Ka-ang!
The moment the attacker’s sword touched Jake’s body, it made a sound not of hitting thin cloth but thick metal, then bounced off.
The transparent barrier wrapped around Jake’s body exploded and struck the attacker hard.
“Khaaaaak!”
Chwaaaaaaak,
The attacker flew far away and crashed into a corner of the garden.
With that as the last, silence returned to the garden once more.
“……”
In that stillness, Jake stood dazed for several seconds, unable to even flinch.
‘What… what just happened?’
Too many things happened in an instant, so he couldn’t grasp what happened or how.
Jake, who barely came to his senses, approached the attacker.
Whether he vomited blood while flying, the attacker’s face was covered in blood, and the sturdy armor around the chest area was crumpled into a mess. As if thoroughly beaten by something.
Jake didn’t have the ability to strike and crumple armor.
Of course, he didn’t have the power to blow away an attacker, or the skill to dodge or block a sword swinging at him either.
Then what on earth was this about?
“…Klad.”
Jake guessed that he had received Klad’s help this time too.
He hadn’t even known that magic had been wrapped around him.
No matter how much it was protective magic, casting magic on another person without permission was an extremely rude act, but just this once, he decided to understand generously.
Because he was the one in need right now.
‘But who is this person?’
A soldier guarding the lord’s castle? A mercenary targeting the Hero’s life? Or perhaps….
‘This is serious.’
Jake, who had been examining the blood-covered attacker’s face, frowned.
It was a face he knew. A person who shouldn’t be here.
The attacker’s identity was a knight of House Duke West. Father’s loyal subordinate.
‘Of all people, this one.’
Right after being appointed as Hero, he had headed to Audrit with his newly met party member Elijah to find the Hero’s Sword. There, he happened to meet someone presumed to be a descendant of the Duke’s house, and unfortunately, Elijah reported that situation to Father.
Of course, he knew she would. He had deliberately leaked the fact that he was searching for a descendant of the Duke’s house to Father.
He thought that if Father knew something, he would immediately establish countermeasures for it, and based on his reaction, he tried to guess where descendants might be.
But the Duke’s response flowed differently from expected.
The Duke sent people to bring Jake to the capital. No, it would be more accurate to say they dragged him there.
The attacker was that knight from back then. The knight who dragged Jake from a small village on the outskirts of Audrit and threw him into an underground dungeon.
He had even broken Jake’s perfectly fine leg, saying he would make Jake, who couldn’t resist anyway, docile. He must have received permission to inflict harm if necessary.
So this time too, he would have swung his sword without hesitation.
‘Did Father send someone?’
Not satisfied with planting bombs in the plaza and releasing demons to sweep him up in the aftermath, he wants to take his breath away for sure?
He couldn’t understand. There was nothing to be gained for Father from his immediate death.
Although he had been covered with many infamies, the name ‘Hero’ still had value.
Moreover, if the Hero died before defeating the Demon King, the world would collapse, so what meaning would there be in reigning over a ruined world?
‘I need to find out what Father is plotting.’
Imprisoning or threatening the knight to extract information wasn’t something he could do alone, so now while he was unconscious was the opportunity.
Jake reached his hand toward the pouch tied at the knight’s waist. There was no other luggage, so if he was carrying something that could be a clue, it would only be that.
The moment Jake’s hand touched the pouch, the knight who had been lying down all along moved.
“…How dare… Khak!”
The knight who grabbed Jake’s throat for touching his belongings was bounced away again by Klad’s magic that activated once more.
The recoil pushed Jake back as well, making him fall.
But what concerned him now wasn’t the stinging pain in his throat or his sore bottom.
‘The magic’s strength has weakened.’
It was certain. The magic’s reaction that blocked attacks coming at him and returned even stronger attacks to the enemy had noticeably weakened.
Was it a one-time magic that would disappear after showing its effect once or twice? Well, he hadn’t expected such an amazing magic to continue indefinitely anyway.
If he was lucky, it could defend about one more time. But there was no way the knight hadn’t noticed what Jake had figured out.
The knight would attack again. Until the magic’s effect ran out and the attack drove Jake to death.
Having finished his judgment, Jake immediately got up from his spot and fled.
“Ugh,”
Behind him, he heard the knight groaning in pain while getting up.
‘Where should I go?’
The door was too far away to escape outside the lord’s castle. If the knight wasn’t alone, others might be standing guard there.
Jake ran inside. And hid his body in one of the nearby rooms.
Clatter, clatter,
Perhaps the hinges connecting the torso and limbs were broken as the armor crumpled, making clattering sounds every time the knight moved.
His heartbeat quickened in sync with the sound echoing through the empty corridor.
‘No. I need to calm down, Jake.’
Jake talked to himself while desperately holding his breath.
Fortunately, the amount of mana gathered in Jake’s heart was so small that even skilled knights didn’t notice his presence well.
To them, Jake was no different from a living corpse.
A corpse with no presence or waves of mana felt at all.
At least he could move normally with the power given by god, but they didn’t have the ability to track that power. On top of that, Klad’s protective magic was overlaid, so if he just wasn’t seen, he could avoid the knight’s pursuit.
He just needed to hide like this until he left.
Step, clatter.
The knight’s footsteps gradually got closer.
Clatter, clatter.
The room he happened to hide in had no space to hide, like a bed or wardrobe. Hiding behind the door was the best he could do, but even that would obviously expose him the moment the door opened.
Step, clatter.
What should he do if the knight opened this door? It would be good if the protective magic activated just one more time. If he could buy even just one second, he would attempt to flee targeting that moment. But if he didn’t even have that chance….
……Step.
The knight’s footsteps stopped in front of the door.
Right in front of the door of the room where Jake was hiding.
Thump, thump.
Jake learned for the first time that his heart could beat this loudly.
It was good news, but now wasn’t the time.
‘Pass by. Pass by.’
Clatter.
The sound of armor clattering was heard.
Was that the sound of lifting a foot to move forward?
Or was it the sound of reaching an arm toward the doorknob to open the door?
“……”
Click,
The knight’s hand touched the doorknob.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep—
‘Hk!’
At the communication crystal orb’s notification sound heard in that instant, the breath he had been holding so well almost burst out.
Jake covered his mouth and leaned against the wall as if clinging to it.
“Tsk.”
As if even the knight hadn’t expected this, he clicked his tongue and took out the noisily ringing communication crystal orb.
The only one who would contact through the crystal orb was the Duke. Even if prey was dangling right under his nose, he couldn’t ignore this contact.
“Damn it, there’s no mage right now.”
The knight grumbled in annoyance and took something out of his pocket and broke it.
‘What? A magic stone?’
The amount of mana needed to connect a communication crystal orb was enormous. To connect all the way to the capital where the Duke was, he would need to use a top-grade magic stone.
Top-grade magic stones were precious enough that even a Duke couldn’t waste them carelessly. They weren’t something to be tossed to subordinates to use at their convenience.
Yet using a top-grade magic stone without permission meant this knight was in a position where he had to answer immediately when the Duke contacted him, even without a mage nearby.
He must have been entrusted with an important role.
Even in this situation, Jake pressed his ear to the door, determined to hear his conversation.
[The Baron?]
“I haven’t found traces of him yet.”
The Baron? Were they looking for the Baron?
Perhaps the knight hadn’t come here after pinpointing Jake’s location, but had visited the lord’s castle looking for the Baron.
Then the Duke might not know Jake’s whereabouts at all.
He would know soon enough, so it was a meaningless speculation.
[‘That thing’, did you find it?]
“Not yet.”
That thing?
Jake completely stuck to the door and concentrated.
“But I discovered Jake-nim here.”
[Did you kill him?]
“Not yet. I’ll eliminate him as soon as I find him.”
[No. Bring him before me.]
“Yes.”
Step, clatter, step, clatter,
Perhaps feeling urgent after receiving the Duke’s contact, the knight quickly walked down the corridor.
Gauging by listening to the clattering sound fading, it seemed he was trying to check whether Jake had escaped outside the lord’s castle and seal the entrances and exits.
Jake waited until that sound disappeared before carefully coming out into the corridor. The knight wasn’t visible.
Having confirmed this place was safe, Jake ran without hesitation.
Not toward the exit, but toward the lord’s office.
