Return of the Max-Level Lord Chapter 57

Alkas watched the unfolding scene with a hardened expression.

Clack! Clack!

Then, Alkas began taking off the armor he had been wearing, piece by piece, setting it down on the ground.

Pavilion, watching beside him, couldn’t help but be startled.

“What are you doing, sir? If you remove your armor, you’ll take that impact with your bare body!”

“If you can follow that agility while wearing armor, then by all means, keep it on. But if you don’t lighten yourself even a little, you won’t be able to dodge.”

Soon after, Alkas stripped off all the armor except for the pieces on his forearms and legs, leaving only his basic attire.

The other four knights, understanding his reasoning, followed suit.

If the impact was strong enough to dent armor, it was better to focus on evasion. That was the best choice they could make.

“Are you ready?”

Jade, who had been quietly waiting, darted about again, taunting them.

“Yes, we’re ready.”

The five knights stepped forward and charged at Jade.

They had even worked out a brief plan for a joint attack, so their movement was fairly coordinated.

Shwaaa! Shwaak! Shwak!

The knights’ heavy swords filled every gap as they swung.

Yet Jade deftly moved his body, dodging and even counterattacking.

The incredibly fast and unpredictable Raizen-Style Swordsmanship showed its true might, founded on stamina and agility.

Of course, Alkas and Pavilion weren’t unprepared either.

The two split left and right, thrusting their swords in diagonal lines. Meanwhile, the other three knights attacked out of sync—one from the front and two from the back.

It was a method used for hunting strong and agile monsters. Whether it would work here, though, was a gamble.

“You’re really coming at me seriously, huh?”

Feeling the pressure, Jade adjusted his grip on his sword. For a moment, he even thought of leaping upward to escape.

But the irregular timing of the three charging knights made that difficult.

So Jade remained perfectly still, not moving an inch.

As their attacks came in, his upper body rotated, pulling them inward into his range.

It was an imitation of the Huajing (Transformation Force) — the advanced stage of Suhak (Hand-to-Hand Combat Art) from True Martial Art, which he had learned from Raion.

Unable to stop their attacks in time, the knights lost their balance completely.

At the same moment, Jade wrapped his arm around their swords and swung his leg in a wide arc.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

His spinning kick swept in a full 360-degree turn, knocking the knights’ swords out of their hands and sending them tumbling to the floor.

The impact was tremendous.

For a long while, none of them could get up. Then Alkas finally spoke.

“We admit defeat.”

They could continue fighting, but the difference in skill was simply too vast to overcome.

At that, Raion rose from his chair and approached them.

“So, you’re saying you won’t object to whatever I decide to do with the knight order from now on?”

Hearing that, Alkas knelt on one knee before Raion.

The other knights followed suit.

“From this moment on, the knights of Kanas swear to serve the lord and also the prince’s commands—with our swords and with our lives!”

Raion’s expression softened in satisfaction at Alkas’s declaration.

“Not a bad response. Then, from now on, we’ll begin training to make you stronger. Oh, and Jade—put the shackles back on.”

At Raion’s command, Jade, who had been standing silently, made a pained expression.

“I just took them off after three years… already?”

The knights were shocked at that statement.

It meant that during the last subjugation mission, Jade had fought while still wearing the shackles he had just removed.

Back then, even with the heavy restraints on his wrists and ankles, Jade had displayed agility far beyond that of any knight.

“Sir Jade really went on the subjugation mission with those shackles on?”

Alkas could hardly believe it.

Raion, however, spoke as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

“If you don’t wear something like that, it’s hard to push past your limits. So, yes—he kept them on. And from now on, you’ll all be wearing them too. Storage!”

With that, Raion opened the storage room and pulled out eighty-four shackles.

Clank! Clank!

He had been making them little by little for this very day.

“For us too, my lord?”

“Of course. Who else?”

Alkas stepped forward and picked up one of the shackles. It was heavy—easily over five kilograms.

And that was just for a single piece.

“Sir Jade wore four of these?”

“Each weighs about five kila—so twenty kila in total. For reference, Jade’s are ten kila each, making forty kila altogether.”

Unlike kir, which measured distance, kila was a unit of weight.

Everyone gasped at the explanation and began fastening their shackles.

Their limbs instantly felt heavy, every movement becoming difficult.

Knights were used to wearing heavy plate armor daily, but the concentrated weight of five kilograms each on their wrists and ankles felt completely different.

“The weight is quite something.”

“You’ll raise it too once you get used to it, just like Jade.”

Alkas had already guessed as much after hearing about the shackles Jade was wearing.

“But there’s something I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

“What was that technique Sir Jade used just now? Our swords clearly grazed his torso, so how come he’s completely fine?”

Normally, he should’ve suffered a serious injury.

However, Jade’s deep green top was completely intact—without even a scratch.

“That’s because of the clothes Jade’s wearing.”

“His clothes, you say?”

Raion was referring to the same deep green outfit he himself was wearing.

But Alkas couldn’t quite understand.

“Don’t tell me it’s made from the hide of some special monster? But it doesn’t look like leather…”

Upon closer inspection, it looked less like hide and more like a tightly woven fabric of fine threads.

Naturally, it was hard to believe such clothes could block a sword.

“It’s made from Kevraph—a tough grass—woven together with iron fibers.”

“Pardon? Kevraph? If I recall correctly, that’s the extremely tough grass that grows near the Clamen Mountain Range…”

Kevraph grew as tall as an adult’s height.

Its leaves were so tough that even blades couldn’t cut through them, and they had a tendency to curl and trap anything that touched them. Because of that, the area where Kevraph grew was called the Graveyard of Monsters.

“Right. These clothes are made from that. When I wove it together with iron fibers, it became both breathable and resistant to blades.”

He had discovered the method by chance after leaving the Clamen Mountain Range.

However, since he had to hurry to the Kanas Territory, Raion hadn’t been able to collect much Kevraph, so he had only managed to make outfits for himself and Jade.

“To think it could be processed that way… That’s remarkable.”

“I’ll improve the design further and make sets for the knights later. Just know this—Kanas itself will soon undergo drastic change, just like these clothes. So prepare yourselves.”

“……”

Hearing Raion’s words, Alkas and the knights felt a stirring in their chests.

The dying embers of their dedication to Kanas, which they had long been protecting with mere persistence, seemed to flicker back to life.

Then, suddenly, soldiers began gathering near the entrance of the lord’s mansion.

A commotion was breaking out.

One soldier rushed over and reported urgently to Alkas, the captain of the knights.

“Unidentified men are causing a disturbance at the mansion gate!”

“A disturbance?”

“They’re severely wounded, but they’re demanding to see His Highness right away!”

“Me?”

Raion, who hadn’t been paying much attention, raised an eyebrow in puzzlement.

The soldier turned and, realizing Raion was present, immediately knelt.

“Y-your Highness! I didn’t realize you were here!”

“It’s fine. More importantly, you said they’re looking for me? Then let’s go see what this is about.”

At that, Alkas stood and stepped forward.

“No, Your Highness. It could be dangerous. Allow us to go ahead and check first.”

“Dangerous? I’ll listen to that once you’re all at least stronger than Jade.”

Ignoring their protests, Raion walked toward the entrance.

“Bring the prince here! I won’t move an inch until he comes!”

One man, bleeding from multiple wounds, shouted out.

Behind him stood nine other men, all wearing grim expressions.

They too were heavily injured, just like the man at the front.

“I said bring him out, now!”

The man’s fierce shout made the soldiers hesitate—they couldn’t bring themselves to subdue him.

Just then, Raion, Jade, and the knights came rushing out.

“Those men…”

“Aren’t they the mercenaries who attacked us back then?”

At Raion’s murmur, Jade nodded, recognizing them.

Indeed, they were Calsios, the vice-commander of the Red Sand Mercenary Corps, along with his lieutenant Derek and their subordinates.

“Looks like I was right.”

Raion stepped forward and looked straight at Calsios.

“Judging by your condition, I’d say my guess was correct—the Red Sand Mercenary Corps must’ve been crushed by Duke Alito’s hand. Was it the Black Lion Knights, by any chance?”

Calsios’s face stiffened; Raion had hit the mark.

“How did you…”

“The only armed force Duke Alito could’ve mobilized is them. He must’ve found a convenient excuse to attack you.”

“……”

From the start, Alito had planned to use and then discard the Red Sand Mercenary Corps.

Of course, he had made sure to cover his tracks thoroughly.

“There are too many eyes watching here. Let’s not do this out in the open. Come inside.”

Since this was right in front of the lord’s mansion, the townsfolk were starting to gather and whisper. It wasn’t something Raion wanted publicly known.

Everyone followed him back to the training yard from earlier.

“Did you sustain those injuries while crossing the Clamen Mountain Range?”

At that question, Calsios slowly nodded.

“It wasn’t easy.”

“Looks severe. Let’s heal you first. Restoration.”

Raion murmured the incantation for his ability and placed his hand over Calsios’s wounds.

A faint light spread, and Calsios’s injuries began to return to their original state. One by one, Raion healed the wounds of his men as well.

“You can even use healing magic?”

“Well… something like that. More importantly, why have you come to me? Do you expect me to avenge you just because we share the same enemy?”

Honestly, Raion hadn’t expected Calsios to ever come looking for him again.

But now that they stood face to face, it was clear what his intentions were.

“That’s…”

“If you wish for vengeance, I can help you achieve it. So—what do you say? Can you swear loyalty to me as one of my knights?”

At Raion’s serious tone, Calsios’s eyes widened in shock.