The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 99

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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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Episode 99. Take a look at this bastard.
‘It’s that woman.’
There was no hard proof, but instinct screamed it.
The assassin who’d come for him.
Definitely someone from that House.
‘Aslan? Aslan is connected to this Back Alley Organization?’
As he tore through the secret passage, a conclusion formed that was hard to swallow.
The kingdom’s greatest noble House backing a capital slum gang.
The gap in status was too absurd to fathom.
Unless.
‘That woman wasn’t from Aslan after all?’
His certainty was crumbling in the face of this unexpected turn of events.
Thud-thud-thud.
As the torches ahead grew dimmer, he felt the passage’s incline steepen bit by bit.
Then, abruptly, a wall materialized in front of him—completely blocking the way forward.
‘No other passage… anywhere.’
He hadn’t even glimpsed the enemy’s shadow yet.
‘Then…’
Munno didn’t slow at the sight of the wall—he accelerated instead.
And then.
“Ha!”
He hurled himself forward, ramming it with his shoulder.
Crash!
Given his current weight and speed, plus the density of his armor, the impact had to be stronger than an ordinary knight’s Lance Charge.
And indeed.
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
He felt a dense shock reverberate through his shoulder as he punched clean through the wall.
And then.
“Don’t you dare slip away—!”
He’d started to shout, when his vision was suddenly flooded with light, and.
Thud.
Crash.
Rumble.
The massive boulder he’d just shattered and sent tumbling embedded itself somewhere in the forest beyond, leaving him standing stupefied, turning this way and that.
He’d felt like he was running for a long time.
‘Outside the Outer Wall?’
He squeezed his eyes shut and focused his senses, searching every direction for any trace of metal, but…
Nowhere?
“Damn it…”
Rustle.
Among the hastily parted brush lay a single quiver, abandoned and forlorn.
“…Hell!”
He’d lost her again.
Bang.
He kicked at the broken boulder for good measure, smashing it to vent his frustration.
But he knew there was no point dwelling on what was already lost.
The quiver confirmed it was definitely her, though…
“Sigh.”
He let out a shallow breath and forced himself to think of the brighter side.
“…At least I cleaned out some troublesome trash and made coin in the process…”
Yet his mind kept drifting back into the forest, no matter how he tried to focus.
‘Next time we meet.’
Then, without fail…
With that promise to himself, Munno turned back and descended into the passage he’d burst through.
Fortunately.
When he returned to the underground depths of their hideout, the scene of carnage remained exactly as it had been.
Only a safe with one face sheared clean off, and scattered trash—presumably upper echelon members, their necks and spines shattered—lying unconscious on the ground.
But looking at the safe again now, he felt a pang of regret.
“Damn, I should’ve left a few of these bastards conscious…”
The gold coins visible inside the safe alone seemed to exceed ten thousand in worth, and moving the remaining jewels would be a burden for one man alone.
‘Wait… hold on?’
No, that wasn’t it.
“…Why am I using my head when I have a perfectly good body?”
The moment he realized he was still bound by the common sense of his previous life.
Crack-crack-crack.
Munno simply tore the rattling safe door clean off its hinges.
And then.
“Hnngh!”
Scrape-scrape-scrape.
He hoisted the safe upright and set it on its end.
With the open side facing upward, he lifted the entire safe clear off the ground.
“Hnngh!”
Thud.
Just as he’d expected—it had weight to it, certainly, but it was manageable.
Thud.
Thud.
He pushed forward with heavy steps, sweeping aside all the Metal Chains that had been tangled in his path, when—
“Ah…”
He suddenly realized he didn’t need to strain himself using both hands at all.
“What was I thinking?”
Clink-clink-clink.
The Metal Chains moved again, coiling around the safe and lifting the enormous weight in place of his hands.
‘When your body’s this good, your mind gets to take a break.’
The chains were still part of his body, so the weight remained; but distributing the load across four chains was undeniably easier on his frame.
‘I don’t sense any other large metal objects in the building.’
And so.
Munno walked out of the building, safe in hand.
And soon after.
He found himself surrounded by the Northern Gate Guard.
“Those Metal Chains, that Armor… you’re one of the street… hmm, the Black Knight Munno Drasen, are you not?”
A lean man with a stern, weathered face—clearly past fifty—stepped forward from among the soldiers.
“…That’s correct, but.”
He hadn’t visited the Northern Gate Guard during the Mage sweep operation.
Yet even from that gaunt frame, he felt a presence of similar weight to the captains of the South Gate and West Gate.
‘Probably 4-Star.’
Given the circumstances, it was obvious who this man was.
But then.
“I’m Karun Rockfeller, commander of the Northern Gate Guard. Might I ask what business you have causing such a disturbance?”
The sour expression on this man’s face suggested he hadn’t come with good intentions.
The way his eyes kept glancing at the safe made that clear enough.
But since he had nothing to hide, the answer came easily.
“Right. I happened to be passing through on business, and I found some people forcing the slum children to beg and stealing their money. I gave them a suitable lesson.”
“This ‘suitable lesson’ being the deaths of a dozen men and some sixty or seventy seriously wounded?”
Hmm?
“…From what I know, I didn’t kill anyone.”
“The Ted Family members who were lying in front of the building were killed by the vagrants of the Slums. Surely you cannot claim to bear no responsibility for that, can you?”
Look at this guy.
The more he spoke, the more irritating his tone became.
“So you know the organization’s name—Ted Family. And yet you did nothing about them?”
“It is impossible to control every ruffian in the Slums individually. It is more efficient as a guard force to leave most organizations alone and simply manage them so they don’t cause major incidents.”
“I see. So letting an organization force children into begging is acceptable to you?”
“Begging? Well, it’s hardly a problem if slum children do a bit of work.”
…More and more.
This was getting infuriating.
“…So according to you, I came to a place with no problems and dealt serious wounds and theft to innocent people?”
He wanted to see how far this would go.
He asked the question with a tilted head, and Karun nodded without hesitation.
“That is correct.”
“That’s… What?!”
He couldn’t believe it.
“Are you out of your mind!?”
The outburst made Karun Rockfeller’s expression crumple for a moment.
But he quickly smoothed his features and continued.
“Ah, of course. As a knight, I don’t mean to fault you for punishing these lawbreakers. But the wealth this organization has extorted all this time should rightfully be seized by the crown, wouldn’t you agree?”
He cast his gaze toward the safe suspended in the air, bound by metal chains.
“Ah, so you’ve developed a taste for this money?”
“A taste? Mind your words, Captain Munno. I’m speaking of proper procedure.”
“What if I refuse?”
At that provocative remark, Karun Rockfeller’s eyes narrowed further.
But soon after.
“…About thirty percent will go to you as a bounty. Be satisfied with that.”
He offered this strange compromise in a low voice.
A clumsy carrot and stick, awkwardly wielded.
‘What’s he playing at?’
Munno found himself scrutinizing Karun’s appearance more carefully.
Eyes darting repeatedly between the safe and himself.
A tongue that kept licking parched lips.
Palms slick with sweat despite his confident tone.
Observed through Munno’s keen perception, something about the man’s state was decidedly off.
‘He’s nervous. Why?’
Afraid of fighting me?
‘No, that’s not it.’
Looking more closely, Karun seemed to be consciously redirecting his gaze from the safe back toward Munno himself.
A safe brimming with gold coins.
But with so many eyes watching, it hardly seemed likely he’d be openly lusting after money.
Unless the entire Northern Gate Guard had been corrupted and conspired together.
Even then, the individual share would be meager—hardly worth the risk of a confrontation like this.
So then…
In that instant, something Munno had glimpsed in the safe flashed through his mind.
Thump.
“Well, if that’s the case…”
Munno then casually sorted through the gold coins and jewels inside the safe as if classifying them, while discreetly rifling through the stack of documents heaped in one corner.
He then let out a soft chuckle and picked one up.
“Could this be what you’re after?”
The sender: Karun Rockfeller.
The moment he held up the sealed letter bearing his official seal.
Karun’s body vanished in an instant.
But.
Crash!
Clang!
When his fist crossed with the metal chains in that split second, Karun had no choice but to grimace and stumble backward.
He glared at his opponent and reached for his sword again.
“You’d challenge me to a brawl in front of your own men?”
At those words, he ground his teeth and sheathed his blade instead.
A Speed-Type Evolver, it seemed.
‘But Karina’s faster than you, sir.’
Even for a 4-Star, he was an opponent worth testing.
Conversely, Karun had clearly felt through that single exchange that his opponent was no pushover.
So.
“What do you want?”
He had no choice but to back down.
A soft laugh.
“Me? Just this. That’s all.”
“What the…!”
“It was mine to begin with.”
“Tch… Hand over all the documents inside. Then I’ll let it go.”
Karun’s voice suddenly dropped, abandoning even the pretense of formality.
‘Just as I thought.’
This one’s garbage too.
“All the documents, you say…”
“If you refuse, you’ll face the wrath of House Rockfeller and their Lord, Aslan himself. Even if you contest the documents, it’ll end with a few officials taking the fall.”
Ah, so Rockfeller was Aslan’s vassal.
‘So my hunch about the backing was right?’
The more Munno heard, the more curious he became about what those documents contained.
“Wouldn’t you be among those officials taking the fall?”
“Which is precisely why there’s no further compromise. The Northern Gate Guard killed a serial murderer—only to discover he was a Black Knight. We had to construct a plausible narrative.”
Karun Rockfeller seemed fully committed to burning bridges.
In other words, the consequences of the documents going public would be far worse than any censure from the king for killing one of the kingdom’s sacred protectors.
‘Now I’m even more curious.’
Munno let out a soft chuckle and drew his sword.
“That’s going to be rather difficult, I’m afraid.”
“So you’re choosing to drink the bitter cup?”
Ring.
Karun drew his blade in response.
Ring.
Ring!
Behind him, the surrounding knights and soldiers began drawing their weapons as well.
Only a few had caught Karun’s signal; the rest seemed to follow along out of confusion.
‘This is… escalating quickly.’
A 4-Star knight before him, several 2-Star knights beyond, and over fifty soldiers backing them up.
Even if he won, the repercussions would be severe.
More pressing was that he had no confidence he could protect the documents spilling from the now-open safe while fighting.
“Sigh… I’m backed into a corner here. Very well, Karun. Let’s do this.”
Munno pulled the safe toward himself and swept the documents inside into a bundle.
Then he wrapped the whole stack in Metal Chains and hurled it at Karun’s feet.
A gesture as good as telling him to eat dirt.
“Hmph!”
The man’s body blurred like an afterimage, snatching up all the documents in one motion.
Tsk.
“Well then, if we’re done here…”
Thump.
Just as Munno was turning to leave naturally—
“Wait!”
Karun threw up another objection.
“Now what?”
Munno turned around, making a show of his indignation.
After examining all the documents in his hands, Karun’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, locking onto Munno’s gaze.
“…The Ledger?”
“You want to see it? I already gave you all the documents.”
Scrape.
Munno turned the safe around to show it was empty.
“No—I need to search through the gold coins.”
Karun had crossed the line.
“Now hold on. I made a concession, and you’re still pushing?”
Munno drew his Great Sword again, and Karun raised his blade as well—
“But then all your soldiers will know what you’re looking for, won’t they? Is that wise? And if any of my gold coins go missing in the process?”
At Munno’s words, Karun’s eyebrow twitched irritably.
Then—
“…I’ll search alone. No further compromises.”
This bastard clearly had plenty to hide.
Munno sighed and stepped back slightly, gesturing him forward.
As Karun sifted through the gold coins in the safe—
“Careful there. You’re not thinking of pocketing a few coins, are you? Step away from the jewels. You’ll pay if you damage them.”
Munno needled him with his words, keeping the pressure on.
In the end, finding nothing, Karun could only grimace and turn away.
Though as he did, he left a warning in a low voice.
“…Don’t let your recent modest fame go to your head, whelp. Burying you would be child’s play for Rockfeller and Aslan.”
His expression was so grave Munno nearly burst out laughing.
“Yes, yes. As you say.”
He answered breezily, and Karun could only grit his teeth and turn to leave.
However great his mastery of the Hard Body Technique, if that’s all he knew, then that was the extent of it.
‘The man’s just a lackey.’
Too insignificant to warrant any real concern.
The irritation that had been rising in his chest seemed to lift, replaced by an odd sense of lightness.
‘While I’m heading to the Information Organization anyway, there’s another errand I can add to the list. I’ve already turned over the other documents, but…….’
Through the gap in the opened armor, he could see the thickest document of all. Or rather—a ledger.
A subtle smile played across Munno’s lips as he spotted it.

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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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