Chapter 41: Found You

“Is that brat from Drasen saying he’s going to investigate my people?

Right now?”

Kane Trian’s expression was completely crumpled.

A reaction that made the Count's words, claiming he had already spoken to him, seem meaningless.

Just as Klarm sighed and was about to open his mouth.

“Are you refusing Count Enoch Trian’s order?”

Muno’s voice, from behind, rang out first.

At that, Kane’s face crumpled even more.

“Should I just report back to His Excellency, ‘

The Grand Prince says he doesn’t want to?’”

Perhaps bothered by that smirking face, he glared at Muno with murderous eyes.

“I’m asking about the procedure, the procedure! How dare you just show up without any notice……!”

“So, you’re saying that even if it’s His Excellency’s order, I must get the Grand Prince’s permission and follow the procedure?

Should I relay that to him exactly as you said it?”

“……You, who is this insolent brat without even a title……!”

“I do have a knightly title, though?

And it was bestowed directly by His Excellency himself.”

The moment Muno took out the silver identification plaque from his bosom and showed a faint smile.

“You, you, you bastard…….”

Kane’s face turned red as if it would explode at any moment.

‘This is fun.’

Is this why they say you have to pick the right side?

The feeling of having the highest authority in Trian at my back was quite refreshing.

Of course, it was also a little strange.

‘He’s being this defiant?’

But the others in my party seemed to think a little differently.

“You, what are you going to do…….”

“Keep it moderate.”

……Why are you saying that to me, hmph.

Muno let Klarm and Rasmia's whispered words go in one ear and out the other.

Because the more I thought about it, the stranger it was.

‘There’s no way he’s this stupid.’

If he was the type of person to get so suddenly agitated by a mere brat's provocation, my father wouldn't have told me to be so cautious.

The cleverness that made the Count entrust him with the territory's practical affairs, despite worrying about his narrow-minded personality, was nowhere to be seen in him right now.

‘It doesn’t seem like he’s under a spell…….’

I naturally shifted my gaze and scanned Kane’s surroundings.

“You may be acting so impudent now, trusting in father, but do you have any idea what will happen when this is over before you run your mouth?”

The words he spat out in a low, trembling voice, as if he had barely managed to suppress his anger, were as arrogant as I had heard.

But his words didn't even register in Muno’s ears.

‘He doesn’t seem like an impostor……either.’

No matter how much I looked, I couldn't find any traces of magic on him.

That meant that Kane, who was praised by those around him for being smart, was making such an obvious overreach.

There must be a reason for it…….

‘Hm?’

At that moment, among the people around him, one person caught Muno’s senses.

The moment his expression distorted.

[Muno, among the servants…….]

Rasmia’s voice, carried on the wind, confirmed his guess.

“You bastard, are you ignoring me……!”

“It’s strange.

For you to overreact like this.

Is there perhaps someone here you need to impress?”

“……!?”

Kane’s face, which had been struggling to feign composure, distorted again.

“……What kind of nonsense is that!?”

He shouted a beat too late, but the surrounding gazes had already followed Muno’s eyes to the servants lined up at the side.

Then, a middle-aged servant, who had been standing with his head bowed along with the others, lifted his head with a faint smile.

In that instant, the servant's body flashed with light and seemed to disappear, and in his place, a stout, good-natured looking middle-aged man appeared.

And the guard standing next to him transformed into an old, hook-nosed knight with white hair full of wrinkles, wearing gleaming half-plate mail.

“Hoho. Since this wasn’t an official visit, I was trying to save face for a moment, but it seems I’ve been noticed by the young lord.

I apologize, Lord Collid. It was my fault for suggesting we hide…….”

“It’s fine. I agreed to it as well.”

The stout middle-aged man bowed his head to the old knight who appeared with him, then turned to Muno and smiled brightly.

“They call you the Genius Knight of Drasen, have you perhaps also received the blessing of the spirits?

Or could it be the Storm of Trian……nim.”

As the sly middle-aged man’s voice, who was glancing at Rasmia, echoed out.

“The Aslan Ducal family?

Grand Prince, what is this……?”

Klarm frowned, looking back and forth between the middle-aged man, the old knight, and Kane.

The gray shield crest, emblazoned for all to see on the hook-nosed old knight’s armor and the middle-aged man’s luxurious robe, indicated their affiliation.

But Muno, the one who had actually identified them, was inwardly shocked.

He never had the ability to detect the middle-aged man's 'Light Spirit Arts', which was of a level he couldn't even guess.

The sense of incongruity he had detected was, of course, related to ‘prey’.

An alien energy hidden within the scent of mana that he had thought was just a little thick.

It was the demonic energy detected from that old knight.

‘I can definitely feel demonic energy, but something else is bothering me even more. This is…….

A Magic Knight.

A Corporeal Arts user who made a contract with a demon, derogatorily called a Magic Soldier.

The demonic energy I felt was weaker than the 4-class mage I had seen before.

But the level of his Corporeal Arts was something I couldn't rashly estimate.

To think that the sense of mass I felt from him was even heavier than Klarm’s or my father’s.

If that’s the case, then at least…….

‘5-Star. F*ck…….’

On top of that.

‘Is he on drugs or something?

What’s with his eyes?’

Muno’s expression slightly frowned as he saw the old knight’s large, gleaming eyes staring directly at him.

If I were to expose that man’s identity right here and now, all hell would really break loose.

If that knight and the Spirit Master were our enemies.

‘I have to tell grandpa about this.’

I gathered my complicated thoughts, forced myself to ignore them, and turned my gaze to Kane.

“By the way, what business would a knight and a Spirit Master from the Aslan Ducal family have here, Grand Prince?”

But Kane just kept his mouth shut with a rotten expression, and instead, the stout middle-aged man stepped forward again.

“Ah, Count Kane……. Ah, not yet, are you?

Lord Kane had requested a marriage between his daughter and our family, but since that fell through, I stopped by to confirm.”

Ah.

Only then did the name of the family Roanna had mentioned come to mind again.

Before Muno could say anything, Klarm, with an irritated expression, stepped forward first.

“Without our Excellency’s permission?

And with a 5-Star knight and a 4-Class Spirit Master at that!?

Isn’t this an open declaration of wanting to fight Trian!”

His shout was laced with anger and tension.

The middle-aged man bowed his head and replied.

“That would only be the case for ordinary noble families.”

“What kind of nonsense is that……!”

“How could anything happen to the great Count Enoch Trian, who is called the Bulwark of the North, just because we hid ourselves?

Knowing that, Lord Kane also accepted.”

“……Ha.”

“Well, if you must ask why we went into hiding, it was to avoid troubling His Excellency Enoch, the Bulwark of the North whom we respect dearly, over a matter that has already gone awry. Isn’t that right, Lord Kane?”

“Ahem. That is correct.”

“My lord! Even so, this is a clear breach of etiquette.

It is something His Excellency could take issue with Aslan over……!”

“Of course! My lord will also express his apology with utmost sincerity. Before that, I, this illusionist Razman, apologize on behalf of everyone for attempting to deceive Trian.”

Honestly, it was logic I couldn't accept, but with them coming on this humbly, Klarm had no choice but to take a step back.

“……The show of apology had better be a sincere one.”

“Of course. Isn’t that right, Lord Collid?”

“It is a matter of course. The generosity of the Great Aslan family is not so petty.

You need not worry.”

To think such people were hiding.

Pressing the issue any further in this situation was asking for a fight.

And if we really fought.

‘We’ll be the ones bleeding. Hmph.’

Fortunately, Klarm didn’t raise his voice any further.

In this situation, Muno didn’t miss Kane’s face flushing slightly as he clenched his teeth.

‘That guy being narrow-minded is a fact.’

So he must have wanted to save face in front of the ducal family's envoy(?).

It was a useless act that I couldn't understand, but even in my past life, there were people who risked their lives for face that seemed utterly useless.

‘Pathetic…….’

And that wasn't what was important right now.

Because the slightly crazed eyes of the Magic Knight, who looked like he had taken some drug, were more concerning.

‘To deal with that man safely, I need to report this situation to the old Count.’

However, what worried me slightly while doing so.

Even if I managed to tell the Count, what proof did I have to name a man hiding his identity with ‘that technique’ as a Magic Knight?

If that man didn't reveal a trace of demonic energy in front of others until the end, it would become truly troublesome.

Because he wasn't an opponent I could subdue with my own hands.

‘I have to make the Count use force to subdue him.

Then the veil can be broken.

Like with Moeno. But how?’

A serious problem had arisen.

But.

‘I can’t just let him go now that he’s in my sights.’

The eyes I happened to meet, the old knight's slightly flushed eyes, didn't look normal no matter how I looked at them.

Come what may, I had to do something.

“Well, the Grand Prince can entertain the uninvited guests from the ducal family.

Anyway, I need to ask you something as instructed by His Excellency.

Lord Kane, please tell me who you shared our route with on the day Lord Klarm and I left for Connell.”

Of course, the answer to that question seemed to have already been given.

“How dare you in this situation…….”

I could see Kane gritting his teeth, his face turning red and blue, but now was not the time to worry about that narrow-minded man.

Even while looking at Kane, Muno was focusing all his attention on the hook-nosed old knight next to him.

But suddenly.

“As a sign of my apology, I would like to teach that young man a lesson.”

That sharp-featured, hook-nosed old man, the Magic Knight Collid, said something absurd.

“……Pardon?”

What was this sudden outburst?

“You don’t look even twenty yet, but it seems you’ve gone through two evolutions.

Even more than I heard. As a senior in life, I wish to show a young genius a wider world.”

I wondered what kind of crazy talk this was all of a sudden.

There should be a limit to spouting nonsense.

‘Even more than I heard?’

The way he spoke as if he knew me was also unsettling.

‘No, he probably knows. If he’s their subordinate.’

But even so, the feeling was very strange.

The gaze that was becoming more and more fixated on me felt similar to a drug addict I had seen once in my past life.

‘He hasn’t really taken drugs, has he? No, is demonic energy worse than drugs? He can’t be really crazy, right?’

I tried my best to hide my anxiety.

“Pardon? Sir Collid? What is this all of a sudden?”

It seemed that proposal felt strange to their side as well.

But the moment Collid gave a look, the Spirit Master Razman laughed awkwardly and turned back to Muno.

“Ah, anyway, it’s a good opportunity, my lord.

Sir Collid is a paragon among knights who, despite being stuck at the 5-Star wall for 20 years, did not give up and trained to finally achieve evolution, so there will surely be much to learn from him.”

‘Right, he was stuck for 20 years so he sold his soul……. Huh?’

As I scoffed internally, a strange feeling came over me.

He says that proudly?

And his reaction just now too.

No way…….

“……You don’t know?”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Come to think of it, Kane has no reason to join hands with a magician.

Unless that narrow-minded bastard was also stupid.

‘Logically, I have to assume Kane doesn’t know.’

Then what about this Spirit Master?

‘I don’t know. Whether he’s in on it or not.’

This wasn't a situation to make a bet I wasn't sure of.

As I was thinking that and about to make an excuse.

Suddenly, the words Rasmia had said flashed through my mind.

- As you communicate with the spirits, you will naturally come to feel it. Why we hate magicians…….

She said that Spirit Masters would naturally come to hate magicians.

I needed to confirm.

“……Do you know about me?”

“Of course.

The Genius Knight of Drasen.

Isn’t that the name receiving the most attention in the North right now?

I think it might be fate that we met like this while secretly undercover.

They say even brushing sleeves is fate……”

The fact that the chubby mister, Razman, was spitting a little wasn't important right now.

“Do you also know that I’ve been in trouble lately because I got entangled with magicians?”

“Pardon? Ah, I heard.

That those cursed things are in this northern land…….”

The light of hatred that flashed in Razman’s eyes at that moment was brief but clearly felt.

If that was an act, Razman would be the actor of the century.

The moment that thought occurred to me, my mouth moved on its own.

“But that old man is a Magic Knight, are you trying to make me fight him?”

“……Pardon!?”

At that statement, the illusionist, Razman’s eyes widened.

‘He really doesn’t know!’

The moment conviction settled in Muno’s mind.

Swish.

Razman’s neck, as if in a lie, suddenly floated into the air.

‘This crazy……!?’

I was momentarily frozen by the extreme situation that surpassed imagination.

Behind Razman’s slowly falling corpse, I saw the figure of the hook-nosed old man rushing towards me.

A face with a sinister smile and eyes that had turned completely red.

It was the look of someone who was clearly not in their right mind.

‘A real madman……!?’

The madman, the old man’s longsword, instantly rushed before my eyes.

Beside me, I could see Klarm drawing his spear and Rasmia creating a pure white wind from her body, all in slow motion.

And then.

Boom!

A dizzying impact washed over me.

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