Chapter 14
Blanzor (4)
“Let’s change the order. Teach me the Emperor’s swordsmanship first. Then I’ll put effort into finding the Dragon’s Eye.”
— Hahaha! You must think I’m a fool.
“You’re the one looking down on me. Do you even know how I’ve spent the last ten years on Earth? I don’t feel like going through hell just to find some Dragon’s Eye or whatever. I can live comfortably like this—eating good food every day, maybe even marrying a woman I like.”
— You have no ambition. To be content with a tiny scrap of power and a small piece of land…
“That’s just your opinion. Anyway, what’s it going to be? I’m sleepy, so decide quickly.”
Ian pushed back his chair and stood up, looking as if he were about to return to bed.
“For the record, if our deal falls apart, I’ll be so disappointed that I’ll throw you down into the dungeon cesspit. You’ve wasted my time and kept me from sleeping.”
— Hmph! Do you think such a threat works on me? I was the Captain of the Emperor’s Guard.
“So that’s your decision? Since we can’t agree, there’s nothing more to say. Harmond! Harmond!”
At Ian’s loud call, Harmond kicked the door open and rushed in, sword already drawn.
“Protect the lord!”
Ten soldiers followed him in and quickly surrounded Ian.
“Are you unharmed, my lord?”
Although there was no enemy in sight, Harmond didn’t let his guard down.
Watching their swift reaction, Ian clapped lightly.
“Excellent. I feel secure with you here.”
Harmond and the soldiers assumed the lord had called them in as a test.
“Harmond, on your way out, toss that dagger into the cesspit.”
“The dagger, my lord?”
“Yes. I don’t like the look of it.”
Though the order was strange, Harmond obeyed without hesitation. He collected the dagger from the table and led the soldiers out.
From within the dagger, Blanzor shouted in frustration.
Of course, no one but Ian could hear him.
— Fake Ian! Do you think using such petty tricks will change my mind?!
“My ears are itchy,” Ian said, pretending to pick at them.
And just as the door was about to close, Blanzor shouted urgently:
— Fine! I’ll teach you the swordsmanship first!
“So, if you’d just listened to me from the start, we could have avoided all this unpleasantness.”
— Don’t be pleased with yourself. I only changed my mind because you made a fair point. But until you find the Dragon’s Eye, I’ll only pass on half of the Emperor’s swordsmanship.
Ian thought for a moment, then nodded. If he pushed for more, he might lose the chance entirely.
“Fair enough. But one thing’s been bothering me—how do you plan to teach me swordsmanship while trapped in a dagger?”
The moment he finished speaking, something astonishing happened.
The dagger’s eyes turned into red smoke, which floated into the air before Ian, slowly taking the form of a man clad in armor with a sword in hand.
“What, so you weren’t really trapped in the dagger?”
Ian stared in surprise at Blanzor, who stood before him like a three-dimensional hologram.
Blanzor appeared as a handsome middle-aged man with black hair and a mischievous air. He seemed far too lighthearted to have ever served as Captain of the Emperor’s Guard.
— The curse has weakened, so I can wander around in this ghostly form. I still need to stay close to the dagger that sealed me, though.
“So this is your real appearance?”
— Heh, impressed by my fine looks, are you?
“Cut it out, you’re ruining the illusion. Are you really the Emperor’s Guard Captain?”
— Don’t doubt me, fake Ian. Being good at fighting doesn’t mean I have to scowl all the time.
Blanzor leapt through the window like a phantom and landed in the garden. His body glowed faintly, making him clearly visible even in the dark, as he swung his sword with fluid grace.
‘The blade is multiplying into dozens, soaring upward!’
Like a magic trick, the sword split into a fountain of blades, which merged into the shape of a wolf.
The shining wolf shifted its course and charged lightning-fast toward Ian, who was watching from the top floor of the manor.
‘I can’t move!’
CRASH!
The glowing wolf smashed through the window, and the impact of it swallowing him whole knocked Ian flat to the ground.
— Pathetic. Collapsing just from the illusion of my sword.
Blanzor had returned to the bedroom, snorting with derision at Ian.
“I’m just tired, that’s all. My body’s exhausted.”
Ian answered casually, though inwardly he was shaken.
‘If that had been a real sword, its pressure alone would’ve crushed me before I could even activate Warp.’
A chill ran through his chest.
“What you showed just now—was that the Emperor’s swordsmanship?”
— The Emperor’s swordsmanship? Hahaha!
Blanzor crossed his arms and laughed for a long while.
— Fake Ian, the Emperor’s swordsmanship is a hundred times more terrifying than that. What you saw was Beast Sword, which I learned before entering the Imperial Guard.
“So that wasn’t the Emperor’s Sword, but Beast Sword?”
— Before you can learn the Emperor’s swordsmanship, you must first build your foundation with this Beast Sword.
“Can’t I just build my foundation with the Emperor’s sword instead? It’d save us both some time.”
— Do you think the Emperor’s swordsmanship is child’s play? Without the proper depth, even if you see it a thousand times and hear it ten thousand times, you’ll never master it.
He seemed slightly angry, but Ian only walked toward his bed.
“I was just saying. Works for me if you’re willing to teach with such passion.”
— Where do you think you’re going?
“We’re basically done talking, right? I need to sleep. I’m dead tired.”
Blanzor stared at him in disbelief as Ian lay down. Floating above him, the ghost drifted around his head.
— You get such a golden opportunity and feel no gratitude? If I were you, I’d be bowing my head and thanking me a dozen times over.
“I’m not the sentimental type. My family’s dead, my friends are dead, and I spent ten years fighting fueled by rage. I don’t have feelings like gratitude left in me.”
— Family and friends… Hearing that reminds me of those I once had. I think I understand you a little. For hundreds of years, no one recognized me, and my voice faded into emptiness.
“So you were moved, after all. Tell me—did you discover what lies beyond death?”
— Why ask me that?
“Because you’re the closest thing to death I’ve ever met.”
— Heh. I won’t tell you.
“My parents and friends are probably living peacefully in some heaven without pain… or maybe they’ve been reincarnated.”
— The secrets of death are forever a mystery.
“Cheh. Boring. I’m going to sleep. If I don’t take care of my body, I’ll die of illness before I ever learn the Emperor’s sword. Then the Dragon’s Eye will be lost for good.”
Ian’s voice grew softer and softer. Blanzor eventually drifted back into the dagger on the table.
“Blanzor, it’s nice to meet you.”
— And nice to meet you too, fake Ian.
Jallang Deporte (1)
Linda shook Ian awake, who was dozing off with a pen still in hand.
“My lord, my lord.”
“Mm?”
Ian, who had fallen asleep while studying the Cebania language, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
Glancing at Linda, he quickly scribbled the thirty-two characters he had just learned, repeating them across the page.
“How’s that? Pretty neat, right?”
“The point isn’t to show off how pretty your letters look—it’s to memorize them. Please focus, my lord.”
“I am focusing. Don’t be so strict.”
Embarrassed by Linda’s refusal to play along with his joke, Ian cleared his throat awkwardly.
But before long, the warm sunlight streaming through the window made his body grow heavy again, and he started to nod off.
He was exhausted: late-night warp practice, then meeting with the treasurer, then Blanzorre keeping him up until dawn. His body sagged, regardless of his willpower.
Linda reached out to wake him but withdrew her hand.
He looked so peaceful. It was rare to see him, who always wore such a dark expression, sleeping so comfortably.
Thanks to her consideration, Ian enjoyed a deep, refreshing sleep, stretching as he finally woke much later.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Learning letters is good, but your health comes first. If you’re tired, maybe we should stop here?”
“No, stay a little longer and watch me. I’m not sleepy anymore.”
Ian repeated the letters aloud as he wrote them over and over again.
Letters that had once felt strange and difficult were slowly becoming familiar.
“My lord.”
“Mm?”
Ian, busy memorizing, glanced at Linda in her white robe, seated across the table.
“What is it?”
“Why is your hand injured?”
“Ah, I was just fooling around.”
“Next time, call me immediately. Or at least call my father. That wasn’t a small cut.”
That very morning, as soon as she arrived, Linda had noticed the wound on the lord’s finger and treated it right away.
“If I wake you while you’re asleep, you get annoyed.”
“It’s fine. That’s literally why you hired my father, isn’t it?”
“Hmm… so you think you’re just someone we hired, do you?”
Ian asked casually, still writing.
“Everyone in the castle receives wages from you, my lord.”
“Well, that’s true enough.”
“My lord, what happened last night? You don’t look like you slept well.”
Ian’s gaze shifted to the side.
From the dagger, Blanzorre had emerged, grinning slyly at him. Linda, however, noticed nothing.
“Oh, just some things that came up.”
“Was it because of the treasurer?”
Ian’s expression flickered. Setting down his pen, he leaned back slowly into his chair.
“How do you know the treasurer came last night?”
“Well, I couldn’t sleep, so I was looking out the window. I saw his carriage heading toward the lord’s residence.”
“I see. No, it wasn’t because of him. I just had a lot on my mind, so I went to bed late.”
“I misunderstood, then. It’s just… often after meeting the treasurer, you seem troubled. That’s why I asked.”
Ian stared at her silently for a while, then pushed the pen and paper aside.
“That’s enough for today. Good work.”
“Not at all, my lord.”
Linda slung her long-strapped bag over her shoulder and stood.
“Why don’t you stay for lunch before you go? The cook here is really talented.”
At the lord’s invitation, Linda hesitated, her eyes showing a flicker of conflict.
“What’s wrong? Do you have somewhere else to be?”
“I was planning to visit the village outside the castle. There’s a patient I treated yesterday—I left him, and I want to check on him.”
She wanted to confirm for herself whether the young man, whose leg had begun to rot, was still alive.
“So, you’re out making money in the village without me, is that it?”
Ian joked, but Linda’s expression was dead serious.
“Not at all! I only give free help to those in difficult circumstances.”
The way she nearly jumped in protest made Ian smile warmly.
“Alright, alright. Sit down for a bit. I just want to ask you a few things before you go.”
“I’m sorry, my lord.”
Once she was seated again, Ian asked directly:
“Do the people of the domain like me?”
“Why would you ask me that…?”
Linda faltered, looking troubled.
“You told me before that you were the closest to me before I lost my memories. So tell me honestly. I need to see this domain clearly for what it is.”
He was different now. His tone, his eyes, even the way he addressed her.
Linda slowly unfastened the bag from her waist and placed it on the table.
“I’m afraid of how much this might hurt you. The truth can wound deeply.”
“There’s no wound left deeper than the ones I already carry.”
Ian gave a bitter smile.
Having lost his beloved family and fought desperately on Earth, pain had long since scabbed over for him. Touching it didn’t hurt anymore.
“The people of the domain don’t like you, my lord. In fact, they hate you. No—they despise you. Every year, you raise taxes drastically, collect money under all sorts of pretexts, and those who can’t pay—the poor villagers—are forced into hard labor.”
“Wait… I’m the one doing that?”
Ian’s face twisted in bewilderment as he recalled the treasurer’s words from the night before.
The treasurer had spoken as if he had never touched tax matters at all. But Linda’s account was completely different.
