How to Live as a Wandering Knight – Chapter 243

𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 (4)

‘𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥!’

It was a regretful thing to say to Duke Brduhe’s Twilight, but the Seal Retriever was the most amazing sword among the swords Johan had caught. You could feel its greatness every time you wielded it.  

Every time he swung it, the mysterious aura that pulsated and poured out penetrated Karamaf’s body. Even the vicious aura of death did not dare approach it.

“. . . . . .”

Karamaf took an aloof stance and aimed his sword. His movements did not change at all even as his armor was torn and black blood poured out from inside.  

Seeing that, the soldiers screamed.

“It’s a monster! It’s as good as a monster!”

“Lindemann-nim really has Sir Karamaf under his evil magic!”

“What kind of nonsense is that?!”

Lindemann was furious and tried to refute, but even the frontline captains who had thick nerves were looking at Lindemann with apprehension.  

No matter how they thought about it, Count Yeats’ words sounded more plausible.

It was already suspicious that he was holding Sir Karamaf’s sword in the first place, and more than anything, the reputation he had built made Johan’s words more credible.  

How could such an honorable knight tell a lie?

“Lindemann-nim. You may have to escape.”

The guards protecting Lindemann whispered urgently. As seasoned warriors, they were the first to notice the strange atmosphere in this place.  

If he didn’t escape quickly, it could become irreversible.

However, to Lindemann, it sounded like nonsense.

“What kind of nonsense is that?! There are so many soldiers here, and you tell me to just run away?!”

Lindemann may not have been an outstanding knight, but he knew the basics of military strategy. 

To flee so suddenly even after being ambushed was the most foolish thing to do. What did they mean, when there were only this many in number?

Besides, the soldiers here were hand-picked elites. If he quickly gave orders to form up and then fought, there would be some damage but it was definitely worth trying.

However, the guards did not think so.  

That was only if they fought united, but the atmosphere now clearly painted Lindemann as the villain.  

With just a few words, Count Yeats had turned Lindemann into the bad guy.

“The atmosphere is strange.”

“Persuade them properly! They’ll understand if you persuade them!”

“I think it’ll be hard to persuade them. . .”

The emperor may not even fear God and attack the church, but most people have a deep awe of divinity. Why would the emperor hide it if he is inviting evil wizards to the court?

Sir Karamaf had an infamous reputation among the nobles, but he was still a well-known knight in the emperor’s faction. Seeing such a knight in that state was also shocking to the soldiers.

“Your Excellency! Let me help you!” 

“Enough. I’ll take care of this alone.”

Hearing the voice behind him, Johan reached out his hand. Of course, Johan did not really want to fight one-on-one either, but seeing the atmosphere below, one-on-one looked better.

‘𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵.’

Once again the sword light flashed and Karamaf’s armor was torn. Black blood kept pouring out, yet Karamaf still stood.

However, Johan did not panic.  

If he was an ordinary knight, he would have been flustered or overwhelmed, slowing his steps, but Johan had faced several far more fierce monsters than Sir Karamaf.

I’m not surprised by something like this now.  

‘𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦.’

The sharp aura it emitted when alive is gone, only spewing out a sticky and dark atmosphere. It was easier to deal with if he thought of it as a monster instead of a person.

Johan blocked the deathly energy it spilled out whenever his sword touched it with the blessing of the spirit, and the attacks that pushed with an inhuman strength were actually one step ahead for him.

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦!  

Another deep attack went in. It was an attack that seemed like it would diagonally split the body in two. Sir Karamaf staggered back. Johan raised his sword and aimed at his opponent’s neck.

Sir Karamaf’s neck shot up with the sword light.

“Be careful!”  

Suetlg shouted from behind. Johan nodded. Karamaf was still charging at him.

The warriors behind had a bored expression. What kind of enemy is still moving after its neck has flown off?

“Should we take out the artifact?”

“Hmm. . .!”

Suetlg wondered if that’s what they should do. To be honest, he didn’t know it could still move after its neck was cut off.

However, Johan did not panic. This time he charged and blew off one leg. As he fell, next an arm, then the other arm, a leg. . .

And then he kicked him in opposite directions. The disjointed corpse parts squirmed but could not properly reconnect because of the distance. 

“Set fire and burn it up!”

“. . .Yes!”

The warriors shouted, impressed. They didn’t know it could be resolved like that.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

“Catch that b*stard!”

“. .Are you crazy??!”

Lindemann was startled. At Johan’s words, the soldiers were charging at them.  

“Don’t move! If you try any suspicious magic, I’ll kill you!”

“I’m not a wizard, you fools!”

Seeing them aiming their maces and spears, trying to restrain Lindemann and his escorts, Johan was amazed inside.  

‘𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?’

Since the atmosphere was somehow friendly towards them, he shouted once riding that momentum, and the soldiers were following the order as if they were hypnotized.  

If they could resolve this without fighting such great numbers, there would be nothing better.

“But. . . is it okay for me to command them?”

The subordinates behind Johan were as bewildered as him. Having the experience of commanding soldiers of a matching scale without their surrender was also new to them.  

“They seem to be fools. The Count must have had his reasons when he did so. He must have been confident when he did it.”

“Well, that may be so, but still. . .”

Seeing the spectacle of entering amidst the enemy forces with only dozens, commanding them this and that, made their allies’ guts go cold.  

It felt as if something big would happen if someone asked ‘𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴?!’.  

However, nothing like that happened. Johan shamelessly took control as if he himself was the commander.

“Lindemann-gong. You have become my prisoner now. Do you admit it?”

“. . .I admit it. But that magic wasn’t my doing! Please believe me!!”  

Lindemann said with a face full of injustice. At least regarding the matters with Sir Karamaf, he really wasn’t at fault.  

Regardless of other things, if something went wrong here, he could be taken to the Order and put on trial. They were already at war with the Emperor faction, he could end up dying unluckily.  

“Is that so? Well, I didn’t really believe that someone like Lindemann-gong would use such wicked magic anyway.”  

“?”

Euclyia next to him looked at Johan in disbelief.  

Didn’t you just call him a wicked wizard a moment ago. . .?

“Thank you for believing me!”  

However for Lindemann, it was to the point of tears welling up from gratitude. There was reward in living faithfully and righteously until now. To be trusted in a situation like this by the opponent.  

“I really appreciate it. It wasn’t my doing at all. . .”  

“That’s just how the world is. It would be best for you to rest a little. It must have been a shocking experience for you as well.”  

After soothing Lindemann, Johan led him inside the tent. Suetlg said in astonishment.  

“Your skill in manipulation is almost at the level of magic now.”  

“You praise me too much.”

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

The elf king frowned. Ulrike frowned too. As they got closer, they immediately relaxed their faces and politely greeted each other.  

“Did you set up a siege?”

“By the grace of God, I was able to defeat the Lochtein family’s knights in one-on-one combat.”  

The elf king’s voice contained unrestrained joy. Defeating Lochtein knights, let alone in one-on-one combat, was no easy feat.

“And you, My Lord?”  

“I captured retreating enemy scouts.”

“Then you must have heard the location of the main force?”

‘𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.’  

Ulrike cursed the elf king in her mind. He was usually oblivious, but became keenly perceptive in battles.

“. . .Shall we go together?”

“Oh my. Thank you.”

The two went on the trail, insulting each other amiably. Although they had driven back the rear guard, the remaining enemy forces were still considerable, led by Karamaf. They could not be careless.  

“. . .?!”

However, what awaited them was an unimaginable sight.   

“The Count. . . was captured?!”  

The elf king asked the knight beside him in a perplexed voice. Johan’s banner was planted in the enemy camp. If he had looked a little closer, he wouldn’t have thought that, but the surprise was unavoidable.    

“It seems the enemies were captured by the count, not the other way around.”

“. . .I see. But isn’t it a little. . . too intact?”

The camp was completely untouched, as if no fight had taken place. Ulrike could not offer a very convincing opinion on this either. The elf king’s mood lifted a little.  

“Let’s go ask the count directly!”

“Your Majesty! It could be a trap. . .” 

“How could the enemies have taken the count’s banner? Nonsense!”

The elf king charged forward at the front. Just the thought of hearing what had happened made him excited.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

“. . .Is that really true?!”

No matter how much the Elf King expected, he could not imagine the story about Knight Karamaf. As he saw the Seal Retriever, the Elf King blinked his eyes in disbelief.  

“To think that Knight Karamaf had fallen before. . .”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you earlier.”

“No. You had no choice if it was an oath. Don’t worry about it, Count. Still, to resurrect such a knight with magic.”

To be precise, it wasn’t resurrecting a corpse with magic, but putting some unidentified creature into the armor and pretending it was Karamaf.  

But Johan didn’t bother pointing that out. The former seemed more wicked.

‘𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘧.’

“This matter must be made known everywhere. No matter how heavy the nobles’ bodies are, they will not sit still when they hear this!”

For once, the strategy proposed by the Elf King was plausible. Ulrike also nodded without objection. The story about Sir Karamaf would make a very good rumor.  

No matter how much one might try to hide it, it couldn’t be hidden with so many eyewitnesses.

“Let’s issue a recall order and command the troops to spread the word everywhere.”

“It would be good to ask the nearby feudal lords for cooperation as well.”

Thanks to the victory, the meeting ended briefly and simply. The nobles complimented each other’s feats and stood up from their seats.  

After the Elf King walked away first, Johan whispered to Ulrike.

“It would be good to spread the rumor that the undead plague also broke out because of that magic.”

“. . .Our thoughts match. Very nice.”

Mixing a bit of falsehood into the truth makes it look more truthful. The two nobles did not hesitate to use such means at all.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

“Testify. Sir.”

“. . .I cannot do that.”

“Whether or not you testify, many others saw it happen!”  

“If that is the case, then I definitely cannot do it!”

The elven knight was wrestling with Lindemann. The centaurs were disappointed that they could take care of it in an instant, but they could not treat the Empire noble in that way.  

“Your Excellency. Please let go of the people and give me one hour, I will get this guy’s testimony out along with his guts. . .” 

“Did you not just say guts? That cannot be done. Even if he is the opponent, if he is a noble, propriety must be observed.”

“Oh. . .”

As the chaos subsided and Lindemann came to his senses, he grasped the situation. Surprisingly, he did not abandon his loyalty to the emperor.  

He knew that if he made a mistake he could be hanged, but a person’s loyalty sometimes comes before their own life.

“Whether or not I testify, there were many witnesses anyway so it does not matter. You can get testimony from others. The count also has people from his household who saw it happen.”

“That is quite unfortunate.”

In the meantime, the elven king approached in a good mood. Behind him was an elven knight who looked vaguely familiar.  

“Count! Good news. I have persuaded a knight from the Lochtein family. He said he will rightly come forward to testify.”

“That is good news. . .?”

Johan’s eyes instantly met Yein’s. Yein raised his hand as if he was very happy to see him. At that moment, Johan’s fist struck Yein’s face.

“Count. He is my prisoner. . .?”  

The elven king was taken aback and spoke in a rare flustered voice.

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