The knights’ eyes lit up.

While the Side Guards were maintaining their formation, a Royal Guard alone was approaching the enemy line.

‘Is he out of his mind?’

The knights who saw Desir could not help but feel that way.

If long-range was the domain of a magician, then close-range was the domain of a knight. Avoiding close-range battle with knights was the fundamental strategy for magicians. However, Desir ignored the fundamentals of battle and slowly walked between the knights.

‘If we suppress this Royal Guard, then we’ll be able to turn the tables!’

It would not be an understatement to say that the entire continent was already aware of how powerful Desir was. It wasn’t that the knights didn’t know this.

However, they judged that even if he was an outstanding magician, they would stand a chance of success in close range battle.

The captain of the order quickly screamed out a new command to his subordinates. “Aim for him first!”

Dozens of knights swarmed after Desir at the same time. At that moment, a spell technique unfolded in front of Desir.

[Bind]

Knowing what spell Desir had arranged, the knights sneered at him.

Bind was a First-Circle spell. A spell which belonged to the most basic amongst all restraining spells. The knights judged that he wouldn’t be able to block them with just that.

However, it didn’t take long for that laughter to morph into groans. “Keukk!”

All of the swords swinging towards Desir stopped. “Wh-What’s happening… ?!”

The knights began to speak in a flustered tone. That was because their bodies were all frozen at the same time.

The sight of all of the knights frozen in place, many with their swords outstretched towards Desir while others were stuck in various other poses, made it seem as time itself had stopped. “Is-Is this really a First-Circle spell?”

The knights’ faces were painted with confusion.

The spell that Desir invoked showed a completely different kind of power from what they expected. The cause? It was a spell Desir had modified.

Desir spoke in a profound tone.

“You better not move. Your life may be in danger if you struggle against it.” “D-Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Remove this spell right now!”

Despite Desir’s warning, the knights continued to struggle. They wailed, as the bodies they took so much pride in cultivating were suppressed by a mere First-Circle spell.

However, it was impossible for them to break free from Desir’s spell. The number of people that broke their arms and legs while struggling only increased.

Desir commanded the Side Guards.

“Side Guards, bind the knights of the Nordin Territory.”

The Side Guards, who stared vacantly at Desir’s divine dignity, were startled into action. Desir’s magic was incredible to the point that even the Side Guards, who had experienced overwhelming military power numerous times while supporting the other Royal Guards, were left dumbfounded.

Desir walked through the frozen knights towards Karos. “Keeuuuk… !”

Karos was barely enduring Desir’s spell by stabbing his sword into the ground to help steady himself. When Desir approached near to him, he used all of his aura and freed himself from the restraint.

Karos’s sword speared towards Desir. *Clang*

However, Karos’s final effort proved to be fruitless. Runel fitted out and simply flicked away his sword.

After losing his sword, his body collapsed onto the floor. “Everything is over, Count Nordin.”

Desir accumulated more mana than before, pouring it into the spell restraining him. With such powerful mana, mana that was beyond comparison to what restrained him before, Karos found that he was completely unable to move.

The Side Guards, who had finished binding the knights, approached and surrounded Karos. *Grinddd*

The sound of grinding teeth echoed throughout the room. “Are you a Royal Guard?”

Karos glared at Desir, shouting resentfully.

“I couldn’t believe a swordsman, who should be protecting the Emperor, is serving a fake Emperor! Or do you just follow whoever gives you power!”

A fake Emperor.

He was referring to himself as the current Emperor and relegating Guiltian Zedgar F. Rogfelas to the position of fake Emperor.

Desir felt more doubtful rather than angry since he wasn’t particularly loyal to the Emperor. However, the Side Guards didn’t feel the same.

They were furious and were ready to cut off Karos’s head.

Desir quickly restrained the Side Guards. He couldn’t allow them to do as they wished as there was still valuable information they had to retrieve from Karos.

“Please refrain from making further statements… if you don’t want to be executed before standing trial.”

Nevertheless, despite being threatened, Karos did not stop talking. “The Rogfelas… They are not the true imperial family of Hebrion.” The true imperial family of Hebrion.

Desir understood what he meant by that. He also understood why Karos attempted to rebel. Karos continued talking with his voice clouded with resentment.

“I was only loyal to the imperial family of Hebrion. Rogfelas is the traitor who took advantage of the revolution to seize the imperial throne! If you truly care for Hebrion, you should raise your sword against Rogfelas!”

The imperial family of Hebrion, who established the Hebrion Empire, were exterminated twelve years ago in a violent revolution.

Only the side families remained.

One of them, the Rogfelas, were able to take possession of the throne by personally leading the soldiers and suppressing the rebellion.

Karos was raising an objection to the legitimacy of the current imperial family of Hebrion, who managed to obtain the throne in such a way.

Desir understood why he felt that way, but he had no intention of sympathizing with him. “Take him away.”

* * *

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“Excellent, Sir Desir.”

The office of the Royal Guards.

After transferring Karos Nordin to the capital of the Empire, Desir was currently holding a pleasant conversation with Alfred over tea.

“I was only doing my duty.”

“It’s not easy to do your duty in a world like this. If it weren’t for you, this Empire would have suffered under another war.”

Desir smiled bitterly at Alfred’s praise and tried to steer the conversation to a more important topic.

“Did you retrieve any information from Count Nordin?”

“I’ve come to know that there are more noble families cooperating with him than we thought.” Although Alfred said cooperating, the situation was much more serious than that. It meant that there were more people who disapproved of the imperial family’s legitimacy than they were aware of.

“Based on the information we’ve gathered so far, the level of the military force that they’ve secretly gathered over a long period of time had reached the level of a small country. If we include the chimeras, it would’ve been extremely troublesome.”

“… … !”

Desir, who never even entertained the possibility of an internal rebellion in the Empire, since this political turmoil hadn’t occurred in his past life, could not help but be disconcerted. Guiltian, the current Emperor of the Hebrion Empire, tried to win Desir over to his side in order to oppress the aristocrats’ influence. For him to do such a thing indicated that he must have been expecting this kind of situation.

“His Majesty ordered the other Royal Guards to suppress them. And they’ve succeeded in detaining all of the families who collaborated in the rebellion.”

Desir realized that the balance between the Emperor and the aristocrats’ influence had been ruined.

‘Then the aristocrats will no longer think of standing against the Emperor.’

The story goes that among the noble families who had been exterminated, there were many families that wielded considerable power.

‘He didn’t have to use the Royal Guards here… ’

Even if they had gathered a good amount of military strength, it would still be incomparable to the Emperor who controlled the strongest military force on the continent.

However, the reason for intentionally using the Royal Guards was evident.

It was to display the difference in their power.

The Royal Guards, a military group under direct control of the Emperor, were able to completely neutralize the noble families who had the military might of a small country within a mere few days.

Even Desir couldn’t take a guess at just what kind of political implications this incident would bring. But one thing was for certain; the Empire would no longer be stirred up internally.

‘That’s enough.’

“Is there no other information extracted from Count Nordin?”

“That’s correct. I was not able to find out any information regarding your request. I must apologize, Sir Desir.”

“It is what it is. No need for apologies.”

Desir had requested the Side Guard to obtain all information regarding the Outsiders out of Karos.

‘Well, no results. Just as I expected.’

Karos’s loyalty towards the imperial family of Hebrion left no room for doubt.

The fact that the revolutionary army was part of the Outsiders was a widely known fact. There was no way that Karos, who was loyal to the imperial family of Hebrion, would cooperate with the Outsiders.

Without a doubt, Skull Mask would have hidden his identity when approaching him. ‘Either way, Divide is clearly connected to the Outsiders.’

Then we need to figure out what kind of relationship the Outsiders have with Divide. “Please contact me if additional information is acquired.”

“Understood, Sir Desir. Please let me know if you need anything else.” Desir stood up and left the room.

The conversation was over, but Desir’s thoughts did not end.

‘The Outsiders are now the biggest obstacle in clearing the Shadow Labyrinth.’

The continent had started to achieve unity and the number of talented people continued to grow. Desir had also managed to obtain a level of authority that could handle almost any kind of situation. With these goals achieved, he had judged that if things continued as they were currently, they would be able to clear the Shadow Labyrinth with minimal loss.

However, after this incident, Desir decided that he must eliminate the Outsiders before the Shadow Labyrinth arrived.

‘Aaron was a figure who would have played a huge role in clearing the Shadow Labyrinth.’ Losing such military strength, a King Class swordsman no less, was such an incredibly heavy blow to Desir’s efforts. It was now a top priority to eliminate the Outsiders in order to prevent this kind of incident from reoccuring.

However, that was not the only reason why Desir felt a deep-rooted hatred for the Outsiders. Though it happened in his past life, Aaron was one of his few good friends.

Desir quietly mumbled to himself. “… at all cost.”

Eliminate them at all cost.