The Debt Must Be Paid
“The debt must be paid in full.”
“What is the meaning of this!! Delun!! Speak!!”
The grand office inside the Carnival family’s mansion—a residence far larger than the Legrian estate. A bearded man seated upon an ornate chair roared at Delun, who stood before him.
“Ah, Father…… Th-that is……”
The man was Decep Carnival, head of the Carnival family. Under his terrifying glare, Delun could not easily open his mouth. The struck area throbbed violently. Normally, a potion would have healed such wounds in an instant, yet this injury refused to mend.
“Tsk, you worthless fool. What has my only son been doing out there…… Hansen! Robert! You two explain!!”
Beside Delun, Hansen and Robert also knelt in the same prostrated posture. Their conditions were far from normal. The armor they had worn was crumpled like scrap metal, and their faces were covered in bruises. Even without removing the armor, it was clear their bodies beneath were in no better shape.
And Hansen—his once-proud robe had been burned so thoroughly that only faint traces remained, and chunks of his cherished beard had been ripped out. Anyone could see he had been used as a punching bag.
“We failed to protect the young master…… I have no excuse.”
“Enough. It seems that useless son of mine cannot explain properly, so you two speak. What happened there!”
“Well……” Hansen, beside him, spoke first. “There was…… a monster.”
“A monster? You mean a monster? That is only natural! That territory borders Monster Land, so of course there would be……”
“N-no, that is not it! That monster…… was human! No—he was not human!”
Hansen’s voice carried a deep darkness. Despair and terror. His eyes, filled with fear, darted anxiously around as though searching for something—praying it would not appear. Restlessness lingered in that gaze.
‘Hah, to think Hansen would be so frightened. That arrogant man.’
Hansen had always been arrogant, overflowing with confidence that magic was the truth of the world and that he would become a great mage. No matter the opponent, he possessed absolute faith in his abilities. Yet that confidence had now been shattered—by someone else’s hand.
The dependable figure was gone. All that remained was a defeated man who could never rise again.
“What in the world happened?”
“……I will explain.” Robert spoke in Hansen’s stead, describing exactly what had occurred in the Legrian territory—and why Delun had ended up in such a state.
“……So you are saying Hansen was defeated by magic from a boy with red hair and red eyes?”
“……Yes.”
“And Robert, you were defeated by that man who returned after ten years?”
“I have no excuse.”
Decep fell silent.
‘Albert Legrian.’
He remembered. The eldest son of the Legrian family who had suddenly vanished ten years ago—the very person who had given them an opportunity to shake the once-solid Legrian house. They had searched everywhere for him since.
‘That man has returned? And if he was strong enough to defeat Robert……’
Robert was no weak knight. His prowess was well-known even among fellow knights. If someone could best him……
‘He must have done something somewhere over the past ten years.’
The loyal Robert would never speak nonsense. That meant the man who disappeared ten years ago had returned stronger. And it seemed he had yet to properly assess the situation. Had he understood, he would never have committed such atrocities.
“A brat who cannot escape his past glory.”
It did not matter. Decep had never liked the Legrian family to begin with. Even after their demotion from count to baron, he had wanted to erase them entirely. He had only tolerated them because Delun had asked, but that too had failed. Now he would handle it his way.
‘The brat has given me a perfect excuse to move. All that remains is to lead an army and wipe out that tiresome territory.’
“I have something to report.”
“What is it?”
“That man said this.”
Merely recalling Albert made the struck areas throb. Enduring the pain, Robert spoke.
“He said he would come find us soon.”
“What? He said he would come here?”
“Yes…… And that he would return everything he had received during that time, so we should prepare ourselves.”
“Hah, the man who disappeared for ten years has obtained some insignificant power and grown arrogant, it seems.”
“You must prepare.” Robert spoke gravely. “He is strong! If we do not prepare for his attack immediately……”
“Ha, Robert, you say amusing things. Prepare? Prepare for what? Do not tell me you are saying this because of that man. I am disappointed.”
“Even if you are disappointed, it does not matter! Lord Decep! Please do not dismiss my words—lend me your ear, even for a moment! He is a monster! An unstoppable monster!!”
Robert poured out his words to uphold his loyalty and duty, but Decep remained indifferent.
“Robert, I understand what you are saying and what you are worried about. But it is needless concern. No matter how strong he is, what can one man do alone?”
“That is!”
“Enough! I do not wish to hear it. Even if that man comes, what of it? Do you know how many knights and mages our family possesses? No matter how strong an individual is, they cannot defeat the power of an army.”
“He…… truly is strong.”
Robert spoke desperately. He had experienced the man’s power firsthand—the overwhelming force that left him unable to move even a finger. Such monsters occasionally appeared on the battlefield. One against a hundred—no, one against a thousand. Absolute monsters!
‘He had the same presence as that woman.’
A woman he had encountered on the battlefield. Though female, she swept through enemy forces with overwhelming martial prowess. The Valkyrie of the battlefield. Known as a Master, she possessed the power to face an army alone—an invincible existence. A monster. No other word could describe her.
He felt the same thing from Albert.
“Silence! You should know how strong our army is! And behind me stands an existence far stronger than that! It is only one man! Even if that man comes……”
“My lord!”
At that moment, a knight burst through the door. The fact that a trained knight was gasping for breath meant the matter was urgent. He barely managed to wipe the sweat from his brow.
“What is the meaning of this! How dare you enter without permission……”
“P-please forgive my rudeness! B-but the matter is that urgent……”
“Tsk, what is it?”
“Outside, a man has come and…… is causing a disturbance!”
“A disturbance? Who is it?”
“H-he gave his name.”
“His name? What did he say?”
At Decep’s question, the knight quickly answered.
“He said his name is Albert Legrian!!”
He had come after all. It was expected. But……
‘He is much faster than I thought!?’
Though he was a person of this world, he was also a Korean who had lived in South Korea for 110 years in the other world. His actions were swift, and his personality was impatient.
Why are you going in through the front?
You said you were going to smash their heads in, right?
System asked, puzzled. With Albert’s abilities, he could have broken through the encirclement and targeted Decep directly without needing to do this. But Albert did not. Instead, he even waited so they could report inside.
Why are you doing this?
“To show them.”
Show them what?
“What do you think? How much those bastards have tormented my sister all this time.”
He had heard everything from the nanny—what the Carnival family had done to his own family, and what atrocities Delun had committed. In the other world, he would have lost his temper and rampaged. There, the government and Hunter Association would have cleaned up after him no matter what he did. He could have done as he pleased without consequence.
But this place was different.
‘There is no one to cover for me here.’
Here, he had to handle everything himself. Even in a world where power was authority, without any backing, acting on impulse would likely brand him an enemy of the continent.
So you are saying cleanup is a hassle?
“That too. And I need to show them properly. What happens when someone touches the Legrian…… our family.”
By the way, there really are a lot of them.
Inside the massive mansion, knights poured out like ants. Knights with swords advanced in front, while archers and mages were positioned behind.
256 knights, 111 mages, 130 archers, 503 soldiers.
Analysis shows the knights’ average rank is C-Rank, mages are E-Rank, archers are also E-Rank, and soldiers are generally between F-Rank and E-Rank.
Their levels are low, but their numbers are high.
“They are swarming.”
It seemed enough had gathered. His senses told him there were still quite a few strong individuals remaining inside the mansion, but they appeared to be observing the situation.
“Hmm, it seems my message did not get through properly.”
Rather than that, they probably just do not believe it.
“That could be. Then it cannot be helped?”
There was no choice but to drag them out himself. Albert intended to show them. That the Legrian family was still standing strong, and that it would grow so massive that no one would dare touch it again. And what would happen if anyone dared to touch his family.
Especially……
“If they make my sister cry, they should know that blood will flow from their own eyes.”
The overprotective Albert moved, and the knights moved in response.
“Strike the enemy!”
“It is only one man!!”
“We do not know who you are, but how dare you come here! Arrogant bastard!!”
The knights holding sharp swords thought Albert, who had come here alone, was foolish.
‘Our numbers are this great.’
‘What can one man possibly do?’
‘Foolish man.’
‘He seems quite strong, having taken down the gatekeeping knights……’
‘But he is still alone.’
No one could defeat an army alone. No matter how strong, one could not do everything alone. Just as two hands could not block attacks coming from all directions, the side with greater numbers would win.
Human wave tactics. The most basic tactic and common sense.
“Kill him!”
One knight shouted boldly and charged forward.
‘I will capture this intruder! Then a promotion is guaranteed!!!’
Revealing his desire for merit and promotion, even the knights who started late had similar thoughts.
At that moment, the leading knight swung his sword swiftly at Albert. A desperate swing for merit. Albert had no intention of taking such an attack.
Before the attack could even reach him—
“Kuh!”
The knight screamed as a brutal force grabbed his face. At the same time—
BOOM!!!!
With a thunderous sound, the knight’s head was driven into the ground. To an observer, it might have looked as though the ground were soft mud, but it was solid. It was not the kind of surface where a person’s head could be buried like that.
The knight’s body went limp. He was dead. In a single blow.
“This is annoying, so let us finish this at once.”
Albert retrieved a sword from his subspace. This time, it was not the Dragon Slayer, but an ordinary longsword. Swords also had to match the opponent’s level to be drawn. Using even this ordinary longsword on such rabble felt wasteful.
“Hup.”
Albert assumed a drawing stance. However, there was something unusual about it. Normally, iaijutsu used the acceleration from drawing the sword from its scabbard to strike the opponent—a technique that required a scabbard. Yet Albert had no scabbard. Instead, he quietly wrapped his hand around the blade.
At a glance, it looked as though his fingers might be severed, but Albert drew the sword without concern.
Using Iaijutsu skill.
A flash of light gleamed, and the sword was drawn at a speed invisible even to the eye. By the time they registered it, Albert had already swung his sword.
“What……”
“What is he doing swinging at empty air?”
The knights chuckled at the sight of him suddenly swinging his sword. Iaijutsu performed from a distance only cut through the air—it could not reach the enemy. It was a pointless act.
However, after swinging, Albert sheathed the sword again and began walking slowly forward.
“You bastard! What are you……”
“Huh……? Why is my body……”
“I cannot move.”
The knights tried to move to attack Albert, but strangely, their bodies would not respond. No—their strength was draining away. Like a jar full of water with a hole punched in it, their power was escaping at an incredible speed, making it difficult even to stand.
In that instant, their vision tilted strangely before falling. Were they collapsing? No. That was not it.
‘Was I…… cut?’
‘Could it be…… that iaijutsu……?’
What filled their vision were the figures of people whose waists had been severed, just like them. With that single iaijutsu, everyone had died. They were already dead—they had simply realized it too late because it happened so fast.
‘Impossible……’
That horrified thought lingered in their mouths.
At that moment, they realized. Human wave tactics were certainly suitable for killing strong enemies…… but the comrades who charged ahead to kill that strong enemy would die. And……
‘To kill that man…… we do not have enough numbers……’
A thousand gathered could not even tie down Albert’s feet. That monstrous bastard. Those were the knight’s final words that never left his mouth.
“Now, then.”
Leaving countless deaths behind, Albert looked at the massive mansion. A smile naturally formed at the intense gazes he felt. He could also sense the busy movements.
It seems they are preparing quite a lot.
Finally.
“Indeed. But it does not matter.”
There was only one thing he had decided when coming here.
“No matter what they prepare, I will smash it all to pieces.”
He would make them pay the price for touching his family and his sister. Thoroughly.