Imperial Guard - Chapter 68



Only Noblemtl

Just as priests who use divine powers exude an aura of holiness, sorcerers often exude an aura of the curses they use.

Because acts that harm others through rituals or prayers also affect oneself.

The same was true for Clara.

She devised the curse with her natural talent for thievery.

She steals things, money, and even human hearts, so at some point she was called the God of Stealing, and her curse became the curse of the God of Stealing.

However, a strong curse has a strong backlash.

Clara’s curse was having unintended side effects on her.

“Huh? What is this?”

At first, I just started getting rocks in my pocket that I had never seen before.

Next came bulky items like bread and fruit.

Clara noticed something strange when she saw her own hand moving as she looked at the nobleman’s jewel.

It was an unconscious wall created by the aftereffects of a curse.

Clara ended up committing hundreds of steals a day without even realizing it.

This was especially true for expensive items.

Jewelry, accessories, and other expensive valuables, etc.

When an expensive item came into view, my hands moved without me realizing it.

“Damn it! What are you doing! Stealing our family heirloom!”

“Oh, it’s not that I want to do this···.”

One day, Clara, who had touched a noble family’s heirloom, became hated by a high-ranking nobleman.

From that day on, she surrendered herself to the night crow.

We only solve problems that they cannot solve on their own and reduce their workload as much as possible.

Because I didn’t know where the increasingly stronger curse of the sword would flow to.

“···I met you in the meantime. I approached you to find information, but the curse didn’t work on you, and even your thief power was temporarily weakened.”

“Is it because of the curse that you were convinced it was me even though I was wearing a mask?”

“Yeah. That’s right. I came here because I thought you might know a way to weaken the effects of the curse.”

Clara was kneeling on the floor with both hands raised.

There were numerous daggers scattered around her, all of which were the knives that had been in her arms.

Clara wanted to have a peaceful conversation with Rael, but Rael left no room for her to rebel.

It was fortunate that Clara immediately threw away her weapon.

If I had been even a little late, I would have been punched right away.

“Hmm···.”

Rael looked at Clara who had finished telling her story.

I was planning to give her a little beating in the alley to get her mentally reformed, but she started telling me her story without me asking her to.

I was going to beat him up for talking nonsense, but it seems like Tushin had his own problems.

“Why do you tell me everything without suspecting me?”

“···Well, you are an honorary knight of the Knights of the Silver Cross.”

As expected, the name of Honorary Knight of the Silver Cross was comfortable and nice.

Rael nodded moderately and then thought about it.

‘Can my body absorb the aftereffects of the curse?’

It’s probably a similar principle to how it absorbed magic from Reina’s body.

Clara’s curse would have been absorbed to some extent as well.

“There is one thing I can guess.”

“really?!”

Clara’s eyes widened at Rael’s words.

I had high hopes for it, but I never imagined it would actually work out.

“Yeah. But… there’s no guarantee that what you’re saying is true.”

Rael said with a suspicious look in his eyes.

Actually, I know what she said is true.

Because it’s impossible to fool your senses at this close a distance.

‘It would be nice if we could use this incident as an excuse to drag him into Bagers.’

But Rael wanted to take this opportunity to bring Clara to Bagus.

A person of that kind should be under you.

“Really. Trust me. I’ll do whatever I can.”

“What’s the point of just talking? If you want to make people believe, you have to show it with your actions first.”

“···What do you want me to do?”

Clara looked at Rael.

It was already a half-assed attempt to rid her body of the effects of the curse that had consumed her body.

It was because he didn’t know where the effects of the curse, which was getting stronger, would spread, even though he was relying on the night crow and only revealing himself occasionally.

But now the possibility was appearing.

Even if there was no possibility at all, she couldn’t just sit still once she saw the possibility.

“Night Raven, betray him and join our organization.”

“A night crow?”

“Yes. It will take quite some time to weaken the curse, and we cannot keep the Night Raven members around.”

Lael looked Clara up and down.

Clara Tushin is a famous thief, even known to Captain Rain.

The weakness of the Baggers is that, like beggars, they have difficulty in head-on collisions.

If she betrays the Night Ravens and joins the Baggers, it would certainly be of great help.

“···Okay. I’ll do that.”

Clara nodded.

Actually, I didn’t really have much of a connection with the night owl.

The Empire’s largest information guild was the Night Crow, so I just took refuge there.

“Instead, can you do me one favor? Walk down the street with me. I want to see if the curse really is weakening.”

“It’s not difficult. Let’s go.”

Rael nodded and led her forward.

I was quite curious myself whether the curse would actually be weakened.

Thud, thud.

The streets were quiet, but there was still a noisy atmosphere here and there.

I also saw street vendors open late at night.

Clara stood in front of him, staring at the objects.

“What are you doing? If you’re hungry, buy me one.”

Lael spoke to Clara, who was standing still and looking at the apple.

“···The wall has disappeared.”

“kleptomania?”

“Yeah. The wall that was bothering me really disappeared. It doesn’t seem like the curse’s power has weakened, but how did this happen?”

“···.”

Although many thoughts came to mind about the suffering of the thief because of the wall, Rael did not open his mouth.

As expected, there were many people in this world who were incomprehensible.

“Oh, Clara. I was just asking just in case.”

“Yeah.”

“You, do you have to speak when you use the Curse of the Fallen?”

“huh?”

“Do I have to say ‘Curse of the God of Destruction’ with my mouth?”

Rael asked with a serious expression.

He met many warriors through his various activities.

And··· because of that, the trust in Rain, who was said to have a lot of people shouting about technology, was being broken.

“Why would you do something like that, just by saying it with your mouth?”

“···I was just asking. Otherwise, forget it.”

Again, this time it was a dud.

Lael didn’t see anyone talking about the technique except for the Knights of the Rain.

They too were influenced by themselves, so it was correct to say that there was virtually no one.

It is clear that there is a problem with the Thousand-Year Sword.

Today too, Rael walked along, blaming the crazy old man.

“Wow, that’s ridiculous. How can you just sit still after seeing that expensive token···.”

Clara looked at her hands several times after that, as if she was moved to tears.

At that moment, Rael, who did not sense the dignity of a nobleman in her gestures, continued speaking.

“I can see the estimate right away. I guess your family was pretty poor when you were young?”

“I was an orphan. I discovered my talent while pickpocketing on the street.”

“Oh, pickpocketing? I had some fun when I was young. You look like you came from the streets, don’t you?”

Rael felt the vibe of Harlem on her body.

Rael, who grew up in an orphanage, knows well the hardships of the Empire’s commoners.

Probably the same goes for Clara.

If you come from the streets and had a hard life as a child, you are bound to have a bond with each other.

“You too, Rael?”

“Yeah. I’m from an orphanage in District 4.”

“It’s strange… I was the youngest in a criminal organization. I was barely able to make ends meet after becoming an adult thanks to the curse of suicide, but as the curse got worse, I started stealing from nobles and became hated….”

“What? You got beat up by a noble?”

Rael felt a kinship with Clara once again!

She saw herself being bullied by a nobleman and being sent to the special guard unit.

Now I see that she was a comrade too.

“Clara. Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Let’s go to Baggers right now. From today, you will be the elder of Baggers.”

Among the school ties, regional ties, and blood ties, it is a regional ties.

People from the streets have something in common.

“Elder…? Is that good?”

“Of course. We will rule the night streets of the empire.”

“I understand…! I’ll show you that the name ‘Toshin’ wasn’t given for nothing.”

Clara nodded, clenching her fists.

Rael was a brilliant assassin who was able to subdue anyone in an instant.

Although the goal was to weaken the effects of the curse, it didn’t seem impossible to rule the Empire’s night streets with him.

“Oh, but you have work to do today.”

“···Huh? The night streets of the empire?”

“It’s that important. Investigate the heresy judges of the church. You promised to show your trust.”

“That’s right… I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll show you my skills.”

Clara smiled.

It’s time to put in some effort after a long time.

*

The position of heretic judge of the church is a sacred one.

A place where only the children of nobles who have made numerous donations to the religious order and have branches of the religious order in their territory can enter.

That was the position of the Inquisitor.

“Damn it. It’s so shameful for commoners to be standing in front of the church…”

Inquisitor Garhard Elgar entered the room of a nobleman with a distorted face.

Inside were sitting the heretic judges who were close to him.

They were nobles who held ambiguous power in the empire and could only trust the religious order.

“I didn’t like it anyway. Especially that Carlson guy.”

“Yeah. What’s so great about overlapping divine powers? Everyone must have gone crazy.”

Contrary to their wishes, Carlson’s sword quickly spread throughout the Knights of the Silver Cross.

Marco’s Battle Axe was the first to shine, and upon feeling its power, Marco was electing Carlson as the vice-captain of the Knights of the Silver Cross.

“They say the Knights of the Silver Cross accepts commoners, but… you can’t cross the line. A commoner becoming a lieutenant commander?”

“Tsk. And the saint is also a problem. She is also a commoner… and even the Pope, who had been in prayer for a long time, was moved.”

The saint is originally a symbol of the lowly.

Garhardt, who had actually witnessed his divine power, intuitively sensed that the sect would undergo great changes in the future.

And the Inquisitor will not be able to keep up with the flow of change.

“Garhardt, what should we do? Should we also increase our training time?”

“···That training isn’t important. We produce results.”

“Achievement?”

“I’ve heard it before. It’s reliable enough information.”

The inquisitors’ attention was focused on Garhardt’s words.

He spoke in a lowered voice.

“Soon… the mid-level demons will invade Area 1.”

“Are you talking about the Demon Tribe?! If that’s the case, then I need to tell the church right away···.”

“How stupid!”

Garhardt said, frowning.

“This is our chance, to be heroes. To show the power of the Inquisitors.”

“Hero…! We can finally be recognized!”

Garhardt briefly explained his plan.

The plan was to first lure the commoners to the place where the demons appeared, and then when the two fought and became allies, the heretic judge would take all the credit.

“We are going to subdue the demons who killed the young rookies of the Knights of the Silver Cross. This is a chance to raise the name of the Inquisitor.”

“But what if that guy wins against the Lieutenant Demon? Judging by the power he’s recently awakened, he’ll be on par with the Lieutenant Demon…”

“Don’t worry. We plan to intervene in the middle of the fight.”

“Lord Garhard, surely···!”

“Yes. If the fight seems to be ending, I’ll intervene and kill the exhausted demons, and also kill the commoners to monopolize the credit!”

“As expected, Lord Garhart! You are amazing!”

Garhardt showed the plan he had prepared.

The heretic inquisitors nodded in admiration at the perfect plan.

After admonishing them to be careful, Garhardt left the room.

“No matter how stupid they are, they wouldn’t spread the word about their plans.”

Even so, they are born with the noble blood of the nobility.

I’m sure you’ll have this much patience.

The plan was carried out three days later.

It won’t be long before I see that annoying commoner’s face.

“That’s why you have to be moderately annoying. Commoners should just cower in a corner like commoners. If they had done that, they would have saved their lives. Tsk tsk.”

Garhardt returned to his room with a satisfied look on his face and took off his armor.

Since all of the heretic judges are nobles, they also use luxurious private rooms.

“···hmm?”

At that moment, Garhardt, who took off his armor and looked around the room, felt something strange.

Because the plan to invade the Demon Tribe that he wrote was not visible.

“Tsk. It looks like I threw it somewhere in the room.”

Garhardt clicked his tongue and lay down on the bed.

Anyway, no one can enter the Inquisitor’s room.

It must be somewhere in the room, I thought I’d look for it later.

Slurp-

A bright moonlit night.

A thin shadow passed behind him.