If it is private property, it cannot be arbitrarily seized or have a requisition order issued against it. A vassal state is a feudal nation that began as an imperial vassal. Even for a vassal lord, there is no right to arbitrarily handle a vassal's property, and if attempted recklessly, they would face imperial sanctions.
"Are you saying we should leave the beastkin who started a rebellion and disrupted order as they are?"
A rebellion, by its nature, would provide grounds to interfere in another territory, but Duke Erekutus denied even that.
"A rebellion? It's merely a case of a kept beast breaking its fence and running wild. That's why we temporarily retreated and returned. I'm not sure if Marquis Rafaeno has ever raised beasts, but beasts are inherently capricious and require effort to manage. Isn't this something one must endure?"
If one denies the rights of beastkin, one also denies their crimes. Those without rights cannot even commit crimes.
It was a defense only possible because Duke Erekutus ignored beastkin... but it was still a defense.
'Wait. Is that insolent duke actually protecting the beastkin right now? No way! Is he being sincere?!'
'Erekutus's words seem to simply ignore beastkin, but if you listen carefully, they're extremely political! Is he calculating this, Erekutus?'
Whether he simply disliked the vassal state meddling with his property, or whether he truly intended to help the beastkin. Neither Grull nor Sapien could grasp his true intentions.
Even Marquis Rafaeno was the same in this regard.
"No, are you really intending to live with the beastkin? The beastkin drove you out, and even tried to kill you, didn't they?"
A rebellion is like a scar; once experienced, it easily festers the next time. If a duke felt threatened, they would lean on the vassal state to maintain their power.
Such calculations were laid out, but when the duke instead opposed it, the pretext to intervene disappeared.
"I don't understand. Biting one's master is considered property? Have you grown attached to the beastkin during this time?"
"How could that be. Unless you call the reluctance to lose property as attachment."
"Hmm."
Although he certainly didn't intend it, thankfully for Duke Erekutus, his words helped Grull make up his mind as well. If there were no options, he might have deliberated longer, but for some reason, Duke Erekutus was also taking the beastkin's side. If so, there was no need to choose Marquis Rafaeno's coercive option.
"Enough, Marquis. I refuse too. It seems better to remain as the Great Chieftain and continue business than to be a sixth finger that might or might not exist. There's no need to play boss in narrow Ende."
"Is that so..."
Marquis Rafaeno slowly trailed off. The Duke of Ende refused, and Grull also didn't accept the proposal. Unless he forced the issue, there was no way to interfere in Ende. Even Marquis Rafaeno hadn't expected that treating beastkin as private property would rob him of his pretext.
However, if he were going to retreat over a mere pretext, he wouldn't have led a legion here. For Marquis Rafaeno, this was rather more convenient. Solving everything with force.
The corner of the Marquis's mouth drew a subtle curve like his mustache.
"Master!"
The guard dog Welsh moved urgently. Welsh, who had been focusing all her attention on her master's safety, sensed the Marquis's hostility even before Grull did. She used ki to bristle her fur, pushed her master aside, and blocked the front.
However, unlike in the regressor's time, the Marquis didn't stop his sword.
Slash. The slash was visible even from behind Welsh's body. Blood spattered along the tip of the rapier. Welsh, her body heaving greatly, collapsed onto Duke Erekutus. Duke Erekutus urgently caught her body.
"Welsh!"
"...Ah, ugh."
The hand touching her back was hot and wet. Duke Erekutus discovered a bright red, large wound on Welsh's back. An immense amount of blood gushed from her small back.
And behind that, Marquis Rafaeno, holding a swaying rapier, was shaking off the blood with ki. Sparks flew from Duke Erekutus's eyes.
"Damn it, open your eyes, Welsh! Damn it! What are you doing!"
The concern for his guard dog and the hatred toward the Marquis who inflicted that wound echoed. The Marquis read the surging emotions and spoke as if bored.
"You see. You really did grow attached, didn't you."
The atmosphere changed in an instant. Grull and Sapien grabbed their weapons and stood up abruptly.
"Hey, you! What are you doing!"
"Marquis, what kind of outrage is this!"
At the same time, the soldiers standing behind Marquis Rafaeno also moved. The army in formation simultaneously exuded ki and aimed their swords, and the court mage unit took out their wands and summoned clouds. Rumble—a threatening energy from beyond the clouds aimed at Grull and the Beast Faction warriors.
An army is a group prepared for war. If the Wolf King were present, the force that would have faced the Wolf King was now aimed at Grull. At the sensation of magic power binding his entire body, Grull dragged his feet and selected the ground.
The one who caused all this, Marquis Rafaeno, was calmer than anyone.
"I just checked whether the guard dog does her job well. She does it well. She saved her master's life, so she'll be satisfied even if she dies."
"What...!"
"More than that. Grull. Aren't you being too haughty? I offered you the best proposal out of consideration for you who has reached Master. If you behave so shamefully, my face becomes unspeakable."
In a situation where both sides were aiming weapons at each other in a tense standoff, Duke Erekutus was the only one moving busily.
First, Duke Erekutus tore his clothes to try to stop Welsh's bleeding. However, it was like trying to block a dam with his hands. When the blood showed no signs of stopping, Duke Erekutus scooped up Welsh and ran urgently.
Marquis Rafaeno casually thrust his rapier toward his back. The rapier contained only a faint fighting spirit, as if it didn't matter whether he died or not. Grull, who had been extending his senses sharply, moved using the ground he had selected.
Clang. Grull's dagger forcefully deflected the rapier. The blade tip aiming for the duke's life was disrupted and veered off course. Grull felt a heavy shock in his wrist and was horrified.
'It's heavy! That slender, curved sword...!'
This isn't ki that can be obtained simply through training. His ki is so massive and delicate that it can even manipulate the rapier's elasticity. How many elixirs has he consumed? Even Grull, who had encountered many elixirs himself, couldn't dare to gauge it.
"The southern part of the Enge Plains was originally under the vassal state's jurisdiction. Our dominion was merely delayed because of the wolves and other beasts. Down there, the elixirs lying dormant in the old Wan Kingdom's territory or the Elephant Graveyard... those aren't ownerless lost items. It would be troublesome if you acted as if everything belonged to you."
And the target of Marquis Rafaeno and the vassal state was none other than those elixirs. Grull finally realized and pulled up his ki.
"So from the start, you had no intention of leaving me alone...!"
"You were a bit too obstructive to leave alone, Grull."
Grull moved with Ground Selection again. Due to the urgency of the situation, he couldn't select much, but in combat between humans, even that short distance could decide the victor. Grull, moving through the wind, aimed for the Marquis's limbs and thrust his dagger.
However, Marquis Rafaeno was also a ki master who had reached the extreme. By moving just a step or two, he escaped the disadvantageous distance and launched a counterattack. The swaying rapier accurately targeted Grull like a snake.
'His reaction is extraordinary, but...!'
But Grull's principle, Ground Selection, was the embodiment of the pinnacle of Kun Ki Gong into a principle. Half a step before the rapier, Grull's body came to a sudden stop. The swaying tip of the rapier grazed past Grull's eyes. It was a splendid counterattack like a painting, but Grull had even read that counterattack and put in a feint.
'He's slower than the Wolf King! I'll finish this before he unfolds his principle!'
He moves his momentarily stopped body again. A fired gun is most defenseless, and a swung sword is weakest. He deflected the attack by a 0.1 second difference and advanced into the space that could only be safe....
At that moment, Grull's body was sent flying with a thud. The body-protecting ki barrier that only a ki master who had grasped the sense could deploy—something shattered the ki spread across his entire body and struck Grull's face.
If he hadn't protected his body with ki, or if his speed hadn't slowed from the momentary stop, his face would have been blown off by an invisible slash. Fortunately, Grull only left a blood trail and managed to survive.
'I was cut...?! But by what?! There was clearly nothing there...!'
The problem was that even he, who had reached the level of principle, didn't know 'what' had cut him. Toward Grull, who couldn't recklessly approach, the Marquis spoke arrogantly.
"But it would have been better if you knew your place a little more."
The Empire, the vassal states. War weapons created by humans who monopolized wealth and power.
The apex of the pyramid reached by the strong ones chosen by destiny, receiving state support, absorbing all kinds of elixirs and secret manuals.
Black Tiger General, Yeondangeom Marquis Rafaeno. He unfolded his principle.
Yeondangeom (連彈劍).
The trajectory the rapier carved in the air remains as is. Not a sword, but carving patterns in the air in the form of slashes. The epithet Yeondangeom was attached because it was like embroidering a musical score in the air.
If Grull rules distance, Marquis Rafaeno rules space. The sword's trajectory embroidered in the air is precisely his space and his principle. Within the stronghold forged by slashes, he is virtually invincible.
Sapien, seeing the flashing sword, urgently shouted.
"Grull! Be careful! The Marquis's principle is leaving sword trajectories in the air! Those trajectories are pure slashes themselves. If you touch them, you'll be cut as if catching on a sharp thread!"
"Hmm. Revealing a Master's principle before battle... This is clear treason!"
Sapien also knows how grave a crime that is. But it can't be helped. From the moment he led an army here, Marquis Rafaeno intended to solve all problems by force if necessary.
Since he swung his sword without hesitation at Duke Erekutus and inflicted a large wound on Welsh, Sapien was in no position to hold back either.
"Yeondan? Tch, I thought it was some kind of flaming sword!"
"That's not it! Yeondan means a musical score! Two people...! Ugh!"
"That's far enough, Lord Sapien."
The adjutant who had somehow approached from behind grabbed Sapien's cloak and threw him. Sapien's large body, even wearing armor, flew through the air like a stone. Just as Sapien tried to regain his balance in midair, the adjutant snatched his cloak once more and slammed him into the ground. The already ruined ground heaved unsteadily.
"Urgh...!"
The Marquis's adjutant approached before him as he hurriedly rose. Though he hadn't reached the level of principle, he was the elite who served as the Black Tiger General's adjutant. Both his level of ki and combat experience were incomparable to Sapien's.
Even in a single exchange, a dizzying gap could be felt. And probably, the gap between Grull and Rafaeno would be greater than the gap between Sapien and the adjutant. Sapien intuited.
"Classified information is classified. Please don't disclose it recklessly."
"What does it matter? Even if it's classified, there's no one who doesn't know. I've already established my pretext, so let me just boast to Grull."
Marquis Rafaeno smiled leisurely and patted the scabbard at his waist. Above the scabbard from which one rapier had been drawn, another scabbard with a sword hilt still attached remained.
"I originally use two swords, Grull. Just like you."
Among Masters who have reached the level of principle, many use dual swords. This is because whether using the left hand or the right hand, the principle can be deployed equally.
Even among them, in Marquis Rafaeno's case, the precision of his two-handed swordsmanship had crossed a certain boundary. Using two flexibly bending rapiers, he carves trajectories into the air, gradually filling the space and pressing the enemy without giving them room to breathe. Wielding dual swords as softly yet powerfully as an orchestra conductor, as if playing two musical scores alone, earned him the epithet Yeondangeom.
In other words, his true worth wasn't displayed with a single sword. Marquis Rafaeno spoke with half his face hidden by a single rapier.
"You're a Master too. Let me use both swords."