After the duel between the two men, Luke approached the defeated Roderick.
“Sir Roderick has a cut on his hand, so go get him treated first.”
“no. It’s just a scratch, so I’ll stay by your side.”
“Did you forget the day we first met? What did I say then?”
“…the knight said that the body is property.”
At that answer, Luke smiled silently. It was an indication that his thoughts were no different from then.
When Roderick made an impression on his face, Luke patted him on the shoulder and asked again.
“Even though it’s a light wound, isn’t it the hand holding the sword? Please treat it quickly.”
“Thank you for your sincere consideration, young master.”
Roderick bowed deeply and left. With Roderick out of sight, Luke turned to praise Bruno.
“It is indeed a great force. It is more than a rumor.”
“hahahahaha! I am a rather strong guy.”
Bruno, who had been laughing heartily in the midst of it, whispered softly with his eyes.
“Boss, in fact, I am much stronger than this. I can’t show my skills because of the curse.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“yes. A long time ago, I was cursed by a certain dwarf who fought with a sorceress. I cut him in two, but even if he dies, the curse won’t break! After that, the power is not what it used to be. Whew!”
Bruno sighed deeply and shook his head. Exaggerated movements seemed like a man’s bravado.
A sound no one would believe unless you were a ignorant child.
‘The scary thing is that that’s the truth.’
It wasn’t long before that fact was revealed. Expelled from the Bernstein family, Bruno goes back to his hometown and is captured by a hostile family.
Although considerable damage was done in the process of catching it, the hostile family’s resentment did not melt either.
The aristocratic family, to which Bruno had accumulated a lot, disregarded the customs of captives and showered him with all sorts of insults and ridicule.
‘One of those insults was the key to unlocking the curse.’
Of course it wasn’t intended. Who would have known that Haeju’s secret was hidden in the act of insulting him?
Even Bruno, the person involved, said that he lost his senses when he saw that the curse had been lifted.
However, Bruno, who came to his senses immediately after that, tore off the chain with his bare hands and said that he annihilated the entire family by himself.
That’s why the nickname given was Bruno of annihilation. Luke nodded his head broadly, pretending not to know that fact.
“I see, I am still strong, but if I lift the curse, I will become stronger. You deserve to be my escort knight as well.”
Bruno’s face crumpled as soon as he heard that.
“Bocchan, that’s about it, but can’t we just not do it?”
“Looks like you don’t like being an escort knight from a while ago.”
“Because it’s annoying.”
Without even trying to hide it, Bruno vomited his true feelings.
“Isn’t that what being an escort knight is like? Sticking around with the young master, watching all day long to see if there are any assassins or ruffians.”
“It doesn’t.”
“I can never do it. Just find someone else.”
“hmm. What if I force you to?”
“I have to run away whenever you call, what.”
If he kept running away, he would have no choice but to use someone else as an escort, Bruno joked.
“Can’t I break your curse?”
“no way. What does the young master know about the curse? It’s a curse that they said they couldn’t break even after going to numerous experts.”
“Well, how can I get rid of the curse on my subject? right?”
Luke laughed as if he had told a silly joke, and Bruno laughed too.
“If your bloodline contains the power of a storm giant, and the curse doesn’t limit the giant’s power so that you can’t use the power of the wind, I can’t break it. That’s the only way I’ve learned how to do it. ha ha ha.”
Bruno’s body stiffened in an instant. His eyes, which had stopped laughing, shook mercilessly.
“Do, Bocchan. What did you say just now?”
“I said that if your lineage is a giant, and the curse limits the power of a giant, I can break it.”
With an expression as if he had been hit in the back of the head with a hammer, Bruno opened his mouth. Then, he looked at Luke with bloodshot eyes and grabbed both of his shoulders.
“How much do you know?”
“I don’t know what you mean. I just said that I know how to do it.”
Luke shrugged and let go of his pretense. Bruno, who hesitated for a long time, shouted at the hint that he had no intention of telling him.
“great! If you can break the curse, I’ll do something like an escort knight!”
“No, I have changed my mind.”
“yes? What kind of small grain is that?”
“Come to think of it, isn’t the price for releasing the curse too cheap for an escort knight? It should be like a lifetime contract.”
“…!”
Bruno bit his lip. A contract for life is literally a contract between a lord and a subject. It is an oath to serve someone for the rest of one’s life and dedicate one’s allegiance to one another.
Once a lifelong contract is signed, you can never serve any other lord other than your lord and his descendants. Whether you live or die, you will be with that family for the rest of your life.
It was a condition that Bruno did not like very much. If you make a contract with the count, you don’t know, but to serve the young boy who doesn’t have a territory of his own?
“That seems a bit excessive.”
“Yeah, on second thought, I went too far. It’s far better to just live with limited powers for the rest of your life than to sign a contract for life. Forget this offer.”
“…”
Bruno sighed inwardly. Doesn’t that mean that they have no intention of doing it if they don’t sign a lifetime contract?
Grinding his teeth, Bruno glared at Luke.
“Bocchan, do you know that?”
“What do you mean?”
“As you know, Bocchan, if a commoner kills another commoner, isn’t it the death penalty?”
“yes.”
“Among them, many come after killing their cheating wives. Seeing another guy riding on top of my wife made the top turn.”
They kill their cheating partners too, Bruno added.
“However, when he is killed, he feels relieved, but when he is dragged away, there is no fuss or crying. I don’t want to die.”
“I guess so. Everyone is afraid of death.”
“But even for those who are afraid of death, the tap turns when they witness an affair. I am so angry that I don’t care about the death penalty or anything.”
“Right. But what about that?”
“I am in that state now.”
With a snap, Bruno’s hand tore off the brick. The grip was so strong that stone dust fell.
“The feeling of this curse, no one else will ever understand. If I could use a similar analogy, it would feel like my wings were cut off.”
Other people don’t know how it feels because they can’t fly, but those who have flown at least once know. how awesome that feeling is.
However, I was informed that my wings were cut off and that I would never be able to fly again.
“It is really disappointing. They said there was a recipe for seaweed, but if you said you wouldn’t tell me, the tap would turn.”
“Is it a threat?”
“It is true. Just like a commoner who beats his wife to death doesn’t end with just saying, ‘I’ll kill you.’”
As if the easy-going atmosphere from a while ago was a lie, Bruno’s eyes were filled with dark flesh.
“You have two choices. First, calmly tell me how to do it here.”
“What about the other one?”
“That’s right, I was beaten until every bone in my body was shattered. If you do, won’t you be able to figure out how to do it?”
No matter how long-term contract it is, if you do such a thing to the son of your lord you serve, you will not be treated as a knight.
You could be treated as a worm below a commoner, or in the worst case, the imperial family could demote you to a commoner.
Still, Bruno is talking like this. I wondered if a person with money would think of such a thing.
“Now, will you be quiet? Or would you like to be beaten right before you die?”
At the firm tone, Luke quietly closed his eyes as if thinking about it. Bruno laughed inwardly at the silent Luke.
‘Okay, it works!’
Everything Bruno had just said was blackmail. No matter how foolish he was, even Bruno did not have the courage to commit such a thing.
Where did you benefit from your status as an aristocrat once or twice? What is the use of regaining power if you are deprived of the disgrace and noble status that will be known to the end of the world?
However, I don’t want to live tied to a young master who has no power due to a lifelong contract. Then all that remains is the blackmail. If you succeed, you can eat Haejubeop raw without paying anything.
‘As expected, according to my father’s words.’
He was criticized around him for being an ignorant mercenary knight, but in fact he was very wise. Bruno remembered his father’s old advice.
-Bruno, listen carefully to what your father said and remember it.
– Yes, father.
– Most of the world’s affairs can be solved with violence. There is no business in the fist. So beat me up when things get complicated.
It was a great teaching. As my father said, most of the world’s affairs could be solved with violence. But Bruno asked one more time just in case.
-Then what if the opponent can’t use violence?
– Threaten to beat or kill. Anyone who cares about my body will bow down and enter.
-indeed!
I was lucky to ask then. Even for opponents who shouldn’t use violence, if you just create an atmosphere that seems to overturn everything, most of them worked.
There were times when I was in danger when it didn’t work, but at least I was sure that it would work for the young master right in front of me.
‘Well, at any rate, he’s a noble boy. Have you ever been asked to live?’
There is a huge difference between those who have experienced the battlefield and those who have not. Even the strongest man, when he first receives life, trembles.
Not to mention Luke, who was still a boy. Are you already closing your eyes in fear?
Luke, who was still, slightly opened his eyes and said.
“Sir Bruno, may I pray to the goddess before I answer?”
“You can do anything. However, if you do not answer even after the prayer is over, my fist will not be still.”
“Okay.”
Luke murmured as he stretched out his hands to the sky and assumed a prayerful posture.
“To God, Luke Bernstein swears by the name of my mother, Lyria, by the name of my grandfather, Norman, and by the name of my father, Leonard.”
“…?”
What’s the sudden oath at this time? Where is the point to swear something in this situation.
Bruno, who was tilting his head, was frightened when he heard the next words.
“If the bastard in front of me hurts me and I tell you how to do it, please let me gouge out both of my eyes.”
‘what?’
For a moment, Bruno wondered what he had heard wrong. However, Luke’s prayer continued without any time to resolve his doubts.
“And cut off my tongue, and cut off my ears, and cut off my nose, and cut open my stomach, and take out the entrails, and flesh them out, and give them food for wolves and dogs, and let them live and suffer until they have done all these things…”
What followed was a torture parade that made even Bruno vomit. I had no idea where the hell he had heard such torture.
The oath, which had been talked about for a long time, stopped at the point where even the last remaining bone fragments were given as monster food. But it didn’t end there.
“Also, if you say the healing method even after being harmed, if my soul, which has left the body, ascends to heaven, do not let it rest, but let it wander only in darkness, and make it feel the burning pain in the flames of eternity…”
I thought the physical pain was over, but what came next was the torture parade of the soul. Again, all sorts of creative torture sprung up.
Even if it was the body, it was amazing how he could think of such a method of torture of the soul.
The long oath to torture the soul ended with the contents of giving the disfigured soul as food for the devil.
From noble mtl dot com
“Now, this is the end of the oath.”
Luke smiled and looked at Bruno, who was stunned.
“Sir Bruno”
“yes yes?”
“Now, hit it, it’s a baby.”
“…”
At Luke’s words, Bruno became dumb after eating honey. There was only one condition for that colorful torture just now.
It was when Bruno told me how to do it even though it did harm. Of course, even after making such an oath, no one would tell me how to do it.
Even the most cowardly of the world would not hold back after such an oath. Bruno closed his eyes and recalled his father’s old advice.
-By the way, father, what if it’s a poisonous tumor that won’t work even if you threaten it?
-Then, just do as the dokjong says.
-yes? why?
– Why is that?
Father said while stroking Bruno’s head.
-If you don’t do what he said, then you’ll become an X, so that’s right.
He was a truly wise man. because it really happened
‘f*ck, it’s X.’
If this reached the Count’s ears, Bruno was doomed. Rather than being kicked out, he could have been surrounded by enraged knights and torn to pieces.
Even if it runs away, it is certain that it will pursue it to the end and try to kill it. If it was in its prime, it would be difficult to survive with the current weakened power.
‘I have to make up for it somehow!’
Burned with survival instinct, Bruno desperately shook his head. And soon he found the only way to survive.
Bruno opened his eyes again and looked at Luke with eyes full of respect.
“You are wonderful. You are of the Bernstein family, after all.”
“…”
“Actually, I was testing the young master. You have the right to be my master.”
“…”
“Don’t feel sad that I tested on a single article. It is the law for any knight to find a suitable lord and serve him.”
“Goddess.”
Ignoring Bruno’s bullsh*t, Luke opened his mouth again.
“If this bastard doesn’t get down on his knees within 30 seconds and tells you how to do it, pluck out my eyeballs…”
“Lord! This Bruno is on his knees!”
“In addition to this, if this bastard doesn’t put his head on the ground and tells you how to do it, cut off my nose…”
“Look! My forehead was stuck to the ground!”
“In addition, if this bastard doesn’t crawl all the way over there and still tells you how to do Haeju, cut off my ears…”
“You didn’t know my nickname was Bruno the Lugworm!”
Bruno thought desperately, crawling on the ground. After all, there is nothing wrong with what my father said.
Demon child