The Tyrant's Madness
The tyrant had been given a clear warning, yet the continent’s greatest delusional maniac easily shattered my common sense.
“C-coward!”
King Garon V trembled violently with bloodshot eyes before finally pointing a shaking finger at me and screaming.
“That wasn’t your power just now! The Goddess must have secretly lent you her strength from behind!”
“What?”
“It’s an utterly disgusting foul! How could my great knight fall to such an absurd manipulation!”
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
He was claiming a spiritual victory by dragging the Goddess into it.
‘This guy is actually insane.’
It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t just stand there dumbfounded.
If he kept throwing this tantrum and, in a fit of rage, ordered the hundreds of royal guards and knights surrounding us to attack all at once, things would get messy.
If I were alone, I could turn the entire royal castle into a sea of blood and stroll out without a care. But Yvelin was beside me.
I immediately moved to her side. I wrapped one arm tightly around her waist so I could scoop her up and leap away the instant the situation turned sour.
But then—
“However!”
Garon V suddenly cleared his throat, brushed off his crumpled collar, and straightened his posture. The humiliation that had twisted his face vanished without a trace, replaced by his usual arrogant expression.
“I, the great Garon V, am on a different level! I am the most generous and magnificent ruler in history—one who always keeps the promises he makes!”
Garon spread both arms wide like a merciful god and declared,
“Even though you cowardly borrowed the Goddess’s power to win, I shall specially grant you mercy! I will delay my army’s advance for exactly one month!”
The moment his shameless sophistry echoed through the hall, the nobles broke into a cold sweat and frantically began playing along.
“Ooh! Such immense mercy from His Majesty!”
“Long live the great Garon!”
“A truly great monarch who honors his word!”
The nobles erupted in fervent applause. They were cheering for the king’s ridiculous nonsense.
Unable to stomach the absurd sight any longer, I quickly led Yvelin—who was still nestled in my arms and looking utterly bewildered—out of the banquet hall.
Inside the carriage that sped away from the royal castle.
A strange silence lingered inside the carriage for a while. Amid the rattling vibrations, Yvelin, seated across from me, cautiously opened her mouth.
“Sir Sian. Do you… perhaps have an interest in me?”
The sudden straight ball caught me off guard; I nearly choked.
I silently agreed with Lia’s impressed murmur. When I simply stared at her, Yvelin blushed faintly and continued.
“Back at the banquet… you could have pressured Garon V even more. But it seemed like you wrapped things up and rushed out because of me.”
She wasn’t wrong. There was no need to drag this out.
“Earlier in the hall… when I suddenly touched you, did it upset you? I needed a small provocation to create an opening so I could easily overpower that knight.”
“Ah…”
At my explanation, Yvelin’s eyes trembled slightly. A fleeting look of bitterness and disappointment crossed her face.
“I see. Of course… there’s no way a hero like you would want someone like me—a married woman… no, a widow.”
At her self-mocking tone, I silently reached out and firmly grasped her hand.
“Don’t say things like ‘married woman’ or ‘widow.’”
At my resolute voice, Yvelin lifted her head.
“Those shackles will break on their own once you leave this rotten kingdom.”
It was the best comfort I could offer. Feeling the warmth of my hand, her cheeks flushed a deeper shade than before.
“Yes… I’m sorry for bringing up something strange.”
Just as Yvelin shyly lowered her head—
Hiiing—!
The carriage came to an abrupt halt with a loud screech.
Looking out the window, I saw heavily armed soldiers had set up barricades in front of the massive, firmly shut castle gate and were surrounding the carriage in layers.
“What the hell is this?”
“Are you the hero Sian?”
A young gate officer drew his sword and blocked the front of the carriage.
“Is it true you committed a disrespectful act toward His Majesty Garon?”
It seemed word of how I had humiliated Garon V at the banquet had already spread.
“Didn’t you hear? Garon V promised not to wage war for a month. I’ll say it once—open the way.”
Despite my warning, the officer’s face flushed with rage as he shouted back.
“His Majesty was simply startled by the sudden situation and showed mercy! A true subject should be able to discern His Majesty’s hidden true intentions and his hidden fury! Get out of the carriage and wait at once!”
Fanatical loyalty that twisted the king’s intentions however he pleased.
‘A subordinate perfectly suited to that bastard.’
This wasn’t the kind of person you could reason with. I’d grown tired of wasting even a single second, so I opened the carriage door and stepped out.
Srrrng.
I drew my sword and fixed my gaze on the massive, tightly shut gate. Then I condensed my secret technique into the blade’s tip—just a tiny amount—and released it.
KWAAAAANG—!!
A deafening roar tore at our eardrums. The enormous gate was ripped apart like a sheet of paper and scattered into the air.
“Hiiik?!”
Shards rained down as a thick cloud of dust rose.
“Move. Unless you want to die.”
The soldiers’ legs gave out at the overwhelming sight, and they collapsed where they stood. But the officer, his brain apparently ruled by ambition rather than fear, lost all reason and shrieked at the top of his lungs.
“S-seize that man! Stop the carriage no matter what!!”
He was driving innocent soldiers to their deaths in his frenzy.
I had tried to leave quietly, but his persistent annoyance finally exhausted my patience.
“I gave you a chance, yet you still send your men to die.”
My sword sliced through the air.
Slice.
The officer’s head, still shouting, tumbled cleanly into the air.
“Hiiik…!”
“C-Commander!”
The soldiers’ faces turned deathly pale. Weapons still in hand, they stumbled backward, clearing a path.
I sheathed my sword—still completely clean of blood—and casually climbed back into the carriage.
The carriage leisurely crossed through the shattered remains of the gate and the soldiers frozen in terror, passing through the checkpoint.
After safely breaking through the first gate, the carriage soon reached the entrance of the massive great bridge that connected to the capital’s outskirts. But the situation was bad.
“This is a bit troublesome.”
The bridge was utter chaos. It wasn’t just armed soldiers and officers. The citizens, completely brainwashed by Garon V’s shallow propaganda speech, had filled the bridge until it was pitch black.
Ordinary civilians who weren’t even properly armed. Yet their eyes gleamed with madness.
“Long live the Garon Empire!”
“Stop the carriage!”
‘These lunatics.’
If they had been armed soldiers, I would have simply bulldozed through. But now even innocent civilians were being used as meat shields. Forcing our way through with the carriage was no longer an option.
“Looks like traveling by carriage won’t work anymore.”
Having grasped the situation from my words, Yvelin bit her lip and spoke urgently.
“Please don’t worry about me and go on ahead.”
“I can’t do that, Yvelin.”
“But…”
“Have you ever seen a hero abandon good citizens? Excuse me.”
I hoisted Yvelin onto my back and leaped toward the dense forest on the opposite side.
The moment I thought we had shaken them off by entering the woods—
A sharp whistling sound reached my ears.
Mercenaries who had read our escape route in advance burst out from the underbrush. They were aiming for Yvelin on my back and hurled thick ropes from every direction.
‘Annoying.’
I quickly twisted my body to dodge the flying nooses, then charged straight into their midst.
Thud! Urk!
I struck their jaws and solar plexuses with perfect accuracy. With short death cries, the mercenaries crumpled one after another.
But that brief delay allowed the pursuit party to close in. I leaped onto a massive nearby tree to hide.
On a branch thick with leaves, Yvelin and I held our breath and peered down below. The mercenaries, soldiers, and citizens who had followed us all the way to the base of the tree were wandering around, looking this way and that.
This wouldn’t do. Just as I was about to act as bait to draw them away—
Someone suddenly spoke from above my head.
“Still as popular as ever, I see.”
Before I could even flinch in surprise, I sensed the mysterious figure gathering mana.
I hurriedly tried to raise my own mana to stop it, but nothing happened. Instead—
A faint purple mist began to creep across the ground beneath the tree.
“Huh?”
“There they are! They’re running that way!”
One of the pursuers below pointed in the completely opposite direction from where we were and shouted.
The entranced mob rushed off in that direction all at once.
Was that illusion magic?
The noisy footsteps of the pursuit party gradually faded into the distance. Only then did the mysterious figure toss back the hood of their robe. Purple eyes that gleamed even in the darkness.
It was Selene, the mage who had once been a member of the hero’s party.
“It’s been a while, hero.”
“Selene. How did you…?”
“Well, let’s talk about the details later.”
Selene gripped her staff and began chanting a long, complex spell. Soon a massive magic circle unfolded beneath our feet, radiating light.
The light flashed, and we crossed through space, arriving at a place I had never seen before.
“This is…”
Yvelin, still on my back, let out a small gasp of wonder.
The sight before us was a truly fantastical landscape straight out of a fairy tale.
Giant ancient trees towered overhead. Their thick roots intertwined to form mysterious treehouses of all shapes. A faint purple mist drifted through the air, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.
“So this is the Witch’s Forest.”
“Yeah, first time for you too, right?”
A place I had never visited even during my days as the hero.
As I looked around in admiration, I felt a subtle sense of unease.
Despite its size, the village felt far too empty of presence.
It seemed the scars from the massive massacre inflicted by the Demon King’s army in the past had yet to fully heal.
“Where are the other witches?”
“As you can see, they’re all busy. Even taking that into account, most of the houses are still empty.”
“Sir Sian…”
I set Yvelin down from my back and bowed my head to Selene.
“Thank you, Selene. Thanks to you, I avoided a lot of hassle. We’ll catch our breath for a moment and then leave the forest right away.”
“Unfortunately, you can’t leave.”
“What?”
“Did you forget where you are? This is our witches’ sanctuary. A perfectly concealed space. The powerful barrier of the forest that completely blocks outside intrusion is still active.”
“Then you can just open the barrier for a moment, or send us back outside with the teleport spell you used earlier.”
“Even if I open the barrier, there’s no convenient exit where you can simply walk out on your own two feet. And teleport?”
Selene tapped her staff lightly.
“Do you think that’s such an easy spell? Moving through space over a long distance while carrying two people is quite taxing.”
“Really? How long until you can use it again?”
“Ten days.”
“Ten days?”
“That’s right. Until then, you two will have to stay quietly in this forest.”
Marina Nuna, Iris, and the church officials who were waiting for the results.
It wasn’t a long time, but in a situation where events were moving so urgently, it was precious time indeed.