Chapter 53

[Translator – Helga]

[Proofreader – Lucky]

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.

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.

[Translator – Helga]

[Proofreader – Lucky]