This Bastard is Too Competent

Gulp!

Ian swallowed the fragment. 

The man screamed in a fluster.

“C-crazy! What are you doing!”

Ian smirked. 

“I told you it’s mine now. Rather than seeing it taken away by someone, I’d better eat it.”

“…” 

“If you really want it, go ahead and cut open my belly.”

“!?” 

The man gnashed his teeth. 

“If you want to see blood that badly… I’ll gladly show it to you.”

Shhh.

The man gestured toward the floor. 

Then people rose from the collapsed palace. Most of them were wearing black masks.

Ian felt that even they looked familiar, similar to the man. 

‘Somehow, they resembled the Secret Special Force.’

Of course, they might be similar, but there were subtle differences between them.  

A strange power emanated from them, different from the Secret Special Force, who valued magic tools and ancient artifacts.

The man opened his mouth as Ian fell into thought. 

“I’ll give you one last chance. If you spit it back now, I’ll forgive you.”

“Forgive me? Who do you think you are?”

“I bet you don’t have any strength left after fighting Jealousy, right? I know very well that even the power contained in this palace will not be able to be used for a while.”

It was as the man said. 

Ian seemed relaxed, but in reality, he had exhausted all his strength due to the fight with Jealousy.  

Even Faith couldn’t speak anymore.  

The power of Humility, which could only be used once, was over. 

‘If only the fragment of Jealousy gave me power.’

The fragment of Jealousy that he just ate refused to hand over his power as if rebelling against him. 

Now all Ian could do was fight against them head-on with his childish body.

Nevertheless, Ian laughed. 

“I don’t know. Is that true?”

Still, he straightened his back with a confident look. 

He sat on the throne and looked down at the man with as arrogant a look as ever. 

The man’s eyes slowly turned sharp.  

“Attack him! And bring back the fragment from his stomach!”

In an instant, the men dashed toward Ian, each and every one of them carrying a series of hideous weapons.  

They were ready to yank Ian off the throne and cut open his stomach.

When Ian didn’t move from his throne, let alone fight, the man, judging he was frightened, sneered.

“That’s why you should have listened to me earlier.”

It would have been better for everyone if Ian had just calmly handed it over, but instead, he chose to provoke and create unnecessary conflict.

Didn’t he go through all that trouble for naught?

However, Ian smiled.

“!?”

The man tilted his head. 

He didn’t understand what made Ian so confident. 

But right at that moment. 

Bang! 

With a loud noise, the masked men fell in all directions. 

Startled, the man opened his eyes wide. 

“Y-you are? No way!”

He had no choice but to be surprised. 

A man who fell from the sky and guarded Ian sitting on the throne.

He was Galon the Invincible. He had clearly flown here unscathed with his Oath.

The man was greatly perplexed.

Could it be that the knight entrusted himself to the catapult and flew?

But his thoughts did not last long.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Your Highness.”

“No, you came at the right time.”

“What about them?”

“Unfortunately, they are not allies. They are the ones who say they will cut open my belly.”

“!” 

Galon the Invincible, who also fought against the Guardian, started to look at the men with an incredibly ferocious look. No, it wasn’t just his expression. 

“How dare you target His Highness!”

Galon rushed at the men. 

The masked men were also taken aback. Despite that, they set their weapons straight, still intent on getting the fragment of Jealousy in Ian’s stomach. 

But there was an overwhelming difference between the two sides. 

Clank! Claank! 

An unyielding Oath. 

Galon’s Oath, unbreakable by anything, was once again unfolding. In front of Invincibility, the weapons of the masked people did not work. Galon began his rampage like a beast that had infiltrated a flock of sheep.

“M, Master!”

“Aaargh!”

In no time, the masked men were down. With overwhelming force, Galon completely crushed the enemies. 

The man shouted in haste. 

“Don’t deal with Sir Galon! The fragment of Jealousy comes first! Aim for the prince first!”

‘Sir Galon? Prince? Could it be that he knew who I was?’

Ian’s eyes flashed at the man’s words. 

He knew not only Galon’s name but also Ian’s position, which was still unknown in this foreign land. 

No matter how much he thought about it, this man’s true identity was suspicious.

But now the problem wasn’t the man.

“Attack the little one first!”

“Tie the knight’s feet!”

The problem was that the masked men turned toward Ian. 

Even it would be impossible for Galon to protect Ian against a considerable number of masked people.  

Yet Ian shouted in that state. 

“Sir Galon! Don’t mind me, and deal with him first!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Galon did not turn his eyes away from the man in front of him. Rather, he growled ferociously like a beast.

“You’re the master of these guys.”

Then he rushed at the man. 

The man screamed in bewilderment.

“Sir Galon! You’re a knight, but you don’t put your lord’s safety first! That would go against your beliefs!”

It sounded as if he knew Galon very well. 

At his words, Galon smiled. 

“There are many other people besides me who will protect His Highness.”

“What?”

Exactly as he said. 

As soon as Galon finished speaking, a shadow fell from the sky. 

Boom!

Those were the knights. 

“Ouch… It hurts. That’s why I said we better just run!”

“Nathan, have you forgotten His Highness’s order that we must fly as soon as the darkness disappeared? He could have been in danger.”

“I know, but this is too ignorant.”

“Noisy. You’ve been behind my Iron Wall, yet you’re being so dramatic.”

Nathan grabbed his head, seemingly dizzy from the sudden shock, and Fiosen didn’t look any better either.

No, it wasn’t just them two.

Thud! 

“Sorry for being late! I’m a little heavy.”

A savage warrior with a giant ax. Yamanta, the lord of the Molar Castle, was also with them.

Then Galon exclaimed. 

“They are enemies! Protect His Highness, Nathan!”

“Those guys are enemies?”

“They have the gall to cut His Highness’s stomach!”

“What? They’re hilarious.”

Nathan’s eyes chilled. But it was Fiosen who came forward before him. 

“Go. I will block this place.”

Woong! Thud! 

As Fiosen’s Oath rose, a huge barrier was erected in front of Ian. 

Nathan smiled at him for the first time. 

“Why, you’re finally doing one thing I approve of.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Just hurry up and take care of them. His Highness is tired.”

Nathan glanced at Ian’s face.  

Maybe due to digesting the fragment following the fight with Jealousy, Ian’s face looked tired.

The smile disappeared from Nathan’s face. 

“I’ll be right back.”

Nathan swiftly drew his sword. Then, the masked people who raised their weapons to attack Ian began to fall as their necks were cut in a flash.

Yamanta also lifted his ax without losing. 

“Hahahaha! Let’s fight, you f*ckers!”

Boom! 

Like an erupting volcano, the ax swept away the masked men. 

The number of masked men decreased in no time thanks to the three’s performance. Only a few were left now. 

And finally, Nathan’s sword stopped right in front of the man’s neck.  

Chuck! 

“You must be the ringleader. Are you prepared?”

“If you move, I will cut you.”

Before anyone knew it, Galon had taken care of the masked people around him and joined them. The swords of the Invincible and the Swift aimed at the man’s neck.

The man burst into exclamations with a puzzled expression.

“This!”

Not only did he lose the fragment of Jealousy, he never imagined that there would be a problem with his mission. But he couldn’t move.

The two knights were perfectly watching his every move.

“I guess I have no choice but to let you have it this time.”

Nevertheless, he seemed to be quite resentful.

He was smiling, but his face was clearly flushed with anger.

Ian didn’t miss it. 

“Who let who have it? I told you, didn’t I? This is mine now.”

“…” 

Grit.

The man shot him a glare brimming with killing intent. But he couldn’t move. 

Chuck! 

It was because the two knights drew their swords closer upon seeing his action. If he moved a single inch, his neck could be blown away at once.

Yet, his lips curled up.

“This won’t happen next time.”

“Apparently, some third-rate villain blabbers about his next move. Do you have no intention of fighting right now?”

“Well, then. Until next time. No, I’ll see you again soon.”

Nathan moved quickly at the man’s words. 

“Where are you going!”

He slashed the man’s head so that he wouldn’t dare to run away. 

Rustle! 

But the man was much faster. 

What Nathan slashed was a piece of the mask the man was wearing. The man disappeared into the darkness. 

But then. 

“What?”

The moment the tip of the cut mask touched the floor. 

All the masked men in the palace melted away. The same was true of those who had fallen like corpses. All disappeared without a trace as if they never existed from the beginning. There wasn’t even a drop of blood left. 

Surprised, the knights looked around. 

“What the hell is going on?”

“That’s strange. The black-eyed monsters, too. There are so many things I don’t understand.”

But one person thought differently. It was Ian.

He was still sitting on the throne and smiling, but his eyes glinted sharply.

The face that peeked out the moment Nathan slashed the man’s mask. Ian remembered his name clearly. 

‘Ceres. Why was he here?’

Ceres was the eldest son of Duke Garcia.

Not only was such a person helping the king of Bahara, but he was also targeting the life of the prince of his own country.

‘Well, it was precisely because of this fragment of Jealousy.’

Things were heading to a very interesting development anyway. 

Duke Garcia tried to frame Heinley as a spy of another country. But what if his successor was the real spy? 

‘I can give Duke Garcia quite a blow.’

In addition, it could have been his opportunity to use Heinley, who was tossed away by Duke Garcia, as a card. If there was no eldest son, the second son had the right to succeed by the law of the country.

That wasn’t the only thing. 

‘He and the Seven Sins are related.’ 

No, it might have something to do with the Seven Virtues.  

The greater the risk, the greater the power, and it was difficult for others to possess. Ian wanted to have all that power for himself.

Just like the First King who unified the continent in the past. 

But right now, there was something more important than that. 

Ian shouted at the knights. 

“Announce to the soldiers and the people of Bahara that Ian Kaistein has conquered Bahara’s capital!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“And tell them that this Bahara is now mine!”

“Understood!”

The knights bowed to Ian, who was seated on the throne. 

The Northern Expedition was finally over.  

That’s also thanks to Ian’s overwhelming performance. 

The perfect winner who didn’t even need to sort out his merit. That was Ian.

*** 

The moment Ian declared his conquest of Bahara. 

The crown prince of Cantum was lying comfortably, sipping wine. Then, the advisor next to him smiled. 

“Those foolish Kaistein people. A lot of them might have died by now.”

Cantum certainly opened the first battle. Since then, however, they had only pretended to fight drawn-out battles. It was to send Bahara’s elite soldiers back to their original positions.

That way, they engaged Kaistein in a fight and thus drained the power of both countries.

The crown prince even had a justification.

“What are the Bahara soldiers doing?”

“They’re still confronting us. We are planning not to fight in the future.”

The thing was, Bahara’s resistance was too tenacious. 

They didn’t lose any soldiers, but they were confronting each other as if a fight were taking place anyway. 

By the time the blood of Kaistein and Bahara flowed into a river. 

‘Cantum will come forward and unify the two countries.’

It was truly a great plan. 

A chance to get two countries without lifting a finger if he succeeded. 

The eyes of the advisor, a close aide to the crown prince, gleamed. 

“As expected of Your Highness to kill two birds with one stone. With this, the controversy over Your Highness’s eligibility, which has been circulating in our home country, will surely end.”

“Of course. At the end of the day, I will be the emperor who will unify the continent.”

“I will always follow you, Your Highness!”

Of course, it wasn’t without any hindrance. 

It’s Ian Kaistein. 

Although only for a brief moment, the man who became his older brother was a problem.

‘No one can be the older brother of the man who will become the emperor of Cantum. Never!’

He even persuaded other Kaistein princes to kill Ian. 

He would do the same even if it was a person from a prophecy of the future. Anyone who tarnished the pride of the crown prince of Cantum would never be spared.

That was when his eyes glinted viciously.

“Your Highness! It’s urgent!”

“What is it! Can’t you see His Highness resting?!”

“Th, that!”

The messenger handed over a letter while sweating profusely.

The insignia of Ian Kaistein, the seventh prince of Kaistein, was stamped there.

The crown prince and the advisor let out a sticky smile.

“Finally, he’s here? But how unfortunate.”

“Pardon?”

“The prince is currently asleep and hasn’t seen this message. No, the letter didn’t arrive here at all.”

There was no need to look at the contents. 

It’s probably a call to request for help.

With a glance from the prince, the advisor tore the letter to shreds. 

Riiip! 

“Y, Your Highness!”

The messenger shouted in shock. However, the crown prince didn’t even give the torn letter tossed to the ground a second glance. 

The advisor grabbed the messenger by the shoulder and guided him outside.

“You go to Cantum as it is. This message never arrived from the beginning. Got it?”

“…” 

Only then did the messenger realize the prince’s scheme. 

In other words, he intended to cover things up by saying that the message never came in the first place. But that was a bad idea.

“No, Your Highness! You have to look at that letter quickly. It’s urgent!”

“How dare you, a mere messenger, say that!”

As the advisor beckoned, soldiers rushed in from outside and grabbed the messenger’s arms. 

“Drag him out! Lock him up so no one can see him!”

“Y-Your Highness! Please don’t do this! If you do this, Your Highness will be in trouble!”

“Huh! What trouble!”

The advisor turned around with a snort. The crown prince also sipped his wine in indifference. 

This was the end of Ian Kaistein. 

‘This is also the end of Bahara and Kaistein. Now I am to be an unprecedented emperor.’

But it was then. 

Boom! 

A great explosion hit the prince’s barracks.

The advisor screamed in surprise.

“S, soldiers! What’s going on out there!”

“Enemy! The enemy is attacking outside!”

“What?”

It was impossible. 

The same was true even if this place was Bahara’s land. His army and Bahara’s army did not tacitly attack each other. 

It was because they knew it was to their mutual benefit. 

There was no way they would attack them so suddenly. 

But it was then. 

“It is not only Bahara’s army that attacks us. Lavaltor, Kaistein’s duke, is also attacking us!”

Surprised, the crown prince and the advisor rushed out. 

Boom! Boom! 

And, indeed, the armies of both sides were attacking them.

In particular, Duke Lavaltor’s “Tempest” was blowing and destroying everything.

Then the crown prince remembered something. 

“The letter! Where is the letter now!”

It was to find the letter that the advisor had just torn. Something must have been written on it. 

And he could see. 

[Get out of my land.] 

The true meaning of Ian’s letter. 

Rather than shedding blood, Kaistein and Bahara found themselves united under one name.