How to Tame That Gentle Male Lead - Chapter 6.12
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“Chase him!”
“Huff…!”
A man in a black robe was being pursued. On the chests of the three or four knights chasing him, brooches with the symbol of the main god Sernaus – three straight lines in a circle – were attached to their cloaks.
Because of this, people who were bumped into by the fleeing man initially expressed their displeasure, but upon seeing the symbol of the holy knights, they quickly made way with fearful faces. In the current empire, only dark mages were pursued by holy knights.
“Sernum! Go ahead and block the dark mage’s escape route!”
“Yes! Understood!”
“Belzer! Enter the side intersection and catch the dark mage as you return from the route heading to the northern gate of the capital. He’ll surely try to use the northern gate, which is mainly used by the poor, to escape the capital.”
“Understood!”
“Chris will pursue with me.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Looking at Chris who remained by his side, the holy knight captain Ian Fullecher increased his running speed. Chris also ran at full speed, not falling behind, chasing the staggering dark mage.
As the internal holy power continuously recovered their fatigue, catching the dark mage who had now run out of black mana seemed like a certain future. Accordingly, as the dark mage staggered forward, Ian smiled with satisfaction and jumped up, creating a foothold in the air with the power of holy energy.
“Ugh…?!”
And in an instant, he drew his sword and thrust forward. The dark mage scraped together black mana, but there was no way to avoid the blood-red line appearing on his neck.
“Kuk…!”
Finally, as the dark mage fell to the side trying to avoid the sword, the blade was pointed at his nape. Panting heavily, the dark mage on the ground scraped up some dirt, waiting for Ian to lean down towards him. But even when the dirt was thrown, Ian merely closed his eyes and opened them again, as if he had expected it.
“Gag him so he can’t bite his tongue, and make him swallow a mixture of a mind-clouding drug and truth serum. We’ll interrogate him directly at the temple.”
“Understood!”
After watching Chris tie up the dark mage with ropes, Ian looked towards the temple. Although it was taboo for holy knights to have lovers, Lorona and Ian were nurturing their love, defying the 500-year-old unjust custom.
‘If the Saint knows, she’ll praise me for capturing another dark mage.’
A gentle curve appeared on Ian’s handsome face. As Ian and Chris dragged the dark mage towards the temple, there was a figure in a blue robe watching from afar.
“…It seems the Crown Prince is trying to exterminate us completely.”
Grinding his teeth, Zergard’s eyes flashed fiercely. It was fine until he entered the capital and ordered Allan, Meul, and Satina to act individually. But Eldis, as if seeing through Zergard’s plan, strengthened the inspections in the capital and immediately captured Meul and Satina.
And now, even Allan.
“…Kugh.”
It was strange.
He had even sent Meul to Eldis’s side to disrupt information, not expecting the dark mages to run rampant. Moreover, since Meul had been active in the imperial palace for several years, he thought he would easily avoid detection and allow Allan and Satina to act freely.
However, Eldis, who never used to suspect people, didn’t just leave Meul’s suspicious points alone. Unlike usual, he tracked and exposed Meul as a dark mage.
Because of this, even Satina was caught. Satina, who had been disguised as a palace maid, had to maintain her disguise until the moment of capture, which limited her movement. Seeing through even this, Eldis sent several Sword Experts to arrest her.
“…Now, all that’s left are small fry.”
Feeling anxious, Zergard lamented and clenched his fist.
Although Eum had said that the Master shouldn’t worry anymore and that he would take care of things, it would take years of sacrificing to black mana to reach the level of Meul or Satina.
Therefore, the loss of dark mages who could act was a huge blow. Not only had they lost their base of operations in the capital, but many of the apostate priests in the provinces had been exposed as dark mages and sent to the execution grounds… The empire could be said to have gained the upper hand in the fight against dark mages.
“…I have to take action myself.”
Even in the case of the Arnasus lady, if he hadn’t intervened, useful advice would have continued to flow to the Crown Prince.
As anger boiled over like lava, his head cooled down instead. Zergard raised his head with eyes full of hatred. In the distance, the sight of the Grand Temple of Sernaus came into view.
Although many priests had fallen, there were still few apostates among the priests and holy knights who served the main god Sernaus. Because of this, attempts to infiltrate dark mages into the Grand Temple of Sernaus kept failing. This was why they had been unable to deal with Saint Lorona until now.
“Saint Lorona… Weiz.”
Zergard slowly lowered his hood. His tidy appearance drew glances from some women, but he had no interest in sacrificial lambs, regardless of their gender. On rare occasions, he had felt a romantic inclination towards Resena, but pursuing a woman protected by not just one, but two dogs would be particularly troublesome.
“…Hmph.”
But Zergard’s lips curled up in a sneer.
For the revival of the Demon King they desired, they absolutely had to kill Saint Lorona in advance, who could seal him. In addition, if they didn’t kill Eldis, who could use the light of the main god Sernaus, the Demon King would face death as soon as he was revived by those two.
‘Moreover, it’s not an ordinary death.’
Since the light of Sernaus was originally the power of the god to confront the Demon King, if a Grand Sword Master at the ultimate level used that power, the Demon King would suffer a blow that would make future revivals impossible.
Therefore, to create the world of survival of the fittest that they desired, they had to either make those two confront each other or make one fall into a trap where they would sacrifice themselves as the other’s weakness.
‘It’s a pity.’
If Resena had been the previous Resena, she wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Lorona. Now she had become a docile sheep without any venom.
But strangely, he found himself attracted to that docile appearance.
After organizing his thoughts, Zergard stared towards the Grand Temple for a while before turning and starting to walk.
“…Ha.”
However, with each step he took, killing intent leaked from his eyes. People who had been stealing glances at him had to turn their stiffened necks away from his murderous appearance, as if he would knock down anyone who stood in his way.
Some startled women even whispered and avoided the place.
‘I can’t stay like this.’
In the guise of Theseus Aldana, Zergard slowly twisted the corners of his mouth upwards.
The greatest dark mage cannot lose in the fight against the empire.
He had gathered black mana for decades to reach his current position. When he was born as the illegitimate child of Baron Aldana and came to hate the world, the sacrificial lambs he had offered countless times were enough to form a huge mound.
Those achievements were known to have been accomplished by dark mages invading the Aldana territory, but in reality, it was the result of him committing murders non-stop for three months of nights alone.
Moreover, at that time, the Aldana territory was isolated due to unexpected heavy rains, so he was able to achieve the feat of receiving nearly infinite black mana by piling up a thousand sacrifices.
However.
‘Even if it’s close to infinity, it’s not infinity. The human body has limits.’
Reconstructing the body with black mana is only possible for the Demon King.
Because of this, although he was promised an infinite life mentally, his body would slowly consume time… and eventually, he would lose the battle against Ermerius, the god of time.
‘No one can beat time. Unless it’s the power of the main god Sernaus, who can turn back time.’
But before that, he could destroy the empire and bring about the world of survival of the fittest that the dark mages wanted.
For that, first, Saint Lorona must die.
“…Lorona Weiz.”
He had to create a situation where she would have no choice but to sacrifice her own life.
Even if it meant drawing out that disgusting and hopeless spirit of sacrifice.
