The Bastard Swordsman Of The Imperial Guard [EN]: Chapter 27

Carlson

An ominous aura filled the dark room, accessible only through a secret passage.

Zenon, the godfather of the underworld who controlled Districts 3 and 4, chuckled as he drew demonic energy from his body.

“Finally, the demonic energy is becoming familiar. I really do have talent…!”

He thought his life was over when he was attacked by demons, but looking back, it was actually a good opportunity.

The demons didn’t interfere with human affairs as long as they were appeased.

His subordinates were the ones producing the chain letters, not him, and Zenon was still able to reign as the ruler of the two districts.

Moreover, he had grown stronger by absorbing the demons’ demonic energy.

Now, Zenon possessed power equivalent to a top-tier Sword Expert.

Unless a Graduate-level being appeared, no one in District 3 could stop him.

‘But there’s no way a Graduate would be in a place like this.’

Huhuhu.

Zenon, wearing a bitter smile, picked up a glass from the table.

The sight of the humans outside the window was utterly pathetic.

“Kahaha. Humans are trash!”

The next target was District 2.

Zenon downed the drink, turned, and exited through the secret passage.

He needed to check if the slaves writing the chain letters were doing well.

‘With more demons arriving… the plan will be completed even faster.’

Initially, there was one lieutenant demon and ten lower demons, but after one lower demon died in District 4, the lower demons were replenished.

Forty lower demons!

This was arguably the strongest force in District 3.

Clearly, the demons recognized him for that.

‘My world has arrived… Once the demons’ plan is complete, I’ll swallow up the underworld of District 2 as well…!’

Only one step remained to becoming a true godfather of the underworld.

The chain letter ritual would soon be complete.

In just half a day…

Kwaang-!

At that moment, the wall of the building in front of Zenon collapsed.

“Huh?”

Could a building really be destroyed like this…?

Before Zenon could finish his thought, a battle-axe came crashing down on his head.

Those were the last memories of Zenon, the godfather who controlled the underworld of Districts 3 and 4.

*

After Marco brutally smashed through the building’s wall,

the paladins charged through the hole.

“In the name of Gaia!”

“Waaaaaah!”

The paladins, entering Marco’s sanctuary [a place blessed by divine power], rampaged through the building like barbarians, screaming.

“Receive divine punishment! You demon!”

“Waaaaaahhhhh!”

They were all searching for demons with fire in their eyes.

Thanks to Marco’s sanctuary, their combat power had noticeably increased, and they charged at the lower demons as soon as they saw them.

“There! It’s a demon!”

“Waaaaaahhhhh!”

Marco’s sanctuary exerted even greater power against demons.

The only minor drawback was that they were so focused on the demons in front of them that they couldn’t grasp the surrounding situation.

The Silver Cross Knights, including Marco, didn’t notice that one of the guards who had come with them had slipped away.

“Waaaah… Cough, cough. Whew. That’s enough cheering for now.”

It was Rael who had been shouting until now.

Rael smiled and retreated further back.

“At least I didn’t get stuck with demon hunting. That’s the Gaia Order for you.”

Rael was planning to sit back and enjoy the easy life while cheering from behind.

Finally, the world was turning properly.

Kwaaang-! Kwaaang-!

An enormous roar erupted from the front. Most of the paladins wielded swords, but the monster at the head was smashing buildings again with his battle-axe.

“It’s a demon! Silver Cross Knights! Kill all the demons!”

Kwaaaaang-!

Marco broke through another wall and charged towards the demon via the shortest route.

“Ugh, that’s a bit scary.”

Rael turned his gaze away from the human fighting the building.

“For the Silver Cross! For the Silver Cross!!!!”

Instead, he watched Carlson slicing through demons in the front.

Rael slowly observed Carlson’s sword.

He was curious how that troublemaker had gotten into the Silver Cross Knights.

Then, Rael’s eyes widened as he watched Carlson.

‘At that level, he must be a top-tier Sword Expert?’

A talented swordsman would reach the level of a beginner Sword Expert and draw out their sword energy before the age of 20.

However, Carlson was a top-tier Sword Expert at the age of 24.

Even considering the high barrier between Sword Expert and Graduate [a rank above Sword Expert], he was unbelievably talented.

‘…But there wasn’t anyone like Carlson in the original story, that’s strange.’

Rael stared at Carlson with a curious expression.

It was quite strange that a guy with such talent hadn’t made a name for himself in the original story.

“Capture the humans alive and kill the demons!”

The paladins moved in perfect order and subdued the demons.

Kwaaang-! Kwaaang-!

Their captain, Marco, was obsessed with demon hunting… but the knights’ reactions suggested they were used to it.

“May Gaia’s guidance be with you.”

Meanwhile, Cecilia was casting blessings on the paladins.

Her blessings, as the next saintess, already surpassed those of high-ranking priests.

“W-woooh! I feel the power surging! It’s definitely Marco’s sanctuary!”

“I feel even stronger than usual…? Anyway! Charge!”

Cecilia, who had been blessing the paladins, took a brief breather.

Casting such blessings dozens of times was not an easy task for her either.

“Lady Cecilia. You’ve worked hard. Come over here and rest slowly.”

“Thank you, Sir Rael.”

Cecilia was slowly walking towards Rael when she suddenly felt a strange sensation.

She quickly turned her head and looked beyond the building.

‘Demonic energy… is moving.’

It was clearly a demon who had evaded the paladins’ eyes.

Cecilia looked around to get help from the paladins.

However, the paladins had already entered the building.

The only one she could see was Rael.

Cecilia had no choice but to speak to Rael.

“S-Sir Rael.”

“Yes, Lady Cecilia. What is it?”

“I can feel a strong movement of demonic energy over there… I was going to tell the paladins, but they’ve all gone inside the building…”

“…Demonic energy?”

Rael focused his senses, watching the area Cecilia was pointing to.

Indeed, a dense demonic energy was moving as she said.

Rael immediately turned his head to find Marco.

Among the Silver Cross Knights who had come to District 4 today, only Marco could sense such demons.

However, Marco was nowhere to be seen.

Only the sounds of kwaang- kwaang- could be heard in the distance.

‘Once he sees the blood of a demon, he goes crazy until all the demons he sees are dead.’

It was impossible to persuade Marco with a demon in front of him.

The same went for the other paladins. They couldn’t be controlled without Marco’s orders.

Carlson might be able to, but it would take time to find Carlson.

“Sir Rael. Wh-what should we do?”

“…Let’s follow it.”

The plan to slack off behind the paladins had collapsed again.

Rael began running towards the direction where the demonic energy was felt.

As expected of a butterfly effect created by him, he had to finish it himself.

*

The lieutenant demon, Kuhelen, was fleeing after hastily dealing with one of the paladins.

‘Dangerous. It’s dangerous.’

The sudden arrival of the paladins was an unexpected variable, but fortunately, he had 40 lower demons under his command.

He had to escape while the foolish paladins were busy catching the lower demons.

‘I’ll retreat for now and come back later.’

The chain letters spreading among the commoners of the Empire contained Kuhelen’s demonic energy.

As long as he survived, he could resume the operation at any time.

But at that moment,

he felt a magical power approaching.

‘Damn it. Are they already following me?’

Kuhelen hastily retrieved the demonic energy he had scattered behind him.

Fortunately, the opponent wasn’t the monster wielding the battle-axe.

Just a swordsman and a priest.

They didn’t seem that strong.

*

“…It’s definitely around here.”

Rael frowned in the vacant lot behind the building.

He had been running in the direction where the demonic energy was felt, but at some point, the demonic energy had disappeared.

“Haa, haa. Sir Rael. The demonic energy suddenly weakened, making it difficult to track…”

Cecilia also stuck to Rael’s back, panting.

She was starting to get tired because she had left Marco’s sanctuary.

“Priestess. First, slowly recover your divine power… Huh?”

Rael, who was looking around while taking care of Cecilia, discovered an unexpected person.

“Ah, Brother Rael! When did you get here?”

It was Carlson.

He was covered in demon blood and waving his hand as he approached.

“Carlson? What are you doing here?”

“I was chasing a demon, but I lost it while I was being careless! Damn it!”

“…Is that so? Are you alright?”

Rael stared intently at Carlson.

“Sir Carlson. There’s blood on your body… Please wait a moment, I’ll bless you right away…”

“Ah, it’s the demons’ blood. I’m fine, I just got covered in blood, I’m not hurt. Haa, I want to go take a shower because of the disgusting smell.”

Cecilia nodded.

Because of the demonic energy in the demons’ blood, a disgusting smell emanated from him.

“Priestess Cecilia. It seems like we can’t track it with demonic energy, so let’s join the paladins for now. We’ll search a little more.”

Rael spoke to Cecilia.

“Yes? But…”

“Don’t worry. This friend, Carlson, is stronger than he looks. By now, things should be wrapping up over there, so bring reinforcements. Especially if Sir Marco is there, he’ll be able to track the demonic energy.”

“Ah… I see! I’ll definitely bring the paladins!”

Cecilia nodded and ran back the way she came.

Rael watched her leave, then turned his head.

Now, only the two of them remained in the vacant lot.

“Brother Rael! So, before I lost the demon, I was beating him up over there? But suddenly…”

“Carlson.”

“Yes. Brother!”

“Sometimes I think about it. No, actually, I’ve thought about it a lot. What did I do wrong to deserve this? Huh? In this fucked up world, I mean.”

Rael opened his mouth, looking at Carlson, who was wearing a cheerful smile.

Sreung-

And drew his sword.

“Y-yes?! Why are you suddenly doing this?”

He felt a bitter taste in his mouth and closed his lips.

He didn’t say it directly to Carlson, but he was actually really happy.

Because he was a family and friend who had grown up with Rael.

He had saved the guy who was being beaten by beggars, and he had called him brother and followed him ever since.

He proudly showed off the sandcastle he had made, calling it a secret hideout.

He promised that he would not forget and would definitely visit the orphanage even if he went to the Order.

The memories of the three of them, including Teacher Sara from the orphanage, sitting together and slowly sharing their stories, came to mind one by one.

To be honest, he wished this feeling was wrong.

He wanted to brush it off as if he had eaten a rotten egg this morning and had bad breath.

“…I really wanted to tell Teacher Sara that Carlson, that idiot, had become a paladin.”

But Rael’s senses did not lie.

There had never been a time when he felt so disgusted that his hunch was right.

Rael, who had drawn out his sword energy, swung his sword towards Carlson’s neck.

Kkaang-!

Carlson, who had drawn his sword in an instant, blocked Rael’s sword.

However, he couldn’t even block the cheek from being grazed by the deflected sword.

Jureureuk-

Purple blood flowed from Carlson’s cheek.

Carlson, his eyes wide, immediately took a step back and retreated with inhuman jumping power.

He glared at Rael, distorting his face.

“…How did you know? I even copied the smallest habits, breathing, and heartbeat.”

A swaying demonic energy covered Carlson’s body.

The next moment, Carlson had transformed into a demon with horns on his head.

“Sorry, but I have a good sense. I’ve been smelling a shitty smell since I saw you just now.”

Cecilia hadn’t noticed because she had just met Carlson today, but Rael could definitely feel it.

Carlson’s presence didn’t disappear just because demon blood was on him.

From the beginning, he couldn’t feel Carlson’s magical power from him.

Rael felt the opponent’s demonic energy while holding his sword.

It was different from a lower demon, but not too high either.

It was a lieutenant demon.

“So that’s why you let that woman escape. How stupid. If you had abandoned that woman and run away, you could have survived.”

“How typical of a demon to abandon his subordinates and run away.”

“Tsk, was it Carlson? It was annoying because the paladin had divine power, but it was very delicious. You seemed to be quite close.”

“…Tch.”

Eudeudeuk-

Rael clicked his tongue and gritted his teeth.

He realized that he was a surprisingly sentimental person.

He was annoyed by the words that were clearly meant to provoke him.

‘Don’t waver.’

The opponent was a lieutenant demon.

The strength defined by humans was at the beginning of the Graduate level.

Even a lieutenant demon had to be faced by a Graduate-level being, who was considered a strong person among humans.

It was unfair, but demons were originally like that.

A Graduate-level being was equivalent to the commander of a knight order in a decent territory, and they were strong people who had even grasped the slim possibility of reaching Swordmaster.

Moreover, it was said that more than ten fully matured Graduates had to deal with the higher demons, so the balance was really fucked up.

‘The Thousand-Year Empire is bullshit.’

He could see how the Empire was doing.

It was a pathetic world that could collapse at any time without a hero and a saintess.

“First of all, let me correct one of your stupid misconceptions…”

Rael bit his lip and forced the corners of his mouth to twist.

He held the sword with trembling arms.

“The reason I sent the priestess back wasn’t because I was trying to die, but just because I wanted to fight in a place where no one was around.”

Woooong-

A fiercely burning sword energy swirled around Rael’s sword.

“Because I’m not going to let you die peacefully.”

Rael’s eyes sank coldly.