<510 – The Value of Effort>
In this world, there exists devotion that goes unrewarded.
Yayoi defied Masugaki’s efforts and challenged the Gift Academy.
The Emperor offered no praise for her endeavors, only pushing for greater results.
Her older brother, Hwangtaeja, went a step further and sent an assault squad against his clever sister, who threatened his position.
“Pfft pfft. What a complete mess of a family! ♡”
The sound of the guard’s formation crumbling under the assault made her feel nothing but disappointment.
If the plan was to attack, it was only natural to come prepared with more power than the guards.
Only the Revolutionary Army would recklessly charge in knowing they would fail.
“You don’t mind if I don’t help, right?~?”
“One of us, either Alexander or I, must be at the Princess’s side.”
“But the guards are falling like crazy~!”
They’re not particularly close to me, just people the Eungchilgeom brought arbitrarily.
But they were not people whose lives could be tossed away without a second thought.
People who would die for me.
Only in a different position from the Revolutionary Army.
People who struggle to live and die easily.
To express it in Oknodie’s style, they are extra HP.
And that HP is decreasing in real-time.
“Hiscliff!”
Luckily, another Eungchilgeom arrived from the back carriage.
“I’ll take over the Princess’s escort.”
“I’ll leave it to you.”
The massive Eungchilgeom, Hiscliff, stomped the ground.
Thud. Thud.
The guards, noticing Hiscliff charging the ground, shouted urgently.
“You can’t just charge in!”
“Those guys set up traps in midair using mana threads. If you touch them wrong, your gear or body will get sliced apart!”
“Do you think Eungchilgeom are a joke? My training has been a different league than yours.”
What is the difference between Hiscliff and the guards?
Why is it that no matter how hard everyone works, some get shredded as soon as they hit the mana threads while others can charge in like a battering ram?
Masugaki actually knew this.
It’s a difference in talent.
Everyone can work hard.
Once you reach this position, only those who don’t put in effort won’t survive.
Hiscliff has a robust body that can withstand the overwhelming Mana Flow Technique.
That’s why he acquired high-quality techniques and cultivation laws, doubling his efficiency.
By surpassing others who could attain those things.
By being promoted from candidate Eungchilgeom to full Eungchilgeom.
“This trick ends here!”
As he grabbed a bunch of mana threads and pulled, the assaulters caught in the threads were suddenly yanked into the air.
A flower blooming suddenly wilts just as suddenly.
The bodies of the swiftly rising assaulters were also completely sliced apart by the greatsword in a crescent arc.
“As expected of Hiscliff!”
“We struggled against those fools, yet you took them down in an instant…”
Gratitude.
Those unable to contain their frustration.
Those whose eyes grew cold and hard.
“This is just the worst! ♡”
The figure of the leader of the assaulters collected the scattered mana threads.
The threads in his hands became thicker and stronger.
A level beyond “mana sword,” also known as sword energy traders, formed terrifyingly at the tip of Hiscliff’s sword.
“I’ve heard rumors of a retainer who handles mana threads exceptionally well among those serving the Crown Prince. Since you couldn’t reach Aura Blade, did you take the easy way out?”
“…We are mere assaulters targeting the princess. We don’t know such people and wouldn’t care if we did.”
“The easy way out is still just the easy way. Understand it fully and then be made to fall.”
The sword energy caught in the swing of the greatsword sequentially got sliced off.
A horrifying violation stemming from a difference in talent.
Most people accept such a reality.
However, some will always try to deny reality, even risking their lives.
There are those everywhere who, like bodybuilders who use steroids, inject Dark Mana to gain strength in an instant.
“Grrrr…!”
“Foolish one. To hold such sword energy and still throw your life away? You’re the shame of being a swordsman.”
“Swordsman? If you aren’t the best… no one acknowledges you. I can’t stay next to someone who can’t even beat a mere Eungchilgeom… If I lack talent, then if my desires are greater than what I can get, I must stake my life!!”
The reason Dark Mana becomes a symbol of crime unfurled right before their eyes.
As the total amount of mana one possesses increases, the amount of Dark Mana one can take in at once also becomes terrifying for the leader of the assaulters.
“Protect the leader.”
“We need to buy time until he can manipulate dark mana even a little!”
What unfolds by the hands of just Hiscliff is exactly the opposite of the scene where the guards are dying left and right.
Assaulters, each possessing the power equivalent to first-year academy students, had their exceptional talents evaluated as the best in the industry but fell one after another at a rate of two or three per second.
“Kaaaah!”
The black veins even appearing on the leader’s face led him to cut down another assaulter trying to guard him.
“Have you yet to realize the tragedy of dying by the hands of those you wish to protect? You’re finished. Even if you flee from the path of the sword, Dark Mana would easily grant you power. If you want to live, drop your weapons and surrender now!”
Hiscliff’s persuasive words made the assaulters burst into laughter.
Everyone laughed loudly and lit up with fighting spirit.
“Shut up! We don’t care if we can’t calm the rampage. We don’t care if we fall! We’ve all received ample support. Our families in our hometown will live life without envy!”
“Because of the grace that person bestowed, this commoner household, with a sister so exceptionally beautiful that even a noble over sixty could fall for, won’t have to force her into a marriage!”
“We all owe an unpayable debt. We wouldn’t have come this far without being prepared to lose our lives!”
“…Fools.”
Once again, Hiscliff’s greatsword mercilessly cut through the enemies as it stomped onward, trampling over corpses.
Beyond the one-sided violence that no one could stop, the leader of the assaulters twisted the arm of a subordinate blocking his path and took away his sword.
The sword flew like a bolt, piercing through the subordinate’s back and lodged itself into Hiscliff’s side.
“Look… How something so close can be reached… What was the point of ten years of grueling training…”
Though his humanity could not be restored by the Dark Mana overwhelming him, his skills certainly surged.
Unable to escape a tough situation, Hiscliff was eyed by Oknodie’s Maid, who had been with Alexander providing protection.
“Do I not need to help? My compatibility is low, so I won’t last long. But in that brief moment, your comrades might lose their lives.”
“One Eungchilgeom must remain beside the Princess at all times. If we defeat the enemy but the Princess falls, we die.”
“What a pitiful situation. A pawn caught up in a family feud.”
Even as Hiscliff struggled, the situation drastically worsened.
“Look! Because of the Princess we are sworn to protect, this Eungchilgeom with skills has fallen back. We have been abandoned. Our loyalty to the Imperial Family has been discarded.”
“So what do you expect us to do?”
“At this rate, we’re all going to die. Whether helping Hiscliff or running away when he falls, we won’t survive.”
“What do you want us to do?!”
“There’s only one way to survive. Make the Eungchilgeom share our fate. So that even if we try to run away, they won’t hunt us down.”
All the guards’ eyes turned toward Masugaki.
Self-serving loyalty.
The guards assigned and not of direct lineage are troublesome, Masugaki thought.
Look.
Didn’t the ominous feeling come true quickly?
“Stop Alexander. A maid and a first-year student from the academy shouldn’t be too much for us guards to handle.”
“Lord Alexander, please don’t hold too much resentment against us. We’ll soon be in the same predicament, right?”
Unlike the rotten brother who sees his younger sister, Yayoi, as a serious rival, here was an older sister desperately trying to protect her younger sister.
The concerns of right and wrong, and the understanding of profit and loss, do not at all apply to the average person who believes in self-serving values.
An unusual Oknodie asked from behind the carriage.
“Need a hand?”
“Not yet ♡ This is enough of a breeze ♡”
So, it seems there’s no choice but to do it this way.
[Forced Domination]
Among the guards approaching without devotion, the one with the most cold eyes suddenly came to a stop.
“Ugh.”
“What’s that?”
“Wait, why does this guy’s expression look like that?”
“Black veins? This guy, no way!”
“It’s Dark Mana! This guy has mastered Dark Mana!”
The Crown Prince’s undercover agent mixed among the guards.
The assassin, hiding his affiliation, must have had some confidence in himself.
He believed he was suited for Dark Mana.
He thought he could slip in flawlessly without going berserk.
The amount of Dark Mana emitted by the Princess would surely be less than what he could absorb as a fully developed swordsman.
But he had several misconceptions.
“Draw your blade and kill yourself! ♡”
First of all, she had been undergoing elite education from a young age for her younger sister, Yayoi, simultaneously developing her skills as a swordsman.
She can hold a decent amount of mana, and the refined method of adopting Dark Mana was safe without the risk of going berserk.
Quantity and quality.
Neither side lags behind the assassin.
Thud.
The assassin who took his own life collapsed.
“Ah, she made a guard who mastered Dark Mana commit suicide…”
“How much Dark Mana must one possess for that to actually happen?”
“It’s the Dark Princess! The Princess has fallen into darkness and become the Dark Princess!!”
The guards were engulfed in shock as Masugaki laughed with a mix of amusement from inside the carriage.
“Is it realistic for the guards to charge at the Princess? While it’s fine to fill a trained vessel with Dark Mana, your moral standards are flimsy! ♡ Coward who hesitates before taking a step back! ♡ I know of three more who have mastered Dark Mana! ♡”
A sentence more frightening than a death sentence was dropped to the pale-faced guards.
“I’ve decided. Next time, I’ll order everyone to kill each other! ♡”
