Chapter 26: The Doomsday Death Knight Returns

Chapter 26: The Imposter (1)

What just happened?

The nobles looked at the two people with puzzled expressions.

They thought they were about to shake hands, but Guillaume Blackwing suddenly bowed his head to the ground.

Everyone only saw the result; no one saw the process in between.

‘...Impressive.’

Only one person, Gaol Heinrich, was different. He clearly saw the trick Damian Hassen pulled off.

‘To use the opponent's strength to overpower them.’

When Guillaume Blackwing grabbed Damian Hassen's hand, he tried to break it.

However, Damian Hassen cleverly used that strength to throw Guillaume Blackwing to the ground.

This meant that Damian Hassen was far superior to Guillaume Blackwing in terms of technique.

‘Not only is his technique outstanding, but his physical abilities are also far superior.’

If it were just about strength, Guillaume Blackwing would be stronger.

However, in terms of agility and other aspects, Damian Hassen was superior.

That's why Guillaume Blackwing was defeated as soon as Damian Hassen used his technique.

‘He must have achieved tremendous physical growth in that short time.’

Gaol Heinrich recalled the day he first met Damian Hassen.

He was frail and weak, not at all the body of a knight.

But now, it was different. His body was well-built with muscles, and he had grown much larger.

‘He must have fully absorbed the Balance Ring.’

Damian Hassen was a very peculiar knight.

His skills were extremely outstanding, but his physical strength and magic power were severely lacking.

Because of this, he had always compensated for his weaknesses with his techniques.

But now, it's different. He has improved his physical strength to some extent.

This alone has completely changed the intimidating presence he exudes.

‘If he can also overcome his lack of magic power, it's hard to predict how much stronger he will become.’

Gaol Heinrich thought he would never see a monster like Michael Ryanbloom again in his life.

But soon after, he encountered another monster that could rival him.

Even as a high-class noble, Gaol Heinrich felt a chill down his spine.

"I was going to rip out your shoulder blade, but it's still intact? You're tougher than I thought."

Suddenly, Damian Hassen looked down at Guillaume Blackwing and said.

"But why are you so quiet? You were boasting about breaking my arm just a moment ago."

In response to Damian Hassen's taunt, Gaol Heinrich could only manage a bitter smile.

‘His skills are outstanding, but he holds grudges.’

This was evident from his behavior towards Ernst Hovitz as well. It seemed that Damian Hassen felt the need to repay any slight.

‘It would be better if he were also humble.’

Just as Gaol Heinrich was feeling this regret,

"Y... You... brat..."

Guillaume Blackwing muttered, his voice filled with anger and hatred.

"How dare you... humiliate me like this?"

Steam-like vapor began to rise from Guillaume Blackwing's body.

This was a characteristic phenomenon that occurred when he used his magic power.

"I'll... twist you to death, brat!"

Guillaume Blackwing shouted. At the same time, his magic power exploded, sending a rough wave in all directions.

"I'll crush your skull right now!"

Guillaume Blackwing roughly pulled out the axe on his back and swung it down at Damian Hassen.

Or rather, he tried to.

A massive wave of magic power spread from one side of the conference room. The air was pushed away by the vast magic power, creating a strong wind.

This massive aura made Guillaume Blackwing's body freeze.

"To wield a weapon so recklessly in front of His Excellency."

A small voice was heard. Guillaume Blackwing's head turned slowly, like a rusty hinge.

On the right side of the duke.

An old knight in armor glared at Guillaume Blackwing with a cold gaze.

"Do you want to die?"

Gaol Heinrich's eyes glinted menacingly.

* * *

‘Indeed, he is impressive.’

Damian inwardly marveled at Gaol Heinrich's presence.

‘I was wondering why one could bring a weapon into the duke's presence.’

It was because of the confidence that, with Gaol Heinrich present, no one could harm the duke.

"K... K... K..."

Guillaume Blackwing was sweating profusely, looking like he was about to die.

No matter how famous a knight he was, he was only a low-class. He couldn't withstand the pressure from a high-class noble.

"I will overlook this once for the sake of Lady Chelsea's dignity. But remember, there will be no second chance."

Gaol Heinrich reined in his aura. Only then did Guillaume Blackwing breathe heavily.

"There was a bit of a private dispute."

Clap.

The duke clapped his hands to draw attention.

"From what I see, it would be better to maintain the position of representative. I find Damian to be much more reliable than Sir Guillaume Blackwing."

Just as the duke was about to conclude,

"Your Excellency! This is an unfair match!"

Someone shouted at the duke. It was none other than Ernst Hovitz.

"Sir Guillaume Blackwing has not fully recovered from the fatigue of his journey. This match was heavily in favor of Damian Hassen!"

Ernst Hovitz defended Guillaume Blackwing. But no one among the nobles paid attention to his words.

"Wasn't the match conducted with Sir Guillaume Blackwing's consent?"

"He was defeated too easily to attribute it to fatigue from the journey."

The voices from various directions made Ernst Hovitz's face turn bright red.

"Most importantly, Sir Guillaume Blackwing is a knight who uses weapons! His true skills cannot be properly assessed without them!"

But he continued to speak firmly.

"Sir Ernst is right."

At this, Chelsea Goldphix spoke up as if she had been waiting for it.

"I believe it would be more appropriate to compare the skills of the two knights through a formal duel."

"I don't think the result will change even if we do that."

The duke's reaction was indifferent. Chelsea Goldphix bit her lip.

"Your Excellency! That's a hasty decision! Sir Guillaume Blackwing is a knight with a well-known reputation abroad..."

"Chelsea, stop being unreasonable."

The duke cut her off.

"Your Excellency!"

"Stop boasting about your incompetence to me."

The cold tone made Chelsea Goldphix, as well as the other nobles, feel shocked.

"...I have been rude."

Chelsea Goldphix quickly apologized and retreated.

"Your Excellency, may I say a word?"

At that moment, someone raised their hand.

"I will accept Lady Chelsea's proposal."

Damian Hassen's words made everyone's eyes widen.

* * *

In fact, there was another reason why Damian Hassen accepted the duel.

‘I definitely felt black magic from Guillaume Blackwing.’

When Guillaume Blackwing used his magic power, Damian Hassen could clearly feel the black magic operating within his body.

It was so thoroughly hidden that even Damian Hassen had to look closely to notice it.

‘I didn't expect to encounter a fake knight so soon.’

Fake knight.

This was the nickname given to knights who had become stronger through black magic rituals.

‘They may be scum who rely on black magic to become strong, but they are hard to find equals among their peers.’

Fake knights gained high physical abilities and vast magic power through black magic.

Thus, they were considered the strongest at their level.

However, their drawbacks were significant.

First, they had to pay with their lifespan for the black magic. To the best of Damian's knowledge, no knight who had undergone the ritual had survived more than five years.

That wasn't all. During the ritual, black mages secretly cast a black magic of obedience on the knights.

As a result, fake knights had to live as slaves to black mages to gain their meager strength.

‘Fake knights are like bombs, bound to explode sooner or later.’

Fake knights would eventually be exposed.

The church would launch a large-scale search operation to capture and execute all fake knights.

In the case of the duke's family, they could not avoid the church's search due to the involvement of the duchess.

‘The church's search is relentless and cruel. It will certainly cause significant damage.’

For Damian, who was using the duke's family to keep the marquis's family in check, this was not a pleasant situation.

‘There's no choice. I have to use some force.’

Actually, it wasn't just for practical reasons that he wanted to get involved.

‘I can't just stand by and watch those dirty cockroaches crawl around in front of me.’

Damian Hassen hated black mages. He would like to see them extinct from this world if possible.

‘Should I just expose them here? No, it's too early for that.’

Damian Hassen's goal was to maintain the duke's family.

Therefore, he needed to find out how deeply the duchess was involved in this incident.

"Are you saying you will duel Sir Guillaume Blackwing?"

The duke looked at him, clearly not understanding.

"Since the other side doesn't seem convinced, it wouldn't be bad to accept."

"Since it's a request from Sir Damian, I can't refuse. I will allow the duel."

The duke readily agreed to Damian's request.

"Listen, nobles. I will select the representative from the knight who wins the duel tomorrow."

This declaration brought a sense of relief to the duchess's face.

"But thinking about it, there's not much to gain for Sir Damian Hassen even if he wins. He'll just keep his position."

The duke fiddled with his ring, opened a subspace, and took something out.

A small glass bottle containing a bright blue liquid.

"Do you know what this is?"

The duke shook the bottle. Neither Damian Hassen nor the other nobles recognized it.

"It's a magic essence elixir."

But when the duke said the name, everyone was shocked.

It was one of the legendary elixirs created independently by the head of the alchemy school, Azoth Arkelus.

The elixir was made by further refining the magic power extracted from magical herbs that contained magic power.

While the amount of magic power gained from the magic essence elixir was not much—only about ten years' worth—its true effect was different. It increased the sensitivity to magic power.

With increased sensitivity, not only the ability to use magic power but also the natural recovery speed increased.

Due to this unprecedented effect, it was listed as one of the 12 essential elixirs that the Imperial Sword Master recommended for consumption.

"I will bestow this elixir on the winner of the duel tomorrow."

The duke's declaration caused a stir among the nobles.

* * *

The duke then concluded the meeting.

Chelsea Goldphix was the first to leave with her entourage, including Ernst Hovitz.

Next, the nobles began to move. Damian Hassen also tried to leave the conference room with the nobles.

"Sir Damian, wait a moment."

The duke stopped him. Damian turned to look at the duke with a puzzled expression.

"I just remembered, didn't your longsword get damaged because of Sir Ernst last time?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Then you don't have a weapon for the duel tomorrow, do you?"

"I was planning to use a training sword."

Damian said this casually. With his skills, he could easily defeat Guillaume Blackwing even with his bare hands.

"That won't do."

But the duke shook his head.

"To a knight, a weapon is like a face. Bringing a training weapon to a public event like a duel is like smearing your own face with feces."

The duke's words had a point.

There was a reason why knights went to great lengths to find famous swords.

"Besides, you can't use a training weapon in a duel with the marquis's family, can you? There's a workshop managed by the duke's family in the outer city. You can have a sword made there."

At this, Damian was surprised and asked the duke.

"Is that really true?"

"Of course. I'll inform them in advance. You can visit whenever you like."

Damian felt a surge of excitement.

The workshop managed by the duke's family would certainly be of high quality.

Being able to have a weapon made there was something any knight would be happy about.

"Thank you, Your Excellency."

Damian expressed his gratitude to the duke. The duke waved his hand as if it was nothing.

* * *

The duke called a servant to guide Damian Hassen.

When Damian arrived at the workshop with the servant, he couldn't help but be amazed.

"Really impressive."

The walls were high and long. Five chimneys were all emitting black smoke.

He had rarely seen such a large workshop in his life.

"This is a workshop that the previous duke took great care to establish. He hired several famous craftsmen of the time to lay the foundation. It's only available to knights affiliated with the duke's family."

The servant proudly introduced the workshop.

He couldn't wait any longer. Damian opened the workshop door and went inside.

Inside, many craftsmen were working at their forges with metal pieces.

"Hmm? Who's here?"

"It's someone from the duke's family."

A few of the craftsmen looked at Damian and the servant.

"I'm here on the duke's orders. This person needs a sword made."

The servant's explanation made the craftsmen murmur.

"We can't treat the duke's guest lightly."

"Boss! Where are you? You need to handle this!"