Emperor of Steel

“Is there an assassin among these men?”

Arch Duke Gregory looked at the assassin suspects that his men had found out.

Everyone was screaming and some of them were crying out saying ‘It wasn’t me!’.

At the sight of that, the Arch Duke just shook his head.

‘This all waste.’

He had been guarding the Pope for a long time, so he knew what an assassin would look like and how an assassin behaves.

Basically they were very cool and calm. The higher the level the assassin was, the more troublesome they were to find.

And they never got caught with the rudimentary mistakes like gunpowder smell. Even if they were bleeding to death, they would still be as calm as an ocean.

‘Even if they cry in the face of trouble. Their bodies will always be ready for the next strike. But none of these men look like that.’

And his subordinates couldn’t have just brought them out without thinking.

When it was time to hurriedly find the assassin among the tens of thousands of soldiers, his subordinates had gone in haste and bought out people with unreasonable thoughts.

“Free them all. They aren’t the culprits.”

“Arch Duke, then…”

“If I were an assassin, I would look out for such a situation to happen to make my next move.”

‘Is that definite?’

A paladin thought to himself.

A blond assassin ran from the crowd with his sword pulled out.

He seemed like a man with pretty skills and by seeing that, Arch Duke Gregory’s face went hard.

“Assassin!”

“Come quick and protect the Pope! Keep the Pope safe!”

Some of the paladins around the Pope went forward to stop the assassin, while the others rebuilt the guard and tried to evacuate the Pope back into her wagon.

But Veronica III, who was being asked to move, didn’t move one step.

“What is it, Pope?”

‘That person…’

Veronica, who was watching through the veil, looked at the man who was rushing in front of the paladins.

The paladins were thinking of him to be the assassin, but surprisingly it was the man she had seen multiple times in her dreams.

A person who always stared at her, and within those eyes was the man who was full of longing for her.

‘Luke de Rakan!’

When Luke’s face went visible, Veronica or Reina held her chest.

Her heart began to beat fast and her mind was going blank.

A brief whirlwind of emotions rushed to her which soon awakened her and together with the memories which she had forgotten till then.

The memories of the ruined Princess of Volga and the past two years of her living the life of Pope Veronica III in the Holy Arthenia Empire.

‘Reina! I knew she was Reina!’

When Luke stared at the Pope who had her veil, he went pale.

It wasn’t like he was feeling down.

After seeing each other after a long gap, the suppressed emotions were finally out.

But he couldn’t just rejoice right away.

The man who was considered to be her assassin was getting close to her.

“This man! Trying to get past us!”

“Kuk!”

The paladin who was in front of Reina wielded his sword, which made Luke wound his shoulder.

It wasn’t an attack he could avoid or prevent, however, even after being hit, Luke had no time to falter. It was because a black hole had appeared in the sky.

“Where are you looking…”

The paladin who was facing Luke went shocked.

Surprisingly, a Hand Canon suddenly appeared right next to him.

As soon as the paladin stopped, the real assassin appeared in the air, aiming the shot at Reina.

“Fire Bolt!”

Tang-!

The sparks had burst out of the barrel with a loud shot.

But the arrow that was supposed to fly towards Reina, turned back to the sky.

Luke ran fast at the last minute, and thanks to that the shot hit the sword and bounced off.

“Kuk, such interruption!” Spoke the assassin.

“Trying to escape? No way.”

As soon as Luke ascertained the location of the concealed assassin, he brought down the sword.

Suak!

The aura was so scary that everyone took a step back.

The scene was moving the flow of the water, revealing the assassin’s appearance.

The flustered assassin had something of a transparent piece of cloth rolled up.

‘A wizard, huh. Not just a plain assassin.’ Realized Luke.

Even if the gunshot rang, the absence of gunpowder smell and smoke made sure that it was magic.

In fact, the assassin’s main weapon wasn’t the Hand Cannon, it was the staff-like structure at the back.

It looked dull, but the fire bolt it gave out was powerful enough to put a deadly blow.

It wasn’t just strong weapons, the assassin had an invisibility cloak equipped with magic which allowed him to completely conceal himself.

The magic that the assassin used was of base level.

However, because it was such simple and mediocre, it made it tough to spot him in a place where the number of people was mixed up.

Perhaps, the assassin had attacked by carefully calculating it in advance.

“Tch, today was such a failure, but next time…”

“There won’t be a next time.”

Luke heard an unfamiliar voice and the hands of the assassin who were trying to tear off the scroll were cut off.

It was Arch Duke Gregory, who wielded the sword so fast that the assassin couldn’t even feel the pain, and Luke couldn’t even notice.

Arch Duke Gregory, appeared right next to the assassin and raised his sword to his throat.

“How dare you try to take down the Pope… you must be willing to die.”

The assassin looked flustered to suddenly appear in the close range of Arch Duke Gregory. But he brought himself to smile.

“I am sure. It is hard to die.”

The assassin crossed his hands which left after getting cut.

Luke noticed that he was trying to concentrate on the mana circle, and screamed at everyone close to him.

“Everyone hurry! It is suicide magic!”

As soon as dangerous light shone from the assassin’s heart, Luke ran over to the assassin without any hesitation. And shortly thereafter, wild roars shook both heaven and earth.

Kwang!

The tremors and the vibrations, the flashes soaring above the sky were clearly visible to the men in the Konrad Kingdom and the other army.

Some of them were amazed, while the others were smiling.

Making the wheel of destiny to turn silently into an unknown direction.