Episode 41

‘her… … . This isn’t as easy as I thought.’

The sloppy hunchbacked old man was a stablekeeper at the Railton barracks.

An employee who has to clean up horse manure, lay new straw, and even take care of the general horse maintenance.

In addition, he was responsible for carrying the prisoner’s meal like porridge and cleaning the dungeon.

It was the perfect status to infiltrate the barracks.

However, no matter how much he searched, he could not find any survivors of Riverrun.

The soldiers also did not share any related stories.

‘It would be difficult if they came in from Felton or Everfield like this.’

The possibility that the information Abigail had given her was wrong came to mind.

But it couldn’t be.

Her trustworthiness was higher than that of anyone in the family.

By the second day, I hadn’t gotten any information, and I was just fooling around.

While he was steadfastly fulfilling his role as a stable keeper, he was suddenly called by a knight officer.

“Hey there.”

It seems that he was not a frequent visitor to the stable, so he did not use the term horse dung old, like the soldiers.

“Yes sir, sir.”

I bowed politely and waited for the knight officer’s order.

“The prisoner’s meal. Do you have any leftovers?”

“Of course. It should be enough to feed two people.”

“Bring it and see.”

“Yeah.”

Without further ado, I came with a bucket and ladle.

The knight officer, who was staring at the dog porridge from afar, wordlessly wiggled his fingers.

It meant follow me.

Well, you can’t move dirty things in a knight’s chest.

I called for joy in my heart and followed him with quick steps.

The destination was the headquarters of the knights inside the barracks.

Even the hunchbacked old man rarely went in and out of it.

‘It must mean that there is something important to the extent to which the employee is thoroughly managed.’

As I expected, the survivors of Riverrun will be at the Knights Headquarters.

There could be no safer place in Railton Castle.

Sure enough, the knight officer took me deep into the headquarters of the knights.

Then they shoved me into the dark basement.

“You’ve been starving for a few days, so make sure you have plenty of rations. Because you have to live until tomorrow.”

“Yes? What do you mean by that all of a sudden?”

I asked with a confused expression as if I didn’t know anything.

There was no way a mere barracks employee would know who was locked up in the basement of the Knights Headquarters.

Then the knight officer’s eyebrows twitched and an unpleasant voice burst out.

It seemed that he didn’t like the long conversation.

“The hunchback… is he talking back?”

“I’m sorry.”

As we moved forward cautiously with a glare, he went up the stairs blankly.

I only had a short conversation, but I was able to get more quality information than I thought.

At least today the buyer didn’t arrive.

‘Good thing. I still have room.’

Looking at the back of the knight officer, I smiled and looked around the basement.

It didn’t seem to be a place originally used as a prison, there were no iron bars.

A man was hanging from a temporary stake at the end of the wall.

It seems that he suffered a lot of trouble, his appearance was quite miserable.

‘I won’t be able to recognize who it is like this.’

Approaching him, I poured water into my mouth.

After receiving and eating a few times, the man’s blood-soaked eyes opened as if he had gained some energy.

A pale face with lifeless eyes, a shaggy beard and scars all over the body.

It was rough, but it was a familiar face.

‘Robic?’

Director Joo Hoon Rovik.

The House of Juhun (柱訓館) was a very important institution in the Riverrun family.

Because it played a role in educating practitioners and assigning them to the personnel group.

Robic Riverrun was a 3rd tier strongman, and he was a distant relative of me with the same last name.

When I was in Juhungwan, I was a new instructor in another class, so I hardly ever ran into him.

Even when I was growing up, maybe because of rumors, I didn’t interact much.

Regardless of his relationship with me, the person the Knights of Railton captured was a huge figure.

‘That’s why it sounds like you’re going to sell it. Have some of this for now. Even if it looks like this, it’s not dirty.’

I scooped up some dog porridge and carefully put it in my mouth.

Apparently starving, Rovik ate well.

Feeding too much all of a sudden can make you sick, so I cut off the supply at the right moment.

Then secretly raised mana and deployed healing magic.

It just stopped at the line of recovering only the wounds that were big enough to interfere with life.

When the knights saw it, it wouldn’t make sense if it looked too fine.

“At this level, it shouldn’t be too much to run away. I’ll come over tonight. Get some sleep beforehand.”

“Everyone, who are you…”

Robick murmured in a weak voice.

I couldn’t hear what he was saying behind his back, but I didn’t have to understand.

You just have to plant hope that you can survive.

Then I’ll survive the hardships somehow.

“Remember. It’s tonight.”

I threw the bucket and ladle in the bushes near the Knights headquarters and waited until the sun went down.

* * *

late night.

Around the time I heard the sound of a turtledove in the hills.

I woke up and looked around quietly.

It was the day before handing it over to the buyer, so I didn’t torture Robick.

As long as the sale was decided, there was no need to touch it.

‘Performance is certain. It’s so natural without being conscious of it.’

Baek Yeongdun, the secret technique of rising, completely deceived the eyes of the knights.

After feeding Rovik dog porridge, I did not leave the Knights Headquarters.

I just waited for time to pass, holding my breath in the corner of the basement.

The knight officer who had brought me visited again, but didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Without the bucket and ladle, he must have thought that the lever hunchback had returned to the barracks.

‘Still, there are many signs.’

During the day, there was a sense of a little untidy, but now the vigilance was very thorough.

He seemed to have done well in holding on to the basement.

If I had tried to infiltrate this time, things would probably have been a bit more complicated.

However, it was just when I was trying to approach Rovik.

tadak.

At the sound of weak footsteps that came out of nowhere, I immediately stopped and quickly cast Baek Yeongdun.

When I saw In-Young coming into the basement, I bit my lip.

I almost got caught as soon as I moved.

‘Why are you so cautious?’

However, his movements seemed very strange.

If it was a Knight of Railton, it would have been enough to go and check on Robic.

But, like a stray cat, he walked stealthily without even making a sound.

‘Your behavior is clumsy. I’m not a professional agent.’

In my eyes, who had been rolling and rolling in Landsvalger for a long time, his clumsiness was captured at once.

He seemed to have skills, but he was definitely not an assassin.

The intruder, who was inspecting the cellar with a lantern, suddenly stopped walking when he saw the robic embedded in the wall as if it were on display.

“Chief… How did you become like this?”

The intruder immediately cut off the restraints and carefully pulled the skinny robic down.

After that, isn’t it to deploy the extension recovery magic?

Tsutsutsutsutsu!

Green beams of light spurted out and healed the wound, but Rovik’s details did not improve.

In the first place, serious wounds had already been treated by me, and the root cause was different.

“It’s done. I’m fine.”

“Please put this on for now. It will be windy when you go out.”

“Why did you come here dangerously? If you do this, the brothers’ identities will all be revealed. You know more than I do…”

chuck. chuck.

The conversation was cut off in an instant.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Concentrating on the story, he didn’t seem to notice the movement of the Railton Knights.

The intruder hurriedly tried to get up, but time was running out.

Because the engineer who came to inspect it was already opening the cellar door.

rattle!

“Well?”

After confirming that the lantern was lit in the basement, the knight tilted his head with a bewildered expression.

But he didn’t seem too suspicious.

Maybe the previous worker forgot.

Perhaps the moment he stepped into the basement, his judgment would change.

The light of the lantern will be shining on Robic and the intruder who are freed.

Sure enough, the look in the eyes of the knight who entered through the door changed in an instant.

“Chi, invasion…”

Pooh!

But his screams didn’t follow.

It was because the blade protruding from the darkness cut his throat.

It was so fast that there was no time to use a hand, and it was a stealthy swordsman who did not even know it until it was completely cut off.

“Not a bad start. That way, no one will stop by the basement for a while.”

The one who blew off the knight’s head was me hiding in the corner of the basement.

When they were suddenly saved from danger, the two looked embarrassed.

Maybe it was because Rovik gave me words during the day, but I was at least on the better side.

On the other hand, the eyes of the masked intruder were shaking greatly.

I didn’t feel anything when I came in, but it was worth admiring because I came out of nowhere.

However, being surprised was being surprised, and he was in a state where he was full of life.

It seemed that he was determined to fight even if he had to.

“That’s stupid. Let’s roll everything from the beginning?”

“who are you?”

“Wow! If you saved me, shouldn’t I say thank you first?”

“…”

His tone was sarcastic, but in fact there was warmth in it.

Maybe it’s because we’re the same age, my partner and I grew up bickering.

Of course, when the heat stretched out and even sparred, the winner was always decided.

Who jumped at me with the determination to be beaten every time, why do you resent me?

Facing the middle-aged man’s challenging gaze, a fragment of a faded memory suddenly came to mind.

‘The three swords? It’s incongruously loud. Did you pay people to write a special edition?’

‘Don’t make fun of me. Still, it’s a better nickname than Sogaju.’

‘Five! Do you know what I’m called?’

‘Isn’t that handsome trash?’

‘There’s nothing this kid can’t say to his cousin like the sky. What if I say it straight up?’

‘The sky is a dog’s horn.’

I smiled and muttered quietly to the middle-aged man in front of me.

“It’s been a while. Fernand. Are you still writing that grand nickname?”

The ill-fitting mask of the opponent was slightly distorted.

His name popped up out of nowhere, and he seemed quite taken aback.

Fernand glared at me and growled.

“How do you know my name…?”

It would be useless to hide the already exposed appearance, so he openly asked the question.

Hey, my lovely cousin brother.

Surely you’re not trying to murder this older brother, are you?