Two Shadows — The Subjugation of Lapilwood (2)
The two guards standing watch at the main gate leveled their spears at our group.
“Who goes there! Reveal your identities!”
“We are swordsmen searching for a new lord to serve. We’ve come to ask whether Lord Lapilwood might be willing to take us in.”
I smiled with an air of perfect innocence and gestured toward Dana, who stood beside me with her hood pulled low over her face.
“It felt rude to arrive empty-handed, so we’ve brought a small gift to compensate for taking up the lord’s precious time. Would you mind showing him this woman’s condition and asking whether he can grant us an audience right away?”
“Hmm.”
One of the guards carefully lifted Dana’s hood with the tip of his spear. Golden hair that shimmered like moonlight spilled down in a silky cascade. The moment the guard saw her face, he stumbled backward in shock.
“Hurk! To think such a breathtaking beauty exists in this world!”
“Good heavens… I’d believe she was a princess of some kingdom at first glance…”
The two guards stood there slack-jawed, completely mesmerized by Dana. I chuckled softly.
“Hurry and inform the lord that a truly fine gift has arrived. I promise he won’t regret sparing even a moment to meet us.”
One guard dashed inside as if his life depended on it. Apparently convinced he’d earn praise for delivering such a beauty, he vanished like the wind, eager to be the first to report the news.
A short while later, a knight clad in full armor emerged from the gate.
“Follow me.”
With the knight’s guidance, we were allowed inside. The beauty trap had worked perfectly.
Lapilwood, seated on a massive high-backed chair deeper within the hall, was a grotesquely obese man in his fifties. Just from his appearance and expression, it was obvious he was greedy, filthy, lazy, and utterly blinded by wealth. I had glimpsed him once during a bandit leaders’ meeting, but since I was currently disguised, he would have no way of recognizing me.
“Hooo… How exquisite!”
The lord’s gaze remained glued to Dana for a long time. His eyes widened like saucers, drool trickled from the corner of his mouth, and he licked his lips repeatedly. If his vassal standing beside him hadn’t stopped him, he looked ready to stare at her all night.
He finally tore his eyes away and met my gaze.
“You say you’re looking for a new lord?”
I answered politely in the affirmative and spun a detailed, entirely fabricated story about how we had ended up here. Thanks to Marcus’s thorough education in the art of deception, lying came easily. I added vivid, realistic details on the fly to make it all sound convincing.
While I casually dragged out the conversation with the lord to buy time, Pasvachio, Unia, and Mateus, standing behind me, exchanged subtle glances and silently assigned their targets.
Inside the hall, two civil officials and ten military officers watched us closely. All ten officers were knights wearing full-plate armor that covered their bodies in steel.
At some point, Unia stealthily poked me in the back. It was the signal that everyone was ready for battle.
“I heard that if I simply agreed to meet you, you would present that woman to me as a gift. I shall graciously accept.”
At Lapilwood’s words, I let out a derisive snort.
“Who said that? When did I ever say such a thing?”
“What?”
There was no need for further conversation. No point in thinking anymore. The time had come for a storm of blood.
I immediately dropped the act.
“For a pig worse than swine like you to even dream of claiming such a beauty… how utterly delusional. This woman belongs to me.”
Dana, standing shoulder to shoulder with me, gave a small, perfectly natural nod as if it were the most obvious truth in the world.
The vassals began to murmur in outrage. The moment I hurled insults at their lord, the knights drew their swords in unison. Lapilwood pointed at me with a look of utter disbelief and fury.
“Wh-what did that bastard just say?! How dare he call me—a noble—swine?! Have you ever seen such a madman?!”
“Hey, Lapilwood. The truth is…”
I drew my dagger with a wicked smile.
“We came here to kill you.”
I declared it in a voice full of confidence and dignity, as if I were a king delivering justice to the world.
“As an ally of the Lion Heart Unit, the royal army, as the minor guardian of Nobern territory, as the leader of the Kether Mercenary Group which will soon soar to great heights, and as the head of the Kang family, I, Kang Hyun-woo, hereby declare before you all: To Lapilwood, who formed a bandit gang and inflicted unspeakable suffering upon the people of his territory, and to all those who aided and abetted his evil deeds, I shall deliver the iron hammer of justice. I hereby strip Lapilwood of his position as lord, revoke his noble title, and entrust his lands and possessions to the commander of the Lion Heart Unit, Sir Adelia.”
“On whose authority?! The Kether Mercenary Group? Oh, those bastards? A bunch of trash-tier mercenaries who can barely read are pretending to be inspectors now? How ridiculous!”
Lapilwood burst into loud, mocking laughter, clearly convinced it was all nonsense. I calmly finished my declaration.
“And finally, from this moment on, I shall execute Lord Lapilwood and all his accomplices!”
The instant I finished speaking, I pulled a throwing star from my pocket and hurled it at the knight standing by the wall. It struck him dead center in the forehead. He toppled backward. That was the beginning.
The hall descended into chaos in an instant.
“Kill that bastard! Kill him now!”
Lapilwood scrambled behind his chair in a panic, screaming. At the same time, Dana’s robe flared dramatically. Her eyes glowed pure white. As she chanted and gestured with her hands, a crackling sound erupted and chains of white lightning burst from both palms.
The bolts of electricity zigzagged through the air like living ropes, wrapping around the three knights who had been rushing toward me and binding them tight. The knights convulsed violently as if electrocuted.
Pasvachio’s massive two-handed sword cleaved through the head of the nearest knight as cleanly as slicing a watermelon. Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere.
Unia’s mana-infused spear spun like a black whirlwind, piercing straight through the hearts of the two knights standing before and behind her as if skewering them on a single spit. Having eliminated two at once, she flashed a relaxed V-sign at Mateus.
Mateus pressed his lips together tightly, refusing to be outdone by his seniors, and turned his head. Three knights were already charging at him with swords drawn.
Dana swiftly bound one of them with ropes of light. Mateus took on the remaining two. When the knight on the left thrust his blade, Mateus flowed around it like water, slashed the waist of the knight on the right, then circled behind him. He immediately kicked the knight’s backside, sending him stumbling forward with a scream. The man accidentally embraced his comrade, and both of them tumbled to the floor together.
While my companions steadily dismantled the knights, I finished off the three who had first been bound by Dana’s lightning, one by one. Then I moved behind the lord’s chair and pressed my blade against the trembling Lapilwood.
“W-why are you doing this to me?! Aren’t you the Kether Mercenary Group that works with the Lion Heart Unit? Did they order you to treat me like this?! I am a noble!”
“Before coming here, I saw a young girl who had been beaten by the knights you sent and branded on her forehead. Do you remember her?”
Lapilwood shook his head frantically.
“I-I don’t know! That has nothing to do with me! I never ordered anything like that!”
“Then you die for not knowing. A lord should at least know what his subordinates are doing. An incompetent leader is useless.”
I gripped the Shadow Dagger in reverse and raised it high. Lapilwood, huddled in his chair, stared wide-eyed at the glinting blade above his head. He swallowed hard and began babbling.
“I-I knew! I ordered it! J-just listen to me! That wench broke her promise to me and tried to run away from the village! You! You travel with the Lion Heart Unit, so you must understand! If you look at the laws of my territory, you’ll see why I did it! So put down the knife and let’s talk calmly, yes? I’ll explain everything in detail! Let’s be reasonable and rational about this!”
“That law of yours only ever favored the powerful. That’s why I stepped forward.”
I grinned viciously.
“Why did you torment that girl so cruelly? You need to be punished.”
“B-be honest and say you’ll spare me if I tell the truth!”
“When did I ever say that?”
I drove the dagger down into his right shoulder.
“Aaaaaagh!”
A scream of agony echoed through the hall.
“Whether you told the truth or not, the moment I set foot in this residence, your fate was already sealed. I came here to kill you, Lapilwood.”
I didn’t kill him with a single stroke. To make him suffer as much as possible, I stabbed and severed his limbs one by one, slowly tightening the noose around his life. Only when his eyes began to lose focus and it looked like he might faint after I finally slit open his belly and pulled out his intestines did I deliver the finishing blow, severing his head with one clean strike.