14. Looking for a new butler (1)
Yulgeum said with a bitter expression.
“That sounds good.”
“what?”
“Because it’s simple.”
“shut up.”
“I’m saying this because I’m really jealous. “I would feel at ease if I could do that too.”
“The god of dragons? Doesn’t he hold the power over life and death? You create a dragon by making herbs, wood chips, and rocks .
Isn’t it okay to kill them all, take their souls, and recreate them? Are you saying that in your species, such things are allowed as long as it is for the overall good?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why don’t you do that?”
“Let’s stop talking about this.”
“Don’t talk back.”
“I’m going to turn it around. “Why don’t we just release them now?”
At the end of Yulgeum’s finger were three people.
One has no visible arms. It must have been cut relatively
recently, so there was still a scab left on it.
“You’re an ordinary human. “If I leave it like this, I’ll die within a few days?”
“Either die or not.”
“If you were going to kill me, you wouldn’t have kept me here. “Aren’t you the neighborhood gangsters who were fussing in front of Zeke’s restaurant?”
“That’s right. “Leave it there and use it as dog food.”
“You’re saying something terrible again. Zeke will take responsibility for that killing. “Isn’t that why you kept him alive?”
“Do you think I would care about that?”
“O” H*
“I made a mistake. I didn’t want to bother getting rid of the body, so I just moved it here. It’s the same in that it’s a lot of work to lift a finger. But… well, it’s probably enough, so it’s not a bad idea to send it back.”
Deus shook his hands.
The black bead that arose from his fingertips swallowed up the three gangsters.
This time, not a single limb was cut off and it was sucked cleanly.
It would probably end up in a garbage dump in a corner of Joryx Castle.
“It would be nice to grind it up and use it as dog food.”
Yulgeum smiled bitterly at the sound he had made, as if it was a waste of words.
“Then why on earth did you come here? Suddenly like this…
Yulgeum suddenly had this thought and asked.
“To give you this.”
Before I knew it, there were several scales in Deus’ hand. It was the scale of the humpback dragon Jeune.
“I think I’ll at least shed my scales rather than shed my hair. Sure enough, there is it. “Actually
, I came here to get this under the pretext of torture.”
“Ha… If you get caught, even the great dragon clan will become livestock.”
“Shouldn’t we be thankful that we don’t kill and harvest it?”
It’s late.
It was just past midnight and the streets were extremely quiet.
Zeke tidied up the empty chairs.
Small folding chairs were stacked one after another in the stall.
The stall was quite large, about 3 meters across, and had wheels.
After the business was over, I pushed it to the back of the yard and out of sight.
Of the remaining ingredients, any perishable items were made into dishes at the end of the business.
I was planning to take it home and have it as a side dish tomorrow.
After using a broom to clean up all the food leftovers spilled by guests, he carried a wooden bucket containing the food on his shoulder and headed home.
The place where he lived was a slum next to the walls of Joryx Castle.
The alley, which is difficult for two people to walk at the same time, is intricately intertwined like tree branches.
After finding his way, Zeke arrived in front of a shabby grocery store.
What his family got was a shed under the stairs outside the house.
There is only a room small enough for three people to lie down. To relieve oneself, one had to use the public toilets located along the gutter near the castle wall.
I opened the door cautiously, fearing that the owner would wake up.
I put down my luggage. I could see the empty room in the starlight shining through the window.
It was only after my two younger brothers entered the dormitory that I had room to stretch my legs.
But I wasn’t all that happy. A lonely silence tried to press down on my heart.
“Oh, I have to go training.”
A pitch-black cast iron sword and a shield like a pot lid.
Holding the weapon that was neatly hanging on one side of the room, Zeke
went out of the castle at night, just as dawn was approaching.
The warrior was a special being.
Even though they were from a contract family and lived in a slum, the privileges of those who inherited the Holly surname were comparable to those of nobility.
Going out of the castle at a time like this was also possible because he was a warrior.
Zeke said hello to the guard guarding the castle gate and climbed the hill outside the west gate.
I never missed a day.
Even after carrying bricks all day up a three-story building at a construction site, I always climbed the hill late at night.
My grandfather and father were always like that.
During 666 centuries.
The descendants of the Holly Bitch family never missed training.
That was the weight carried by those who inherited the name, so even if their skills were third-rate, their spirit did not break.
The shield, which had been broken several times and had been patched over again, looked more like a rag than a shield.
It was a shield that could not be used in actual combat. It is made of cast iron and is extremely heavy for training purposes.
Zeke raised the shield and laid it down, repeating several movements.
I didn’t count the numbers.
Until my body hurts and I can’t move.
That was the number of training sessions.
I stabbed and cut with my sword.
The training sword weighed up to 20 kilograms. It was almost impossible to lift and swing it with mere strength alone.
The strength of a warrior was proportional to his pureblood level.
The thicker the blood, the greater the potential.
But we couldn’t fight with potential alone. It was training that awakened that hidden power.
Both my arms and legs had reached their limits.
Zeke swung the weapon again and again until he had no strength left, and even when it became difficult to lift the sword, Zeke did not easily stop training.
Once more.
And one more time.
My father always said. Training is not over when you reach your limit.
Even half a step is fine, so we must go further.
Only then can we grow further tomorrow.
Then the sound of applause rang out in the black darkness.
“Excellent.”
“Mr. Cadenza!”
“It was worth waiting until late at night.”
“What is going on here?”
What appeared in the forest was Cadenza van Holy Peach.
He was an investigator dispatched by Seonghwangcheong.
And although he has not yet revealed his identity to Zeke, he is a knight belonging to Ascalon, a combat unit directly under the Holy Emperor’s Office, and is also named the Brilliant Zodiac Knight.
“You could say it’s an application for sparring. “I want to see your real strength.”
Zeke smiled bitterly.
“You will be disappointed.”
“Is that so?”
“Mr. Cadenza, you are mistaken about me. “He thought that the power of four legendary weapons was his strength… Without weapons, I
was no better than a failing student who barely graduated from elementary school.” Cadenza pulled out the sword from his waist with a faint smile.
It was a thin-bladed rapier that was only used for decoration.
There was a round bead on the tip of the sword, so it didn’t seem to have the ability to kill.
He turned the sword hilt and handed it to Zeke.
Zeke, who was holding his sword haphazardly, looked at his opponent. Cadenza had already taken a pose, holding a tree branch he had cut from nearby.
“In swordsmanship, a thousand words
are meaningless. Please come. Otherwise, I will attack first.”
Zeke grabbed his shield.
Instead of using the training iron sword, he held the cadenza rapier and looked at his opponent in an awkward posture.
There seemed to be no way back.
He took a large step forward and swung his rapier.
When striking with a sword, the blade is sharp and white.
It stretched out like a whip and cut into Cadenza’s side.
Cadenza swung a tree branch and knocked away Zeke’s sword.
Herbivory was strange. The spilling posture immediately became offensive and stabbed Zeke at the base of his neck.
Zeke’s shield blocked Cadenza’s sword. Although it was a tree branch that still had a few green leaves remaining, it felt like it had been hit by a mace.
Immediately afterwards, the cadenza’s branch pierced the shield again.
A loud bang echoed through the midnight hills.
Zeke’s body bounced. Although he didn’t lose his balance,
his appearance became terrible after only two rounds.
He cowered, hid inside his shield, and swung his rapier.
However, there was no way a master like Cadenza would fall victim to such a passive attack.
Disappointment flashed across Cadenza’s face.
He stopped the branch and looked at Zeke.
“Mr. Zeke.”
“Yes…
“Why are you swinging your sword here every day?”
“Because that is the path of a warrior.” “Your
father and grandfather proved that that path was wrong.”
“This is a path that cannot be reached by working hard alone.”
I knew it.
That the martial arts handed down in the family are poor.
The ancestors who first used this martial art may have had excellent skills. He would have made a remarkable contribution and become a D- or G-level hero.
But before we knew it, martial arts had become third-rate.
Is it out of practice or is it too out of fashion?
I started learning from the time I was a toddler, and although nearly 10 years have passed, I am only at that level. When I got into practice, I still struggled.
Zeke was angry and embarrassed that that point was pointed out to him.
Cadenza sighed briefly and said.
“Mr. Zeke. Let me make a suggestion. “How about going to Seonghwangcheong with me?”
“You mean Seonghwangcheong…?”
“yes. Start again from there. “By learning martial arts and magic, you become a true warrior.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Is it about money? “I heard that you sent your younger siblings to a school with a dormitory.”
“yes.”
“That amount can be paid by the Seonghwangcheong Office.”
Zeke was startled by his words.
“Are you saying that Seonghwangcheong will pay your younger siblings’ tuition?”
“yes.”
“Why do you give me such unconventional treatment?”
“It’s because your pureblood level is high. Zeke is also a hero, so he probably knows this well. A warrior is all about pure blood. As each generation passes, the level of pure-bloodedness increases. You and I are both 4th generation dragons. When we reach the next generation, generation zero, the last person will be born. Do you know how many purebloods there are among those who are called the Last Heroes?”
Zeke shook his head.
“At best, it’s 10 percent.”
“ah!”
“What about you?”
“…But I don’t have any such amazing abilities.”
“It just hasn’t bloomed yet. To be honest, it’s a little late. Even if I had started 5 or 3 years ago, I would have reached a much higher level… but even so, it is worth the challenge. “If you learn from the beginning over the next 20 years, you will become as powerful as the Last Hero.”
“Do you… do you really think I have that ability
?”
“For a warrior, pure blood is everything.”
Zeke looked into Cadenza’s eyes.
Favor without reason is poison.
Zeke knew that well. I learned this from working as a chore for many people for a long time.
But…
Cadenza was now sincerely recommending her to come to Seonghwangcheong.
“I will guarantee it. I will raise you to be the best paladin
. Zeke was surprised once again when he heard the word paladin.
Paladin was the term used to refer to the Zodiac Knight, a knight under the royal title.
Currently, there were only 9 Zodiac Knights in Seonghwangcheong.
Originally, there were twelve knights who received the protection of the Twelve Constellations, but it was not easy to find suitable people, so several positions were always vacant.
The abilities of each of them were at the highest level even in D class.
Zeke bowed his head to Cadenza.
“thank you.”
“It’s okay to say hello later. If you’ve made up your mind, come with me to Seonghwangcheong tomorrow.”
