphas screamed desperately, unlike before, and charged at me.

His physical abilities were extraordinary, being a high-level Sword Expert, but they were not enough to subdue me in a single stroke under the influence of the dragon’s blessing.

Flames like fire arrows and spears soared into the sky.

“Scorching flames like a furnace!”

With the breastplate destroyed and its magical resistance lowered, his armor turned a deep red.

“Stickily adhering flames!”

Thick flames clung to Jerphas’s padded garment like a flowing river.

“Uwaaar!”

Even in that situation, the commander swung the flail and charged.

Flames flickered through the gaps in his plate armor.

One would almost feel like applauding his noble spirit and loyalty.

I drew the holy sword, Black Tear, and shook my head.

“I am a duke of the empire.”

Jerphas’s flail hurtled toward my head.

“Loyal old knight. You could not stop me.”

I laughed like a victorious villain at the end, looking toward the old duke standing on one side of the balcony watching us.

“Anima.”

A fierce wind blew from the soles of my shoes, and Jerphas’s flail struck the floor.

“…!”

Benechion seemed to recite a spell, and in an instant, dozens of curses poured out.

The curse ‘Haesoo’ lowered magical resistance and followed by conjunctivitis, urticaria, headaches, stomach pains, dissolution, fever, malodor, and blisters.

It was a barrage of curses that would knock down any ordinary knight.

As far as I knew, he enjoyed deciphering old texts more than the magic itself.

The knights and magicians of the marquis house followed him for his charisma, ambition, and vision, rather than his physical power.

This barrage of curses was the power gained from becoming an infiltrator, and it could not pierce this body enhanced by the dragon’s blessing.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

I charged through the curses and aimed my sword at Benechion’s neck.

“You could have given up.”

My left arm had gone numb, and I couldn’t hold onto him.

I had to push on without collapsing to the ground, leaning against the railing.

Benechion’s brown eyes glowed with intensity.

“You mean I could have given up? You think I could just quit?”

Clang! The black iron crown rolled off his forehead and fell onto the balcony.

He glared coldly at me.

“I did not start this; how could I stop it!”

He had lost everything he loved to Jeilliris: his sister, younger sister, nephew, and dreams.

“Couldn’t you have drawn Jeilliris into the Crown Princess faction? Why send an assassin?”

“Did the first prince faction survive? In the end, they all died, didn’t they?”

I shook my head slowly.

“The first prince faction wanted to abandon Jeilliris. Those who followed her to the end and proved their worth survived.”

I didn’t need to mention that was only eight of them.

The tension seeped out of Benechion’s brown eyes.

I restored my vertically split gaze to its original state and spoke.

This is the end.

I repeated those words in my heart.

“Marquess. Swear your loyalty, and you shall enjoy wealth and glory alive.”

Benechion was a noble who would certainly never swear loyalty; he had come intending to burn me to ash with divine power the moment we met.

“Don’t let the fulfillment of unseen emotions burn away everything visible.”

I had returned not for bloody revenge but for wealth, laughter, and stability.

“For the province and citizens you loved.”

Just as I had given a chance to the traitorous prince Justianus, I was giving a chance to Benechion.

Those who knew there was a chance would often hold onto their lingering attachments.

However, asking those who lived without thinking of tomorrow to dream of tomorrow was far harder than I had assumed.

The old noble’s bitterness ran deeper than I had considered, witnessing the beheading of his sister and nephew before his eyes.

“You young duke. You are greedy. That devil will never earn my loyalty.”

Perhaps he had let his guard down due to my dignified appearance.

He had momentarily forgotten that I was the one who sent a dozen assassins against the fourteen-year-old Jeilliris.

Crack!

The old noble reached for the back edge of Black Tear’s blade.

I thought he was trying to deflect my sword and hastily counterattacked, but Benechion exhibited a completely unexpected maneuver.

Instead, he pulled my sword even more toward him and stabbed Black Tear into his own body.

“Your lingering regrets will be your demise.”