7. Jealousy is my strength (8)
“Ian Perkus, you have poison running through you. The fangs of the ‘shadows’ are always poisonous. As a knight who has reached ‘High Expert’, I won’t die… It will be difficult to move any more.”
Then the man took a step without a sound.
After just a couple of steps, his upper body bent as he slipped before me.
Perhaps to make eye contact with me.
“To be honest, I was surprised. I thought that if it was our level, we could predict victory even against a ‘high expert’ or a ‘great mage’… It was to the point where I instantly decided that the swordsman had to come.”
I made no reply.
I was just panting, breathing heavily.
“I’ll give you the antidote when the swordsman arrives soon. Okay, since this has happened, should I introduce myself? My name is Ruben of Findleston… … .”
“hey.”
It was a single word spoken quietly.
It was only then that the man’s elegant tongue stopped once. He was looking down at me with a bewildered expression.
because I was laughing
Before long, my lips, which were drawing ferocious arcs, swelled.
“Noisy.”
What are you talking about, before the man asked back.
Blood spurted out in an oblique line.
Before I knew it, the composition of me and the man had reversed. With the man behind my back, I slowly moved forward and the man kneeling in the same spot crossed each other.
Open eyes cast a trembling gaze at me.
“Uh, what… No matter how high you are, there’s no way you can move… … !”
I didn’t bother to answer.
In fact, what’s the use of telling me that I have two images, one of which allows me to move my body after death?
It was a pitiful situation.
Rather, the conversation with the emperor was more important.
It was only because I was able to be alone with him in a true sense.
The emperor showed neither good will nor hostility. He was just staring at me with his sunken eyes.
The excitement of the battle had gone and it was a somewhat awkward atmosphere. The reason why I insisted on such a lame excuse was probably because I couldn’t stand this silence.
“… … I didn’t kill him.”
“Are you proud?”
Heaving a deep sigh, the emperor shook his head.
As he glanced around the room, his toes pointed to the chair by the window. Perhaps it was arranged in consideration of office work, there was a wide desk in front of it.
The old man buried his back in the back of the soft chair.
“Okay, I admit it. Jim misunderstood you. I thought you were more like me… … .”
bang, and
It was then that the explosion rang out.
The door, which boasted of grand size, was smashed in an instant. No, can this be described as ‘smashing’?
There were countless incontinence in the door that was properly mixed with wood and alloy. Along that line, the doors started to break apart one by one, and eventually the door didn’t even leave its shape.
Powder.
The slash did not cover metal or wood. All things were equal before that sword.
An excited voice burst through the dust.
“Yeah man, Ian Percus! You finally revealed your true nature! I really can’t help it, I have no choice but to fight swords with me!”
It was a tone that didn’t even feel the slightest sense of danger.
That’s right.
There was no way that a master swordsman could not have grasped the situation in the room until now. He was a man who had the ability to turn me into minced meat whenever he wanted to, without even stepping into the room.
Did you say ‘sword spirit’?
The terrifying anticipation still hung around me like a fog. Perhaps not only around me, but the entire building was within his range.
However, the swordsmith appeared only after the situation was all sorted out.
No matter how much I thought about it, the intention was obvious. The swordsman knew that I had no intention of killing, and was appreciating my skills behind the door.
There was no way that the emperor was unaware of the fact that even I knew.
A deep sigh escaped his lips again.
“… … He must have looked like his uncle.”
With that lament in the background, the swordsman grabbed a sword. At first glance, it looked like a mess, but as soon as I faced it, I was breathless.
There are no gaps.
Even if you do your best, can you get one scratch?
Only this skeptical outlook was drawn repeatedly. Everywhere I looked, there was only a future where I would lose.
A cold sweat wets his face.
On the other hand, the swordsman just smiled at me, looking at me nervously. His eyes gleamed with the joy typical of an old man dealing with his young grandson.
“What are you going to do, child of Percus? By the way, you will die even if you do not come.”
At this point, isn’t it tantamount to pure intimidation?
I grunted inwardly, but took a deeper breath. Pak, pak, and golden sparks flew in my field of vision.
If you do your best though.
If you make the most of your imagery, can’t you get at least one scratch?
Accidents lead directly to phenomena.
A silver mist rose around me.
It was only a very light level, but it was an incomparable amount of aura compared to when dealing with the Imperial Intelligence Service. As evidence of this, one of the spies who fell to the ground began to gasp and complain of difficulty breathing.
But it’s still a long way off.
The swordsman was just standing there with a smile on his face. Even so, my aura didn’t invade the surrounding area even an inch. It was a truly terrifying presence.
In this case, there was only one answer.
front break.
Eventually, the world turned achromatic, and the moment the swordsmith raised his sword.
“… … stop!”
A thump, a booming voice, shook my stomach.
I cried, feeling the blood welling up and putting on a bewildered expression.
The Swordsman didn’t use any moves, so why?
The secret was soon revealed.
An unidentified text appeared humming behind the emperor. The swordsman who saw this had no choice but to tuck his tongue and kick his sword.
Because that letter was no different from the symbol of the emperor.
Who in the empire could not kneel before the authority of the emperor? Even the swordsman, the master of the empire, was the yard to keep respect for the emperor.
I hurriedly drew my sword and fell to my knees.
It was only then that the text behind the emperor’s back began to blur. A few sighs escaped from the emperor’s mouth.
“This is indoors! Why don’t you know that if two warriors compete with swords, even if one building, let alone one room, is blown away, it’s not enough?”
“But, Your Majesty… … .”
“Uncle.”
The swordsman seemed to want to object, but in the end he bowed his head at the emperor’s low call.
The sound of kkeu eun, touched me especially sadly.
Did he really want to fight swords with me?
To be honest, I was also saddened.
Sharing a sword with the best swordsman on the continent in both name and reality, isn’t it the greatest honor as a soldier?
But the board had already turned over.
I lowered my head cautiously and glanced at the emperor’s complexion.
The old man had an old face for several years.
“You don’t have to go to your uncle. The young knight has already achieved my goal.”
At those words, I almost inadvertently gave pleasure.
There was some conflict, but in the end the emperor recognized me. That fact gave me a sense of pride and calm emotion.
Now the man stood at the starting line of the road he was walking on.
I was already far behind, but I was excited that I had enough to take on the man’s burden. If you want to walk on your own path, not on a man’s path, shouldn’t you?
Of course, I was afraid more than that.
I forcibly ignored the tightening pain in my chest. The man was probably more trembling and frightened than this.
You wouldn’t even have been given the time to make up your mind like I did.
Then, suddenly, another scene passed through my retina.
The man’s expression along with the pain that came out of nowhere on the day he had a conversation with senior Elsie from the future.
Something was different.
Unlike before, the eyes were more wet with remorse and melancholy.
But I didn’t have much time to think about it.
“… … Ian Percus!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
I responded without delay to the emperor’s dignified call.
As my head bowed even deeper, the emperor shouted again with burning eyes.
“In that case, I will give you a mission. In the process, you will naturally learn about the imperial family’s secret wishes!”
It was hard to control my pounding heart.
It was a mission related to the imperial family’s secret wish.
How hard will it take to complete the mission?
That’s how I made a firm resolution in my heart, and the next day.
“Uren Ferias, undeserved glory to you! The honor of having my sister, Luna, as my wife! Instead, just one request… … !”
Faced with the woman talking nonsense as always, I ran my hands over my face.
“Please, even if it’s wrong, why don’t you name that bastard… Are you crazy?”
Alpenhauser’s twins.
That tough evil relationship was bothering me again.