2. The Nightmare of Sernerd Territory
*
Sernerd was a common, declining rural territory. It had two small villages based on agriculture and hunting, and two scattered slash-and-burn farming villages in the mountains.
And at the center of the territory, there was one “sizable village” that was almost laughable to call a city.
When all the people of the territory bowed their heads to the nobles of Sernerd, they didn’t realize it, but now it was clear that it was just a rural territory, nothing more.
“Once, this village was my entire world.”
The man walking ahead said nothing. His face was pale, his lips blue, and he was dying from blood loss, cold, and exhaustion.
Fernandez knew the man could faint at any moment. But what did it matter? Fernandez smiled and untied the rope around the man’s neck.
“Go. Let them know you’ve come. After that, get treated.”
The man glanced at Fernandez’s face and staggered back. Leaving him to reach the village entrance first, Fernandez slowly guided his horse toward the village.
The guards on the wooden rampart hurriedly jumped down and surrounded him.
“Y-young master? Why have you returned? You should flee now…”
“Ah, thank you for your concern. You seem to know me well.”
“Young master?”
“Sorry. I don’t remember you. I’ve returned to see the regent.”
“It’s dangerous! You should leave immediately…”
“Fernandez Sernerrrrrd!!”
Then, a rough shout was heard. The guards flinched and stepped back, and a sturdy-looking man walked out from among them.
Alejandro Sernerd. The son of the regent and his cousin.
“Oh, Alejandro. Long time no see.”
“Long time no see? Are you crazy? You just ran away yesterday, and now you’re talking about a long time?”
Alejandro smirked and approached him, threateningly clenching his fist. Fernandez, instead of being intimidated, smiled and looked down at him.
“Calm down, cousin. I’ve come to see Daniel.”
“Now you’re even calling your uncle by his first name!”
“I’m sixteen now. When I become an adult, this territory will be mine. Why should I address the people of the territory with respect?”
“You’re completely insane! Get down here now!”
“Hmm. Cousin, you seem to be mistaken.”
Fernandez slowly dismounted and drew his sword. Alejandro, momentarily startled by the cold, sharp aura, soon laughed fiercely.
“You didn’t get enough last night, did you, Fernandez? Do you know what it means to draw your sword?”
“It means I’m not responsible for killing under the Noble Duel Code. A good excuse.”
“No need to throw a glove then.”
“Do you know how battles between mages are fought?”
At Fernandez’s sudden question, Alejandro looked blank. He reflexively replied.
“With magic?”
“Only half right.”
-Stab!
“Ughhh!”
Fernandez slowly approached Alejandro and stabbed his thigh.
Alejandro, startled by the sudden attack, tried to react, but Fernandez’s sword skillfully avoided his arm and dug into the flesh of his inner thigh, then pulled out.
Alejandro collapsed in pain.
“To disrupt the opponent’s magic, throw a dagger and then approach to stab with a sword. The basic skill of a mage is closer to basic martial arts than magic.”
And I spent my life as a Wildcast (Wandering Mage). Fernandez looked coldly at the fallen Alejandro.
He shouted to the soldiers and people surrounding him.
“Everyone, I hope you treat him. I’ve severed his femoral artery, so without stopping the bleeding, he’ll die within 10 minutes. Take him to the priest. And you.”
Fernandez spoke to the soldier who had initially approached him warmly.
“Take me to Regent Daniel Sernerd.”
“Yes, yessir!”
Fernandez spun his sword once, flicked off the blood, wiped the blade on his pants, sheathed it, and mounted his horse again.
This was the second time he had returned to the Sernerd Barony on his own after running away. In the past, he had come as the Dark Mage Faijashi, seeking revenge and destruction for Sernerd. But now…
‘Now, it’s more like an experiment.’
*
The Sernerd Lord’s Mansion was the only stone building in the village, but that didn’t mean it could serve as a particularly splendid fortress.
It wasn’t.
The stone building on the shallow hill had a modest exterior that seemed to aim for intimacy rather than intimidation, which was one of the things that irritated Daniel.
Another thing that made Daniel angry was.
“You turned my son into that state?”
“Ah, Daniel. According to the Noble Duel Code, it was a legal duel.”
It was Fernandez, standing in front of him with a cocky posture, and the incompetent guards who had dared not stop him and let him come here unharmed.
The guard captain standing next to Daniel growled and threateningly gripped his sword hilt.
“My lord. Shall I slit his throat?”
“Oh. That’s scary.”
Fernandez chuckled as he looked at the guard captain. It had only been a day.
Until last night, when he impulsively ran away from home, Fernandez was nothing but a timid brat who couldn’t even look the guard captain in the eye.
A naive brat who ran away after being beaten by his cousin, without even preparing properly for the journey.
“Why did you come back?”
“Because of an experiment.”
“An experiment?”
Daniel flinched and leaned back at that moment.
He felt something, a disgusting presence, staring at him.
Fernandez’s face lost all expression, creating an inexplicable atmosphere.
With emotionless, glass-like eyes, Daniel was overwhelmed by Fernandez at that moment. Fernandez spoke mechanically.
“An experiment to see if someone I didn’t kill before can die by my hand.”
“What are you…”
“If that’s possible. There’s no guarantee that the world will definitely be destroyed.”
Because death is the most certain destruction of possibility.
Fernandez slowly approached Daniel, feeling the weight of the sword hilt.
According to the hypothesis he had established, it was so.
Q1. Does the world flow according to fate?
The simplest proof was as follows.
A1. Kill someone I didn’t kill in my previous life.
Unfortunately, Daniel was someone who had died before Fernandez became famous as Faijashi, the first chairman of the [Ashen Twilight Society].
Fernandez pointed his sword at Daniel and said.
“This world cannot be destroyed, Daniel. I have no desire for revenge. Take the sword.”
“Stop, stop him!”
“Yes, yessir!”
At Daniel’s groan, the guard captain gripped his sword hilt and stepped forward.
The guard captain was intimidated by Fernandez’s suddenly changed demeanor.
Fernandez raised his finger as he watched.
“Good. Now, the Noble Duel Code is in effect again.”
Sparks flew from Fernandez’s fingertips.
*
“Ughhhh!!!”
Alejandro groaned, clutching his thigh, which was bandaged with linen.
Cold sweat poured down his body, and pain shot up his spine. And worse than that was the lack of sensation below his knee. The fear that he might be crippled for life.
He screamed in terror, pain, anger, and humiliation.
“Young master! Young master!”
“Ugh.”
Alejandro’s servant rushed to him and shouted urgently.
Staring at him with bloodshot eyes, the servant trembled with a pale face and said.
“Baron Daniel Sernerd has passed away.”
“Ughhhh!!”
Blood foamed from the gag the servants had stuffed in his mouth, as if his molars might break.
Alejandro moved his trembling hand from his thigh and struggled to remove the gag.
Half-delirious from blood loss and pain, Alejandro spoke.
“…How?”
“Young master Fernandez Sernerd… under the Noble Duel Code…”
“The guard captain…!”
“Young master used magic. His fingertips flashed, and suddenly the captain clutched his eyes and was stabbed through the heart with a sword…”
Magic! Nonsense! Alejandro tried to shout, spitting out the blood in his mouth. But at that moment, a thought crossed his mind.
Could it be? Could that bastard? If it was something absurd, it might even be more plausible than magic.
Suddenly changing his personality, using magic, and becoming cruel without hesitation in wielding a sword.
That weak brat who was crying and begging for his life just last night?
In Alejandro’s mind, it was already an irrefutable theory.
“Call the Inquisition Officer…”
“Yes, yes?”
“Now! Request a religious trial! Go!”
Alejandro shouted, trying to push through the pain, and the servant, intimidated by his fierce demeanor, ran off.
Alejandro gritted his teeth and clutched his thigh again.
That devil-possessed bastard. A traitor to humanity. A kinslayer who murdered his own kin!
How much he had abused Fernandez in the past was no longer in his mind.
Alejandro wanted ‘justice.’ Punishment for the devil, revenge for his father.
“Ughhhh!”
Blood spurted from his thigh again.
He was dying from blood loss, and most of his servants had fled, terrified by Fernandez’s sudden return and the chaos in the town.
He was slowly, alone, growing cold in the old room his servant had struggled to prepare.
*
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