The Indomitable Martial King

[ Chapter 38 ]

Lantas von Kalpanard.

Originally, he was a renowned knight of the Teikan Kingdom, which is adjacent to the Vasily Kingdom.

Growing up as a descendant of a noble family and walking the path of a knight, he demonstrated an astonishing feat of awakening his Aura in his late thirties, thanks to his natural talent, excellent teaching, and personal efforts. The entire Teikan Kingdom celebrated the birth of a new Aura wielder.

However, Lantas had a vile hobby he could not disclose to others. He was a pedophile who felt sexual desire only towards children who had not yet matured.

When he was young, he dedicated himself to martial arts and, wary of others’ eyes, kept his true nature hidden. But after becoming an Aura wielder and being in a position incomparable to others, his true nature gradually began to reveal itself. Initially, Lantas vented his sexual desires by purchasing young elves. Over time, his depravity escalated, starting with the kidnapping and murder of children from the capital, and later, even reaching out to the young daughters of nobles.

As the saying goes, a long tail gets stepped on, and a righteous knight, suspecting something was amiss, eventually exposed his vile crimes to the world. The capital’s knight order stormed Lantas’s mansion and ground their teeth at the horrors they found in the basement. There lay a mountain of children’s bodies, violated at a young age.

The pride of the Teikan Kingdom became its most hideous shame. Naturally, the entire kingdom rose to capture him. However, as an Aura wielder, he was not easily caught. After slaughtering hundreds, he eventually fled the Teikan Kingdom.

His notoriety spread beyond the Teikan Kingdom to the Vasily Kingdom. Sillan, too, was warned as a child not to wander at night carelessly, lest Lantas take him away.

Sillan shouted in anger.

“This filthy monster! Was he hiding in the Principality of Chatan!”

Lantas glanced at Sillan and smiled slyly.

“Oh? You know of me?”

“To think an Aura wielder would involve himself in such filthy acts, you really are as dirty as the rumors say!”

Despite the contempt-filled outcry, Lantas was unbothered. If he were someone so sensitive, he would not have committed the sin of murdering children.

Lantas shrugged.

“Well, I’m in a position where I have to earn a salary, after all.”

Having fled the Teikan Kingdom, he was chased and ended up in the Principality of Chatan. No country on the continent wanted to harbor such a vile rapist. However, the Rolpein Trading Company was different. Seeing the value of an Aura wielder purely in monetary terms, the Rolpein Trading Company generously overlooked a minor(?) infamy like his.

And here, Lantas was able to enjoy a blissful sexual life by brutally exploiting young slaves. As a wielder of Aura, his salary was substantial, and given that Zeppelin was the heartland of the slave industry, he could purchase slaves at cost, which afforded him considerable economic leeway.

Whenever he desired a change, it was easy to kill transient peddlers and kidnap their children. Unlike in the Teikan Kingdom, the disappearance of a person or two went unnoticed in this place teeming with transient populations. It was paradise.

Of course, Lantas’ existence was a significant boon for the Rolpein Trading Company as well. Engaged in all manners of unsavory activities behind the scenes, the company often found itself in situations requiring the use of force. And an Aura wielder represented the pinnacle of that force. Lantas’ contributions were significant in the company becoming the second-largest trading company in the Chatan Principality within ten years. The top trading company, the Chatan Trading Company, was directly managed by the royal family of the country, making it virtually unrivaled.

The mutual benefits ensured that Lantas was well-treated. Although the Teikan Kingdom sent pursuers after him, the Rolpein Trading Company’s protection meant he had no worries about being attacked in his sleep. Thus, Lantas had become bold enough to discard his alias and use his real name.

“The Goddess will not forgive you!”

Sillan cried out in anger, clasping his hands together. He aimed to pour all his holy power into Siris, enhancing her strength. As a priest, he had almost no direct combat capabilities. However, he was confident in his healing and amplifying powers.

‘If I pour all the holy power I have, I can give Siris the strength to fight against an Aura wielder for a short time!’

The downside was that both would be in agony for days afterward, but it was still better than being captured. Just as Sillan was about to invoke the name of the Goddess.

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“Philanence…”

“Oops! Can’t let you do that!”

Lantas reacted swiftly, slicing through the air with his sword. Already on edge due to Sillan’s holy power, he was prepared. A spray of red Aura scattered, sending darts of crimson light that embedded themselves in Siris and Sillan’s limbs.

“Argh!”

“Ahh!”

Both fell, bleeding from their limbs. Lantas had severed the tendons in their arms and legs with blades of Aura. As someone who preyed on children, his precision was terrifyingly sharp.

“Let’s see what happens when you let a high priest speak out of turn.”

Lantas spun his sword, smirking mockingly. Romad fretted beside him.

“Oh, Lord Lantas! What if you cause injuries! Lord Teriq will be furious!”

“Quiet, just bring a cleric to heal them. Why are you so inflexible?”

Lantas clicked his tongue and gestured.

“Go tie them up.”

The group led by Romad started approaching with a rope in hand. Siris tried to overcome her pain and stand up, but she could only twitch. Her willpower was indeed astonishing, but fundamentally, since the tendons were cut, this wasn’t a problem that could be solved with grit alone.

Seeing this, Sillan felt sorry for her.

“S-Siris! What should we do, uh…”

His mouth was fine, so he could pray, but that would immediately bring another swing of the blade. However, he couldn’t let Siris be taken away like this.

‘What to do, what to do, what to do?’

Although they were both down, Sillan was only worried about Siris’s well-being. Well, since those guys were after Siris and Sillan was just to be abandoned, it was natural he wasn’t worried about himself.

But then, the situation started to take a weird turn. Lantas, who had been looking indifferently at the fallen Sillan, suddenly licked his lips.

“Come to think of it, you’re quite a pretty one.”

It was dark, so he hadn’t noticed before, but now that he saw her, she was extremely beautiful. She was a bit older than his taste, but still looked young and was very beautiful. Lantas shouted to Romad.

“Romad, let’s take this one too.”

And then, he rubbed his chin, muttering with a sinister face.

“If only you were a bit younger, it would be perfect, but well, this one has its own flavor…”

Hearing the ominous muttering of Lantas, Sillan’s complexion turned pale.

‘Flavor? What flavor?’

He knew very well what kind of man Lantas was. This was no time to worry about Siris!

“W-Wait a minute! I’m a man!”

Sillan’s desperate appeal briefly disappointed Lantas.

“Is that so?”

But he quickly regained his composure.

“Hmm, but that has its own unique appeal…”

Sillan was horrified by Lantas’s unexpected reaction. Now that he thought about it, he had heard Lantas didn’t care about age, but he hadn’t heard anything about him caring about gender.

A man over fifty was looking at him, sending a wrinkled smile.

“Huhuhu, I’ll cherish you.”

Sillan turned pale at the sight of Lantas, a knight, even considering raping a man, which was utterly abhorrent.

“Eek!”

Romad’s group made a disdainful expression that said, ‘Here he goes again.’ Anxiety caused Sillan’s golden eyes to shake wildly. No, Goddess. I prayed to meet Mr. Repenhardt, so why did you let me meet such a pervert? Did I pray incorrectly? But you usually respond promptly even when I roughly chant my prayers.

‘Gasp! Could it be that Philanence has chosen this perverted old man as my destined partner? Is that it, possibly?’

Sillan was so engulfed in panic that for a moment, even absurd thoughts crossed his mind.

Two men approached, each holding a rope in their hand. With her tendons cut, no matter how fearsome a Slayer she might be, there was no way she could resist. Confident of this, they were about to reach out to her.

Then, a flash of sword light sliced through one man’s arm.

“Argh!”

The men retreated in shock, startled, thinking that Siris had risen. But it wasn’t Siris who had gotten up.

It was Sillan.

“Don’t make me laugh…”

The frail boy was glaring at the men with terrifying eyes, holding a silver dagger in one hand. Blood dripped down the mithril blade. Lantas’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“What?”

Even he, who had experienced all manner of battles, had never encountered such a situation. How could Sillan have risen in just a few minutes? Without a prayer, it was impossible to use healing magic.

“What’s that? Some kind of zombie?”

It was so astonishing that it even brought ludicrous thoughts to mind. If so, this would be the most vibrant, beautiful, and fragile zombie in the world.

“… You’ll never lay a hand on my body!”

Holding the dagger, Sillan’s eyes blazed. His golden eyes, filled with bloodshot rage, had turned red. The fierce look made the men involuntarily step back.

That’s when it happened.

Vrooom!

A whirlwind blew. At the same time, something sliced through the wind, flying in. The figures of the two men standing in front of Sillan vanished in an instant. Then, an explosion sounded to the side.

Boom!

It was a rare sight, as if the people blocking his view had teleported away. Sillan blankly turned his head to the side.

“Huh?”

On the building surrounding the clearing, a large wooden plank was embedded in the outer wall. It seemed to have been a house door, given the doorknob and metal-trimmed edges. And between the door and the wall, something crimson was squished.

For a moment, Sillan felt nauseated.

“Ugh!”

It was a mass of blood and flesh! The current state of the men who had been alive just moments ago!

Romad and his group were all frozen stiff. It was a horrifying method of killing they had never seen before. Romad turned towards the direction from which the door had flown.

A young man with dark brown hair and a robust physique was standing with his right hand stretched forward, staring at the clearing with a chilling murderous intent, as if it emanated from hell itself. The young man spoke.

“Found you, you bastards…”

Interrupting his retching, Sillan shouted with a look of relief.

“Repenhardt!”

‘What is it with that guy…’

Lantas looked utterly bewildered as he gazed at Repenhardt. On the surface, Repenhardt seemed just a big young man, but as an aura wielder, Lantas could distinctly feel the mountainous momentum swirling around his entire body.

‘What’s with this tremendous energy?’

Repenhardt approached with a murderous look, striding forward confidently. No one dared block his path. Reaching Siris and Sillan, his eyes sparked with flames as he looked down at the fallen Siris. Trying to suppress his excitement, he expressed his gratitude to Sillan.

“Thank you for protecting Siris.”

Suddenly, Sillan’s face turned red. In reality, it was Siris who had protected Sillan, but Repenhardt, having seen only the end, could easily be mistaken. Moreover, his last-minute intervention was due to sensing a serious crisis, not specifically out of concern for Siris.

“Ah, yes. Well…”

Stammering, Sillan then approached the fallen Siris and performed a healing spell.

“O Philanence, raise your lamb once more and take away her wounds.”

Throughout this time, Repenhardt glared sternly at the Romad party.

Returning to the inn, Repenhardt had no clue about the situation. The empty room, the missing belongings of Sillan and Siris, and the open window made him naively think, ‘Perhaps the kids just got bored and went out to play.’

He only realized something was wrong due to the innkeeper’s behavior. Sensing something off with the innkeeper’s reluctant demeanor, he pressed the man for answers. Faced with Repenhardt’s fist that could crush the inn’s pillars, the innkeeper confessed everything.

A group had come, bribed him, emptied the inn, and then targeted Siris and Sillan during the opportunity. Repenhardt immediately rushed out of the inn.

With anger, he scoured the streets for Siris. He was dismayed by his own foolishness. He wasn’t some inexperienced youth in his twenties. Yet, knowing there were threats, he had left her side? He couldn’t believe it. How had he failed to grasp the situation?

Filled with regret, he combed through the streets of Zeppelin. Suddenly, in an alley deep within the streets, he felt a powerful aura. Hoping it might be Siris, he ran towards it and found her collapsed, with two men approaching Sillan. In his haste, he grabbed anything he could and threw it. Only after throwing did he realize it was someone’s house door.

“How dare you target Siris…”