The Bastard Swordsman Of The Imperial Guard [EN]: Chapter 92

< The Main Event >

Inside the circular arena, a red-haired swordsman gripped his sword.

Raelle shouted, her voice carrying, “Lucas! If you lose, we’re both dead!”

“…Raelle, please, keep your voice down. People are staring,” Carlson sighed, feeling the weight of their gazes.

Ignoring him, Raelle continued to cheer, undeterred. “Hey, you little punk. Look how much I bet on you. Carlson, you’re next. I’m going all-in on you, got it? If you lose tomorrow, you’re dead to me.”

“But, why me…?” Carlson asked, a picture of aggrieved innocence.

His brother was great, but sometimes he was just… strange.

‘A person’s actions should change when their position changes…’

There’s a saying that a position makes a person.

But Raelle didn’t seem to subscribe to that saying at all.

Even though he had become a knight recognized by the Empire, he was still acting the same way he did back on the streets.

“That, that person is the one who defeated Mujin, the young hero, in one blow…”

“Shh, he’s one of the Empire’s Three Heroes. Be careful!” The people around Raelle whispered, a ripple effect from yesterday’s match.

‘So Mujin was somewhat famous,’ Raelle mused, noticing the shift in gazes since yesterday.

The way people looked at him had changed, definitely for the better.

Tourists from outside the Empire had also begun to acknowledge his strength.

‘People really only listen when they get hit.’

Reina was right.

It wasn’t beasts that needed to be hit, but people.

Just demonstrating his strength had changed their attitudes so drastically.

“Carlson, you also need to beat the crap out of them and climb up from tomorrow. Got it?”

“It just so happens that my opponent is a noble. Hehe.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Raelle said, smiling contentedly.

In the tournament bracket, Carlson and Lucas, and Raelle were on completely opposite sides.

Carlson and Lucas would meet in the semi-finals, and Raelle could only face one of them in the finals.

‘There’s no better match than this.’

A perfect scenario: the three of them beating up nobles and meeting in the finals.

“Gaia-men! The god Gaia [a prominent deity in their world] will bless the winner of this Dragon-Phoenix Tournament!”

“Gaia-men!” The followers of the Order [a religious organization] passed by Raelle in a line.

It was a procession of the Order that had been seen for several days.

“Hey, Carlson. Why is the Order suddenly doing that?”

“That’s… I’m not sure either. There certainly wasn’t such an event before. Maybe the Imperial Family requested it. I heard that there will be a congratulatory speech from the Cardinal [a high-ranking member of the Order] before the round of 8 begins.”

“A congratulatory speech? Why would they do that when the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament isn’t even an event of the Order?”

Why would a sword fight need a congratulatory speech from the Order?

Raelle couldn’t understand.

“It’s for the selection of a hero.”

*Thud-*

At that moment, a huge man sat down next to Raelle and Carlson.

“Ah, Kyle!”

“Good morning, Carlson.”

“It’s cramped, you pig! Why are you here? This is the commoner’s section,” Raelle said, looking at Kyle, who suddenly appeared and squeezed into the seat next to him, with a dumbfounded expression.

Why did this guy always show up out of nowhere?

“For my friends, I don’t care if it’s the commoner’s section or the slave section.”

“Who said you could call them your friends? More importantly, what? Hero selection?” Raelle asked, perking up his ears at the unexpected word ‘hero’.

“There’s a widespread rumor that the winner of the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament will become a hero. That’s why talents from all over the continent participated in this Dragon-Phoenix Tournament.”

“Ah…” He remembered.

The reason why the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament was held so lavishly in the first place was because of the hero.

Perhaps the Cardinal’s congratulatory speech and the procession of the Order were also part of that.

It seemed the Empire wanted to widely publicize that the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament was related to the Order.

“To go this far, it seems they’re confident that the winner will come from the Empire… Who do they think is the winning candidate from the Empire?”

“Do you even need to ask? It’s obviously Lord Belen,” Kyle said, pointing to Belen, who was sitting in the noble’s section.

At that gesture, the people around him also began to buzz as they looked at Belen.

“Look, Lord Belen is there too!”

“The young hero of the Karmen Knights [a prestigious knight order]? Wow, is that the sword that killed the noble of Alheim? It looks so cool just looking at it.”

“He’s the captain of the 1st Division at such a young age… He’ll definitely show his skills at the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament.”

Raelle looked at the place the people next to him were pointing at.

A knight he had seen once before was sitting there.

‘Belen, huh…’ Raelle frowned as he looked at his profile.

He was smiling slightly and talking to a member of the Karmen Knights.

‘That crazy bastard stole my credit.’

Belen was claiming that he killed Basolord [likely a powerful enemy].

He looked like an FM fanatic [someone who rigidly follows rules or conventions], but he was doing things like that.

Raelle couldn’t help but be disappointed in the Karmen Knights.

‘I should keep an eye on him, just in case.’

There were many suspicious things about the Karmen Knights.

Raelle quietly watched him.

“Brother. You’ve finally quieted down. It’s good to watch the match quietly! Good choice.”

“Shut up, Carlson,” Raelle said, punching Carlson in the side with his fist and watched the match.

Fortunately, Lucas was overwhelming his opponent, and his money was growing again today.

*

The preliminary rounds of the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament had 128 participants, so it took quite a while.

The preliminary matches were held for several days, and then a few days of rest were given.

“Raelle oppa-. Raelle oppa-,” a child called out.

“Stay still, Nia,” Raelle said, lifting the children high into the sky and bringing them down, playing the ‘airplane ride game’.

“Lord Raelle really likes children.”

“Right? It’s one of my brother’s mysteries,” Lucas said.

Lucas and Carlson, who had finished their matches, followed Raelle to the orphanage.

And, they started talking while looking at Raelle.

“Lord Raelle’s personality is um… fiery. But he seems different when he’s with children.”

“You don’t have to say that his personality is bad in a nice way, Lucas. It’s not that my brother is a bad person by nature, but he grew up on the streets.”

Raelle is the type of person who tries to solve things with his fists if something happens.

It was a bit strange to see such a person liking children.

“Still, Lord Raelle seems to be comfortable here.”

“I guess so. I grew up here too, but I’m not as attached as my brother is? But it seems to have great meaning for my brother.”

Carlson also liked the orphanage, but not as much as Raelle did.

He visited the orphanage almost every day to play with the children and spend time with them.

“Lord Carlson, don’t you know why Lord Raelle likes the orphanage?”

“I separated from Raelle when I was 10 years old and met him again after 14 years. I think something happened in between…”

Even if he tried to ask him, he always avoided talking about it, so there was no chance to ask.

Maybe it’s my brother Raelle’s dark history.

I was thinking of asking him again when he gets drunk later.

*Tak- tak- ttak-*

At that time, a beggar approached the orphanage.

He knocked on the floor with a gourd and hid in one side of the alley.

Raelle, who glanced at the beggar that no one cared about, gestured to Carlson and Lucas.

“Guys. I’m going to the bathroom, so play with the kids for a while.”

“Can’t you just go to the bathroom quickly?”

“Don’t talk back.”

“Aha… Brother. I think your eating habits haven’t been good lately, you have constipation… Ack.”

“Please go, Lord Raelle,” Lucas said, watching Carlson being hit for messing around, immediately approached the children.

Raelle carefully slipped out of the orphanage and walked to the back of the alley.

“What’s going on?” Raelle asked, who came out after receiving Begguss’s call signal, looked at the beggar.

“Since last night, disappearance cases have been occurring in the lower districts of the Empire.”

“…Disappearance?” Raelle narrowed his eyes at the unexpected words.

“Yes. There have been so many reports that children have disappeared while they took their eyes off them for a moment. Even some children have disappeared from other orphanages.”

“Did you investigate?”

“Toosin is investigating personally… but he says he feels a strong curse from them. It may take some time.”

“When was the first disappearance reported?”

“The night before yesterday.”

“Two days… Tsk. Annoying,” Raelle clicked his tongue with his arms crossed.

There was no damage to the orphanage yet.

But, in the first place, he didn’t like the fact that such an incident was happening in District 4.

Because he cleaned up the trash in District 4 with his own hands so that this wouldn’t happen.

‘Black magician and… the desert kingdom Nagor [a nation known for its harsh desert environment]?’

Raelle shook his head.

He wondered what it was about rotten corpses and pure souls… but it seemed to be young children.

“Tonight. Tell Clara to join me.”

He had cleaned up District 4, but other trash had taken its place.

It was time to clean up again.

*

A warrior of the desert kingdom Nagor.

Rashid hid in the dark night.

‘I didn’t understand Commander Namaha’s intentions at first… but now I can see it.’

When Namaha brought the black magicians.

The desert warriors instinctively showed repulsion.

But now that they know their power.

Rashid trusted the black magicians more than anyone else.

‘Princess Nadia, I’m sorry. …But it can’t be helped.’

Even if this matter becomes a problem, there will be no harm to the commander and the desert warriors.

Because Princess Nadia, who has the highest rank, will take all the responsibility.

‘It can’t be helped. Princess. You can’t understand the anger of the desert warriors.’

Commander Namaha told Princess Nadia about this, but she refused firmly.

Princess Nadia, who is still young, does not know why the desert hates the continent.

No, maybe she’s a royal family member, so she’s lived a prosperous life and may never know.

“The sand’s fury to the continent bastards who will be torn to death….”

But Rashid, who grew up in the hot desert, knows.

The Empire that occupied the fertile land. Vanessa Kingdom. And Jeongcheonmaeng [likely a martial arts alliance or organization].

They must show the desert’s anger to those bastards.

‘If we are with the black magicians… we can give the Empire bastards a blow.’

The black magicians who caused a rebellion in the Empire have returned with even stronger curses.

To cooperate with them, Rashid slowly moved his steps.

‘Was it this way.’

At first, he felt repulsed by targeting powerless children, but after hearing Commander Namaha’s words, all those feelings disappeared.

[Think of the children who died in the heat of the desert! The children of the Empire are no different from the Empire. They are our enemies living in fertile land!]

He was right.

The children of the desert died because they were born in the desert.

Even if he thinks about those children, he can’t get attached to such things.

*Jerk. Jerk.*

Rashid carefully looked around.

The warriors of the desert kingdom were collecting sacrifices for the black magicians’ spells.

It is a huge spell that will turn the Empire and the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament upside down.

‘By the way, District 4 is strangely quiet.’

Districts 3 and 5 had a lot of noisy guys on the streets at night.

Whenever they were looking for sacrifices, there were conflicts with the underworld organizations that occupied each district.

Every time that happened, it was a waste of time, but there was none of that in District 4.

‘Is there a monster running around? Heh.’

It was like a childhood fairy tale that said not to go out at night.

Rashid came out of the alley thinking that.

And at that moment.

“I worked hard to clean up the bastards who were messing around in District 4… Where did these dirt-smelling bastards crawl from?”

“Who, who…!”

Rashid’s body, who was about to say ‘Who are you!’, collapsed like a doll with a broken string.

A woman wearing a mask walked out from behind him.

“Raelle. This is the 5th one. They’re all warriors from the desert kingdom.”

“I know. I smelled this sand from the desert guys,” Raelle said, looking down at the body of the guy who had fallen after being hit by Toosin’s curse.

He clearly remembered their smell after encountering desert kingdom warriors during the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament.

“Now, shall we investigate what their intentions are?”

Raelle, who had finished cleaning up the trash around the orphanage, carried the guy on his shoulder and moved his steps.