Episode 44. The Road to Capotini (3)
“You see! Lord Luden is here, all right? So, let’s get your attention now, okay?”
“… … .”
At Tina’s loud voice, Mankus scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed expression. But that was it.
I had to be careful for now because I couldn’t figure out how things were going.
Moreover, Mankus unconsciously sweated down his back as he tried to receive Rubin’s gaze.
“Oh, I guess I was mistaken. Excuse me. Have a nice trip!”
Mankus left the tavern in a huff.
The moment he left the place, Rubin quickly observed the surroundings. He went to the window and also checked the reactions of the nearby villagers.
A clumsy subordinate followed behind the running Mankus, but that was it.
‘Is that guy and one of his subordinates the only ones related to the cave guys?’
As expected, the townspeople had nothing to do with the Deckers group. That meant there was no need to make things worse.
The guy who backed down will come back tomorrow. Then we’ll be able to sort things out neatly.
“Coach, I’ll go up first. Bring the teacher back in ten minutes. I have something to tell you.”
“All right.”
Afterwards, the three gathered again at the accommodation.
Tina’s face was distorted as could be because she had never won a snail race bet.
Since her transformation time was almost up, Tina changed back into cat form.
Meow.
Kuze laughed in disbelief at the sight of her rolling around on the bed in a listless manner, as if she had never been obsessed with things like snails.
“By the way, Young Master, how was the drink?”
“Well, so… … ”
Rubin gave a brief account of what had happened in the cave. It was so brief that there wasn’t much to summarize.
“They were less practical than I thought.”
Rubin had been aware of Deckers’ gang since the moment he got off the carriage. Their gazes were aimed at Rubin, without even being able to hide their traces properly.
So as soon as he entered the tavern, he instructed Kuze and Tina not to mind him leaving.
Tina accepted the order as correct, but Kuze shook his head, saying that as a Roinenser, he could not be separated from the master.
“This groom was so worried that he was sweating profusely right next to me. He didn’t even know which snail won first place.”
“No, Tina. That’s because Tina keeps losing money… … .”
“What? I lost money? Do you think I was just sitting there betting to win some money? I was just having fun playing sports!”
“… I guess so.”
Tina slapped the wall repeatedly with her long tail, making a yapping sound.
“Rubin. At this point, shouldn’t you show Kuze how strong you are? Every time you go out alone, how much are you going to bother me? Or take this guy with you.”
“It seems like you are the one who should take responsibility for Kuze, not me.”
Hah-!
Then Tina started to bark at Rubin sharply, like a real cat would, arching its back and getting angry.
“Is ignoring people your hobby?”
Although he said it jokingly, Rubin’s words were sincere.
They are a race of illusionists who do not easily attack other living beings. No matter how dark they are and how flawless their transformation is, it is dangerous for Tina to be alone. Officially, Tina is being pursued by the Emperor.
Rubin outlined what would happen tomorrow.
“That guy was in on it too. They should have found his body in the den by now.”
“Somehow, he started whining next to me. I thought he was a scammer trying to steal my money again.”
“If they see the body, won’t they attack us right away?”
Rubin shook his head.
“He wouldn’t be that stupid. He would probably assume there’s someone else protecting me.”
“So, should we just ignore them?”
“I don’t think they’ll let me go like that. We can sort that out tomorrow.”
The remnants will come back tomorrow. I’m not sure what Dekus confessed before he died.
What is certain is that they will definitely try to eliminate Rubin. They will definitely drag Rubin and his party to a remote place under various pretexts.
Then, I will reveal my true colors.
“It’ll take another three weeks to get to Capotini, and already the flies are flocking.”
“What can I do? I have to handle it as cleanly as possible and move forward slowly.”
Tina moved lightly and briskly on all fours on the bed, as if trying to demonstrate what she had said.
‘It’s okay if only flies are attracted, but anything more than that is problematic.’
When crossing the continent with just one carriage, problems of one kind or another were bound to arise.
Even if I could solve most of the problems, I didn’t want the scale of the problem to grow. The existence of the Assassin Swordsman must not be revealed until the time is right.
‘I guess I’ll have to find the shortest route.’
Meanwhile, Mankus, who had left the tavern, moved as Rubin had expected.
First, he took his only remaining subordinate and headed to the den where Dekus had decided to kidnap the child.
A cave that I walked into while holding a lantern in my hand.
What he found were six bodies, including his younger brother Dekus.
Five of them had killed their own men because they were using auras that Dekus could not handle, but Mankus had no way of knowing that.
“Did the little boy have an escort?”
Mankus continued to mutter to himself as he jumped over his brother’s body.
“Damn, I should have been more careful! How far did Deckers go?”
There was no sorrow for his dead brother.
Although they grew up together in the Order of Flornica, there was no brotherhood between them. They were merely temporary ‘business partners’.
After gathering his thoughts for a while, Mankus left the cave holding a lantern.
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“What should I do?”
The subordinate, shocked by the corpse, trembled and said.
“What can I do? Wait until daybreak tomorrow. Once they leave the village, then I can approach them again.”
And the next day.
The journey began again as Rubin boarded the carriage where Tina and Kuze were waiting.
‘You’re following me.’
All three of them sensed that two men were following their carriage at a distance.
Their every movement was clearly detected on the wide-spreading dark smoke.
The carriage left the village and entered a bumpy dirt road. It must have been another ten minutes.
“When will those guys come?”
“Soon. You’ll start to think something is strange. I don’t see anyone escorting me.”
Still, the guys wouldn’t have thought that it was Rubin who killed Dekus. It was beyond their common sense. It would have been more common sense to think that a rebellion among the thieves had caused the accident.
“Oh, there it is. My lord, I will take care of it.”
We’ve passed the forest where Decker’s gang’s lair is, and now we’re completely out of town.
Mankus, who had overtaken Rubin’s party by a shortcut, appeared. He was standing in the middle of a stone bridge over a small stream.
He limped on one leg as if he had an injury, but it was all a lie. It was a shallow move to stop Rubin and his party.
“Excuse me! Can you help me for a moment?”
The carriage stopped. At that moment, Rubin sensed the last of Mankus’ men moving from the bushes behind him.
It wasn’t just Rubin. Kuze was coughing loudly, and Tina was meowing next to Rubin.
Kuze looked down at Mankus from the stables.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, it was them yesterday! I hurt my leg while I was going to work.”
“Hey, are you okay?”
The two men continued their false pretense for different reasons. Since the escort was nowhere to be seen, they thought they could easily kill the coachman.
The groom was none other than the assassin Kuze, who had reached the level of a 4-star. If he had wanted to, he could have killed Mankus before he could even draw his sword.
And just as I was about to do that.
“Kuje, stop.”
Suddenly, Rubin’s voice rang out from inside the carriage. He was calling Kuze by his real name. Kuze stopped as he was about to grab the dagger he had hidden.
“Yes, your highness.”
“Just wait.”
Rubin opened the carriage door and listened quietly.
“Someone is coming. They are not ordinary people.”
“yes?”
Meow?
Beyond the shadow of Kuze and Tina, there was a group approaching quickly, undetected.
As they came within Kuze’s radius, he noticed them too. Judging by the speed at which they were approaching, they seemed to be riders. They all seemed to be riding good-breed horses.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden… … .”
It was when Mankus was mumbling, unable to understand the conversation between Rubin and Kuze.
The horde revealed itself. Mounted on mighty war horses, they were knights in shining armor.
Mankus was the first to realize what kind of people they were.
“Uh… Uh!”
Mankus suddenly looked around for an escape route, but it seemed too late.
The knights who discovered Mankus increased their speed and surrounded the carriage in an instant.
Then, Mankus immediately fell flat on the floor. His body was trembling.
Almost at the same time, Kuze, feeling a sense of crisis, put his back towards the carriage entrance to protect Rubin.
“Your Majesty. It seems like they are a knight group from a nearby family.”
‘This is becoming a nuisance.’
There are seven in total surrounding the carriage.
They are all elite units with at least 2 stars.
Among them, the one who caught Rubin’s attention was a young knight who stood out even among the elite.
‘Maybe more than 4 stars?’
He, who seemed to be leading the knights or a scion of a family, radiated the clearest aura among them all.
At this point the older man spoke.
“You little rats who are tarnishing the honor of the Flornica family! I’ve finally found you.”
“Come on, Captain! Just spare my life.”
“Where is your little brother?”
“My younger brother… is dead.”
“Is this guy still lying?”
When the captain drew his sword and aimed it at Mankus.
“Silos, stop.”
The one who stepped forward to stop Captain Silos was the young man whom Rubin had predicted to be the strongest.
A young man, barely in his early twenties, rode his horse toward the carriage.
“Before punishing the man who tarnished our honor, we must first take care of things right here and now.”
Silos understood what the young master meant. There were other people in the carriage, so he should talk to them first.
“We are the knights of the Flornica family.”
Silos dismounted and approached Kuze. His manner was courteous and dignified.
“I was chasing after those who were sullying the honor of the family, along with Lord Yan, the heir to the family line.”
It was just that one word.
‘Those two guys were knights belonging to this family.’
Rubin, who was listening in the carriage, understood the general situation.
Dekus was able to use Aura, albeit weakly. That was something that only a knight of a swordsmanship family could do.
“This guy and his brother were once members of the Knights Templar, but after being expelled, they began committing crimes that tarnished the family’s honor. I have come forward to sort that out.”
Then Rubin spoke to Kuze, who was guarding the carriage entrance.
“Kuje. I will respond.”
As Kuze stepped aside, Rubin came out of the carriage.
“Oh, Confucius was here?”
Instead of responding to Silos, Rubin looked past him and at Jan behind him.
At Rubin’s appearance, Jan also showed a curious look in his eyes. The two people stared at each other and then finally showed an appropriate greeting.
“My name is Luden Poinen.”
“I am Jan of the Flornica family.”
Rubin flinched.
Yan? If it’s Yan… … .
There was no need to try to recall the memory. It was a name I had heard so many times before my regression that it was ingrained in my ears.
‘As far as I know, Jan was from the Seville family, not the Floronica family.’
Before his return, Rubin had never met Jan in person. However, Jan’s appearance was so well-known and detailed that he knew it wasn’t an illusion.
A sharp scar running horizontally across his neck, along with silver hair and purple eyes.
What was most certain was not the name or the appearance, but the realm that Yan revealed. Rubin felt every part of his body responding spontaneously to Yan’s realm.
‘It’s clear. The silver-haired rebel, Jan Seville. The man who confronted the Emperor head-on before the return.’
