The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 85. The Trading Post
The sight of the gates opening in succession from the Royal Palace to beyond the Outer City was magnificent.
But Munno found himself hesitating for a moment.
‘Shouldn’t we search the Royal Palace first?’
If those heretical cultists had gone to ground, the Palace would surely be the most dangerous place.
Yet the King’s orders seemed to suggest there was no problem within the Palace itself—that they should hunt the enemy outside.
But.
“I shall obey Your Majesty’s command!”
“As Your Highness wills it.”
Whiiiiiing.
The Blood Knight and a Paladin whose name Munno didn’t know mounted their horses and bolted forward.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
— Don’t underestimate the Royal House and Temple, who have fought Mages for centuries.
When Enoch Trian’s words came to mind, Munno could only set aside his doubts.
‘True—even in the Grand Hall, I found no trace of Demonic Energy.’
Likely, some countermeasure had already been prepared within the Imperial Palace.
So then.
“Aren’t you going?”
“I’m going.”
Munno had no choice but to follow the two knights out beyond the Imperial Palace.
Only.
Patter-patter-patter.
“The Black Knight has no horse?”
“Still moving at tremendous speed, though…”
“Why…?”
Damn it.
Running on two legs alone was a bit embarrassing.
Especially.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
“Should we slow down a bit, Black Knight?”
“…I’d appreciate that.”
Even the Steel Knights following him for the ‘Evaluation’ were riding horses.
* * *
— If those cultists had any sense, they wouldn’t plant spies in civilian quarters.
— Outside the Imperial Palace, the Outer City guards and the Trading Post, or various Guild offices would be the most likely candidates. As for their locations…
Drawing on what Karina had told him yesterday.
‘The nearest one would be…’
Munno headed first toward the Guild office.
“Get out of the way, get out of the way!!”
Patter-patter-patter-patter.
While he pushed through the crowd at full sprint.
Flash.
In the distance, a massive hemispherical glow flickered into view.
‘Ugh!’
The sudden flash in his field of vision made his eyes squint reflexively.
But seeing that the people moving about all around showed no sign of disturbance, he recognized from experience what that light must be.
‘Holy Power…’
And it was large enough to cover the entire alley where the Guild offices were clustered.
What that meant was obvious.
‘Damn, so everyone thinks alike after all.’
In that moment, he had to change direction.
Now that he thought about it, the Blood Knight seemed to be moving in a similar direction.
— But if those cultists were able to gather intelligence from the Royal Palace, they wouldn’t have left their true elite behind.
— They probably just scattered bait to learn the method for piercing the ‘Barrier’ that the Royal House or Temple developed.
‘There’s no way those witch-like strong ones would be in a place like that.’
He trusted in the power of the Temple and the Royal House.
So the moment he saw that hemispherical glow, he immediately changed course.
“Munno!?”
And then.
Bang.
He pushed off the ground and leapt upward, landing on the building’s roof.
With a result.
Crack.
Watching a section of the roof beneath his feet shatter clean away, he paused for a moment before continuing.
“…What are you doing, Munno!?”
“I’m confident you’ll cover the damages!”
Leaving only that irresponsible remark for the knights pursuing him, he bounded from rooftop to rooftop, racing toward the Trading Post.
‘Since I can’t ride a horse anyway, this is the fastest way.’
Thump, crack.
— The young lord has already proven his abilities multiple times. So even if tomorrow’s evaluation doesn’t yield impressive results, he won’t face any disadvantage. But…….
— His Majesty is also known for his generous spirit. If you win the competition, perhaps…….
‘No loss if I fail, and pure gain if I win.’
In that case, he could do his best without any burden.
“Huff!”
Bang.
The moment he jumped with maximum force, another section of some poor building’s roof crumbled, and his body soared a good dozen meters into the air, heading toward the opposite street.
Of course, even so, he fell short of reaching the mansion roof beyond the spacious plaza.
‘The Chain Technique is already exposed anyway.’
Whoosh.
Metal chains extended from his hand, flying across dozens of meters to wrap tightly around a sturdy-looking tall chimney ahead.
Creak.
And.
His body used the recoil of the chains snapping taut to cross that enormous distance in a single bound.
Whine.
‘That’s exhilarating. Is this what Spider-Man feels?’
Of course, Spider-Man’s webs don’t crack chimneys like this.
Thud.
Rumble.
“Argh!”
Nor do they cave in roofs when he lands.
“Yaaaah!”
“Sorry! Bill the Steel Knight Order!!”
Having smashed through the roof of a three-story house, leaving only irresponsible words for the middle-aged man screaming in his underwear, Munno leaped into the air once more.
He had caused some (?) minor civilian damage.
— Munno!!
— Confound it……!
Seeing the distance between himself and the pursuing Steel Knight Order widening considerably, it was clear his speed was certainly working in his favor.
Setting aside his conscience for the moment, Munno tore across the rooftops without hesitation, destroying rather than merely crossing them as he raced toward the Trading Post.
And after that came three more roof collapses and dozens of partial damages before finally.
‘There it is!’
The institution overseeing the market and trade within the Capital Ironheart.
The Trading Post—a massive seven-story building came into view.
Of course.
Thud.
The moment he landed on that rooftop, he was immediately tackled—unlike before.
“Who goes there!?”
“This place has the Imperial Palace’s permission……!”
Three knights who had been smoking on the rooftop hastily drew their weapons.
“I’m conducting an investigation under the order of His Majesty the King. Stand aside!”
The knights could only hesitate at Munno’s words.
“Your proof……?”
“Ask the Steel Knight Order coming up behind me.”
Following Munno’s gesture, the knights turned their gaze.
In the distance.
— Munno!!
— His speed……!
They could see those desperately calling for him.
Yet even so, the Trading Post’s knights seemed not to forget their duty, with two of them moving to block Munno’s path.
“Wait here until they arrive, sir.”
“I’m afraid I’m in urgent need of haste…….”
“But even so……!”
“This is a mage-rooting operation.”
“What!?”
“If you don’t believe me, follow along. We’ll need witnesses anyway.”
Rooting out Demon Seeds—the mages who embodied them—was the second most important duty in the Iron Kingdom, after a direct royal command.
And if word had spread that this very operation was being conducted under royal order……
“……Understood.”
The knights had no choice but to hurry after Munno down into the building.
“Everyone, stop what you’re doing!”
“Who……?”
A knight in pitch-black armor descended abruptly from the roof.
At his arrival, the eyes of the Trading Post staff moving busily inside snapped toward him as one.
The seventh floor housed senior figures, many of them nobles, so there was no reason to be intimidated by a single knight’s appearance.
But his attire was far too distinctive.
Moreover, the knight in that black armor moved with anything but ordinary bearing.
“You there—the bald one. And that man with the mustache, the woman in glasses, and the fat one too. Quite the collection.”
“No, department heads among them……!”
The Trading Post’s stationed knights tried to restrain the black-armored knight as he pointed at the staff, but the dark knight showed no patience.
Whipt-crack.
Four strands of Metal Chains suddenly burst from the hands and feet of the black knight, shooting out like lightning toward those he’d marked.
Those he’d singled out, their faces already twisted from the moment of being named, suddenly unleashed a sinister aura in unison.
Boom-boom-boom-bang.
Fire and lightning, ice and wind.
The spells most commonly seen on the battlefield against the Empire erupted in the middle of daily life, spawning screams throughout the space.
“Kyaaah!”
“Ahhh!”
But before the spells could fully unleash their power, the black knight’s Metal Chains consumed them.
Not just the spells themselves—the inept mages who’d cast them as well.
“Damn……!”
“This can’t be…….”
However futile their resistance might have been, from Munno’s perspective it was merely pathetic.
“Barely Second-Circle novices…….”
Just as Karina had said—nothing but Pyramid-ranked mages.
“What in the world is this…….”
Leaving the dazed knights of the Trading Post in his wake, Munno fell briefly into contemplation.
Should he wait until the Steel Knight Order’s judges arrived, or…….
“H-how are they sealing our magical power……!”
Whipt-crack.
“Mgh! Mgh!?”
But seeing the mages’ shock and indignation, he made his decision at once.
“……Tedious.”
Repugnant contaminants fouling the world, the lot of them.
Splort.
While the Chain Technique itself had become common knowledge, his ability to absorb magical power was still better left undiscovered.
In the moment the chains that silenced their mouths shattered their skulls instead.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Ahhh!”
“P-please……save us…….”
The innocent bystanders screamed.
Calamity had struck suddenly in the midst of peaceful routine—their panic was justified.
But.
Psssss.
“Everyone, silence. These are Demon Seeds.”
As Munno’s cry rang out and the corpses of the dead rapidly decayed, reeking abominably, the people quickly covered their mouths and stumbled backward.
“Is this……really true?”
“How could this be?”
“It’s impossible…….”
The knights standing behind Munno let out groaning murmurs.
Whipt-crack.

“What!?”
Without warning, the Metal Chains lashed out again, ensnaring three people in the Trading Post.
“Ahhh!”
“Damn it!”
Those caught in the chains thrashed desperately, but—
caught so suddenly, they couldn’t cast magic at all.
“This is…….”
“Wait. Let’s see what happens.”
And so the other knights no longer tried to stop Munno.
He’d already proven his point once with results.
“Did you really think you weren’t caught?”
There were four strands of Metal Chains, after all.
Munno drew in the repugnant aura he’d long since grown numb to, then snuffed out the breath of all three mages in one motion.
Fsssssh.
Bodies decomposing on cue.
And only then—
“Lord Munno……!”
“This is……!”
The Steel Knight Order members pursuing him from behind came leaping up from the lower floor.
“Well, the corpses will serve as evidence. I’ll head downstairs now…….”
Munno didn’t wait for a response and simply leaped toward the lower levels.
In barely thirty minutes, the seven-story Trading Post building had become a tomb for twenty-five mages.
“How could such a thing…….”
“Could it really be…….”
The Steel Knights assigned to escort Munno could only stare at the decomposing corpses with vacant expressions.
But Munno himself wore a look of satisfaction.
‘Like cleaning up garbage…….’
Had anyone glimpsed his true thoughts in that moment, they would surely have flinched.
Regardless of the fact that his victims were mages, feeling lightness and contentment after slaughtering dozens of people in an instant was, by any measure, far from normal.
Moreover—
“They’re vermin that pollute the world by their very existence. Spare yourself the sympathy.”
The way he offered such cold counsel to the bewildered knights was textbook serial killer—a perfect specimen of a functioning psychopath.
But.
‘Now I truly understand.’
Setting aside old grievances, now mages themselves stirred genuine revulsion in him.
‘It’s the worst…….’
As if my land, my home, my family were being polluted in real time by something foul and unspeakable.
Would this be the feeling if, like in some old film, a rotting, stinking zombie shambled into my house and bit my family?
But mages were worse than zombies in that respect—they possessed clear reason and committed atrocities deliberately.
He could no longer see them as human at all.
He was now experiencing firsthand why Spirit Users held mages in such contempt.
“Repugnant things…….”
His body trembled with disgust even toward those already dead, and from around him, a killing intent naturally began to radiate outward.
“Lord, Lord Munno……?”
A knight’s targetless killing intent froze dozens of people in place.
And in that moment—
Bang.
“Ah, seems I’m a step too late here as well…….”
A cool voice accompanied it.
“Still, I should confirm.”
A crimson wind swept through.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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