chapter 18
It was not difficult to leave the palace.
The moment he saw Germin’s face, he passed through without even checking inside the carriage.
A family of butlers who served the imperial family for generations.
Its position was higher than that of quite a few aristocrats.
Above all, the Palace of Heaven was noisy. Due to the appearance of the spirit, even a single soldier wondered, ‘Could it be me?’ It’s time to let your imagination run wild.
After passing the checkpoint without much doubt, the carriage ran along the roadside.
“…”
The inside of the wagon was full of silence.
I wondered if this was because the air was heavy. It felt like my whole body was being crushed.
Edith and Croft.
and me in between.
“I will speed up the wagon.”
Edith drew a circle.
the circle is true It is a symbol of complete innocence.
All wizards draw a circle before casting a spell.
Then, mana flows out to form a circle and amplify the will.
“Mana, obey my will.”
In an instant, an enormous amount of nanomachines flowed out of his heart and began to spread around at regular intervals.
The wind changed direction to the wagon road, and the ground became flatter.
When mana was injected into the horses pulling the wagon, it seemed that their speed doubled.
This is the level that the 8th circle archmage has achieved.
Even if no other command is given, it affects the surroundings with just will.
It requires an unimaginable amount of mana, but the amount of mana in his heart was like the sea.
“I will help too.”
Not to be outdone by that, Croft put his hand on the wagon.
At the same time, the white aura that covered his whole body began to flow into the carriage and horse.
An aura that only knights who have reached the state can use.
Applying Aura to a tree branch makes it harder than steel and increases cutting power.
It’s common to use it offensively, but Croft’s skill with auras quickly surpassed them.
The wagon does not shake.
“Whoa, whoa!”
Hee hee hee!
At the same time, the horses ran out of control.
The carriage is ordinary, but the horses pulling the carriage are different.
Even the sudden change was accepted without difficulty and sprinted forward.
It was so fast that I couldn’t even see the background passing by.
Even if Germin’s horse driving skills were a little lacking, he would have been in trouble.
Thanks to this, it took less than half a day to get out of the ecliptic, which would normally take two days.
If you want to leave the ecliptic and go north, you have to cross a rugged mountain range.
It will take at least two more months to return.
However, no matter how short-cut it is, the mountain is steep and there are many thieves, so even the merchants are reluctant to take it.
Even so, the wagon’s speed did not decrease.
“Stop! We are the infamous ‘Red Hood Bandits’…!”
“Blood, blood!”
“Crazy, what is that!”
“Huh uh uh uh!”
I think I stepped on something now.
Aren’t those people flying over there?
The carriage was still unshakable comfort itself.
The Lokari Mountains, which connect the northern and imperial borders, were rugged enough to be considered one of the ‘most dangerous places in the world’.
The thieves were barely settled at the beginning of the mountain range.
The deeper you go, the more unknown wildlife awaits, which is fatal to humans.
It wasn’t just wild animals, but there were also many ‘monsters’.
Even Archduke Carlos knew that in order to reduce the loss of troops, he turned around the mountains for about two months and advanced to the north.
“The mountain owner’s blood has been sprinkled on it, so you can sleep in peace.”
And I was now halfway up an unknown mountain in the Rockari Mountains.
Croft cut off the monster’s head and scattered blood around it.
It was a gigantic ogre who was the owner of the mountain where we are now.
A mountain range made up of hundreds of mountains.
Although the owners of all mountains are different, ogres are high-level monsters.
Croft treated it like a snack and returned.
‘I really don’t know.’
Sir Croft.
Your thoughts are not well read.
I could even count on one hand the number of times I had spoken to him in the past.
Even more so, that conversation was all about reprimanding me.
It was clear that he was not following me out of his heart.
‘It looks like he’s suspicious of me.’
From the beginning he was watching me.
If it wasn’t for that, when Germin was looking for a wagon, he wouldn’t have come at that time.
It was the look that he expected right away that I would leave at Edith’s request.
The problem is what happened after that.
The reason why he, who must be an aide to the emperor, went out alone without saying anything.
“Sir Croft. I want to know your intentions.”
I asked.
Anyway, even if I suffer alone, the answer won’t come out.
And Croft was a swordsman with the personality of ‘doing everything he had to say’. It was also another reason why nobles hated him.
sereung.
In an instant, he pulled out the sword from his waist.
outside the palace. It’s easier to aim for my neck.
Here in the Rockari Mountains, you might not even leave a body behind.
Since the palace wouldn’t even know he came out, it was a perfect place for a murder.
Edith was wary, but she couldn’t defeat the Sword Master in close combat.
threshold of death. Just pulling out the sword was a bleak aura.
However, I have already been through a lot in the past experience.
That when the strong kill the weak, they don’t show their swords.
That he would cut his throat and suffocate him before he could even see the blade of the sword.
“I am not surprised.”
Croft’s eyes were unexpected.
He replied with a smile.
“If I wanted to kill him, I would have killed him right away.”
“Indeed, it must have been.”
Croft agreed.
It’s rude, but it’s true.
There were plenty of opportunities to kill.
even worried about it.
About killing the crown prince and seeking stability for the imperial family.
“Would you like to listen?”
Croft handed me his sword.
A rough iron sword.
It’s not a famous sword, but this was enough for him.
When I took it, I felt a heavy weight.
“Well.”
“You will be heavy. It will weigh three times as much as a normal iron sword.”
“It sure looks like that.”
A normal iron sword weighs approximately 5 kg.
If it was three times that, it would have weighed over 15kg.
Croft opened his mouth with sharp eyes.
“Also, if you delivered it a month ago, you wouldn’t have been able to lift it.”
A body that was poisoned with drugs and covered with skin and bones.
It was difficult for me to lift a proper iron sword, but now I was holding it with three times its weight.
It’s a strange thing.
Of course, no one ever objected.
Because no one was watching me that closely.
But he couldn’t escape Croft’s keen eye.
I answered indifferently.
“It must have come a little late.”
“Anything like that, he seems to be getting better day by day.”
“It’s not a sin to be strong, is it?”
“The growth of hair and height was about 30 times faster than that of normal people.”
Croft was even aware that Nano Machine Zero increased his body metabolism 30 times.
sharp It was as if his tongue would cut off his body and head.
But now that it’s unclear which side Croft is taking, I won’t have to reveal all of myself.
The problem was that it didn’t end there.
“You can tell by looking at the shape of the muscles and bones, and the dead skin shedding from the skin. That Her Highness’ constitution had changed to the very foundation. It’s hard to believe they’re the same person.”
Croft was saying that I had become a different person.
This is more dangerous than pouring out my incompetence.
People see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe.
If he defined me as not ‘Reinhardt’, it would be a headache.
It is possible to believe that you have possessed the devil by using taboo magic.
In the worst case, there was even a possibility of defining Zero as a demon and hanging myself as a follower of the devil.
“What do you mean, Lord Croft?”
Why do you have to say that now?
As he slumped heavily, Croft said something unexpected.
“Would you like to learn the sword?”
“… the sword?”
it’s a sword I didn’t even expect it.
There are many knights who learn swordsmanship from Croft.
Quite a few palace knights pass through Croft at least once.
However, there were no students who he formally taught.
I had never heard of him ever making this offer to anyone.
“The fact that regeneration is 30 times faster means that muscle recovery is also that fast. It can be a great talent in itself if you put your mind to it.”
Literally.
However, it still took the opponent Croft.
‘Can I properly learn the sword?’
The true sword genius was 1st Prince Launel.
Kazan, the 2nd Prince, has a magical talent that no one can follow.
3rd Prince Carmon’s talent was rarer than anyone else’s,
In the case of the 4th prince, he was born with an unknown divine power.
Whereas I had nothing.
He had no will to learn, and he never showed any visible ability because his mania prevented him from digging deep into anything.
Can I beat those geniuses just by learning?
‘There’s nothing I can’t do.’
The me of the past and the me of the present are different.
A map of the will, a map of the state of the body.
“Thank you for your heart, but it’s sudden.”
However, you can’t take it lightly even if you give it to me.
I had to know Croft’s true intentions.
“Are you embarrassed that I am doing this?”
“I honestly can’t say no.”
“I understand. I don’t know either.”
Croft sighed.
He watched the prince for a long time.
I was disappointed and lost hope.
I firmly believed that it wouldn’t change, that it would stay that way forever.
The recent actions of the crown prince were beyond imagination.
It has changed. It’s like a completely different person.
The prince, who had never shown a will to live, was shining brighter than anyone else.
If you think about the future of the empire, you must kill outside the palace.
Because the prince’s madness would drive everyone to ruin.
―I asked if it was really strange for the older brother to save the younger brother.
That one word, those eyes are still vivid in my mind.
“・・・・・Please consider it just a whim of an old man.”
“Then what if I am a sword genius?”
“Heh heh, that’s not going to happen.”
It was an immediate answer.
A tone full of conviction that such a thing could not happen.
In the first place, teaching swords did not mean anything grandiose.
I just want to see the will.
Has it really changed from the prince of the past? Was the prince with no guts trying to change?
It was far from saying that he would take them as disciples because he was overflowing with talent.
Because I was thinking of just brushing up on the basics.
There was no expectation from the beginning that Crown Prince Reinhardt would have a talent for swords.
‘Dunjae has eyes to see the sword, but can’t master it. Just because my body is healthy doesn’t change that fact.’
He might have a talent he hadn’t discovered, but it was clear that it wasn’t a sword.
Of course, since he inherited the blood of the imperial family, he would do the basics, but he didn’t want anything more than that.
Praise for regenerative ability means ‘I will roll like crazy’.
If you roll and roll again, your true nature will come out.
“Hmm, cool.”
“I will teach you until we return to the palace. By the way, it would be better to abandon the idea of giving up halfway through.”
He was called the strongest in his prime.
If you could learn his swordsmanship yourself, there was no reason to refuse.
“good night. Let’s learn it once.”
“Let’s talk about it, but I’ll show you the basic movements first.”
Handing over the sword, Croft took up his stance.
I could see the nanomachines spreading all over my body as naturally as breathing.
Even though I didn’t smoke the aura, my whole body was naturally accepting it.
Sup.
After inhaling, he lowered his sword.
Slowly, very slowly, he cut the moon.
He cut down trees, mountains, and the world.
It was to the point of being overwhelmed by the flow entangled in just one movement.
That’s the ‘basic’ for him.
Some people have to invest 10 or 20 years to reach this level.
how much time has passed like that
“Would you like to try it?”
I held out my sword.
It was cutting at a level too high for beginners to understand.
Croft also seemed to have no expectations that I would be able to reproduce it after seeing it once.
You can’t recite Poongwol just because a newborn baby holds a sword.
but.
‘Zero. The scan went well, right?’
[Yes, Master. All movements of living organisms and trends of nanomachines were all recorded. Based on what was recorded, reproduction begins.]
Zero’s new features that were created as the level of administrator authority rose.
One of them started to manifest.
<genius> end