chapter_0052

52 – Violent Enemy

52 – Violent Enemy

There were three main reasons why I attacked Klaus.

The first was that these guys did not belong to any faction, much like us.

It seemed they were in contact with the Northern Duke but had not officially joined, so they didn’t have to worry about the eyes around them.

The second was that he was incredibly weak.

When I played the World Archive game, I saw Klaus and remembered the name of the lord of that land, Royce Klaus.

I couldn’t help but remember.

He was one of the characters who gained popularity as a joke character in ‘Baekhasain (with a total stat below 100 among four characters)’ because his stats were so low.

Honestly, I had mobilized all my power to minimize damage, but I could have easily conquered Klaus with just the Dreyhart warriors.

The last reason was that I needed an example.

I had brought Hadem to ruin, but if people were asked who they feared more between me and Hadem, most would say they feared Hadem.

His strength, violence, and unpredictable savagery instilled fear in people.

On the contrary, I would seem easy to deal with.

Since I didn’t have any special Blessing and won through strategy, I would appear somewhat weak.

Because of that, there would be those who thought that if they just used their heads a little, they could defeat me like I defeated Hadem, and that ease would invite challenges and create meaningless conflicts.

This time was no different.

The Blackrose family from the West, who seemed to have grasped proper information about me, was very quiet.

Instead, those who didn’t know anything properly were doing crazy things like this food attack.

I had learned about such issues while working in a company in my previous life, but it had to be made clear from the start.

Cron was not kind but righteous, and he was not a pushover; he was a beast who could wipe out a shabby territory in a day if he got angry.

I had to make that known so that our enemies would fear us and not recklessly provoke us.

Therefore, I decided that for now, I would not be a beloved ally but a ‘violent enemy.’

In the office of Klaus’s mansion,

A different person was sitting in the main seat than usual.

Next to Calix, who was seated, Lord Royce and Berick were forcibly made to sit, while Lana and the knights of Cron stood around.

In that frozen atmosphere, Berick shouted boldly to seize the initial momentum.

“Lord Calix! How dare you invade with your army without a declaration of war! The Platinum Council will not stand idly by!!”

The Calix Berick knew was a person who adhered to the Platinum Council and the law.

He thought that meant he would understand the significance of his words.

And Calix responded to that statement very calmly.

“Berick, you speak some strange words.”

Calix looked at him with cold eyes.

And he casually threw out a remark.

“With no witnesses and no reporters, how could the Platinum Council know?”

“Wha! What do you mean!!”

The Platinum Council had great power, but it was not absolute.

They were like a chimera made up of numerous dinosaurs, and thus they needed a political center.

An incident in a remote small town where both the witness and the reporter had died would not catch their interest.

Understanding Calix’s intention that he would kill everyone in anger and bury this matter, Berick’s face turned pale.

Calix ignored Berick and looked at the trembling Lord Royce.

“Lord Royce, may I ask you one thing… why did you not fulfill the contract?”

Calix looked at him with a deadly intent.

Royce could not meet Calix’s gaze and was trembling.

“We clearly made a contract for grain. We even paid the price. So why? Why did you not fulfill the contract?”

“Th-that is…”

Royce was sweating profusely, seemingly in complete panic, unable to say anything.

Seeing this, Berick stepped forward.

“Lord Calix! We have explained everything about that. We are sorry that we could not deliver the grain due to our circumstances. However, we had no intention or thought of not delivering the grain to Dreyhart!!”

The advantage of a food attack was that it was morally justifiable until actual damage occurred.

Killing people with spears and bows was clear. But a food attack, until the results came out, did not cause such prior damage, making it difficult to hold anyone accountable.

Berick had also used this method targeting that aspect.

Calix looked at Berick with an expression of disbelief and said.

“Ah, so if you have no such thoughts or intentions, you can do anything…”

Calix stood up.

Then the knights of Cron moved and grabbed Berick, lifting him up.

“What! What are you doing!? Let go!”

“Be! Berick!!”

They took Berick to a pillar at the end of the room, about ten paces away from Calix, and tied him to the pillar.

And Calix walked to a place where he could see him well.

“Lana, the bow…”

“Yes, my lord.”

At Calix’s words, Lana politely handed him a bow and arrows.

Seeing that, Berick screamed in terror.

“Wh-what is this!!? Ugh! Ugh!!”

A knight of Cron stuffed an apple into Berick’s mouth.

And Calix pulled back the bowstring.

Creeeak—

“Don’t worry, Berick. I have no intention of hitting you.”

Calix drew the bow, aiming at Berick.

Trembling in fear at the bow pointing at him, Berick tried to scream.

“I’ll hit the apple in your mouth, so rest easy.”

“Ugh! Ugh! Uuuugh!!!”

Calix’s bow was aimed at Berick.

He couldn’t tell if Calix was really aiming at the apple in his mouth or his head.

One thing was certain: Calix’s gaze was such that it wouldn’t be strange to shoot and kill anyone.

Creeeak— Thwack!

“Uuuugh!!”

“Berick!”

Thud—

An arrow was released from Calix’s hand.

The arrow flew toward Berick, filled with Calix’s murderous intent, and precisely hit the apple he was holding, stopping there.

Berick let out a sigh of relief that the arrow had narrowly missed piercing his mouth and began to wet himself right there.

Calix, having handed the bow to Lana, returned to his seat.

“How was it? Lord Royce, did you feel my ‘intention’?”

“I-I’m sorry! Lord Calix!!! It was all Berick’s doing!!! I had no such thoughts at all! I’m sorry! Please spare my life! Please!!”

Royce was terrified.

The Calix Royce had known was a righteous and benevolent sage.

But what stood before him now was a psychopathic lord who enjoyed playing with Berick’s life.

He couldn’t tell which was the real face of Calix, but one thing was certain.

He had messed with the wrong person.

As he was engulfed in fear, Calix kindly spoke.

“Why are you so distressed, Lord Royce?”

Suddenly, in a kind and gentle voice, Calix spoke.

That change sent chills down Royce’s spine.

“We have no intention of harming you, Lord Royce. We merely came here to collect the penalty for breaching the contract regarding our goods.”

As he spoke, Calix received an apple from Lana.

Then he took out a knife and began to peel the apple.

“But… I don’t know. If I feel any more of these wrong intentions or thoughts next time, I wonder how I will act.”

Royce was bewildered by Calix’s action of peeling the apple with a knife.

Suddenly peeling an apple?

Feeling his gaze, Calix spoke to Royce.

“Oh! This knife is my favorite knife. I use it to eat apples every morning.”

“Th-that can’t be…”

At Calix’s words, Royce recalled a memory.

He had heard that Calix had once killed three assassins with that very knife.

He had thought it was a rumor, but seeing his archery skills, it seemed Calix’s martial arts were anything but ordinary.

The fact that he had pulled out such a knife right in front of him made Royce even more anxious.

“It would be good for you, Lord Royce, to develop a habit of eating apples in the morning. Who knows? It might help in sudden fights with assassins…”

“A… assassins!”

At Calix’s words, Royce remembered hearing about the recent surge in assassination incidents among the Blood Clan.

Could it be that Calix was behind those assassination incidents!?

No way! No matter what, he wouldn’t do something crazy like teaming up with the Blood Clan…

But perhaps he could disguise it as the work of the Blood Clan and take out a lord or two he didn’t like…

With a growing sense of fear towards Calix, Royce imagined numerous worst-case scenarios.

All those imaginations greatly amplified his fear of Calix, and that fear led to even greater nightmares.

In that moment, Royce’s heart completely crumbled under the terror of Calix.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

The protagonist is acting.

If something seems off, it’s just your feeling.