Chapter 288
Chapter 288
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 288
Chapter Title: Holding the Duke Hostage
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‘…This is tricky.’
Seo Woo-jin let out a hollow laugh inwardly.
He had completely forgotten.
The fact that he didn’t just have to stop Diarok—he had to block the entire Lenninstang army.
What Freya had asked him to do was, to be precise, to hold back the Lenninstang forces as a whole.
He had thought subduing Diarok would end it all, but seeing the tens of thousands of knights and soldiers charging toward him left him flustered.
‘What do I do about this?’
It was a given, but he wasn’t afraid just because of their numbers.
He was simply pondering how to stop them.
‘I can’t kill them.’
They were only rushing in to rescue Diarok.
They harbored no killing intent toward him, and they weren’t a threat to begin with, so there was no need to kill them.
‘Should I scare them into stopping?’
If he unleashed his Chaos Aura toward them, they would halt.
They’d feel like frogs staring down a snake.
Paralyzed by extreme fear and pressure, their bodies would stiffen.
But Seo Woo-jin hesitated a little.
‘I’m too tired for that…….’
He had battled Diarok for over an hour.
Since he had only aimed to subdue without killing, he had expended a great deal of energy and mental strength, so he didn’t want to push himself if he could avoid it.
“Ah, right.”
A good idea occurred to him.
“I’ve got just the thing.”
Seo Woo-jin grinned and turned to the side.
There lay Diarok, unconscious on the ground.
“Rescue His Excellency the Duke!”
“First Knight Division, hold the enemy! Second Knight Division, prioritize the rescue and move!”
The commanders’ shouts rang out loudly.
The knights in red armor moved urgently in response to the orders.
‘This guy must be that important, huh?’
The more vital and precious Diarok was to Lenninstang, the better this would work.
Seo Woo-jin kept his smile as he reached out and grabbed the man’s head.
Then he hoisted him up with a flash and held him out in front.
Making sure the knights could clearly see his face.
“Stop! If you don’t, I’ll smash this guy’s head!”
It was a scene reminiscent of cars screeching to a halt.
The knights, spotting Diarok dangling limply from Seo Woo-jin’s hand, skidded to a stop like they’d slammed on the brakes.
‘Gonna leave skid marks.’
Seo Woo-jin chuckled inwardly and shouted once more.
“Drop your weapons! And fall back!”
It was an impromptu method.
A petty one, too.
But its effect was tremendous.
The startled knights began retreating.
Some even dropped their swords in panic.
‘It’s working great.’
Just looking at the knights’ reactions showed Diarok’s position in Lenninstang.
“Well, he is a duke. They have to react like that.”
As Seo Woo-jin nodded to himself, the retreating knights, unsure what to do, began parting to clear a path.
And through that gap stepped a middle-aged man.
He was utterly different from the burly knights or the madman-like Diarok.
‘He looks intellectual.’
His neat and refined appearance didn’t suit the battlefield at all.
Fearless, he strode out boldly and stopped at a certain distance.
“State your identity.”
He asked politely, without groveling or trembling in fear.
Seo Woo-jin was slightly surprised by his demeanor.
Maintaining composure in this situation wasn’t easy.
“And who are you? I’d prefer to talk to the top man if possible.”
When Seo Woo-jin probed, the man nodded.
“I am Count Bastian. As the supreme commander of the Lenninstang forces, just as you wished, I should suffice for a conversation.”
He had seemed extraordinary, but Seo Woo-jin hadn’t expected the supreme commander himself.
‘I figured he was just one of the staff officers at most.’
His face reeked of a scholar, not a soldier, and he didn’t exude any particular aura.
Seo Woo-jin eyed the man who had introduced himself as Bastian before speaking.
“My name is Seo Woo-jin. I’m a Hero.”
“A Hero?”
“Did he just say Hero?”
Those who heard his answer began murmuring.
Why was a Hero here, and what reason did he have for beating Diarok to that state?
They all wore confused expressions, unable to grasp the connection.
All but one.
Everyone except Bastian.
He nodded calmly with an unflappable expression.
“Seo Woo-jin… I’ve heard that name. One of the Heroes who travels with Lady Lee Ji-ah, wasn’t it?”
Bastian’s words made Seo Woo-jin’s eyes widen slightly.
‘Come to think of it, Lenninstang was the kingdom supporting Ji-ah, right?’
He had heard that when he first met her.
And now that he thought about it, he had seen these red-armored knights back then too.
With so much happening, he had utterly forgotten.
“Yeah. That’s me, Seo Woo-jin.”
He admitted it readily.
Bastian’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
“I acknowledge you’re a Hero, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a grave situation we can’t simply overlook.”
Bastian raised his presence.
It was unremarkable mana.
Pitifully weak, not even reaching mid-tier.
But his aura carried an intimidating pressure that couldn’t be explained by mana alone.
Of course, it didn’t faze Seo Woo-jin in the slightest.
“You must know that Heroes are strictly forbidden from intervening in conflicts between nations! Prove your actions were justified! If you cannot, we will not stand idly by.”
Seo Woo-jin smacked his lips at Bastian’s words.
‘Right, that’s how it was.’
A Hero’s power was to be used solely to stop the Demon King during the Great Descent War.
They couldn’t take sides in wars or disputes between nations beforehand.
Seo Woo-jin already knew about that treaty.
‘That’s why I used Demon King Transformation to hide my identity when blocking the Aier army at Derhan.’
With everything else on his mind, he had forgotten about it.
‘My mistake.’
If he had remembered the treaty, he would have revealed himself in Demon King form from the start.
Then he wouldn’t have had to let Yudain go so easily, or struggle for over an hour subduing Diarok.
He regretted not thinking it through more carefully.
But now wasn’t the time for self-recrimination.
‘I need an excuse…….’
Of course, he could just brazen it out, and they couldn’t inflict any harm on him.
This world was in the position of desperately needing the Heroes’ power.
No matter how much Lenninstang complained to the world, no sanctions would touch Seo Woo-jin.
But…
‘Sion and Aier are different.’
Sion was the nation responsible for the troublesome Hero, Seo Woo-jin, and Aier had directly benefited from this incident.
With that kind of justification, they would face all-out pressure for sure.
Especially Aier, which had barely survived thanks to Seo Woo-jin’s help—the backlash could be even worse.
‘I don’t want that.’
Sion, and Aier too, needed to quickly regain their former status as holy kingdoms.
If this incident made governance harder and prolonged the chaos…
‘The pool of talent for the Great Descent War might shrink.’
That couldn’t happen.
He had moved to prevent exactly that, hadn’t he?
Seo Woo-jin racked his brain for a moment.
He needed the most plausible excuse possible.
That way, his time and effort wouldn’t be wasted.
Then it hit him.
Yudain.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Conflicts between nations? I don’t remember getting involved in anything like that.”
“…Do you think such denial will work? The man you’re holding in your hand right now is one of our nation’s dukes…….”
“Ah, this guy?”
Seo Woo-jin shook his hand, making Diarok’s body sway.
“I just knocked him out because he kept interfering. Here, take him if you want.”
His expression suggested he had no attachment at all, but he didn’t actually hand him over.
Diarok was still an excellent hostage.
“Interfering, you say?”
Bastian tried to parse Seo Woo-jin’s words.
But before he could finish thinking, Seo Woo-jin gave the answer.
“I came here because I got word an Apostle was spotted. I made time to come kill the bastard myself.”
It wasn’t a lie.
Seo Woo-jin had indeed heard that Yudain was hiding in the small city right next to them.
So after holding off Lenninstang, he had planned to deal with him as a bonus.
He subtly twisted the facts in his retelling, but Bastian had no way of knowing.
“Is that true?”
Apostle Yudain.
Bastian knew he had appeared.
He had witnessed the fight between him and Diarok with his own eyes.
So Seo Woo-jin’s story wasn’t entirely implausible.
Whether he trusted it was another matter.
“Why would I get involved in a war? Especially when Aier is getting pushed back. I don’t like those guys much. Hate ‘em, actually.”
Bastian tilted his head at Seo Woo-jin’s words.
Why would a Hero hate a nation?
“What do you…….”
“Seo Woo-jin. Aier.”
When Bastian didn’t catch on, Seo Woo-jin added more explanation.
“And ‘Saintess.’”
With the third hint, Bastian’s eyes widened.
He finally understood why Seo Woo-jin disliked Aier.
Aier had started the war using Seo Woo-jin as their pretext.
They couldn’t expect him to view favorably a nation that waged war claiming he murdered the ‘Saintess.’
Even now, plenty in Aier treated him like an enemy.
No way he’d step in to help such a place.
“I understand.”
Bastian nodded in the end.
He judged Seo Woo-jin’s words credible.
“Then why the Duke?”
“Like I said earlier, he kept getting in the way while I was fighting the Apostle. So I just put him to sleep temporarily.”
He twisted the truth a bit again.
With Diarok still unconscious, no one was there to correct him.
“Please, hand him over to us.”
“That’s fine. But you won’t charge again, right?”
With the misunderstanding cleared, he wouldn’t issue some insane order like an all-out assault.
Bastian seemed like a reasonable man.
“Of course. I swear it on my name.”
“Good.”
No reason to refuse when he staked his name on it.
Seo Woo-jin strode forward and set Diarok down before Bastian.
His limp body sagged completely due to being unconscious.
“Escort His Excellency the Duke!”
At Bastian’s command, a few knights rushed out, carefully lifted him, and retreated.
“…Thank you for your consideration.”
Bastian bowed his head politely in gratitude.
“No need to thank me.”
Seo Woo-jin waved it off casually toward Bastian.
Then he continued naturally.
“You’re heading back now, right?”
Beneath Seo Woo-jin’s smile hid a chilling aura.