This is a consecutive post. I feel like I'd get beaten if I didn't keep it up.......^^ But strangely, I can't
log into Hitel. Why is that?
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Mitchell was an ambitious man who sought only his own personal glory. His dreams were too big to
remain a defense corps member of a small kingdom like Carsel.
'Good heavens….'
It was Yuliana who shuddered inwardly with revulsion upon learning his true feelings. Inside Mitchell's heart, there
was nothing but ambition to become a formal knight of a proper kingdom.
But at this very moment, Yuliana desperately needed Mitchell. Though he possessed a detestable personality that turned one's stomach,
his swordsmanship alone was truly outstanding.
Mitchell's father, Hales, was a swordsman of considerable skill. Though he currently served as the captain of Carsel Kingdom's defense corps,
he had originally been a royal guard of Penslet, a rather large kingdom.
Disillusioned by the power struggles that plagued the royal court, he decided at his advanced age to
resign from his position as a royal guard and retire to his hometown.
On his way back to his hometown, Hales happened to stop by the Kingdom of Carsel and was utterly captivated by its familial
atmosphere. Though Carsel was barely large enough to be called a kingdom,
its people's warmth was second to none in Arcadia.
As it happened to be a festival period, Hales—who had stopped by entirely by chance—received a grand welcome, quite literally.
Having completely fallen for the village's atmosphere during the week-long festival, Hales finally gave up on returning home and
decided to settle down there.
"You have chosen well. Congratulations on becoming a member of our kingdom."
The King of Carsel welcomed Hales with open arms when he declared he would remain in the village. In Carsel, where hands were always
scarce, a robust man like Hales was of great help. Moreover, when his swordsmanship became known by chance, he gained even greater recognition. Though he was but a former royal guard,
his swordsmanship was truly exceptional.
As a mountainous kingdom, Carsel was home to numerous ferocious monsters, among them an ogre that had already
carried off many villagers. Upon learning of this, Hales climbed the mountain alone and mercilessly slew the ogre. He was already a master who could wield Aura Blades with
proficiency. Immediately after the incident, he was appointed to the post of captain of the royal defense corps.
Having finally escaped the filthy power struggles, Hales thus put down roots in Carsel. He married a beautiful young lady at a late age and had Mitchell, leaving
Hales with nothing more to wish for. Mitchell was the young son he had at nearly forty.
From Mitchell's childhood, Hales taught him every single sword technique he knew.
As a result, Mitchell had no choice but to grow up training solely in swordsmanship from a young age……. Perhaps
Hales had tried to compensate for the sense of defeat he felt at being pushed out of the power struggles through his son.
After all, he had forced young Mitchell to undergo such harsh sword training.
Whether due to his efforts, Mitchell grew into a swordsman of outstanding skill. By the time he turned twenty, there was no opponent to be found—not only in Carsel, but across
the five nearby mountain kingdoms. Of course, his father Hales, who was now past sixty, could no longer match him either.
Though he served as a defense corps member of a backwater mountain village, Mitchell's heart could not help but nurture a burning desire to go to a great kingdom and
become a formal knight…….
Mitchell was already a swordsman who had reached the level of wielding mana. As a swordsman who possessed the astonishing technique of imbuing his blade with aura to slice through
steel shields in a single blow, he was absolutely indispensable to this operation. Therefore, Yuliana continued to stoke Mitchell's arrogance,
pushing him onward.
"If we slay the Necromancer this time, we'll no doubt be able to claim a substantial bounty.
With it, I'll buy you armor that can block magic. Then nothing will be able to stand in
your way."
"Really?"
It was an offer Mitchell could not help but find irresistible. What he wore was nothing more than a worn-out suit of plate mail that his father had once
worn, refurbished to fit him. Naturally, it bore no anti-magic defensive formation, so he always had to be on guard against mages. But if he obtained anti-magic armor,
the situation would change. Mitchell had already learned from his father every technique to activate
magic circles using mana.
"The anti-magic armor I wore upon retirement had to be returned to the knighthood. But
I will teach you every technique you need, so there is nothing to worry about. Later, when you are able to acquire anti-magic armor,
you will no longer need to fear magical attacks. Of course, until then, you must be extremely careful around
mages."
Recalling his father's words, Mitchell stood up as if there was nothing left to consider.
"Let's go. We need to hurry and catch the bastard."
Kasim, who was watching, could not help but curse inwardly once again.
'That crazy bastard. The young fool is so blinded by arrogance that he has no regard for danger. And what else?
It's truly absurd……. He thinks the bounty is already money in his own pocket.'
Normally, bounties in such cases were customarily divided equally among everyone who participated in the operation.
No, even if one were to seize it all for himself, as far as he was concerned, this was an operation with truly
slim odds of success.
The ones who had provoked their employer Yuliana into starting this affair a short while ago were themselves seemingly trainees of a reputable kingdom.
They were the ones who had been so brutally beaten by the Necromancer that even after all their comrades left, they had spent six months
recuperating in the village of Sebain.
Yuliana had heard the rumors about the vicious Necromancer of Sebain Village directly from them.
Without even the faintest idea of how terrifying a foe they were facing,
Yuliana rose to her feet boldly.
"Shall we go, then? They say it takes two hours to get there, so we must hurry."
Mitchell was already standing, and Kasim gestured to his mercenaries with a stiff expression.
Though somewhat uneasy, the mercenaries rose without a word. Seeing that, one could tell just how much
they trusted Kasim.
'Well, they are men who followed me believing in nothing more than a threadbare chance…….'
As Yuliana left the dining hall, Kasim silently followed. His mercenaries also gathered their equipment and
moved with urgent steps.
Mitchell's heart, wedged among the mercenaries as they climbed the mountain path, was filled with exultation.
'Is the path to display my abilities finally opening?'
His gaze fixed itself on Yuliana's back as she walked ahead. In truth, Yuliana was an exceptionally beautiful
girl. With flowing hair and eyes like stars plucked from the sky. Possessing flawless features, it was only natural that
anyone who saw her would feel affection for her.
Of course, if one came to know her filthy temperament like that of a rabid beast, any affection would vanish instantly.
Though Carsel was an exceedingly small kingdom, Yuliana held the undeniable status of a princess.
As the only daughter, the King of Carsel granted her every wish, and the palace folk trembled before her. As a result,
Yuliana inevitably grew up to be an obstinate and tremendous tomboy. There was hardly a soul in the palace who had not been
thoroughly scolded by her. Recalling that fact, Mitchell furrowed his brows.
'I really don't want to think about what happened back then.'
Mitchell, too, had fallen prey to her clutches and been scolded numerous times. In fact, Mitchell and Yuliana had once been in
marriage talks. It would have been a lie to say that the King of Carsel did not feel favor toward Mitchell, who was both the kingdom's finest swordsman and a handsome man……. Since they had
grown up together from childhood, and because Mitchell's father was the captain of Carsel Kingdom's defense corps, the marriage talks seemed likely to
succeed easily. However.
"That can never happen."
"It is an absolutely outrageous notion."
The seemingly promising marriage talks unexpectedly collided with the adamant opposition of the parties involved.
Both Yuliana and Mitchell had jumped up and down refusing the other. In the end, the talks came to
nothing.
Yuliana disliked Mitchell's career-driven personality, and conversely, Mitchell had not taken to Yuliana
in the slightest. Of course, had he married her, he would have been certain to become the ruler of Carsel, but Mitchell's ambition
was not something that could be satisfied with the Kingdom of Carsel.
There was also another troublesome issue that was not widely known……. Recalling Yuliana's personality,
Mitchell shook his head as if the thought was horrifying.
'It's obvious enough. Yuliana will insist on becoming queen, and I'll be reduced to nothing but a figurehead.
The problem is that there is no one who would put up with that tomboy's personality.'
Mitchell shuddered as if the very thought gave him the creeps. Yuliana's temper was truly
dreadful. Being punched at every opportunity was still on the milder side. Her fists hurt quite a bit,
but taking a few blows was all there was to it.
The problem was her iron-willed stubbornness that would not bend under any circumstances. If her will was not carried out,
Yuliana would stop at nothing, and in severe cases, she would even burst into tears. Then she would pin absurd false accusations on whoever came running.
Mitchell had already suffered such humiliations at her hands several times.
"Mitchell tried to violate me. Look at this."
Pinning a nonsensical accusation on him while showing clothes she had torn with her own hands,
Mitchell was forced to throw in the towel. Of course, the people who had rushed over likely sympathized with Mitchell's plight.
Most of the people in Carsel's palace had been victimized by Yuliana once or twice,
after all…….
To avoid falling into Yuliana's clutches, the only way was to avoid catching her eye.
Yet despite his firm resolve, Mitchell had no choice but to accompany her.
It was unavoidable in order to realize his dream.
'I will definitely make my way to the center. With my honed swordsmanship, I should be able to distinguish myself even in a great kingdom;
surely there is a noble somewhere who will recognize my true worth.'
Living in Carsel, which could only be called the remote frontier, Mitchell diligently gathered information about the center from travelers.
Of course, the common knowledge that travelers possessed had its limits, but
it was more than enough to swell Mitchell's heart with hope.
The splendid royal court he had only heard of in tales. The abundant lives of nobles steeped in extreme luxury. Knights faithful to
chivalry. Romance with a beautiful lady. It was a tale that could not help but make one's heart race
just to hear it.
Then one day, an opportunity suddenly presented itself to Mitchell, who had been scheming tirelessly for a way to escape Carsel. Due to certain circumstances, Princess Yuliana was to travel to
the Crosen Empire.
"You must accompany Yuliana."
The order to accompany her naturally fell upon Mitchell, the finest swordsman in Carsel, and he accepted without
hesitation. Of course, he would have to endure Yuliana's antics during the journey, but this opportunity was one he could not ask for better. One so doubtful he would ever get another
…….
'I will never return to Carsel. I will seize this opportunity to settle down in the Crosen Empire
without fail…….'
Muttering this vow to himself, Mitchell gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist tightly. At least
when it came to swordsmanship, there was no one Mitchell feared.
Thus, the group advanced step by step toward the Necromancer's dwelling. But none of them realized that they had
triggered an alarm spell set by the Necromancer.
Ringgg.
When the familiar alarm sound rang out, Daemon smiled thinly. He had already deployed alarm spells up to an hour's distance from
his dwelling, and intruders had triggered it without fail.
"It seems the brats are crawling in again. I was bored, so this is perfect."
By now, Daemon was growing accustomed to this life. At first, he had gone through the trouble of deploying an illusion maze formation to discipline the brats,
but now there was no need. He had already absorbed more than a third of the sealing orb's
magic power.
His plan to perform breathing exercises targeting the magic power of the sealing orb had finally succeeded.
The sealing orb in which Nidelhark was sealed was now unleashing magic power relentlessly inside Daemon's body, and
Daemon's dantian was in a state of fullness after continuously absorbing that power. Thanks to that,
he had become capable of easily summoning demonic beasts of the demon realm that he had been unable to summon until now…….
For now, subduing the brats who had intruded using Magic Missile and Wind Slit was a matter of routine.
Then Daemon would summon a Nightmare and make the brats suffer nightmares for a full week.
The effect was truly incredible. The nightmares inflicted by the Nightmare brought the brats far greater agony
than those caused by the illusion maze formation…….
Besides, there was no longer any need to worry about their condition. Simply having nightmares
wouldn't kill anyone.