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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 11
War.
Melissa must be furious to her very core.
Our dear deputy count wants war.
Never again!
War!
The atmosphere was tense, as if a fight might break out at any moment, and I watched with an amused expression.
Then both pairs of piercing eyes landed on me.
"Hey! After everything you've done to bring this situation to a head, how can you be so relaxed?"
At last, Melissa shouted angrily, and I nodded while sitting back, legs crossed.
"Well, I did say I had something to talk about, but since you two were busy bickering, I was waiting."
At my absurd response, Melissa looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"What... What is it you want to say?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just that Vishiri Cascadia kidnapped all the families of merchants contracted with the count's house. I trust you did it because you're confident in handling the aftermath."
"What?"
Melissa furrowed her brow and glared at Vishiri, but he was remarkably brazen.
"Hah, ridiculous. You're just spouting nonsense without evidence."
"Ah, I figured you’d react like that. Then there's no need for further discussion. Deputy Count, here’s my report on the order I carried out earlier."
"Huh... huh?"
"Vishiri Cascadia kidnapped and detained the count’s vassals. I confirmed it personally. Therefore, I request punishment for him and all those who cooperated in the kidnapping and imprisonment."
No one failed to understand the meaning of my words.
At the same time, one of the knights guarding Vishiri drew his sword again.
Clang!
Thud!
However, the sound of the sword being drawn barely ended before it stopped abruptly.
Everyone in the room was shocked by the sudden development.
"I told you there wouldn't be a second time, didn't I?"
The knight who had tried to draw his sword was now pinned to the wall with a sword in his head.
He hadn’t even had the chance to react before being killed by the sword I threw.
"What... what?!"
Vishiri was horrified at the knight's death, which occurred faster than he could perceive.
Melissa, too, seemed shocked, realizing I had taken her sword without her noticing and used it to kill an expert-level knight.
To kill someone.
It's a heavy concept, one I had to think about deeply.
This is reality.
Not Labyrinthos, but my homeland, the Lazarus Continent.
However, unlike my past life, this world doesn’t have police to come knocking when you do something wrong.
There is order here, but survival of the fittest remains an unchanging law.
It would be foolish to place past and present lives on the same scale.
The remaining knights, belatedly snapping out of their shock, drew their swords and turned their gaze toward me.
But by the time they looked at the corpse and turned back to me, I was already pulling the sword out of the knight’s head where it was embedded in the wall.
The swordsmanship I honed in the Hall of Swords is closely tied to speed.
An opponent of merely expert level?
Taking them down was hardly a challenge.
As the standoff escalated, the tension in the room grew more volatile.
"Leon... have you been hiding your strength?"
"To clarify, I’ve never hidden my strength. As you can see, I’m just a mere aura user who can’t even manifest sword energy."
"..."
True, but no ordinary aura user should be able to exhibit this kind of speed and power.
In fact, the notion of me being a slow learner hasn’t really changed.
But I possess an unusual state that defies conventional comparisons.
I stopped mid-gesture as I was about to casually toss the sword back to Melissa.
The sword is sturdy enough to withstand some of my aura’s release.
Instead of letting Melissa dirty her hands, it’s better for me to handle it myself.
My uncle, Tyvel Cascadia, and his son, Vishiri Cascadia, were the cancerous tumors eating away at the very foundation of the count's territory.
The moment they revealed their ambitions for the countship, the smiles vanished from the faces of both the count’s house and the territory’s residents.
To them, the count’s domain was merely a means to enjoy wealth and glory—a symbol of prestige—and those sacrificed in the process were mere afterthoughts.
They were the epitome of small-minded men.
"My father and I are officially certified experts by the kingdom. On the other hand, Melissa, though capable of manifesting sword energy, is not officially certified as an expert by the kingdom. Surely you know where the succession rights would lean under these circumstances."
"Is that your stance now?"
"Fool! Do you not realize the enormous forces you’re dealing with?"
He seemed utterly confident in his backing and power.
Likely, he believed that even if the royal family opposed him, he could push forward as long as he secured a fait accompli.
At least a marquess-level noble.
There’s no doubt a considerable noble family is supporting him.
"The one qualified to be Count Cascadia is neither you nor my uncle. It’s my younger sister, Melissa, as our father decreed."
"You bastard."
"Do you know this saying? Nobles, in some ways, are truly barbaric."
"What are you trying to say?"
"When you spout nonsense with such conviction, you’ll end up with your head split by an axe."
The killing intent I’d been suppressing began to seep out slowly.
"That’s why people like you die. Well, what are you waiting for? If you want to live, you better fight."
Why would I let someone who’s bound to cause trouble in the future stay alive?
Of course, my extreme irritation due to a lack of sleep plays a significant role, too.
Clang!
At Vishiri Cascadia’s signal, his knights simultaneously drew their swords to subdue me, standing right next to them.
The sudden outbreak of battle began with Vishiri’s escort knights.
The knights accompanying him were all expert-level novices.
Ordinary aura users would find it difficult to handle even one of them.
But it didn’t matter.
And Vishiri Cascadia, who had been pressuring Melissa, was a mid-level expert.
That’s why he must have been deeply humiliated at this moment.
"Fine. I’ll personally teach you some manners."
"How bold for a mere bandit."
As his violent momentum began to surge, his escort knights unsheathed their swords and surrounded me as if to close in.
At the same time, I heard the sound of others moving from all sides.
Judging by the footsteps, there were about seven of them.
They must have been waiting outside to assist Vishiri Cascadia.
Perhaps they had planned to resort to force if things didn’t go their way.
"Leon!!"
Melissa urgently shouted after me, but I didn’t return the sword to her.
I had no intention of letting her hands be stained with blood in the first place.
Soon after, more knights armed with swords appeared.
They weren’t all Experts, but they were skilled Aura Users.
For Tyvel’s forces, the number of Experts seemed surprisingly high.
I figured these were likely reinforcements brought in from outside by my uncle, Tyvel Cascadia, to ensure their objectives were achieved.
It was probably a favor from some high-ranking noble in the central government supporting Tyvel from behind the scenes.
"Subdue them as necessary. Leon may be killed if needed."
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Vishiri Cascadia glared coldly at Melissa and me before stepping outside.
Swoosh!
The sword slicing through the air toward me was sharp and sudden.
However, I quickly leaned slightly to dodge its trajectory and closed in on the Aura User knight charging at me.
“Ugh?!”
Flustered by my swift movements, the knight hastily raised his sword.
Clang!!!
When my sword struck his with immense force, the loud sound reverberated, and his sword was easily deflected.
This wasn’t a technique one could achieve through mere experience.
“What the hell?! What kind of strength is this?”
The knight tried to retreat to secure his safety, but my foot already stepped on his, blocking his escape.
Naturally, the outcome for someone whose footwork was disrupted was obvious.
“Ugh?!”
Slice!
With his stance broken, his neck was cleanly severed by my swinging sword.
Even though I was merely an Aura User, the sheer amount of Aura I possessed allowed me to manifest something akin to an Expert’s sword energy.
After dispatching the knight whose head was sent flying, I twisted my body, taking a step back just as two Expert-level knights attacked, their swords imbued with sword energy piercing through the corpse to strike at me.
It was clear they were aiming for an opening.
But I pulled back faster than they could land their blows and used the corpse as a shield to block their attacks.
The faces of the two Expert knights betrayed their astonishment.
"Stabbing your own ally—are you even human?"
“What… What the hell is this…”
Of course, they weren’t fools.
They quickly withdrew their swords and moved to attack again.
I kicked the corpse, sending it flying toward them, while smoothly drawing a dagger strapped to its waist.
The knight deflected the incoming corpse with his sword and raised it high to strike.
But before his sword could descend, my dagger slashed his body repeatedly.
Even though he wore light armor to protect his vital points, the human body has many weak spots.
The physical enhancement of an Aura User who couldn’t manifest sword energy was fairly standard, making it easy to exploit.
Aura expands in quantity based on one’s level.
Since there were no other cases like mine—a mere Aura User possessing more Aura than a Swordmaster—they couldn’t grasp the extent of my enhanced physical capabilities.
Even though the dagger was short, it posed no issue for me.
I then exploited the weaknesses of their tightly packed formation, weaving through the remaining six Aura User knights.
Using Melissa’s sword, I cut one down and naturally seized their weapons, countering the incoming attacks with raw power.
Overwhelming speed and strength.
The knights were baffled by my incomprehensible physical abilities.
Slice! Splatter!
As I rampaged through their ranks, even the Expert-level knights had their attack ranges and opportunities drastically reduced.
With me using their comrades as shields while launching relentless assaults, their frustration was palpable.
The other knights tried retaliating, but I would grab those nearby with sheer force, using them as shields or subtly shifting my movements to block their attacks.
By now, their full attention had shifted away from Melissa, who was unarmed, and was solely focused on me.
"Arghhh!"
“Please… spare me!”
The more desperate the knights’ cries became, the faster and sharper my sword danced.
Faced with this, the two Expert knights, in desperation, aimed their swords at me even if it meant cutting down their own allies.
Clang!!!
What followed left their faces frozen in disbelief.
“W-What the hell?!”
“How is this even…”
The swords they swung, imbued with sword energy, sliced through their comrades like tofu but barely grazed my body without leaving a single mark.
“D-Don’t tell me… Swordmaster's body refinement technique…”
“That’s impossible! A Swordmaster?!”
In martial arts stories, this would be called a defensive aura technique.
However, blocking even sword energy placed it beyond the realm of ordinary defensive skills.
Their shock was understandable—sword energy isn’t just any mundane phenomenon.
Even crude sword energy from an Expert can slice through thick metal in a single blow.
Yet their swords couldn’t so much as scratch me.
Their faces were etched with utter confusion and despair.
"Does it look like my sword is imbued with sword energy?"
“D-Don’t spout nonsense! What we just saw was clearly…”
"Enough."
I decapitated the last knight and lowered Melissa’s sword as I took a single step forward.
Boom!!!
At that moment, the uncontrolled Aura burst forth violently, pressing down on the surroundings.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
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