NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9
Chapter 9: You Messed with the Wrong Person (2)
The outcome was decided in an instant.
Frank couldn’t withstand Ghislaine’s power as she exploded all three cores.
Pwooook!
Ghislaine’s sword pierced the core located just below Frank’s belly button.
“Cough, hack….”
Frank suddenly felt his mana start to scatter.
“You, no way….”
While cores are said to be below the belly button, they aren’t actually a tangible concept.
It’s just a name for mana gathered in a space where it’s easy to accumulate it.
So, even if the abdomen is pierced, the core doesn’t just disappear. However, there was another way to eliminate a core.
“Sure, let’s smash your core first.”
Ghislaine moved her mana to clash with Frank’s core.
“Cough, gag!”
Frank screamed in fright.
“You… are you crazy?”
Destroying a core means obliterating all the energy a person has accumulated throughout their life.
If done incorrectly, the mana explosion can also endanger the one trying to destroy it.
It’s a risky method that’s avoided unless you absolutely need to leave the opponent alive.
The more powerful the mana, the larger the explosion, so it’s something even skilled individuals above a certain level avoid attempting.
But Ghislaine seemed completely unbothered as she poured her mana in.
Ddddddd!
Frank’s mana rapidly dispersed.
“Gah! H-how can this be….”
BAM!
Ghislaine’s mana, which had been violently vibrating inside Frank, ultimately shattered his core completely.
Thud.
As Ghislaine withdrew her mana and pulled out her sword, Frank collapsed weakly to the ground.
“You… what on earth….”
Frank couldn’t believe it.
Ghislaine’s swordsmanship was indeed impressive, but if the information was wrong, he could understand.
However, it should have been impossible for someone Ghislaine’s age to shatter a core like Frank’s.
He had never seen anyone manipulate mana so delicately.
Ghislaine left him quivering on the ground and turned away.
“O-Oppa….”
Elena gulped as she saw Ghislaine approach her, covered in blood and exuding a reddish aura, making her look like a demon of fear.
“How could you have such skills…?”
Elena had never learned swordsmanship, but she had grown up watching countless knights in the harsh North.
To her, Frank appeared to be quite a high-level knight.
If he could kill both Jamal and Philip on his own, it meant he was strong enough to take on most knights effortlessly.
And yet, Ghislaine had defeated someone like that.
“O-Oppa really did kill the orcs, it’s true!”
Just a few days ago, there had been controversy regarding Ghislaine’s skills at Perdium Castle.
Scoban and the soldiers, leading the hunt, spread rumors that Ghislaine had killed orcs.
Of course, Scoban was mocked as a liar by others.
It happened.
Ghislaine just smiled in response to Elena’s question.
“Take a short break.”
“What?”
In that moment, Ghislaine gently touched her nape.
Thud.
Elena’s body collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.
With absolutely no mana left, she couldn’t even resist, let alone realize Ghislaine’s action.
Ghislaine carefully laid the fallen Elena down beside an abandoned house and approached Frank again.
“The most thrilling moment has arrived.”
Frank squinted and asked, “Why did you spare me? Even if you torture me, you won’t know what I want.”
“How amusing. I already know who’s behind this. I have no curiosity about someone like you.”
“Then why keep me alive?”
Ghislaine slowly knelt down and looked into Frank’s eyes as he spoke.
“From what I’ve seen, it seems you’ve killed quite a few people. A normal person wouldn’t be able to hurt someone without emotion like they’re just chopping meat.”
“…….”
“You seem to be somewhat of an expert, so you know that sometimes, even when it’s unnecessary, torture must be done. Yes, precisely when you need to vent the fury in your heart.”
As soon as Frank heard Ghislaine’s words, he tried to bite his tongue.
But Ghislaine quickly moved and grabbed Frank’s jaw.
With his other hand, he tore a strip of Frank’s clothing and stuffed it into his mouth.
“Ugh! Mmm!”
“You’ve killed others without hesitation, but are you scared to suffer yourself? That’s a bit disappointing.”
Slash!
Ghislaine severed Frank’s tendons as he struggled.
Then he gathered all the swords that were lying around.
Crack! Snap!
Using mana, Ghislaine broke the swords into pieces. The shards shaped exactly as he desired.
Around several dozen sharp and pointy fragments of varying thickness were created.
Ghislaine laid them out beside Frank.
“You might find this hard to believe, but I’ve killed quite a few people too. I’m experienced in torture. I’ve worked hard to hone this for later use against my enemies.”
Ghislaine held one of the sharp shards in his hand, while Frank looked at it with anxious eyes.
“Why, they say revenge has no real meaning. But now I see that’s just something people say when they’re not angry enough. When rage fills your mind, succeeding in revenge feels incredibly exhilarating.”
Frank couldn’t understand what Ghislaine was talking about.
They hadn’t even had a chance to do anything and had already failed—what kind of revenge is that?
Moreover, it seemed like Ghislaine had known about their existence from the very beginning.
As Ghislaine continued mumbling in front of the silent Frank, he said, “Returning to the past is truly wonderful. But the desperate memories and the anger inside me still remain. I guess it will only end when I eliminate all of you. We are beings who can never coexist.”
Frank’s eyes began to fill with terror.
He still couldn’t grasp what was being said, but just looking into Ghislaine’s eyes, glimmering with madness, sent chills down his spine.
He too had killed many people, so he understood.
Those eyes weren’t simply born that way. They were the gaze of someone who had killed like it was nothing.
‘Could someone have that experience at such a young age?’
Something was on the tip of his tongue.
But the following voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Then shall we begin? It’s going to be really thrilling. I’ve experimented on my own body with all this. Oh, and don’t feel wronged just because you’re the one experiencing it; I’ll make sure all the others end up in the same state.”
“Uhhhhh!”
The sharp shard slowly dug into Frank’s neck.
“You won’t die easily. You’ve messed with the wrong people.”
*
“Hoo……”
The torture only ended when Frank, unable to endure the pain any longer, had half lost his mind. That meant he was dead.
Unable to endure any longer, he was half out of his mind by the time the torture ended. It meant death.
Ghislaine let out a chuckle as he looked down at the mangled corpse.
“So this is how it feels.”
It seemed as if something heavy inside his heart had vanished, leaving him feeling light.
The dark flame that had been burning within him for so long had finally gone out.
“Good. Breathing is a bit easier now.”
But there were still several flames left, continuing to burn through his heart and soul.
Only when they were all extinguished would he truly feel freedom.
“Uweeeek!”
At that moment, Ghislaine suddenly bent over and spat out a handful of blood.
He had been holding it in while torturing Frank, but the internal injuries were too severe. It felt as though his entire body was screaming from the shock of enduring the backlash of the mana explosion.
It was indeed too much for his still-immature body to handle three cores exploding at once.
“Phew, now I have to handle the rest of the work.”
Ghislaine entered the abandoned house where Frank had first appeared.
In his previous life, another corpse had been found here. He had to find that corpse.
As soon as Ghislaine stepped inside the abandoned house, he discovered several thick sacks.
He poked at the sacks a few times with his sword sheath before cautiously opening them.
Inside the sacks were the corpses of young men.
“Count Digald’s heir.”
Gilmore Digald.
In his previous life, he was known to have killed Elena, the heir of Count Digald’s territory.
Given his notorious reputation for indulging in women, alcohol, and drugs, everyone assumed he was the murderer when the body was discovered.
This led to a territorial battle, wasting the strength of both the Digald and Perdium territories.
“Just as I thought.”
The enemy’s goal was to provoke conflict between the two territories.
In his previous life, he had fallen victim to that scheme, but not this time.
Ghislaine unwrapped the remaining sacks.
Just like the first sack, more male corpses emerged. Judging by the crests embedded in their armor, they were undoubtedly Gilmore’s guard knights.
If their deaths were revealed, the same issues from his previous life would arise.
In his previous life, Perdium territory had attacked the Digald territory under the pretense that Elena had died, but this time Digald would retaliate against Perdium.
Even if he prevented Elena’s death, he wouldn’t be able to avert the territorial war itself.
But Ghislaine had no intention of playing into the enemy’s hands.
“It won’t go the way you think.”
Ghislaine gathered flammable items and piled them next to the corpses.
“It has to be clean.”
He crushed any items that could verify their identities, like Gilmore’s ring and the knights’ armor, using mana.
Ghislaine dragged Frank and his followers’ corpses over and burned them all.
Soon, the flames began to roar, devouring everything and giving off a rancid smell.
Even if bones were discovered, people would merely think a vagrant from the poor district had burned to death.
It was quite common for vagrants without any connections to end up as corpses in this era.
“Burns well.”
The flames began to spread to the surrounding debris and trash, growing larger.
“Thank goodness I could handle this on my own.”
Just in case, he had asked Fergus to prepare soldiers and had brought signaling flares.
However, if the soldiers were called, news of Gilmore Digald’s death would have spread.
“I’ve bought some time by stopping the immediate territorial war.”
He had prevented the death of Elena and the subsequent territorial war that had been the start of everything in his previous life.
But the enemy would not stop and would continue to target this place.
He had to minimize the damage and prevent as many deaths as possible among those nearby.
“It will definitely not go your way.”
Ghislaine steadied his mind once more and, carrying Elena, headed towards the castle.
*
After the two returned, Perdium Castle was in chaos.
Phew, the castle of Perdium is in chaos.
It’s a serious incident that a Guard Knight tried to kill the Lord’s daughter.
The Chief Officer of Perdium, Baron Homern, acting on behalf of the Lord, was furious and rampaging.
“Immediate investigation and mental training for all knights and soldiers! Participation in the festival is banned. And hurry up and inform the Lord about this news!”
The atmosphere inside the castle quickly sank. People gathered in small groups, whispering sneakily.
“Did you hear? Jamal and Philip must have gone completely mad. They say Prince Ghislaine executed those two!”
“Oh, the Young Lady is probably just lying to elevate the Prince’s status.”
“Really? Seems to me that Jamal and Philip ended up killing each other fighting over the Young Lady.”
“Yeah, the Prince just lucked out. And now he’s pretending to be a hero.”
“Last time, Skoban was spreading lies, and now the Young Lady is doing it too. No doubt the Grand Duke threatened her.”
After going through such a rough experience, Elena became even more gloomy because of these rumors.
Nobody believed her words. Instead, she was crowned with Skoban as one of the territory’s biggest liars.
Ghislaine emphasized that she must never say anything about Frank, so Elena could barely even open her mouth.
While Elena was downcast, Ghislaine just laughed upon hearing the rumors.
“They wouldn’t believe it if I said I took care of Frank too. Anyway, I have no plans to tell anyone because of Gilmore.”
However, after a few days, thanks to the comfort and attention from those around her, Elena regained her composure.
Seeing her return to bright spirits, Ghislaine felt relieved but also wondered how to prepare for the future.
“I blocked things for now. But if they find out about the plan’s failure, they’ll move again.”
In her previous life, Perdium had continuously been caught up in disputes and eventually fell.
Duke Delphine weakened other territories and then overthrew the kingdom to take it over.
It was still unclear why they were targeting Perdium, but preparation was necessary.
“There’s so much to prepare for. Training time, money, troops, my people… and high-end liquor paired with a luxurious wagon for a smooth ride. Ah, scratch that.”
She could not block all schemes and attacks alone. She needed to quickly grow her influence and build a foundation.
“Certainly, money is crucial. Without it, nothing can be done. Damn, money was a problem in my previous life and it’s the same now.”
What she needed right now was undoubtedly money.
With money, she could hire people, procure necessary things, and maintain them.
But Perdium was a territory that could claim the title of ‘the poorest in the kingdom,’ and she had no authority to spend even the little money they had.
“I can’t do anything right now!”
No sharp solution came to her mind, no matter how much she thought.
She wanted to earn money using memories from her previous life but first needed some initial capital.
The situation was not even relaxed enough to waste time growing her funds.
“I can’t just beg for money… Persuasion probably won’t work. Should I go back to being a mercenary? That would take ages. Maybe robbery or banditry is the fastest way?”
Ghislaine squatted in the small garden, picking petals one by one while deep in thought.
“Hmm, but I can’t really stoop to banditry… Damn, what can I do to gather initial funds quickly?”
While Ghislaine was lost in thought, someone approached her, leading a few knights.
“Hey, cousin! I heard the rumor! Looks like you’ve got a case of delusional disorder now, huh? Spreading such huge lies, you’ve got some nerve! I’m completely impressed! Hahaha!”
Ghislaine’s eyes widened as she looked at the man who laughed heartily.