Duke Pendragon

“Huff! Huff!”

Baltai ran towards the carriage with all his might.

“Hurry up and go! Quickly!”

Baltai shouted to the coachman and the carriage started to move. After leaving the governor's residence, the carriage quickly travelled through the main road of Leus.

“Huff! Fuck!”

Baltai let out rough breaths while wiping off his sweat.

As the captain of the demonic army, Baltai possessed good physical strength. But strangely enough, he could not muster up any strength today. Baltai had a vague guess to the reason.

Even though it was only for a moment, the blue, brightly shining eyes had stared at him overwhelmed him with an indescribable force. It had been so oppressive that just thinking back to it made his hair stand on end.

‘But why? Why was it?’

Baltai had seen Duke Pendragon for the first time today. But strangely, the man felt somewhat familiar to Baltai, as if Baltai had seen him before.

‘Let’s think. Think!’

Baltai desperately recalled the face of Duke Pendragon from a moment ago. However, he could not recall seeing a similar face before. He had gone through numerous battlefields and committed countless misdeeds, but he had never seen Duke Pendragon before.

Furthermore, he had never stepped foot in the Pendragon Duchy until he had attempted to conciliate the centaurs last year.

‘But why the fuck!?’

Why did Duke Pendragon direct such ferocious spirit towards him when they had no acquaintance, and why did the young duke feel familiar to him?

Baltai felt like he was going to go insane with fear and confusion, so he collected his breath and slowly leaned back on his seat. The salty smell wafting through the open window was getting stronger, so it seemed as if they were almost at the port.

“We have arrived, sir.”

Soon, the carriage stopped, and the coachman cried out.

Baltai exited the carriage in a hurry, and he raced through the crowd towards the end of the harbor. After finally finding his way through the crowds, he headed towards the dock.

Baltai’s group had already planned their escape route after the big event, hence a small boat and around six men were waiting at the end of the pier.

“Untie the rope! We set off immediately!”

Baltai screamed while he sprinted towards his henchmen, and the ugly-faced men hurried to untie the rope that anchored the boat.

Suddenly, surprised shouts could be heard behind Baltai, and the crowd split like a wave before a horse appeared. It was chasing after Baltai like a gale.

“Oh, shit!”

Baltai’s expression crumpled up when he turned his head.

The rider of the horse was none other than the knight who had been standing behind Duke Pendragon expressionless.

“What are you bastards doing!? Stop him!”

The men pulled out various weapons at Baltai’s shout. Some men carried a cutlass, and others unsheathed scimitars. They attempted to strike at Isla’s horse.

“Die!”

Shoosh!

A dagger flew towards Isla’s head.

Isla avoided the projectile by slightly lowering his posture and he pulled out three of his own daggers from the saddle before throwing them towards the men.

“……!”

The man who threw the dagger and his companion fell without even a chance to scream. In the meantime, Isla narrowed the distance between himself and the enemies, and he lowered his posture while wielding his southern rapier.

“Aggghh!”

Along with a flash of light, blood sprayed everywhere.

One man fell with a large hole in his chest. Isla quickly passed by him and jumped off his horse after noticing Baltai’s attempt to escape on the boat.

Isla rolled several times on the floor as he landed and jumped towards the boat as it started to depart.

Woosh!

A sharp sound cut through the air. Isla stabbed his sword toward his left rear without looking.

Clash!

“Ugh!”

A clear metallic sound rang simultaneously with a groan. Isla turned his body in a graceful motion towards the direction of his sword, and a glimmer appeared in his eyes.

“Huaaaap!”

Isla struck out with his blade along with his unique breathing style. His sword struck the opponent five or six times at an incredibly fast speed.

“Kuaaagh!”

The man fell with a scream, multiple fatal wounds visible all over his body.

“Aaaaah!”

Two men remained. They frantically wielded a cutlass and a battle axe on either side of Isla. It was a fierce combination attack that would finally cut down the beast.

Shiing! Shing!

However, Isla avoided all the attacks in an impossible motion. With his legs fixated in place, Isla moved his upper body fluidly in a dance-like motion and drew his rapier.

Swish.

A single blue light cut through the cold winter air, creating an eerie sound. It did not take long for the two men to find out what the sound was.

“Agh!”

“Ugaaaah…”

Their abdomen split apart, and blood poured out along with their inner organs. They fell one after another.

Isla shook the blood off his blade and turned his body.

“……!”

His eyes narrowed and eyebrows wriggled lightly.

“Kuhahaha! We will see each other again sometime! Make sure you keep your throat clean for me to take! Kuhahahaha!”

Baltai had already rowed more than 50 yards away. He burst out into mocking laughter.

Isla considered jumping into the sea and swimming after him but shook his head. In such cold weather, his body temperature could drop sharply in an instant and it could result in his death. Isla gazed at the disappearing figure of Baltai for a moment before turning his head.

“Kueghhhhh…Ugh…!”

One of the survivors was attempting to shove his intestines back in while shedding tears. Isla walked up towards him and spoke coldly.

“If you answer my questions truthfully I will make you comfortable.”

“Heugh! Heugh!. W, whatever it takes… Please save…. Cough!”

The man coughed up blood, but Isla spoke with an emotionless voice.

“What is the name of the person who took the boat?”

“To, Toban Baltai…”

“Who is he?”

“The captain of the demonic army.”

A gleam appeared in Isla’s eyes.

The demonic army was a unit composed of horrendous criminals that did not hesitate to murder. They were deployed in extreme missions such as eradicating monsters, and also to test out the enemy’s forces when facing necromancers or black magicians. Naturally, their survival rate was extremely low, but they always received new additions as needed.

For the captain of the demonic army to appear in Leus…

“His purpose?”

“We, well, I don’t know. P, Please, mercy…”

The man begged for his life. Tears and snot poured down his face. However, the man did not realize that he was facing a Cavalier of Valvas. Legend had it that a Cavalier of Valvas was born with a knife in their hands, and that they cut themselves loose from their mother’s umbilical cord.

With an expressionless face, Isla crouched down and stepped on the man’s guts.

“Kuaaghhh!”

A terrible scream reverberated throughout the harbor.

“His purpose?”

“Kuaaagh! D, Duke Pendragon’s assassination…. Keuagh.”

The man finally gave in and answered before fainting from the extreme pain.

“….”

Isla’s eyes filled with realization and he sprang to his feet. He hurried to his horse.

At the same time, a group of troops made their way through the crowd. A group of people had already gathered at the commotion and was watching the disaster unfold with horrified expressions.

“Get out of the way everybody! Move! Heuk?”

The soldiers of the 7th regiment frowned as well when they saw the sight.

“What the… Ah! Sir Isla.”

A knight from the 7th regiment recognized Isla as the only knight that accompanied the new governor. The knight spoke to Isla just as he was getting on the saddle.

“Who are these guys?”

“I do not have time to explain. They are here to assassinate his excellency the governor.”

“Heuk!”

“I will go on ahead, so I’ll leave the clean up to you. That man is not dead yet, so keep him alive.”

Isla rode his horse forward after the brief conversation.

“Ah, I got it!”

The knight answered towards the distant back of Isla, then turned back to the scene of the slaughter.

“Well, well. It seems like another ghost blade besides Sir Isak had come to Leus.”

The knight shook his head as he observed the various bodies. All of them had suffered fatal wounds and lay dead in dark red pools of blood.

***

The atmosphere of the residence was gloomy. An assassination attempt had taken place at the first dinner party officially hosted by the new governor. It was fortunate that the governor managed to survive, but someone else had died instead.

Moreover, she happened to be the daughter of one of thirteen high lords of the empire.

“……”

No one spoke a word as they stared at the man who held the cold body of the girl in his arms. Raven’s face was stained with tears and blood, and he looked down at Luna with vain eyes. It was the first time that someone’s death came as such a shock since he witnessed the death of his father and brother in front of his eyes.

It could be ironic that a man who mercilessly killed his enemies in cold blood was devastated by someone’s death. Perhaps he did not deserve to feel sadness, but it could not be helped.

Luna Seyrod was the only person who died on his behalf besides his family.

“Your Excellency… Please stand up.”

After a while, Viscount Moraine spoke with a cracked voice. Raven slowly raised his head, then nodded his head with a heavy, subdued expression.

“I should… I apologize.”

Raven carefully tucked his arms between Luna’s waist and knees before rising. Her small body was already cold, and it was far too light.

“Let me bring a priest. We should guide Lady Seyrod’s soul to the goddess…”

“Thank you. Please do so. I… I think I will have to lay her to rest and write a letter to High Lord Seyrod…”

Raven replied in a dark, heavy voice and slowly moved his steps.

“…..”

Everyone stared at Raven’s back without a word. Raven would have to deliver the news of Luna Seyrod’s tragic death to her father.

Soon after Raven disappeared, Viscount Moraine spoke in a low voice.

“Isak.”

“Yes, commander.”

“These two dead scoundrels here, find out who they are no matter what it takes.”

“Yes.”

“And prepare the soldiers. They must be wishing death upon themselves to do something like this in front of the governor and myself. We should grant them their wish.”

“I will follow your orders.”

Although Isak and Moraine usually acted somewhat informal as they had spent a long time together, this time around, Isak responded with a respectful gesture towards his superior.

It had been a long time since he had seen Viscount Moraine this angry.

One of the guards quickly rushed towards them and spoke.

“Commander! A knight from the Pendragon Duchy has arrived! H, he came by griffon!”

“From the Pendragon Duhy?”

“Yes! He is a knight called Vincent Ron! Sir Leon Johnbolt has confirmed his identity. He told me that he needed to urgently meet the governor-general, so I recounted today’s events to him today and told him to wait…”

Bang!

Vincent flung open the door and rushed in.

“His Excellency the Duke! Where is my lord?”

Vincent’s flushed appearance came as a slight surprise to Viscount Moraine. But he thought he would feel the same way if the emperor had undergone a similar experience. Viscount Moraine replied in a bitter tone.

“Governor Pendragon has recovered Lady Seyrod’s body and gone to the chapel of the residence.”

“No…! What about the knife that stabbed her? It was a dagger with a skull decoration on the pommel with a green blade, right? Did you take it out?”

It was a little strange that the knight was asking about the dagger, but Viscount Moraine shook his head.

“It has not been pulled yet. But the governor said he would recover the body of Lady Seyrod, so he might have pulled it out by n…”

“NO!”

Vincent’s usual calm and slick appearance was nowhere to be found, and he ran towards the chapel with all his might.