Emperor of Steel

The most common punishment for rebellion was death penalty.

And Vante had no doubts that it was definitely going to be death for him this time.

Last time, the new lord had released him saying that he didn’t care about Vante’s past actions as long as he had the will to change.

However, ignoring the virtuous words, Vante aimed his sword to defend his old lord’s loyalty and flesh.

It wouldn’t be just beheading, even if he was torn into pieces alive, there was nothing Vante could even say.

Rather than that, the new lord who went back to the lordship asked for Vante to be brought to the office.

And he wasn’t punished as well.

“If there is something you have to say, go ahead.”

“…”

When Luke asked, Vante, who was kneeling down, kept quiet.

Looking down at the man who had a pathetic expression, Luke asked, “What was the reason to attack? Did you think that you would be able to reclaim the territory with just a handful of power… By killing me, you thought of avenging your former lord?”

“I can’t even show you my face.”

“Why did you do it if you couldn’t even show your face?”

Kwang!

When Luke threw his fist at the table making a huge sound, the body of Vante trembled.

Vante’s heart was in pain.

“If the Lord was a man who couldn’t support his army and turned into a traitor, shouldn’t you at least look after his blood! Did you think that you would be able to keep doing stuff till the end?!”

“… Please, please kill me.”

Ashamed, having no words to say, Vante put his head on the floor.

However, Luke’s voice only became louder.

“You want to be killed?! Haven’t you realized it yet?! If I wanted to kill you, I could’ve killed you numerous times already! Nevertheless, what do you think is the reason for me to not kill you or Scarlet!? I didn’t want to unnecessarily call for blood.”

Vante understood Luke’s intention.

Although the former lord ended up making wrong acquaintances and wrong choices, the lord of Albertville was a man with virtue.

How would the locals react if they heard about the blood and the retainers of the old lord were getting executed?

Hostile words wouldn’t come out right away, but there would be silent opposition, and there would be radicals who dreamed of revenge and a few who would go to the extent of carrying it out.

“A way to not call blood. You may not feel helpful for me, and you don’t even have to cooperate with our work, but you must have known that your dumb deeds would risk the lives of all the people the former lord had taken care of!”

Luke wasn’t the kind of man to stay still if the people of the territory revolted or committed violence.

If the entire estate thought of revolting, he would calm it down.

But there would be a huge loss of lives because of that.

Up until that point, Vante had no suitable answer for Luke’s question. With head still on the floor, he was crying.

“Stop for now. I will consult with my men and dispose of your faction.”

“Yes, Lord.”

Vante took a step back when Luke stated his verdict.

Two days later, Scarlet had woken up.

As soon as Luke got the report, he called her over to his office. Her face was red with shame and regret.

‘She isn’t someone who doesn’t know her mistakes’

The fact that Luke had raised his voice much more than needed at Vante was because of Scarlet.

No matter how terrifying the treason was, it was difficult to kill the blood of the former lord who had always been known to be virtuous.

That was why he had scolded Vante and tried to crush any little hope in her.

Surely that had worked well, but Scarlet’s state seemed like she was almost dead. Luke couldn’t feel the hostility and hope that he had seen in her during the time she shot an arrow toward him.

“Sit over there.”

“… Yes.”

Scarlet was regretting her mistake and seated herself where Luke pointed to.

Luke stared at her for a moment and asked, “From whom did you learn archery?”

“That…”

“I will let you know in advance. It is better that you don’t lie to me.”

There was no way she had the ability to do it anymore, but Luke’s overwhelmingly loud voice killed any hope Scarlet had in her.

If she thought about it well, it was a fight with no cause, and she even ended up using the souvenir her Master had left, and yet she didn’t manage to complete her mission.

Moreover, instead of killing her, the opponent had the boldness to make her sit in front of him.

‘I can’t win anymore. He is a man that I can’t break.’

When she realized that, she felt displeased with herself.

Scarlet sighed and said, “I learned it from the elves who used to pass through our estates.”

“It wasn’t unusual, but I knew that it was the skill of the elves. By the way, who is the elf who taught you that?”

“Erenes…”

When the familiar name flowed out of Scarlet’s mouth, Luke’s face changed.

“Are you sure it was Erenes?”

“Yes, is he someone you know?”

At the question from Scarlet, Luke’s expression changed as he answered, “He has been the face of the elves since ancient times.”

In fact, he knew Erenes from 500 years ago, but people would think he was crazy if he said that, and no one would believe him.

‘Erenes has taught this woman archery…’

Erenes specialized in elemental magic, but he knew how to handle the bow very well. If he had to choose, Erenes would have surely taken archery than magic.

Nevertheless, Luke never thought that he would have passed on his vision to a human, a woman.

But there was a different concern. It was the power that Scarlet used, Aether.

“How did you get the power that you used to attack me?”

“It was in the necklace that he gave me. He told me that it was the power of God… And that it was difficult to handle, so he told me not to use it.”

‘Did Aether have a seal over it? But, he gave this woman that…’

Erenes was known as a prophet among the fairies.

It took quite some time before his prophecies would happen, but his prophecies always came true.

There seemed like there had to be a reason as to why he had passed this vison of archery and handed it over to a woman.

“Has he said anything else?” Asked Luke.

“Well… When the night is darker than ever, he told me to hit the light on the shell of the big sea turtle. Do you know what it meant?”

“Well, not at…”

Some of the prophecies of Erenes were straightforward, but some of them were metaphorical.

The latter was often the most important ones.

The problem was that they were so hard to understand that people would only realize that it had happened once it happened.

‘Should this be regarded as the arrangement of Erenes?’

Perhaps, Erenes knew that Luke would meet Scarlet since he had passed his archery and handed over a sacred skill and left a prophecy behind.

‘Well, even if that wasn’t the case, she is worthless if she is dead.’

It wasn’t just about her archery.

Scarlet hadn’t realized it yet, but Aether was in her body.

It wasn’t known when the power in her would wake up, but if she knew how to handle it, it would be great.

With just an arrow of light, quite a few Sword Masters could be taken down.

When Luke was in his thoughts, Scarlet, who was nervously waiting for her disposal, opened her mouth.

“What are you going to do with my retainers?”

“Well, I did give you the chance to live quietly, but you kicked it out of the window, and the rumors had already spread outside of the estate, so living your life silently would be very tough.”

“Phew, I guess so. If this enters the ears of Arch Duke Gregory, he will try to eradicate the remaining rebel remnants.”

He wasn’t the kind to tolerate any danger to the pope’s authority.

Would he let these rebels alive?

Never would he.

They would be executed in a horrible manner to set an example for the others.

‘I should’ve listened to Sir Vante…’

Luke smiled while watching Scarlet sigh with a dark expression.

In fact, if Reina was there she would have dealt with the situation very silently.

But in order to make the girl and her followers obey him, he needed to scare them a little bit.

“Since you are the disciple of Erenes… Would you rather do this?”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Leave the Holy Empire. I have a lord acquainted in the Baroque Empire, and he will hire you and your retainers upon my recommendation.”

“So, you want me to leave my home town?”

“How long do you think you can live quietly?”

Scarlet thought for a moment.

Living wasn’t going to be easy.

However, to keep her retainers alive, she decided to follow the advice given to her by the young man.

“I understand. I will follow your advice,” answered Scarlet.

“You thought it through.”

Luke wrote a letter for Scarlet right away.

Scarlet took her letter of recommendation and opened her eyes.

The new lord recommended him to the Marquis Rakan, the famous warrior.

‘I thought that he was an unusual person, but to be an acquaintance of the Warrior’s descendant…!’

Scarlet was impressed.

‘Huhuhu, how will she react once she knew that I am the Marquis of Rakan?’

Luke was curious and decided to delay the fun for a later time.

“Ah, and the power that you used…”

“Are you talking about God’s power?”

“To be precise, it was the power of Aether. The power is still new to you. It is as dangerous as it seems, so I’ll let you know how to control it.”

Scarlet was slightly puzzled. Was the man able to control the power of God that she hadn’t felt before?

But she soon understood.

He knew her master and a warrior’s descendant. He even managed to prevent the attack with his own power.

He might know how to handle the power of God.

“Can God’s power really be controlled?”

“Aether, not God’s power. I have some personal experiences and a few things I have heard from other men.”

Luke informed Scarlet about his techniques and the ones Reina informed him before leaving Bless.

And it wasn’t long before he revealed it since he learned that Scarlet possessed the vision, but more importantly, it was because she was taught by Erenes.

It wasn’t just teaching, he had revealed a lot of stuff and provided her with power.

‘How would Erwin react if she saw this? Would she be jealous?’

Luke was very excited to see once the two of them meet.

He couldn’t imagine how dangerous the situation was for Erenes’ immediate disciple, Erwin.