30 Years Have Passed Since the Prologue

“First, let’s stop the bleeding.” (Ivan)

When a person loses limbs, they are usually incapacitated. In fact, it’s better to consider it as a life-threatening injury rather than incapacitation.

Considering the noble method of suicide in this era involves lighting candles in the bathtub and slashing wrists, it’s easy to gauge how severe it is to go beyond cutting wrists and instead mutilating the arm with an axe.

Even the Emperor who once ruled the world’s seas from a distant land couldn’t effectively fight after losing an arm, except for wailing like a child and glaring at Big-Bearfish’s eyes.

(TN: Shank?)

So, stop the bleeding before you die.

-Dalkkak.

Ivan skillfully opened the lid of a healing potion with one hand. A viscous red liquid ominously shimmered.

With delicate touch, he poured the healing potion slowly onto the bleeding wound.

Naturally, screams echoed in the corridor.

“Aaargh!!!”

“Well, save your breath.”

Being a civilized person, Ivan calmly scolded. Despite not being young, his junior seemed overly dramatic.

“Tell me what you heard from Alexander. What did he want?” (Ivan)

“Drovian’s men… do not… yield to torture…!” (Dionar)

“Torture? This is a remedy.” (Ivan)

Ivan shook his head at this absurd defiance and closed the lid of the healing potion. Holding an axe in his other hand, he placed it on the severed part.

“Huh…?!” (Dionar)

“Looks like the bleeding is mostly stopped. Good.” (Ivan)

Nodding coldly, he slowly pushed the axe into the astonishingly healed (literally, stitching the entire wound shut) severed area, causing droplets of blood to emerge.

“Earlier was treatment; this is torture.” (Ivan)

“This… nooooo…!!” (Dionar)

“Let’s see.” (Ivan)

Ivan checked the remaining amount of potion and shook it briefly. The full bottle made a substantial sloshing sound.

“I can do about five more times. So, I’ll ask briefly five more times.”

“Ki…ll me…!”

“That’s the plan. Dionar Eriksson. Your fate will be dealt with according to orders, but the process is at my discretion. Answer.”

What did Alexander seek to gain from this chaos?

Where is Alexander now?

How many of you are there, and where did you infiltrate this country from?

Step by step, without rushing, one by one.

Ivan, having a modern ethical consciousness, didn’t favor torture. In fact, he leaned towards disliking it.

However, he had lived for 30 years in this era and had been a soldier on the front lines for most of his life.

Regrettably, for the sake of efficiency in executing orders, he had to sacrifice some ethical considerations.

As even Kim Sunwoo had agreed, Ivan raised the axe without hesitation.

Chopped.

Reattached.

Screams echoed through the corridor. A dark hallway, a summer night with rain pouring down.

As a superhuman, Dionar’s vision was relatively bright, so the darkness wasn’t at an extreme level. Therefore, even in intense pain, Dionar could see Ivan’s face.

If only he had smiled or shown anger. In any case, displaying emotion would have been more humane.

However, the Ivan that Dionar saw was just like a woodcutter chopping wood. Insensitive, like a fisherman casting a net. Mechanically, there was only a sense of emotion at that level.

When the scent of fear wafted away with Dionar’s blood and sweat evaporating, around the time of the second ‘treatment’ by Ivan.

He had become a very eloquent and articulate speaker of a civilized society, explaining things to Ivan as if he were a knowledgeable person.

While healing potions only treated physical trauma (everyone who attempted internal healing had died), compassionate medical care could bring psychological counseling and psychotherapeutic benefits as additional effects.

Ivan, once again satisfied with this long-standing truth, attentively listened to Dionar’s logically detailed statements.

***

Leaving behind the junior who would have been a formidable opponent if he had the skills to match his momentum and energy, Ivan walked up the stairs.

All the healing potions had been consumed. Today, there would be no more use for them. However, it was regrettable that the essential equipment he always carried had disappeared.

Ivan, being a cautious person, had to repeat similar questions several times to increase the resolution of Dionar’s statement to prove its truth.

Dionar stopped breathing during this process. Fortunately, his statement had been truthful from the beginning, so Ivan could offer condolences for his death.

-Thunk, thunk.

The heavy footsteps echoed through the empty corridor. Since there were no more hostile signals, Ivan actually increased the volume of his steps.

Rescuing only those who had been kidnapped would mark the end of the mission. A fortunate turn of events.

Since he had taken care of the stage that the captives had to overcome, Ivan felt a sense of duty to personally train Ecdysis, Isabelle, and Oscar.

As always, time was short.

Ivan chuckled as he walked towards the doorknob of the first office in the corridor, but…

“…?”

He let go and stepped back.

There were no signs of hostility, yet he felt magic. Beyond, in the office at the end of the corridor.

It wasn’t the magic of an enchanted artifact or magical engineering product. It was a magical power akin to a spellcaster preparing magic, emitted by a living being without any creature’s presence.

He took a deep breath and directed magical power into his body. His senses accelerated, and the sound of raindrops slowed.

Even when he focused on his hearing, the only sounds from this corridor were the tense breaths of students inside the nearby office.

A spellcaster preparing magic while simultaneously blocking any signs of their presence from being noticed?

That was not just strange; it was impossible. Even Veolgrin couldn’t achieve that. Magic isn’t a simple discipline that can regulate breathing and heartbeat.

A magician of that caliber should practically be on par with a demon lord, so the inexplicable resurrection of the demon lord who died four years ago, hiding in the Frechenkaya Foreign Affairs Mansion of all places, doesn’t make sense.

“Ah.”

Ivan chuckled and nodded.

Hidden Plot. Yeah, that makes sense.

Whether it’s a special item or a plot hint, something deliberately concealed from the normal progression should naturally exist in the ‘main stage.’

Thinking that way, it all felt quite natural.

He would need to be at a level where he could detect the magical traces to read and follow such obvious clues.

If not, the captive members of the escaping hero party would undoubtedly sprint towards the first floor at full speed.

Imagine that stage.

Defeating mercenaries blocking the path while avoiding Dionar’s pursuit, finally arriving on the first floor.

If the design of this chapter is to successfully retreat to a safe urban area after a showdown with Dionar.

There would be no reason to search the office on the 5th floor, the deepest part where they were confined. So, Hidden Plot. It’s like a kind of Easter egg.

Thinking this way, everything became clear. Ivan walked decisively and gripped the doorknob of the last office.

-Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Foreign Ministry and Crown Prince Alexander wouldn’t handle official duties here. Ivan inferred that there must be information about Alexander, or at least something equivalent.

-Thunk.

He turned the doorknob and opened the door.

“…!!!”

Ivan immediately threw the axe towards the face seen through the open door.

-Whoooosh!!

The axe passed through the face, flying and smashing the chair, then impaled itself on the opposite wall, tearing through the bookshelf with a resounding crash.

The man whose face the axe had passed through faintly smiled and opened his mouth.

“That look seems new.” (Alexander)

“Alexander…!!” (Ivan)

“Haven’t had a conversation in almost 10 years. Come in, Ivan Petrovich.”

The youth with freshly cut silver hair gestured towards him with a white smile.

Astral projection. Not just any projection, but a long-range astral projection that was nearly untraceable.

Ivan gritted his teeth, standing on the opposite side, glaring at him suspiciously.

Four years ago, the final mission of the Cleansup Unit had an order with two seals.

One belonged to Krasilov seal.

And the other belonged to the Chief Commander overseeing military affairs on behalf of the king at that time, the Northwest Sector General.

The seal of Alexander Kirillovich Krasilov.

“You probably have many questions, but answer me just one thing.”

“… What is it?”

“If God loves us, why has evil persisted in the world even after the death of the demon lord?”

A face-to-face meeting after ten years.

This young man, encountered in writing after four years, with the same face as ten years ago, began attempting a popular enlightenment movement.

Ivan clenched the axe blade, sharpening it.

Author’s Note (Author’s Postscript):

“Kirilovna” or “Kirillovich” in a patronymic means ‘daughter of Kiril’ or ‘son of Kiril.’

Elizaveta Kirilovna Krasilova, Alexander Kirillovich Krasilov.

Therefore, we can know that the current Krasilov king, who is the son of the previous king Ivan, is named Kirill.

So when the saint called Ivan “Brother Cyril/Kiril”, the reason he felt embarrassed about the baptismal name was…

Ivan had actually named himself after the late King Ivan because he wanted to be born as his son!!