35-35 Emperor's Early Horse




 The emperor looked at the silvery waves surging ahead of him, puzzled.

"What the hell is that...?

 Silver waves swirling and spreading across the sky like some kind of creature...
 Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a group of swords.
 The shape of the swords was familiar to the Emperor.
 The more he looked at them, the more they resembled the Magic Swords that he had given to the soldiers of the Imperial Army.
 But I can't think of any reason why it would be flying through the air like that.

 What's going on?

 As soon as he wondered, the emperor noticed that there was something standing behind him without saying a word.

"...... who is it?

 The emperor hurriedly turned around to see who it was.
 He saw that it was a man holding something black (・・・・).
 The man also looked straight at him... but as soon as their eyes met, the man vanished like a phantom.

What the hell was that?

 Suddenly, the ground on which the man was standing cracked and there was a tremor in the area.
 The horse on which the emperor was riding neighed in fear of what was happening.

 Immediately after that...

 Countless silver swords that had been flying in the sky rained down one after another on the soldiers in front of him.
 The soldiers hold up their magic shields to repel the power and repel the attacks at once, but there is no magic sword in their hands.

 What's going on?

 I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, but it's a good idea.

"What the hell is going on?

 But there was no answer.
 The guards looked at the sky as if in a daze, muttering about something.

 The emperor followed suit and looked up to see something in the shape of a board (・・・・・) flying there.
 I think I've seen that somewhere before, too.
 The emperor asked his subjects again.

What is that piece of wood?

 But there was no answer from anyone.
 Everyone seemed to be so absorbed in avoiding the swords that were once again falling from the sky that they did not hear the emperor's voice.
 There was nothing more in their hands.

 What the hell is this? What's happening?

 As the emperor was wondering, the man appeared behind him again... and their eyes met again.
 At that moment, the emperor remembered the man.

"You can't be.

 That's right.
 As I recall, wasn't this the man who had jumped out in front of the [Divine Shield] Ines?
 It's the same face I saw with the [Distant View] magic tool just now.
 There's no doubt about it.

 No, but ......


 That's a little strange.
 If that's the case, then why is that man here?
 That man must have been in the far horizon, close to the limit distance of the [Far-Seeing] magic tool.
 It must have been less than thirty seconds since then.
 How did you get here?

 No, let's leave that out of it for now.
 There's another big question.
 This man probably knows he's the Emperor of the Magic Empire.
 He doesn't even look at the other soldiers, he just throws his gaze straight at them.

 What exactly is the purpose of this man?

 No, in this situation, he has only one goal.
 To get the emperor's life.

 That's the only thing I can think of.

"Kahit.

 The emperor suddenly realized that his life was being threatened, and a strange sound escaped from the back of his throat.
 The vassal who had given him the weapon he had relied on was useless.
 He was surrounded by so many soldiers, and now he was completely defenseless... there was no better time to take a shot at his life.
 Even his bodyguards, who usually stood by his side, seemed confused by the loss of his sword and the chaos around him.

 The Emperor's body shrank and stiffened in fear.
 However, he soon regained his composure, remembering that his entire body was protected by the Kaiser Armor made of royal metal (orichalcone), a supreme golden armor that repelled all attacks and magic.

 If you want to come, come.

 Even if my soldiers are useless, I can still fight.
 With this in mind, the emperor drew his custom-made mithril magic sword, the Kaiser Blade, from his waist and held it at the ready as he mounted his horse.

 But the man suddenly turned away, as if he had lost interest in the Emperor, and disappeared again.

What's the matter? You're not coming?

 As the emperor was wondering... something large fell from the sky.
 Something black and cylindrical pierced the ground right under the emperor's nose with a roaring sound.

"Gevaah!

 Without thinking, the emperor fell from his prized horse, upside down, and licked the ground.
 As he desperately looked up from the ground, he saw the black magic iron cylinder in front of him, and it looked familiar.

 It appeared to be the Magic Empire's new battle weapon, the "Spear of Light (Breunak)".

 That's strange.

 Why is this thing in the sky?

 Until a moment ago, all of our weapons of war, the Spear of Light, were pointing towards the city of the Foolish King.
 It would be impossible for it to suddenly pierce the ground in front of me.
 As I looked around, I saw three other similar black tubes sticking into the ground.

Why are they plugged in there?

 The Emperor could not believe what he was seeing.

"What's happening... what's going on?

 As he repeated the question in his mouth, "That man" appeared behind him again.


 The man stared at the emperor without doing anything... and disappeared again without a sound.

"What is that man?

 The Emperor's mind was full of questions.

 In the first place, he had led ten thousand men to the battlefield.
 You gave them ten thousand swords and ten thousand shields.
 There was no way that such a man could have reached here alone in front of such a huge army.

 At the very least, the formation should have been perfect.
 The equipment was more luxurious than ever.
 You could call it overkill.
 There was no way they could have lost the war.
 That's why I decided to follow you to the battlefield as a spectator, just for fun.

 The magic swords and shields that were given to the ordinary soldiers, and the magic shields that were given to the elite soldiers.
 And in addition to the magic cannon and magic armor that I gave to the best of the best.
 In addition to the magic cannons and magic armor, we have four spears of light that can slaughter even the legendary demon dragons of disaster, and three invincible large defense magic tools that can repel even the most powerful magic, the hero's shield (Aegis).

 Wait.
 Oh yeah, I forgot.
 Where's that shield?

 Where did that invincible shield go?
 If we had that, we could have defended against any attack, no matter how powerful or ambushable.
 Where did it go...?

 As I looked around, I saw a distorted, broken cross-shaped object lying between the four black tubes stuck in the ground.
 Could that be ......?

 ...... No, no.
 That can't be it.
 The emperor had never seen anything like that before.
 That's not the one I know.

 The Aegis in the emperor's memory shone pure white, the elaborately engraved circuitry was filled with magical light and was very dignified - it was never that wretched lump of scrap iron.

You're saying it's been destroyed?

 But I have to admit it.
 That's the Shield of Heroes.
 The ultimate defense weapon, supposed to block everything.

 The thing that was supposed to be the invincible shield that was supposed to protect the undefeated and undefeated Magic Imperial Army (・・・・・・・).

 How did it become like that?
 There were many things the Emperor did not understand.

 Then the man reappeared and looked at the Emperor.
 In his hand, he held a black sword.

 Wait.  What's that?

 It was only then that the emperor realized the existence of the sword.

"No, no, no, that's...

 No, I'm sure.


 There was no way I could have mistaken it.
 It was the Black Sword, the labyrinthine relic that the Emperor had been chasing ever since he had seen it in the hands of the Fool King.

 And he wondered even more.
 If that was indeed the Black Sword, then... who was that man?
 Why is that man holding the sword that the foolish king would never let go of?

 And why...
 How is that man able to stand so normally?
 That unknown metal is not something that an ordinary person can carry around.

 It has a unique property that makes it impervious to magic.
 It has an extraordinary hardness that even royal metals (orichalcon), dragon fangs, and the hardest metal (adamantite) cannot damage it.
 And most of all, it has an extraordinary weight that is beyond human comprehension - that is the characteristic of the Black Sword.
 It is an uncommon existence that even ten strong soldiers cannot lift.

 And you're holding it in one hand?
 That can't be right.
 I'm sure you're aware of that, but I'm sure you're not.

That's a ridiculous story.

 If that's the case, then it's not surprising that that man was more powerful than that monster king.

 The fact that he now possesses the Black Sword.
 That can only mean that the King of Crace gave that sword to him.

 And even more so... who is that man?
 I didn't get any information about that man from anywhere.

 In all likelihood, he's one of the main forces of the kingdom (enemy).
 Are you saying that such a thing existed without anyone knowing about it?

That's ridiculous.

 These were the words that came out of his mouth, words that he refused to understand.

 But the emperor already understood.
 He had to admit it now.

 I don't know how he did it.
 I don't know what method he used.
 But I'm sure.

 What you see before you was done by this man.

 The swords and shields of 10,000 soldiers are lost, and the entire Imperial Army is in chaos.
 The Spear of Light was stabbed into the ground in vain.
 The reason why the Hero's Shield is in such a miserable state.

 This man did it all by himself.

 I can't see any other reason.

 I couldn't believe it even though I knew it was logical.
 It was just a bad dream.
 A look of anguish came over the emperor's face as he accepted the truth.

 But it just didn't add up.
 Why on earth...?


 With so much power, why does he keep himself alive?
 This man kept appearing and disappearing as if he dared to ignore the emperor.

 Why does he need to do that...?
 Why don't you just kill yourself...?

 That's what I was wondering.
 The man who was facing him suddenly fished the edge of his mouth in an eerie manner, as if mocking the Emperor.

"Hmph.

 The Emperor let out a dry scream from the back of his throat.
 At the same time, the emperor understood the intention of the man's eerie smile.

 This man is playing with me.
 Even now, he is amusing himself by watching his face twitch with fear.

 He knows exactly what's on this battlefield.
 You know exactly what's on this battlefield, and you know it all, and you humiliate it, and you crush it...

 He wants to humiliate you, crush you, and then torture you to death.

 This man can do it.
 There's no reason not to do it.  

 I remembered what I was going to do when I captured the King of Crace...
 I thought to myself.


"Ouch...


 Something warm flowed from the emperor's lower abdomen and ran down his leg.
 Immediately afterwards, the man disappeared again like a phantom before his eyes.


...!


 A moment later, the Emperor remembered what he had to do at this very moment.

 In other words...

 The emperor re-mounted his horse, turned his back on all his confused subjects...
 He rode his prized steed, wearing a top-grade magical harness made of royal metal (orichalcone) that had been enchanted to amplify muscle strength many times over...

 I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.