Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: One Branch Plum (4)
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It was right then that Emil's palace, which had been eagerly awaiting Theo's severed head, began to stir.
Boom!
The palace doors suddenly burst open, and swordsmen flooded in, swiftly taking control of the interior.
A menacing aura hung in the air.
"C-Central Intelligence Chief!"
"Why is the Chief suddenly...!"
The maids and butlers turned pale as they stared at Ed Troyvan at the center of the swordsmen.
But Ed offered no explanation, simply standing silently before his twin sister.
"What is the meaning of this, Brother?"
Emil glared at Ed with venomous eyes, refusing to back down.
Ed held out a document with a blank expression.
"You can't claim ignorance of this, can you, Palace Lord?"
"What is that supposed to justify this?"
"It's an order you stamped with my seal without permission."
Emil flinched for a moment but grew even more brazen.
"So what? What's wrong with it?"
"You impersonated me to mobilize Central Intelligence agents without authorization. And you ordered them to slaughter the White Dragon Knights of our own house—no less absurd an order."
"......!"
Emil's eyes widened.
He was saying this in front of everyone?
Sure enough.
She glanced around, and the palace maids and butlers who had overheard were all ashen-faced.
"How dare you say such things in front of the servants...!"
"So you do realize how your honor has been tarnished before the servants?"
Classic sarcasm.
Emil bit her lower lip hard.
"What exactly are you trying to say!"
"Impersonating a seal is a grave crime that even you, Palace Lord, cannot be forgiven for. Mobilizing house forces on a whim could even be branded treason. And targeting the White Dragon Knights, the face of Ragnar? The Family Head will be thrilled to hear of it."
"You're not... going to report this straight to the Family Head, are you?"
"Why wouldn't I? My life hung by a thread because of my foolish sister. I have to survive somehow, don't I?"
Only then did Emil grasp the gravity of the situation, her face stiffening.
"Why must you be so extreme! It would have been fine as long as the job got done, wouldn't it? Once the White Dragon Knights squad on mission is wiped out, the blame would naturally fall on those Black Skull bastards or whoever...!"
"Isn't that exactly why your idiotic plan went awry?"
"W-What did you say?"
"We just received a report from Squad 5 of the White Dragon Knights at Central Command. They discovered a third force beyond Black Skull, captured four alive, and are returning."
"......!"
"And do you know what else they added? 'Appears to have deep ties to Ragnar. Will report in person upon return.'"
"......"
"Now do you realize how utterly stupid you've been, Palace Lord?"
Tremble, tremble...
Emil's hands shook violently. Her face turned ghostly pale.
'The plan... failed? And they were captured alive? How...!'
Only then did it seem to hit her like a bolt of lightning.
Kyle's face flashed in her mind.
The dictator she had shared her life with, yet whose true thoughts she could never fathom.
What would happen if he learned of this?
No need to think twice.
He would hold her accountable—and her birth family, Troyvan, as well.
Begging wouldn't work.
Kyle always put Ragnar's welfare and honor above all.
"B-Brother! Help me! You can! There must be a way if it's you! Right? Please help your sister!"
Ed's lip twisted into a smirk.
"I always wondered why Axion was so impulsive and stupid. Looks like he took after you, Palace Lord."
"Brother...!"
"My foolish, dim-witted Palace Lord, why did you meddle in things beyond your grasp? You could have stayed a pretty decorative doll like always, enjoyed your comfortable life, gotten whatever you wanted from me. Why did you step out of line?"
For a moment, Emil's eyes sharpened.
A surge of rage boiled up.
"Are you asking because you don't know? If only you had kept your promise to me! I never would have done this!"
"What promise did I break?"
"Denying it? Theo Ragnar! That loathsome cripple bastard—you couldn't kill him, and instead tried to embrace him!"
"What...? And you're pulling this stunt over something so petty."
"Petty?! Watch your mouth! Axion was everything to me! So it's only natural for a mother to avenge the enemy who took him! That enemy! Everything connected to that enemy! I have to tear apart and burn all who protect him to soothe my heart! Emil Troyvan's heart! Axion's spirit!"
Tsk!
Ed clicked his tongue.
The madness pooling in Emil's eyes could never be reasoned away.
"Why didn't you consider that embracing the enemy was a ploy to avenge Axion?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Killing Theo Ragnar alone wouldn't suffice. Seizing everything Ragnar root and stem—that would be the ultimate revenge to appease Axion's soul... But your foolishness has ruined even that final plan."
"......!"
"You've destroyed the grand undertaking from the ground up, Palace Lord."
Emil couldn't meet Ed's gaze.
The eyes that always looked at her with affection were utterly indifferent today.
Contempt, disgust, menace, scorn—anything would have been better.
But those eyes held no emotion at all.
Pure emptiness.
He didn't even seem to see her as human.
Only then did Emil realize.
That gaze was Ed's true feelings toward her all along.
-It reminded her of someone.
The being that had dominated her heart and mind since childhood.
"Above all, with the Dragon Slayer Sword—the core of the plan—now lost... even Father will no longer see you as his daughter."
Emil's face drained to a bluish pallor.
Father...
The childhood trauma she had desperately tried to shake resurfaced.
"I'll handle the rest. But from now on, Palace Lord, you'll have to content yourself as a canary in a cage."
"What do you...!"
"Take her inside."
"Brother! Brother! Let go of my arms! Let go right now!"
Emil was dragged into the inner palace, her arms forcibly seized by the agents.
Thud!
Ed no longer glanced her way, sweeping his eyes over the surroundings.
The pale, trembling maids and butlers came into view.
"Ch-Chief! P-Please spare us! We'll do anything you command, just please...!"
Then, the head butler clung to Ed's leg.
Having heard what they shouldn't, they knew their fate.
"You should have properly attended to your Palace Lord from the start."
Ed looked down at the head butler with contempt.
"Kill them all."
Slash, slash—
Splatter!
The agents' swords moved busily.
Screams filled the palace but didn't last long.
In an instant, the palace was drenched in blood.
Second Deputy Chief Morgan approached.
"All cleared, sir."
"Fill the vacancies with vetted personnel. We can't allow a repeat of this."
"Understood! I'll assign only the reliable ones."
"And..."
Ed trailed off, pressing his lips tight.
Morgan understood and bowed his head.
"I'll handle the captured ones too."
"What a shame. Especially Sidra—that friend's the real loss. Tsk."
Ed clicked his tongue and walked away.
'Thanks to that idiot nephew and sister, the rebellion's already gone up in smoke. Any attempt now will just play into Robert's trap.'
Ed recalled the Black Dragon that had constantly tripped him up from the shadows.
Central Intelligence and Black Veil.
For ages, the two had clashed in secret over Ragnar's core and the ancient dragon's relic.
Kyle had known yet merely watched.
But lately, the delicate balance had tipped completely toward Black Veil.
No—more accurately, Central Intelligence's operations had failed one after another.
And at the center was someone Ed never suspected.
'Theo Ragnar. Everything's gone to hell since he got involved.'
Squelch—
His foot stepped in a pool of blood.
'Yes. I should have acknowledged it from the start. He wasn't a vessel Axion could handle. He was a vessel to rival me, Ed Troyvan. My failure was not judging that properly.'
The sharpness hidden beneath that young, handsome face still made him doubt if it belonged to a fifteen-year-old.
'So.'
Creak!
As Ed stepped out the door, his eyes darkened deeply.
"...From now on, I'll treat you as my arch-nemesis."
* * *
With Squad 5's return, a rumor quickly spread through Winterer.
-White Dragon Knights Squad 5 rescued hostages and came back from their mission.
Normally, it wouldn't have been much of a rumor—just routine.
But the details made it blow up.
-The biggest hero was Seomho.
Seomho.
Theo Ragnar's exploits spread far and wide.
The survival of squad members reported dead.
Hostage rescue.
An unexpected enemy ambush.
Counterattack and captures.
Theo had been deeply involved in it all, even going toe-to-toe with the infamous terrorist "Bald Hammer" Slow Gang.
How could it not cause a stir?
-Bald Hammer's a pretty famous terrorist, right? And he held his own?
-Well, rumors exaggerate, but still impressive.
-I thought he was amazing from his record-breaking, but... damn! So he's not just a training swordsman—he's practical combat level?
-Probably.
-He'll retest for sure. Fastest promotion to practical swordsman too. Whew!
In the end, all the buzz boiled down to one thing.
-Seomho's growth is abnormal.
Incredible speed for someone just fifteen.
Everyone wondered where it would end,
And so, people overlooked another fact.
The possibility of a spy in this mission.
* * *
+
[Dragon Slayer Sword: Balmoong]
· Type: Broad Sword, Divine Mystery
· Attack Power: ??? (Unknown)
· Requirements: ??? (Unknown)
· Effect: ??? (Unknown)
*This item is currently sealed, so its embedded mysteries must be unlocked to view information.
+
Theo read Balmoong's info window and lightly clicked his tongue.
'Just as I expected.'
It had [Divine Mystery].
A relic from the mythic age when gods and humans lived together.
But most were illusory, hard to grasp.
Once obtained, though, it granted true 'mysterious' power.
Balmoong, bearing the myth of slaying an evil dragon, was one such.
'Ed Troyvan once held Balmoong's mystery. The feat of Dragon Slayer... He must know how to unseal it. But how?'
Theo didn't know that part, so his curiosity burned.
He reached to stroke the blade for a hint,
Zing! Ziiing!
Drake's blades and Moonblade wailed in protest.
Whiiing—
Balmoong too.
It even repelled his approach.
A small cut appeared on his fingertip.
'As expected from a sword holding the dragon-slaying myth—it inherently clashes with me, deeply tied to dragons.'
But that only sparked his determination.
He wanted to subdue and wield it.
'It must connect to the mystery somehow...'
With no way to figure it out now, he tossed it back into his inventory.
The key was keeping it from Ed's hands anyway.
Knock knock!
"Evelyn Nereville and Squad 5's 32 members have arrived."
Theo snapped to at his adjutant's voice.
He had come with the others to report their return to Julius.
"Let them in."
Clunk!
With permission from inside, the door swung wide.
Julius rose, greeting them enthusiastically.
"Welcome back, my heroes! Haha!"
"I'm sorry. We couldn't prevent Trainer-nim and the other members' injuries."
Evelyn bowed her head slightly.
Julius waved it off.
"No, no. I'm just glad you all came back alive—not just you, but everyone. Injuries can be healed, but the departed can't return, can they? You did well."
"Thank you."
"More importantly, I hear the rookies shone this time?"
As Julius's gaze fell on them, all eyes turned to Theo and the Erika siblings.
"They were amazing. Quick and sharp...! Captain, we wouldn't have made it without them."
"Captain, why not just recruit rookies like this from now on?"
"Yeah, no more weirdos."
Selphard and the members patted the rookies' heads proudly.
Theo was great, but the Erika siblings' timely arrival let them capture the intel agents.
"All promising pillars of the unit."
With Evelyn's stamp of approval, Julius's lips curled up wide.
"You all did great. Makes my shoulders feel lighter."
'I... I'm being praised by the Demon Dragon...! Aaaah...! Is this a dream or reality...!'
Holcus was delirious from praise by his idol.
Erika grinned confidently, while Theo remained inscrutable.
"Alright, you've all earned rest. Detailed rewards will be announced later."
"Yes sir!"
"Yes sir!"
"Oh, and Squad Leader 5 and Theo Ragnar—stay behind. I have words for you."
The members clapped Theo's shoulders with "good work"s as they filed out.
Once only three remained,
Julius grinned mischievously, as usual, and asked Theo,
"You saw it, right?"
Theo nodded.
He knew exactly what.
One Branch Plum.
"Yes. Thanks to it, I could draw the fifth claw."
"I remember three at the Awakening Ceremony, and now five already... Fast. Very fast."
Julius continued, hands behind his back.
"But too fast isn't always good. Keep that in mind."
"I'll be careful not to build a sandcastle."
"That's the attitude. Now, ask away."
Theo straightened up.
This was the core of the meeting—the questions for Julius.
A strange gleam lit Julius's eyes.
"The sword of mine within One Branch Plum... What did you think of the Demon Dragon's sword you saw?"
'As expected. Finally...!'
Theo clenched his fist.
The moment he'd longed for.
Julius was about to impart his teachings.