Chapter 35: You're going to die by the hands of that insignificant bastard

“But is this young man the Vice-Commander of the Trian Knightly Order……?”

“Of course not.

He has gone to the communication room, Sir Kalton.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.

Then this person is……”

“This is Sir Muno Drasen.

He is the first young master of the Drasen family.”

“Ah?

But why……”

“Shh. Let’s just watch.”

Letting the conversation between Rasmia and the knight behind him go in one ear and out the other, Muno stared at the middle-aged man on the bed.

“You must be careful with your voices.

As you can see……”

He also ignored the cautious words of the old servant who was attending to the patient.

And once again, he focused his senses on Viscount Moeno Connell.

A sharp-featured, middle-aged man lying on a large bed with a pale complexion.

His face was completely drained of blood and two-thirds of his entire body was covered in bandages.

Just from the wounds peeking out, it looked as if he had suffered severe burns.

He looked just as he had been described, hovering between life and death.

But Muno’s senses were telling him something different.

- A well-prepared feast…….

No!

Forcibly suppressing the Demon Devourer that was trying to stir again, Muno observed the Viscount with cold eyes.

‘Only the shell is injured…….’

His vital signs on the surface—an irregular heartbeat and breathing, and a high body temperature—were certainly those of a critically ill patient.

However, from within the Viscount’s body, he could clearly feel a thick demonic energy that had been secretly concealed.

And that the demonic energy was ‘hiding’ the body’s life force.

It was a state where it seemed to be sustaining his life by boosting his life force little by little only when his wounds were about to worsen.

Anyone unable to see through that principle would likely misdiagnose the Viscount's condition.

Just like in Tinel’s case, they would think the demonic energy was hindering his recovery.

“He has not regained consciousness since that day.”

“Hmm……”

The servant’s words made Muno want to scoff.

‘He’s awake. His brain is perfectly fine.’

Because the Viscount’s entire body was steeped in thick demonic energy, he could feel it clearly.

It was almost like a biological map created by the demonic energy.

He could even see the process of the demonic energy moving according to signals from the Viscount’s brain to regulate his life force.

‘About 3-Circle level.’

He could grasp it in such detail, yet the priests and Spirit Masters hadn’t noticed?

“Lady Rasmia, can you feel demonic energy from the Viscount’s body?”

At his question, Rasmia looked at Muno with those same strange eyes and shook her head.

“I can only distinguish it if there is a magician casting a spell or directly utilizing magical power.

It’s difficult with just residual traces.”

“Could you explain in a little more detail?”

“We Spirit Masters determine the presence of magical power by observing the spirits that constitute the world screaming as they disappear or try to move away.

Even earlier, when the young master was drawing the demonic energy out of Sir Tinel’s body……”

“And the priests?”

“Ah, they are similar to us, but a bit more direct.

I’ve heard that holy power itself reacts to magic and incites a sense of hostility.”

He couldn't know the exact details, but just that rough explanation seemed to make the situation understandable.

He directly felt the existence of demonic energy itself.

In comparison, the Spirit Masters and priests detected magical power through an additional step.

‘Those bastards have a way of hiding their magical power so that spiritual or holy power doesn't react to it.’

Once he roughly understood the principle, a specific pattern in the demonic energy flowing inside the Viscount’s body caught his eye.

“Is something the matter?”

“Ah, no.”

Muno held his tongue, wary of the Connell knight, Kalton.

And he looked at the Viscount again.

He felt a strange sense of pleasure in confirming that he was the only one who could see through their methods, but another question arose.

Originally, magicians were physically frail.

While the demonic energy they wielded was a power that defied the laws of the world, their bodies were those of humans, created according to the laws of this world.

It was common knowledge, so much so that some said it was the only weakness of high-level magicians.

If someone were to intentionally maintain a state of suspended animation for days on end, even a perfectly healthy body would break down.

But if a magician, whose body was already frail, were to do such a thing, he couldn't even guess how far the side effects would go.

‘And yet he's going this far…….’

Well, he supposed…….

If the blade of the grim reaper was about to fall, there was probably nothing one wouldn't do.

‘Right. He had to at least pretend to be dead.’

He probably wanted to recover somehow after the storm originating from Drasen passed, and go back to acting like a noble again.

Still…….

“I heard it’s been over three days, so how has he been eating?”

“We carefully lift the lord’s body and pour a little soup and water into his mouth. Even then, he spits out more than half of it……”

The servant's pitiful expression as he looked down at the Viscount was so absurd that Muno inadvertently let his true thoughts slip out.

“……What a persistent bastard.”

“Young Master?”

“Watch your words, Young Master.

Even if you are from the investigation team……”

He completely ignored the angry words of the knight, Kalton.

It seemed there was no need to wait.

“I think I can wake him up right now. Is it okay if I do?”

“What?!”

As everyone was surprised by his calm words.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Chwareureuk.

‘First, make sure he can’t run.’

A chain shot out from Muno’s right hand and instantly wrapped tightly around Viscount Moeno, who was lying on the bed.

“What the……!?”

“What are you doing!?”

Ignoring the horrified Rasmia and the knight, Muno focused his mind.

In order to painstakingly control the Demon Devourer, which wanted to devour all of the bastard's demonic energy right this instant.

‘I can't devour it now.

There are too many eyes and ears.’

But it was possible to stimulate the demonic energy in another way.

For instance.

‘Disrupting the method that prevents the demonic energy from being exposed to the outside.’

Tssssss.

The power of the Demon Devourer moved in an extremely limited way, tampering with the flow of demonic energy.

To be precise, it disrupted the pattern of demonic energy that was preventing its aura from being exposed.

And at that moment.

“No!!”

Moeno Connell, who had been lying like a corpse, shot up and screamed.

“Huh!?”

“My lord!?”

“How!?”

The moment everyone’s surprised gazes were focused on him, a chilling aura that anyone could now feel spread out from the Viscount’s body in all directions.

“Uh……!”

“A magician!?”

“Don’t tell me, my lord is……!”

Hearing those voices, Moeno glared at Muno with bloodshot eyes.

He had realized that everything had been exposed.

“You bastard, how dare you disrupt His Grace's technique……!?”

With the scream-like shout as a backdrop, black flames began to rise from Moeno’s entire body.

However.

The current Muno was confident he could take down a 3-Circle magician even if he used his full power.

“Hmph……”

Wooooong.

The black chain that shot out with Muno’s scoff seemed to ignore even the enemy's desperate struggle, disrupting the pattern of the magic that was about to manifest.

“Wha-!?”

“……Nothing special.”

“How!? How……!!?”

The magic was immediately crushed.

Moeno’s trembling face clearly showed his despair.

And the forcibly disrupted magic soon returned a powerful backlash to its master.

Wooooong.

“Keoheok.”

Thud.

“Cough. Cough.”

Moeno, his face pale, continuously vomited blood.

Even though the patient, who had burns all over his body and was wrapped in bandages, was coughing up blood, even the servant who had been caring for him did not go near him.

“H-how could my lord……”

“My lord……”

The unpleasant, repulsive, and terrifying aura that an ordinary person couldn't help but feel.

Viscount Moeno Connell, wrapped in that aura, made even those who had been his loyal retainers feel revulsion.

And.

“He wasn't just colluding, he’s a magician himself?

How could he hide it so perfectly……!?”

The Spirit Master, one of the superhumans most hostile to magicians, was frozen in shock.

In this place, only one person was at ease.

“Why is everyone so surprised?

You said that bastard who pretended to be an administrator also deceived you perfectly.”

Muno, who had bound the magician with his chain, grinned and slowly approached the blood-vomiting Viscount.

And soon, the fist of his unique, metal combat gauntlet struck the critically ill patient’s head.

Ppeoeok.

“Geok……!”

Thud.

Thump.

As the Viscount’s body flew off the bed and tumbled to the floor like a paper doll.

Muno gestured to the knight behind him who was still watching the situation with dazed eyes.

He had been on guard just in case, but Kalton hadn't attacked him even when he was subduing the Viscount, and seeing him genuinely surprised now, it was clear he wasn't in league with the bastard.

“Sir Kalton?

Could you call the priests?”

“Wh-why?”

“Why, you ask?

He needs to be treated.”

The spot Muno pointed to with a smirk.

The blood flowing from Moeno Connell’s head was soaking the floor.

“If you don't bring them quickly, I think this guy is going to die.”

As if hearing those words, Viscount Moeno’s body twitched and convulsed.

‘You're the one who made him like that……!’

The knight, Kalton, couldn't bring himself to utter the words that rose to his throat and could only turn around and run.

* * *

“……You have truly played a great role.”

Tinel’s face was still pale.

But since there was no one else to manage this situation, he had no choice but to drag his barely recovering body to the Great Hall.

After uttering a short praise to Muno, he looked at the critically ill patient, Viscount Moeno Connell, who was bound and laid in the middle of the Great Hall.

Trembling lips and clothes stained with blood.

A sinner laid down because his body was too damaged to even be properly forced to his knees.

Moeno, whose superficial wounds had been treated by the priests for a day, was still in a half-dead state.

“……Still, you could have subdued him a little more gently.”

“He suffered internal injuries from the backlash of trying to use magic, that's all.”

Hearing Muno’s excuse, Tinel couldn't help but give a bitter smile as he looked at the noticeably concave side of Moeno’s head.

‘Is there such a thing as an internal injury that caves in your head?’

But he didn't want to blame the spirited young man any further.

“Priest Glose.

The Viscount, no, is it certain that this sinner has regained consciousness?”

At his question, the old priest standing next to the sinner nodded.

“Because he is a magician, the holy power did not fully apply, but fortunately, he is not a high-level magician, so we were able to properly heal the burns.

His mind should be clear.”

A magician.

“Heo……”

At the priest’s confirmation, a collective sigh erupted from among the Connell figures gathered around.

Muno quickly scanned them to see if there were any accomplices, but he no longer felt any demonic energy.

And finally accepting reality, Tinel sighed and looked again at the sinner—no, at his former colleague who once served the same master.

“Was this the reason you were so passive in the subjugation ten years ago?

Moeno, you are a noble.

Why did you have to dabble in magic?

You must have known that its end is ruin.”

In the Great Hall, where the command of the investigation team and the vassals of Connell were all watching, only Tinel’s voice echoed quietly.

Moeno’s lips twitched, and a low voice flowed out.

“Bullshit……”

A faint voice, hard to hear even if one strained their ears.

“What?”

At Tinel’s question, the voice of Moeno, who had his eyes closed, grew a little louder.

Cough.

“Bullshit…… dog, shit……. Don’t talk. Tinel.”

Cough. Cough.

Vomiting a mouthful of blood, Moeno barely managed to lift his head while lying down.

His bloodshot eyes glared at Tinel, who stood in the center of the group.

Everyone could clearly feel the madness within them.

“Ha? What did you say?

Are you in your right mind, Moeno?

Are you saying such things because you don't know your own situation?”

As Tinel’s incredulous voice echoed.

“I know. That's why I'm saying it……. I'm going to die anyway……!”

Moeno, whose pale face suddenly flushed, gritted his teeth and shouted.

“The Deus Kingdom, which was just one of many minor kingdoms, actively embraced magic and became an empire that sways the continent! Magic is just power, power!!

What’s wrong with using it!

You foolish bastards!”

“Hah……”

“That's why this kingdom can’t develop!

That's why this damn countryside is even more of a shithole!”

“You’re spouting madness……”

“I just wanted to succeed! I just wanted power! With that, I wanted to contribute to Trian.

I just wanted to be of help to the kingdom!”

As his desperate voice grew louder and louder.

“Puhahahahaha!”

Right next to him, a mad laugh erupted.

“You crazy bastard. What? It’s just power?

Are you saying that because you didn't know that the organization you joined conducts human experiments and uses humans as sacrifices?”

At the sound of Muno grinding his teeth, Moeno scoffed.

“Hmph. If everyone can advance through the sacrifice of insignificant things, what can't be done!

That outdated way of thinking is what has ruined this country!”

Moeno, who had already given up on living, screamed as if having a seizure.

It was the behavior of a completely madman.

Logic does not work on the mad.

However.

“I was one of those insignificant things.”

Primitive emotions, not logic, can be conveyed even to the mad.

Muno’s extreme fury brought Moeno’s mind back slightly.

“……What?”

“So, today you're going to die by the hands of that insignificant bastard.”

“Such……!?”

Watching Moeno’s now deathly pale face, Muno swung his fist.

Kwang!

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