79. contact (2)

On that day, the streets of the royal capital became cool.

The crowded streets sounded more like an anxious chatter than a lively one. People’s feet brushed past on the mossy roads of the royal capital drenched by the autumn rain. Amidst the sound of footsteps, of horses’ hooves, of carriage wheels rolling, there was a sound of unusual weight.

“… .”

The sound stopped at the entrance to the back alley of the royal capital. It was lined with winding alleys like a labyrinth. The time was still pointing to late afternoon, but the alleys covered in shadows cast by dense buildings were already as dark as midnight.

Golden eyes gleamed under the hood of the man dressed in black. Instead of sucking in people, the dark alley exhaled a cool and disturbing wind. Hood’s man, Maxim, recalled a letter he had received a while ago.

—

When Maxim entered the guild, he had no choice but to laugh. The gazes of the adventurers, let alone the staff who dealt with the adventurers at the reception, were curiously looking at them. There were fear, fearful eyes, and envy-like eyes.

Passing by them, Maxim approached the reception desk. The receptionist looked at him as if he were searching for himself. Maxim deliberately pretended not to notice that gaze.

“hello.”

I ignored the awkward greeting. Before Maxim could say anything, an employee quickly interrupted him.

“This way.”

Maxim walked along with an employee who suddenly looked at him and told him to follow him. As he climbed the stairs following the staff, he felt another gaze follow him and pierce him. This time, there must be jealousy in her eyes.

“… The branch manager wants to talk.”

As if trying to make an excuse, the staff spoke quickly. Maxim just tilted his head slightly, as if someone had asked him. Seeing the unresponsive adventurer, the staff gave a short sigh as if not expecting it.

“Here, you can enter the room.”

The employee said so calmly and quickly went down the stairs again. Maxim had a small resentment towards Naira, who had raised her popularity so far.

Maxim knocked on the door. There was a sense of presence in the room.

“Come in.”

Maxim went into the room questioning the branch manager who was subtly using his courtesy. As soon as I opened the room, the first thing I saw was a well-built man sitting at a desk scribbling something hard. When the door opened, the branch manager stopped his busy hands and faced Maxim.

“I was waiting.”

Originally, Maxim, questioning whether he was such a respectful person, simply nodded and sat down as directed by the branch manager. The branch manager sat Maxim down, rummaged through the desk drawer, and took out a paper bag.

“There was a nomination request from an adventurer.”

As Naira said, he must have been watching Maxim closely.

“Actually, you can reject a request without accepting it, but the person who brought the request to me seems to have confidence that you will accept it.”

The branch manager held out an envelope in front of Maxim.

“The client asked me to deliver this.”

Maxim accepted the envelope. Inside the envelope, from which no character could be read, there was only one well-folded, stiff piece of paper waiting to be opened. Maxim opened the envelope without hesitation. As Maxim casually opened the envelope, the branch manager’s face hardened.

To Maxim Appart.

The letter started here. Naira’s pretending to be herself as an adventurer must have definitely worked.

In fact, there is no certainty that you are Maxime Appart. However, since all feelings point to you as Maxime Appart, we have decided to trust our judgment.

The palace fell easily enough to be called futile.

The story of the fall of the palace convinced Maxim that the person who wrote this letter was no ordinary nobleman.

Under the leadership of Leon Benning, the 2 princes and the magic tower responded and surrounded the palace, which had been empty during the Behemoth subjugation, and no matter how hard the royal guards guarded the war, there was nothing they could do except protect the king and his majesty’s relatives. Yes.

But even with the Royal Guard Knights, they couldn’t cross the last line yet, and His Majesty the King was able to find a way to respond. What we chose to do is to gather even a small amount of strength little by little.

I know that Leon Benning is relentlessly pursuing you. In order to summon you somehow, the Benning family secretly tried to destroy the Baron Apart, but with the help of an unknown figure, the Count Argon and the Margrave joined forces to desperately stop it. Your family is all fine. Including your fiancee. They’re currently in the East, where Benning’s reach isn’t strong enough.

Maxim let out a deep sigh of relief. That unidentified person must be the age who received his request. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe the teacher’s words, but having this confirmation made me feel even more relieved. On the other hand, I knew that they were also holding their own families hostage.

Please don’t criticize them. With the two families struggling just to recover from the current war, we don’t know when Leon Benning will stretch out his hand. The Marquis always feels sorry for you.

If you still have the will to fight them, please come to me when you feel like it.

At the bottom of the letter was the seal of the Royal Guard Knights. Next to it, a very brief map of the back alleys of the royal capital and the name of the pub located deep inside were specified. Maxim carefully carved the map into his head.

Then he crumpled up the letter and threw it into the fireplace in the branch manager’s office. The branch manager was able to change his face with a relieved expression only after seeing the letter consumed by the flames burning.

“Would you like to receive a request… It would be useless to ask.”

“You will receive it.”

“Yes?”

Maxim was the first to speak. The head of the branch answered with a stupid voice to the voice he had heard for the first time and looked at Maxim. Maxim, as if he would not answer twice, turned his gaze to the branch manager. The branch manager felt invisible eyes looking at him.

“… All right.”

Maxim slowly rose from his seat. The branch manager’s gaze followed Maxim, wondering if he could see his face through the cloak, but all he could see was his mouth through the shadows.

“If you need anything, feel free to ask for help.”

“… If that’s the adventurer’s guild’s point of view.”

When Maxim asked if he would definitely turn against the Benning family, the branch manager replied with a wink.

Yes.

Upon receiving that answer, Maxim nodded calmly and left the room.

—

“A lily.”

Using the symbol of the royal family as the name of the bar, he thought that there were all the bars that were bolder than he thought. The back alleys of the royal family were deep and ominous. The scoundrels shouting and swearing, and the sound of something colliding and breaking was constantly heard.

Of course, since there was no such thing as a scoundrel who had the guts to touch a tall man walking slowly with a long sword at his waist, Maxim was able to move on relatively easily.

“Hey, what is that bastard?”

“Are you an adventurer?”

“Didn’t the military police send something?”

Instead, they slowly avoided Maxim and whispered among themselves their speculations about Maxim’s identity. Even that was quickly dissipated when Maxim turned his head toward the epicenter of the murmur of words.

“I see you here, sir.”

“Don’t make eye contact, you know no one cares if you f*ck up here, right?”

“Look at that bastard walking, it’s not the steps of someone who has been here once or twice.”

I was just memorizing the directions accurately, but the people in the back alleys were arbitrarily inferring Maxim’s history.

Downhill at an intersection with a clothesline hanging in the air.

Maxim turned and started walking downhill. As Maxim started to descend after choosing the downhill path, his gaze caught up with him. Following Maxim’s footsteps, eyes all over the alley stare at Maxim. surveillance gaze. Maxim didn’t like that look very much.

As Maxim straightened his momentum, the gaze he felt began to disappear one by one.

The pommel on the hilt was cool. Maxim’s palm carefully wrapped around the hilt. Maxim’s footsteps stopped just a few steps before reaching the ‘lily’.

The swordsmen appeared at the entrance of the alley. Two appeared in the direction of Maxim’s advance, and one stood in the way of Maxim’s retreat.

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No words were needed between them. The sharp momentum emitted by the swords that the swordsmen drew from their scabbards spoke for themselves.

A sword attack came from behind Maxim’s back. It was almost the same when Maxim ducked to avoid the sword attack and faced the two sword attacks from the front.

Kang!

The longsword he pulled out at some point blocked the two slashes from the front with a single swing, scattering red flames.

At that moment, the swordsmen who stood in the way changed their movements to passive ones. It was a strategy to prevent Maxim from penetrating forward and to make it easier for the swordsman to move backwards. Maxim turned his stance obliquely to check both the front and rear.

The sword is thrust upward. can’t turn your back If you dodge to the side, you will be driven, and if you pierce forward, the defense is solid. Maxim threw himself backwards.

“Ouch!”

Air was pulled out of the swordsman’s lungs, which had been struck by Maxim’s unexpected rush. The swordsman hesitated and stepped back, and the two previous swordsmen filled the gap.

“It’s here!”

A short cry to get attention. Maxim decided to keep pace with their intentions for a while. He raised the sword of the swordsman facing his leg and with a belated beat closed the gap between the swords that came in and received them. Blade and blade engaged, making a terrible noise.

“Even if it’s a power struggle… !”

The swordsman facing Maxim twisted his lips. It was blowing power as if it would not lose, but there was a limit to supporting the blade from the lowland with the weight intact from the highland.

“Ugh!”

Unable to overcome Maxim’s sword, the prosecutor bit the sword. Then, the swordsman in the back, who had picked himself up, came back with his sword, and the other swordsman in front responded. A sword-to-sword fight began in earnest. In the blink of an eye, four gongs rang out. The prosecutors were increasingly finding it difficult to control Maxim’s sword.

“Chit.”

One prosecutor clicked his tongue. The alley was too narrow for the four skilled swordsmen to freely swing their swords. That was good news for Maxim, but it was a big constraint for the three swordsmen who worked together. When the balance of the fight collapses and it becomes a melee, the attack of many attacks becomes a perfect situation for Maxim to use.

“Movement.”

A short word changed the swordsman’s swordsmanship.

The lowland swordsman constantly aimed for Maxim’s legs. When Maxim’s movement is so restricted, the swordsman from the high ground attacks Maxim.

However, Maxim did not feel a sense of crisis at all.

The point where the tip of the sword was headed was not a vital point. The place where the blade tried to cut was not fatal. Maxim tried to feel a little bad at the swordsman’s sword attack, which seemed to be openly overlooking it. If the opponent doesn’t want to reveal their power, it’s okay to let them reveal it.

bang!

Maxim raised his life. Now, the mana running through his body without any foreign body sensation or pain brought a bright light to Maxim’s gold. The swordsmen who stood in the way were frightened and backed away. The wind blowing in the stream took off Maxim’s hood, revealing his face.

Maxim’s golden gaze captured the swordsmen.

gulp.

Even the sound of swallowing dry saliva could not be hidden, and the surrounding atmosphere was engulfed in a thick, life-threatening silence.

“It’s good to test.”

Maxim fixed his sword.

“I’m going to be pretty disappointed if it continues to come out so lukewarm.”

Maxim’s voice was cold. The blade that he fixed in his hand was as ferocious as Maxim’s spirit. The swordsmen exchanged glances among themselves. Then, as if it couldn’t be helped, a prosecutor stepped forward, clearing his throat.

“… I’m sorry.”

The prosecutor was the first to apologize. With his hood off, he was a young man, about five years older than Maxim.

“I apologize for underestimating you and needlessly testing you. The royal family and the royal guards are so cautious even in situations like this.”

The prosecutor trembled generously. Maxim still did not reap his life.

“Well, it seems that you are too cautious.”

“It has no choice but to be.”

Maxim answered me in a sharp voice. The prosecutor nodded as if he understood that there was nothing he could do.

“The test… It’s already over. In the first place, we couldn’t handle it if we didn’t draw out our auras and fight.”

Then he removed the cloak that covered his chest, revealing to Maxim the pattern of the royal family. The lily was shining bright white.

“Raphael Jung of the 1st Guards. Nice to meet you, Maxime Appart.”

Maxim breathed a sigh of relief. The scenery around the alley that became a mess came into my eyes.

“I am Maxim, the eldest son of an apartheid baron. I don’t know if it’s still there.”

“Didn’t I tell you in the letter that you don’t have to worry about that? Then, let’s go inside for a while first.”

Somehow, Raphael Jung seemed to be in a hurry. Maxim followed him down the stairs to the basement and into the bar. Maxim was followed by the other two prosecutors. His skills are quite good, so even if he was 5 years younger, he would say the same thing.

“I hope you don’t tease me too much.”

“If you do, why don’t you tell me what will happen?”

The bar wasn’t as cramped as it looked from the outside. No, it looked more like a small military headquarters than a bar.

“Here you are.”

and a voice heard.

Maxim was able to realize the owner of the voice before long. And before he could identify the owner of the voice, the knights walking in front and behind him knelt down and bowed their heads. Maxim followed them and quickly lowered his head, but stopped when he heard the voice again.

“Stand up and raise your head. I don’t want to follow the rules even in this situation.”

Maxim put aside all the doubts in his mind and raised his head to face the owner of the voice.

The King, Georges Loire II, was sitting in a chair watching them.