Episode 1
prologue.
Thirty years after the end of the Dragon Horse War.
Empress Hella Rose was now preparing for a new war.
“Treason! Destroy the traitors!
Kill all the family and burn the territory!”
The Empress herself pointed out three families.
The Duke of Jacques, the Duke of Rollmandy, and the Countess of Pau Bien.
All of them were noble families with a long history of the Kyle Empire.
The Jacques family was famous for producing outstanding talents in swordsmanship, the Rollmandi family for spearmanship, and the Povian family for magic.
In 8 of the 500-year history of the Kyle Empire and 12 great wars, talented people from all three families took the lead.
It was such a great name, though.
Within three days, the three families were destroyed.
The three families could not even properly resist the assault of the Imperial Guard and the Arch Mages.
They were not traitors.
There was only one person who shouted at the Empress.
It was Marlon Zach, the bastard of the Zach family and a man called the Divine Sword. He broke through the imperial castle single-handedly, left these words in front of the Empress, and committed suicide.
-What are you afraid of?
The only five dragon riders in the empire were in charge of burning the estate and castle.
The Empress who accompanied them said.
“I will personally interrogate Yuma, the eunuch.”
Yuma was an old friend of Marlon Jacques.
Having spent their childhood together in a fishing village at the edge of the empire, they became eunuchs and knights, respectively, helping to prosper the era of Hella Rose.
Yuma was sitting in the eunuch’s quarters, looking out the window and smoothing the wrinkles on her forehead. I could feel the traces of the years that had been cut open with my fingertips.
From the window, I could see the royal guards who accompanied the Empress in perfect order. Sensing death, Yuma took out a small apple from her bosom and ate it.
The wise eunuch Yuma.
The Empress always used that formula when referring to Yuma.
The Empress liked Yuma’s appropriate behavior, from private conversations to joke-like questions about state affairs.
Hella Rose trusted Yuma to such an extent that it was rumored that the empress was in love with the eunuch.
Until the dragon horse war is over.
Clapping footsteps could be heard close by, and the wooden door of the eunuchs room was shattered. Yuma stood up and greeted the Empress.
“I trusted you so much.”
Two guardsmen grabbed Yuma by the shoulders. Old Yuma fell to his knees at the violent touch.
“What kind of story did you come here to hear, Your Majesty?”
“Why did you seduce Marlon Jacques into treason?”
Yuma closed her eyes for a moment and lowered her head.
“Your voice is trembling. Do you regret killing them?”
“Answer His Majesty’s questions, traitor!”
It was Varys, the commander of the Imperial Guard Knights.
“I am a mere eunuch. Just kill him like Sir Malone and other nobles. Unlike them, I have no strength or family. But His Majesty came to visit me personally.”
Varys tried to say something, but the Empress raised her hand slightly.
“Whenever he gave me a difficult order, he always made that face.”
Yuma met eyes with the empress. Then he passed the last piece of apple that was left in his mouth down his throat.
“I will come back.”
The small apple that Yuma swallowed was a sacred object that Marlon had obtained during the Dragon Demon War.
As the empress tried to answer, Yuma collapsed, coughing up black blood.
The Empress bit her lower lip and said.
“Iza’s body… put a stake in the middle of Kyle Square.”
Yuma looked at the back of the Empress, who was gradually blurring. Reminds me of Hella Rose, who was beautiful and intelligent in the past.
After the purge, the empress did not eat food that night.
————————————— Episode 1. Yuma, the eunuch Before losing consciousness while returning, Yuma was able to look back on his life, which floated like a kaleidoscope.
The first scene he saw was his hometown, which had become a battlefield. Yuma’s parents were killed by magic bombardment during the Age of War. It was when Yuma was seven years old.
Yuma, who became an orphan and lived begging for food in Ferol, a fishing village in the corner of the empire, had to suffer from beatings every day. The abuse of war orphan beggars did not discriminate between children and adults.
– We have nothing to eat either! Get out of here!
The war is over, but the people’s struggle for survival is not over.
The people who cursed and hit Yuma were by no means evil. However, the endlessly impoverished souls were poisoning them.
It was Marlon’s real father, Haka, who took care of the ugly-looking Yuma.
Haka was a person who made a name for himself as a wandering swordsman in his youth. Yuma and Marlon grew up like brothers and under the protection of Haka.
Haka often taught swordsmanship to children. It wasn’t a serious announcement. It was just my intention not to get hit by bad guys.
However, the children’s growth was frighteningly rapid. It didn’t take long for Yuma and Marlon to overcome the haka.
Then one day, the children asked the knight who returned home on vacation to practice. It was when Yuma and Marlon were 16 years old.
The result is the shocking defeat of the knight.
Hearing the children’s boast, Haka immediately went to the knight and prayed.
-I’m sorry, driver. sorry.
-Haha no way. They are truly geniuses. When I get back, I’ll put in a letter of recommendation.
-Please, Knight…
Yuma clearly remembered that moment. It was the decisive moment that made me lose a man.
The knight, who was from a commoner, was awarded a title for his merits in the war and returned home in gold.
Now in power, he had no intention of passing this humiliation over.
Although he pretended to be bold on the outside, the knight put in a letter of recommendation as soon as he returned to the capital.
Yuma, who made himself untouchable, is a eunuch, and Marlon is his own squire.
What Yuma swallowed was the ‘Return Fruit’. It was the dragon lord Mahatrisha’s item.
When he opened his eyes, Yuma realized that he had returned to his immature 16-year-old.
“Whoa.”
I had heard that the legendary archmage ‘Rizol’ had succeeded in time travel, but experiencing it myself was unimaginable.
Handing over the ‘fruit of return’ to Yuma, Marlon said this.
-Mahatrisa says that if you eat this, your chili might grow back? but he dies
-Sir Malone No, what nonsense is that? What do you do if you die and you get a pepper?
-It’s just the two of us, but respectful words.
He said that the red pepper might come back, but if you’re unlucky, it might not.
-He hey is this dog! Are you kidding me for not having that?
-It’s a joke, and it’s a fruit that takes you back at least 10 years. But I don’t know when that time is. It’s up to luck.
He swallowed the apple and returned to 40 years ago. To the fresh days before losing a man and going through the storms of the years.
The refreshing feeling of a well-trained young body. With a throbbing heart, Yuma lifted up his pants.
“Oh oh…!”
there was.
A precious thing that has never been used.
Seeing it sticking to its place with a massive appearance brought Yuma to the point of tears.
How did he live after becoming a eunuch?
No matter how favored the empress was, Yuma was ultimately crippled. Gone are the days when he had to endure the gentle contempt of the commoners as well as the nobles.
But the joy was short-lived. Yuma’s expression darkened and he was lost in thought.
The purge of the Empress and the death of Marlon War clouds over Kyle’s empire. Above all, the Dragon Horse War that pushed the entire human race to the brink of destruction.
It was a heavy burden that could not be offset by the personal joy of getting back a man.
‘Still, it’s nice.’
Looking around, I saw the familiar yet unfamiliar scenery of Ferrol, a fishing village.
A small fishing village that has barely overcome the scars of war. A cool breeze brushed Yuma’s forehead. I remembered everything as clearly as if it had happened just yesterday.
It wasn’t just memories of the past. He vividly recalled what he had been doing just a moment ago.
Yuma was on his way to find Haka, who was sleeping on the sidewalk drunk.
Yuma moved his steps while fiddling with the wooden sword hanging from his waist.
As Yuma remembered, Haka was lying on the beach and snoring. It was the place where Yuma and Marlon were taught swordsmanship.
“Daddy wake up. Marlon has another accident.”
“Off!”
When Yuma tapped his shoulder, Haka brushed his hair and stood up.
“Why again… did you hit someone this time?”
“I knocked on a fat fish store and it looked like a fan. with a wooden sword.”
“what?”
“I guess the fat guy cursed at you first. Marlon was angry and we had a fight, but the fat guy pulled out the cleaver first.”
“It was Marlon, not the fat fisherman, who described this son of a bitch…
Hakka as a son of a bitch.
When his swordsmanship reached a certain level, Haka always made a request to Yuma and Marlon.
You are not at the level to fight ordinary people, so always be patient.
However, the hot-tempered Marlon did not listen to him very much.
“What happened to that friend from the fish store?”
“It doesn’t look like it’s broken anywhere.”
When Haka and Yuma returned home, Marlon was vigorously brushing off his soiled clothes.
“You man, how many times do I have to tell you not to hit people before you know?”
Marlon didn’t answer. Haka clicked his tongue and sat down at the table to drink a new drink.
‘Oh right. Come to think of it, tomorrow was the day the damn knight came.’
If it went as planned, Yuma and Marlon would have to go straight to the driver and ask for a practice match.
However, after getting involved with the article, he did not know how his future would flow. I couldn’t lose the man I regained today in vain.
Now it is no longer a eunuch.
Nor is it an old man without a better future.
There was a mountain of work to do. First of all, prepare for the dragon horse war and then that ….
‘And?’
Suddenly, such a thought struck Yuma’s mind.
What is this feeling that I regained with the man I lost? What should I express? A word long forgotten.
it was an ambition
That night, Yuma struggled with how to keep Marlon from going to the knight.
“Why do you keep asking me to be patient?”
Marlon complained to Yuma that it was difficult to overcome his anger even if he thought about it again.
Yuma recalled the countless disadvantages he had suffered because he couldn’t kill that fiery temper even when he became the strongest in the future.
Looking at injustice, he was not the type to throw himself out without compromise. It’s just multi-blooded.
In any case, seeing the chatter of the only friend he couldn’t even afford a funeral for, Yuma felt better.
“We are not nobles. If you don’t get lucky with a small mistake, you will be punished.”
Because of her 40 years of court life, Yuma knew the sorrows of commoners better than anyone else.
Even before the Dragon Horse War, the empress often allowed commoners to visit her.
At that time, the common people swallowed their tears and complained of injustice.
The Empress had to listen to the complaining voices of the nobles whenever she tried to figure out their circumstances.
“It would have been better if my father had been a knight. Why does a nobleman with good skills just rot in a fishing village like this? I’m a little older, but my father would use it here and there.”
If you said it in front of Haka, you would be beaten for three days.
After his wife was taken away by a nobleman, Ha Ka abandoned most of his attachments to life.
There were many aristocrats who recommended Haka, a wandering swordsman who had won countless duels, as a knight and kept him in their household. Baron Louis, the lord who rules Ferrol right now, also suggested Haka to come under him twice.
However, Haka declined all offers.
In the previous time, Marlon did not know who the nobles who stole Hakka’s wife were until he died.
“Do you want to be a knight?”
Becoming a knight or wizard was the only way for ordinary people to succeed.
Relatively speaking, becoming a knight was much easier. Even if magic was talented, it was of no use to anyone without going through the wizard academy, which cost astronomical tuition.
There was no way a commoner could afford that money.
If the talent was at the level of a genius, it was usually adopted by families that excelled in magic.
However, it was a means not to be taken away by other groups, not to properly raise them.
On the other hand, in the case of martial arts, including swordsmanship, it was okay to learn from wandering swordsmen like Haka or mercenaries.
“of course. Then you can live without seeing such a dirty sight.”
‘You’ve seen a lot more dirty things since you became a knight, man…
The humiliation Marlon suffered over the years after becoming the bastard of the Zach family was beyond description.
Not an ordinary aristocrat, but a commoner adopted by a great aristocratic family. But to think that both of them were evaluated as the greatest talent in the history of the Zach family, no, the history of Kyle.
Jacques’ children, who were jealous of him, made hundreds of assassination attempts.
As a result, Marlon suffered from sleep deprivation for several years after he was adopted by the Zach family. It was because the assassins would come looking for him whenever he tried to get a good night’s sleep.
“How tired it is to be a knight.
More so for people from commoners like us.
If you have even a little bit of skill, the aristocrats will do everything to push you away, but all your salary goes to equipment maintenance, and you are often called to the battlefield… Rather, it is better to be a mercenary.”
“You talk like you’ve been a knight.”
‘It’s not like that, but how many times did you tell me when I was young?’
Yuma swallowed the words down his throat and smiled.
“They said a knight would come from the capital tomorrow.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“I heard about it at the fish shop earlier,”
Yuma realized.
That the past has already changed.
—————————————
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