The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Chapter 65

“Form a perimeter around them! Do not engage them head-on!!”

There was no chaos.

Having encountered them before, preparations to face them again were already in place.

Upon Philip’s immediate command, the twelve First Knights Armor users quickly surrounded the black beasts.

“Pierce. You’re in command.”

“Leave it to me!”

Philip, having passed command to the more cautious Pierce, followed after Raul. If the enemy’s leader were to activate [Black Sacrifice], they couldn’t leave the Master to face him alone.

‘It’d be nice if things went as smoothly as before….’

Yet, Philip still hadn’t quite put his faith in the Master’s peculiar power armor. In case of the worst, he resolved to resort to ‘that’, increasing his pace further.

* * *

‘Why hasn’t there been any word??’

Trying to shake off the young monster that stuck to him like a leech, even sacrificing his men didn’t do the trick. Moreover, what sort of grudge did that youngster have against him to stick so closely behind?

Jack gritted his teeth in frustration, not stopping his pace for a moment. Then, finally, news came in. But it wasn’t the report Jack had been hoping for.

“Vice Commander Jack! Something seems to have gone wrong. Even after we’ve disposed of all the monsters we had captured, there’s no change to the gate. It seems….”

A throbbing pain ran through Jack’s head.

‘Could it be…?’

On the other hand, Raul pursued Jack with a much lighter heart. Fortunately, the battle unfolded just as Raul had envisioned.

The prepared combat supplies had been sufficiently helpful, and the mercenaries and knights had performed beyond expectations.

Seeing the enemy commander sneakily trying to flee upfront, it seemed that the operation outside the gate had also concluded successfully.

All that was left was to deal with the three berserk black monsters and the enemy commander. Raul, ensuring he didn’t stray too far from the fortress, chased after Jack, mocking his foolishness.

‘It’s clear as day what you’re thinking. Too bad things won’t go your way.’

Just as in his past life, the Imperial Hounds always hid a certain number of monsters somewhere to prevent players from clearing the gate.

After all, it prevented their prey from escaping the gate.

Now, with the tables turned, they might think to deal with the hidden monsters and escape from the gate….

‘That trick isn’t exclusive to you guys.’

Inside the fortress that Raul had established were several monsters, not killed, but captured and kept securely. In other words, they were just rats trapped in a poison jar.

Furthermore, Raul still had plenty of operating time left for his power armor. Compared to the first activation of the Regnator, Raul himself had undergone tremendous growth.

With his level, realm, and proficiency supporting him, and having consistently practiced controlling the power armor, the Regnator’s operating time had increased from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

“I still a long way to go.”

The extent to which one needed to reach to fully harness the capabilities of the Regnator was still beyond comprehension. At that moment, Jack, who had been leading the way, changed his course drastically.

Until now, he had been casually roaming around the fortress, keeping an eye on Raul’s movements. But now, he seemed determined and started sprinting towards the fortress.

“He’s caught on!”

Although he wasn’t entirely sure, it seemed he had guessed there was something at the fortress.

“Philip!”

Raul, followed by Philip, signaled something and surged forward with explosive speed, quickly catching up to Jack.

With the combined strength of two power armors and psychokinesis, they moved as fast as a rocket.

Jack, however, was not to be underestimated.

Unlike the “Emperor’s Brand” given to ordinary soldiers, the “Emperor’s Sigil” amplified abilities more explosively.

Covered almost entirely in red sigils, Jack managed to stay just ahead of Raul. Soon, the fortress loomed before them.

“Regrettable, but it’s time to wrap this up.”

The length of today’s battle was solely due to Raul’s will. He had the upper hand from the start and could have won in a head-to-head confrontation.

But Raul’s goal wasn’t just victory. The knights of the First Knight Order had become too powerful too quickly. Compared to their new strength, they lacked practical experience.

Moreover, real combat experience between power armor users! It was an opportunity too good to pass up. But that was enough. He wasn’t some comic book hero to prolong the enemy’s hope by sparing them.

Raul conjured a spear he had set aside.

-[The Regnator has detected a fragment of forbidden power.]

-Do you wish to temporarily release the seal according to the pact? (Remaining time: 8 minutes and 22 seconds)

Unlike previous instances of going berserk upon detecting dark magic, this time Raul was given a choice.

Releasing the seal would grant immense power for a short period, but afterward, the power armor would forcibly deactivate, leaving him defenseless. Naturally, Raul had no choice but to use the [Regnator Awakening], his final move, cautiously.

‘And now is exactly the right time.’

Without hesitation, Raul activated his ultimate technique.

‘Release the seal!’

Whoooosh!

A massive golden wave swept across the battlefield, and Raul, now in complete golden armor, looked at Jack with a serene gaze. As Jack felt the enormous energy from behind and reflexively turned around,

Swoosh!

Raul extended his hand, and the radiant light enveloping him transformed into the shape of a hand and grasped Jack tightly.

“Arghhh!”

As if doused in acid, Jack’s power armor corroded with steam rising, and he screamed in agony as if his skin was melting off.

‘No, this can’t be happening! I must resort to my last option….’

But Jack didn’t have that chance. Philip had stealthily approached and was swinging his sword while Raul immobilized Jack’s movements.

“Could it, possibly…!?”

Swish!

Jack’s voice, startled, dissipated futilely into the air.

Thud.

A body, now without its head, fell powerless to the ground.

“Woah!!!”

“We won!!!”

At the same time, the mercenaries gathered atop the fortress walls burst into cheers of joy. It wasn’t merely the joy of victory in battle.

“Did you see!? The brilliant light enveloping young master Raul! And the light’s fist punishing evil!”

“It’s clear now. Our employer is an emissary of the divine!”

“I knew it from the start, think about it. If not for divine blessing, how could it be that none of us have perished till now?”

“Damn. I’m definitely following young master Raul from here on! An army of the divine! My childhood dream coming true like this….”

The mercenaries were convinced that Raul was a divine apostle. After witnessing such a scene, who could deny that fact?

While the excited mercenaries cheered, the handling of the frenzied black beasts on the neighboring battlefield appeared to be finished. Knights, as if they had been waiting, surrounded Raul.

“Cough.”

Raul, whose power armor was now deactivated, spat out a bit of blood. Thankfully, it seemed the knights shielded him so the mercenaries didn’t witness this scene.

“Phew, well done everyone.”

Raul, barely calming his insides, smiled and commended his subordinates. However, it wasn’t over quite yet.

“Sir Jake, take swift subordinates and deal with the remnants of the enemy. Sir Pierce, gather the enemy’s remnants and clean any unnecessary traces. Homer and the rest of the knights prepare the fortress for our retreat.”

“Leave it to us!”

Following the orders, the knights began their cleanup, leaving only Philip beside Raul.

“Sir Philip, congratulations. Not much left now.”

At Raul’s words, Philip bowed graciously, a warm smile on his face.

“Thank you. This is all thanks to the master. I will continue to refine myself to be of further assistance to you!”

The sword that Philip wielded, ending Jack in a fleeting moment, undoubtedly held an ‘Aura Blade’.

Of course, this didn’t mean that Philip had reached the realm of a Sword Master. Being able to condense power to momentarily create an Aura Blade signified that he had reached the very brink of a Sword Expert.

And it also meant he had earned the qualification to become a true Master.

‘Hmm. If Sir Philip reaches the realm of a Master before father does, that wouldn’t bode well for his reputation?’

Though a stray thought crossed his mind, Raul’s plan to nurture those around him to prepare for the future was smoothly progressing.

And not long after, the short yet intense Gate expedition concluded.

* * *

“What have you found?”

“It looks quite difficult. Not just one but all of them have become imbeciles… Truly despicable ones.”

In the manor’s conference room, Raul and the guild’s executives were all gathered. Two days had already passed since the clash with the Imperial Hounds.

Currently, the capital of the Ruben Kingdom, Thurium, was engulfed in immense chaos and anxiety due to the emergence of the empire’s mage-troopers and the intelligence department.

Raul revealed the corpses of mage-troopers and empire armor users that he had obtained from the gate, making no effort to hide them. It was only natural that it caused a commotion.

The investigation team from the palace, based on the testimonies and evidence from Raul and the mercenaries, hastily embarked on tracking down the empire’s intelligence department, though there wasn’t much optimism about it.

More proactive were the families to which the missing punitive forces belonged. Setting aside the tangible losses, the family’s honor was at stake, so remaining silent even after learning the identity of the culprits was out of the question.

They even mobilized their private soldiers to turn the capital’s back alleys upside down. Meanwhile, the Mage Towers and mages set their sights on the corpses of the mage-troopers and the empire’s power armor.

It hadn’t even been a few days yet various Mage Towers had expressed their intent to purchase, and even an executive from the Mages’ Association visited the manor. The temple was also not idle.

Not only were these no ordinary imperial soldiers, but the emergence of black magic gave the temple ample reason to act.

They were curious about the rumors claiming Raul to be a messenger of the gods, but Raul avoided the priests, using his physical condition as an excuse.

At least in matters related to divine power or religion, caution was Raul’s mantra.

Nonetheless, Raul managed to distribute the spoils appropriately to keep the various factions from being dissatisfied, naturally reaping significant profits in the process.

Only after such arrangements were made could everyone gather in the conference room like this.

“Sigh. So what we’ve learned is that some of them were disguised as soldiers of the capital’s defense forces? If only we had a bit more of a clue…”

“My apologies.”

As Raul sighed, Bernard bowed his head. However, this was not a problem that could be blamed on anyone. The mages they had almost captured alive within the gate died from explosive tattoos.

Those who made a passage with a chaos engine outside the gate were hiding in the basement of a nearby house.

Bernard and the remaining guild members found them, relying on hints from previous life memories, but the moment they were caught, all of them turned into imbeciles.

Though expected, it was still disappointing.

‘If only we had a proper intelligence organization…’

But what could be done about something that didn’t exist?

“Let’s conclude the investigation on these scoundrels for now. They’ll show up again before long, and we’ll target them then. Deliver the prisoners quietly to Master Gray at the academy. Master Gray might find something.”

“We will do so.”

“And the preparations for tomorrow’s event?”

“We are ensuring everything is prepared as smoothly as possible.”

Tomorrow was the day of the Knights’ Association’s knighting ceremony.

Due to various events overlapping, it wouldn’t be as grand as in previous years, but it was a significant appointment.

‘Tomorrow. Our First Knight Order will show what it’s truly made of!’

Raul’s eyes sparkled fiercely with a firm resolution.

(To be continued)