A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

319 – Weapons of War (5)

“Are you here?”

Franz woke up in the count’s bedroom.

“Gray Gibraltar. Has it finally arrived?”

Franz put his hand on the sword at his waist, glanced at the musket hanging on the wall, and smiled wryly.

“Until now, I’ve only been planning on it, but I couldn’t deal with it because I was aware of it.”

Franz brushed his bangs back with one hand.

The red blood on his hands made his head sticky, and he looked out the window with nothing blocking his view.

“…What is that?”

And Franz saw.

“Slaves of false gold?”

Unidentified beings wearing golden masks.

Most of them were wearing Nostrum’s traditional armor and looked no different from the golden slaves identified through previous reports.

But it’s strange.

Those who have been moving so far only to kill Gibraltar, and who wield swords to obstruct the way to kill Gibraltar, have come to the County of Sirene?

“Even if he’s dead, he’s still a nostrum.”

Franz shook his head as if he was fed up.

“The traitor who killed the king is in Gibraltar, and they are trying to deal with external enemies instead of the traitor who started the civil war. Anyway, what are those dirty heroes…”

How many golden slaves are there in the land of Nostrum?

And why do they work so hard for Nostrum even after death?

“If only I could have that kind of power…”

Franz swallowed his saliva.

The miracle of the Gold Dragon handled by Saint Geo Nostrum.

If he had the power to freely manipulate the souls of the dead, Franz was confident that he would use it to conquer the entire continent.

Even with such miracles, the incompetent king achieved no results.

That is why he is an incompetent king, and Franz prides himself on being completely different from an incompetent king.

Ability, age, skill, opportunity.

“Notify the entire imperial army.”

Franz grabbed the square magic stone he wore around his waist in his hand and spoke while pressing the button engraved on the top of the magic stone.

“Kill the enemy. That’s it.”

Hwang Myeong.

Kills everything in Nostrum.

To-doo-doo-doo-doo!!

As soon as Franz’s order was given, the unique sound of muskets began to fill the County of Seirene.

* * *

As soon as you come up, the enemy’s offensive begins.

As if they expected us to jump over the castle wall, the enemies started shooting at us from unseen places.

Ta-ang.

Swing the sword and hit the magic bullet.

It was an attack aimed at my back, not me.

“For now-“

Before I can say anything, the reaper behind me runs down the alley.

From now on, even if I run, I will step on the roof of the one-story building and jump into the window of another building at a speed that will be difficult to keep up with.

Suddenly.

A low sound of a knife heard from inside.

At the same time, I saw red blood stains splattering on the wall from inside the building, and I followed the woman’s running path into the building.

“You don’t have to strain your strength, Astasia.”

“…Isn’t it Ellie now?”

The woman, Astasia, answered bluntly and lowered her sword.

“Are you disappointed?”

There wasn’t a single drop of blood on her body or her sword, but Astasia was scratching her cheek as if she was ashamed of showing herself like that.

“Of course, if a woman acts like this…”

“It’s cool.”

“Yes?”

“I actually like it because it has an imperial style.”

I approached Astasia and lightly tapped her on the shoulder.

“The ladies of Nothrum always want to be the kind of ‘lady’ who wants the prince to protect them, but I like Astasia better the way she looks now.”

“Uh, really?”

“Have you been deceived?”

“Then why have you been silent until now? Why are you pretending not to know…?”

“Well, it’s cute that you pay attention to things like that, right?”

Astasia glares at me with her half-closed eyes.

But I turned to her, lightly shrugged her shoulders, pulled her sword from her staff, and swung it right at her.

“War tends to show the ugly side hidden within humans. However, if you look at it not from the perspective of being ugly, but from the perspective of showing a side that is closer to the true nature of humans, the story is different.”

“It seems like he’s saying something very philosophical, but since he talks about chopping people’s limbs like that, it doesn’t match.”

Slowly, slowly.

“Is that so? I am also this kind of person. Are you disillusioned?”

“Hmm… Gibraltar looks the same as in old stories, so it’s not particularly strange, right?”

“Okay then. Let’s handle this first.”

Below us.

An Imperial soldier, lying on the ground with his limbs missing, was glaring at us, clutching a musket at the end of her severed arm.

I can’t speak.

Probably someone who had his tongue cut out.

Hwareuk.

Excessive bleeding is prevented by burning the cut section using a magic stone that produces flame magic.

Soldiers don’t scream.

“Really, the imperial army.”

“It’s a shadow, right? If you’re a shadow, you’re trained to be a torturer, so it’s basic to try to endure it.”

“Has Astasia received such training?”

“Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Although I was tortured by starvation.”

“As expected, the emperor must be killed.”

Starving a child is a serious crime, but is that Astasia?

One more reason to kill.

‘It feels new.’

Before her regression, she didn’t even talk to me like this.

Perhaps it is because we have been so close since childhood that we are able to talk about this inner darkness.

“Astacia.”

“Yes.”

“Someday, when I have time, I will tell you all the secrets I have.”

“…”

Astasia laughs bitterly.

“I should say father… Right? Naria also said that. Gray, there’s something I need to hear from you.”

As expected.

“Naria may not know anything else, but she said that she had to hear about the secret directly from Gray. No matter what secret it is, I am ready to accept it, so don’t worry.”

“Is that so?”

It has returned.

It’s a little easier said than done.

It was difficult to talk about what Astasia experienced before her return, not because of the special nature of the place called the Golden Temple at the End of Time.

“After everything is over, let’s talk leisurely.”

“…Yes. After everything is over.”

She may have had a brief chat, but now she is in combat.

Even though this person, who was unconscious right now with his limbs cut off and only his torso remaining, had one arm still intact, he would have raised his musket with that arm and shot us while we were talking.

“Astasia. These soldiers.”

“Yes.”

Shadows are people like that.

“It may be cruel to do this, but if we don’t do this, we will resist until the end.”

“If we tie him up with a rope and hold him prisoner, he will take the opportunity to kill the guard and run away wearing the guard’s clothes. That’s a good thing.”

“Thank you.”

Even after cutting off a limb, they are willing to take that risk if they can cause serious damage to the enemy by self-destructing something.

“Actually, I didn’t want to take on that kind of risk, so I ordered them to cut off the limbs first, but I also had a personal justification.”

If you are so cruel and ruthless even to yourself, what standard do you set for others?

“Since they didn’t kill Nostrum gracefully, this is the perfect situation for bloody revenge here as well.”

Inside the room.

Blood stains were also visible in this room, where a soldier was waiting to shoot at us.

It’s not even just a trace of blood from a person being murdered; it’s a trace of blood that shows they were dragged somewhere along the floor.

“Let’s follow.”

“Gray. Hey, I’ve been feeling it since before.”

“What is it?”

“…Isn’t there a suspiciously small number of bodies?”

The strangeness that Astasia felt.

“It was the same near the castle walls, but the body was suspiciously missing…”

“That’s right. We cleaned them all out. The ones sent to us were probably ‘already dead’.”

Most of the bodies were loaded onto the magic ship.

However, if you compare those corpses with the entire population of the County of Sirene, the ratio is absolutely different.

“Let’s go. The knights will have already confirmed what they did.”

* * *

Tadadadang!!

The magic bullet spews fire.

In the past, it was called a magic missile and looked down upon. It hits the whole body.

Face, neck, heart, joints, cysts.

If you are hit in even one area, you will lose consciousness due to the powerful blow, and if you are hit again, a hole will open in your body in the form of a magic missile, and a series of attacks that can kill you will occur instantly.

Wow!

It’s not just a magic missile.

Metal magic bullets, which are not made purely from mana, but have sharpened ends like arrowheads, fly faster than a magic missile and lodge in the body.

“oooh!!”

Knight Carlos ran forward with great enthusiasm.

Kagaga River.

The magic bullet aimed at the top of the head hits the helmet and bounces off.

The magic bullet stuck in the abdomen causes a bit of shock, but it slides sideways and rolls on the floor.

Ta-ang.

The magic bullet aimed at the joint between the armor flies and hits the inside of the knee precisely, but Knight Carlos does not stop.

“Scum of the Dirty Empire! Die!”

Suddenly.

Carlos cut off the musket of the nearest Imperial soldier.

The soldier threw the musket forward, pulled out the sword from his waist, and swung it at Knight Carlos.

Phew!

The sword stabbed Carlos under the armpit.

No.

Carlos holds his sword between his armpits, holding it with the inside of his arm, and at the same time lifts his foot sharply in front of him and kicks the Imperial soldier in the solar plexus.

“You b*stard!”

Carlos picked up the imperial soldier’s sword and cut off the soldier’s limbs.

Although he is not an Auror, the sword of a knight who has reached the highest level among high-ranking knights can cut through human bones with its strength even if he is not a clean Auror.

Ta-da-da-dang!

Even though their comrade was cut down, the imperial soldiers did not stop attacking.

“Please die, you monster!!”

They had already fired more than a dozen magic bullets at Carlos, but the magic bullets only hit the outside of his armor.

“A monster? Who is the monster?”

Carlos swung his sword sharply.

The soldiers fell to the ground because the sword cut off their legs rather than their necks.

“Aren’t you monsters? I know! Monsters like you!”

Flashing.

Even though the leg is cut, no blood spurts out.

“Monsters who aren’t even human!!”

With their legs cut off, the imperial soldiers raised their muskets.

The eyes turned red, and the hair slowly began to turn white.

“It’s like this filthy vampire empire!”

Imperial Army.

Excluding the shadow-like ‘executive level’, most of them were non-human beings.

A monster, a vampire, can kill an ordinary human very easily.

Suddenly.

“Ha…”

The soldier who had become a vampire laughed as he saw the musket he aimed forward being cut into three pieces.

“Who calls someone a monster-“

Puhwa–aak.

The head of an imperial soldier was blown off.

Carlos’ sword, which had previously cut off limbs first, separated the head and body for the first time.

“You said, there are many reasons for cutting imperial soldiers limb from limb, but the biggest reason is to get rid of the bodies quickly.”

Slowly, slowly.

“He said a dead person cannot become a vampire, but a living person can.”

Fuuuk.

Carlos’ sword cuts down another vampire.

Among the soldiers in the same uniform, among those whose limbs were cut off, he concentrated on decapitating only those whose blood was not gushing out.

“There is no need to keep alive those who have already become vampires. You-“

“Hey, monster!!”

Ta-ang.

The musket’s magic bullet hits the only visible part of the helmet – the eye.

“…”

“I did it! “I killed the senior knight!”

“It’s a shame.”

“…Huh?”

Tuk.

“You said that you need the ability to protect areas that armor cannot protect.”

With a hollow sound, the crushed magic bullet fell down.

“I’ll tell you before I die. My eyelids are covered with mana.”

“Well, what kind of crazy thing is that?”

“Die, monster.”

Fuuuk.

“You die for one reason. You touched Gibraltar.”

The moment his head was cut off, the imperial soldier thought.

Why did those words sound like they had ‘awakened a monster’?

And I thought.

Has His Majesty the Emperor really judged that they have a chance of winning against these monsters?

Is it because I was suspicious?

“…”

The imperial soldier’s vision turned gray, and the world slowly began to turn black.