NOVGO.NET Chapter 238 : Chapter 238
Chapter 238. You Would Have Been Different (2)
The biggest incident since the founding of the Schneider fiefdom had occurred.
In a way, it might have been an incident even worse than the Monster Stampede.
The abduction of Ava Schneider.
Upon hearing this news, the Schneider fiefdom immediately went into a state of emergency.
“You incompetent fools!”
The first to roar in anger was the commander of the Double Dragon Knightly Order, Sanson Kainel.
He wanted to beat up the two knights in charge of the escort right away.
But….
“The two of them are in critical condition right now, Sir Kainel.”
“My lord.”
“And it’s not their fault either. The two of them did their best.”
The two knights had reported everything about Ava’s abduction, even as they were dying, before finally losing consciousness.
Before that, they had stubbornly held on, refusing even treatment, to keep their minds clear.
Count Schneider clenched his fists and spoke.
“If there is a problem, it is my fault for reducing the escort, thinking she was safe within the fiefdom.”
“…….”
Sanson could not bring himself to reply to Count Schneider’s words.
Anyone in the Schneider fiefdom knew.
Just how much this Count Schneider cherished and loved his wife.
While other nobles often formed political marriages, showed little affection to their wives, maintained only a perfunctory relationship, and took lovers, Count Schneider was different.
He had genuinely cherished and loved his wife.
Even now, though he said he was fine, his clenched fists were trembling.
And even in the midst of such anger and anxiety that he felt like he would go mad, he was protecting his knights.
Knowing Count Schneider’s heart, he could not bring himself to be angry any further.
Instead, he asked his subordinates about the situation.
“Where is Vice-Commander April?”
“She is searching the area around the fiefdom indiscriminately. She is especially making sure no one can leave via the main roads.”
“Well done.”
With Ava abducted, the first thing to do was to lock the gates leading out of the fiefdom.
If, by any chance, the kidnappers took her outside, finding her again would become difficult.
“Lady Elione is also said to have mobilized the full force of the Elf tribe to block off the area around the fiefdom and is tightening the encirclement.”
“That’s a relief.”
The search network of the Elves, using spirits, was certainly trustworthy.
In addition, the Orc warriors were also moving under Tutan’s command, and the Magic Swordsmen belonging to the Tower of Truth were flying in the sky, searching for any suspicious individuals.
The search was truly being conducted by mobilizing the entire manpower of the Schneider fiefdom.
But they still could not find any trace of Ava.
‘Something… there must be a blind spot we are overlooking. What could it be?’
Sanson was not the type to use his head well.
He was the type who only carried out orders well.
But now, he was trying his best to find something, mobilizing his brain that didn’t usually work.
Who on earth could have kidnapped the lord’s wife?
What was their purpose?
It was the doctor who was treating the two knights who gave Sanson, who was racking his brain to the point of getting a headache, the answer.
“My lord. The treatment of the knights is complete.”
“How are they?”
“For now, we have stopped the bleeding and sutured the wounds. All that’s left is to watch their prognosis. More importantly….”
The doctor showed him something.
“During the treatment, this came out from inside the knights’ bodies.”
What the doctor presented was a small iron ball.
At the sight of the iron ball, the size of a fingernail, Count Schneider’s eyes glinted as he spoke.
“Are you saying this came from inside the knights’ bodies?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“How can something like this….”
He had never heard of it being possible to injure the body of a 4-star knight with an iron ball the size of a bean.
But at that moment….
“That is a bullet.”
When had he appeared?
The 5th Sage, who had appeared after hearing the news, revealed the identity of the black iron ball.
“5th Sage.”
“I have heard the news. And now that I see that, I think I know who the culprit is.”
The 5th Sage picked up the iron ball the doctor had brought, looked at it, and said with conviction.
“There is no doubt. This is an object called a bullet, used by the Dwarves.”
“Dwarves, you say?”
“That’s right. It’s a weapon that uses gunpowder, one of the secret weapons that the Dwarves do not leak to the outside.”
“Gunpowder, you mean that explosive powder?”
In his youth, Count Schneider had also been a bookworm who had studied enough to be able to enter the Academy.
Although he had seen and experienced little firsthand, the knowledge accumulated in his head was far greater than that of ordinary nobles.
As Count Schneider seemed to understand, the 5th Sage continued.
“That’s right. There is a device that fires a small iron ball using the explosive power of gunpowder. It is called a gun.”
“But how can a Dwarven-made weapon…. Ah?”
“The Harbor Kingdom may be at odds with the Dwarves now, but they had a friendly relationship that spanned hundreds of years.”
“……”
“Moreover, it would not be surprising if a member of the royal family had been gifted one or two gunpowder weapons.”
At the 5th Sage’s words, Count Schneider immediately understood the situation.
“Sir Kainel!”
“Yes.”
“Search the place where the Harbor Kingdom’s envoy is staying, immediately. Right now!”
Count Schneider shouted in a loud voice, unlike his usual self.
And Sanson answered immediately.
“Yes. I understand.”
Sanson immediately led the Knightly Order and ran.
And the 5th Sage also nodded and said.
“I will inform the entire region of this fact through the communication sphere right now. Please be strong and wait.”
“Thank you, 5th Sage.”
***
The suspect had been identified.
Sanson immediately led the Knightly Order and ran to the inn where the Harbor Kingdom’s envoy was staying.
“What is it?”
Knights from the Harbor Kingdom were standing guard in front of the inn.
At their arrogant attitude, Sanson glared and said.
“By order of the lord, I will search the inside. Move aside.”
“What absurd nonsense.”
“…….”
“This is a space rented out by our Harbor Kingdom, and it is where our country’s prince is staying.”
“…….”
“Where does a country knight think he is, searching… Keo-eok!”
It was then.
Sanson, who had been listening quietly, sent his fist flying into the opponent’s jaw.
The opponent floated about 30 centimeters off the ground before collapsing onto the ground.
And Sanson said.
“Strike! We have no time to listen to nonsense!”
“Yes!”
Prince of a nation or not….
These bastards had touched something they should have never touched from the very beginning.
The knights, having received Sanson’s command, immediately stormed into the inn.
“What?”
“What is this… Keo-heok!”
The Knightly Order mercilessly crushed anyone who showed signs of resistance as they stormed inside.
Then, a person who appeared to be a knight of the Harbor Kingdom came out and shouted.
“What are you all doing? Do you know how serious a diplomatic problem this will become?!”
He pointed out the diplomatic issue and argued, but it had no effect on the knights of the Schneider County family now.
“Like we care?”
“Where is the lord’s wife? You sons of bitches!”
“I’ll kill you all!”
As the knights of the Schneider fiefdom shouted, genuinely emitting killing intent, the knight of the Harbor Kingdom, who had been acting tough, was greatly flustered.
“What are you talking about? Why are you looking for your lord’s wife here, keok….”
Right now, the Knightly Order of the Schneider fiefdom was literally seeing red.
The deed was already done.
They smashed everything in sight as they searched the inn thoroughly.
However, even after searching the entire inn, the lord’s wife was not found.
A misunderstanding?
No.
For that, there was one piece of irrefutable circumstantial evidence.
“You bastard! Where did your prince go? Where is that hooligan brat?!”
That’s right.
Ava was not here now, but Prince Dawson of the Harbor Kingdom was also nowhere to be seen.
The fact that the prince of the Harbor Kingdom was not seen here at this point was a piece of circumstantial evidence that was sufficiently suspicious.
Oliver grabbed the collar of a fallen knight from the Harbor Kingdom and interrogated him, glaring as if to kill him.
“Keuk… I… I don’t know. He might be having a good time with some married woman somewhere… Keuk keuk….”
“This bastard?”
At the sneer of the knight, whose face was swollen and who had only his grit left, a spark flew in Oliver’s eyes.
Oliver pulled the opponent strongly towards him and smashed his nose bridge with his forehead.
Jjeo-eok!
“Kuaaak….”
“You bastard. You don’t know who I am, do you? In our fiefdom, I’m the third most ill-tempered person.”
Normally, Oliver had a cheerful and playful personality, but once he got angry, there were few people who could stop him.
Not just because of his skill, but because he would literally rampage without seeing anything in front of him.
“You’d better be prepared to be beaten until you talk straight, you son of a bitch!”
Jjeok! Jjeok jjeok jjeok jjeok!
And Oliver’s fist repeatedly slammed into the opponent’s face.
But the opponent also gritted his teeth and endured.
‘I… I have to endure. They won’t kill me.’
To tell the truth here was the same as selling out Prince Dawson.
For him, that meant the ruin of his life.
These kinds of petty people tend to show surprisingly tenacious grit when their own lives are on the line.
The man endured and endured, even as all his teeth were knocked out and his facial bones were crushed by Oliver’s fists.
In the end, Sanson, who couldn’t watch any longer, stopped him.
“Stop, if you hit him more, he’ll die.”
“Damn it!”
Oliver burst out in frustration.
And the fallen knight, with a swollen face, smiled a victorious smile and said with a snicker.
“Keuk keuk keuk…. Now you all… are finished. From the Harbor Kingdom… officially… keuuuk…. a protest will be lodged.”
Everyone’s expression became serious.
It would be a different story if they had found the lord’s wife here.
They had smashed up the envoy of a nation with only circumstantial evidence, in a situation where the lord’s wife was not found.
If things continued like this, it was natural that an international protest would be lodged.
“Damn it, I can’t even just kill this bastard?”
“Why can’t you kill him?”
It was then.
What Oliver, who was grumbling, heard was a voice colder than the north wind in midwinter.
When he turned his head, there was….
“Vice-Commander.”
“You’ve arrived?”
The peerlessly beautiful April, with a blatant killing intent on her face.
At her appearance, even the knights on the same side froze up.
It was a scene that showed how firmly April had established her position as vice-commander over the past year.
Even the commander of the Knightly Order, Sanson, deferred to April.
“Vice-Commander. The lady is not here.”
“It’s certain that these guys are the culprits, right?”
“Almost….”
“I see.”
April approached the fallen knight.
The knight, despite the frighteningly beautiful woman approaching him, was so terrified that he retreated, shuffling on his bottom.
‘Sca… scary….’
Even if he was third-rate, he was a knight in name.
He had undergone some knightly training.
But the pressure from the woman approaching him now was so overwhelming that it would lightly trample on any small confidence he had.
“Where is the lady?”
“I… d-don’t know. Why are you looking for that bitch from me?”
“…….”
April was silent.
Instead, she moved her fingers and quickly pressed several points on the opponent’s body.
At that, the opponent, not knowing what had just been done to him, had a bewildered expression.
“What is this…. Keo-eok….”
Only at first.
Soon, as his bones and muscles began to twist and contort….
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!”
He let out a scream that seemed like it could be heard throughout the entire fiefdom.
Bone-Splitting and Tendon-Twisting.
A living hell, officially recognized in the Jianghu, unfolded.
***
Another inn, a short distance from the one where the Harbor Kingdom’s envoy was staying.
The Harbor Kingdom had rented this entire inn under the name of an existing merchant.
Was it because they were not new to doing bad deeds?
They had rented this accommodation in advance before kidnapping Ava.
Normally, they were stupid bastards who seemed to carry their brains outside their heads, but they showed a meticulous side when it came to doing bad things.
And they had moved the kidnapped Ava to this place.
This was a fact that the knight, who had been subjected to April’s Bone-Splitting and Tendon-Twisting, had revealed in just 10 minutes.
After completely surrounding the place.
April bit her lip gently and said.
“I will enter alone.”
“O… okay. I’m counting on you.”
Sanson squeezed his eyes shut and gave his permission.
And it was the same for the other knights.
Ava had been kidnapped at dawn, and it was now late at night.
Considering the hooligan nature of the prince of the Harbor Kingdom and Ava’s beauty, it was more than enough to imagine what terrible things might have happened.
He didn’t even want to think about it, but if, by any chance, such a thing had happened, it was better to have fewer witnesses.
April entered the inn.
As she entered….
“What?”
“What’s going on?”
Swish!
Two knights had surprised expressions, but that was their last.
The two twin swords that April had drawn simultaneously cleanly cut off their necks.
And April, who continued to walk, stopped at the cellar in the inn’s kitchen.
A cellar built to store ham, cheese, wine, and other things.
Two auras were felt from that place.
One was robust and fine, but the other was on the verge of dying.
“…….”
Her breathing became ragged.
April gritted her teeth and gripped her trembling sword.
And her clean sword strike cut through the door of the cellar.
Chwaaaak!
And April, who had landed lightly below, immediately gripped her sword and stared straight ahead.
And there was….
“April? You’re here?”
“…My lady?”
“I was having trouble finding the way out, can we go now?”
“…….”
There was Ava, looking perfectly fine.
Although her hands were tied with a rope, there was no sign of anything wrong with her body.
And….
“Keu… keuuuuu….”
“Oh my? He’s about to wake up again. Step aside. I’ll knock him out again.”
The one groaning in pain next to April was Prince Dawson, with his shirt off and his pants half-off, caught on his own legs.
‘What… what happened here?’
Even the great April could not help but be flustered by this.