How to Live as a Wandering Knight

“What. . .?”

Caenerna was surprised that Johan had started casting a spell without consulting her, but she soon realized what was happening. Johan’s arm, which had been touched by dragon’s blood, was devouring mystery like a beast.

“It’s okay, don’t worry.”

Caenerna stopped herself from grabbing Johan’s arm in a panic. She had almost made a mistake that even a novice apprentice would not make.

“Any pain? Is it moving on its own, or is any other mystery trying to enter your body?”

“No, none of those things are happening, so calm down.”

Johan was surprised too, but he was able to calm down because Caenerna was more surprised. He had been confused by the situation at first, but on second thought, it wasn’t all that surprising.

“Isn’t this a good thing?”

“. . .Don’t forget that this is not my arm, but the count’s arm.”

Of course, in the current situation, it was ultimately a good thing. The annoying spells were ruined by the dragon’s blood.

But shouldn’t he worry about what happened to his arm first?

“There’s nothing wrong with my body, so don’t worry. . . .By the way, what is master doing over there?”

“Is it over?”

Kaegal was listening to their conversation from a distance. He seemed to want to keep as much distance as possible from the wizards’ spells.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Outside, assassins were breaking through the guards, while Boutellner and other wizards were concentrating on their magic.

“How’s it going?”

“. . .It doesn’t seem to be working.”

“Damn you, you worthless b*stard. Are you even qualified to be a wizard?”

“Shut your mouth! If you’re so talented, why don’t you try to wake him up right now?!”

After the emperor fell, these wizards were the ones who were in the most trouble.

They were wizards who did not receive a proper position as a court wizard and were allowed to enter the palace because of the emperor’s personal favor.

They were trusted by the emperor with their evil and suspicious magic, but they had accumulated a lot of resentment from the nobles below them.

As such, the emperor’s children also had no intention of showing them mercy. Biorarn-gong had already said it firmly, hadn’t he?

If the emperor could not wake up, they would go together.

The feudal lords had no complaints either. Besides their resentment, the execution of the evil wizards was quite plausible as a pretext to put the blame for the emperor’s tyranny on them.

Of course, the wizards were very unhappy.

“What do you think about trying to figure out a way to escape?”

“Did you not see what happened to the guy who tried to escape last time? Don’t even dream of it.”

Being a wizard doesn’t mean you can do anything. You’re just like a regular person except for the magic you can use.

It was almost impossible to get out of the camp without breaking through the tight surveillance of the knights and mercenaries.

“It seems like the magic is no longer effective. . .”

The emperor only wanted one thing from the wizards.

Youth.

To bring him that youth, the wizards had to scrape together all the heretical wisdom they had.

From potions made from moonwort that received the most moonlight to tonics using troll blood, all sorts of means were used, but the most effective was still the magic using blood.

It was a magic brought by a wizard who believed in Nahra, the evil god of blood, one of the forgotten ancient gods, and it was the most effective. It did require a lot of blood from the victims, but that was something they could accept. . .

The problem was that the emperor who had fallen down would not wake up no matter what they did.

“Let’s increase the number of sacrifices.”

“I’ve told you how many times that’s not possible! If we increase the number of sacrifices here, it could lead to madness!”

“The emperor was originally half-mad, wasn’t he?”

This logic would have impressed Johan if he had heard it. But Boutellner was serious.

“We don’t have the luxury of choosing methods right now. Don’t you know that if we don’t show a way within a few days, we’ll all be hanged on the gallows! Even if he shows signs of madness, we have to raise him if we can!”

“Uh, ugh…”

The wizard seemed to be overwhelmed by Boutellner’s momentum. In the end, he nodded.

“Now, if you’re ready, let’s start. Bring the blood. We need to feed him…”

When the door to the tent opened, the wizards were annoyed.

“How many times have I told you not to disturb us! If you come in again, I swear to the name of magic that I will…?”

The wizards who spoke paused. It was not the servants who came in, but unfamiliar faces.

“We found the right place.”

“That’s him. He looks familiar, so he must be the one who tried to give me the job.”

“????”

The wizards seemed to be still trying to understand the situation. One of the wizards, who was the most thoughtless, opened his mouth wide and tried to shout.

“Shhh…”

A flash of sword light, and the wizard collapsed to the side. The fallen wizard buried his head in a jar of blood collected from the victims. Kaegal said, wiping the blood off his sword.

“Let the blood-thirsty drown in their own blood. Those who wish to die quickly, speak up.”

The wizards were shocked.

“A-Assassin…? What are you doing here? Are you crazy? What about the consequences? How dare you…”

Kaegal spat and swung his sword again. Another wizard’s body fell to the ground.

“How arrogant and presumptuous. Death comes to all equally, whether serf or emperor. The emperor threatened and humiliated me, so I must repay him in kind.”

Boutellner struggled to comprehend the situation.

So, right now… this assassin snuck into the emperor’s tent to avenge a mere threat?

It was hard to believe.

‘𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦.’

He realized that the emperor was the one who had been wronged, not him. If he played his cards right, he might be able to escape this situation.

“So, the one lying there is the emperor, right?”

“…”

When one of the wizards nodded, Kaegal was certain. Finally, the emperor’s head was within his grasp.

“If anyone among you is willing to die for the emperor, step forward.”

Silence.

One of the wizards blushed slightly. Johan thought that he seemed to have some conscience.

“A little embarrassed, huh?”

“It’s okay. It’s strange to put your life on the line for someone else, not strange not to do so. Then. . .”

Puck!

“???”

Kaegal was surprised. A wizard standing in front of him was stabbed with a sword, even though he didn’t swing it. The sword that stabbed him from behind came out forward.

“Your Majesty! Why. . .!”

“Were you awake?”

Johan couldn’t help but be surprised. The emperor, who had been so badly injured, was waiting for a trap.

“■■■■. . .”

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You must come to your senses. . . Cough!”

A wizard next to him exclaimed in a hurry, but was immediately grabbed by the neck. The emperor broke the wizard’s neck by exerting force with his hand.

Speaking an unknown language, the emperor got up from the bed. His eyes, which were red with anger, reminded him of a monster rather than a human.

“. . .What kind of bullsh*t did you do?”

Johan spoke for the first time since he came here. The wizard was too surprised to answer.

“I guess there aren’t enough holes for you to talk?”

Kaegal drew a dagger and made a hole in the wizard’s body. The wizard screamed and cried out.

“To wake him up, I used black magic!”

“What kind of magic?”

Caenerna asked urgently. The wizard trembled and explained. Caenerna was flustered to hear that he had really used such black magic, as she had suspected.

“What happened?”

“It seems like the black magic went berserk. . .”

Kaegal spat and said.

“Let’s see if he can survive with black magic even after his head is cut off. You take the right side. I’ll take the left.”

The two assassins drew their swords, but the emperor ignored them. The emperor was trying to kill the wizards with a single-minded determination.

‘𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯?’

“Your Majesty, please come to your senses. . . Ugh!”

The first to attack was Kaegal. When the emperor killed one wizard, he took advantage of the gap and rushed in like lightning. The snake-like sword stroke aimed for the emperor’s vitals.

‘𝘐 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮!’

The emperor’s neck was cut off halfway. It was a serious injury that no human could survive. However, the emperor simply grabbed his head and reattached his neck. Kaegal was shocked to see that not a drop of blood flowed down.

“What a monster. . .!”

Before the Emperor could retaliate against Kaegal, Johan stepped in. He charged forward and plunged Seal Retriever into the Emperor’s chest. But the Emperor kept moving.

‘𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳?’

This famous sword, forged in the ancient Empire, is known for its sharpness, which can even tear through ordinary magic. But the Emperor moved calmly, as if he had been stabbed with a pin.

𝐊𝐰𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐮𝐤━

The Emperor grabbed Johan’s arms on both sides. His monstrous strength, which had just broken a wizard’s neck with one hand, shone again. The Emperor’s body turned red and seemed to be pushing Johan away.

‘𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰!’

Kaegal quickly raised his sword and tried to cut the Emperor’s shoulder.

But as Johan also began to push back with strength, the Emperor began to lose ground.

‘𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.’

Kaegal suddenly remembered how powerful Johan was. It was a new realization that he was so strong that he was bragging about his strength against such a monster-like creature.

“Burn it!”

As soon as Johan’s words fell, Caenerna immediately summoned the spirit of fire. The flames that rushed in like a wolf bit Emperor’s ankle and began to fill it with fire from the inside.

Even the emperor, who had resisted the blade, seemed to find it difficult to withstand the flames that were trying to engulf his body. He tried to put out the fire with a fierce resistance.

Johan continued to apply force, undeterred. He heard the sound of bones breaking inside the emperor’s forearm. He was determined not to let go, no matter how much the emperor struggled.

As the fire burned up to his chest, black blood began to flow from the emperor’s throat. With it, his strength gradually weakened. Johan realized that the magic that protected the emperor’s body was disappearing.

“Y-You. . . you are. . .”

“Thank you for coming to your senses.”

Johan said coldly. He felt no guilt in killing the emperor, who had lost his reason. Rather, he was disappointed.

If he didn’t die knowing who he was going to die by, he would never have the chance to do so again.

The emperor, even in the midst of pain that he felt all over his body and the fading consciousness, clearly recognized his situation.

All the wizards were lying dead, and the young count had drawn his sword and was pointing it at his neck.

If there was an end, this was it.

The emperor did not ask about the other feudal lords or his subordinates.

“Remember this, you brat. You too. . .”

𝐏𝐮𝐜𝐤!

Kaegal thrust a dagger under the emperor’s chin, skewering his tongue to the roof of his mouth. Kaegal said, as if wondering what to do.

“Are you going to listen to such nonsensical words? Don’t let him spew curses and just cut him down!”

“You are right.”

Upon reflection, there was no reason to give the emperor a chance to speak. Johan raised his sword. The emperor glared at Johan, eyes wide open.

The sword flashed, and the emperor’s head flew forward.

It was a too miserable end for a tyrant who had plunged the whole Empire into war and stained it with blood.

“. . . . . .”

While Johan was lost in contemplation, Kaegal grabbed whatever was at hand. Johan asked, puzzled.

“What are you looking for?”

“What am I looking for? I’m just grabbing what I can. What kind of assassinations have you been doing?”

“. . .But still, there is some dignity in being a count. . .”

Caenerna tried to intervene, but Johan nodded and joined in right away.

“Well, you do make a point.”

“. . . . . .”

Caenerna was incredulous.

She had waited, thinking they had a deep grudge, but they forgot about him as quickly as if they had just cut down some rogue they met on the road.

‘𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺…’

“Normally, I’d need to manipulate the scene a bit. To throw the others into confusion upon seeing it. But it seems there’s no need for that now.”

The blood-soaked tent looked as if a vile ritual had been interrupted, everyone stabbing and slashing at each other. To any onlooker, it would appear as if the wizards and the emperor had slaughtered each other.

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