The Meaning Of Ing And Rad (5)

The process of showing Agnes the footage from the magic stone made for backup continued after Hare arrived. I waited for what kind of result would come while feeling her expression change from moment to moment, and the video ended with the absurd sight of Duke Yusillian stumbling backward and falling dead as the final scene.

“It contains only bitingly accurate information. The power of magic is truly great.”

Agnes, who had been watching Hare closely as she stepped back to stand by my side, asked me a question.

“What kind of relationship do you, Viscount Ingrad, believe you currently have with the Imperial Family?”

“I thought it was a friendly relationship. However, as time passes, I am starting to think it might not be.”

“Is it not possible to think of it as a friendly relationship?”

“That is not something for me to choose. It is solely a matter for the Imperial Family to decide.”

Agnes let out a deep sigh. Then she reached out her hand to the knight standing behind her. Then she took out a scroll like the one seen before and began to unfurl it.

Then Agnes read the contents.

“I have received the investigation and report regarding the unsavory incident that occurred this time. There were various opinions regarding this, and there was also backlash from many people. However, since it cannot be said that you are without guilt, I, as a mediator, will make one request to you and pass judgment.”

Agnes caught her breath for a moment, and she was scanning the surroundings with a complicated gaze. There were many meanings contained in that look, but it felt as if she was somehow anxious.

“First, Duke Yusillian was a pillar of this country. It is unknown with what thoughts he committed such an act, but this is not appropriate as a matter for which he deserved to die. He was a high-ranking noble with immunity rights, and this can be said to be like a symbol of the country’s authority. This is because it is a right granted by Imperial decree. Therefore, I cannot carelessly side with a lower-ranking noble. Thus, I shall pass judgment.”

Agnes stopped speaking, lowered the scroll, and handed it to the knight in the back.

Then she spoke to me.

“You will have to read it yourself.”

At those words, the knight slowly approached, and it was at that time Demina stepped forward to receive it. It was seen that the knight slightly blocked Demina’s vision.

At that moment, along with a metallic ring, Agnes rushed forward at an incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, the moment she passed Demina and headed straight for me, Wijel, who was watching, showed a reaction.

Soon, a thunderous roar erupted from the two people who met in the middle.

“Step aside, beastkin. I must uphold the Imperial decree and return with the head of Viscount Ingrad.”

My head was dizzy at the word ‘head’. I did not even imagine that she would think of killing me.

Indeed, in a way, looking at the fact that Agnes came and because of the clamor of the Imperial nobles, I thought it was a nonsensical case to leave me alone. Perhaps this was a natural result, but it seemed I had been foolishly hopeful on my own.

It was a situation where my hand naturally went up to my forehead. Furthermore, while Wijel and Agnes were confronting each other, Demina, who had thrown the scroll to Debik, also began to engage in a fierce battle against the knight who came with Agnes.

There were only two enemies, but both were very strong.

They fought so fiercely that it was difficult to distinguish them even with the eyes as they clashed and separated from Demina; there was no way such an amazing person was a low-ranking knight.

Curiosity arose, but rather than that, Debik spoke to me while in his beastkin form.

“How about protecting your body like last time?”

“….I have to go through this ordeal every time, don’t I?”

“Fate is always a fickle thing, isn’t it?”

Debik laughed lightly, and having no choice, I created a panic room to protect my body and then asked Debik and Gamung.

“Please join in. And… if possible, I would like you to capture them alive.”

Along with the word that they understood, Gamung also transformed into a Saber Tiger-like beastkin and was seen rushing out. On this side, there were five.

Moreover, recalling how Agnes had frowned while looking at Hare before this happened, I asked Hare, who stood right next to me.

“Agnes seemed to be worried about you, Hare-san, is that right?”

“A confrontation between a knight and a knight is literally decided by skill. However, magic is a power they consider ‘cheating’. So they cannot help but be wary. And just a moment…”

Saying so, Hare was doing something quickly, and a moment later, I looked at the membrane as if it were amazing while checking the appearance of a transparent membrane being created before my eyes.

It was a peace that was too much in contrast with the situation where a fierce battle was unfolding outside, and thinking that it would likely be quite long, I first began to use construction in the surrounding space to block the area so they could not go outside.

Agnes and the knight frowned while checking that, and unlike the knight who was rolling on the floor back and forth as if being bounced by the combination of Demina and Debik, Agnes was enduring well at a level where she was continuously pushed back while receiving the joint attack of Wijel and Gamung.

However, I only watched, thinking that this too would be a matter of time. And it was also a passage through which I could know how powerful the strength of the beastkin protecting our domain was.

Honestly, I had worried a little. It was because I did not want to lose anyone who was here.

So I had hoped that it would end at the level of an appropriate charge and punishment, but the reality that it became this kind of mess was just stifling.

Meanwhile, Agnes was thinking that she felt like she was dying.

‘Were they this strong!’

Agnes was quite surprised. Thanks to the life-and-death struggle with the Sword Saint, if she had not grown, she would have thought that she would not have passed ten exchanges after the first confrontation started; to that extent Wijel and the beastkin resembling a Saber Tiger were powerful.

‘Perhaps… they might be on the same level as the current me…’

Agnes was not foolish enough to be confident in her skill. So she was in a state of having secretly accompanied Marquis Giltian, who was known to have been sent to the front lines, as her escort knight, and her heart was becoming full of desolate feelings at the sight of that strong Marquis Giltian being pushed back to a pathetic degree.

‘Just how strong are those two!’

She knew at least that the beastkin possessed power strong enough to once wage war against the continent. However, she thought all such powerhouses would have disappeared while passing through the period of decline, and at most she thought someone like Wijel in front of her would be the strongest, so she thought she and Marquis Giltian would be enough to be able to settle Viscount Ingrad in front of her.

However, she was currently feeling to the bone how much of a miscalculation that was.

Furthermore, seeing the amount of magic power Viscount Ingrad used a little while ago, it was to the extent that she could know he was absolutely not an amateur, and Agnes could no longer understand why they were trying to turn this much of a person into an enemy.

Was that why?

It was a feeling that her sword path was constantly becoming murky.

“Knight, you have too many thoughts in your fight.”

Was the opponent confronting her called Wijel?

Looking closely, he was not even using his beastkin transformation. The beastkin resembling a Saber Tiger and the bear beastkin were in a state of having gone through beastkin transformation, but the two members of the Sain Tribe who appeared in the video were just as their usual appearance.

“….Are you underestimating me?”

“On the contrary, wasn’t it you who underestimated us? The reason for checking the video would have been to get a glimpse of our skill. And was it not that you received several commands simultaneously?”

“….What is it that you want to say?”

“If it seemed you could handle us, they would have told you to slay the Lord… and if not, they would have told you to substitute it with the punishment written on the scroll. Is that right?”

Wijel’s words were accurate. The Emperor had given two commands to Agnes.

First, he had given the command to clean up the Ingrad Domain if it seemed they could solve it with force by moving together. However, when it seemed it could not be resolved by force, it was a state where a punishment of a fine was confirmed according to the Imperial decree to receive 100,000 large gold coins.

However, a mistake occurred in Agnes’s judgment. She knew that there was now no room left to improve the relationship.

In order for her intention not to be discovered, Agnes must die fighting here.

However, the powerhouse named Wijel in front of her did not seem like he would move according to her intention. Furthermore, this was the Ingrad Domain.

It was a domain that made famous medicine even on the battlefield, and it was at that time she thought she would not even be able to die from a clumsy wound.

Marquis Giltian, who bounced off along with a thunderous roar and was stuck in the wall, was seen. While blood was trickling from his mouth, he was making an expression filled with terror, and the fact that a powerhouse of that level could make that kind of expression was surprising.

He was one who had not made that kind of expression even to that Sword Saint. In that place she looked back at, a member of the Sain Tribe who had done a beastkin transformation was seen.

‘Ah… is he that strong…?’

For no reason, a sense of competitiveness was felt by Agnes. She was a person who lived her life following commands.

Even if it was a fate where she would no longer be able to follow her lord after this time….

It was at that moment she resolved that she would break beautifully.

“There was a command. They said to never kill you… so I’ll have to have you suppressed.”

And then she could see the appearance of Wijel doing a beastkin transformation. And she had to feel a dignity that pressed down on her shoulders while an intimidation that was difficult to describe was felt.

‘Is this the Sain Tribe! Is it the dignity of the beastkin’s strongest tribe?!’

Although it was a matter where her self-esteem could be hurt if she thought she was pushed back by the momentum, Agnes was also a warrior by nature. Because a powerhouse was before her eyes, it was not a matter of losing heart.

Agnes, who called forth an Aura Blade to the fullest, was catching her posture again. At that time she resolved to show a sword technique that would not be seen again in her life, she swung her sword while clenching her teeth as she saw Wijel approaching as if shortening the distance, and she was certain she could cut Wijel while a Master’s secret technique where the sword goes as the heart goes was contained.

However… this was Agnes’s miscalculation.

While looking at the bright flower bud blooming in the opponent’s hand, she thought.

That it was beautiful.

Along with a massive thunderous roar, it was Agnes who bounced off and was stuck in the wall and then became limp. As for the other knight, it was a situation where Demina had handled him long ago, and because it was a feeling that Agnes was also handled without that much difficulty, it was a bit puzzling.

“Didn’t you say the Master was strong?”

“It was an incredible confrontation, though?”

“In the Lord’s eyes, it would have been at a level where some lights just flashed a few times and a thunderous roar was heard… so it would have looked simple, but actually, it was amazing.”

“Does that mean all of that was visible to you, Hare?”

It was Hare who just laughed broadly. She was an unpredictable woman.

It was not particularly special, but as it seemed the suppression was being finalized, I used construction to release the panic room and picked up the scroll that fell on the floor.

And then I examined the contents by unfurling it, and the contents written there were a fine, and a punishment in a form where the condition that 100,000 large gold coins must be paid in full was attached was written.

‘A double command…?’

What could be recalled from Agnes’s actions was that. That they issued commands doubly. Perhaps the Empress judged that she could no longer trust me.

It was a truly regrettable matter, but it was a reaction within the range of what was expected, and although they were unexpected guests, it was a feeling that it was resolved well.

“Capture and lock up Agnes and the knight, and in the case of the other knights, make it so they can be handled if they resist. Since we cannot send back the Knight Order… which is the symbol of strength… in a healthy state.”

In the end, I realized that I too had to walk a hardline route, and as a result, I ended up talking easily about someone’s death. I was afraid of this kind of change, but I thought it was the path for everyone.