Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
Lucion knew where the Luminos’ base was, just like with the Ratmen.
However, unlike the clumsy Ratmen, they were magicians.
Lucion planned to use the Imperial Family to catch those bastards.
First, he pretended to be the ‘Hand of Void’ and sent the bastards a letter with a crow symbol and informed them of the route his carriage would take.
‘At minimum, this case will be enough to cause a misunderstanding and prevent Luminos from holding hands with the Hand of Void.’
Lucion slowly walked on the red carpet spread on the ground.
‘If I steal the things the Hand of Void will have in the future and block the incidents caused by those bastards, I’ll be able to change my fate.’
Lucion realized one thing.
Even if he didn’t want to, this damn fate would tie him with the villains, and create situations where they would somehow meet.
Lucion saw Heint standing at the side of the carriage.
‘Heint would be a representative example.’
That red thread was indeed as tough as the connection entwining him with the protagonist.
Even though he clearly created a situation to cut off the red thread, it wasn’t cut off, and Heint stuck to him even more.
Clink.
“The Imperial Family’s Eighth Knight Order, this Heint Tria swears here to serve Saint Lucion Cronia and safely escort Him to Cronia at His Majesty’s orders.”
Heint neatly greeted Lucion as an imperial knight.
Finishing the greeting, Heint didn’t forget to quietly mention his feelings.
“I’m even more happy that I can escort You.”
“I’m honored. Please take care of me.”
In the public space, Lucion also greeted Heint as a noble.
Heint opened the carriage door.
Lucion made a space for Carson to enter first.
After Carson got in and Lucion got into the carriage after him, the door closed.
“Hyung-nim.”
Lucion spoke up with determination for a secret start.
[Is it starting now?]
Russell calmly knitted his fingers together and crossed his legs, and in that posture hovered around Lucion.
[What do you mean?]
Bethel asked, wiping her helmet.
[Lucion’s fraud… No, that, um, I mean attack to catch the enemies off guard.]
‘Ha!’
Lucion let out a dumbfounded huff inside.
What fraud?
He swore he would never commit a fraud.
Everything till now were words based on facts with just a bit of seasoning.
[That, well. Just watch. You’ll get a feel of it.]
Russell avoided Lucion’s gaze, while Bethel spoke like a whisper.
Latta licked her paw and perked up her ears.
[I don’t know what it is, but the more I watch Lord Lucion, the more it feels like you don’t know where Lord will jump next, so it’s fun to watch.]
Bethel’s eyes were softly folded.
Even if she didn’t want to, she felt a surging rage if she just got close to a warlock, like a rash over her whole body, but Lucion was different.
Being with him felt very comfortable.
[Right? However, the more you watch, the more you become uneasy. What if he keeps wandering around?]
Lucion had to manage his expression because of Russell’s nagging at this moment.
— But Latta really likes that Lucion is wandering? Latta still likes having legs very much!
When Latta burrowed into Lucion’s arms, Lucion stroked her, soothing his mind.
“… Is it something important?”
When Lucion called him, but didn’t say anything, Carson lowered his voice and asked.
“No. I was just thinking if I should talk about it, because I had one worry.”
The gazes of Russell and Bethel, who was watching Lucion, stuck to his side, shook.
“Worry?”
Carson’s expression slightly stiffened.
They were together with the Imperial Knights and the Cronia Knight Order.
How could there be something to be worried about?
“Are you perhaps talking about an ambush?”
“That’s right.”
“Those who would dare to ambush us would have to be very confident in facing the imperial family and the border. How many such people would there be?”
‘There is one bastard.’
Lucion swallowed those words.
Luminos called themselves reformers, but more accurately, they were extremists.
They proclaimed that they should become nobles, as they were mages with military power, and that the hereditary noble system should be abolished.
There was no way they would miss a good opportunity to kill him, the saint, if things go well, and tarnish the image of the imperial family at the same time.
‘No, they will do it for sure. Because to grow their power, they will endure this much danger.’
Even if they don’t succeed, as they could obtain the title of the ones who ‘attacked the saint’, Luminos wouldn’t think it would be very damaging to their reputation.
If he didn’t know the location of Luminos’ base, that is.
“The world is much more unpredictable than I expected.”
Lucion carefully opened his mouth, while staring at the window for a moment, like he was talking about his feelings.
“Hyung-nim probably thinks there is ‘no way’, but I think there are many people who would try to use that no way.”
“What are you anxious about?”
Carson understood Lucion’s anxiety.
In the past and now, Lucion was a very good prey from an enemy’s perspective, and that fact hasn’t changed.
However, if even the imperial family and the border couldn’t suppress the anxiety of Lucion, it was difficult to soothe that anxiety with something.
“If there were crazy bastards, who the imperial family and Hyung-nim didn’t expect, what would happen?”
“Crazy bastards, you say.”
Carson stroked his chin.
Slowly, his eyes grew larger.
“No way… Are you talking about the suicide bombing incident from a few months ago?”
“That’s correct. Are we currently prepared for that part, too?”
Lucion replied.
It actually happened at the border.
There was a thick and enormous wall at the border of the Tesealla Empire.
The Neavera Kingdom sent suicide bombers to pierce through that wall.
The result was failure, but this time, it was different.
There were no thick fortifications to block the explosions, and nothing could prevent people from gathering until they left the capital area.
Carson’s expression stiffened.
“How could I not consider this part? Now that I think about it, the preparations really fall short.”
When you feel at your safest, it can be the most dangerous situation, as wasn’t it the easiest state for the enemy to catch you off guard?
“Wait a moment.”
Carson came out of the carriage.
[See?]
Russell pointed at Carson and looked at Bethel.
Bethel nodded.
[Russell, I understand why you would say Lord Lucion is a fraudster when looking at him. Be it in a good or bad sense, Lord Lucion has an excellent talent for getting under the people’s skin.]
— Lucion is not a fraudster. Lucion is very, very kind. Latta never saw a human as kind as Lucion.
Latta frowned and held onto Lucion’s arm.
“Yeah, Latta. I have no one but you.”
— Hyum? Does Hyum think like Latta too?
“That’s right. I also have Hyum.”
Lucion side-eyed Russel and Bethel in turn.
[I-I was rude. I mean that Lord Lucion’s way of talking is special. Please, don’t misunderstand.]
Bethel spoke up, embarrassed.
What did she say about her benefactor?
Bethel opened her eyes wide, and she fiddled with the helmet in her hands.
***
“… What’s the matter?”
Heint, who returned from the last inspection, asked in surprise at Carson’s sudden actions.
“We have to reinforce a few things.”
Carson stealthy pointed at the carriage.
“Is there some kind of a problem with the carriage?”
“Yes. I hope You will come in to have a look.”
Pretending that he couldn’t ignore Carson’s suggestion, Heint entered the carriage.
The carriage was a location where no sound would leak out.
“What happened? We have to depart right now.”
Heint checked the time, and urged Carson.
“It’s a publicly known fact that we’re returning to the border today.”
Carson spoke up, and Heint nodded, saying:
“That’s why when returning to the border, we decided to take a different route from the announced road.”
“We have to reinforce a few things before departing.”
“Reinforce?”
Heint glanced at Lucion.
He looked like he expected that Lucion discovered something this time too.
“There is something we didn’t think through. An enemy’s suicide bombing.”
“Didn’t we prepare a defense mage for that?”
“What if there is not one suicide bomber but several? What are we going to do if they’re determined to make mana go wild and explode? Can we block that?”
Heint finally hit his head and said:
“… We probably can block it, but the damage will be enormous, right?”
The mage making their mana go wild was a method of last resort, but it was also the method that caused the most terror.
They almost got into big trouble.
Realizing that he fell into a complacent thought that there wouldn’t be anyone who dared to mess with the royal family, he was stunned for a moment, feeling like was bluntly hit on the head.
“Carson, you mean we have to reinforce it again?”
Heint at last agreed with Carson’s words.
Once their gears turned, Carson and Heint quickly brought the necessary manpower.
Many more defense mages to protect Lucion and the knights from suicide bombing.
Barrier mages to protect the carriage.
Hunters to track mana, etc.
‘The preparations are perfect.’
Lucion smiled inside.
They had combat power comparable to a small castle in the first place, but it would be even stronger going forward, so he had no worries now.
No matter how wild Luminos ran, they were still a newly created organization.
In front of the imperial family’s power, it was just one feeble branch that would easily break.
The arrogant mages that didn’t know their place.
“What is your opinion, Lucion?”
Heint asked.
“It’s very clean, I have nothing to add.”
Lucion smiled.
The two people specialized in it, and just by listening to the two’s conversation, he was satisfied.
“How much time will it take to prepare?”
Carson asked.
Heint shook his leg in thought, and spoke up.
“30 minutes. No. 25 minutes.”
“Make it shorter.”
“We can’t. The barrier mage needs time to create a barrier.”
“They can ride a horse on the side while they work. 15 minutes. Enemies are probably watching us, so we can’t stay any longer.”
When Carson hammered his decision, Heint couldn’t control his seething heart and spat out:
“This- this rotten bastard! Did you forget it’s me who is the escort mission captain?”
“And I’m the Cronia representative right now. If you know it, bow your head.”
But the corner of Carson’s mouth twisted, and he pointed to the ground.
Obviously the status of the family’s representative was higher.
“Damn fucker.”
Heint cursed out of habit, then, surprised because Lucion was looking right at him, he fumbled with his words.
“… Uh, um. That’s not it. I’m not angry.”
“You can curse if You’re angry. It’s okay.”
When Lucion smiled, Heint’s eyes shook greatly.
It’s all because of you.
Heint, who glared at Carson, smiled awkwardly towards Lucion, and left the carriage.
“Did you see it? You should also sell Cronia’s name. You can solve most things like this.”
“Yes. It’s very effective.”
Lucion smiled even wider than before.
***
The carriage quickly left the capital, and in that period, the barrier mages riding the horses with green faces reinforced the barrier.
[… Ha. They probably really feel it. The true taste of death.]
— Why?
When Russell shook his head, Latta, who was running in circles chasing her own tail, asked.
[Hm, look. If I had to compare, it would be like living, eating and moving, while hanging upside down.]
Lucion instinctively frowned at those words.
— Yeah? Latta will try.
Latta tilted her head, and then tried to headstand on her front paws, while darting her tongue in and out.
Carson, who was quietly reading a book, turned his gaze to Latta.
He couldn’t focus on the book at all.
“Why is your fox suddenly acting like this?”
“I don’t know.”
Lucion just smirked.
At the sight of Latta trying to headstand for an experience, Russell and Bathel burst out laughing and the carriage was filled with laughter.
At that moment, the carriage rattled.
— Aaack!
Lucion caught Latta before she could fall to the ground.
[Magic. It seems it was a tracking magic?]
Just when Russell finished saying that, they heard the sound of something exploding in the sky.
Boom!
Lights started to explode in the sky like fireworks.
Carson closed the book and calmly said.
“The enemy. Looks like our movement route was somehow exposed to the enemy.”
Lucion, who exposed that movement route, covered his smirking lips, and did his very best to put strength in his frown.
*~*~*
Translator’s note: Latta is so damn cute.
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