[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 131: Neutral Enemies (2)

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"Survive in the name of the god and king you believe in, at the cost of your blood."

"-You mean, the blood oath?! "

–Blood oath.

It was a type of oath made at the expense of a certain amount of blood from the person who carried out his vow.

The oath will force the perpetrator of his ritual to act or speak honestly as he has sworn. And if the perpetrator of the ritual violates it, the blood he has sacrificed will react and instantly kill him in an instant.

It was a vow that should have been used for interrogation purposes, but due to the effects of its power, the vow ritual became frequently abused, and became one of the weapons used to kill fellow men.

Eventually, the ritual became a forbidden ritual to perform, except in emergency situations.

In reality, Lucius himself did not want to perform this vow ritual. His pride did not allow him to perform a ritual that could endanger one's life.

But, he still had to do it because this was the only way he had.

It would be best if one of the other Knight of Round members, Philip Tauret was by his side. But, that fellow was currently in investigative work in the southern region, replacing Lucius who had come to Rondo.

Philip was the best of all the Knights of Round if it was related to interrogation, but unfortunately he had too much talent in it that it had to be assigned in many distant places.

Lucius stared at Weise's figure who looked trembling with fear as he discussed the vow ritual.

How not, Weise himself had often witnessed the horror of the oath.

Just the thought that he would perform the ritual now, made him reflexively imagine the worst situation.

Even so, he must still do it.

All for the sake of proving that he was clean from all the suspicions Lucius had placed on him.

Weise took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself, then looked at Lucius with confidence.

"If it's to prove everything, then let's do it."

Lucius nodded, took out a dagger from his belt, then gave it to Weise.

Weise looked scared, but she still accepted the dagger, and looked at him with doubt.

The dagger he received from Lucius had a very beautiful appearance. With golden slats decorated with luxurious silver carvings, making the dagger look like a ceremonial dagger.

Lucius who noticed Weise's stunned look immediately smiled.

"I appreciate the courage you have to prove yourself. Therefore, I give you the honor of holding my Knight of Round symbol, this 'Dagger of Immortality' to you."

The dagger of immortality, it was an artifact passed down to Lucius Roux when he received the honor of becoming a Knight of Round.

Each Knight of Round has their own symbol of an artifact given directly by the king.

In Lucius' case, he received the 'Dagger of immortality.

At first glance, it only looked like an ordinary ceremonial weapon, but the dagger had another effect that could seal the passive skills of the person he was targeting.

The sealing ability that Lucius had shown Noelle earlier was also thanks to this dagger.

In addition to its sealing ability, the dagger also possessed a myriad of other abilities that were too difficult to explain. Even Lucius himself still did not understand how the dagger worked.

Weise was still staring at the dagger with a stunned look, while Lucius was looking at him firmly, as if trying to divert the worry Weise had.

"You don't have to be afraid. Just use that dagger, and run the ritual. If you're innocent, then you'll survive. That's all you need to think about."

Weise took a deep breath once more, then nodded with confidence.

He then slashed his own fingertips with the dagger, making a certain amount of blood drip from it.

The blood that came out from the wound flowed, and fell to the ground, forming a beautiful, yet terrifying, magic circle pattern.

Weise also said the tidbits needed to perform the ritual.

"I, Weise sera Haustur hereby pledge my oath. On top of the ritual formed through the bonds of holy blood, I swear on my name and pride. If I am worthy, save me. And if I'm a sinner, then kill me."

(I haven't seen this for a long time. .. )

Weise's appearance which was slowly covered by the strange magic circle in the air made Lucius speechless.

He had seen it many times, but he still could not help his admiration.

While she was immersed in a soothing feeling of nostalgia, the vow ritual continued to be continued by Weise.

"You who make oaths and covenants, and you who keep life. Accept my blood, and take my oath."

Seconds later, the space around them distorted. Countless golden chains started flowing out from near the formed in the air, one by one surrounding and wrapped around Weise's body.

Weise did nothing to fight him. He accepted it all without fear.

Shortly after, the chain broke into particles of light, then disappeared without a trace.

The blood oath ritual had been completed, and Weise survived the 'curse' that had previously bound her.

That is, Weise did not lie about his ignorance of the angel weapon creation plan.

(With this the ritual is finished, but .. Does he really know nothing? )

Lucius who had even seen the ritual process still did not believe it.

The words Noelle had implanted in her head still resounded strongly, as if convincing herself that the oath was wrong.

Weise, who had completed the ritual and proved that she knew nothing of the plan, looked at Lucius.

He then returned the immortality that Lucius had given him.

"I proved it to you. With this, I should have been free from the charges. But, you don't seem to think that way, do you? "

Weise seemed to realize what Lucius was thinking right now. Lucius instantly regained his consciousness and looked at Weise sharply.

"No, you've proven yourself. I'll try to believe it."

Weise raised one corner of her lips, "Try, huh? "

With that sentence, Weise understood that Lucius still did not believe him even after performing the vow ritual.

Which meant, there was something else that Lucius was worried about at the moment. But Weise could not guess.

His ability in reading expressions was completely useless in the presence of Lucius. Somehow it could happen.

At least, with this Weise had tried to prove her innocence.

For the rest, he would let Lucius do whatever he could to do everything he could to believe what he saw.

To Lucius, it was really strange.

Normally, he would never think of what his enemy said. All Lucius knew, he would only obey the orders of the king and do his duty as a Knight of Round with all his heart.

He was the 'sword' of kings, so he should not be swayed by the words that strangers had spoken to him.

But, for some reason the information Noelle gave her still made her feel bad.

It's like there's a bad feeling that haunts him without him noticing.

To confirm that further, Lucius then again asked Weise.

"Do you .. Do not really know that the plan is proceeding secretly? "

Weise sighed. "Of course I don't know. I even found out about it when you asked me before."

"You don't look surprised by that."

"Of course I was surprised. There was no way I would have thought that the plan had been continued secretly. It's just, there's one thing I think is weird."

Lucius narrowed his eyes sharply, "What is that? "

Responding to that, Weise also confirmed her expression and looked firmly at Lucius.

"As you know, the plan was halted when His Majesty ascended the throne. His Majesty has also prohibited any action regarding that crazy plan. In my opinion, there is no way that anyone would dare to do so secretly. Because, that means they have defied His Majesty's orders."

Weise might hate to admit it, but the kingdom he lived in had many nobles with very high loyalty towards their king.

Even though the noble was a bastard in society, Weise was sure that they never had any intention of betraying their king.

The king who led them now was a very powerful king figure. Provided many revolutionary inventions that accelerated the development of their empire.

Everyone admired him, and everyone was loyal to him as well. He also had a private army known as the strongest group of knights in the kingdom, the Knights of Round. Therefore, there was no way that anyone would dare to oppose him.

As soon as Lucius thought about it, he finally came to a realization with the awkwardness that Weise was talking about.

It is true that there could not have been a single person in Nothingos daring to oppose the king. Well, then, there's only one answer to his question.

Assuming that Noelle was not lying, the only party who dared to continue the experiment that had been banned was only the outsiders.

But that conclusion raises another question. How could outsiders know about the experiment, while all things related to the experiment were confidential information that only a few people knew about.

"Information leaks? "

That was the only answer Lucius could think of. Indeed, it was the most logical answer.

Information leakage is not uncommon in secrecy. That's a very ordinary thing.

Or at least that's what Lucius wanted to believe.

But, information of that level should not be leaked out just like that.

Lucius hated to admit it, but he now had no other choice but to believe it.

There was a traitor in the ranks of the feudal lords in the Kingdom of Nothingos.

Weise is on her list of suspicions, but Weise has shown that she is free from all charges by performing the blood oath ritual.

It was enough to make his name directly crossed off the list of suspicions.

The death of Alfred Beltof. Lucius was convinced that one of them had been involved.

All the questions that were spinning in his head, one by one began to be solved. Now, he inevitably had to admit that Noelle's previous words had influenced him.

If he can, he wants to make sure of it himself. But, it would take some time considering all those events had long since passed.

It's not easy to glean information about what happened 17 years ago. Moreover, everything he was trying to investigate was secret information that not many people knew about.

For that, he needed at least one or two people who were willing to help him investigate the past.

Lucius looked back at Weise and sighed.

"Hey, just to be sure, you really don't know anything about the continuation of that plan, do you? "

Weise also sighed when she heard the question.

"How many times do I have to say it? I was not involved in it at all. And rather than that, are you really sure that the plan is indeed being continued? Have you confirmed it? "

" … I haven't confirmed it yet, but .. The odds are high."

Having come this far, there was no way he could confidently twist what Noelle was saying.

"I see, yes .. If that's what you say, then … "

–I'll trust you, is what Weise wants to say.

However, just before he said that, an extremely dazzling light suddenly appeared and blinded his eyes.

Not only Weise, but Lucius also seemed troubled by that light. Although, his eyes soon returned to normal shortly afterwards.

Despite that, Lucius could barely recover from the shock that plagued him.

Right after the light disappeared, what was before him made him instantly widen his eyes in disbelief.

Weise who had previously spoken to herself, had been reduced to a disgusting pile of formless flesh.

Lucius did not understand what had just happened, but he immediately prepared his weapon as soon as he sensed the presence of others around him.

An unusually strong killing intent instantly came out, filling the already half-destroyed bunker room.

"Show yourself" said Lucius with great emphasis.

Shortly after, a person whose body was covered in a black robe so unrecognizable suddenly appeared before Lucius.

Lucius initially thought it was Noelle, but he immediately removed his suspicions once aware of the aura emitted by the person before him.

That person gave off an impression that was strangely calm, but frightening. Very different from the figure of Noelle, or Souris before him who appeared before Lucius in a state of indecisive heart.

"Who are you? "

In order to ascertain what he was thinking, Lucius tried asking the person.

Lucius did not expect that the man would answer, but he was then again surprised by the response the man gave.

He immediately took off his robe and displayed his true figure who was smiling at Lucius.

The one before Lucius right now was a man who appeared to be at the age of 40 and over. In a luxurious white tuxedo suit, the person looked at Lucius with a knotty smile.

Lucius wasted no more time and instantly disappeared, then reappeared right before the man, swinging his sword towards the neck without his guard.

Even so, the man did not look scared, or even surprised. He just continued to put a polite smile on his face, while the whole stood in a perfect position.

Lucius who saw that became increasingly vigilant and prepared to attack at any moment, but the man before him showed absolutely no signs of moving.

With that thought in his head, Lucius returned to his previous position, and looked at the man.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here? "

He shouldn't have asked that and just killed him on the spot. But, Lucius strangely felt unable to do that.

Given how the man appeared right after the flash of light that made Weise into that loathsome lump of flesh appeared, Lucius was able to deduce that the man before him was the culprit. But Lucius was still doubtful as to what action he should take now.

It was all not spared from his instincts that said that the man before him had more information, about the continuation of the plan of creation of the angel weapon.

While he waited for an answer from the man, Lucius also activated all the skills that had the effect of 'disrupting' his opponent's magic performance and skill.

A moment later, the man snorted as if he had read what Lucius was thinking.

"There's no need to be such a vigilant, honorable Knight of the Round Lord, Lucius Roux."

(He knows me? )

It is not unusual to be recognized by many. But, Lucius did not expect that his opponent would recognize him in such a short period of time.

"You look surprised by the fact that I know you, huh? You're so famous out there."

That's not surprising. The king's personal unit, the Knight of Round, is a group of knights filled with men with powers who can master warfare. It is only natural that their existence is even recognized in remote areas.

However, it was all unimportant to Lucius.

"The answer is my question."

As long as he could complete his task perfectly, and not disappoint the king he served, then that would be enough.

He does not care what society wants to consider. The only thing that could satisfy him was to give his king a perfect victory, like a dog obedient to his master.

"It's true you're a hard person to talk to."

The man chuckled for a moment, then continued his words.

"It's a pity that I can't tell you my name, but .. You can call me Voyager here."

"The voyager? What a weird name."

"Hehe, I know that. You may not be familiar with such terms. In that case, just call me 'Wanderer', Lord Lucius Roux."

That person, the Wanderer instantly raised both of his hands as a sign of not going to put up any resistance, while a few shining swords seemed to be pointing their ends at his neck.

"Quick explain why you're doing all this."

"True .. The impatient man."

Sighing for a moment, he then continued, "Yahh, the others are waiting for me anyway. I'd better get this over with quickly or Olpus will get mad at me."

(Group .. )

Lucius did not know that name. But, what is certain is that the person named Olpus was an influential person in the group called Voyager.

"Now, you must be wondering why I killed Weise and Haustur. With pleasure, I will answer."

"Stop making small talk. Explain why you killed him."

"That's of course, because he's no longer useful."

"useless? "

Lucius did not quite understand his intent, but the killing intent emanating from him became even stronger as the sentence irritated him.

To take someone's life just because he was already useless, was against the belief that Lucius had.

"really. He was useless, so I killed him. Ahh, just so you know, he should be alive for at least a few more years, if everything goes according to our plan."

" … What do you mean? "

Was the crang intending to say that Lucius' own existence caused Weise's death? Just the thought of it already made Lucius feel disgusted.

"really. She lost her qualifications as a perfect doll once you showed up here. If only you hadn't told him about the plan to create that weapon .. He'd still be alive today."

"So, you had something to do with that savage plan, huh? "

It was natural for Lucius to think so. After all, he had indirectly told Lucius that the reason for killing Weise was because Lucius had revealed information about it.

"Well, I can't blame you for the decision you made. After all, it's one of those people who call themselves Souris. He's the one who gave you the information, and you're forwarding it because of your morals and curiosity."

As soon as he said it, Lucius instantly came to his senses.

The reason Souris, Noelle went to the mayor's building was to kill the mayor who 'he said' was seen in the plan. But, Lucius had stopped him from committing murder, and let it slip away just like that.

Despite that, Noelle purposely gave him valuable information about the plan. Everything was done to trigger the morals and curiosity that Lucius had.

"Oho? You realize it, don't you? I thought everyone here was a fool. That's right, Lucius Roux. You, and I have danced in the palm of the man who calls himself Souris."

" ……… "

Once again, Lucius hated to admit it, but it was true.

Lucius had acted recklessly by informing the mayor of the plan out of his own curiosity, and as a result, a Voyager came to kill the mayor who had known the information.

All are in line with Noelle's goal, which is to kill Weise sera Haustur.

Even though Lucius had made him retreat, it still ended up according to the wishes of a 'Sourist'.

"Asterisk, really a bunch of horrible bastards. They don't even hesitate to destroy the only sanctuary the townspeople have."

That person was talking about the Lumine church that Asher had destroyed before.

Even though Lucius heard all the things that the person said, his brain did not work at all to process all that.

The only thing he felt right now was the disappointment towards himself for having been played by the person he should have defeated.

"Well, it looks like you need some time to calm down. You can interpret everything as you please."

Shut up for a moment, the person then continued, "Then, I'm leaving. I hope we can meet again someday, Lucius Roux."

With that, his figure suddenly disappeared like the wind, leaving Lucius who was still silently staring in confusion.

At that moment, a message came to him, from the King.

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