Chapter 66
My Reflector Is Invincible 66
66. Show Them
Roar.
The banquet hall of Duke Edmer’s castle was packed with people.
Great nobles and royalty whose faces one would hardly get to see in a lifetime. Among them, everyone’s gaze gathered on a particularly distinguished-looking man.
“I didn’t know they would send him from the Empire.”
“He’s not just anyone, but the 3rd Prince whom the Emperor cherishes. It shows how much the Empire is focused on this matter.”
He was a prince who was a strong candidate to be the next emperor in the Empire.
He himself, however, had no interest in the people.
Instead, he was asking his attendant who came with him in a sharp voice.
“So where is the hero?”
“They say he has almost arrived.”
“Tell him to come talk to me as soon as he arrives. We must secure the hero’s teacher qualification by any means.”
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“I will follow your orders.”
In fact, everyone was the same.
Everyone was eagerly waiting for Joo-yeon.
The heads of each faction were after the hero’s teacher position, and the powerful people were after the hero’s guardian qualification.
A courtier cautiously asked the 3rd Prince.
“Is it necessary for Your Highness to do this yourself?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure why we need to go through all this trouble for a hero who is just a commoner, no, a former slave. Above all……”
“Above all?”
“Qualifications of a master. I don’t understand a knight who would put up something like that. And I don’t understand why the prince would personally take action for something like that.”
The third prince chuckled.
He fully understood his subordinate’s feelings.
“You’re saying that selling the qualifications of a master is absurd in itself.”
“That’s right. Isn’t it just a blind gamble? It’s just an easy trick to gather people to the Duke of Edmer’s territory…”
Then, the third prince put his hand on his subordinate’s shoulder.
“Yes. I understand your feelings. But there’s something really important that you don’t know.”
“W, what do you mean?”
“Until now, no one has ever been able to call themselves the master of a knight.”
“Yes?”
It is said that knights are chosen by God.
They are born with special abilities and develop them on their own.
“None of the knights in history have ever had a master. But this time, they’re selling that position for money.”
A place of honor that will be remembered in history for a long time can be bought for just a few cents.
It was inevitable that people would be tempted.
Especially since it was an honor that could be solved with money, it was a very sad situation.
“It doesn’t have to be a master who teaches martial arts. The moment you acquire the qualifications of a master in any field, be it politics or administration, the empire will be recorded as the country that has forever been the master of the knight.”
“……!?”
Only then did the vassal notice the faces of those gathered here.
The pope and cardinals with kind faces.
The kingdom’s generals and state ministers.
The leaders and top warriors of a race.
He realized that they had all come to buy the qualifications of a knight’s master.
At the same time, this place had become the place to determine the knight’s affiliation.
The vassal trembled at the prince’s explanation.
“S, surely you’re not saying that the knight created this place with all that in mind?”
“I don’t know about that.”
I was waiting to find out.
Now I see that the others are the same.
Everyone was waiting for the arrival of the main character without taking a sip of alcohol.
Gulp.
The vassal swallowed his saliva.
What if a teacher is not decided here?
What if someone who is not qualified gets the qualifications of a teacher?
“Then what happens?”
At the vassal’s words, the third prince smiled broadly.
“Then this place will be a sea of blood.”
Clang!
Behind the crown prince, the personal escort knights and the general put their hands on their swords.
They weren’t the only ones.
The others were also looking around, their eyes glinting.
Everyone in the banquet hall seemed ready to fight at any moment.
That was the moment.
Creak!
“……!”
Juyeon entered, opening the balcony door.
The atmosphere changed abruptly.
Everyone had recognized who he was.
“Oooooh, it’s the warrior!”
“He’s here!”
Everyone tried to approach Juyeon.
However, Juyeon ignored them and approached the Knight King on the second floor.
He was frowning.
“You cut your hair.”
“Because I was being treated like a beggar.”
He looked great with short hair. His handsome face was now more visible. However, the Knight King looked around.
“Where’s that thief?”
“Why? Do you want to see him?”
“Of course not. I’m just asking because I thought he’d run away again, like always.”
His gaze was full of contempt. It was clear that he would never have allowed the Great Sword into the castle if not for Juyeon’s request.
Juyeon chuckled.
“He’ll be here soon. I left him alone because he was annoying me.”
Of course, there was a real reason why he had come first, leaving the Great Sword behind.
‘Should I start now?’
Originally, this gathering had a strong purpose of ‘extortion’, to put it mildly.
However, his mind had changed after meeting the demon Highrowzen and the gambling ghost.
Now was not the time to be leisurely extorting money from others.
‘If I’m not careful, the demons might take the other Artifact s.’
The Artifact s that he had entrusted to his old comrades.
If that happened, not only would the Demon King be revived sooner than expected, but it would also become more difficult to deal with him.
He had to secure the Artifact s before the demons could do anything.
However, there was one problem.
‘What if there’s a problem with my past comrades?’
This world was the Balantino Saga that he had played, and it was a world where 50 years had passed since the party member, Warrior Ryuujin, had self-destructed.
Even though 50 years had passed, in terms of the Balantino System, which was divided into <Normal> and <Hard> stages, it was considered the Hard stage.
The <Normal> stage was to gather companions and prevent the Demon King’s invasion.
The <Hard> stage, which users actually called the main stage, was to prevent the Demon King’s reincarnation 50 years later.
In the Hard stage, the difficulty increased, but in return, you could summon the companion characters from the previous game and receive their help.
In other words, it meant that everything was obvious to him.
However, strangely enough, only his memories of the Demon King’s battle were hazy.
I know how to defeat the Devil King, but my memory of the incident is fragmented.
The same goes for the memory of Daedo’s arm.
I know he lost an arm, but I can’t remember how.
However, after meeting Daedo…
‘I remembered how he lost his arm.’
I also remembered the battle with the Devil King at that time.
How we fought and how Daedo lost his arm.
The same goes for the curse of the former Duke, the Knight King.
When I met the Knight King, I naturally came to know about it.
‘There must be a condition for me to remember something.’
Joo-Yeon thought that meeting his colleagues was a trigger.
So what he had to do was clear.
“I’m leaving.”
“Where are you going all of a sudden?”
“I need to find more Relics.”
“……!”
The Knight King’s eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me…”
“I’m going to meet the old colleagues of Hero Ryu-Jin.”
I had to meet them anyway to clear the last achievement within three years.
“Do you know where your old colleagues are?”
Perhaps he does.
<Diary of the Witch Len>, the Knight King wrote down what he had to do there.
<-2. I must prepare for him. Powerful forces and important items. And I must gather information about capable colleagues.>
Among the capable colleagues, there must be information about his past colleagues.
“I know the location of most of my colleagues…”
The information about the north was weak because most of the intel was focused on the continent.
That’s why we allowed bastards like Sanderson to invade. His descendants suffered.
Unaware of that fact, the Knight King frowned.
“Who are you planning to meet first?”
“I’m going to the Krausen Great Forest.”
The Knight King was startled.
“That place definitely has…”
“That man.”
One of the hero’s old colleagues.
The great [Barbarian Chieftain] who united all the barbarians in the north.
He was there.
“Why are you meeting him first?”
“Simple.”
Because he’s the closest.
And it’s easier to find other Artifacts if you have one.
‘I’ll be able to find even those that are being held like the Great Sword.’
It was to prepare for any eventuality.
In case the ownership of the Artifacts had changed.
He had to recover all the Artifacts somehow.
‘The Holy Sword I have now will definitely break when I clash with the Demon King.’
So he needed to strengthen it so that it wouldn’t break, but there was also the reason of preventing the Demons from using it.
‘Normally, it would take months just to look for information on Artifacts….’
Thanks to the Sword King, the troublesome part had been solved. So he had to repay the favor.
“Before I leave, I’ll take what the Edmer Duchy hasn’t received yet.”
“If it’s wealth, I’ve already given you plenty….”
“No, it shouldn’t be just wealth.”
“……!”
Until now, Duke Edmer had been sacrificing himself for the continent.
‘Then I should return that.’
This was also a kind of sense of responsibility for writing <Diary of the Witch Len> to the Sword King.
That’s why he called those guys here.
Of course, all of this wasn’t just for the sake of the Edmer Duchy.
“Sword King, no, Sir Edmer. I appreciate your noble spirit and sacrifice. But…that won’t be enough to stop the approaching doom.”
“……!”
The protagonist’s sudden lowering of speech.
The Sword King was bewildered, but he couldn’t move easily.
He had sensed an unusual atmosphere.
And that intuition was correct.
“Soon, the Demons will reveal themselves. And a new Demon King will appear. They will divide the power of the continent before that.”
“Why are they doing that?”
“Because they were stopped by Ryuu Jin once before. They won’t fail this time.”
“……!”
If that happened, another one of the Heroes might die.
‘I have to stop that at all costs.’
The final <Achievement> clear condition itself is ‘no one dies, and all companions defeat the Demon King alive’.
And I don’t know why I entered the Balentino Saga out of all the other achievements, but.
‘I’ll definitely return alive.’
That’s what he meant.
“I’ll show you. To you and everyone.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’ll see.”
The protagonist raised his hand in a place where everyone in the banquet hall could see.
The people reacted immediately.
“Oh! It seems the Hero has something to say.”
“Hm? What’s that in your hand?”
“What is that? It’s so grotesque. It doesn’t look alive.”
Joo-yeon was holding the heart of a demon, the heart of [Hyrueuzen] to be exact.
“That’s something you people will be curious about.”
The people stirred greatly.
“Could it be proof that you’ve captured the Demon King?”
“You must have come here for my teacher’s seat.”
The nobles’ eyes changed.
“What do you want?”
“We will join you!”
“Then show us.”
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the heart at that moment.
Joo-yeon lifted Hyrueuzen’s heart high.
Then, a voice sounded in his head.
[Would you like to use the ability of <Hyrueuzen>?]
The reason he hadn’t brought Dae-do first was to use this.
‘If they see this, they might get suspicious.’
He was already suspected of colluding with the demons.
If he showed them this, they might cause a scene, seeing him as a demon.
That’s why Joo-yeon activated the Demon King’s heart fragment that he had embedded in Hyrueuzen’s heart in advance.
It was the crystallized object left in his hand after processing the Demon King’s heart.
<Illusion>
Black fog filled the ceiling through the heart.
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“Whoa! What the heck!”
It was the fog of <Illusion> that showed the recipient hallucinations as if they were dreaming.
That wasn’t all.
Woosh!
A surge of energy burst from the heart and poured into people’s heads.
Hallucinations began to appear, as if they were dreaming.
<Dreamland>
He imposed his desired hallucinations on the other person.
The people in the banquet hall didn’t just watch.
“What a strange sorcery! Raise your chivalry!”
“How dare you use sorcery in front of us! What are you doing? Hurry and use the divine art of mind protection!”
The knights and wizards moved quickly.
However, they soon had no choice but to stop.
“Huh? The attack… doesn’t seem to be working?”
“What’s going on?”
“Could it be that he’s suppressing the power of the demons because he’s a hero…?”
“……The hero’s magic?”
No hostility emanated from the black aura.
In fact, unlike Hayarouzen, Ju-Han had no intention of attacking.
“Look, this is what you guys have been ignoring while you’ve been fighting over trivial matters.”
“……!”
Buzz!
Their hearts reacted, and their vision turned pitch black.
An astonishing sight began to unfold before the eyes of the nobles.