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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 51: The Subjugation of Klaus
A watchman patrolling atop the castle wall was killing time like usual.
“Ugh… I’m so bored.”
“Hang in there. We’re almost at shift change.”
The guards passed the time chatting, as they always did. It was only natural.
In the past ten years, they’d never once had any real trouble.
Yawning, they continued their lazy watch—until suddenly, they heard something.
Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud—
“Huh? What’s that sound?”
“Y-Yeah… What was that?”
The sudden rumbling beneath the ground unsettled the guards.
Was it… an earthquake?
As those thoughts passed through their minds, one of the guards spotted something moving in the darkness.
“Wait… What is that?”
Beyond the dark horizon, something was taking shape.
At first, small, indistinct clumps—then more and more of them appeared, racing forward at high speed.
And soon, the guards realized exactly what they were looking at…
Cavalry.
Riders on horseback.
Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud—
“Hyah!!”
“Charge!! Don’t stop, keep riding!!”
A thousand knights on horseback, joined by hundreds of Yongin warriors, burst out of the night like something torn straight from legend—a brutal, blood-bound assault spoken of only in old tales.
The sudden attack threw the guards into a panic, but one of them still tried to do his duty.
“The bell—! Sound the bell!!”
But just as he reached for it—
Thwack—!
“Gahk!”
A blow to the head dropped him instantly.
Right before he lost consciousness, he caught one last glimpse:
It was his longtime friend—striking him down with the flat of his blade.
“Why…?”
“Forgive me… my friend.”
Across the wall, similar betrayals were unfolding.
Guards turned on one another—knocking their comrades out cold.
The traitorous guards then descended and opened the castle gates themselves.
Watching the gates swing open, Rikain spoke:
“My Lord! As planned, the gates are open.”
“Good! Commence the assault!”
Using the influx of freed commoners wasn’t just about “moving troops.”
Nova had tracked down guards with relatives among the freedmen—and used them to reach out to the inner ranks of Klaus’ castle defense.
Promised a fresh start in Dreihart or Cron, and ten years’ pay in advance, they didn’t hesitate. Every last one of them chose Cron.
Not a single one refused Nova’s offer.
Without a single clash at the gate, the Cron army poured into the castle and immediately sprang into action.
Rikain took command:
“Split up as planned. Move to your positions and begin the swift suppression.”
[ YES, SIR!!!! ]
Calyx was the supreme leader—but the battlefield commander was Rikain.
Following his orders, the Cron knights, the warrior corps, and even Sharon moved out at once.
The warriors headed straight for the barracks—where the senior officers ate and slept.
Sharon moved toward the quarters of the mages.
And the Cron knights, along with Calyx, made their way to one place:
The Lord’s Manor.
＊ ＊ ＊
At that very moment, Royce and Beric were cracking open another bottle of wine.
They had already gone through more wine than what would’ve served three men.
“Young master, are you opening another bottle?”
“Of course! Why stop now? On a day like this—when else should we drink? Hahaha!”
“Hahaha! You’re right! Let’s drink ourselves to death tonight!”
“That’s the spirit! That’s why you’re my right-hand man, Beric!”
As the two were in the middle of their boisterous drinking session, a soldier burst in, breathless.
“L-Lord Royce! There’s trouble!!”
“Huh? What kind of trouble?”
“Looks like a mob of beggars is pouring in from Dreihart!”
“Oh no, how tragic! Hahahaha!!”
Royce let out his biggest laugh of the night at Beric’s remark.
The soldier, pale-faced, stared at them in disbelief and shouted—
“This is no time to joke around! Calyx Cron is on his way here with his knights!”
“…What?”
Lord Royce and Beric thought the soldier had lost his mind.
And why wouldn’t they?
Calyx Cron was supposed to be in Cron—what would he be doing here?
Leading knights, no less?
It made absolutely no sense.
“We’re under attack!”
“The enemy is invading!!”
Just as those thoughts hit them, noise erupted outside.
The two men hurried out, and what they saw was—
BOOM! CRASH!!
“Hold the line!! Stop them!!”
Above them, mages were engaged in aerial combat.
Below, the knights’ barracks were being demolished.
Mere moments ago, when they’d entered to drink, the city had been calm.
Now, it was in complete chaos.
“Wh-What the hell is happening?! Where’s Commander Andry!?”
Commander Andry was the head of the Klaus Knights.
While Royce was calling out for him, Andry was locked in a brutal fight—with Zarha.
“Damn it!!!”
The main officers had already been subdued by the surprise assault from the warrior corps.
Andry, the only one who had managed to keep his head, drew his sword and tried to fight back—but he was surrounded, on the verge of being overwhelmed.
Then Zarha appeared before him.
“Surrender quietly. We’re only here to reclaim what’s ours. We don’t wish to kill anyone.”
“That’s rich, coming from an invader! Get lost, you dragon freak!!”
Andry roared and charged, sword raised.
Zarha sighed.
“So much for diplomacy.”
Without hesitation, Zarha threw a punch.
Only his arm had shifted into its dragon form—but it was more than enough.
His fist shattered Andry’s sword like glass and slammed straight into him.
WHAM—!
“Guhh!”
Andry flew backward—his body smashed into the wall and dropped like a rag doll.
No matter how weak he might’ve been, Andry was still a Knight Commander—so he ended up just losing consciousness.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes! He's still breathing.”
“Lucky bastard.”
“Captain Zarha! We've secured all the officers.”
Just like that, the knight order had been subdued.
When Lord Royce demanded answers, the soldier couldn’t reply. Desperate, Royce clung to the next thread of hope.
“Where the hell is Karco!?”
Karco was Klaus’s court mage.
He’d graduated top of his class from the Emerald Mage Tower.
His talents landed him a post in House Klaus, and not long after, he brought in two proteges of his own.
Together, the three became the family’s exclusive magical corps.
Now, those three were staring despair in the face.
“Why don’t you stop now? I don’t want to kill you.”
Karco had heard the rumors—everyone had—about Sharon the Battle Mage.
But in a fight between mages, rumors were meaningless.
The moment they stood off, they knew.
‘Ah… we’re going to die today.’
The magical power radiating from Sharon was overwhelming. Even if the three of them attacked at once, they couldn’t match her.
Still, as Klaus’s official mages, they had no choice but to fight.
In perfect sync, they unleashed their most powerful spell.
“Vulnus Venti! (Wound of the Wind!)” ×3
From their hands, three spiraling vortexes formed and shot forward.
The whirlwinds merged into one massive funnel, hurtling toward Sharon.
She raised her hand and calmly cast her own spell.
“Aegis. (Shield)”
A transparent blue wall, like tempered glass, formed in front of her—and their combined spell slammed into it.
The vortex howled, clawing to break through.
It didn’t matter.
“UAAAAHHHH!”
“Hold it together!”
“GGGAAAAH!”
They screamed with every ounce of their power, throwing themselves at the wall—but Sharon just looked on with quiet pity.
Vwooooom—
“What!?”
“It’s… pushing back!?”
Her Aegis began to grow—wider, thicker—then slowly started advancing, cutting through their magic like a blade through mist.
The mages stood frozen. That wall approaching them was no defense spell. It was a death sentence.
And they had no way to stop it.
When it was nearly on top of them—
“Impulsum. (Shock)”
BOOM!!
“GUAAAAARGH!!”
Sharon triggered an explosive shockwave through the shield.
It detonated in front of them, knocking all three unconscious and launching them straight into the canal within the castle.
After fishing out their limp bodies and binding them, Sharon ended her mission with quiet efficiency.
⋯⋯⋯
“Lord Royce! We’ve lost all contact!”
“This… this can’t be happening! What the hell is going on!? What the hell is this!?”
Royce was paralyzed. He couldn’t make sense of the nightmare unfolding before his eyes.
His castle had fallen overnight. His mansion was under siege.
The handful of remaining soldiers were doing their best to hold the doors—but it was a hopeless struggle.
He turned to Beric, who stood beside him in stunned silence.
“Beric! Say something! What in God's name is going on!?”
“I… I don’t know, my lord…”
Beric was just as shaken as Royce.
He thought they had everything under control.
Everything had been going according to plan.
Until suddenly, it wasn’t.
Now? He had no answers. No explanation.
But maybe that made sense.
The closer you stand to the light… the darker the shadows beneath it.
And then—
CRASH!!
“AAARGHH!!”
“The door! They’ve breached the door!!”
The gates burst open, and the knights poured into the mansion.
The soldiers and servants of Klaus scrambled to flee.
The few who resisted were taken down instantly.
No matter how weakened the defenders were by sabotage, these were the Cron Knights—warriors who had fought both the Raion Knights of Hadem and the beastkin battalions.
To them, soldiers in a panic were barely a warm-up.
And through the chaos, a silver-haired nobleman walked in.
His stride was calm, composed—like he belonged there.
Every step radiated the kind of grace Royce had spent a lifetime chasing.
That was how, in a single morning, the House of Klaus fell—utterly conquered by Cron.
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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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