MarcTempest
Editor: Himanshu02A week later
“All the representatives of the six clans have gathered.”
“Good job.”
After receiving the report, Karim looked at Eurius and opened his mouth.
“I’ve prepared everything as you said. But can we really catch that bastard Jamir?”
“Don’t worry too much and just follow the plan. We already have him by the tail.”
“If you say so, I’ll trust you.”
Karim’s tone had noticeably brightened over the past week.
It was because Eurius had helped him detoxify the king of Parthia several times.
He didn’t show it much on the surface, but he had no reason not to trust Eurius’s words in this situation.
‘Whatever his purpose is, he is a great benefactor to me right now.’
Karim sorted out his thoughts and then spoke again with a strange tone.
“By the way, what have you been doing lately? It’s not like the first prince to walk around like that…”
“Oh, this?”
Eurius looked at his outfit with a sheepish expression.
He had changed into a blue martial arts uniform that he said he wore when he trained in the east.
The problem was not his unusual attire, but his appearance.
“Did you get into a fight or something? That doesn’t seem likely.”
“Let’s just say it’s something similar, haha!”
Eurius was covered in sweat and dirt all over his body.
He actually wanted to wash up, but he heard that the six clans meeting was about to start soon, so he hurried over to Karim for the final plan review.
‘It’s not very prince-like, I admit. But the result is pretty good, so I’m glad.’
Eurius recalled what happened a while ago.
“You’ve been saying this for a week, but your progress is really fast. You can even use it in real combat now… It’s honestly a miracle.”
“I’m sure it’s because of your good teaching. And I’ll tell you why after I finish my mission in the desert.”
‘This can’t be just a matter of that.’
Jegal Geon didn’t show it outwardly, but he was shocked on the first day.
The martial art that Eurius asked him to teach was very mysterious.
“By the way, have you arranged the seats in the meeting hall?”
“The experts from the three clans are all ready.”
“Then do your best according to the plan!”
‘Today, no matter what the outcome is, things will be settled in the desert.’
Eurius called some knights and entrusted them with something.
“This time, it might be a more fierce battle than the northern war. What do you think you have to do?”
“Of course, we have to win, don’t we?”
Linfield opened his mouth with a puzzled look.
What else could there be for a knight who goes into battle?
“No.”
Eurius cut him off sharply.
“…”
As silence fell among the knights, Eurius opened his mouth again.
“All of you here are the ones I trust the most and also have the best skills in our Scharnos Knight Order, right?”
The people he gathered were Beatrix, Heinz, Linfield, some squad leaders, and finally Cain.
“Take care of the other knights, especially avoid casualties. This is a foreign country and we don’t need to seek glory here.”
As Eurius said, the knights here were skilled enough to protect themselves even in the worst situation.
‘Actually, I’m asking you to carry a heavy burden. But please do me a favor!’
For a moment, all the knights felt a lump in their hearts.
‘It’s rare to have a lord who cares about not only the officers but also the ordinary knights.’
Among them, the most complicated person was Cain.
He was actually one of the most ostracized people in the knight order at first.
But after going through harsh special training and fighting in the martial arts tournament, his reputation changed.
“Cain. You’re a good fighter. You endured that kind of training. That’s not something you can do with ordinary perseverance.”
“I saw your performance in the tournament! You’re one of our knight order’s pride!”
Cain never dreamed that he would receive such attention from the knight order, so it was an unfamiliar feeling.
He still looked awkward as he looked at Eurius.
In fact, everything he achieved was dragged by Eurius by force.
‘Protecting people…’
That’s how a small change occurred in his mind.
***
“From now on, we will start the six clans meeting!”
With Karim’s voice as the leader of the meeting instead of the king, the meeting finally began.
“Today’s agenda is to ask for help from the empire to attack Kalihara. What do you think of each faction’s representatives?”
“It wouldn’t be bad if they offer fair compensation, right? We have some loyalty to them too…”
“That’s absurd! They say they’re allies, but they’re asking us to be their shields. How is that different?”
“Our faction will follow the result without any objection if there is a unanimous decision from the other factions.”
As expected, the meeting was divided into three opinions.
The factions that supported Jamir generally expressed favorable opinions to the empire, and the factions that followed Karim were strongly opposed.
Of course, there were also factions that maintained neutrality. But since the pros and cons were so fierce, it was hard to see a conclusion. In the midst of that, someone raised a question.
“By the way, where is the first prince who came to negotiate?”
“Are they not coming out today because it’s up to us to decide? Tsk!”
There was no one to answer their complaints, as Eurius, the representative of the empire who should have explained something, was nowhere to be seen in the meeting hall.‘What do you want me to do? Seriously!’
Wallace, who attended the meeting on behalf of Eurius, felt like his stomach was burning.
He could see that this meeting was meaningless.
In the meantime, he also had a question in his head.
‘Where is Prince Jamir, who is on our side?’
He thought that Eurius and Jamir were the core of this negotiation, but he couldn’t find out where they went.
‘And Karim doesn’t give any answers either.’
Karim only intervened quietly as the moderator when things got heated, but he didn’t express his opinion or anything.
He looked like a complete bystander.
As the fruitless meeting went on, suddenly the door of the meeting hall opened.
Squeak.
“Ah! I’m sorry for interrupting the meeting.”
“Prince Jamir?”
“Jamir?”
The person who ran into the meeting hall was none other than Jamir.
“You didn’t show up at such an important meeting, what’s going on?”
Karim interrogated Jamir with a sharp tone. But Jamir had already regained his color and spoke with a rare serious expression.
“I apologize to you, brother, but I have obtained important information. I thought I had to tell you here, so I ran over.”
“Important information?”
All eyes in the hall focused on Jamir in an instant.
‘He won’t be able to escape this time, right?’
Jamir smiled inwardly and opened his mouth.
“There is someone among our Parthia’s influential people who is secretly colluding with the enemy and moving the army!”
“What are you talking about?”
Karim asked hastily, and Wallace, who was sitting next to him, turned pale.
It was obvious who it was.
Jamir looked disappointed as he shook his head and looked straight at Karim.
“Isn’t it you, brother? And the trader Count Wallace next to you!”
Buzz buzz.
The meeting hall plunged into chaos in an instant.
There were suspicions about Karim, but Wallace was a noble of the imperial faction, wasn’t he? It was hard to say that he had nothing to do with Eurius, who was not here.
‘With this, I can trap both Karim and that first prince!’
Of course, he couldn’t execute Eurius right away with such a thing, but he could at least imprison him and then deal with him later.
“Do you have any evidence?”
Karim answered emotionlessly, but of course Jamir was confident about that too.
“You still don’t admit your guilt.”
He took out a document from his pocket.
“This is the status of the faction’s warriors and commanders that you moved to the empire. If you investigate, you can confirm their absence right away!”
The status of the troops could be dismissed as impossible to verify immediately because the desert was so vast. But high-ranking personnel such as unit commanders and warriors were not something that could be hidden anywhere.
‘I investigated thoroughly using the information network of the sect. There’s no way it’s wrong!’
As long as decisive evidence came out, Karim was in a situation where he couldn’t do anything.
Everyone in the hall watched his reaction in silence.
“Is this what you brought as evidence?”
“…!?”
Karim gestured to his subordinate and opened his mouth.
“Check the people on this list.”
A moment later, Jamir found himself in a difficult situation.
The people on that list were all fine in the capital.
Karim scolded him coldly.
“Did you try to frame me?”
“…”
‘That can’t be?’
Jamir couldn’t help but panic inwardly.
It was certain information that Karim had joined hands with the empire for years to keep him in check.
Squeak
At that tense moment, the door opened again.
“Sorry for being late.”
The person who opened the door was Eurius himself.
“Thank you for your trouble, Your highness.”
And Karim bowed politely.
The situation in the hall was bewildered again. But those who saw him soon showed a look of horror.
“Your Majesty?”
“Weren’t you in a coma?”
Eurius had brought in Parthia’s king.
At that moment, Jamir’s face turned ashen.
He knew what this meant.
Parthia’s King Saladin III still had a weak expression, but the poison had mostly worn off and he opened his mouth with difficulty.
“You know what crime you committed. The things you gave me as medicine were all deadly poisons.”
Eurius also opened his mouth.
“And according to my personal investigation from the empire, you have been in contact with Kalihara continuously. You must have been supporting them financially.”
He had already obtained a list of related people by investigating Jamir’s surroundings through the Hidden Moon Hall
He also withdrew Karim’s warriors from the empire by working with him.
“The reason why you held this six factions meeting is probably to politically oust him.”“My only weakness is that he somehow noticed that I sent troops to the empire.”
“The troop dispatch itself can be denied by saying it wasn’t me who did it. But it would be troublesome if there were no commanders.”
A week was not enough time to withdraw the troops, but it was enough time for the dispatched commanders and warriors to secretly return to the capital.
‘This is an unexpected blow.’
The eyes of everyone in the hall were already focused on Jamir.
It was a meeting where all the influential people of each faction gathered.
It was the worst situation for him to be exposed here.
Soon a message came into his mind.
“I don’t forgive mistakes three times.”
As soon as he heard that voice, Jamir closed his eyes tightly.
This time he would receive a proper punishment.
His body glowed black faintly and then flew toward Karim in an instant.
“Stop him!”
The warriors who were ready to capture Jamir quickly threw themselves toward Karim.
‘Glory to Heimdall…’
That was Jamir’s last thought in his life.
Boom!
Jamir’s body swelled up and exploded in a flash.
And his flesh and bones turned into terrifying weapons and flew in all directions.
“Aaargh!”
All the warriors around him were either killed or severely injured by the intense explosion.
“Prepare for the attack!”
The knights and the people of the Hidden Moon Hall who were on standby rushed into the room at Eurius’s command.
‘They’re not ordinary lunatics, are they?’
He didn’t expect them to sacrifice Jamir, who looked like a high-ranking official, so casually.
But that decision was very appropriate. Most of Karim’s warriors were incapacitated.
“Cough cough, that bastard made a pretty good choice at the end. The annoying ones have been reduced by half.”
An old man with gray eyes, Ismail, walked slowly into the room, smiling wickedly.
His intense magic made Jegal Geon and the people of the Hidden Moon Hall frown.
“Your highness, is he perhaps?”
“I’ll deal with him. You take care of the others with the knights.”
“Be careful. I can feel at least an elder-level magic from him.”
“I know. Isn’t that why I went through all that trouble with you?”
Eurius also moved slowly and blocked Ismail’s way.
It was time to test what he had prepared.
“Hm?”
When a young man in blue blocked his way, Ismail looked at Eurius with curiosity and scanned him up and down.
Soon his eyes pierced Eurius’s Camouflage and changed to a sharp expression.
“So you were the rat from back then. You said you were the first prince?”
He was already annoyed by the fact that he had let him go at that time. His hand stretched out toward Eurius in an instant.
‘Eek!’
Eurius dodged Ismail’s hand that was attacking him.
He admired him inwardly, but he didn’t doubt his victory for a moment.
“You’re pretty good for your age, but you’re still a brat!”
As he said, if they fought normally, Eurius had almost no chance of beating him.
But did he have to fight him head-on and win?
‘He can’t even hide his presence. And on this side, it’s instant death if you get hit properly, and defense by force is impossible. Then there’s only one answer.’
Swoosh.
Ismail’s left hand barely grazed Eurius’s shoulder again. The skin on his shoulder died black where his hand touched.
“…!?”
But Ismail’s expression changed to confusion.
Normally, he would have backed away because he didn’t want to die, but Eurius rather jumped forward.
And the speed at which he charged was as fast as lightning.
Bang!
He rammed Ismail with his shoulder.
“Cough!”
Ismail had prepared a defense magic in advance, so he didn’t suffer a fatal injury, but he had no choice but to retreat.
His Hand of Decay was powerful. But his main job was a high priest of the Archbishop level.
If he had to fight in such a close range, he would be disadvantaged compared to a warrior.
‘Sure enough, that movement is the martial art of the White Tiger Sect…’
Jegal Geon was observing Eurius while dealing with the assassins of the sect who followed Ismail into the room.
The movement that Eurius showed looked like a martial art at first glance, but it was a precise movement calculated by formulas.
He had been teaching Eurius about close combat for the past week.
The knights of this continent mostly learned only swords, but the warriors of the eastern continent learned martial arts such as fists and palms as well as close combat when they entered martial arts.
“That damn brat!”
Ismail was furious.
If he had a little gap to widen the distance, he would have retreated and restrained him with magic, but Eurius was stubbornly holding him and forcing him into close combat.
Of course, his hand was still threatening in close combat, but Eurius’s senses were sharp beyond belief.
He kept dodging his hand by a hair’s breadth and attacked him with close combat using fists, feet, shoulders, and anything else.
This was the close combat technique that he learned from Lee Cheongmun’s legacy, the White Tiger Defense Technique.
He had been training steadily, but he couldn’t master it very well.
It seemed that martial arts had to be trained in the eastern way to improve quickly.
On top of that, he absorbed Jegal Geon’s inner energy a while ago and increased his agility with Azure Dragon’s Breath.
Finally, he had been training steadily and he was able to master the close combat technique in just a week with the help of the system!
In one corner of his sight where he was fighting against a strong enemy, the system’s notification window kept popping up.
[The proficiency of Life-and-Death Fist, a derivative martial art of White Tiger Protection Technique, increases.]
[Life-and-Death Fist – If you complete it with Lee Cheongmun’s bare-handed close combat technique, it is one of the top-class martial arts that has no match in close combat.]
Ismail felt an unexpected threat to his life as he was being hit hard.
‘This is dangerous.’