After sending Byron back, I was holding Leviathan in my room.(TN: I swear it sounds weird)
Leviathan, a demon katana and also my loyal dog.
I wasn't worried about betrayal or anything like that because of its fierce 'personality', but I did want to figure out what it could do for me.
So I was asking Leviathan and asked what other things it could do and to try those things on a smaller scale.
Just then, there was a knock on the door of the room.
"Enter"
I gave my permission and Zoe, the maid, came in.
I was touching Leviathan while waiting to see what she wanted, but Zoe didn't say anything for any length of time.
So I looked at her again, wondering.
"What's wrong, you don't look well?"
Zoe looked like a dead person with a bloody look on her face.
She freaked out when I asked, then slumped into a cowering position and got down on her knees to me.
"Whats' the matter? …."
As expected, this wasn't just a normal thing, I got up from my seat and stood in front of Zoe.
"Th- this …"
Zoe held out a small leather bag with her quivering hands
I received and opened the bag.
There was money inside.
"What's this? It's a lot of money … hmm, 500 reens or so?"
Immediately after I mentioned it, I noticed something.
Zoe is just a maid at the residence of 13th Prince, and is paid more than someone who works outside.
That said, she shouldn't have received enough to save 500 reens.
In the first place, she was about to be sold to a brothel a while ago because she had no money.
She couldn't have such an amount by any means.
"ST-, a stranger gave it to me. That person said if I give this to Master, this money will be my reward."
Her voice was shaky and her content was to the point.
I accepted the small bottle Zoe offered me, then took the lid off and sniffed it.
"What's this?"
"He said something about sleeping pills."
"... Heh?"
"I'm sorry!"
As the tone of her voice lowered, Zoe made more and more of a flat-out apology as she rubbed her forehead against the floor.
"They want you mix this into my drink or something and hand it over if I pass out, right?"
"Y-Yes!"
"I see."
I looked at Zoe, who was completely frightened, and thought.
It's probably the Almerians again.
They tried to attack me and failed, so now they're trying to bribe my maids to kidnap me.
They want me that badly, it seems.
But we'll leave it at that.
I turned to Zoey.
"Get your head up."
I said.
"Ha, yes ..."
"You've made your point. But why did you bring this to me?"
"I cannot betray you master! You even helped me and the village I live in."
"Hmm."
"But he threatened to kill me if I didn't do it, and he forced me to take these pills and money. But I couldn't betray my master. Um, um, ...."
Perhaps she was still panicking, but there were so many "buts" in Zoe's words that she couldn't seem to say what she wanted to say very well.
Still, I got the general idea of the story.
"They threatened you and made you grab a lot of money, but you still couldn't betray me, so you came to confess. So that's it."
"Yes!"
"Okay."
I turned myself around and went back to the chair I had been sitting in earlier and quickly ran a pen over the paper on the table.
I come back to Zoe again and hand it to her.
"Is this ...?"
"This is your reward. They tried to buy your betrayal with 500 reens. And since you didn't betray me, I'll add one zero to that."
"one more 0 ... 5000 reens!?"
"Yeah, I put my signature on it. You can get it from the accountant tomorrow."
"Oh, no! I can't take it!"
"You should have it for not ratting me out."
An invitation to betrayal, a big money reward.
Zoe couldn't get her head around the whole thing, and she was left to her own devices.
"Thank you ... thank you .... Master is a really big caliber ..."
"But you need to do one more thing for me."
"–Hey! I'll do it! I'll do anything!"
"Hm, I'll take these pills. If I pass out, just do what they tell you to do and hand me over to them."
"... eh."
"Once you hand me over, you run and hide immediately, and no doubt they will try to shut your mouth."
"..."
Zoe was still in a state of confusion and didn't come back.
As I watched her, I simulated in my mind what I needed to do.
I woke up and found myself in total darkness.
I was tied up hand and foot, lying on what looked like hay.
It's a hut somewhere, and from the smell it looks like a stable or something.
"Hey, the fire's going out. Go get some wood."
"All right. You just keep an eye on the kid."
"Hey, why don't we take that dagger and kick it to the curb? That's all you have to do."
"They told me that was a last resort, you idiot. Are you going to admit to yourself, 'I couldn't catch a single child'?"
I heard a coarse-talking voice from outside the hut.
They got me.
I shook my head on the hay.
My ears chattered behind my ears, and after a few shakes, something popped out.
The one that came out was something the size of a pea grain, and when it came out of my ear, it returned to its original size.
Demon Katana, Leviathan.
I touched it, and it transformed the linked ring and cut the rope binding my limbs.
I ask Leviathan about the situation.
A moment later, an image ran through my mind.
I told Zoe in the mansion.
I could never take it with me when I got caught, so I made the Leviathan, which can change size, into a pea-sized piece and hid it in my ear. Unlike weapon, the ring can't be removed, so I left it in place.
Then I took the pills Zoe had brought me, my consciousness was cut off here.
This is where Leviathan's memories came from.
Zoe left the room, and a short time later, several men dressed in black entered the room.
The men tied my hands and feet, Zoe quietly disappeared at this point.
The men carried me away from the mansion and pushed me into the back of a carriage waiting outside and drove the carriage.
We left the capital and took a short break for the night at a great distance.
What I thought was a stable, it seemed, was simply the back of the wagon, covered with a cloth.
I untied the rope and grabbed the leviathan and told him to work hard.
The Loyal Katana Leviathan was so delighted by that alone that a dog's tail would have been torn off, and the joy flowed directly into my heart.
I stood up and slashed the cloth that was covered with it with a slash.
"What!"
"The kid is on the move!"
"Who's the one! The one who didn't tie the rope properly!"
I stand on the back of the cart and look around.
An empty grassy field, a little off the road.
Ten men in black were sitting around a bonfire.
I moved, but there was no tension whatsoever.
The kid made a move – they are carefree cause they think that I am just a kid.
I leapt at the guys from the back of the truck.
The nearest man who saw me like that and laughed at me.
In a flash, the man's throat was slashed and blood spurted out in a terrific gush.
"What!"
"You little shit!"
The expression on the men's faces finally changed after one of them was killed, and they all drew their swords and pointed their cutting edges at me.
"Too slow."
The hostile spirit finally came out, but the feeling of crisis was still fatally lacking.
However, I'm not going to point it out to them, though, I kept wielding my Leviathan and cut them all down with the Leviathan's sword technique.
There were ten of them in total. It didn't even take a minute.
"That was a waste of time."
I chuckled.
I took Zoe's sleeping pills, knowing that Leviathan would tell me later what it saw and heard from me.
I was captured, and while I was asleep, I ordered Leviathan to listen to the secrets told by the men who held me captive.
But I didn't get much information.
They are part of the Almerian Rebellion, and since they failed in their previous raids, they have bribed their servants to kidnap me and take me back to Almeria.
I didn't have any more information than that, so I took care of him.
"Well, let's go home–hmm?"
Which way to the Imperial City? And as I looked at the front and back of the street, I saw countless lights coming towards me in the distance.
After waiting for a while, a squad of soldiers approached us holding a torch.
Along with that soldier, I saw Zoe.
They're coming for me.
"My lord!"
Zoey looked at me like she was terribly worried about me.
"What's this?"
"Yes! I'm worried about master, so, I mean, I asked the soldiers to help me."
"So, You came here to help me."
Zoe nodded vigorously.
"Well, good job then,"
"But ... this is ..."
Zoe looks at me, then at the men in black who are falling around me, then at the leviathan I have again.
"Is this done by master alone ...?'
"Yeah."
"Awesome ..."
Zoe murmured, and the group of soldiers buzzed.
Well, I didn't need any help, but it helps to have a manpower.
"You guys, who's the captain?"
"Ha!"
A young man stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and bowed to me.
"It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Your Highness the Thirteenth Prince."
"I'll have you bring these guys in. They attacked me a few days ago, have them look for anything in common."
"I understand!"
The captain had his men carry the body of the kidnapper away under my orders.
Then I heard a cracking sound.
I looked down and saw that a dagger had fallen from one of the bodies onto the ground and was resting on a rock.
"—-!"
The moment I saw it, my whole body shuddered.
Murderous intent.
A tremendous killing intent could be felt from that dagger.
"Don't touch that."
I stopped the soldier who was trying to pick it up and stood in front of the dagger and stared at it.
This is the dagger that the men were talking about when I woke up ....
Through the Leviathan, I can feel a "curse" along with a killing intent.
It's not just a dagger, it's also a spell and the human thoughts that went into it – a great deal of resentment.
... Maybe…
I drew my leviathan and set it up.
"Can you do it?"
When I asked it, the reply was yes.
"Then, do it!"
The moment the order is given, Leviathan is overjoyed.
Immediately after that, a column of water gushed into the heavens from the blade I raised.
It's much thinner than the one I shot before, only about as thick as a six-year-old's arm.
It did however ascend to the sky and then turned and went flying on the way.
Far, far away.
Even farther away than over the horizon, the water column flew away.
Zoe, and the soldiers.
They all looked unsure of what had happened.
The next day, in the royal palace's flower garden.
As soon as His Majesty saw me when I was summoned, he smiled happily.
"Great, Lucas, well done!"
He came toward me faster than I could kneel down and bow, grabbing my shoulder and revealing his joy.
"What exactly sire,"
"A man named Baker, the rebel leader, was apparently shot between the eyes by a water column that appeared out of nowhere last night. It was Lucas, wasn't it?"
"... Yes."
I'm half surprised and half relieved.
The surprising thing is that His Majesty's ears are still very quick.
Of course I was relieved that Leviathan's ultra-long range snipe was successful.
That dagger, a dagger with a tremendous curse and grudge, was used as a marker to snipe the Lord of the grudge with the Leviathan.
Leviathan said it could be done, but I was a little concerned about its ability to reach Almeria, which is almost in the middle of nowhere.
"The loss of the leader has decimated the rebel chain of command. Henry has told me that they will be capitulate in a few days. Well done, Lucas!"
His Majesty praised my accomplishments with the most excited feeling ever.