How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 86: Change of Means (1)

Osian realized that further conversation with Elise would only tire him out, so he decided to call it a day.

He was still a bit mentally exhausted from using the power of the Moonlight.

It was a similar feeling of exhaustion to when he first used Starlight.

It wasn’t an irritating fatigue, but rather a feeling of exhilaration after a hard workout.

‘Worse, there’s all this commotion at the mansion, and none of Mr. Dyke’s hired men are showing their faces.’

The fact that they didn’t show their faces, when they could have come to check on him at least once, suggested that something might have happened to them as well.

Osian’s gaze fell on David Goldiron, who lay on the ground.

“Hee hee, you murderer!”

David exclaimed as his eyes locked with Osian’s.

It was not the best thing to say to a man who had hired a wizard to kill people, but Osian ignored it and asked him.

“Answer me, what else are you up to?”

“What, what? I, I don’t know.”

“If you don’t answer, I’ll cut off your fingers one by one, and maybe that will jog your memory.”

“What do you mean, I don’t know!”

“On the count of three.”

David’s teeth clicked together.

That nonchalant look in Osian’s eyes was genuine.

The insane fixer was really going to torture him, the eldest son of House Goldiron, by chopping off his own fingers!

“One.”

“Hmph, I don’t know! I don’t know!”

“Two.”

“Hey, you son of a bitch, how can I tell you if I don’t know!”

“You finally ignored the warning.”

Osian was about to say three.

“Stop there.”

It was Dustin Kruger, the butler, who stopped Osian.

As he poised to swing his sword, the corner of his mouth curled upward.

Dustin Kruger, Dyke’s trusted henchman, emerged, leading a group of mercenaries.

Osian casually slid his sword back into the scabbard at his waist and stared at Dustin as he stood on the second-floor ledge.

‘This guy. From the beginning?’

Dustin took one look at Osian’s expression and realized he’d been played.

Osian hadn’t meant to cut off David’s finger in the first place. This whole series of actions had been nothing more than a show of force to call him out.

Even more than the fact that he’d gotten a good punch in, he wondered.

‘Did he know I was watching?’

Instead of reacting as if he’d been waiting, Osian acted as if he’d already noticed something.

‘Of course not.’

The moment Dustin denied it, Osian asked.

“Now if you’d just let me meet the real owner of this mansion, I’ve waited too long.”

“I don’t know……what you’re talking about.”

“Are you going to keep playing games with me?”

Osian’s piercing gaze penetrated Dustin’s thoughts.

“Dyke Goldiron, is alive and well.”

“……!”

“This whole situation was nothing more than a self-inflicted wound of his own making.”

Elise asked from beside me.

“What makes you think that?”

Osian’s words were so shocking that even Dyke’s eldest son and second daughter listened in horror.

Their father is fine? This is all self-inflicted? What the hell does that mean?

“I thought it was strange from the beginning. The fact that the owner of the house was sick and was recuperating in a villa like this, and the fact that a ghost appeared and you only guarded the area near the owner’s room.”

“If you’ve fought the ghost, you’d know that, wouldn’t you? It’s only right to protect the patriarch.”

“But even though his children hired these people to create a tense atmosphere inside the mansion, you didn’t interfere at all. It was as if you wanted it to turn out this way.”

“You’re wrong. I only care about the safety of my lord, and I don’t care what the children do.”

“Even when it threatens his position? You see, after all the commotion at the manor, do you really think they would have simply banded together to save their father?”

Dustin’s eyebrows shot up.

How could he not know what Osian wanted to say?

David, the eldest son, and Mercy, the second daughter, dreamed of rebellion so they hired wizards from the Salaman school and mutants from Supremacy.

On the surface, their motive was to rid the manor of ghosts, but deep down, they wanted to dethrone their father and claim their share of the estate.

At the same time, they also wanted to get rid of their illegitimate third son, the most troublesome of all.

“After all of that, there was all that commotion in the mansion, and no one bothered to poke their noses in to see what was going on. Don’t you think that’s a little odd?”

“That’s because…….”

Osian waved his hand, cutting Dustin off mid-sentence.

It was so exquisitely timed that Dustin couldn’t help but purse his lips.

“Here’s what I’ve come to. Dyke Goldiron was never in a coma in the first place. This whole thing that’s been going on is all for show.”

“You’re lying!”

Mercy’s voice trembled as she denied Osian’s words.

That the old man had set this up on purpose? Their actions were all calculated?

For people who had done nothing but make money for the rest of their lives, the realization that they had been taken advantage of was as shocking as the sky falling.

“Oh, no?”

Mercy’s pleading eyes turned to Dustin but Dustin didn’t answer; he just stared at Osian, his face rigid.

“Deny my words!”

“…….”

Dustin didn’t deny Osian’s words.

He didn’t even affirm it, but if it was a lie, he would have driven a wedge into it.

However he didn’t.

“Ah, ah.”

Mercy covered her face with both hands.

Her frustration at being caught in the act was almost pathetic, but no one in the room pitied her.

Osian turned to Dustin and asked.

“So, what are we going to do now?”

“…….”

“You’re going to get rid of me, the one who knows the whole truth, by shutting me up?”

It was a bold question but Dustin was even more unable to respond to Osian’s behavior.

If he were alone, he would indeed try to silence him but he wasn’t the only one in the room.

Elise Denarova, the youngest daughter friend, the genius warlock of the century, had also heard the truth.

It was only right that Elise should be eliminated as well, but that seemed impractical.

‘He did this on purpose, and he did it in front of everyone.’

Dustin realized he’d been set up.

‘We already know about Elise Denarova.’

In particular, her current summons, [Groom] and [Bride], are very specially crafted.

Even if he unleashed all the firepower in this place, he wasn’t sure he could catch her.

Besides, Osian was a problem.

He had fought the ghost, fought people hired by the First and Second, yet he was still too healthy and didn’t have a single wound.

That meant that Osian was as powerful as they were.

‘He’s a cunning man. He’s not just strong in brute force, he’s got the brains to read and exploit situations.’

Eventually, Dustin could only sigh and nod.

“That’s right. Mr. Dyke is fine. What’s happening now is nothing more than what he did.”

“I see.”

Marcy lowered her head even further, and David let out a ragged laugh.

‘Wait.’

Osian eyed David.

His expression was somehow unaffected by the realization that he was about to lose everything.

His face was already pale, but Osian could see it.

A glimmer of hope, still tiny, was flickering between his pupils.

‘What?’

Osian asked Dustin.

“How many troops are in the room where the lord is staying right now?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but don’t worry, there are over fifty hired men left in the room.”

“What I’m asking is, how many of those fifty are truly loyal to the lord?”

“What…….?”

Dustin’s eyes widened as if he sensed something in Osian’s words.

His shrunken pupils pointed the way he’d come.

“What?”

Just as he recognized the possibility, a gunshot rang out across the hall.

“My lord!”

Dustin yelped in surprise and ran with his troops to where Dyke was staying.

Osian, who had been watching his back, glared at his eldest son, David.

“Pfft. Kwak.”

David grinned, as if he’d done it.

“Ha ha. I never thought it would come to this. I never thought it would come to this.”

“You, what are you, what have you done?”

Mercy asked her brother, David, in disbelief.

“Nothing, it’s all a plan.”

“A plan? There’s no way you, stupid, could have planned this! Tell me, who did this?”

“You think I’m going to tell you that?”

It was Osian who answered Mercy’s question.

“I see. The mistress was in on it, too.”

There was one other person in this house besides Dyke, his butler, and his four children, their mother, the woman who had lived with Dyke Goldiron for over half his life.

“Are you sure you want to stay like this?”

David sneered at Osian.

“Your presence here means there’s no one to protect that damned bastard?”

With that, Osian stormed out of the room.

He sped through the mansion, heading for Delan’s quarters.

‘A little faster.’

-Tsk tsk.

The power of the Moonlight, reading Osian’s will, flowed into him.

Frost formed on the ground, then a smooth icy path and Osian glided over it, moving faster than usual.

In front of the room where Delan was staying, a group of rough-looking men stood.

They were all armed with guns and bombs.

They were about to rush inside when the door to the sturdy, shelter-like room shattered in half.

As soon as Osian saw it, he drew the sword at his belt.

“Huh?”

“What was that…….?”

The moment the men who had spotted Osian opened their mouths, their heads fell to the ground like ripe fruit as two cold blue trails remained where their throats had been.

Quickly moving between the gunmen, Osian drew his sword.

With each swing of the Moonlight Sword, the slashed men screamed and died.

The cuts were wounds, but the frosty aura invaded them, freezing bone, muscle, and even blood.

“Hey, what the fuck!”

Barely alive thanks to the meat shield of the man in front of them, the men pointed their guns at Osian and pulled the trigger.

-Tut-tut-tut.

Shots scattered all around, leaving no room to dodge as Osian’s body fell to the ground, pierced by countless bullets.

After a moment of relief at the sight, the fallen body turned into blue crystal particles and scattered.

“Huh?”

Osian, who was actually hiding his true body, dropped from the ceiling and landed in the center of the remaining troops.

The moment his legs touched the ground and his body spun in a full circle, it was almost simultaneous.

Everyone in his path collapsed in a frosty heap.

With the intruders cleared out in less than a minute, Osian stepped through the crack in the broken door and when he saw Delan inside, he gulped.

Delan was fine.

His hair was a mess, a single strand running down his forehead from the impact of the bomb that had blown through the door, but he wasn’t critically injured.

Instead, Sebastian was lying next to him, his back like a rag.