70 episodes
‘Putting down traitors. And is it a warning to me?’
Among the people was Ethan in a hood.
Knights and soldiers passed by Ethan’s side.
“Everyone who is not involved, get out of the way!”
“Everyone, step back.”
People only paved the way and did not back away easily.
And at the end of the procession of knights and soldiers, there was a familiar figure.
It was the Earl of Rottleborough.
– Not so long ago, Priest Ethan said that it was impossible to detoxify the poison of nobles except for the Imperial Princess. But after a while, he changed his position like turning the palm of his hand, which is hard for me to believe.
It was the nobleman who rebutted Ethan’s words at the banquet.
Ethan watched the Earl of Rottleborough.
While the soldiers collected the corpse, the Count seemed to suppress his anger.
“We have finished recovering the body.”
When the knight came and said so, the count waved his hand.
“Keep people away from the fountain, and disperse those who have gathered.”
“yes.”
The soldiers put up a warning sign saying that access to the fountain was not allowed.
And they chased people out like cats that came to the fish store.
As the people slowly dispersed, the Count found the remaining Ethan.
‘Who is the author?’
The hood was only worn so that the priest’s uniform could not be seen, so the face was easy to recognize.
The Earl of Rottlborough approached Ethan with a smirk.
It was an attitude as if we had just met.
“Priest, what are you doing here?”
He really shouldn’t have asked why he came.
Ethan replied sarcastically.
“I stopped by to hear about the unfortunate things that happened to Baron Sheerland.”
“Then who do you think was responsible for this?”
“Why are you asking that again? I still haven’t changed my mind.”
“You still think it’s the dark follower’s work?”
“You think such a count is the work of those who are called the dregs of the empire.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
It was to gauge the thoughts of Earl Rottleborough.
‘Is this really a dark follower’s nemesis?’
But the reaction was too vague.
It would have been easier to understand if he had had a different reaction.
‘This is just the attitude of a general aristocrat.’
Although his attitude was somewhat arrogant, it was only natural that he had never seen a humble man among the nobles.
There wasn’t really anything suspicious about it.
“If you think I’m wrong, why didn’t you come to my detox treatment?”
After the banquet, Ethan went around the Velium to decipher the nobles.
The ball was never small.
It wasn’t just poison, it was a special poison that had no antidote.
Thanks to that, the nobles who had been helplessly waiting for death were revived throughout their lives.
In a nutshell, Ethan was asking, ‘Why do you come here now?’
“ね… … !”
The Earl of Rottleborough clenched his fists, but couldn’t fight Ethan any further.
Ethan looked down at the Earl of Rottleborough leisurely.
“I have official duties, so excuse me!”
Eventually, the Earl of Rottleborough rolled up his tail and fled.
At that moment, I felt a gaze from afar.
Ethan found a familiar face among the scattered crowd.
It was Vivian.
By her side were Paul and Riley.
Ethan, who was expressionless when he saw Vivian and Paul, looked at Riley and smiled.
‘You’re very good at acting.’
Riley was hiding behind Vivian and clinging to her.
It was an abominable look.
Ethan’s eyes met, and Vivian nodded her head slightly to greet him.
Paul and Riley noticed Ethan belatedly at Vivian’s actions.
Paul whispered softly to Vivian.
“It was the priest at that time.”
“Wow, I want to say hello to that priest!”
But Vivian grabbed Riley’s shoulder.
It was because the atmosphere between Earl Rottleborough and Ethan earlier seemed to be unfavorable.
“Now, let’s not disturb the priest.”
“Then, is it okay to just say hello here?”
Riley waved a small hand to Ethan with a sullen face.
‘Ha, look at that?’
A smile formed on Ethan’s lips.
Of course, Riley wasn’t laughing because she was weird.
Ethan noticed that a dark follower, or more precisely, Riley, the contractor of the demon sword, was involved in Baron Sheerland’s death.
‘When the rumors that the baron was dead, you expected me to come here.’
Then he tried to observe Ethan’s attitude.
‘You have a very weak personality. It’s malicious.’
But Ethan didn’t care.
The dominion was in his favor.
Riley was unaware that Ethan knew who he was.
On the other hand, Ethan knew that Riley was a magic sword contractor.
So, I thought I would accept the jokes of a child enough.
In the end, Ethan himself will win.
* * *
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Vivian was looking for Ethan, who had disappeared at some point, in the crowd.‘no.’
Ethan, who had been there just before, disappeared quickly.
After seeing only the ghastly corpse with both eyes, he left.
However, Vivian could not easily leave the square.
She murmured as she watched the soldiers clearing up the bodies and collecting them near the fountain.
“Until last night, I hadn’t even heard of anything strange happening in the square.”
Paul, who was standing next to him, clashed.
“yes. I didn’t hear it either. Then it must have happened in the morning.”
“Even if it is a square, there are few people at dawn. That’s pretty daring though.”
“You don’t care what other people think or… … .”
“Otherwise, he must have been confident that his actions would not be noticed at all.”
Paul opened his mouth, pondering.
“In case you don’t know, I will inquire about the people who were nearby.”
It wasn’t something I had high hopes for.
The capital of the empire, Velium.
In the middle of that place, the nobles were brutally murdered and exhibited.
The slayer was ridiculing the Empire.
It was that I was confident that I wouldn’t be found out.
Even though Paul had a strong contact network as the owner of the tavern, he could not guarantee that he would be able to obtain information as much as this time.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Vivian knew it well.“Don’t push yourself too hard. If we move prematurely, we will give excuses to the nobles who hate us.”
“yes. I will be careful.”
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Vivian’s face hardened.It was not long after Ethan saved them who were treated as the dregs of the Empire.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Velium was still overflowing with those who hated them.Baron Sheerland’s death seemed to have provided an excuse, so I had to be more careful.
“Are you sure that’s what they do?”
“Damn! The business has gone down again because of those bastards.”
All sorts of words were already pouring out of the crowd.
It was precisely the situation Vivian was worried about.
It was natural that people would not have grasped the truth of the incident.
That was then.
“Then should my grandmother be careful too?”
Riley, who was by her side, pulled Vivian’s collar.
He had a very frightened face.
“Nope. As long as you stay at home, you’ll be fine.”
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Vivian reassured the terrified Riley and blinked at Paul.I met him on the way and accompanied him, but this was not a good place for children.
Soon after, Paul took Riley and left.
That was then.
The Earl of Rottleborough passed Vivian’s neighborhood with his attendant after completing the fountain and corpse collection.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Vivian hurriedly hid her face.Fortunately, the Earl of Rottleborough did not notice her.
“I have finished everything you have instructed me to do.”
“What’s left, I’ll take orders from my superiors.”
“Can we not investigate them?”
The attendant asked the Count.
The Count frowned and shook his head.
“Did you not hear what the priest said earlier? Isn’t that what the Dark Followers did?”
“However… … .”
“Should I go to the upper level and ask?”
Earl Rottleborough widened his eyes.
The attendant quietly bowed his head.
He realized that he couldn’t touch his superiors anymore.
“I can’t break the guidelines set by my superiors now. So, gather evidence that you believe is a dark follower’s work.”
“All right.”
In that conversation, Vivian covered her mouth with her hand.
It was because they found traces of Ethan in the words of the Earl of Rottleborough.
‘The priest… … .’
Unless you’re an idiot, you’d know.
Ethan had spoken against the Earl of Rottleborough in their defense.
Knowing this, Vivian let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.
* * *
the next day.
Ethan was standing in the gymnasium given to him by the Imperial Palace.
Ethan was alone in the large auditorium.
In the imperial palace that recognized Ethan’s achievements in the past, a space was given only for Ethan.
Then a soldier approached him.
“Priest Ethan, a guest has arrived.”
Behind the soldier was Blake.
Blake looked around with curious eyes.
The soldier guided Blake and disappeared.
Ethan glanced at Blake.
“From today onwards, I will be using the Imperial Palace Theater, so I’m calling you here.”
“Haha, I was surprised when I suddenly called to come to the Imperial Palace. Thanks to you, I have been able to visit the Imperial Palace like this. It’s amazing.”
Ethan, who had lived here in his previous life, was not impressed.
But to Blake, who lived as a wandering mercenary, the imperial palace seemed like a different world.
“Now, shall we appreciate your craftsmanship?”
Blake put down his luggage and folded his arms.
Then Ethan began to practice kwonsik.
It was a remarkable change compared to the first day.
The kwon-gak-jutsu that Ethan had previously used was nothing more than a simple fighting game based on the experience he had accumulated based on self-defense techniques.
However, after learning Gugeukdo, there was a clear difference.
The fists and kicks, the posture and the evasive movements were united.
All these movements were balanced and flawless.
“Awesome.”
Blake, who watched silently, muttered in surprise.
It was pure admiration that came out of nowhere.
‘How can you do that? The only thing I said was that it was wrong?’
He didn’t even teach Ethan.
It wasn’t even that he told me about Gugukdo.
However, Ethan was learning the secrets of Gugukdo by himself.
‘It’s as if you had seen the master’s gugeukdo with your own two eyes!’
Looking at Ethan’s progress, there were only words of wonder.
Even Blake, who studied directly with his master, took a long time to fully develop his skills.
But Ethan had already absorbed everything.
It was possible only when he had to experience the extreme Gugeukdo himself.
‘But that’s impossible.’
Because Kaden Hanson, the creator of Gugeukdo, is no longer in the world.
“I have nothing more to point out.”
Blake decided so.
This meant that Ethan had the form of old-fashioned swordsmanship.
Having made herbivorous food completely his own, all that was left was constant training.
I had to apply it in practice and break the form of herbivore like an egg based on that experience.
It was only then that he was born as a fighter.
“Are you sure you don’t want to study Gugeukdo?”
“Not at all.”
“You really don’t seem to know how great you are!”
Blake lamented as if it was a pity.
Not long ago, Ethan told me how he learned Gugeukdo as he had done with Blake.
Knowing the story made Blake even more sad.
“Did you say that you restored the Gugukdo based on the parts mentioned by Joshua in the data about the saint? That’s crazy that no one dared to do! If I just tell the master about it, you too will be recognized as a disciple.”
Blake clenched both fists.
‘Master.’
One of the Seven Heroes, Kaden Hanson, was a person a hundred years ago.
Kayden Hanson probably wasn’t still alive, so the teacher he was talking about was probably Kayden Hanson’s disciple.
So Blake was the third disciple.
At this point, Ethan got goosebumps.
‘Crazy. Kaden Hanson’s stupid side has been passed down to the third generation of his disciples.’
It was clear that if he became a disciple of Gugukdo, he would become a fool in the same way.
Otherwise, the three couldn’t have been equally stupid.
Even if Ethan died, he had no intention of joining Gugukdo.
“Are you never going in?”
“ha. Sorry. I thought there would be a good priest (師弟).”
Just the thought of becoming a priest of Blake gave me goosebumps.
Ethan changed the subject.
“By the way, I don’t mind if I restore and use Gugukdo at will?”
“Uh? Isn’t it the instinct of all uninhabited people to pursue the enviable object? If I studied and restored it myself, I can’t say more. I too am just an uninhabited chasing master.”
Blake tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.
‘After all, he’s his disciple.’
Ethan grinned.
Then he raised his hand to Blake.
It was a rather provocative gesture.
“Then let’s try it now. Haven’t you been itching all this time?”
“What?”
Blake looked a little surprised.
Then, suddenly, he burst into laughter.
That was the word he had been waiting for.