The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 45 – Indeterminate Polyhedron (4)

The duel turned out to be more difficult than anticipated, not because Kelmori was skilled, but rather because it was hard for Juan to pretend to avoid his slow sword by a narrow margin. Although Kelmori’s sword was made for decorative purposes, it could still kill someone if stabbed. On the other hand, Juan’s sword was a false sword made for fashion. Of course, such factors had no influence on the duel, as Juan didn’t even raise his sword at all.

“Oh! That was so close!”

“Oh my, I can’t watch this anymore.”

Every time Kelmori’s sword grazed Juan, the crowd burst out with exclamations and screams. In their eyes, Juan looked busy dodging Kelmori’s attacks. At the same time, Kelmori was furious; he wanted to catch Juan and shed his blood, yet all Juan did was run away like a little rat. There had been a few moments where he almost got Juan, but the boy eventually managed to avoid all the attacks.

“Bastard, did you only learn to run from fights!?” Kelmori screamed.

At that moment, Juan stopped and lowered his waist to charge at Kelmori. Kelmori was rushing forward, so he unexpectedly fell over due to Juan’s sudden movement.

Laughter broke out from the crowd at the ridiculous view of Kelmori rolling over the ground. Their interpretation of the view was that Juan had bent over in fear and Kelmori tripped over him and fell.

Kelmori’s face turned pale due to this humiliation. As he noticed his fiancée laughing at him while covering her mouth with her hands, he gritted his teeth in anger.

“I will kill you.”

The fact that he would have to face the consequences of the duel had left his mind a long time ago. At worst, he thought he would have to pay back the owner for the price of the slave as Juan came from outside the border anyway.

Juan let out a sigh as he watched Kelmori get heated up. Juan felt that if Kelmori had any actual fighting skills, he would have known from the moment he was first punched that he was no match for Juan. However, for a young man who was trained in proper swordsmanship, Kelmori’s skills were very disappointing.

‘Thank goodness there is no one in the crowd that knows anything about swordsmanship.’

Just as he thought this and turned his head, Juan sensed a strong spirit, one which stood out from the crowd. It was a man wearing heavy armor and a sword—but he wasn’t a security guard.

A man who had just walked out of the hallway was looking at the garden with curious eyes. Juan felt his own mana from him, and then he recognized the symbol of the White Crow on the man’s armor.

‘A Templar.’

At that moment, Kelmori’s sword scraped against Juan’s forehead at a close distance. Juan had been distracted by the sudden appearance of a Templar, and failed to respond to Kelmori’s attack. A few strands of Juan’s hair were cut, and Kelmori smiled triumphantly as if he had beheaded Juan.

“Haha! How’s that!? Getting tired now, are you?”

Juan felt sorry when he saw Kelmori get excited over cutting a few strands of his hair, when in fact, he had lost his only chance to injure Juan. Even if he hadn’t missed his chance, his attack would’ve ended up barely cutting through Juan’s skin; his decorative sword couldn’t even pierce through the bone.

“You should’ve aimed under my chin,” Juan whispered.

“What?” Kelmori questioned.

Juan didn’t answer him, so Kelmori once again swung his sword at Juan.

Juan’s relaxed expression disappeared instantly, and he rolled on the floor as he narrowly dodged Kelmori’s sword. Kelmori’s sword tore Juan’s skin, causing him to bleed from several cuts. Screams broke out amongst the crowd at such a view, as it looked like a bloody tragedy was about to happen at any time. Although there were whispers of people wondering if they should stop the duel, their curiosity held them back.

“Ah, Captain Etil. It seems like you’ve finished your talk with the Earl. How did it go?” the Adjutant asked.

“Huh? Ah. Earl Henborn was nothing more than a greedy pig, just as I expected. My request was rejected.”

“I see. Should I fetch the horses so we can take our leave?”

Ignoring the Adjutant’s question, Ethan couldn’t take his eyes off the duel taking place in the garden. The Adjutant’s gaze shot toward the garden, then he shook his head.

“It looked like one of the nobles was picking on the boy. I didn’t bother to attend, since I thought it was disrespectful to swordsmanship, and it looks like I was right. What a pathetic fight to call a duel.”

“I see. Hm… I guess I was wrong to think otherwise.”

“Pardon?”

Ethan had closely observed the duel between the black-haired boy and Kelmori. Kelmori’s skills were pathetic in the eyes of a Templar. However, he would be considered slightly above average at the knight training school, and just about average among the knights of the empire.

On the other hand, the little boy who was his opponent looked like he wasn’t even old enough to go to the knight training school. Yet, he had seemed to be somehow overwhelming Kelmori when Ethan first witnessed their duel. Ethan focused on Juan’s footwork when he kept dodging Kelmori’s attacks; it definitely appeared to be the footwork of someone who had received training in proper swordsmanship. Especially the fact that Juan didn’t sweat a single drop while he intentionally dodged Kelmori’s sword at such a close distance was very impressive.

Duels often gave people tremendous stress and excitement, so it was only natural to run out of energy faster than usual. Not getting exhausted during the duel meant there was less emotional agitation. Juan’s case was something unusual—it was clear that he was in a disadvantageous position while he barely dodged the fatal attacks, but he still didn’t sweat a single drop.

“...Maybe I was mistaken,” Ethan muttered in disappointment. He suspected the boy to be hiding his true skills. It was much more difficult to fight while hiding true skills without getting caught. If the boy really was hiding his skill at such an age, even Sina Solvane would probably lose against him in a fight. The chances of meeting so many talented geniuses in such a short amount of time was very low.

“Let’s return. I need to cleanse my eyes after witnessing such a pitiful display.”

“Yes, Sir. Then I will go fetch the horses…”

At that moment, a commotion came from the mansion.

“It’s an intruder!”

A sudden scream spread a commotion among the crowd. While Kelmori was too worked up to notice the commotion, Juan quickly kicked his thigh, taking advantage of when Ethan looked in the direction of the commotion.

With a cracking sound of a bone breaking, Kelmori grabbed his thigh and fell to the floor.

“Keu-arghh!” Kelmori cried in pain.

“Oh, no. It seems like he tripped over. I think we should wrap up the duel here.”

Juan was well aware that a broken femur caused the most pain among all types of fractures.

The servants ran toward Kelmori in haste as they realized he had fallen. Unable to stay still, Kelmori was rolling on the floor while clutching his thigh. By the look of his injury, he would have to lie down on the sickbed for a few months.

In the meantime, Juan hid himself in the crowd. Only then did Ethan try to look for Juan, but he failed to locate the boy, who had already disappeared.

Juan didn’t wish to make things complicated for Heretia by getting involved with a Templar at such a place.

Not long after the disturbance, the knights rushed in from the door and looked around with a ferocious expression.

“Where is the little punk that Lady Helwin brought along with her?” the knight asked.

Juan immediately knew something had gone wrong after hearing that a knight was looking for him.

People started to look for Juan when they heard the knights were after him, but Juan had long escaped the crowd.

Juan used Blink to reach the second floor as soon as he found a place where no one was around.

‘I need to find Heretia.’

The guards and servants were nowhere to be found, almost as if they had all gone down to the first floor. Juan closed his eyes and expanded his senses. Although it was difficult to find Heretia, as there were many commoners here with similarly weak spirits, he could sense two people in the room across from him, one of them female. Juan quickly ran out to approach the room from the terrace rather than the front door. He soon spotted Heretia and Henborn beyond the glass window. Instead of barging into the room, Juan decided to listen in on their conversation, as it seemed like Heretia was still talking.

“You must be unafraid of the consequences. You are detaining the head of the Helwin family based on mere speculation right now.”

“Well, I don’t know if it’s just speculation. Wasn’t it your plan to demand and steal the Indeterminate Polyhedron if I didn’t hand over the gem? Unfortunately, it seems like your servant has been caught already. According to the knights I sent, that cute little boy of yours has disappeared. Are you really telling me that all of this is just a mere coincidence?”

Heretia’s eyes shook upon hearing of Juan’s disappearance. Although the shadow that had run away with the Indeterminate Polyhedron didn’t resemble Juan in any way whatsoever, she couldn’t be certain, since it was a dark night.

“It is simply a coincidence. What you should be doing right now is not threatening a delicate lady, but reprimanding your servants who had been careless in their duty to guard your mansion. Perhaps it would be better for you to send out more servants to track the thief rather than focusing on me,” Heretia squarely glared at Henborn with no signs of agitation.

“Hah, it seems like you don’t understand the situation you’re in right now. I’ve already sent enough servants and informed the guards as well. Soon enough, Hiveden’s defenses will be reinforced more than ever, to the point that not even a single rat will be able to leave the city.”

Just as Heretia was about to ask what that had to do with her, she understood Henborn’s dirty plan: he wanted to have insurance. He planned to threaten Heretia to give him what she had promised in the first place, even if he couldn’t retrieve the Indeterminate Polyhedron. To do so, Henborn was trying to falsely accuse Heretia of being an accomplice of the thief who stole the Indeterminate Polyhedron. Although it was nothing but a simple accusation with no clear evidence, the problem was that Henborn’s accusation was enough to put her in danger. His current conduct was not much different from the way a gang abducted the rich and extorted them for what they wanted.

“...This is tiresome,” Heretia muttered.

“What did you say?”

“I said, the Helwin family’s reputation must’ve fallen down quite a bit, for even a pathetic debauchee like you think that you can mess with us. It seems like you consider yourself to be a noble just because you covered your pathetic self with some expensive clothing. Maybe you’ll learn your place if I skin you alive and expose your nasty mind.”

“W-what did you just… Hey, you! Do you even realize how much trouble you’re in? Will you come to your senses if I broke one of your fingers!?”

“I’ll start by splitting you in half vertically. After all, your mouth is already ripped open horizontally. I will then remove your skin into four pieces, not wasting a single sheet of your skin—it’s the least you can expect when you decide to mess with the Helwins.”

Earl Henborn’s face turned pale. He had never seen someone spit out such spiteful remarks when they were backed into an unfair situation. Heretia kept her calm and cold attitude, unlike others he had seen who cursed at him out of desperation.

Henborn recalled all the rumors he had heard about the backers of the Helwin family, but soon wiped off such thoughts from his mind. Biting his lip, Henborn hesitantly pulled out his short sword.

“Stop bluffing! How dare you defy me when you look like a bitch who’s never even been scolded by her father!”

“Bluffing?” Heretia grinned. “Then go ahead and do what you need to do to see if you are right. But the moment you lay your hands on me, you are gonna have to risk having your body skinned alive and then turned into a carpet. I’ll also make sure to place the carpet on the market floor so everyone can step over it. I’ll even leave both of your balls on the carpet.”

Henborn couldn’t move after hearing Heretia’s threat.

In the meantime, Heretia grabbed and bent his left pinky finger to the opposite direction.

Henborn’s face turned pale. Just when his mouth opened to let out a scream, Juan broke into the room from the terrace window.

“A-ahhhh!” Henborn screamed and dropped to the floor as he was startled by the sudden appearance of the boy. He realized that it was the same boy he had seen downstairs before, but his aura was completely different. In an instant, violent and overpowering energy filled the surroundings and dominated Henborn.

“He dared to point his sword at me. Skin him alive,” Heretia said to Juan as she pointed directly at Henborn.

“N-no! Gasp!”

The moment Juan took out Talter’s short sword, Henborn clutched his chest and collapsed. He trembled for a brief second, then his movement stopped completely.

“It’s a heart attack,” Juan muttered with a dumbfounded expression as he looked down and kicked Henborn’s body.

“...I did hear he had heart problems.”

Juan couldn’t help but feel dejected. While he had wanted to kill Henborn, Juan hadn’t imagined that his death would be so absurd.

“Whatever, it’s for the best. He wasn’t worth getting your sword dirty.”

“What a bummer. I’m not the type to be picky when it comes to who I cut down. Too bad I can’t slay a corpse…Anyway, how did you know I was outside?”

“I didn’t,” Heretia answered as she shrugged. “My heart is still pounding from imagining how painful it would’ve been if I had actually been stabbed. My family seems to have a talent for bluffing, lying and negotiating. It runs down the generation.”

“I bet your ancestors must be very proud of your talents right now.”

Heretia left Henborn’s body behind and went out to the hallway. The mansion was quiet, as the guards were absent and the banquet seemed to be over. Heretia and Juan hurried out of the mansion before anyone could notice them.

“Did you find the item you were looking for? You called it the Indeterminate Polyhedron or something.”

“Someone else stole it before me.”

“Someone else?”

“I’m not too certain, but I have a feeling that it’s the Order of Huginn. I better track them,” Heretia chewed out her words after glancing at Juan.

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