chapter 9
9. Can I Handle It?
The young man looked at Jooyeon, who was smiling as if he found this absurd.
“Look at this? You’re laughing? Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Not really? Should I be?”
hahahaha.
Finally, the young man, who seemed to be a noble, burst out laughing.
“For a mere slave, you’re quite bold. What’s your identity?”
“The master of the man whose life you’re threatening.”
“A slave with another slave as your subordinate?”
As if they found this ridiculous, the knights behind the man burst out laughing too.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“That’s right. You must be playing master and slave since you ran away.”
Jooyeon couldn’t help but laugh.
To meet those guys here.
‘This might work out better than I thought.’
Meeting the Knight King wasn’t easy.
How could someone of a slave’s status dare to see the Grand Duke of the North?
Since this vicinity was Count Sanderson’s territory, there would be many obstacles even if he went to the village.
However, with those guys, it could be easier than he thought.
‘Yeah, it’s my luck to meet him here.’
At that moment, as he was smiling.
The faint campfire flared up, revealing Jooyeon’s sword.
It was the sword he had taken after defeating the warden.
The young man’s expression became strange at the sight of it.
“Huh?”
In an instant, the young man’s pupils shook.
“That sword…. Is that perhaps Sir Hanson’s sword?”
Upon hearing the young man’s words, the knights behind him were also shocked.
“Hanson? Do you mean Hanson of the Gale, by any chance?”
“That guy was definitely demoted to warden of the labor camp….”
“Come to think of it, that pattern on the sword….”
On the handle of the sword Joo-in was holding, there was a design of the wind pattern.
It was a pattern that meant <Gale>.
The knights’ pupils shook as if they were shocked.
“No way… That Hanson was defeated by those kinds of guys?”
“Even if he was demoted, there’s no way Hanson of <Gale> was defeated by those kinds of guys?”
That was the only possibility.
Gale wasn’t just a nickname.
<Title>
It was something you could receive when you accomplished a special achievement
Or when you possessed a power that no one could ignore.
In the case of Commander Hanson, it was the former.
“Even if he lost his <Knighthood> and was demoted, a high-ranking knight with a title lost his sword to a mere prisoner.”
“There’s no way Hanson would lose to a mere slave. He must have stolen the sword.”
“You bastard, speak clearly! Where the hell did you steal that sword from?”
“I didn’t steal it, I defeated him and took it.”
The knights couldn’t even speak properly after hearing Joo-in’s words.
“What nonsense…!”
Haken tightly shut his eyes at the knights’ anger.
‘Dammit. I told you to leave it, why did you bring it with you….’
However, the eyes of the young man looking at Joo-in became sharp.
“If it’s true that you defeated Commander Hanson and took his sword… then you guys must be the criminals who turned the labor camp upside down.”
“It might be a lie that he defeated Hanson, but he resembles the guys the soldiers in the labor camp were talking about.”
The knights’ gazes also became sharper.
Murderous gazes as if they were going to kill him right away.
“Not only do you dare to speak insolently to the Lord…”
“Not only did you disgrace the honor of Sir Hanson, a knight…”
“… but you’re also the criminals who slaughtered the soldiers.”
“We can’t just let this go.”
The knights raised their blood-stained swords.
“Lord. Please wait… We’ll teach these lowly beings a lesson.”
“Please forgive our rudeness.”
The knights immediately ran towards Joo-in.
Their postures were similar to the commander’s, but there was a subtle difference.
It was the orange light emanating from the knights’ bodies.
Haken flinched.
‘Li… light? No way!’
It wasn’t a simple meaning.
“<Knighthood>? And both of them?”
<Knighthood>
It was a power that only real knights, not a demoted commander, could use.
A high-level ability that even most nobles couldn’t have!
To think he’d be dragging around two people like that!
‘Just who the hell is that guy…!’
However, Jooyeon wasn’t flustered.
His eyes held a gaze that said he knew this would happen from the beginning.
‘As expected… He wouldn’t have brought just anyone if he was going to come to a dangerous place like this.’
A noble would always be concerned about their own safety.
Not to mention the pattern on the sword the man who had been aiming for Haken’s neck had.
<A sword that rose with a gigantic shield>
It was a pattern he knew very well.
Even Haken was surprised, but Jooyeon was all too familiar with the knights’ light as well.
‘Orange. They’re definitely knights of <Obedience>.’
<Obedience>, one of the 17 orders of chivalry.
They were those who gained strength the more loyal they were to their master.
At the same time, they hated it more than anything in the world for their master’s reputation to be tarnished.
That’s why Jooyeon was able to laugh.
‘There are more <Obedience> than any other knights.’
Because there were many of them, there were many ways to analyze and conquer them.
That’s why he had taken out Hanson’s sword and made sure it was visible.
He knew very well that the knights of Obedience would go berserk if he provoked the noble man who seemed to be their master.
This was the result.
“Die!”
The two knights’ swords poured down towards Jooyeon’s neck.
It was a decisive blow, as if they were carrying out an execution.
And in that moment.
Creak.
Jooyeon smiled.
He thrust his neck forward as if he had been waiting for this.
At that sight, the young man who had been watching shouted urgently.
“Stop! Lord Loren! Lord Olson!”
The direction of the knights’ swords turned at their lord’s sudden cry.
No matter how much they wanted to correct the impudent slave’s behavior, as knights of <Obedience>, they couldn’t ignore their lord’s orders.
Of course, they didn’t just withdraw their swords.
‘How dare you insult our lord. We must take one of your arms!’
Knight Olson tried to swing his sword towards Jooyeon’s arm and pull it back.
Even if they couldn’t kill him against their lord’s orders, they were going to take one of Jooyeon’s limbs.
And he really did cut it off.
Swish!
One of his arms flew up into the air with a spray of blood.
But it wasn’t Jooyeon’s arm.
“Kuaaagh!”
“Lord Olson!”
It was no wonder that the noble Aiden shouted with eyes wide open in shock.
Lord Olson’s arm, which had been wielding the sword, had instead fallen off.
Knight Loren hurriedly took Olson and retreated.
“Olson! Are you okay?!”
“Ugh…”
A painful groan escaped Olson’s mouth.
Aiden’s pupils shook in bewilderment.
“Th… This is…”
There was a reason why Aiden had told him to stop.
The sudden eerie smile of Juyeon.
He had told him to take it off just in case.
‘Surely Lord Olson wouldn’t really be affected…’
It didn’t matter that he hadn’t listened to him.
The first thing he had to do was find out how his knight had just been affected.
Aiden asked his other knight in a hard voice.
“Lord Loren. Did you just see that?”
“I apologize, my lord. I did not see it.”
“Bl… Block him, my lord! He’s using a strange power! You must block him!”
Knight Olson shouted, holding his severed arm.
Perhaps he was trying to evacuate his lord, Aiden, for the time being.
That was how unpredictable and dangerous Juyeon’s power was.
Meanwhile, Juyeon was feeling a little sorry.
‘It was a chance to take care of both of them at once. Too bad.’
For the time being, he planned to start by cutting off the limbs of the knights, the means of force.
He had been thinking that way ever since he first saw Aiden’s sentence.
All the more so because he was an incomparable giant.
Then Aiden asked with trembling eyes.
“Who… Who the hell are you?”
To Aiden, Juyeon was no longer a mere prisoner.
Rather, he was an absolute powerhouse who could take his neck at any moment.
“I thought it was just a slave rebellion… Could it be a trap aimed at me?”
Of course, there was a slight misunderstanding.
“Who are you?”
Juyeon replied calmly.
“My identity? Why? Can you handle it if you know?”
“What?”
“You can’t handle it? Do you really want to know?”
What?
He can’t handle it?
Aidan couldn’t help but look at Joo-yeon, bewildered. The knights’ eyes were also filled with murderous intent.
“How dare you be insolent to our Lord!”
“Do you lack manners?!”
Although they were flustered by the sudden situation,
the two of them were knights who possessed <Chivalry>.
They couldn’t bear to see their Lord being ignored.
As expected,
“Olson! You stay out of this!”
As Knight Loren stepped forward, Olson flinched, clutching his severed arm.
“You wouldn’t dare use that, would you?”
“It’s shameful to use it against mere slaves… but I have no choice.”
Unlike before, Knight Loren brought out the true <Chivalry>.
It wasn’t simply a boost in physical abilities.
It was the power known as the strength of true knights.
<Obey the Rightful Authority>
BAM!
An orange light engulfed the surroundings.
Struck by the light, Haken and Hunter Jack fell to their knees on the spot, their foreheads pressed to the ground.
THUD!
Blood trickled from the two of their heads.
This was the true power of <Submission>.
It was the power to use one’s Lord’s authority to make those of lower status submit.
Joo-yeon knew this very well.
‘Yes, it’s a power that nobles especially love.’
It wasn’t for nothing that knights of <Submission> were nicknamed scholarly knights.
The weaker the opponent, the more effective the mass slaughter.
The impact that knights of <Submission> had on battles was so great that they were known as nightmares to soldiers.
It affected not only Haken, but Joo-yeon as well.
Groan.
Joo-yeon’s legs began to buckle on their own.
His body leaned forward as if it was about to smash his head into the ground like Haken.
‘Hmm. When I played the game, I was able to resist it easily.’
The power of <Submission> was stronger than before.
Maybe it was because the stigma of being a slave hadn’t completely disappeared.
But he didn’t collapse.
‘Compared to 18 years of prison life, this kind of pressure is nothing.’
At that sight, the knights shouted,
“How dare you resist, you slave!”
“Our Lord is the next successor of the great Duke Edmer. You have no right to endure his authority!”
The higher the rank of the Lord the knight served, and the greater the difference in rank with the enemy, the stronger the pressure became.
If he’s the next successor to the Duke, he’s similar to the successor of a country.
Even the Edmer dukedom was a famous house on the continent.
But what of it?
‘So what?’
Instead, Joo-Heon straightened his back.
The knights’ eyes wavered at his unyielding appearance despite the passing time.
“How dare a mere slave subject…!”
“How can he endure <Submission>? Does he have a secret origin?”
Could he have blood that surpasses the Edmer dukedom?
Does he have the bloodline of the royal family or the imperial family?
The knights were genuinely bewildered.
However, Joo-Heon’s resistance was not due to his origin.
‘<Submission> isn’t determined by blood.’
The important thing was the will to yield to the other person.
But is he crazy? To yield to those guys?
Moreover, he had <Reflection>.
He didn’t need to use it for something like this.
‘Actually, I’m curious. How far does the power of <Reflection> go?’
The light of <Reflection> burst out with laughter.
The two knights ended up kneeling towards Joo-Heon.
Thud!
“Wh, what!”
“Why are we… .”
Their gazes were filled with incomprehension.
Joo-Heon burst out laughing at their gazes.
‘Right. They probably can’t believe that their <Submission> has been reflected back at them.’
No, would the opposite be better for him?
In fact, the knights were surprised for a different reason.
“Co, could this be.”
“Even the strongest knight who can make knights submit…?!”
The knights’ eyes were filled with shock as if they had realized something.
At that moment, Joo-Heon slowly stood up from his seat and picked up his sword.
Then he stepped forward and opened his mouth.
“I think I misheard you earlier. Say it again.”
“……!”
“Can you handle it if you know who I am?”
Everyone’s faces turned serious at Joo-Heon’s words.