/
Ian headed underground with only the knights. The soldiers were told to guard the entrance. But, as he went down the underground passage, a smirk broke out on his face.
He couldn’t help it.
‘An underground in a secret passage every time. It’s really amusing.’
But he didn’t let his guard down.
It was because he knew about the scheme the people here were cooking up.
‘They were kidnapping the residents and injecting a plague.’
It wasn’t just any plague either.
A new virus of unidentifiable source and unknown cure.
It was a plague that even caused a bizarre phenomenon.
The problem was that it spread to Lavaltor. And due to the unprecedented plague, Lavaltor duchy was completely devastated.
Thanks to that, there was no one to stop Duke Garcia.
‘That was the biggest problem.’
Of course, there were many successors and noble families keeping Garcia in check.
But when there was no one to oppose him openly, Duke Garcia began to extensively build up his power in earnest. Then an all-out war broke out, which set Kaistein ablaze.
It practically started because of what was happening in this village.
‘Anyway, this incident was said to be the doing of a rural aristocrat who wasn’t even affiliated with a proper faction.’
He heard that it was a scheme done by an aristocrat of a poor power to try to make a living.
In fact, his plan was somewhat successful.
He was able to rake in a huge amount of money with the antidote he prepared in advance.
Of course, later his deed of toying with people’s lives was revealed, and he was thus beheaded. That was only after Lavaltor was devastated.
But this time, Ian would definitely stop it before it happened.
After going down for a long time.
“&$%%$#%$#”
They heard someone’s voice at the end of the passage.
Nathan, who was leading the way, hurriedly raised his hand.
Chuck!
Everyone quickly stuck to the wall. They moved slowly, looking very tense.
Then Ian listened to the voice he heard.
Thanks to Faith, unlike others, he could hear the voice inside very vividly.
“How far has the work progressed?”
“About three
”
“What? That’s less than half the target! It’s too late! There are the Seventh Prince and the crown prince of the Cantum Empire up there now.”
“However, it takes time for the incubation to fully complete
”
“What time! How much more should I give you? You’ve been dawdling too much, that’s why it took so long to get things done!”
“Haven’t I told you before? This plague is special. The effect has been ascertained, but if you want to increase the contagiousness
”
One seemed to be the leader of the enemy, while the other was a researcher. Ian’s eyes flashed as he turned to his knights.
‘Is there anyone else?’
‘Probably a few more people ahead.’
‘They look like researchers. It seems there are soldiers lurking around every corner monitoring them so they don’t escape.’
As they were about to figure out the enemies’ location.
Ian and the knights had no choice but to gasp upon hearing the enemies’ next words.
It was inevitable.
“Just when on earth are we going to bring the Fifth Prince back to the kingdom if you procrastinate so much!”
‘!’
Ian was especially surprised.
He thought it was simply a single crime by a rural aristocrat, and it turned out that way.
‘The Fifth Prince?’
He never expected this kind of inside story.
And at that moment, Ian immediately noticed something.
‘Could it be that he did this scheme to put my brother on the throne?’
It was a possibility.
A person Ian had never encountered in his previous life because the former was not involved in the fight for the throne.
The Fifth Prince was his older brother and, at the same time, the beholder of brimming holy power enough to be called the youngest cardinal.
He must have exerted great power in the plague.
Not only that, but he could have gained a huge approval rating within Kaistein while fighting the plague.
‘Are they going to use the situation to bring the Fifth Prince back home and overturn the people’s approval ratings to ruin the competition?’
The plague was one of the national disasters. It would have been deserving enough to call him a hero for eradicating it.
‘Well, I definitely got some good information.’
This could be used.
As Ian’s eyes glinted menacingly.
Nathan gave a hand signal from the front.
It was to look somewhere.
‘!’
Ian, who followed his hand gesture, opened his eyes wide.
There were numerous wooden coffins. And a lot of people were sleeping in them.
‘Is it the villagers?’
‘I don’t think it’s all, perhaps only some.’
But they couldn’t jump right in.
The lines that snaked between the wooden coffins.
They seemed to be injecting something.
Ian narrowed his brows.
‘Looks like they’re injecting that special plague with that.’
He already knew this, but still, it was unpleasant.
Nevertheless, he listened to their conversation just in case.
They hadn’t spilled important info yet.
“But, Viscount, although it’s still less mutated, this plague needs to be handled very carefully. If we take a wrong step, it can be transmitted to us.”
“I know. How about releasing it now? We’ll run away anyway, so it doesn’t matter, right?”
“If it’s in its current mutated state, it’s only enough to blow up a village or two.”
“Hmm, it’s definitely better if it spreads out more, but, well, it’s a pity.”
The knights gnashed their teeth at their words.
It’s a good thing it spread to only one or two villages. What the hell did they think human life was?
In addition, the Lavaltor territory was sandwiched between those villages. Even Fiosen and his rival, Nathan, couldn’t help but frown.
However, Ian’s eyes were cautious.
‘That’s how he got used by the crown prince.’
The original goal was to bring chaos at the border. And the Fifth Prince would have appeared like a hero.
But somehow the crown prince found out. He drove the infected to the Lavaltor duchy. Thanks to that, Kaistein was rendered helpless, and hundreds of thousands of people in the Lavaltor duchy were dying in quarantine.
‘It was so terrible that I even avoided going up to the Lavaltor territory during the Northern Expedition.’
It had literally become a wasteland.
Of course, Duke Lavaltor and the high-ranking knights were not affected due to their high resistance.
But other soldiers, residents, and living creatures would be utterly wiped out.
Had it not been for the national image Lavaltor had built up, he would have been unable to recover.
Owing to this, there was no one stopping Garcia even if he expanded his power.
‘But not a chance this time around.’
Thanks to them busily running their mouths, Ian also ascertained the location of the cure.
So, there was no need to put up with it any longer.
Ian beckoned to the knights. The knights’ eyes immediately flashed at the order.
And then.
Chuck!
When Ian pointed at the enemies, the knights jumped forward in a flash like lightning bolts.
The enemies were caught by surprise.
“What? Who are you!”
“Invaders! Everybody, raise your swords!”
But the knights were much faster. Nathan, in particular, flitted from one spot to another, befitting his nickname “The Swift.” Two or three people were lodged to the ground every time he was spotted.
Galon also grabbed the ringleader by the collar.
“You
 you bastard! You know who I am and yet you did this—!”
“I don’t know. I don’t even want to know.”
“Wh-what?”
Pow!
The ringleader collapsed, bleeding from Galon’s punch. Without stopping, Galon aimed his sword at the fallen man’s neck.
Then he spoke in a cold voice.
“I’ll cut you if you move.”
“Keuk
”
The enemies were subdued in no time.
But some managed to run away.
“Damn it! How the hell! They must have blocked the entrance
!”
The one who was talking to the man referred to ‘Viscount’ earlier.
He was the man wearing the white research coat.
But he wasn’t just running away.
The place he was heading to was a huge sphere with lines connected to it.
“!”
It was a flask containing the plague.
“Screw it, I don’t care who your bastards are! Rather than get caught here
!”
He’d better spread the plague.
It was when the guy who said that touched the magic circle on the flask.
Paats!
A beam of light flashed through the dark cave. It’s a blood-red light coming out of the royal sword.
At the same time, Ian, who wielded the sword, uttered coldly.
“Stop there.”
“Kuaaaagh!”
Finally, the man screamed while grabbing his bleeding arm. Ian blocked his way with a light smile.
It seemed that he was up to something.
Just by looking at it, it was apparent he was going to self-destruct, so Ian moved in a hurry. It turned out it wasn’t a wrong choice either.
‘By the way, I always cut the arm.’
Rather than ‘royal sword,’ maybe he better named it ‘Arm Taker.’
It was then.
‘!’
Ian spotted several men everywhere trying to do the same thing as this guy.
“Sir Nathan!”
“I’m sorry. I’ll take care of it right away!”
As soon as the words fell, Nathan glanced off. And in an instant, his sword pierced the bodies of the men scattered all around.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
“Ouch!”
Some had their legs cut off.
And Nathan, who held onto the flask that was about to fall, grumbled in annoyance.
“Oops! You almost startled me. But why does it seem like I always suffer? Why do you only make Fiosen do easy things, Your Highness?”
“Isn’t it because of your Oath? Sir Fiosen’s Oath doesn’t suit this, right?”
“I can do it well too
”
Nathan pouted his lips.
“Anyway, let’s go out now
”
But right then.
BOOM!
“!!”
A huge boom came from the entrance they came in.
“Prince!”
It was the sound of something crashing. No, it sounded like the secret passage they entered from was being buried.
And at that moment, the ceiling collapsed.
“Your Highness! Dangerous!”
The knights rushed over, but Ian opened his eyes wide.
And then a blinding beam of light surged forth.
***
Boom! Boom!
A great explosion erupted. At the same time, the chief’s house shook as if it were about to collapse.
“What’s this?”
“What’s going on?”
Just like Kaistein’s troops, who were waiting in the village, Cantum’s soldiers fell into a buzz as well.
However, only the crown prince grinned.
‘Yeong. You have completed your mission.’
He ordered him to crush the passage so Ian couldn’t come out if he judged it to be not in their favor.
The Seventh Prince seemed to find something that would benefit him in the bet. Otherwise, his subordinate Yeong would not have used the item. But it’s too late. Since they were buried, it would take a long time to get out.
He would be here before then.
“I know the culprits. I’ll hand them over shortly.”
A mysterious man who suddenly contacted him. Not only did he promise to hand over the culprits, he even handed over the plague the culprits were researching.
‘The moment he brings the culprits, the bet is my victory.’
But as Ian found them, the situation changed and he only needed to wait.
“Cheong!”
At the crown prince’s call, a woman emerged from the shadows. Like Yeong, she was one of the crown prince’s guards.
The crown prince gave her orders at once.
“Yeong has completed his mission, so you go ahead and carry out your mission.”
Chuck.
When the woman saluted, the crown prince smirked.
“We will execute the grand plan immediately. Signal the spies.”
This was an operation to conquer Lavaltor he had been preparing for a long time. It was based on information obtained from the man who had contacted him.
The first was to take advantage of the plague right here.
It had already been passed on to a spy who had infiltrated Lavaltor.
And it would be planted in the wells in Lavaltor with a signal from Yeong.
‘There are people to blame anyway, so they will never know it was us.’
Next, after the ploy to make the plague spread in Lavaltor.
He lifted a crystal ball.
“Where is your position now?”
[We’re about to arrive at the entrance to Lavaltor, Your Highness.]
The messengers dressed as people of Kaistein. They were to bring out Lavaltor’s forces with false information that the life of the Seventh Prince, Ian, was in danger. In Ian’s previous life, he used the First Princess’s name. This time, he was going to mention the name of the Seventh Prince, Ian.
‘No matter how important the defense of the North is, he can’t overlook the lives of royalty.’
Furthermore, at this time, Duke Lavaltor would be in the royal palace. There was no one left who could suppress the prince’s authority. But if he didn’t send them to the defense, he would be charged with treason. Thus, Lavaltor had to split his forces.
And the last move.
“Get ready! Set off at once.”
“Yes.”
Destroy Lavaltor’s troops who came to the rescue immediately. If they killed them, there would be a shortage of soldiers to protect the duchy.
The troops he hid here were the best in Cantum.
No matter how many excellent soldiers Lavaltor deployed, if they were ambushed, they were bound to fall helplessly.
‘There’s no leader in Lavaltor.’
In any case, without missing the chance to raid an empty house, Bahara would attack Lavaltor. The moment they attacked each other and became weak.
“With this, Kaistein’s shield disappears. And this land will be mine.”
The crown prince broke into a smile.
And with Bahara in his hands, he would become an emperor never seen before in history.
Plus, the Seventh Prince.
‘If Lavaltor falls, he will prefer to be under me rather than under this kingdom.’
Or he would try to join hands with him to repair the damage.
When the crown prince was quickly mobilizing his troops with a gloating smile.
An urgent voice came from the crystal ball.
[Your Highness
 Please avoid it. It’s a trap.]
It was the voice of the messenger dispatched to Lavaltor.
That was not the only problem.
[The Lavaltor guys were hiding inside. The grand plan failed
]
“What?!”
The prince stopped abruptly when he heard that even his spies sent to spread the plague in the wells were caught.
But something was amiss.
“Then what is that person saying?”
The problem was the Lavaltor flag heading in their direction. They must have been the ones called for the Seventh Prince. Elite combat troops were rushing in a combat stance.
It was when the flustered prince hurriedly turned back.
Clip clop.
A knight on a horse was spotted approaching their army from the Labadom village.
It was Fiosen Lavaltor.
He was in a mood better than ever.
“Prince, here is a gift from His Highness, Ian.”
“!?”
The next moment.
Fiosen threw a man he carried on the horse toward the crown prince.
Poof!
And a big column of smoke soared into the sky.