Chapter 106
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: The Majin's Bloody Punishment
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Christian smirked.
“Well, I’ll be off then. Make sure you do as I said.”
“…Alright.”
Just as Christian leaped onto the windowsill.
“Wait. I have something to say.”
“What is it?”
Roy hesitated, then spoke.
“…Thank you.”
Chris looked surprised for a moment, then chuckled.
“I can’t quite hear you. What was that? Why don’t you try saying it with a bit more genuine respect?”
“…I said thank you! You damn demon. You’re my savior.”
Chris snickered.
“We’ll be seeing each other again soon.”
“…What?”
Roy’s expression hardened.
Again? Why?
Wasn’t the job finished?
“Because something big is about to go down in Gold Cross.”
“W-wait, what do you mean? Something else is going to happen?”
“Yes, and it’ll be on a completely different level than this, so be prepared.”
The Gold Cross catastrophe was imminent.
And when it happened, Chris planned to use Roy again.
“Well then, I’m off. See you later.”
“W-wait?!”
*Fwoosh!*
Roy stared blankly out the window where Chris had vanished.
“Damn it, what the hell.”
The incident in the Bursen County was no small matter, but he was saying something even bigger was coming.
One thing was certain: it wouldn't be anything less than catastrophic.
Roy had a gut feeling.
He shouldn’t get involved.
“…Well, it should be fine. Just because it’s a Gold Cross matter doesn’t mean I have to get involved. As a Young Count, I should just focus on the affairs of the county…”
But then.
Roy froze.
He had just remembered something he’d forgotten.
“…Wait, what about my soul?”
Roy’s face turned pale.
He felt it instinctively.
The ownership of his soul was still with Christian.
In other words, whether Roy liked it or not, he was in a position where he had to obey Christian’s orders.
Roy broke out in a cold sweat as he recalled Christian’s last words.
—*See you later.*
It was a farewell that seemed to prophesy the grim future awaiting him.
* * *
Chris rode at full speed without rest.
Before long, he crossed the border and arrived at his destination.
The County of Cazar.
“Young Master?!”
The Majin of the county, seeing him for the first time in a while, cried out in surprise.
“Where is my father?”
“I am here.”
A deep voice he hadn’t heard in some time.
A middle-aged man with a striking resemblance to Christian pushed his way through the Majin.
It was his father, Count Cazar.
But something was off about the Count’s face.
He looked haggard and drawn.
‘Did he suffer that much because of this incident? I didn’t think he was the type to be so fragile.’
As he wondered, Count Cazar explained the reason.
“What on earth happened? I heard you’d gone missing.”
“Pardon?”
A Majin beside them chimed in.
“The Count believed you had passed away, Young Master. He was preparing to take revenge on Young Lord Eshid of the main house and those bastards from the Riberi family.”
“Ah.”
Chris understood the situation.
He had deliberately hidden his tracks.
Count Cazar had misunderstood this to mean that Chris had been ambushed and had disappeared.
‘Well, considering I had a few skirmishes with the trackers Eshid sent, it’s an understandable mistake. My apologies.’
Count Cazar examined Chris’s body, then let out a deep sigh of relief.
Feeling how much his father had worried, Chris wore an awkward expression.
He wasn’t used to someone worrying about him.
In his previous life, most of the people around him had wished for his death and disappearance.
“My apologies. I had to hide myself for a certain matter.”
“A matter?”
“Well…”
Chris briefly explained what had happened in the Bursen County.
How he had uncovered Baron Borde’s collusion with the Riberi family.
“How in the world?”
Count Cazar’s face was a mask of astonishment.
To accomplish such a feat in just a few days?
“…I was lucky.”
It was difficult to explain the exact process, including the possession, so he glossed over it. Count Cazar clicked his tongue in amazement.
He realized that the son he was seeing again after so long had become an even greater monster.
‘That’s my son.’
Suppressing a wave of pride, Count Cazar spoke.
“But why didn’t you immediately reveal the truth to the main house?”
“Because that wouldn’t have dealt them a proper blow.”
“!!”
“Even if the truth is revealed, Eshid and the Riberi family will use their power to sweep this under the rug.”
It was an accurate assessment.
“…Then, you don’t mean?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Chris nodded firmly.
“The Majin’s bloody punishment.”
“!!”
“I intend to make them pay the price with their own blood.”
He meant to strike the Riberi family!
‘Ha.’
Count Cazar clenched his fists.
He had heard the story from the messenger Chris sent, Allos.
—*Young Master Christian has ordered us to prepare to strike the Riberi family.*
Truthfully, he hadn’t understood at all.
How could they possibly strike the Riberi family?
It wasn’t a matter of strength.
It was a matter of justification.
If they attacked the Riberi family without reason, the Dark Magic House’s main family wouldn’t stand idly by. They would become public enemies of the Dark Magic House.
But thanks to what Chris had accomplished in the Bursen County, the situation had changed.
They now had a just cause.
“The Riberi family not only colluded with the Alliance scum, but they also framed our Cazar family. With the evidence already secured, no one can say a word if we enact a bloody punishment.”
On top of that, Chris had employed an additional trick.
He had concealed the fact that the truth had been revealed, blinding the Riberi family.
The Riberi family would be caught off guard, believing the Cazar family was still busy fighting the Bursen County, only to be struck by a sudden bolt from the blue.
“…You truly are remarkable.”
Count Cazar’s voice was once again filled with awe.
There was nothing that wasn’t impressive.
He felt the urge to shout to the world that this incredible child was his son.
“I was worried when you said you would become the Young Lord of the main house, but it was a needless concern. There is no one more fitting to be the master of the Dark Magic House than you.”
Chris grinned.
“But will it be alright?”
“What will?”
“There will be much blood spilled. If you do not wish for it, Father, I will handle this in a different way.”
“You fool.”
Count Cazar chuckled and ruffled Christian’s hair.
“What do you take me for? I am Count Cazar. Do you have any idea how many heads of those Alliance bastards I’ve taken?”
“……”
“Above all, they are the enemy who tried to harm you.”
“!!”
Count Cazar’s eyes turned cold.
“After you went missing, you have no idea how much I debated whether to take their heads. I held back because I wasn’t sure what had happened to you. If you had shown up just a little later, I would have charged in to take their heads without a second thought.”
Chris fell silent.
A heart that cared for him.
Paternal love.
It was unfamiliar.
He awkwardly touched his hair where Count Cazar’s hand had been.
Feeling an uncharacteristically sentimental mood creeping in, Chris turned his head to the side.
“Then let us depart at once. The preparations are complete, I assume?”
“Yes, we are fully prepared. Everyone, to your horses! Our target is the Riberi family!”
“Waaaah!!”
The Majin of the Cazar family’s Black Swamp Knights roared in unison.
As Chris was about to mount his horse, someone hesitantly approached him.
It was his younger brother, TERN.
“…Brother.”
“Your address.”
“…Respected King Emperor Majesty Older Brother.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“……”
TERN hesitated, then spoke in a small voice.
“I’m glad you returned safely.”
Chris looked at TERN for a moment with a fresh perspective.
TERN must have also been through a lot with Christian’s disappearance, as his face was haggard.
TERN stuttered, looking embarrassed.
“O-of course I wasn’t worried! It’s just… if something happened to you, there’d be no one to help with my curse studies! I was only speaking from a calculated, selfish perspective.”
“Is that so? For someone who says that, your eyes are quite red. Could it be you cried out of worry for your dear older brother?”
“Absolutely not!”
Huh?
His reaction made it seem like he actually had cried.
The image of TERN looking at the moon outside the window, thinking of him and crying, flashed through Chris’s mind, leaving him bewildered.
“…Thank you for your concern.”
“I told you I wasn’t worried…!”
“As thanks, let’s have a sparring match next time.”
“…I’ll pass on the sparring.”
TERN’s face went white, as if he remembered their last match before parting ways.
At that time, TERN had been beaten to a pulp by Chris and was bedridden for a long time.
“Why? Didn’t you enjoy getting beaten up by your older brother? I’ve gotten stronger, so I can give you an even better beating now.”
“Ugh, stop it!”
Chris chuckled as he watched TERN storm off after losing his temper.
It was a clear laugh, different from his usual ones.
Chris inwardly admitted it.
That they were his family.
* * *
Late at night.
The outer castle of the Riberi family.
The low-ranking Majin were yawning repeatedly.
“This is boring. Want to play a game of cards?”
“Are you serious?”
“What, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like anyone’s going to attack us here.”
“True.”
Like the Cazar family, the Riberi family was located on the border with Gold Cross.
Being on the border with the Magitech Empire’s main enemy, the Alliance, one would expect a tense atmosphere, but the reality was the opposite.
It had been a long time since a major war with the Alliance had broken out.
At most, there were only minor skirmishes on the border, so an enemy pushing all the way to this castle was something that had only happened in the distant past.
‘If anything, the border with the Four Kings Castle is far more dangerous.’
It was ridiculous, but true.
The most tense of the Dark Magic House’s borders was the one shared with the Four Kings Castle, a part of the same Magitech Empire.
The border with Gold Cross was so peaceful that everyone had let their guard down.
“It’s late and I’m bored anyway. Let’s just play a little.”
“Alright, I even brought some drinks.”
“Heh heh, aren’t you taking this a bit too seriously?”
As they were joking around.
*Thud.*
Suddenly, one of the Majin collapsed forward.
“What the? Hey, what’s wrong with you… Gack.”
It was an attack!
“!!”
Two were taken down in an instant, and only then did the last remaining Majin try to sound the alarm, but it was too late.
*Stab!*
A sword pierced the last Majin’s heart.
The alluring face of a woman emerged from the darkness.
It was Melin!
Following Chris’s orders, she had infiltrated the Riberi family’s castle and had now made her move!
Judging by the state of her, her body already drenched in blood, they weren’t her first victims.
“Pathetic trash. And they call themselves Majin of the Dark Magic House.”
Melin shot them a contemptuous look for a moment, then leaped down from the castle wall.
Towards the back of the castle gate.
The Majin guarding the locked gate shouted in alarm.
“W-who are you?!”
“Who do you think? The enemy. Is that even a question?”
*Fwoosh!*
A storm of blood erupted.
Melin was an upper 4-Star Majin, poised to soon reach the 5-Star realm.
There was no way the ordinary gatekeepers could stand against her.
The guards shouted frantically.
“Enemy! We’re under attack!!”