Emperor of Steel

“What is this all of a sudden?”

“That is what I am saying.”

Hearing the explosion, the knights who ran out of the Inn where they were staying inside.

Upon arriving at the scene of the accident, they could see the village security and the other mercenaries.

However, if one doesn’t go out after hearing such sounds, it would be much stranger.

What they saw after reaching the vacant lot outside the village, were dead bodies and traces of flames and lightning strikes.

“Who the hell was fighting out there?”

“Those traces were done with magic, right? Maybe a magic tower?”

“But, there are days the fights in the magic world is turning much fiercely, right?”

The knights who entered the Inn with such talks found Luke sitting at the center of the pub sipping the beer.

“Uh? Lord… sorry. Captain. Were you here?”

“Yes, I went to the washroom for a while but when I came back no one was around. What happened?”

At the question of Luke, the knights approached him.

“It seems like a fight broke out in the open outside the village.”

Luke was the first person to witness the incident.

He managed to get back before the people reached there. And he had no intention of getting mixed up in the issue and telling the village men his name.

So he went back to the inn and pretended as if he knew nothing and heard the stories told by the knights.

“There were on or two scars on the body.”

“But the dead bodies. It seemed like the work of a warlock…”

At the words of a young Knight, Victor looked over at Luke.

It was because he knew that Luke was learning dark magic.

So as the night got deeper and the two were the only ones left, he tried to ask, “It wasn’t something I did.” Luke clarified before he could ask.

“Then…?”

“It was the work of another warlock. And the dead ones seemed to be the mercenaries of the Rokid magic tower.”

The wizards and the mercenaries who attacked the warlock stated that he was the enemy of the Rokid magic tower.

And from what Luke knew, Rokid magic tower was at war with the Veritas magic tower, and their Meister had been assassinated at the beginning of the war.

“Is it related to the magic tower war? Hold on, if the warlock fought with the Rokid magic tower mercenaries, that means…” Victor faltered from saying those words.

“Magic Federation, he seems to be associated with Veritas magic tower.”

“Unbelievable…! The Veritas magic tower studying dark magic?!”

When Luke returned to the Inn and thought about it, he could only decide on one person who could be behind the scene.

Arsene, the founder of Veritas magic tower.

There were several other warlocks on the continent, but the only monster he could come up with for doing such a thing was the monster who decided to become a Lich.

‘Arsene! What the hell did you do to my body?!’

Luke was getting angry, not realizing he squeezed on the glass.

The wine glass in his hand cracked a little, but it was just Luke, Victor who was in shock with the news of Veritas supporting the dark magic hadn’t noticed it.

‘Anyway, the question is solved now.’

When Erenes had told him 2 years ago before his death that Arsene had turned into a Lich and he was wondering how he managed to live.

Among the warlocks too it was rare for one to turn into a Lich, it was because not many knew how to and it was a rare magic.

‘After I died, he ended up being the founder of Magic engineering. It was all because of my research on the Golem’s which were left behind.’

In the process, Arsene must have taken away Saymon’s body without letting Rakan know.

He must have acquired the ancient dark magic which was resting in Saymon’s body and learned about the Lich magic.

‘And if he has been studying the dark magic for over 500 years. The monster which used my body could be the product of his experiment.’

An ancient warlock.

The ancient heritage which he had discovered with Katarina in those days of Saymon, and tried to contain the essence of darkness and chaos.

Luke had become a 9th circle warlock by acquiring some of the magi and knowledge written in a few warlock books and turned into a warlock called as the ‘Devil King’.

He felt dizzy thinking that Arsene who had turned into a Lich had owned and studied his research for more than 500 years.

‘Perhaps he could be stronger than I had imagined. Maybe he would be hard to deal with my current strength…’

As fear began to rise, Luke tried to shake it out of him.

‘What, does it matter? Whether a Lich or a warlock, I’ll smash him! If I can’t do anything with my current strength, I’ll try to form the lacking strength by tomorrow!’

When Luke took his mind off, Victor who was deep in his own thoughts, spoke, “Will you let the officers know?”

“No, I don’t have any intention of doing that. They might or might not believe it, but we will be wasting precious time if we get tangled in here. We will get exhausted if we get caught up between the magic tower wars.”

“I guess so. I am glad you thought it through.”

Victor, who wanted to get busy after reaching the Holy Arthenia and meet princess Reina at once, looked happy with Luke’s decision.

“We are going to leave early tomorrow morning, so get some sleep.”

“Yes, Lord, you too rest well.”

After the conversation was done, Luke stepped out of his room.

Even if he was tight on schedule, he wanted to get stronger upon wielding the sword to increase the Gold Sword skills. Luke was expecting himself to turn stronger by tomorrow.