Turning around the corner of the corridor, Anya arrived at the secret space of Royster Palace, the garden. On a large table was set a feast to make one’s mouth water, and at the head seat sat Royster, with the other brothers seated below him according to rank. Around them, sworn knights who had pledged to Royster were firmly positioned. The princes’ ranks could be easily gauged by the number of soldiers they commanded, and among the princes, Royster had the most soldiers under his command.
Jousting tournaments were held periodically in Maneregia. The ruling class that hosted them varied by occasion, but wandering knights from all over the empire always gathered the same. They wandered searching for a lord to serve, and if lucky, they would be chosen by nobles watching the jousting tournament.
Since the Claist Imperial Family took power, there had been no major wars, so wandering knights who had lost their role would recite oaths of allegiance to anyone who would provide them with room and board. In very lucky cases, they would catch the eye of the imperial family.
Countless victors had passed through the jousting tournaments, but among them, not a single knight had pledged to Anya.
“Anya?”
Royster, who had been sitting in the landscape with a rather bored expression, frowned and looked at the shadowed place below the corridor. The eyeballs of the other brothers who had been gauging Royster’s mood followed. Anya walked out from the shadows.
“That’s… Anya? That 12th Prince?”
Someone asked with a bewildered expression. Even though this place was clearly an illusion created by the Dragcals, such unnecessarily detailed things kept making him mistake it for reality.
“You half-wit bastard, this isn’t a place for you.”
Another prince stood up and shouted. Soon contempt passed across the brothers’ expressions.
‘Don’t be scared.’
The childhood abuse momentarily disrupted his concentration, but Anya’s footsteps didn’t waver.
“Sit down.”
Royster raised his hand and said in an irritated voice. Then one of his knights approached and stood next to the prince who had just shouted. It was a silent threat. Everyone shut their mouths.
“You’ve… grown quite tall. But what’s with that appearance?”
Royster asked Anya as he walked over. Royster acted like an affectionate brother worried about his younger sibling.
‘That’s a lie. Because Royster has a dual personality.’
Anya cleanly ignored Royster’s concern.
‘That’s all an illusion. I’m not scared of Royster anymore.’
Anya’s lips endlessly repeated that fact like a spell, and his brown eyes stared piercingly at one spot without wavering. A red jewel smaller than a fingernail hung on Royster’s right earlobe.
“Don’t… concern yourself.”
As Anya kept walking without stopping, several knights blocked Anya’s path.
“What kind of speech is that to Prince Royster!”
One of Anya’s hands fingered the handle of Haebing hanging at his waist.
“A sword… it’s a sword! That bastard is wearing a sword!”
The princes rose from their seats in panic and shouted. Royster still looked at Anya with an incomprehensible expression.
“Who… are you?”
Anya drew Haebing toward the knights. Then the massive knights rushed at Anya in an instant. Anya struck the knight’s solar plexus with the flat of his sword. It was an illusion, but he didn’t want to kill the innocent wandering knights. After all, this was the path they had chosen to survive. Hadn’t he himself once begged Royster for his life?
“Gack…!”
The knight who was hit in the solar plexus collapsed, bent in half.
“Is… is that really Anya?”
Several princes asked Royster with faces full of fear. Royster tapped on the table while resting his chin in his hand.
“Well… it could be, or it might not be.”
Royster said as he rose from his seat. The princes hesitantly stepped back.
Royster walked leisurely like a shadow and drew the dagger hanging on the thigh of a nearby knight.
“Prince Royster, Your Highness?”
And without hesitation, he plunged the dagger into the knight’s leg.
“Aaaahhh!”
The knight screamed and collapsed. Bright red blood droplets splattered on Royster’s expressionless face. Royster wiped the blood on his face with his sleeve and said.
“He won’t die. Tsk, what a fuss.”
Royster pressed his forehead and let out a languid sigh.
“You can’t even handle that little brat, you’re disqualified.”
Although it was clearly warm spring weather, the air instantly froze. Leaving behind the knight rolling on the ground in pain, Royster shouted.
“Don’t be mindful that he’s a prince and kill him. I don’t spare even brothers who threaten my life.”
By now the other princes had begun to flee in terror. Royster was the successor who most resembled Emperor Luksus’s madness.
Is it really okay to kill him?
The wandering knights of lowly status were chess pieces that could be discarded by their lords at any time. They had pledged loyalty to their lord but didn’t trust him. Royster’s knights looked at each other and exchanged glances.
“I knew I shouldn’t have picked guys with lowly bloodlines….”
Should I just kill them all while I’m at it? When Royster muttered softly, the knights’ eyes became bloodshot. Either way, their lives were like mayflies anyway. Royster was a capricious prince, but his authority was correspondingly high. The knights had long been blinded by the gold and sweet power Royster gave them. They couldn’t have it taken away again.
“Hya!”
When one knight drew his sword and charged at Anya, the rest rushed in unison. Anya swung Haebing to block two or three swords simultaneously. They soon became indignant at the fact that they were being pushed back by a kid much younger.
Several confrontations continued.
‘I don’t have time….’
While blocking their swords at high speed, Anya gathered magic power with his other hand and punched a knight’s solar plexus.
“Ma-magic!”
Sabelli had told him that if you speed up the flow of magic power to create a whirlpool, it becomes several times more powerful than a normal person’s strength. Royster looked at Anya with interested eyes.
“This bastard!”
Another knight rushed at Anya from behind. Anya bent down to avoid the sword, then rotated his leg to kick the knight’s ankle. As he lost his center and fell, Anya immediately brought down the scabbard on his nose bridge. A nosebleed burst out.
In an instant, the two rolled on the floor.
“Pathetic fools.”
Royster picked up a bow and aimed it at Anya. An arrow shot without hesitation flew precisely toward Anya.
Thump.
In that moment, his heart leaped strongly.
It was fear ingrained in his bones. Anya swung Haebing to cut down the arrow, but couldn’t avoid the next arrow that flew. A long gash formed on his forearm. The pain was too vivid to call it a hallucination.
“You’re not my cute little brother.”
Royster smiled and drew another arrow. He had to avoid it. He had to avoid it, but his body wouldn’t move.
‘Move, move! Damn body!’
And simultaneously, his vision turned hazy and the people around him became smoke and disappeared one by one.
Anya looked around like a lost child while clutching his wound.
“How admirable that you dare to oppose me.”
Royster let out a sharp laugh. Then the scenery passed by quickly as if it had feet.
“……Huff, huff.”
When he came to his senses, Anya was standing in a space where everything was made of mirrors.
‘Is this also… a hallucination created by the Dragcals?’
As he hesitantly moved his steps, blood dripped onto the glass floor. That’s when it happened. A bright red rusty dagger protruded from the mirror that had absorbed the blood and cut Anya’s leg. Anya sat down on the spot while groaning. Dozens, no, hundreds of Anyas sat down beyond the mirrors.
Every time blood dripped, blades protruded from mirrors on all sides and slashed Anya. His body writhed in terrible pain.
The illusion created by the Dragcals kept forcing Anya.
Submit, you’ll be comfortable if you submit.
“Tsk, like a worm. You should die by now, my cute little brother.”
In the distance, Royster sat on a white throne. He looked down at the collapsed, gasping Anya with coldly cooled eyes. It was the substance of his brother who always ignored and looked down on him.
“I’m… not your damn brother!”
Anya shouted to shake off his fear. Cough, blood poured out.
‘Get a grip. This is just the Dragcals’s test.’
Anya barely raised his body, supporting himself by stabbing Haebing into the floor. It was the first time experiencing such vividly terrible pain. Perhaps it would remain as aftereffects and he would live unable to forget it for his whole life.
“How very boring.”
Royster made a bored expression and fiddled with his hands. Anya looked around searching for a clue. Hundreds of Anyas acted the same. But in that moment, only one Anya in the mirror was looking at him.
“……”
A face identical to his own raised the corners of its mouth in a grin. Soon the sound of flesh tearing rang out. The belly of Anya beyond the mirror split open and instantly transformed into a man-eating ghoul with huge teeth and a long tongue.
“I’ll clearly engrave in your body what happens when you oppose your brother.”
Anya’s body froze at the familiar form of the monster. It was that monster he had seen in Northernmost. The monster flicked its tongue and rushed at Anya. Simultaneously, another Anya in the mirror transformed into a monster. Another Anya too, another Anya too… In an instant, Anya was surrounded by several monsters.
He hadn’t expected anything like this at all. Sabelli’s words that he might die if he didn’t pass the spirit’s test were really true.
‘I don’t… want to die.’
He thought of the comet he saw yesterday. He wanted to share such wonderful things with precious people. He had sought the Dragcals to live, not to die.
While his mind was distracted, the monsters had approached close as if they would tear Anya to shreds and devour him at any moment, dripping saliva.
<Training Manual of the Blind Knights: Chapter 4. If you cannot see, then feel.>
“Feel… it’s not seeing, it’s feeling.”
And simultaneously, the monster’s red tongue stretched out rapidly toward Anya.
‘By the time you see with your eyes, the enemy will already be stabbing you. You must feel with your body, not see with your eyes.’
Cutting through the wind, Sabelli’s sword came right up to Anya’s nose. Like blind knights, Anya closed his eyes and focused on his senses. Not seeing with his eyes, but feeling with his body. He lightly avoided Sabelli’s sword with his eyes closed. Even without seeing, he could feel his presence.
“Gwaaahk!”
The monsters roared.
Mirrors could just be smashed. Anya closed his eyes and raised Haebing high.
* * *
How much time had passed? Glass shards were scattered messily on the floor, and on top of them lay the slashed corpse of a monster. In the middle stood Anya, drenched in blue blood.
Anya swept up his blood-soaked hair and slowly walked toward the throne. His arm must have been dislocated as it was hard to lift.
Whatever will be, will be. Anya dragged Haebing on the ground with his arm hanging limply. An unpleasant metallic scraping sound filled the air. In the distance, Royster sat on the throne, frozen with a pale face.
“If you cannot… kill me, you cannot take anything.”
He said.
“You’re a pathetic bastard who can’t even kill an ant…!”
Royster stopped speaking mid-sentence and clutched his chest. His left chest was turning red. His eyes, filled with shock, looked up at Anya.
“See you soon… Brother Royster.”
Anya said as he thrust Haebing in deeper.
“You… bas… tard.”
Royster coughed up blood. Royster’s eyes, consumed by death, were gradually losing their light. Anya stroked down both his eyelids with his hand, then removed the red earring.
