Chapter 33: To the Empire

The grip of the two hands on his arm weakened, and the man who seemed to be the leader of the group looked at Deon with pitiful eyes.

Pathetically weak for someone so nervous. Was this really the ‘hero’? Had the rumors been nothing but empty talk?

He was inwardly disappointed, but still, it wasn’t bad that things could be wrapped up so easily and quickly. No, objectively speaking, it was actually quite good.

“Farewell, fake hero.”

He raised his axe to bring it down on the other man’s head when a commotion erupted from the side.

Loud voices echoed from the distance. The leader paused, lifting his head to find the source of the noise.

“Found him! Looks a bit dangerous?”

“Oh, as expected of His Majesty! To foresee this!”

“Commander! Are you alright?!”

“Wait a minute! The Commander looks like he’s passed out?”

“Isn’t he going to die like that?”

“What are you doing! Save the Commander first!”

“It’s not the Commander, it’s the Count, you idiots!”

A conversation flowing with the current of consciousness.

The leader, momentarily stunned by the disorienting conversation, quickly tried to assess the situation.

Who were these people? They were trying to rescue Deon Hart, so they certainly weren’t allies. What kind of crazy group would call Deon Hart ‘Commander’?

The answer came quickly.

“Stop them immediately! Use bombs if you have to!”

The leader shouted urgently.

The Killer Knights! The vanguard led by Deon Hart during the Eight-Year War!

The story of that vanguard being recognized for their contributions and promoted to a knight order was famous. He also knew they specialized in dealing with revolutionary forces within the Empire’s security.

But why?

“How did they know we were here…?”

The plan had gone awry. As things stood, they had to kill Deon Hart and retreat quickly.

Engaging them head-on would be a disadvantage.

The scary thing about the Killer Knights wasn’t their skill, but…

“Huh? Hey, they mentioned bombs.”

“Wow, we have to shed blood against enemies using bombs. I don’t think I can do this sober?”

“Can we take the drugs?”

“Who do we need permission from? The Commander’s knocked out over there, and Sir Lien, no, Captain, isn’t here either.”

“True, isn’t it?”

The man chuckled playfully, slipping a drug he’d produced from who-knows-where into his mouth. Others also took out drugs from various places and swallowed them.

Faintly, a voice could be heard.

“What choice do we have? We need to survive.”

The atmosphere changed in an instant.

Their eyes became clouded, filled with madness. The bloodshot whites of their eyes were particularly chilling. A sinister smile stretched across their lips.

“Kill them all!”

“Remember? Don’t kill them cleanly!”

“Hahaha! Who cares! Let’s just have fun!”

“You lunatic! Do it like we learned, like we learned! Start by cutting off their limbs!”

…Yes, their frightening aspect was their brutal methods. Brutal methods that perfectly mirrored their master.

He had to kill Deon Hart quickly.

Thinking so, he raised the axe again, but then, strength returned to the hand that had been losing its grip.

He might not have stopped if it was just that…

A prickling sensation.

His fingernails were digging into his skin.

Looking down, he saw red eyes gleaming above the white mask, grinning.

A chilling smile, different from before. An unsettling feeling made him try to bring down the axe, but suddenly, a terrible pain shot through his arm.

“Argh! You crazy bastard!!”

The fingernails dug deeply into his arm and raked downwards.

It wasn’t just the skin being peeled off; it was as if the flesh was being carved away with a chisel.

It was so deep that the long gash left a hollow filled with blood.

Without a second thought, he instinctively threw the man off.

Whether he hit the carriage wall or not, the man was consumed by the surging pain, dropping the axe and clutching his forearm. Blood was already welling on his fingertips, dripping down.

Deon wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

“Cough.”

The white mask stained red. Even as he coughed up blood, he quickly scrambled to pick up the axe the man had dropped.

Before the man could defend himself, Deon gripped the handle with both hands, raised it, and brought it down on his head with his full weight.

Clearly, his neck had been strangled to the point of turning white, and Deon himself was weak, so he was mostly relying on the axe’s weight to swing it—but how heavy must it have been—

—One blow.

With a single strike, the man’s head was crushed before he could even scream.

Yet, Deon wasn’t satisfied.

‘…I can’t stop here.’

The axe rose again. The target was the man’s already shattered head.

‘He’s already dead. Do I need to do more?’

‘Yes. I need to set an example so no one dares to challenge me. I’m weak, after all.’

‘But….’

His arm trembled. Red eyes, straddling the line between sanity and madness, flickered incessantly.

After a brief moment of his gaze becoming clear and then hazy again, the hesitation lingering in his eyes was pushed aside, replaced entirely by a murky madness.

“Oh, Commander!”

“Commander…?”

Deon raised the axe as if possessed. No, it would be more accurate to say he had gone insane.

Like someone who had lost his mind, he relentlessly lifted the axe and began hacking down indiscriminately, as if chopping firewood.

Squish. Thwack. Thwack. Splat.

Gruesome sounds echoed. Blood splattered, and the stench of blood filled the air.

Even as gazes converged and the surrounding noise subsided, his actions were relentless. He even twisted his eyes into a smile, as if showing off.

“Heh.”

The axe was heavy. His arm trembled.

But he didn’t stop.

Not only to set an example but also because he knew how to turn this situation to his advantage.

He stopped only when the axe became too heavy to lift any further.

He looked down at the bloody mess the size of a person in front of him.

He let his axe-wielding hand hang limply, then kicked the bloody mass out of the carriage.

Thump!

“……”

“……”

The corpse fell, and silence descended.

Everyone’s gaze, friend and foe alike, turned towards him.

Feeling their eyes shift between the horrifying, unrecognizable mass, his blood-soaked self, and the bloodied axe in his hand, Deon gently curved his eyes into a smile.

Between his crescent-shaped eyes, red pupils gleamed.

“It seems I’ve grown soft living a peaceful life.”

“What are you saying? You were just on a monster subjugation mission until recently…”

“Shhh, be quiet. Don’t you have any tact?”

One of the knights who had been enthusiastically cutting down the revolutionary soldiers was dragged away, his mouth covered by a comrade’s hand.

It was a truly comical scene, but no one dared to laugh.

Ah, there was one person.

Deon smiled. His seemingly cheerful gaze turned to those who had shared life and death with him.

“Long time no see. Has His Majesty been treating you well?”

“Ugh, don’t even get me started. He works us to the bone, telling us to earn our keep.”

“Do you know how difficult it is to stop revolutionary soldiers trying to blow themselves up?”

A knight grumbled, slicing off the hand of a revolutionary soldier who was surreptitiously reaching for a bomb.

Another knight, who had quickly picked up the bomb rolling on the floor, looked around and sighed.

“By the way, Commander, what were you thinking bringing such weaklings with you?”

“I moved immediately after returning, so I didn’t expect an ambush. How did you guys even know I was here?”

“His Majesty already knew everything. He ordered us to escort our master safely.”

“I’ll have to thank His Majesty. Anyway…”

While his mouth said something else, his red eyes, diligently scanning the Killer Knights who were busy beheading the revolutionary soldiers, turned towards the guards.

The guards, feeling guilty, flinched and avoided his gaze.

Belatedly rushing to finish off the remaining revolutionary soldiers, they couldn’t help but feel a wave of regret.

“You know, without me even needing to say it, this is what the Hart estate knights have become.”

It was a humiliating remark, but they couldn’t dare to argue.

They had indeed become dull.

A full six months. A short time to some, but a long time to others. It had been too peaceful. They couldn’t spend all day just training. As a result, they had become complacent.

They had momentarily forgotten.

How many enemies Deon Hart, the Honorary Count, had.

“Even if you’re distracted, how can such a large group approach me without anyone noticing? Can you even call yourselves bodyguards?”

“……”

“I’ll have to replace the guards.”

The guards’ faces turned pale.

Being dismissed from the Hart County Estate wasn’t just losing a job.

If they were lucky, they might get away with it, but that was only if they were lucky. Most of the time, they ended up dead.

It wasn’t that Count Hart did anything, but the problem was the Emperor.

He didn’t leave those dismissed from the Count’s estate alone….

They heard it was for security reasons, but for the former employees who knew nothing, it was enough to drive them crazy.

“C-Count…”

They called out to Deon pitifully, but unfortunately, the current Deon Hart was different from the usual Deon Hart.

Not the mild-mannered person, but the aggressive vanguard commander they had only heard rumors about.

Ignoring the pale-faced guards, Deon crossed the silent space and picked up a dagger lying nearby.

He pointed the dagger’s blade at the enemies and said in a seemingly cheerful voice.

“What are you doing? There are still enemies left. We need to finish them off.”

“……”

“Kill them now.”

[Instilling Fear in the Enemies]

Blood dripped from his red-stained hair.

Casually wiping away the bloody liquid that flowed from his forehead down his eyes, he grinned cheerfully and plunged into the enemy ranks with the dagger.

***

In front of the Imperial Palace, numerous extravagant carriages lined up.

These were carriages rarely seen on ordinary days, but the gatekeeper was so sick of seeing them by now that he glanced at them without much interest. Then, his eyes widened enormously as they landed on something.

A red-painted carriage? Had someone tried a new style?

If the goal was to lead the trend, it was clearly a failure. Wasn’t that like blood……

‘…A bloody smell?’

It was real blood!

The colleague next to him must have noticed too, as he hurriedly raised his spear.

The gatekeeper, also raising his spear, barely managed to speak in a trembling voice.

“T-This, this, this is the Imperial Palace. Y-You cannot enter without an invitation….”

“Move.”

A man stepped forward, his presence masked by the red carriage.

…Was it camouflage? Why was his color the same as the carriage?

Now that he looked closer, there were many other people. Individuals who could be guards or something else, all covered in red from head to toe, their eyes shining fiercely.

“Do you know who is in this carriage?”

“Wh-Who is it….”

“It’s our Commander!”

“……?”

So, who is your Commander?

The gatekeeper’s expression went blank.

He was too scared to ask again outright, but he couldn’t just let this suspicious group pass. His eyes darted around anxiously when a voice of salvation arrived.

“Saying it like that, no one will understand.”

“Ah.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the man who stepped out of the doorless carriage. He had red clothes, red hair, and red eyes.

And the gatekeeper froze with his mouth wide open.

‘That person is the worst! Did he take a bath in blood?!’

Absolutely no way he could let them in. No one in that state!

Even a hero officially recognized by the Empire couldn’t enter in that state unless His Majesty personally permitted it.

“It’s Deon Hart.”

…Deon Hart? The name was familiar. Who was it again?

Ah.

‘The Vampire Count!’

If so, these fiercely glaring individuals must be the famous Killer Knights.

The fact that he was a hero of the Empire came to mind belatedly.

His achievements during the Eight-Year War were so significant that the first things that came to mind when people heard ‘Deon Hart’ were consistently negative.

‘The bloodthirsty vanguard commander,’ ‘the master of the killer squads,’ and after receiving the title of Honorary Count, even ‘the Vampire Count.’

But seeing him now, it seemed the title of Vampire was fitting.

The outside of the carriage was nothing compared to the inside. It was as if someone had been eaten alive inside the carriage, the blood-filled interior visible through the open doorway.

Even the Count himself was soaked in blood!

‘S-Should I let them in?’

The hero whom His Majesty had personally permitted to visit anytime, in any state. Unfortunately, that person was the Honorary Count Deon Hart standing right before his eyes.

‘But still, in this state?’

Moreover, today was the day of the banquet!

Just then, Deon Hart, who had roughly swept back his blood-soaked hair, uttered a slow question.

“Where is His Majesty?”

Perhaps it was a survival instinct, but the answer sprang out immediately.

“He’s… he’s in the banquet hall.”

“The banquet hall?”

Could it be he didn’t know?

Such a question was fleeting as the gatekeeper met my red eyes and recoiled in terror, answering hastily.

“Yes! It’s a banquet celebrating the birth of a new hero and the success of their debut battle…”

“…Ah.”

“……”

The words trailed off there.

Sensing the ominous tone, the gatekeeper quickly shut his mouth.