The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 47

6. Reclamation: The Terrifying Young Master

Thud!

The strongest knight from the Hilton family, after Hormann, fell with an absurd thud from my surprise attack.

The scene that followed was complete panic among the enemy.

“No way.”

“How are you here?”

“Where is Sir Hormann!”

The remaining User Knights hurriedly pointed their swords at me, so I offered them a simple, stark truth.

“Think about it. I’m here. So, what do you think happened to Hormann?”

These guys probably know deep down.

That Hormann was defeated by me.

The reason they’re yelling like that is probably because they don’t want to admit the reality staring them in the face.

“Don’t lie! There’s no way Sir Hormann, an Expert Knight, could have been defeated so easily by some nobody like you.”

“That’s right! He’s an Expert Knight. A warrior on a different level from the riffraff.”

“Ha, you guys are funny. Then how am I here? Did Hormann roll out the red carpet for me, saying, ‘Please, step right over me’?”

I hit them with a cold dose of reality.

A heavy silence settled around us.

Only then did the guys start to accept Hormann’s death, one by one.

The emotion revealed in their expressions was ‘fear’.

Fear stemming from the fact that a skilled person who single-handedly dealt with one of the top knights in the Hilton family was now showing hostility towards them.

“Looks like you’ve roughly understood… I hope you don’t mind if this becomes your grave.”

Now that I’ve seized the momentum, I’ll take control.

I also gestured to Zion and Campbell.

They were already holding blood-soaked weapons, burning with fighting spirit.

“Only catch the guys from Hilton. Albus guys, get out of here if you don’t want to die.”

I tried to imitate a famous line from a Korean movie. [Likely a reference to a gangster film where a character makes a similar threat.]

I thought they would leave gratefully like in the movie, but they just stood there like stone statues, not knowing what to do.

Well, they must want to save their lord since he was captured.

Well, it doesn’t matter.

We just need to deal with the Hilton guys.

“Kill!”

I jumped at the nearest knight.

The surprised guy floundered around with his sword, saying, ‘Uh, uh…?’ and couldn’t last even ten moves before lying on the ground.

That was the starting point.

As the atmosphere shifted, Campbell, an Expert, also overwhelmed the User Knights with his unique, ogre-like strength.

Zion didn’t back down either.

She maintained a certain distance from the fallen lord and instantly severed the vital points of the nearest knight.

The knights from the Hilton family, who initially numbered nearly twenty, were quickly reduced by half as the three of us rampaged.

As death approached, the knights began to value their lives more than honor.

“Screw it! Run away!”

“How can we fight someone who even killed Hormann?”

“Dying in this backwater is a real dog’s death.”

The Hilton family knights ran away in droves.

The situation was neatly settled for the time being.

But it’s not over yet.

Hundreds of soldiers from the Albus family were trembling as they pointed their weapons at us.

Honestly, if we fought with all our might, I was confident we could wipe them all out, but there’s no need to kill the local soldiers and knights.

More than anything, if we get rid of them, even if we occupy Albus Castle afterward, it will become an empty shell, and we’ll also have to deal with the backlash from the residents.

“R, release the lord.”

“We won’t let you get away with this…”

These guys had already lost their morale.

There’s no reason to deal with these guys.

I grabbed the lord by the scruff of his neck, slung him over my shoulder, smiled, and waved at the guys who were glaring at us.

“See you later, friends.”

With these words, I jumped off the cliff. The soldiers’ horrified screams echoed from behind.

“Crazy! He jumped off there!”

“Catch the rest of them!”

“The rest are jumping too!”

“Aaaagh! These crazy bastards jumped off the cliff with the lord!!”

They might think I took my own life.

But as soon as I fell, I grabbed the wooden handle I had prepared in advance when I came up and supported myself.

Zion and Campbell, who followed, also skillfully secured themselves. They seemed excited, perhaps because of the joy of succeeding in the operation.

“This crazy plan actually worked.”

“I’m glad I followed the Vice Commander. The North wasn’t boring, but being next to the Vice Commander is more fun.”

“The Young Master is probably the only one who would openly kidnap the lord in front of everyone in Albus Castle. This wouldn’t be strange if it appeared in history books.”

“That’s right. Bards will sing songs praising the Vice Commander. I’m already curious about what kind of songs they’ll write.”

They must be very happy to be so over the top. I deliberately maintained a poker face to lower the tension.

“It’s not over until it’s over. Don’t let your guard down until we return.”

“But the corners of the Vice Commander’s mouth are twitching.”

“Anyway, got it! Then just know that.”

To be honest, I was a little amused too, so I couldn’t control my expression.

I still couldn’t get the blank faces of the guards staring at us right before we fell out of my head.

The group, who had been chuckling for a while, began to descend the cliff with the lord once the atmosphere had calmed down somewhat.

It was difficult to climb up, but it felt much easier to go down, perhaps because the mental burden was less.

How far had we gone down?

The familiar sound of waves could be heard.

We came down to the reef where we had initially docked the boat.

And there… was no one there.

“The boat is gone?”

It’s clear who did it.

Peter ultimately made the wrong choice.

With this, there was no escape route.

Campbell burst into anger.

“That’s why you shouldn’t do operations with traitors. You always get backstabbed in the end, right? Anyway, if I catch Peter, I’m going to break his legs.”

Zion’s expression also darkened.

“Young Master, what do we do now? Even we can’t swim across the night sea with the lord as baggage. And when the sun rises, Albus might send a boat to search for us.”

Compared to the furious Campbell and Zion, my expression was very calm. Since this operation started with Peter’s betrayal in mind, there was definitely a countermeasure.

‘It’s time to use a new skill.’

At this point, let’s re-examine the Druid skills.

1. Wood Control

-Bind (★★)

-Wood Golem (★)

2. Stone Control

-Stone Lance (★)

-Stone Shield (★)

3. Wind Control

-Instant Step (★)

Like this.

If I were alone, I could use the S-class movement skill, Instant Step, to escape, but there are many people with me now.

Therefore, it’s time to utilize the Wood Golem Summon, a new skill that I haven’t used until now.

“Don’t be too surprised, you guys.”

[Wood Control activated]

[Summoning Wood Golem]

Kukwakwakwang!

The Wood Golem, a tree-based skill that appeared after being promoted to a beginner Druid, made its first appearance.

Several tree trunks were twisted together like ropes to form limbs and a head, and its size was comparable to that of a troll.

Zion and Campbell, who watched this in front of their eyes, had their eyes pop out of their sockets!

“Kyaaaaak!!”

“What is it! A monster!!”

“I told you not to be surprised.”

Their reaction is quite intense.

I spent 10 minutes explaining that the guy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere was not a monster but our helper.

Fortunately, the people I was with adapted quickly because I had done so many extraordinary things.

“Young Master, I apologize in advance.”

“Why?”

“While I was with Young Master, I was sure that there was nothing more to be surprised about. But it was just my arrogant delusion.”

Campbell was also shaking his head.

“How on earth do you suddenly summon something like that? Vice Commander, are you perhaps a polymorphed dragon or something?”

“No way.”

“If you are, tell me. I’ll apologize in advance for anything I’ve done to upset you.”

“I’m not. If I were really a dragon, you would have been prey from the North. I would have gobbled you up from the moment you picked a fight in the dorm.”

“I guess so.”

He’s agreeing to that again.

Anyway, the rather large Wood Golem was a good raft in itself.

The Wood Golem, connected to my will, understood the command and immediately jumped into the sea.

“Board the Golem.”

I showed them first.

I jumped from the reef and landed on the golem’s upper body.

Then Zion jumped, and finally, when Campbell jumped, the golem staggered again.

“Lose some weight!”

“This is muscle!”

“Young Master, shouldn’t we leave the pig behind?”

While they were bickering, the golem gracefully performed the backstroke, cutting through the waves.

The golem, connected to my consciousness, received my swimming knowledge learned on Earth and followed it.

The golem’s swimming method was somewhat unfamiliar to Zion and Campbell, who were from the Arnia continent, so they were very amazed.

We crossed the sea for a long time.

Finally, land came into view.

We left around sunset, but it was already dawn.

There are four of us going and four of us coming back.

The members have changed a bit, though.

[Releasing Wood Golem Summon]

“We’ve finally arrived.”

“It was a long fight.”

As soon as we arrived on land, Campbell lay down and kissed the sand, making a fuss. It’s been a tiring journey, but there was something urgent to take care of before resting.

“We’re heading to the safe house prepared nearby. And then we’ll begin the final operation.”

“Understood.”

At my words, Campbell and Zion stopped making a fuss and their eyes lit up.

The final operation.

It was time to win over the lord who had betrayed the Lloyd family.

* * *

10 minutes after the start of the Albus operation.

Peter raised his head and looked at the trio who had climbed up the cliff.

They looked like dots a while ago, but now they have completely disappeared from sight.

“···Crazy bastards.”

Profanity came out on its own.

It doesn’t make sense.

What means do they have to climb the cliff?

He might be able to hold on now because he still has some arm strength left, but if he goes on like this, he will fall with a miserable scream.

That would be the miserable end of the Young Master of the Marquis family who dreamed of becoming the successor. Peter didn’t want to grab a rotten rope.

“I didn’t want to do this either. In a way, you brought it on yourself, Henon.”

Peter, who had made up his mind, lifted the oar and pushed the reef away. With a surge, the boat quickly headed towards the sea.

With this, Peter completely betrayed Henon, who had even saved his life from the Hilton family’s knights. He finally felt a complete sense of liberation after being tormented by guilt.

Even if Henon succeeded in the operation with an extremely low probability, he would have no boat to return to, so even his only escape route would disappear.

If he happens to see him alive, he will have to pay the price. That’s why Peter bet all his money on Henon failing and dying in this operation.

He was confident that he had made a successful gamble with a 100% success rate. Until he discovered the seawater rising from the bottom of the boat.

“Huh? Why is this happening?”

He was flustered and tried to find the cause, but the bottom was already quite full of water.

More than anything, Peter, who grew up as a greenhouse flower in the Albus territory, had no knowledge or courage to deal with emergencies.

“T, that’s right! Let’s row! We can go to the beach quickly!”

Peter tried to row vigorously, but the more the boat moved, the more momentum it gained, and the water rose even faster.

Eventually, he had to use the oar in his hand to scoop out the water rising from the bottom instead of moving forward.

But in the end, it was too much.

The hull was almost submerged, making even the act of draining water meaningless.

In this bleak situation, what are the chances of him, a non-swimmer who can’t even swim, surviving in the Goblin Sea?

···Zero. 0%.

Peter’s vision blurred as he sensed death. Then he blames his fate.

“Damn it, I have no luck. Why is this happening? There was no problem when we went. Why does the boat have a hole in it when we come back!!”

It was then.

Something came into Peter’s view.

A tiny hole drilled in the bottom of the boat.

It was a hole that seemed to have been drilled so artificially that it couldn’t have been scratched by a reef.

“Why is this···? Huh!?”

When I thought about who was sitting in the place where the hole was drilled, it was Henon.

A scene suddenly flashed through Peter’s mind.

What happened right before the operation started.

‘I guess I’m nervous, I want to take care of business. Can you turn around for a moment?’

Kwang!

A thunderbolt struck Peter’s head.

There was no problem when we went, but there was a hole in the place where Henon was sitting when we came back.

Unless you’re an idiot, it was obvious who did this.

He drilled a hole in the boat so that he would drown if he ran away.

“···You vicious bastard.”

Even as he was dying, he felt goosebumps on the back of his neck.

He was too pathetic to try to stab in the back a guy with such a terrifying scheme.

It goes without saying, but regretting it now is useless.

Glug glug.

Seawater pours into his nose and mouth.

Struggling was meaningless.

In his fading consciousness, his last thought was this.

‘Should I have trusted Henon until the end?’