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Chapter 53

Bang-!

“Ugh!”

Aren collapsed, coughing up blood.

With each cough, he vomited fragments of his internal organs.

Kane watched with a smile spreading across his lips.

“You defeated a 5th-class assassin with one punch,” Cedric said smiling.

Aren, with his spine broken, could only gasp.

He couldn’t move.

Meanwhile, Kane walked over to Cedric.

“May I speak with you for a moment?”

“Did you anticipate an assassin would come, my lord?”

“A crisis for Rehinar is an opportunity for our enemies.”

“Creating this situation was also…”

“It was to catch this guy.”

“You had a dangerous idea.”

For the first time, Cedric reprimanded Kane.

But Kane didn’t mind.

He knew how Cedric felt about Duke Carl.

“I trusted you, so I threw the bait.”

“Hmm.”

“Thanks to that, we caught a Beginner-Tier 5th-class assassin. This guy isn’t just an assassin. He’s a lieutenant of the dark sentinels nurtured by Hatzfeld.”

At Kane’s words, it wasn’t Cedric but Aren who couldn’t hide his surprise.

“…How do you know… about us…?”

Kane knelt down, drawing closer to Aren.

“Black Viper, it’s not just you. I know who’s behind you too.”

“…!?”

“Aren’t you curious how I know?”

A chilling coldness swept over Kane’s face.

His eyes were filled with murderous intent.

“I survived and came back to destroy you motherf**kers.”

Kane spoke cryptically.

“…What are you… talking about…!”

“You don’t need to understand. Just answer my questions.”

Aren was Dirk Hatzfeld’s right-hand man.

He held a lot of information.

Of course, all this information was already known to Kane.

“After seizing the Black Crow Exchange, is the Imperial City next?”

“You think I’d tell you- Argh!”

Aren screamed.

Kane flipped him over and mercilessly pulled out one of his ribs.

“At first, they all yapped just like you. Let’s see how long you last.”

He pulled out Aren’s ribs one by one.

“Aaaargh!”

Aren’s agonizing screams echoed through the estate.

It was so loud that Kane tore Aren’s clothes to gag him.

“Mmmph!”

“You lasted longer than your subordinate, Captain Eugene.”

Aren’s eyes widened.

‘So you’re the reason I haven’t heard from Eugene!’

Kane stopped pulling out ribs.

Instead, he started a different form of torture.

“Blood Sword.”

The surrounding droplets of blood gathered into Kane’s hand.

The droplets soon became sharp fangs.

“Try to endure this too. If you do, I’ll acknowledge you.”

He brought the fangs close to Aren’s eye.

The fangs began to spin slowly.

Like a drill.

They whirled fiercely, aiming slowly for Aren’s eye.

“Mmmph!”

Aren tried to turn his head to the side, but

Kane’s grip held his head firmly in place.

“Mmmph!”

“What was that?”

He kindly asked as he removed the cloth from Aren’s mouth.

“Stop it!”

“Are you slow to learn, or just unaware of your situation?”

The spinning fangs approached Aren’s eye.

Extreme terror.

Aren trembled with fear he had never experienced before.

In his mind, their positions should have been reversed. But now he was the prey, while Kane was the predator.

Before long, the fangs pierced Aren’s eye.

“Aaaargh!”

Blood splattered everywhere.

Some even landed on Kane’s face. But Kane didn’t stop smiling.

Having gouged out one of Aren’s eyes, he spoke again.

“Will you answer my questions now?”

“Yes… next is… the Imperial City…”

“How far along is the preparation of the Mana Crystal Herb to poison the Emperor?”

Aren, half out of his mind, answered.

“…70%…”

“And when the Emperor dies, what then?”

“Rehinar…”

“Tell me everything you know about Dirk.”

“Dir… k… Aaargh!”

Aren convulsed.

His remaining eye rolled back.

“The restriction has activated.”

Kane didn’t intervene.

Though he knew how to remove the restriction,

He just left it.

There was no need to hear about Dirk from Aren.

Kane knew far more than Aren did.

“Die as you are. A painless death is a luxury for your kind.”

Aren, who stood against Kane in his previous life, died in agony in this one as well.

Cedric, who had been watching Kane, had many questions, but…

“Sir Cedric. Please clean up this place.”

“Understood.”

Kane left the scene.

* * *

Kane sprawled out on the sofa.

As he lifted his hand, his fingers trembled.

He had pushed himself to the limit using Blood Flame.

On top of that, using Blood Sword once again had drained his internal mana completely.

Exhaustion piled up, and he felt sleep overtaking him.

“I haven’t even checked all the messages yet.”

“Kane, you’re not going to die, are you?”

Blata emerged from Kane’s arms.

With its tiny paws, it kneaded Kane’s body.

This action, known as “kneading,” is something cats do when they’re happy.

But Blata was doing it out of concern.

“I’m just tired.”

Kane hugged Blata.

A cozy feeling.

Being a chonky tiger, it was plump and had just the right amount of cushion.

In that state, he opened the unread messages.

—

[ Main Story – ‘The Crisis of the Imperial City of Fresia!’]

[The Fresia Empire is facing a massive crisis.

The Emperor of Fresia is gradually losing his strength due to an unknown illness.

The Crown Prince, Princes, and Princesses are engaging in a power struggle for the throne.

Some of them are planning to seize the throne by conspiring with external forces…]

—

“The next chapter’s message, huh? Looks like I’ll be visiting the Imperial City.”

It was the message he had been waiting for.

To establish the Belmore Military Academy in Rehinar, he needed the Emperor’s permission.

“The Imperial City? Are we going to Fresia’s Imperial City?”

“When the Princes and Princesses learn that I defended Rehinar from the mutated monsters, they’ll reach out to me.”

The uprising of mutated monsters was an incident orchestrated by Hatzfeld to overthrow the Fresia Empire.

Other families, having maintained their strength, would have easily dealt with the mutated monsters.

But Rehinar was different.

It was a declining family.

In the Imperial City, they didn’t know that Duke Carl had returned from the border.

They would think that Rehinar couldn’t easily fend off the mutated monsters.

“They’ll have a lot to ponder.”

“With this Vladimir Bu Pavel Regilerta by your side, of course, they’ll have a lot to think about.”

Rehinar was the backbone of the Fresia Empire.

The Rehinar family had been with the empire since its founding.

The founding emperor and the first head of the Rehinar family were close friends.

This relationship is why the Fresia Empire has been protected for hundreds of years.

Despite its decline, Rehinar was still the top priority for alliance.

“Who will be the first to reach out?”

He already knew the outcome.

Still, he was excited.

Would they act the same way as in the game?

Knowing the future made everything more entertaining.

“First, I’ll get some sleep and then send the letters.”

Kane quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Fighting monsters day and night had taken its toll.

Even though he used mana to combat fatigue, nothing replenished his energy more than sleep.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Kane, I’m talking to you.”

“Don’t sleep, wake up.”

Using Blata’s desperate calls as a lullaby, Kane slept soundly.

—

A day had passed since the first wave of the monster uprising ended.

Mikhail was admiring the sword he had crafted.

The blade glowed with a red hue.

It was extremely sharp.

“I had doubts about its practicality, but those worries were unnecessary.”

The blade had a gap in the center.

He was worried it might break under strong impact.

He infused mana into two swords and clashed them together.

Clang!

They didn’t break.

“This should satisfy the duke.”

Mikhail stood up.

He hadn’t slept and had been hammering nonstop until the sword was finished.

His entire focus had been on crafting the sword.

He hadn’t heard the commotion outside.

“What happened?”

Mikhail stopped a passing villager to ask.

“Don’t you know that mutant monsters ravaged the northern and southern territories?”

“I was in the forge, so I didn’t know.”

“Ha ha, you’re lucky the forge is in the west.”

“Why is that?”

“The west was the only area untouched by the monsters.”

With that, the villager continued on his way.

“Why didn’t they contact me?”

Mikhail was puzzled.

He was also a mid-tier 5th-class spearman.

If he had stepped in, could he have prevented the territory from being ravaged?

Perhaps he could have minimized the damage.

Not calling him meant there was another reason behind it.

“That guy didn’t have any plans? Impossible. If it was intentional, then he must have had a strategy.”

People called Kane a dullard Young duke, but Mikhail didn’t think so.

In his eyes, Kane was a genius.

An unparalleled genius.

After all, he had awakened as a blood knight.

Sure enough,

Kane’s reputation had completely transformed.

“Have you heard the news?”

“That Young Master Kane single-handedly wiped out the mutated monsters?”

“Sounds like you’ve already heard.”

“Everywhere you go, people are talking about Young Master Kane.”

“Ha ha. How did someone who seemed so frail become so strong?”

“Oh, come on. That was just a fluke, an act. Young Duke Kane has always been strong.”

Not a single person spoke ill of Kane.

“Ha ha. I always knew he’d show his true colors eventually.”

The talk about there being no worthy heir to Duke Carl has completely disappeared.

“We should thank the heavens.”

“Indeed. We must thank the gods for blessing us with someone like our young master.”

“By the way, did you hear about the people who fled to the east?”

“I did. They were all devoured by the mutated monsters…”

“It was a catastrophe.”

“Ah… truly a tragic event.”

An old man closed his eyes tightly, showing his sorrow.

A friend, who appeared to be standing nearby, scolded him.

“Tragic? I think they got what they deserved.”

“But thousands died. Shouldn’t we at least wish them peace?”

“Peace? They took their money and fled to the Dyer Family. Considering all the suffering they caused us, it’s not even satisfying enough.”

“…Is that so?”

“Those lumps of tumors deserved to die.”

The old man’s face, now relieved of pent-up frustration, looked refreshed.

Mikhail hastened his steps, eager to ask Kane directly about what had happened in the territory.

“What brings you here?”

“The Young Master asked me to bring him something.”

“Your name…?”

“Mikhail. I run the forge in the western territory.”

Upon arriving at the mansion, Mikhail complied with the inspection without resistance.

After passing through the main gate, he was guided by Lase into the mansion where Kane resided.

“Young Master. Mikhail has arrived.”

– Let him in.

“Please go in.”

“Thank you for the escort.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Mikhail entered the room.

Lase exhaled deeply.

Throughout Mikhail’s arrival, he had assessed Mikhail’s aura but couldn’t read him.

That meant Mikhail was stronger than he was.

“Who on earth is he?”

What kind of identity could be stronger than himself, a member of the Guardian Knights?

And how did the Young Master know such a monster?

Everything was puzzling.