CHAPTER 275: INFILTRATION

Marquis Dren’s manor.

The marquis was sitting in his chair, tapping the armrest with his index finger.

Tap- tap- tap-.

The chances of success were high. The marquis had mobilized all the troops he could muster for tonight.

He had also spent an excessive amount of money on this plan to prepare for the slim chance of failure.

“Even though we rushed the operation, we deployed the Crescent Moon, and we didn’t hastily assemble the troops…”

The Nightwalkers could be considered the marquis’s secret weapon.

He had invested a huge sum of money over more than a decade and given them several real combat experiences.

Recently, he had deployed them in various operations and reaped significant benefits.

Since he couldn’t use the regular army of the marquis’s territory for covert operations, this was the only means—and the most powerful one—that the marquis could use against Ethan.

Having deployed all these forces, he estimated the success rate to be over 80 percent.

Even the 20 percent chance of failure wasn’t a complete failure of the operation, but only a partial one.

“Ethan Whiskers might be able to block one or two places. But it’s impossible for him to block everywhere.”

Unless he was a precognitive, there was no way he could anticipate that all the administrative positions in the territory would be attacked simultaneously.

Even if Ethan Whiskers had anticipated this attack, to prevent all the attacks, he would have had to deploy troops throughout the territory to defend the targets, which was practically impossible.

No matter how extraordinary Ethan Whiskers was, he didn’t have dozens of bodies, so this operation was bound to succeed.

What was actually most important in this operation was something else.

It was the mission assigned to the Crescent Moon.

“I’ve never seen Crescent Moon fail their mission.”

Crescent Moon had been handling the marquis’s affairs for quite a long time. They were expensive, but they had never failed even once so far.

However, for some reason, there was a slight sense of uneasiness.

“Huh.”

While the marquis was trying to calm his impatience and waiting for the results, there was a knock on the door.

“Marquis.”

When the marquis told him to enter, the chief administrator immediately came in. But the chief administrator’s expression wasn’t very good.

“What’s the matter?”

“We can’t make contact.”

“Can’t make contact? With whom?”

“Well…”

The chief administrator gritted his teeth.

“With everyone.”

“…Everyone?”

“The situation is very strange. I’m truly sorry to say this, but it’s difficult to assess the situation right now.”

“Chief Administrator!”

Marquis Dren called out to the chief administrator in a loud voice.

“What are you saying? Everyone can’t be contacted? That’s impossible, isn’t it? We sent Crescent Moon and all the Nightwalkers from the north to the south end of Whiskers’ territory. And you’re saying not a single one of them can be contacted?”

The marquis asked incredulously.

In other words, not being able to contact anyone meant this:

“Are you saying we’ve failed now? All the forces we sent?”

There was no way they couldn’t be contacted unless that was the case.

Quite some time had passed since the order to carry out the operation was given. Whether it was the Nightwalkers or Crescent Moon sent to Ethan Whiskers, at least one of them should have made contact.

“Yes, we can’t contact even a single team.”

Bang-!

The marquis raised his fist and slammed it on the desk. The desk split in half right there.

The marquis, who had risen from his seat, approached the chief administrator.

“It was an operation with no possibility of failure. Yet, if it failed…”

At that moment, someone knocked on the door from outside.

It was the Dragon Knights who had been outside for a while.

“Marquis!”

He shouted urgently.

“Intruders! We’ll escort you to a safe place first!”

“Wh-what is this…!”

Marquis Dren, who had always acted calmly and controlled his emotions coolly in everything, couldn’t help but tremble with bewilderment at this absurd situation.

Operation failure.

Sudden appearance of intruders.

He could guess who those intruders were without having to check.

“Ethan Whiskers… That guy…! Are you saying that guy has invaded our marquis’s manor in retaliation?”

The three Dragon Knights, who were the marquis’s personal guard, quickly moved the marquis to the secret door at the back of the room.

“I’ll report quickly for now. All security magic and artifacts in the castle have been nullified. There are a total of two intruders, and although their identities haven’t been accurately confirmed, given the circumstances… they are identified as Ethan Whiskers and his guard mage. And the name of that guard mage is Yerica von Hyde.”

“…Yerica von Hyde? There’s no such person in the Hyde family… Don’t tell me!”

The marquis muttered with a sinking voice.

“Could it be that Yerica, the granddaughter of Hecate? Shouldn’t she be dead? No, she should have been dead?”

He had heard it sometime before.

There was a rumor that one of Ethan Whiskers’ guards was a mage named Yerica.

But Marquis Dren had erased that name from his mind without much thought.

Yerica von Hyde was already dead.

She should have died hundreds of times by now. The taboos placed and the rumors spread everywhere should have taken care of Yerica.

Of course, this was intentional.

Just in case there were any remaining followers of Hecate, it would be troublesome if their desire for revenge was directed this way, so the plan was to have others take care of Yerica and divert attention to them.

The possibility of Yerica being alive was very slim.

“Are you saying that Yerica survived… became Ethan Whiskers’ guard? And she’s even infiltrated this castle now?”

If that’s the case.

“…Damn it.”

The marquis clicked his tongue. It doesn’t make sense. It can’t be. Isn’t the situation too strange?

Even if this were to become a reality, the probability was less than 1 percent.

“Marquis, hurry!”

“We’ll handle everything and open the door again once you’re in a safe place.”

“Are you saying I should enter the safe room just because two people have infiltrated? Are you telling me to tremble in there?”

Angered, Marquis Dren refused to enter the safe room.

“I’ll lead the way. I’ll take care of that arrogant young Ethan Whiskers with my own hands!”

“Marquis.”

The Dragon Knights earnestly tried to dissuade the marquis.

“Absolutely not. It’s dangerous.”

The marquis looked at the Dragon Knights. In terms of pride, the Dragon Knights were actually much stronger.

These were people who had been with the marquis for quite a long time, and all of them were former heads of knightly orders.

They were individuals with skills that could be counted among the best on the continent. All three of these Dragon Knights were simultaneously trying to escort him to a safe place.

“…”

The marquis was silent for a moment.

The Dragon Knights were tense. Ethan Whiskers, whom they had seen just this afternoon, was someone whose level they couldn’t gauge.

While they could assess the level of the two guards, it was difficult to evaluate Ethan Whiskers’ level.

That’s why they were uneasy. If that guy came to kill the marquis with all his might, could they perfectly block it?

They were confident they could block it, but they weren’t sure if they could do so perfectly without any damage.

That’s why they intended to quickly escort the marquis to a safe place and then face Ethan Whiskers.

The marquis, who had grasped all these thoughts and feelings, sighed and immediately headed for the door. Then he turned around and said,

“This is his bad move. He’s really crazy. I didn’t expect him to infiltrate in retaliation. But this is definitely his bad move. You understand without further explanation, right?”

This was clearly a misjudgment by Ethan Whiskers. But at the same time, it was infuriating.

The fact that Ethan Whiskers had infiltrated in retaliation meant that not only Crescent Moon but also the Nightwalkers he had raised had definitely failed.

“Capture him alive. He must not be killed.”

“Yes, marquis.”

“If possible, we will certainly capture him alive.”

With the Dragon Knights’ response, Marquis Dren entered the safe room. As soon as the door closed, numerous magic circles activated.

Shaaak-.

Another hexagram was drawn over the hexagram. Magic circles activated on the diagonal parts of the door, and the entire door was covered by a huge magic circle.

Now the inside of the door had become a completely isolated subspace from the outside.

Guuung-.

In addition, an artifact activated on the floor in front of the door.

It was an artifact that prevented anyone from breaking through in another direction to enter that isolated space.

“We should lure him.”

This wasn’t a very good place to fight.

“He won’t fall for the lure. His target isn’t the marquis’s castle. It’s Marquis Dren himself.”

One of the Dragon Knights said so, closing his eyes.

“…I really don’t know what he’s thinking.”

He had dealt with all the assassins and secured the evidence, so this fight could be seen as Ethan’s victory.

The marquis’s operation had failed. It was an operation that had to succeed, given the enormous risk taken.

“An operation that had to succeed has failed.”

The reason for the failure wasn’t immediately important.

What was important was that the failure of the operation had created a very favorable situation for Ethan.

“With the support of the Imperial Princess and His Holiness the Pope, if he had sought their help, he could have put strong pressure on the marquis.”

“…He’s not just a young man driven by youthful spirit. You can see that.”

“That’s right. That’s why it’s even more incomprehensible. Someone like him would know how to move in such a favorable situation to gain maximum benefit, wouldn’t he?”

Attacking in retaliation like this wasn’t taking 100 percent of the benefits.

What could he possibly do by barging in here?

Unless he was trying to kill Marquis Dren right away…

“…!”

The moment that thought crossed his mind, one of the Dragon Knights opened his eyes wide and looked at the other Dragon Knights.

“Did he think… taking the marquis’s life would be the greatest benefit?”

“Huh…!”

“Does he really think that’s possible?”

The three Dragon Knights couldn’t understand why Ethan had infiltrated in retaliation.

Not understanding made everything suspicious.

Whether it really was Ethan Whiskers who had infiltrated, or if this was all a ploy by another force trying to trap the Marquis Dren family.

But soon they heard a sound.

There was only one set of footsteps.

Right outside that door was the marquis’s personal guard. They weren’t as skilled as the Dragon Knights, but their abilities were certainly reliable.

“Ugh.”

But with a dying groan, their presence disappeared.

Bang-.

The door shook and then the shattered door was smashed against the wall.

Kwaaaang-!

The three Dragon Knights moved simultaneously.

“…Yerica von Hyde!”

The one who entered was Yerica.

Yerica spread her hand, trying to stop the Dragon Knights’ movement.

However, the Dragon Knights basically had quite high magic resistance. Moreover, they had several top-grade artifacts, so many spells didn’t work on them.

The Dragon Knights swung their swords simultaneously. The swords of these people who had been in sync for many years looked like a single sword.

Kkaang-!

However, those swords stopped precisely in front of Yerica.

“It would certainly be tricky for me to handle all three. As you said, I’ll take on just one.”

“Unfortunately, that’s the best option. In exchange, you can deal with that one decisively. These Dragon Knights…”

“They were definitely the ones there at that time!”

Ethan, who had blocked the three swords aimed at Yerica with just his Frost Sword, applied strong force to push the three Dragon Knights back.

“Ethan… Whiskers!”

Ethan seemed quite relaxed even with the Dragon Knights in front of him. He looked around the room and then looked behind the Dragon Knights.

“So he’s there. The assassination attempt wasn’t such a good decision. But the decision to run away is quite good.”

“You dare to look away with us in front of you?”

“That arrogance will cost you your life.”

The three Dragon Knights took a step simultaneously. Then they tried to thrust their swords, aiming for the neck and heart at the same time.

Shaaaak-!

But one of them stopped moving on the spot. It should have been impossible to stop with them magic.

One Dragon Knight looked at his own body that had stopped moving and then raised his head to look at Yerica.

“I am the granddaughter of Hecate von Hyde, whom you framed and killed. Today, I’ll make sure you know clearly by whose hand and for what reason you die!”

Yerica quietly burned with anger.

Kugugugung-!

A powerful pressure from above pressed down on the Dragon Knight.

Crushed by the pressure, the Dragon Knight soon flew through the wall and outside. Yerica followed.

Now there were only two Dragon Knights left in the room.

“So that’s what it was.”

“This attack that defies common sense was solely for revenge?”

“To invade the marquis’s manor just for revenge!”

The two Dragon Knights laughed incredulously.

“I wanted to leave all three to Yerica, but it’s a shame.”

“Ha! To give up an overwhelming advantage for such an emotional reason!”

“You’ll regret this choice, Ethan Whiskers!”

Ethan looked at the two Dragon Knights.

“What are you talking about?”

Ethan shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m already at an overwhelming advantage? Don’t tell me you guys.”

Shaaaak-.

Ethan drew out the Thunder Sword in addition to the Frost Sword that was showing off its form.

“You tried to kill me and my people. Didn’t you think that in return, Marquis Dren could die too?”

Ethan smirked.

“So that’s why you’re talking about advantage and whatnot. You thought that even if I invaded here, all I could do was accuse you of crimes. But what a shame.”

Ethan’s eyes pierced through the movements of the two Dragon Knights.

“I tend to return what I receive honestly. Did you think you wouldn’t die just because you’re from the Twelve Families?”

Author's Thoughts

Hi everyone, I've completely translated this novel! For those who love this novel and wanted to binge read until the last chapter, you can go to my Patreon "Shop" page. There, I have a product in which you can read them with discounted price!