The double life of a count’s bastard

Episode 8

“…….”

Rousseau’s expression as he slumped in his seat was that of a man who had seen something he shouldn’t have.

The ancient Mado Empire.

It was so ancient that he didn’t even know how long ago it was.

Only.

“……Typically, shouldn’t something like this involve obtaining the secrets of the Ancient Mado Empire, or some kind of immense ancient power or knowledge?”

Usually, in normal stories, don’t the protagonists get so much luck that they rise to the top?

“I’m just waiting for the damned day to come, so what’s an asshole to do if he can’t?”

Rousseau’s teeth chattered faintly, but he let out a long breath to calm himself.

“Yeah, I just wanted to get something.”

Rousseau felt an alien energy connecting with his heart, and then he rose to his feet and willed it.

Ssssssssss!

To use an old-fashioned expression.

It broke through the surface of his skin.

Rousseau watched, unblinking, as the grayish, transparent liquid began to envelop his body and eventually took shape like armor.

Excalaon!

The strongest Mado armor of the Mado Era was once worn only by the Emperor during the ancient Mado Empire.

Yuck.

I raise my arm.

Jab.

Even when you walk.

“…… Does this make sense?”

In real life, Russo has never worn armor, but he knows how uncomfortable and restrictive the full-plate armor he’s forced to wear in his dreams is.

The first time someone puts on the armor, they struggle to take a step because of the unimaginable weight and strangeness.

Even knights who wear their armor every day as casual wear find it so uncomfortable that they don’t wear full plate armor unless it’s for an extraordinary occasion.

Even knights who use mana to cast lightweight enchantments to at least reduce the weight of their armor still find full plate armor unwelcome.

By the way.

“This is ridiculous…….”

The Excalaeon, an ancient martial armor that wrapped around Rousseau’s entire body, felt so unnatural that he didn’t even know he was wearing clothes, let alone armor.

What’s more, despite covering his entire head, it didn’t obstruct his vision at all, so he didn’t even have the blind spots of a helmet.

“……Is this a welcome or something?”

The freedom of movement of the limbs made Rousseau wonder if it was armor at all.

Tsk.

Drawing his sword, Rousseau carefully swung it towards his thigh without any hesitation.

Gagak-!

The sound of the blade grinding against hard steel could be heard.

Realizing that it wasn’t an illusion, Rousseau brought his sword down with a little more force.

Ka-ang!

Blue sparks flew out.

The grayish, unidentifiable thing that was a liquid was much harder than Rousseau’s sword, which was made of steel.

“…….”

Staring at the ancient armor, Rousseau swung his sword with all his strength.

Kaang! Ka-ang!

This time, he wasn’t just swinging it to test it, but with a force that was close to full power, he slashed and stabbed at his thigh.

“……Not even a scratch.”

It was clear.

Excalaeon, the ancient martial armor without a scratch, was made of a much harder metal than Rousseau’s sword, whose teeth had become dull after a few swings.

“Yes, plate armor’s weakness is blown.”

The greatest weakness of plate armor is direct blunt force attacks.

Due to the slow nature of plate armor, it was somewhat resistant to attacks from sharp swords and spears, but it was ineffective against blunt blows.

Lowering his sword, Rousseau glared at his thigh and then brought his clenched fist down with all the strength he could muster.

Tuang!!!

His fist bounced back from the force of the recoil, and he felt only the faintest hint of pain in his thigh.

“…… Lanslan, you’ve been hiding the real treasure all along!!!”

Rousseau was certain that the ancient mage armor Excalaon was the true treasure hidden in the Kwelan Mines.

* * *

“Yeah, even the stupidest person wouldn’t go around bragging about the Excalaeon.”

Even if it was the Emperor, unless he had a dagger in his head, he would have tried to hide Excalaeon somehow.

It would be far more beneficial to give the Emperor the broken Dragon Heart and keep Excalaeon.

One question is.

“If Count Lanslan had gained Excalaeon, he would naturally show it in battle. Why didn’t Count Lanslan reveal Excalaeon during the two great battles?”

No matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.

In Rousseau’s dreams, Count Lanslan had come close in the Great Battle, but he hadn’t revealed Excalaeon until the very end.

Did he value the Excalaeon more than his life?

Was he afraid that if he revealed it, the Emperor would take it from him?

“Of course not.”

No matter how precious a treasure like his life, Count Lanslan’s character would never allow him to trade it for my life.

“Did he give it to someone else?”

It’s entirely possible.

Count Lanslan had an only son, a boy whose eyes wouldn’t hurt.

To others, he might have looked like a foolish pig with a thick chin and a fat belly covered in grease, but to Count Lanslan, he was the one and only heir to his throne, and he would have given him anything.

“A pearl necklace around a real pig’s neck. Tsk!”

Rousseau clicked his tongue in disbelief at the thought.

At the same time, Rousseau felt even more satisfied that he had gotten his hands on a pearl necklace that would otherwise have gone to a pig who would never be able to put it to good use.

And then there was the true value of Excalaeon.

Surprisingly, Excalaeon even could grow in proportion to its wearer’s skill.

“Ancient Mado Empire. I’m going to have to check this out.”

It was a time he’d never heard of in his dreams, let alone in reality, but now that he had the Excalaeon, Rousseau’s desire to unlock at least one more ancient secret was aroused.

“Let’s do one last thing.”

Rousseau hummed to himself as he placed the magical bombs he had prepared throughout the secret room.

He planned to blow the place to smithereens if anyone happened to find it later, which would be unnecessarily troublesome.

Boom- Kwagaga River!!!

Far away from the entrance to the Kwelan Mine, Rousseau watched in satisfaction as the mine itself completely collapsed with a huge explosion.

“Neat. Very clean!”

Rousseau chuckled as he turned away from the sight of the Kwelan Mines, leaving no trace of the ancient Mado Empire’s artifacts.

The search for artifacts in the Kwelan Mines, which had been their first goal, had ended with a result that was two hundred percent more satisfying than their original intentions.

“This is just the beginning. No, this isn’t even the beginning. We’re not done yet.”

Rousseau vowed once again that he would not allow the Earl of Slater to fall, or himself to die a miserable death, ten years later.

* * *

“Ha- Aaab!!!”

With a roaring cheer, the blade of the sword sliced cleanly through the red bear’s head at a high speed.

With a massive body length of five meters and a weight of 1200 kilograms, the red bear is one of the three most powerful predators in the Inkeran Mountains.

Even the most skilled hunters were reluctant to hunt it, and even a third-ranked knight would not dare to face it alone.

It was none other than Luo Xiao who had blown off the head of such a dangerous red bear with a single sword strike.

“Whoooo!”

Rousseau, who was planning to return home from the Kwelan Mine, changed his mind and was now wandering around the Inkeran Mountains.

He knew that his body had been transformed by absorbing the power of the Shattered Dragon Heart, but he needed to calmly determine how far his abilities had progressed.

I also needed to know the value of Excalaeon in action so I could better plan for the future.

As a bonus.

While he had plenty of experience fighting in his dreams, Rousseau had spent so much time away from his sword in the real world that he needed to regain a sense of the past through bloody combat.

The hunt at the beginning of the Inkeran Mountains was easier than he expected.

First, his body, which had been reborn after absorbing the power of the shattered Dragon Heart, was fast and strong.

Second, Excalaeon’s defense far exceeded Rousseau’s expectations.

Even the Red Bear’s powerful front paw strike didn’t cause him any injuries other than his body bouncing backward.

‘No matter how hard my full plate armor is, a single strike from the Red Bear’s front paw would have broken all my limbs.

With Excalaeon’s defense protecting him from any attack, Rousseau hunted Red Bears and other predators in the early Inceran Mountains like a maniac.

His only complaint.

“The amount of mana it takes to maintain it is too much.”

This was Excalarion’s biggest drawback.

In terms of pure swordsmanship, Rousseau was no match for a third-ranked knight, but the amount of mana she stored in her body was enough to overwhelm even a fifth-ranked knight.

This was because he had absorbed the power of the Dragon Heart, but even so, he could only maintain Excalibur for about half an hour.

Even then, the sword doesn’t cost mana every time it’s used, so it’s hard to imagine how much less Excalibur’s upkeep would be if he were fighting with a Mana Sword, which is the standard for a rank 4 knight.

“You expect me to pay a high upkeep for such high performance?”

Rousseau looked at Excalaeon, who was protecting her body perfectly.

“If it didn’t absorb the Dragon Heart, it’d be a picture-perfect rice cake.”

Rousseau shook his head, his stomach exploding like he’d eaten a hundred sweet potatoes in one sitting just thinking about it, and released Excalaeon.

“I like this one too!”

One of the benefits of Excalaeon is that it can be worn over any clothing you’re wearing, and no matter how fierce the battle, it won’t damage or disrupt your clothing.

So if someone saw Russo without a wrinkle in his clothes after killing seven red bears around him, they might think he was an expert.

“I need to pack up the loot…….”

Rousseau looked at the red bear carcasses and lightly furrowed his brows.

Red bear carcasses were worth quite a bit of money on their own.

Blood, pelts, claws, tendons, and so on.

It was all worth it, but the task of dismembering the carcasses was cumbersome, difficult, and time-consuming, and Rousseau didn’t want to do it.

“Let’s just get the gallbladder.”

After a moment of deliberation, Rousseau decided to take only the gallbladder of the most expensive red bear.

“Let’s go east this time.”

After removing the gallbladders from the carcasses of the seven red bears, Rousseau moved eastward with light steps.

The more he practiced, the more he remembered the sword techniques he had forgotten, and he was getting used to them, so he planned to use this opportunity to maximise his training efficiency.