Chapter 227 – Gerard Gain (3)

Chapter 227 – Gerard Gain (3)

Gerard finally stabbed his opponent in the chest.

The old elf tightly clutched the blade that had pierced his chest and muttered something to Gerard even as he was dying. Whatever he muttered sounded violent, but Gerard didn’t feel the need to interpret what he meant.

The elf scratched Gerard’s arm and managed to hold out for a long time, but eventually dropped. A long scratch mark with drops of blood was left behind on Gerard’s arm. He breathed heavily and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

There were bodies everywhere in the surroundings. Gerard killed most of his opponents by striking them with powerful lightning, but some survived and rebelled against Gerard.

Among them, the old elf swordsman had been the most powerful. He had been so powerful that Gerard had never seen such a skilled man before. If the elf swordsman hadn’t been injured before their confrontation, it might have been Gerard who was lying on the ground.

However, the elf swordsman eventually died at Gerard’s hand.

Gerard inadvertently felt the chills running down his spine at the thought that each and every one of the fallen opponents here were heroes and historical geniuses, unlike when he overthrew the Thornbush Priest Organization.

The bodies scattered everywhere belonged to those who had saved countless people from disaster and led the empire by finding and teaching the emperor.

Aruntal, a group that consisted of the emperor’s teachers, were not people who would die in vain.

Gerard shuddered and slapped himself in the face to come to his senses. He had to pull himself together.

Gerard rushed to find the documents hidden by Aruntal. Within the document was the secret about not only the emperor, but also the Crown.

“You have made quite the mess.”

Gerard quickly turned around and raised his sword upon hearing the voice coming from the back. Before anyone knew it, a young boy had appeared and was sitting on the desk.

The boy was looking at Gerard while holding a cane as big as himself in his hand.

“You’re not as determined as I had thought. Is it because you were nervous when dealing with Aruntal? Well, it shouldn’t matter, since no one is alive anyway. Don’t worry—I’ll take care of the traces you have left.”

The boy came down from the desk and tapped his cane on the traces left behind by Gerard. Every time the cane touched the corpses, their wounds either burst or fell off in huge chunks as if someone had cut them out.

When he saw the bodies of the heroes being horribly mutilated and torn apart, Gerard shouted a loud roar.

“What are you doing! Who are you!?”

“Dane Dormund,” the boy answered immediately without any hesitation.

For some reason, the name felt familiar, and then Gerard instantly realized who the boy was.

‘The Grand Magician Dane Dormund.’

He was the former master of the Magic Tower who was expelled from the empire around the time when Gerard was adopted.

Gerard swung his sword without even realizing; he recalled that Dane was also a member of Aruntal.

But as soon as Dane’s cane met with Gerard’s sword, the space between the two expanded, widening the distance between them.

Gerard was perplexed at the sight he had never seen before. The ground stretched out as if someone was pulling it from both sides, and Gerard’s sword, which met with the cane, was cut in half.

Dane grabbed the blade of Gerard’s sword that was stuck in the cane with his hand.

“You were smart to pick up a new sword to cover up your traces. But a powerful swordsman like you can’t help but leave behind a unique mark. If you were going to erase all traces and hide the evidence, why didn’t you bring a blunt weapon or a spear? Or, you could have even used magic,” Dane murmured.

Upon hearing Dane’s words, Gerard realized that Dane was in favor of him.

Gerard looked at Dane with suspicious eyes, but Dane was silently focusing on erasing the traces left behind by Gerard.

“What do you think you’re doing? What’s your intention? I heard you were expelled for committing a major crime against His Majesty. But you were still active as a member of Aruntal?”

“I’ve always considered myself a member of Aruntal, but I don’t know if the rest of the members of Aruntal think so. Anyway, it is true that I felt the need to get Aruntal out of the way since they were starting to get in the way.”

“Get in the way of what?” Gerard asked.

“Who do you think told you about the location of Aruntal? Does Aruntal look that easy of an opponent to you?”

Gerard tightly closed his mouth. How Gerard came to find out about the location of Aruntal and the fact that Aruntal had information about the Crown were the result of pure coincidence.

But when he thought about it now, all of it was clearly done by someone using a precise plan from behind the scenes.

“Is all of this part of your plan?” Gerard asked.

“Let’s just say that we were meant to work together,” Dane shrugged.

“Do you even know what I want?”

The incomprehensible language of another world came out of the mouth of the man who engraved the tattoo on Gerard’s forehead when everything was completed. Among all the people here, only Gerard could understand the meaning of those words.

Gerard knelt down and opened his mouth to answer.

“I offer my loyalty to the king.”

The language of another world was heard once again, and this time, everyone could understand the meaning right away.

“And how can I trust that you won’t double-cross us?”

“I will get rid of the fake emperor who stole the Crown and the throne. I will ensure that a legitimate heir can ascend to the throne.”

The man grinned upon hearing Gerard’s firm answer. The man who was known to be the leader of the Thornbush Church looked surprisingly normal, unlike the other Priests from the Thornbush Priest Organization. He had gray hair with gray eyes, and in a way, he almost looked like he could be an elegant aristocrat.

However, his smile was quite grotesque; it was almost as if he was awkwardly imitating a human being.

Gerard faced the man’s smile without turning away.

The leader of the Thornbush Church was in a hurry to involve the eldest son of the emperor in his plan.

The emperor was currently preparing for a war against the Crack after having wiped out all the gods and demons in the empire. Although the Thornbush Priest Organization’s power was somewhat on par with Nienna, they were no match for the emperor’s family as a whole.

The Thornbush Priest Organization was trying their best to tilt the scales, and Gerard joining the Thornbush Priest Organization would be enough to break the balance.

The leader of the Thornbush Church opened his mouth with a satisfied smile.

“That’s good enough. You are now a member of the Crack, since you made an oath.”

After encouraging Gerard, the leader gestured at him—it meant that Gerard was free to leave now that the ceremony was over.

But Gerard stayed still at his seat instead of moving. There was no way he didn’t know the next procedure of the ceremony, since he had already watched the ceremony several times.

“What about Elkiehl?”

The leader flinched at the cold words that came out of Gerard’s mouth. He could feel a depth that was difficult to gauge from Gerard’s eyes.

The leader bit his lips upon facing Gerard’s purple eyes that resembled the cold universe inside the Crack.

“I need Elkiehl in order to kill the emperor. It is also a necessity to get the crown out of him.”

“...You will get it in due course.”

“Are you saying that you can’t trust me for now?”

The leader did not answer. Instead, it was the other Priest standing next to him who was angry.

“How arrogant of you. How dare you talk to the leader of the Thornbush Church like that...”

Gerard simply flicked his finger before the Priest could finish speaking. At the same time as Gerard flicked his finger, Bekelt drew his sword. The Priest’s body was then split in half in an instant and his purple bodily fluids were splattered all the way up to the leader’s cheek.

The other Priests immediately transformed their bodies, while the remaining knights from the Order of Lindwurm also drew their swords.

The leader of the Thornbush Church and Gerard glared at each other amidst this dangerous situation where a battle could break out at any moment.

“Are you telling me to trust you in a situation like this?”

“What are you going to do if you can’t trust me? Don’t you need me to kill the emperor anyway? Or are you confident enough to deal with the emperor’s family after killing me and the knights from the Order of Lindwurm?”

The leader of the Thornbush Church glared at Gerard in silence. What Gerard just said was true, even if he could not trust him. Although the Thornbush Priest Organization could borrow the power of the Crack, it was quite difficult for them to attract the real creatures of the Crack.

Compared to the empire, the Thornbush Priest Organization was nothing more than a cult of considerable size. If the emperor’s family confronted them, then it would only be a matter of time before they were destroyed.

“I have already declared that I will kill the emperor and even promised to find the Crown. Betraying someone once is enough in my lifetime and therefore, it is an insult to doubt my words. I will kill the emperor and you will have the Crown. That was the deal, was it not?”

“...I will hand over Elkiehl to you on the day you decide to kill the emperor. I promise,” the leader of the Thornbush Church answered as if he couldn’t help it.

“Bring it in time,” Gerard said as he turned his back.

The tension inside the Church, which seemed like it would result in bloodshed at any moment, quickly subsided.

Then, the knights from the Order of Lindwurm exited the room right behind Gerard.

The leader of the Thornbush Church glared at Gerard’s back and finally opened his mouth.

“Do you really believe that you can be the emperor?”

Gerard came to a stop. Then he turned around and looked back at the leader of the Thornbush Church with fierce eyes.

“I can become a monster beyond the emperor if that’s what my people need. But a trivial bastard like you would never know what the difference between the two is. You’re nothing but a dirty parasite who will stick to the Crack and suck its blood for the rest of your life.”