Chapter 80

Generally speaking, just because a 7th-rank mage showed respect and called someone a friend, it would be rash to conclude that the person in question was a master-level power user.

But when that 7th-rank mage was Talos the Tiger Calamity, a man infamous for surviving countless battlefields as the Iron Fist Mage, the story changed entirely.

A mage who threw more punches than spells. A mage whose cruel fighting style earned him the nickname “devil of the battlefield.” A hot-blooded mage who never hesitated to swing his fists even at high-ranking nobles if they crossed him.

Though age had mellowed him considerably, in the past he had acknowledged no one but the strong. He was the living embodiment of everything wild and violent about the beastkin, a single-minded macho who believed power was truth.

The knight commander and vice-commander, both veterans with plenty of battlefield experience, knew this all too well. As a result, they had no trouble grasping what was hidden behind those few casual words.

While the subordinate knight and two mages assigned to hospitality exchanged ritual pleasantries about honor and elite knights, he quickly stepped forward to the black-haired young man and thump placed a hand over his chest.

“I apologize for the late greeting. I am Reload Beersiltra, commander of the Totum Mountain Knights.”

The young man scratched his head and gave an awkward smile.

“I’ve already heard about you, though. Did you really need to introduce yourself again?”

“When someone Lord Talos calls a friend is present, wouldn’t it be stranger not to greet them?”

The young man let out a soft snort of laughter.

“You’re pretty honest.”

“Honesty is the greatest virtue, after all.”

“Haha. That’s true.”

At the calm reply, Reload’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

‘He doesn’t deny it. As expected…’

“If possible, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this elsewhere.”

The subject was omitted, but Reload understood instantly.

“Of course. For what it’s worth, I’m known as the tightest-lipped man in Seol.”

To be honest, this was exactly what he wanted. The fewer people who knew valuable information, the better. Especially when that information was a golden lifeline.

If this relationship deepened and he became the sole link between Viscount Seol and this young master…

‘No, this isn’t the time for that.’

“Anyway, we’ll do everything we can to help with this matter as well.”

“Good to hear. Ah, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Go Geom-shin. In local terms, I suppose it’d be Sword God.”

“That’s a good name.”

“…You really think so?”

“It’s a bit hard to pronounce, but yes. Haha.”

An introduction meant acknowledgment as an acquaintance.

In an even better mood, Reload glanced at the young man’s black hair and asked in a polite tone.

“…Are you from the Eastern Continent?”

“Yes. More or less. I haven’t been on this side for very long.”

“I thought as much. Then—”

At that moment, one of the knights approached and reported.

“Commander. Preparations are complete.”

“Understood. Shall we go, then? We’ve prepared horses for the four of you over there.”

The young man nodded slightly in thanks and moved away with Talos’s group.

The knight who had just reported furrowed his brow.

“That kid’s awfully rude.”

“…What?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? He looks like nothing more than a squire (a knight-in-training) type, yet just because he’s traveling with Lord Talos, he dares to have a private audience with you. And look at that attitude.”

“…….”

“You even prepared horses for him, and all he does is nod like that. Just who does he think he is? If he’s nothing special, I’d like to straighten him out later, once the mages aren’t looking.”

“…….”

“Uh… Commander? Why are you looking at me like that…?”

Smack!

“Agh!”

The knight screamed after being struck on the back of the head.

“Honestly, you’re supposed to be a senior knight, and your eyes are about as useful as knotholes in a log. And you’re a candidate for vice-commander next? That’s terrifying.”

“H-huh?”

“That’s enough, you punk. From now on, you treat that gentleman with the utmost respect. If you so much as run your mouth and make even one of his eyebrows twitch, I’ll beat you to death myself.”

“No, but what is that even—”

“Shut up and move. Go grab those gentlemen’s reins. Now.”

I didn’t know what exactly had been said, but after I spoke with the knight commander, the way the knights treated me changed a full 180 degrees.

How should I put it…? It felt like, ‘We don’t know why, but he’s clearly someone important, so treat him well.’

Either way, our group rode through the streets mounted on horses, escorted front and back by the Totum Mountain Knights.

The citizens stared with naked curiosity, as if wondering just who we were that an entire knight order had turned out to escort us. But what could I do? If someone insisted on giving me proper treatment, I couldn’t exactly coldly refuse.

I deliberately ignored the gazes pouring in and, with Shia in my arms and Scala riding behind me, calmly assessed the knights’ overall level.

‘The commander’s a Blaster. The vice-commander and senior knights are Aura Users, and the rest are a mixed spread of Aura Users and Mana Users.’

I didn’t want to oversell Sinan, but… there was definitely a gap between the front lines and the rear here.

In Sinan’s case, despite having a population of just over sixty thousand, they had three mature Blasters, with the rest at a fairly solid level. Yet here, with a population approaching four hundred thousand, the knights looked noticeably weaker. More than anything, there were far too few Blasters.

‘Seol has three knight orders, right? If all three are roughly on par with the Totum Mountain Knights, that makes maybe three to five Blasters total. They’re severely underpowered for their size.’

As I sat lost in thought with Shia held against my chest…

Before I realized it, the knight order had arrived at West District 4, the area rumored to house the assassin guild. In unison, the knights drew their swords.

Shrrrng—clang! Shrrrng—clang!

At the sight, quick-thinking civilians went pale and fled, instinctively sensing trouble.

Reload, the knight commander, bowed his head slightly toward Talos and spoke.

“We’re planning to begin shortly. Do you have any advice before we proceed?”

“Hm… If we intervene directly, it would probably look bad on your side. We’ll just observe from the rear for now, so show us the skill of the Totum Mountain Knights, famed even within the marquisate for their elite standards.”

“Thank you for your understanding. Then…”

After bowing once more to Talos and the rest of us, Reload wiped away his earlier affable smile as if it had never existed and issued orders to the knight order and the guards who had followed behind them.

“Move immediately and bring in the thief guild scum. Every last one of them. Do not let a single one escape.”

At once, the guards and knights split into groups and scattered in all directions.

Scala, who had been clutching only the hem of my clothes instead of daring to wrap her arms around me, tilted her head.

“Why the thief guild instead of the assassin guild…?”

Shia, her cheeks still caught in my hand, mumbled an answer.

“That’s because the thief guild is the place most closely connected to the Assassin Guild… hey! Let go! When you’re looking for underworld trash like that, isn’t it best to have similar trash sniff them out?”

“…Shia. You’ve changed. To push away my touch so coldly.”

“I’ve been getting poked and prodded half the day. Of course I would! My cheeks belong to me, not to you!”

“You used to rub up against me and ask me to touch you yourself.”

“Hmph. That was because you were the only one around back then. Now I have plenty of toys, don’t I? I could reduce the time I spend glued to you from twelve hours to eleven and be just fine. Come here, Scala.”

“Yes, Master.”

At Shia’s call, Scala shifted from behind me to stand in front of her. Shia immediately began poking and squishing her here and there, clearly enjoying the reactions.

“Hyah….”

“Still not as soft as Illeia. Even after I ordered you to put on more weight…”

“I-I’m sorry. I eat a lot, but I just don’t gain weight easily by nature…. Ah! Master, there—th-that’s ticklish….”

“Seriously. You two are having fun. Good thing the Black Mountain Earrings are keeping people from staring… doing this in broad daylight is embarrassing.”

“My dear… that is exactly what I wish to say to you. How can you lack self-awareness to such a degree?”

A short while later, the knight order and guards dragged in nearly a hundred people and forced them to kneel before us.

Reload looked down coldly at a shaggy, heavily bearded man among them.

“Are you the guildmaster of the thief guild?”

The man answered in a calm voice, as if trying to project seasoned composure, and instead accused the knight commander.

“…My lord. What exactly is the meaning of this? This area is under our management. If you had simply spoken to us, there would have been no need for such rough treatment—”

Fire seemed to flare along Reload’s longsword, and in the next instant, the shaggy man’s head flew into the air.

“……!!!”

“You insolent bastard. Management? Responsibility? Thieving trash like you dares speak of responsibility? Who do you think you are, to talk about ‘managing’ territory that belongs to His Excellency the Viscount!?”

As the head of the guildmaster—clearly a skilled individual despite the sudden strike—tumbled away, the color drained from the faces of the other guild members.

Only then did they fully realize that the knights before them were not the same men who usually came by to quietly extort protection money.

“They’re still too many. Filth. Cut them down to two-thirds.”

Slice! Sli—shrak!

As nearly thirty more heads hit the ground, the remaining members of the thief guild slammed their foreheads into the street one after another.

“Wh-Why are you doing this, my lord?!”

“Please spare us!”

“I have an old mother at home!”

“I know the location of the guildmaster’s secret vault!”

“I’ll do anything!”

“…My apologies. We lost the leader.”

“Lost him? Did he escape District 4? Or is he still inside and we just haven’t found him yet?”

The vice-commander showed an awkward expression.

“Honestly, we can’t be sure. They say he’s a natural talent specialized in stealth and disguise, so either is possible.”

“Tsk….”

Reload turned toward Talos and the rest of us and bowed his head.

“Ha… I sincerely apologize. We let the most important one slip away. But I swear on my name and on the honor of the Totum Mountain Knights that we will catch him and cut his head off without fail.”

At the knight commander’s words, I turned to Sodin.

“Want me to grab him?”

Sodin’s eyes sparkled.

“You found him?”

“Yeah. He’s watching us from over there. Pretty bold.”

“Then catch him.”

“…So the Magic Tower can owe the lord a favor?”

“This isn’t a debt for ‘the tower.’ It’s a debt for us.”

I let out a small snort and nodded.

“Then we have to catch him. You can Blink, right?”

“Where?”

“Don’t look. Eleven o’clock. Thirty meters.”

“Easy. Three. Two. One. Blink.”

The next instant, I drove my elbow straight into the boy’s head as he appeared in front of me.

Boooom!!

As the boy’s eyes bulged like a carp’s, I yanked up his sleeve. Just as expected, a snake tattoo—the mark assassins carved into their bodies—was coiled around his upper arm.

For good measure, I pulled off the hood covering his head, revealing a face full of deep wrinkles that didn’t match his youthful build at all.

Grabbing him by the collar, I tossed him at Reload’s feet with a grin.

“Caught him, boss. Good work.”

Having the most important prey snatched away, Reload let out a long sigh, his expression caught somewhere between laughter and tears.

“Ha… thank you for your help. …Though just imagining the Viscount’s scolding makes my vision go dark.”

“You’re honest.”

“…Honesty is a virtue.”