Genius Wizard Hides His Sword Skills [EN]: Chapter 125

125. Behind the Scenes

“You’ve worked hard.”

Carles was stowing away the trident right in front of the bars.

“Hoo. It was a bit of a hassle for the first time in a while. He’s quite a skilled guy.”

Carles nodded, looking down at the deceased Hustaaf. It was a statement that would shock anyone who heard it.

‘To call the Lord of Blood quite skilled.’

The head of the Water King Clan. It was a statement that no one but him could make.

“You’re amazing as always.”

“If he had used electric magic instead of fire from the start, I would have had a hard time too.”

Originally, the Water King Clan was born with the energy of water. They couldn’t use magic *with* water, but they had strong resistance to fire.

‘Especially the head of the clan.’

Carles was almost invincible when it came to fire, so Hustaaf was just unlucky.

If he had used electric magic from the start, as Carles said, he could have fought much better.

“Ah, and I’ve decided to take this guy’s title.”

“Yes?”

“The Lord of Blood. I liked it from the first time I heard it.”

Carles grinned, covered in blood. Even the trident was stained with blood, so he truly *looked* the Lord of Blood.

“…Do as you please.”

“Oh! I will!”

The Lord of Blood, Hustaaf. I couldn’t help but look at him again.

‘The repercussions won’t be small.’

[Indeed. Someone of this level dying will shake the continent.]

The death of the Magic Tower Lord’s right-hand man, who was about to become a Great Mage. His death would be talked about for a long time.

‘First, the living must live.’

I postponed dealing with *that* for now. There was something more pressing on my mind.

‘Aileen…’

My gaze was already on the bars.

A frail girl who didn’t fit in with the prisoners. Admun was already approaching her. He was shedding endless tears as he looked at Aileen beyond the bars.

I also moved towards the two of them.

Woo-oong!

I channeled Aura into the blade of Fragarach.

“Admun, step back for a moment.”

A faster and more certain way than finding the key to the bars.

Kaa-aang!

Fragarach strongly scraped against the iron bars.

‘It’s tougher than I thought.’

As expected of a prison made of strong materials, directly manufactured by the Magic Tower.

However, it wasn’t impossible to break. It may have been made so that even magic or ordinary sword strikes wouldn’t leave a scratch.

‘But that’s all it is.’

The existence of Aura had long disappeared from the world. They couldn’t have prepared for the power of Aura.

Kaa-aa-aang!

As expected, the iron bars began to be cut off after a couple more strikes.

“Ah, Aileen!”

Admun rushed through the gap. He was the one who removed the cloth covering Aileen’s eyes.

I followed him into the inside of the bars. I swung Fragarach once more.

Thud!

The magic rope binding her hands and feet was cut off.

“Brother!”

Admun and Aileen Dolph. The two hugged each other and shed endless tears.

It was a scene that made my nose tingle, but it wasn’t my turn yet.

‘I should give them some time together first.’

[Yeah. We should give them some time to reunite.]

They had been waiting for each other for years. No matter how desperate I was, it couldn’t have been as much as Admun.

Instead, my gaze turned to the other criminals imprisoned in the bars.

“What, what is it!”

“What’s going on!”

“You bastards from the Magic Tower! Say something!”

The unexpected commotion increased their anxiety. They were shouting here and there.

Among them, the ones who caught my eye the most were:

“Horizo. Liu.”

The two were not saying anything in the midst of the commotion.

Thud!

As I cut the ropes with Fragarach, the two removed the cloths from their faces themselves.

“Thank you.”

“It’s an honor that you moved yourself.”

Horizo and Liu bowed their heads.

“No, it’s all thanks to you. Thanks to the information you gave me from inside, I was able to come up with this plan.”

Horizo risked his life to convey Aileen’s information. It couldn’t have been just his hard work. Liu, who was with him, would have planned the operation together.

[Still, thanks to that, these two got out too.]

That wasn’t the intention, but thanks to this commotion, the two were able to escape the Magic Tower prison.

‘It worked out well in many ways.’

The two were moving their bodies, as if they were stiff from being tied up.

“First, go back and get plenty of rest. I’ll ask Anghel to pay more attention to the two of you. Of course, I’ll reward you separately.”

“Thank you for your words alone.”

Horizo and Liu bowed their heads. After patting the two on the shoulders, my gaze turned to the remaining criminals.

“What, what’s going on?”

“I think the guys next to me were released?”

“What? Me too! Release me too!”

Those who heard the sound were excited.

[How noisy.]

I gestured to the members of the Central Council around me.

“Remove the blindfolds from these guys.”

The *cloths* that had been blocking the criminals’ vision were finally removed.

“Wh-who are you guys?”

“Who is it?”

“Silver… mask?”

The silver masks in their eyes must have been puzzling.

“You worm-like bastards.”

They were all violent criminals. There was no way good words would come out to such people.

“What? Worms?”

“You bastards! Do you know who I am to be saying such things!”

“Release this now!”

It was only natural that they were agitated once again.

‘Why are there so many words? They’re being transported.’

I continued to scold them.

“Everyone shut up. Otherwise, I’ll kill you right here.”

Even if they were impatient criminals, they couldn’t easily argue because they were tied up.

Only then did they look around and size up the situation.

[They’re all scared.]

Moreover, the bodies of the Magic Tower escort were scattered around. They were just blinking their eyes.

“Bl-Blood Lord?”

“…Hustaaf?”

And then, a figure caught their eyes. Even the man with red hair was touching the floor, and the criminals froze in an instant.

I gestured to Anghel next to me.

“First, can you take these guys and identify them? There may be innocent people mixed in.”

They were classified as violent criminals and destined to be sent to the Imperial Underground Prison. However, there was no guarantee that there would be no innocent stories like Aileen.

“If they’re real criminals, leave them in front of the underground prison.”

“Understood.”

The guys who heard our conversation hurriedly started rolling their eyes.

“…A-Are you going to send us to the underground prison? Can’t you save us too?”

Soon, a person carefully opened his mouth. Everyone’s attention was focused on the middle-aged man.

“Who are you guys? I’m quite capable. If you want, take me into your organization.”

Was it because he gained hope from my question?

“You must have heard of the Massacre of Ihalham? I am Seno Kohir. I will also lend my strength to your cause!”

He revealed his title and name.

‘The Massacre of Ihalham…’

My brow furrowed. I had definitely heard of that title.

‘Trash.’

He was the one who caused a stir on the continent just a year ago. He was the one who massacred the young men of the mountain village of Ihalham and raped the women.

“Hehe. How is it? I’m quite useful too.”

His grinning smile made me feel bad.

“Do you want to die?”

“Wh-what?”

“I *mean* you’d die if you didn’t shut up.”

I immediately took out the adamantite dagger from my pocket.

“…U-ugh.”

He couldn’t even look me in the eye and was fidgeting.

It wasn’t just because the dagger was pointed at his neck. The killing intent accumulated from countless battlefields was being conveyed to him.

I gestured to Anghel, looking at the man who had closed his mouth.

“I have to cancel what I said earlier. This guy needs special treatment.”

“Special treatment, you say?”

“Yes. He’s too good to kill *quickly*. Before sending him to the underground prison, destroy his mana hole [the source of his magical power] and tear his limbs apart.”

“Understood. Shall we do it right now?”

“There’s no need to postpone it.”

The man opened his mouth urgently at our calm conversation.

“Wh-what! What are you talking about!”

There was no more value in responding to him.

Poo-ook!

Sand spears rose from the floor at Anghel’s gesture.

“Kkeu-aaaack!”

After that, only the man’s screams echoed in the bars for a while.

“Hoo, you did a good job just now.”

Carles put his hand on my shoulder at the sight.

“What do you mean by doing a good job?”

I didn’t know what he was talking about. Carles then gestured towards Kohir.

“I’m talking about the killing intent just now. Weren’t you really thinking of killing that guy?”

“Ah, yes. I’m used to that.”

I couldn’t say that it was something I had learned during my Adonis days, but I could emit killing intent more skillfully than anyone else.

“That’s what I’m talking about. The feeling of really attacking. It’s not just killing intent, but it’s also applied to all attacks and defenses.”

Carles suddenly clenched his fist. The moment his shoulder twitched,

‘Suddenly?’

I immediately crossed my arms and defended my face. I expected his fist to be extended towards my forehead.

But as always, my expectations were pleasantly wrong.

Thud.

Carles just lightly brushed off my fist.

“That’s the basics for learning Jujutsu [a martial art]. In order to change attacks like flowing water, you must always be sincere in all your actions. The feeling of really doing it must be accompanied.”

“…Ah.”

I seemed to understand a little bit of the truth he was conveying. Even emitting a strong killing intent had to be accompanied by the thought of really killing the opponent every time.

‘Sincerity… I should practice a bit.’

As I nodded, two figures approached behind Carles.

“How do you feel after meeting after a long time?”

It was Admun and Aileen.

“Thank you. Young master. I will never forget this grace in my life.”

Admun’s whites of his eyes were bloodshot from crying so much in a short time. He was finally smiling brightly.

“I see the descendant of Khan.”

And the girl whispered softly, so that others wouldn’t hear. Aileen bent her waist.

“You’ve really been through a lot. You’ve hidden the secret well in the meantime.”

“It was a natural thing as a descendant of Dolph.”

She could have revealed the secret of the base, but this young girl did not lose her spirit even in the Magic Tower’s prison.

“…Okay. Let’s go for now.”

There were many things I wanted to say, but it was a priority to make the tired girl’s body comfortable. I barely managed to control the overwhelming emotions.

At that moment, a voice was heard in my ear.

“I think we should leave this place quickly.”

It was Anghel, who had already punished Kohir and approached.

“We should. The Magic Tower will be sending reinforcements too.”

However, there was one more thing to do before leaving this place.

“Everyone get out of the bars!”