Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Yan knocked out Cruel with one blow and looked out the window with a languid face.
‘It’s the same dream for two years.’
Just when he took a nap.
Yan dreamed of his childhood.
In a garden full of purple wildflowers, he lay on the lap of a woman.
Sleep well, my baby.
The woman sang a lullaby and stroked his cheek.
The tania flowers in the field, the birds in the sea, they all fall asleep.
He tried to look at who the woman was, but the shadow of the hat that blocked the sun hid her face.
Smelling the fragrant sea breeze.
Sleep well, my baby, sleep tight.
Every time he tried to turn his head to see the woman’s face.
He inevitably woke up from the dream.
‘Let’s go home as soon as possible.’
* * *
An hour had passed since the train left Gilimryeong Station.
[Why are you leaving him alone?]
Momon asked Yan curiously why he spared Cruel.
‘Someday, he’ll be useful.’
[Useful? He’s the kind of guy who’ll stab you in the back before you can use him.]
Momon didn’t like Cruel, as he had a history of being betrayed by someone he trusted.
Yan chuckled at Momon’s expression.
‘Who was the one who tricked me with the magic he promised to teach me?’
Momon shut his mouth at his words.
After a long silence, Momon said defensively.
[Uh, um! Back then, we didn’t have enough trust and mutual exchange…]
‘Never mind. Take a look at his bracelet.’
[Bracelet? Why do you want me to look at his bracelet? It’s just a normal… Huh?]
Momon stuttered.
[Magi? He learned magic?]
Yan nodded.
Before he learned the breath of the divine dragon, it was only a guess.
But now that he was sensitive to mana, he could clearly feel the presence of magi implanted in Cruel’s bracelet.
Momon examined Cruel’s bracelet and exclaimed.
[Wow. The magi hasn’t taken root in the bracelet yet?]
Momon’s words were the best diagnosis of Cruel’s current condition.
If one learned magic, magi would inevitably follow.
Magi had the characteristic of amplifying human’s negative emotions.
And so, it would take root in the bracelet and the brain, and corrupt the personality.
If the magi eroded the bracelet, the brain, and the marrow.
He would become a main.
A main who only craved for power and desire.
[He seems to have learned magic for quite some time, but he hasn’t completely lost his personality yet…]
‘That means he has some talent and quality, I don’t know if his original personality was clean or not.’
It meant that Cruel’s innate talent and quality suppressed the side effects of magi as much as possible.
[I see. I can understand why you want to use him with that kind of quality.
So how are you going to use him?]
‘I’m tired of doing everything by myself these days.’
[Huh? Even if you take out all the magi from him, his changed personality won’t easily revert, right?]
Momon’s words made Yan smirk.
It was no big deal for him to modify the personality of a chick.
* * *
Bang-!
The train stopped at the station with a powerful whistle.
-This station is Avalon Station. Avalon Station.
Yan’s eyes sparkled at the familiar name.
‘Avalon…’
Avalon was the capital of the empire, the imperial city.
It was the place where Yan had burned before he died in his previous life.
Yan’s gaze went to the station outside the window, and beyond that, to the tall buildings.
A sight that was incomparable to other places.
In other countries, they still used wood or stone to build at most two-story buildings, but in Avalon, they used a material called ‘cement’ to make buildings that were over five stories high.
Besides, the well-maintained roads and the lakes and landscaping made by magic added a different charm.
‘It’s not for nothing that it’s called the capital.’
As Yan quietly looked at the view of Avalon, the outside of the train became noisy.
He turned his head and saw several people surrounding an old man with gray hair.
“Imperial Teacher, can’t you stay a little longer?”
“Why don’t you give a word to His Highness the Crown Prince before you leave?”
“If there was anything uncomfortable, please tell us. We’ll fix it right away.”
The men around the old man spoke with restless faces.
“Yekki! His Highness’s learning is already complete! There’s nothing to teach, so why do you keep telling me to stay in the imperial city!”
The old man scolded them and turned his body coldly and got on the train. “Imperial Teacher! Imperial Teacher!”
“Imperial Teacher! Just stay with us!”
Despite the earnest pleas of the men, the old man got on the train and found his seat.
Yan smiled slyly as he watched him from behind.
‘He’s still the same, the picky old man.’
The teacher of the emperor and the crown prince.
Imperial Teacher (Prince) Wigor.
He was an old man of commoner origin who had not learned magic or martial arts, but his status in the empire was very high.
He had built his status only with his scholarship, and the emperor respected him so much that he bestowed him the title of ‘count’.
He was also a person who could have a great influence on the empire, as his disciples who admired him were scattered in the upper echelons of the empire.
‘It was him who took out Kasa, the son of the enemy of the Iphrain family.’
The influence could even rescue the eldest son of a family that committed treason.
Yan coveted that influence.
He looked at the back of Wigor.
Gray hair, black suit.
He remembered the last of Wigor he had seen in his previous life.
“Your Majesty! In caring for the people, if the ruler cannot understand their pain, that is hell! Why don’t you know that!”
“Open your eyes, open them! You are His Majesty the Emperor. From the moment the rebels called themselves ‘revolutionaries’! From the moment the people started to support them! Your Majesty, no, you! You can no longer be their father!”
“What is that power worth? To ignore the suffering people!”
“Where did the wise past go…!”
“Come to your senses, Emperor. Please… please!”
In his previous life, Wigor had given a bit of near-scolding advice to the emperor who did not pay attention to the state affairs, risking his neck.
No, it was a scream.
Because the people’s hearts had already left the empire.
But the emperor did not heed Wigor’s advice, but rather ordered his execution with displeasure.
The last words that Wigor had shed tears of blood before he died were still strongly engraved in Yan’s mind.
“Uhuhuhu. The thousand-year-old empire is falling apart.
How grateful I am, Emperor, that I can’t see the empire that our ancestors and countless heroes built crumble with my own eyes! Uhahaha!”
Patriot.
This was the only word that could describe Wigor, who had shed tears of blood and was executed for the sake of the country.
After Wigor’s execution, his disciples who had received his teachings, the noble and upright nobles and officials, went down to their hometowns and their territories.
And they never returned to the imperial city until the day they closed their eyes.
Later, the empire crushed the revolutionaries in the Armenian Rebellion, but the people’s hearts did not return.
Anyway, that was a later story.
Now.
‘If I use the old man Wigor’s conviction well, I can make him a useful card someday.’
Yan didn’t care much about the people’s hearts, but Wigor was different.
He was a person who would exclude anything that could shake the security or the people’s hearts of the empire, even if he had to use methods that he hated.
The ‘revolutionaries’ who considered Wigor a thorn in their side would attempt to kidnap him.
‘And then I’ll rescue him and make a connection with him.’
His influence and network would be a great help in clearing the obstacles in his way.
Yan looked at Wigor getting on the train and turned his gaze behind him.
Some of the crew members were following Wigor.
‘<Eagle Eye>.’
As Yan used magic to enhance his vision, his pupils narrowed.
Then he saw the two crew members who were chasing Wigor fiddling with their fingers slightly.
He snickered at the sight.
‘They were already infiltrated by the revolutionaries before I got on. By the way, the revolutionaries’ sign language… It’s been a long time.’
The revolutionaries used sign language that only they could understand when they talked during the operation.
And Yan had already learned the sign language of the revolutionaries.
Yan’s eyes went to the crew members’ fingers.
‘The order came from above.
The kidnapping of the Imperial Teacher will start in the tunnel before arriving at Hameren Station, an hour later.’
‘Keep your presence hidden until then.
I’ll watch the Imperial Teacher.’
‘Pass this message to the members under your command.’
The crew members, or rather the revolutionaries, who heard the mission details dispersed to their respective areas.
And then they shared the instructions they received with sign language with other crew members who seemed to be their subordinates.
Yan stored the contents of their conversation in his head.
‘In an hour, the tunnel.’
There was no need to get more information from here.
This was more than enough.
Yan repeated the process of making and erasing and making plans again in his head.
An hour passed like that.
Yan smiled contentedly as if he had come up with a satisfactory plan.
And then he stretched out his arms and legs, Thwack!
He slapped the back of Cruel’s head, who was unconscious next to him.
“Ouch! What the hell… What is it now!”
“Get ready.”
“What are you talking about, what kind of preparation?”
Cruel asked with a distorted face.
“The villains are about to show up.”
“…What? What does that mean?”
Yan slowly got up from his seat.
His gaze went to Lorena, who was looking out the window.
She looked so calm that he almost forgot how she used to nag him to fight whenever she saw him.
‘Is she troubled by the thought of going back to her family?’
That was when.
Beep-!
A smooth male voice came from the speaker in the train.
-Good day, ladies and gentlemen. We will enter the tunnel shortly.
Please do not panic if the car shakes and fasten your seat belts.
As soon as he finished speaking.
The scenery outside the window darkened and the train shook violently.
As the train shook hard, Cruel remembered what Yan had just said and got up.
“Villains, what villains! If you’re going to talk, do it properly…”
Yan cut off Cruel’s words.
“This train is in the hands of the enemy now.”
“Enemy?”
His gaze was still on Lorena.
She looked as if she had no interest at all.
But he couldn’t let her stay like this.
Lorena had to play a big role here.
As a bait to attract their attention.
Yan grinned slightly.
“Revolutionaries.”
As soon as he uttered the word.
A cold chill swept through the train.
The one who caused the chill was Lorena.
She, who had been looking out the window until a moment ago, was now staring straight at Yan.
“What did you just say?”
Lorena got up from her seat and walked towards Yan.
Yan smiled at her.
He had stored the information of the strong ones inside and outside the empire in his head as a special mission leader.
And that included ‘Sword Saint Lorena’.
He knew a lot about Lorena now.
Why she, who lacked nothing, ran away from the north and participated in the ‘Dragon Knight Project’.
Why her face hardened whenever the story of the Duke of Beowulf and the Grand Prince came up?
Why she was desperate to win the first place no matter what?
“What did I say.”
It was all related to the revolutionaries.
* * *
Soon after.
Clank, clank!
The train started to shake violently.
And the outside of the window became dark.
As the train entered the tunnel.
The revolutionaries began to move.
