Chapter 18
“Is that so.”
When I showed no interest whatsoever, Catherine’s face fell in disappointment.
“Why aren’t you asking who it was?”
“Not really curious.”
“Come on! Get curious already!”
Catherine threw a childish tantrum, as if she’d flop onto the floor right then and there if I didn’t ask.
Really, this prince’s palace was full of nothing but troublesome people.
‘Maybe I should’ve just left her locked in the storeroom the whole time.’
I let out a short sigh as I harbored a thought that would make Catherine faint if she knew.
“Who did you see?”
“The Wolf King!”
Wolf King?
Whoever he was, that was one cringeworthy title.
“You can’t mean you’ve never heard of him? He’s the most famous person on the continent right now?”
Catherine made a huge fuss over my nonchalant reaction.
“The young king of the new Adamant Kingdom, Your Highness! The Knight King! The hegemon of the west!”
The new Adamant Kingdom?
‘I never heard that name before I died.’
A kingdom I didn’t know about, even though I had the whole continent mapped out in my head.
“When was this country founded?”
“About a year ago, I think?”
It really was a brand-new nation, so fresh the ink on the map hadn’t even dried.
“Is he that famous?”
“Of course he is! He destroyed the Lionel Kingdom and practically unified the entire west!”
This time, I couldn’t help but be genuinely shocked.
The western continent was a place riddled with magic beast lairs everywhere, and it bordered barbarian lands, so conflicts never ceased.
That was why countless kingdoms had sprouted up like mushrooms only to vanish again and again.
Only one had lasted a mere hundred years so far.
‘The ruler of the west, the Lionel Kingdom.’
He’d destroyed even that Lionel Kingdom and founded a new one.
In that moment, my eyes caught sight of Edwin and Emilia playing off in the distance.
The Lionel Kingdom was the homeland of the third consort—and the children’s maternal family.
For that place to vanish from the map meant those young ones truly had no one left to lean on.
“They say he can take on over a hundred magic beasts all by himself! And apparently, he came to the empire this time for the magic beast subjugation.”
Take on a hundred magic beasts alone? Exaggeration had its limits.
‘Magic beasts’ were wicked, powerful creatures born from mana.
Even the most skilled knight had to stake their life to face just one.
So the idea that a single human could handle a hundred was pure nonsense.
‘Wait.’
A certain memory suddenly flashed through my mind.
‘That king is staying at the imperial palace?’
I recalled the mysterious man I’d encountered not long ago.
The man who had stood at the emperor’s side, clad head to toe in jet-black armor.
“By any chance, does this Wolf King have golden eyes?”
“Oh my, how did you know?”
Catherine’s eyes went wide at my question.
“People are saying those eyes make him even scarier. They say it feels just like staring into a magic beast.”
A frown creased my brow in an instant.
I turned my head, and there were Edwin and Emilia, playing in the dirt a short distance away.
“Brother, what’s this red one?”
“It’s a ladybug. Have you never seen one before, Lia?”
“Nope! It’s so pretty! Like a ruby!”
The kids were still laughing innocently.
For some reason, a pang tugged at a corner of my heart.
I couldn’t say why.
* * *
Splash.
The magic beast’s blood sprayed out as its hide split open and entrails spilled forth.
The empire’s soldiers all stood there with mouths agape, staring at the scene.
‘Impressive, indeed.’
Even Emperor Kabelius III, watching from the rear of the subjugation force, had a glint in his eye.
‘A wandering mercenary, they said. Fitting.’
It had been three days since Kaiden had led his knight order in slaughtering the magic beasts appearing near the Ventrum Empire’s border.
Even mobilizing half the imperial knight order’s forces hadn’t reduced their numbers, but in just two days, they’d been halved.
The one who’d made the impossible possible was none other than Adamant’s knight commander and king, Kaiden.
Slash, stab, slash.
Sounds that chilled the spine to the bone echoed loudly.
Unlike the frowning spectators, the performer himself, Kaiden, remained utterly expressionless.
“My liege, we told you to leave the dismantling to us!”
His adjutant, Oliver, came rushing over at the sight.
He too was covered head to toe in magic beast blood, looking utterly ferocious.
“I’ve just prepped the tough tendons that are hard to cut. Handle the rest yourselves.”
Kaiden gave a light smile as he looked at his flustered adjutant.
Then he leaped lightly down from the magic beast’s corpse.
“Yes! What are you lot standing around for? Get to processing them!”
Under Oliver’s command, Adamant’s knights bustled about among the dead magic beast corpses.
The imperial knights and soldiers joined in belatedly, but unlike the proficient Adamant knights, they looked a bit clumsy.
“With this pace on the second day of subjugation, we might head back home even sooner.”
“Are you that eager to return already, Sir Oliver?”
“Of course. Who doesn’t want to go home? Unlike my liege, I have a bunny of a wife and three foxy kids waiting.”
Oliver grumbled on as he wiped the blood from his face.
“Oh, almost forgot. While we’re in the empire, I should stock up on rose perfume.”
“Rose perfume? Do your daughters complain about the blood smell on you?”
“No, it’s for my wife. And my daughters wouldn’t know blood from a mile away—I scrub so hard in the knight order barracks before heading home…”
Oliver trailed off from his complaining and changed the subject.
“Your Highness should pick up a souvenir too. They sell jasmine perfume as well?”
Adamant’s young king had a habit of using jasmine-scented soap, which didn’t quite suit him.
Jasmine was a fragrance usually favored by ladies, making the mismatch all the more striking.
“But don’t you get tired of the same scent after using it so long?”
“Not at all.”
“Wow, is there a reason you like jasmine that much?”
“There is.”
Kaiden brushed off the blood from his face and hair, chuckling.
“When I smell that fragrance, it feels like I’m back home.”
It didn’t make sense to Oliver.
He despised the laughter and temptations of women doused in jasmine perfume.
Oliver furrowed his brow before shrugging it off.
He’d long since given up trying to fully understand his liege.
“The rumors seem to have underestimated you. You’re worthy of being called a war god.”
Kaiden inclined his head toward the emperor, who had approached unnoticed.
“You honor me, Your Majesty.”
“Your Adamant knights’ magic beast extermination skills are truly splendid.”
The emperor smiled amiably as he watched the diligently working Adamant knights.
“It makes me wonder if that sharp sword tip would yield the same results against people instead of magic beasts.”
His face still wore that foolish grin, like some country bumpkin, but the words from his mouth carried clear thorns.
“Ah, on that front, you needn’t worry.”
Unlike his adjutant, who was breaking out in a cold sweat, Kaiden replied with a radiant smile.
“My men aren’t wild beasts off the leash—they’re knights who know chivalry.”
“Ho ho, is that so? Then that’s fortunate.”
The emperor clasped his hands behind his back and tilted his head slightly.
His pale blue eyes flashed with a cold, murderous glint for a moment.
“I, however, believe well-trained men are more dangerous than unleashed beasts.”
“Is that so.”
Even as he met the icy gaze directed straight at him, Kaiden didn’t lose his smile.
He casually wiped away the drops of blood falling from the armor encasing his shoulders.
“But as humans, we clearly distinguish where our strength should be used and where it shouldn’t.”
“Where it should be used, and where it shouldn’t?”
The emperor let out an intrigued hum at Kaiden’s words.
“Where should it be used, and where shouldn’t it?”
“Strength should be used to save lives, not to take them.”
Kaiden gave the emperor a gentle smile.
“As humans, shouldn’t we naturally respect the lives of other humans?”
Oliver’s eyes trembled faintly at his liege’s words.
Everyone on the continent knew that Emperor Kabelius III had slaughtered all his half-siblings to claim the throne.
To say such things to that emperor—as if those who didn’t respect human life weren’t human—was beyond bold.
“Haha, the king of Adamant is quite the amusing fellow.”
The emperor left a curt impression after hearing Kaiden out.
His expression was inscrutable, leaving it unclear if he was offended or not.
“Your Majesty, the prime minister has arrived at the border outpost. You must depart now.”
“Ah, yes.”
Fortunately or not, the emperor soon mounted his horse and left the subjugation site, using a council meeting as an excuse.
Without so much as a proper farewell to Kaiden, a king in name.
“You’ve surely earned his ire. Why make such needless remarks?”
Kaiden scowled as he dried his hair with a fresh towel amid his adjutant’s nagging.
“He provoked first, so I just parried. What’s the problem?”
“There’s plenty of problems! He’s the emperor of the empire!”
At his adjutant’s outburst, Kaiden drooped both eyebrows into a pitiful expression.
“Oh dear, then I suppose I’d better become a great nation’s king posthaste just to ease the sorrow. Or no—should I aim for emperor to satisfy our Sir Oliver?”
“My liege, this is the Ventrum Empire! I’m terrified someone might overhear!”
“Sorry my voice carries so well.”
“And where on earth did you even hear talk like that?”
“What talk.”
Oliver scowled as he shot back.
“About strength being used to save lives. You don’t believe that yourself.”
You’re the type to just kill anyone who annoys you.
Emperors or the lieges before his eyes—rulers were all cut from the same cloth at their core.
“Ah.”
Kaiden let out a short sigh and chuckled wryly.
“Truth is, those words…”
The young king squinted one eye playfully as he added one more line.
“…came from an assassin who came to kill me a long, long time ago.”
