Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Intruder
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“Gasp! Don’t come closer!”
As Arthur entered the prison cell, Yarve recoiled in terror.
Arthur grabbed a chair from the corner and sat down.
“If you don’t want your thigh pierced again, answer my questions.”
Yarve’s back ran cold at the icy words.
“I told you, if you kill me, this place will become a sea of flames.”
“A sea of flames?”
Yarve paused as if in thought, then a glint appeared in his eyes.
“Heh, so you’ve finally figured it out?”
The man, who had been cowering in fear, now approached with a sinister smile curling on his lips.
Arthur mirrored the smile and tossed out a line.
“Was that something you said relying on Marquis Valtre?”
“How did you...?”
Yarve’s eyes widened in shock.
“Why so surprised? I have informants planted everywhere, just like you. If I set my mind to it, I can uncover whatever I want.”
“Hmm...”
“You think a marquis is enough to take me on? The forces you brought—more than what a marquis could muster—were completely wiped out.”
“That’s true.”
Yarve flashed a meaningful smile as he stared intently at Arthur.
After a long moment of contemplation, he spoke gravely.
“I’m telling you this because you know I serve Marquis Valtre. He is the one who will lead the Oscar Empire in the future.”
“...!”
Arthur’s eyes flickered for a split second.
“Surprised? You should be. No one has ever rebelled against the emperor since the founding of the Oscar Empire.”
“You must know the emperor’s power.”
“No one knows it better than he does. The emperor is the one in the dark about how powerful a force he’s been building.”
“You don’t seem to fear the emperor’s Central Guard.”
“Of course not. He has a knight order rivaling the Central Guard and the empire’s one and only mage corps.”
“Mage corps?”
A spark lit in Arthur’s eyes.
“The one you should fear isn’t the emperor—it’s Marquis Valtre. You’ve touched me, so now you’re as good as dead. Heh heh heh.”
As Yarve cackled slyly, Arthur snorted derisively.
“Pathetic.”
“What?”
The smile vanished from Yarve’s face.
“The emperor, Marquis Valtre—they’re just passing foes to me. The one I must truly defeat is someone else.”
“Delusional nonsense. Who in the Oscar Empire wields more power than those two?”
As Yarve glared furiously, Arthur spat out a single word.
“You know him too.”
“...!”
“The enemy the Julius Family must absolutely defeat.”
“Tell me! Who is it?”
“You’ll find out in due time.”
Arthur turned to leave, adding,
“Jackal will definitely secure the ransom to rescue you.”
“Fat chance. He’ll head straight to Marquis Valtre and report this. Then the marquis will lead his forces here, blow off your head, and turn this place into a sea of flames.”
“You’re delusional.”
Arthur turned back, fixing Yarve with a stare.
“He will uphold his convictions.”
“I don’t give a damn about convictions! And he’ll never pull it off. Wyman and I prepared codes for situations like this. Without cracking them, forget about any ransom.”
“Heh.”
Arthur grinned and asked,
“You think the shadow who stuck by your side doesn’t know?”
“...!”
“Two weeks is plenty of time.”
Arthur stated firmly before heading to the entrance.
‘No way! This bastard...!’
Yarve’s mind reeled, his face hardening.
After a moment,
He shook his head violently and muttered,
“Wyman, don’t fall for that guy’s tricks.”
***
“Hmm...”
Arthur emerged from the underground prison and headed straight to his office to investigate Marquis Valtre.
Scanning a book on the Oscar Empire’s noble hierarchy, he noted that after Emperor Ruan Barotas came Grand Duke Natarisian, followed by two dukes and three marquises.
Marquis Valtre was the half-brother of Emperor Ruan Barotas, born out of wedlock from the previous emperor’s affair with the Tomoya family.
Piecing together the book’s facts with information from Millerph and Yarve, Arthur organized it all.
He now understood why the marquis had hidden his forces.
‘He’s planning a war.’
Arthur’s expression darkened. He needed to uncover the nature of the relationship between Yarve Count and Marquis Valtre.
If Yarve was expendable to the marquis...
The enemy of my enemy could be a temporary ally, or he could maneuver the war into a three-way battle.
But if Yarve was indispensable to the marquis, it might create yet another foe.
The emperor and Marquis Valtre.
And the Demon King.
It would lead to the worst scenario—enemies on all sides.
No one would ally with the Julius Family, leaving them isolated.
There was only one way out of that.
To grow stronger!
Arthur closed the book and sank into thought.
Simply growing stronger wouldn’t be enough to pressure them or win a war.
He needed something absolutely extraordinary.
Something that would make his enemies tremble at the mere thought of the Julius Family.
‘In that case...’
A fierce glint flashed in Arthur’s eyes.
With resolve etched on his face, he strode out of the office.
His destination was the training grounds.
Trainees in full gear were doing PT exercises.
Groans echoed from all around.
“Ugh...”
“Enough already...”
Helot, who had taken over as drill instructor in Skevin’s place, bellowed,
“No whining!”
Silence fell instantly.
Helot scanned the trainees with bulging eyes and shouted,
“Don’t forget why you’re here! You came to grow strong and protect your families and territories! Right?”
Argh-!
The trainees roared back.
“Push through with grit and overcome! The more you do, the safer your families and territories become! Got it?”
Argh-!
Helot, looking pleased, surveyed the area and spotted Arthur approaching.
He rushed over and saluted.
“Argh!”
Arthur nodded and asked,
“How’s it going?”
“They’re working hard.”
“What about the militia?”
“Training alongside formal knights is tough on their stamina. Fifty quit voluntarily today.”
“So how many are left?”
“About a thousand.”
“...?”
Arthur tilted his head.
The training grounds were half-occupied by knight apprentices.
That would leave the other half for the militia, but there weren’t even half that many—let alone a thousand.
Moreover, no formal knights were in sight anywhere.
They were still basking in the victory.
Their discipline was slipping due to zero involvement in training.
Still, he couldn’t figure out how they were rotating the militia for training.
“The rest...”
Just as Arthur was about to ask,
Argh-!
A booming shout echoed from the castle gate.
Someone barked fiercely amid the cries,
“Who’s walking? Run!”
Argh-!
Dark arrived at the training grounds, leading the militia.
They were drenched in sweat, breathing raggedly.
Some collapsed pale-faced. Devil Squad members swiftly approached and scolded them fiercely.
“Get up! Who’ll protect your families if you drop here?”
They forcibly hauled the man to his feet.
Watching the scene, Arthur asked Helot,
“Mountain run?”
“Yes. With limited space, we split the militia in half—alternating training grounds drills and mountain runs every other day.”
“So they did mountain runs all day?”
Helot replied proudly.
“Yes. Patrolling the perimeter doubles as reconnaissance and vigilance. It’s effective.”
“Geez...”
Arthur shook his head.
In a way, they were passing on the exact suffering they’d endured to the trainees.
Boot camp tough love was the same on Earth or here.
Which meant the surviving thousand were the toughest of the tough.
He’d planned to exclude them from the knight order reorganization, but changed his mind.
From his experience, most who survived the battlefield to the end were such tough nuts.
Meanwhile, he’d whip the complacent knights into shape.
A chilling smile crept onto Arthur’s lips.
‘Time to flip everything upside down.’
***
The training grounds, alive with shouts during the day, now lay shrouded in silence.
Someone appeared on the roof of the Defen Knight Order barracks where the knights slept.
Thud.
A cat lounging belly-up on the roof startled and fled below.
In its place appeared a man in black garb and a mask.
It was Arthur.
He had waited until dawn, changed into prepared clothes, and come here.
Currently, five combat units were gathered: the four family knight orders and the Horcamun tribe.
He had the Devil Squad under his command, but they alone weren’t enough for missions.
Thus, he planned to select and bolster with exceptional talents.
Like with the Devil Squad selection, he could use temperament tests, but since they were already skilled, he opted for his own method.
‘Let’s get started?’
With a mischievous grin, Arthur closed all the windows on the ceiling.
He then descended lightly, wedging a steel pipe to jam the back door shut.
Standing at the front entrance, he lit a fire in a tin can.
As smoke billowed from the can, he quickly shoved it inside the barracks and dashed to the opposite building’s roof.
Perched there, he peered down at the barracks with eager anticipation.
“Now, which one will catch my eye?”
Moments later.
“Cough! Cough!”
“What’s this smoke!”
“Fire!”
Crash!
Someone kicked the door open and burst out.
“Cough! Cough! Aaaah!”
The man collapsed to the ground, tears and snot streaming as he writhed in agony.
More men poured out in a panic.
Their reactions were all identical.
Like poisoning victims, they dropped to the ground, weeping and retching, some vomiting and rolling in torment.
The tin can Arthur had tossed inside contained namara flower leaves.
He’d asked Millerph to procure something like CS gas from chemical warfare drills—something to irritate eyes and induce nausea.
He’d doubted it would match CS gas, but the effect exceeded expectations.
Watching their suffering, Arthur recalled his own chemical training days.
‘They’re hurting bad enough to cry.’
He smirked, scanning around.
No one had caught his eye yet.
More men fled the barracks in horror.
“Aaaah!”
“Aaaaaah!”
“What’s going on?”
Knights on inner castle patrol rushed over to assess.
It seemed everyone inside had evacuated, but none impressed Arthur.
‘No one?’
Disappointment crossed his face.
Boom!
Someone shattered the barracks door and emerged.
Unlike the frantic escapees, he calmly grabbed his weapon and scanned sharply.
Then, incredibly, he re-entered the barracks?
‘What’s with that guy?’
Interest sparked in Arthur’s eyes.
About ten seconds later,
He burst out through the thick smoke.
Clutching a man under each arm—on his side and shoulder.
He laid his comrades down and dove back in.
After rescuing six in total, he bellowed,
“Who the hell did this?! Is this some kind of training?!”
“...!”
Everyone startled, eyes turning to him.
‘Whatever else, his instincts are spot on.’
Arthur memorized his face and moved to the next location.
His destination: the Lannister Knight Order barracks.
Unlike the Defen barracks, giant wolves encircled this one.
‘Not easy to approach.’
Sure enough,
Ron sensed the presence, sprang up, and growled.
Shasha and the others rose one by one, baring fangs at Arthur’s position.
The knights were about to wake.
‘Can’t let you four ruin my plan.’
Arthur drew on his mana.
As golden aura bloomed, the aggressive wolves bowed their heads in unison.
They’d recognized him.
Arthur grinned, approached Ron, and petted his head.
Ron rubbed against his leg, acting cute.
“Mind stepping aside for a bit?”
Whispering, Ron nodded knowingly and led the pack far from the barracks.
Arthur cracked his knuckles, face alight with expectation.
‘Wonder who’ll show up this time?’