๐๐จ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ (9)
โ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฐ?โ
Johan wondered. Johan did not believe the honor and conscience of the knights of the St. Guntsalva Knight Order, he just thought about what they had received.
The knight order received a lot from this hunt. If Johan had not stood up, how much bigger would their damage have been, how much more embarrassing it would have been to guess.
In such a situation, if the knights are going to be jealous of Johan and try to undermine him, wouldn’t Johan respond if he’s not an a**hole?
Right before the banquet atmosphere cools down, he will yell that the knights’ help was useless.
The knights should know that well, so why are they doing that?
โ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต?โ
Johan did not ignore the emperor’s words. Although the emperor was young, wasn’t he a royal who had lived in Vynashchtym all his life? He would know much better than Johan.
โ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ด.โ
Just before the conversation with the emperor ended, a knight from the knight order approached. Looking unfamiliar without armor and wearing an expensive silk tunic with jewelry on it, the knight was closer to a nobleman than a monastery knight.
โYour Excellency! There was a shameful incident on this expedition. Do you know what it is?”
“Are you claiming that I didn’t kill the first manticore alone?”
โYes. . .? Ah, no. What do you mean?”
The knight was surprised and denied it. He wondered what Johan was talking about.
โIt was really embarrassing that the knights didn’t finish off the beast properly and had to move Your Excellency twice. I want to offer you a drink for your honor.”
“. . .I see.”
Johan awkwardly accepted the drink. Only mercenaries and Johan’s subordinates participated in the first hunt, so he thought they would aim for that side, but it wasn’t at all.
The next knight came. Seeing his unfamiliar face, he was not a knight who went hunting with Johan. Come to think of it, he was the knight who was angry at Johan’s rudeness at the meeting.
โHonorable Your Excellency. You made a mistake.”
โWhat is it?โ
Johan grabbed the glass he was holding. The emperor saw it clearly. The shape of the solid metal glass changing.
โ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ป๐บ ๐ฃ*๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ. . .โ
โYou should have punished me for daring to intervene when you were reprimanding the other knights. Give me a punishment now!”
โ. . .It’s over and it’s a pleasant occasion, how can I punish you? It seems like you’re already reflecting on your own. That’s enough. Go enjoy yourself.”
โThank you!”
After that, the knights did not really come to quarrel. They came to thank, praise honor, offer a drink, ask to visit their fiefdom later. . .
As this happened repeatedly, the emperor became very embarrassed. When Johan looked at him with an expression of ‘๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต’๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ?’, the emperor avoided his gaze.
โ๐๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฃ*๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด.’
The local nobles were known for their arrogance and arrogance.
Pride in Vynashchtym, power established as the local tycoon for a long time.
They were not so dignified even in front of the emperor, let alone outsiders.
โ๐๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด. . .!’
If they had been kind, polite and respectful of others from the beginning, the emperor would have been very happy.
However, the guys who insulted and talked nonsense to another foreign mercenary captain in various ways a few years ago are acting like they are welcoming their first night. . .
It felt like they could have acted politely until now but didn’t, which was more irritating. I wanted to splash alcohol on their faces.
โIs this some kind of trick? Will they make tricks later when it gets a little late?โ
โNo. Just. . . it doesn’t seem like anything. Just drink.”
โWhat is it. Stingy.โ
โI didn’t know those guys would act like that either!โ
โOr stop it, why are you angry?โ
When the emperor grumbled, the knights next to him seemed to have misunderstood his meaning. He came over and spoke politely.
โYour Majesty. I know you regret not hunting the monster directly. But isn’t hunting monsters a very dangerous thing? Let alone this manticore was a really formidable opponent. If Your Majesty had participated directly. . .โ
The emperor angrily drove away the knight. The knight withdrew in a panic without knowing why.
๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ
After the banquet ended, Johan woke up late.
Vynashchtym’s banquets tended to go on longer, more extravagantly and more decadently than the Empire’s. Nobles who had drunk late into the night were still passed out.
After washing up with the water Geoffrey had brought, Johan wondered at the centaurs. They were grinning from ear to ear. They only acted like that when something good happened.
Like when they had plundered something good, or found someone good to plunder, or received orders that they were allowed to plunder. . .
‘๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฉ?’
“Why are you looking at us like that?”
The centaurs were as sensitive as they were savage. But Johan didn’t change his expression one bit as he spoke.
“I was just thinking how reassuring it is to have such strong warriors like you all.”
“Oh, how. . .embarrassing. . .”
The centaurs turned red and avoided his gaze. It was a very innocent reaction for ones who enjoyed skinning the heads of others.
“So why have you come? To ask me to go hunting?”
“Would we ask you to go hunting again after such a big hunt? We rest when it’s time to rest too. We came to give you this.”
The centaurs grinned as they held out a coarse rope to Johan. Like little children showing off a toy.
“What’s this?”
“Try pulling on it hard once.”
“. . .?”
Johan tilted his head quizzically then said,
“Won’t the rope tear?”
The words could have sounded arrogant and cheeky, but it was acceptable between Johan and the centaurs.
Not just anyone could tear through such a thick and dense rough rope by hand after all.
But the centaurs knew of Johan’s monstrous strength. Those who had seen flying boulders would know of course.
“Teehee. Just try pulling on it anyway.”
“Alright.”
Thinking to humor the centaurs, Johan gripped the rope tightly and pulled with all his might. With a ‘thwack’ the rope cleanly tore apart.
“. . .It tore?”
“. . . . . .”
“. . . . . .”
‘๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ.’
Seeing the centaurs’ jaws drop in dismay, Johan felt a little apologetic. It seemed like the rope wasn’t supposed to tear.
Focusing his senses on it, he could feel traces of magic coming from the rope. What’s more the material was also unusual. It had a reddish tint to it. . .from a monster’s. . .?
“That wizard tricked us?!”
“Wait wait. . .”
Before Johan could even call out, the centaurs had already turned and ran off. It was clearly in the direction of Jyanina’s tent. Johan yawned and headed over to stop them.
๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ
The heart of the manticore emanated powerful mystification. The mystification it emanated could be felt even with eyes closed.
Jyanina carefully affixed the heart to the end of her wand before finishing up her work.
Johan was a rough noble who looked down on wizards, thinking himself rather sophisticated, but he was generous towards such spoils. Now she could understand a bit why wizards like Caenerna and Suetlg would follow him.
‘๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐บ. . .’
What noble would so easily give away the corpse of a monster like this? They would usually stuff and display it, or if giving it to a wizard, impose conditions on what to make from it.
‘๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐’๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ, ๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ.’
Jyanina brandished her wand. With this, weaker monsters would be overwhelmed by fear.
Her purpose was simple. To find a sponsor in Vynashchtym.
The capital Vynashchtym was the largest and most beautiful city in the world. It’s said that everything in the world gathers there, truly lacking nothing. Naturally, there would be many excellent wizards and nobles seeking them.
Unlike Cardirian, Johan said โ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ’๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ, ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ,โ seeming to mock her a bit, and so Jyanina decided to treat this journey as that opportunity.
Come to think of it, this crisis could be a chance. Under such robust backing, when would she ever get the opportunity to go to Vynashchtym like this in her lifetime?
If she was trying to go there alone, she would have to scour the city from the underground up in the guise of a pilgrim.
“Wizard, come out you rascal!”
“What?!”
“Where’d you get this fake?!”
The centaurs of the plains were always terrifying. As soon as Euclyia entered, she nimbly grabbed Jyanina’s hair, making escape to the back of the tent difficult.
Overcome with fear, Jyanina cried out.
“Why are you doing this! Why!”
“You said an absolutely unbreakable rope made from manticore tendons!”
“It doesn’t break! You couldn’t break it!”
Jyanina shouted as if wronged. The threat to her life made her more desperate.
“We couldn’t break it, but His Excellency the Count ripped it easily by hand.”
“I can’t believe it! Bring it here!”
“I told you not to harass wizards didn’t I, Euclyia? Let her go.”
At Johan’s word, Euclyia slyly released her hand, then hid it behind her back. Anyone watching would think she hadn’t done anything.
Jyanina glared at Euclyia, aggrieved, but Euclyia’s expression didn’t change one bit.
“What did the wizard say?”
“We asked her to make something so she that, saying it’s an absolutely unbreakable rope to use capturing monsters. But it tore!”
“Hmm. . . I doubt it would tear capturing monsters. Just consider it a sturdy rope. That much is certainly impressive enough.”
Hearing Johan’s words, the centaurs calmed down with convinced expressions, nodding.
“True, even just that much is certainly usable enough.”
“Once it’s thrown and wraps something up, it probably couldn’t escape easily.”
“Monsters who use brute strength as clumsily as His Excellency are rare. . .”
“His Excellency can hear you, you know.”
“Oh dear.”
Seeing the centaurs convinced by Johan’s words, Jyanina hurriedly added:
“That’s right. His Excellency here hunted many powerful monsters, so his soul’s power must have grown tremendously strong. That’s why he can exhibit such power.”
“What?!”
Speaking wizard-like tales like Suetlg or Caenerna, Johan was a bit surprised by Jyanina.
He hadn’t thought she was anything more than a goblin shaman grunting like a warthog, but it turns out she can speak properly about magic.
As life grows to what it should be, soul power naturally strengthens. That’s why wizards try to live lives fitting of mystification, no?
It wasn’t just in folk tales and bards’ songs that knights accomplishing great feats gained transcendental abilities. Here such miracles truly existed.
‘๐๐ต’๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ.’
Even capturing something like manticore, Valkalmur was already obedient enough that nothing more would come of it. If Johan were another knight, he might have used manticore to make that spirit even more subservient, gaining more power. . .
“Alright, let’s let it slide this time. But be more careful from now on, got it?”
“We’ll be watching to see if you properly use magic.”
Seeing the vulgar brutes threatening her then leaving like it’s nothing, Jyanina wanted to swear but held back. Magic was far off while the centaurs’ fists were near, after all.
Johan wondered aloud:
“That wand, you set manticore’s heart in it?”
“What?!”
Jyanina was stunned, as if fainting. Of course she didn’t just leave manticore’s heart exposed at the end of the wand. She wrapped it in silk and leather so it wouldn’t be visible from the outside, then carefully affixed it.
Yet he just guessed it like that? As if he had eyes that could see through or something, or maybe. . .
“Uh, how did you know?”
“I’ve traveled with wizards so much, don’t I have eyes for seeing magic? I can feel the power of magic from within.”
“Wow. . .!!”
Only then did Jyanina realize Johan was versed in magic.
“Can I see that wand a bit?”
“No, I absolutely can’t let it be taken away!”
“. . . . . .”
“. . .I-I’m not doubting you, Your Excellency.”
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