Eurius’s guess was simple.

“They must be trying to get rid of the Grand Duke even inside the palace, so they wouldn’t miss this opportunity to attack this place where the main force has left.”

In other words, it was evidence destruction.

Of course, he could tell that this castle’s strength was not that weak just by looking at the old man named Victor, but the enemy would know that too.

“Who are they, if you call them enemies?”

“You seem to be a close aide of the Grand Duke, since you know about the basement and all. Then you should have some idea, shouldn’t you?”

“…”

Victor fell into a brief silence.

The Grand Duke had occasionally taken him along to ‘some place’ for years or months.

He was the coachman who drove the carriage when they contacted the black market.

Eurius asked again.

“And can you tell me more about the Grand Duke? I’ve read some of his writings, but they don’t answer all my questions.”

“Hoo…”

Victor finally let out a heavy sigh and opened his mouth.

“You must already know about Gladius.”

“So they are related to their secret?”

“The Grand Duke was a very spirited person in his youth. He was one of the rare talents among the Grand Dukes in history.”

His tone sounded like he was treating the old Grand Duke as a young man full of vigor. Eurius asked with a curious expression.

“How old are you?”

“I’m over eighty this year.”

‘My goodness…’

Victor’s age was at least twenty more than Eurius had expected.

He thought he would be similar to the Grand Duke, but he wasn’t.

He got up and bowed politely to Eurius.

“I wanted to bury the past, but I guess I have no choice. I am Victor Olaf, the former leader of Gladius.”

“Hmm…”

Then it made sense why he had such a strong man as a mere butler.

“As you saw, the fragment of the feather is a sacred object that has been passed down to the Grand Dukes of Heaven Guard. As you can see, Gladius was not only a secret military organization, but also a keeper of the emperor’s legacy.”

“And they also had the role of delivering it to those who inherited the blood of the emperor?”

“That’s right. But the first Grand Duke was the only disciple of the emperor, so he was not forbidden to learn it in principle.”

“Huh? You mean even those who don’t inherit the blood of the player can learn the legacy?”

“That’s what the emperor said. Otherwise, the Grand Duke wouldn’t have been so obsessed with his research.”

Here Victor cautiously added.

“The Grand Duke didn’t seem to care much about passing on the legacy itself. He was just bothered by the fact that he couldn’t learn it himself.”

The reason why the Grand Duke hated the Imperial Family except Leonhardt was not because of their aptitude as players, but because he had an absolute confidence in his talent and yet he couldn’t learn the legacy properly.

“I didn’t hear much about it, but I heard that those who have thick blood of players can learn the legacy much easier.”

“Hmm… It’s not exact, but it’s similar.”

Eurius bit his tongue here. He could understand some of the Grand Duke’s feelings.

‘Damn! The player’s acquisition function is really cheating.’

It was just a matter of proficiency, as long as he simply touched the legacy, he would get all the basic information in his head.

It would have been frustrating for the Grand Duke who had devoted his life to swordsmanship to know this.

The legacy must have been lost at some point because there was no one in the Imperial Family who could learn it.

But understanding didn’t mean that his sin was gone.

“Even so, the first Grand Duke didn’t tell them to raise a rebellion against the Imperial Family. You have to admit that crime. Don’t you?”

“I have nothing to say about that.”

Victor bowed his head with a solemn face. Treason was treason.

Eurius could leave them alone now that he had recovered the legacy. No, it would be better. It was called evidence destruction, but why should he save one side when they were fighting each other?

“…”

“But I’ll help you guys.”

This was both a promise and a deal. He would have been disappointed with what he got this time if there were no results from the Grand Duke’s research.

In fact, until he arrived, Eurius’s thought was half to save them and half to leave them alone. They might have attacked him outright.

But Victor, who didn’t know that, had no choice but to look at him with surprise again.

‘Is he generous or does he want us to join him?’

Actually, Victor was thinking of taking the remaining remnants to Leonhardt, who the Grand Duke had loved in his lifetime. He was the second prince, so he wouldn’t treat them harshly.As he received his doubtful gaze, Eurius got up.

“I’ve heard enough, so I guess we should prepare for defense now?”

***

A while later, the two who came out to the outer castle were discussing the attack. Of course, it wasn’t a serious conversation from the beginning.

“Are you really going to help us?”

“Do I have to swear by the name of the Imperial Family? Don’t worry and let my knights in first. They must be tired after running for three days.”

“…”

Seeing Eurius’s calm tone, Victor finally decided to trust him. If he wanted to wipe them out, he wouldn’t bother to lie.

‘And there’s nothing to see in this place that’s already a shell without the Grand Duke and the main force.’

He finished his thoughts and finally talked about the castle’s strength.

“There are quite a few knights left in Heaven Guard, but if you pick out the elites, there’s not much. It’s impossible to defend everywhere against a large-scale attack.”

But Eurius shook his head.

“The enemy’s goal is not simple slaughter, but evidence destruction.”

It was difficult to get rid of everyone in a castle of this size. So he thought they only had to defend the main points.

“Do you know where the enemy’s targets are?”

“First of all, the knight’s quarters in the outer castle and the places where the Grand Duke’s relatives live will definitely be targeted.”

There were also other places in the outer castle, such as the office where the officials lived and the Grand Duke’s mansion where important documents were stored.

“And the inner castle will be the whole area of ​​the enemy’s attack.”

The inner castle was a forbidden area where only the Grand Duke and a few followers could enter.

It looked like a mysterious area even at a glance, and they would probably try to get rid of him even if he was an intruder.

“So I think it would be better to give up other places and gather all the people in the inner castle and defend it.”

The inner castle would be the enemy’s ultimate goal anyway. So he suggested that it would be better to stick together and defend only the most important place than to split up their scarce power.

But Eurius had a different opinion.

“What if the outer castle is completely destroyed or burned by the enemy? Can you bear that?”

“Of course, it’s a pity, but…”

Victor also wanted to minimize the damage as the manager of the castle.

But the enemy they were facing this time was not easy.

The Grand Duke had warned him several times about their fearsomeness in his lifetime.

Eurius didn’t know much either, but he guessed the enemy’s strength by looking at his reaction.

‘They must have a lot of power, that black market place.’

It was natural, since they seemed to be related to the cult. It wouldn’t be a weak enemy that made him rush over.

He smiled and gave his opinion.

“I have a different idea, can you hear me out?”

“Please tell me.”

Victor widened his wrinkled eyes when he heard Eurius’s opinion.

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Of course. Then we can reduce the damage to the castle and save our people, so it’s a win-win situation, isn’t it?”

“But what about His Grace…”

“Don’t you know who I defeated to get here?”

“…”

Victor remained silent.

He had guessed it when he heard that the Grand Duke had left his legacy and died, but if he said it so confidently, there was only one conclusion.

‘Did he really win against His Grace in a frontal battle at such a young age?’

The silence was broken and Victor opened his mouth. His eyes were still doubtful, but the evidence was so clear that he couldn’t deny it.

“Then I guess we can go with this plan.”

“That’s settled then! I appreciate your cooperation.”

Eurius grinned and reached out his hand to him.

***

It was the second night since Eurius arrived at Heaven Guard.

“Yawn.”

Two soldiers were patrolling the wall with two people per shift.

One of them yawned as if he was bored with the night shift.

The other soldier also looked anxious and asked.

“Sergeant, how long will this alert last?”

The older soldier who had yawned first grumbled and answered.

“I don’t know. I’ve been working here for ten years, but this is the first time this happened. The first prince, the alert order, what’s going on?”

Who would dare to attack the Grand Duke’s castle? And the first prince suddenly visited with his knights and stayed in the castle without coming out properly.

“Anyway, the thoughts of those high-ups are… Huh?”

Swoosh.

The soldier who had been complaining turned his head back. He felt something cold passing by his neck.

Splash.

His head was cut off cleanly as if slicing an apple, and blood spurted out like a fountain.

“…!?”

The rookie soldier opened his eyes wide and looked at the scene, then quickly reached for his waist.

His seniors were so complacent in the long peace that they didn’t even carry their weapons properly, but he was diligent and always carried a signal whistle with him.

Whoo!

The sound echoed throughout the wall.

The rookie soldier flushed and then his face darkened again.

Someone who could approach without any sign and cut off the soldiers’ necks would not leave him alone.

He completed his mission and closed his eyes tightly.

He also felt a cold touch on his neck.

Swoosh

‘Oh… Being a guard at Heaven Guard is not a sweet job! I’m going to hell at this young age.’

“Huh?”

The next moment, the rookie soldier opened his eyes that he had closed. Surprisingly, his body was intact.

Then what was that cold feeling on his neck?

Whoo!

He blew the whistle again with force and tilted his head.

‘It was cold, but it felt like someone was stroking my neck?’

***

‘Yeah! Soldiers should be diligent like that!’

The man wearing a golden mask hummed a tune and jumped over the wall lightly.

The cold feeling that the soldiers had felt was his doing.

Of course, he didn’t stroke them because they were pretty.

‘I need to cause some chaos in the castle so that it’s easier to do my job.’

There was no way he would fail this time since he came here himself.

It wouldn’t hurt to show some mercy to one or two soldiers, right?

He heard a signal from his followers who were connected by telepathy in his head.

“Owner, all the other prisoners have completed their infiltration.”

“Then just go ahead. Don’t miss any of the knights or important people I told you about.”

“Yes sir.”

His followers were all deployed to the outer castle.

He thought they would be enough for that.

Swoosh!

The man hummed a tune and walked lightly, but he crossed the outer castle in an instant and reached the wall of the inner castle.

‘I’m sorry to the dead Gladius, but this is the cult’s business, so I can’t help it.’

He jumped over the wall and moved to the inside of the inner castle.

“Shall we begin?”

He stretched his arms and kept them up.

“What are you going to start?”

“Ah?”

Clang!

The man twisted his waist back.

At the same time, blood spurted from his chest.

An invisible slash had grazed his chest.

The slash was deep enough to cause serious injury to anyone, but the man jumped back and laughed.

“Who are you, I thought you were the prince?”

“You seem to know me too, huh?”

Eurius also smiled back and looked at him.

‘He’s bigger than I thought, but why does his stat look like that?’

[???]

Job: Merchant, Archbishop (Heimdall Cult)

Strength: C Agility: C Intelligence: S Spirit: A Dark Power: SS

Disposition: Greed, Fanatic

[Trait]

???