Dragonslayer’s Class Regression Chapter 62

Chapter 62

“Stimulants?”

Zeke recalled the mercenaries who attacked the knights with crazed eyes.

“So they weren’t just ordinary Soma addicts.”

“It was made with Soma ingredients.”

“Why create a stimulant?”

“To create warriors who know neither pain nor fear.”

Hearing Black Demon’s words, Zeke realized this was another of the Empire’s human experiments.

‘They’ve been analyzing and testing drugs on stimulant-injected mercenaries during years of attrition warfare with Delpoa.’

Zeke also recalled how Black Demon had held out in the fortress for 3 years while continuously expanding his organization by absorbing bandits and mercenaries.

He had wondered how such things were possible while stuck in a corner of Delpoa – it was because they had backup from the Empire.

‘What are these Empire bastards doing across the entire continent?’

Zeke said to Black Demon:

“You know you’ll be killed by the Empire first if things stay this way.”

Black Demon clenched his molars before speaking.

“…I answered obediently, so show mercy and kill me now.”

Zeke shook his head.

“What if there was a way to survive?”

Black Demon’s eyebrows twitched.

“There’s no escaping the Empire’s Intelligence Bureau.”

Zeke said to him:

“What if Draker’s power could protect you?”

Black Demon’s expression changed at the mention of Draker.

The only organization on the continent that surpassed the Empire’s Intelligence Bureau.

“…Draker? What do you mean?”

Zeke removed his glove and used his magic reflection skill.

The magic lamp he had turned on began to flicker.

Black Demon looked at Zeke with a hardened expression and said:

“So you’re a pureblood awakened one from Draker.”

“Yes. I received the title of official knight of the family.”

Black Demon’s mind raced.

Even intelligence agents don’t want to die.

His patriotism had largely disappeared after handling dirty work for so long.

Moreover, if he didn’t die now and it was discovered he leaked information, the Intelligence Bureau would obviously give him the most painful death possible.

In that case, becoming a key witness under Draker’s protection might be the better choice.

Black Demon said to Zeke:

“Can you guarantee my identity will be completely changed?”

“I have an even better option.”

Zeke said while looking at Black Demon:

“I’ll introduce you to a new job too. Being from the 13th Division of the Intelligence Bureau, there should be plenty of uses for you.”

Black Demon felt an inexplicable chill from Zeke’s smile.

* * *

After hiding Black Demon in the cave and moving back toward the fortress, Zeke felt something was strange.

‘Did they not capture the fortress?’

With just bandits and mercenaries in the fortress without Black Demon, Andrei’s group should have been able to subdue it easily.

Yet there was still tension around the front of the fortress.

Zeke first left the fortress area and returned to the knights’ camp.

But as soon as he arrived at the unit, the mages pointed their staffs at him.

Zeke glared at the mage unit and said:

“What is this?”

Then the captain walked out from among the mages.

He shouted at Zeke:

“Zeke Draker! Black Demon escaped because of you. I’m sending you to the barracks to answer for this crime!”

Black Demon escaping because of Zeke? That made no sense.

Zeke said while looking at the captain:

“Why do you say Black Demon escaped because of me?”

The captain frowned and shouted:

“Because of your clumsy attack, Black Demon, who we had nearly caught, escaped from the fortress! You fool!”

Zeke tilted his head and asked the captain:

“Have you confirmed Black Demon isn’t in the fortress? When I checked above, the fortress defenses were still solid.”

The captain hesitated before speaking:

“Shut up! I confirmed with others earlier. They said someone urgently escaped outside the fortress.”

“It could have been someone leaving to call for reinforcements. What evidence specifically identifies that as Black Demon?”

The captain’s face turned bright red at Zeke’s logical rebuttal.

Seeing the ccaptain’s reaction, Zeke was certain.

‘This bastard tipped off Black Demon to escape.’

He only looked after his own interests during 3 years of attrition warfare here.

Though he probably didn’t know his actions aided the Empire’s experiments, it didn’t change the fact that he was trash.

The commander also pointed his staff at Zeke and said:

“Stop talking and come with me. I will report all your crimes to the superiors in detail. Don’t expect to get away easily just because you’re from Valhalla.”

Zeke decided to comply with the commander’s words for now.

When he went to the tent as led by the mages, the 8th Knight Division members including Jorge were kneeling on the ground with their hands bound.

Zeke looked toward Jorge.

“Why are they restrained?”

The commander made an irritated expression and shouted:

“Shut up! Say one more word and I’ll cast a spell to seal your mouth!”

There couldn’t have been such a thing among combat magic.

Zeke clicked his tongue at the captain’s hysterical reaction.

That’s when Jorge stood up and shouted.

“Sir Knight! We don’t regret helping you! We too want to remain as honorable knights!”

At those words, other knights also stood up and agreed with Jorge’s words.

Then the captain gritted his teeth and gestured to the mages.

Crackle!

Soon the mages channeled lightning magic into the chains binding the knights.

“Urghhhh!”

The electrocuted knights writhed in pain.

Watching this, Zeke said to the captain.

“Isn’t it too harsh to treat allies like that? You wouldn’t even treat prisoners this way.”

At those words, the captain, seemingly unable to contain himself anymore, approached Zeke.

“One more word… say one more word and I’ll execute you on the spot!”

That’s when it happened.

Bang!

One tent completely collapsed and Andrei emerged from it holding a sword.

Behind him stood Aster and Diego, who immediately aimed their weapons at the mages upon appearing.

Andrei approached the captain who was threatening Zeke.

“Delpoa Magic 8th Division Captain Ingrid Hacksen. Your current actions can be interpreted as a death threat against Zeke Draker, an official knight of Draker. In this case, from this moment on, Draker will switch to wartime response posture against Delpoa, and Draker-affiliated knight Andrei Draker hereby notifies that he will respond immediately to this.”

The captain’s face turned pale at Andrei’s response.

It was a warning from none other than Draker.

Moreover, it was a warning of switching to wartime response posture targeting not just him but the entire Delpoa.

He stepped back while breaking out in cold sweat.

“H-hey! Sudden switch to wartime response posture! Isn’t that too extreme of a reaction!”

Andrei glared at the captain with cold eyes and said.

“Ingrid Hacksen, listen carefully. The name of Draker is never taken lightly.”

The captain gulped.

In truth, he had never properly felt the weight of the Draker name before.

So whenever other division captains trembled at the mention of the Draker name, he had secretly laughed at them.

But now that he personally experienced a knight’s killing intent, his knees were weak.

“W-wait. There seems to have been a misunderstanding.”

The captain stepped back while trying to calm Andrei down.

He quickly continued.

“I-I misspoke just now. I was on edge due to continuous battles. I only meant to escort him to the barracks for an accurate investigation.”

Andrei glanced briefly at Zeke.

Zeke nodded as if to say it was fine.

Andrei withdrew his killing intent and sheathed his sword.

“There seems to have been a mutual misunderstanding between both sides.”

The captain let out a sigh of relief as Andrei backed down quietly.

Then he gestured to the mages who were positioned to counterattack, signaling them to withdraw.

Zeke said to the captain.

“May I speak with my companions for a moment?”

The captain answered while clenching his molars.

“…I’ll give you 20 minutes.”

Zeke nodded.

Then he entered a tent guided by the mages along with Andrei and the others.

As soon as he entered the tent, he took off his gloves and used his magic reflection skill.

Screech!

All the magical devices installed around the tent broke down making noise.

Zeke said to Andrei.

“I caught the Black demon.”

Surprised at those words, Andrei asked back.

“Are you saying you caught Black demon alone?”

“Yes. When he used poison, I induced him to lower his guard and caught him by surprise.”

Andrei’s jaw dropped.

Although he had been an outlaw, The Black demon was someone who had wandered the continent for a long time committing major evil deeds enough to become a continental criminal.

He couldn’t help but be surprised that Zeke had caught alone such an opponent that even experienced knights would find difficult to handle.

While hiding the Black demon’s identity, Zeke spoke about his secret relationship with Ingrid.

Andrei’s eyes grew round hearing his words.

If corruption issues of Delpoa’s high-ranking officials were involved, things could get quite complicated.

“What do you plan to do?”

Zeke stood up from his seat.

“It would be better to let Delpoa handle Delpoa’s affairs.”

He conveyed the necessary information to Andrei and left the tent.

Then he was taken to the barracks by carriage.

Upon arriving at the barracks, the mages didn’t put Zeke in a regular detention cell but emptied out an officer’s quarters and confined him there, posting guards in front of the door.

Surprisingly, there were knights more skilled than Jorge and his group guarding other mages inside the barracks.

‘If they have such forces, they should deploy them for fortress attacks.’

Zeke lay in the quarters with a bored expression.

After lying there for some time, someone knocked and entered the quarters.

“Zeke.”

Professor Feinan came to Zeke with a stern expression.

‘As expected, he came.’

Zeke wasn’t surprised, as he had anticipated Professor Feinan’s arrival since the situation developed this way.

He approached closer to Zeke.

“Zeke! What on earth happened?”

“Let’s say it’s the result of not heeding your warning, Professor.”

“Good Lord.”

Feinan actually already knew about Commander Ingrid’s corruption.

Moreover, all high-ranking magic officers were aware of the situation through word of mouth.

Delpoa mages must have military experience to reach high positions.

While Zeke thought he had failed to walk the tightrope, Feinan had actually volunteered for military service because he felt limited by research work alone.

Furthermore, coming to this unit was arranged specifically by the Royal Research Institute director who was guiding Feinan.

It turned out this unit was famous as a place where one could fulfill military service without much incident.

Despite being a frontline unit facing Black demon, known as the Continental Threat, the magic division had almost no casualties, making it ideal for building experience before leaving.

Knowing these facts, everyone pretended not to know about Commander Ingrid’s corruption.

This was why Feinan had separately warned Zeke.

Zeke spoke to Feinan.

“I have a favor to ask you, Professor.”

“What is it?”

He whispered to Feinan about what he had discovered about Black demon..

“G-good Lord…!”

Feinan was shocked at the part about the Empire’s stimulant experiments.

If this was true, the situation could no longer be left unchecked.

Zeke spoke to Feinan in a low voice.

“While exposing this corruption is the right thing to do, there will surely be dissent among Delpoa mages.”

Feinan agreed with Zeke’s words.

Reporting corruption of fellow mages was itself taboo in Delpoa mage society.

No matter how righteous the cause, it could mean almost giving up on advancing to a high-ranking mage position.

Zeke spoke to Feinan.

“I’ll leave the choice to you, Professor.”

Feinan fell into deep contemplation at Zeke’s words.

He slowly raised his head, looked at Zeke, and said.

“Zeke, I’m truly sorry… but I cannot do that.”

“Is it because of power as a mage?”

Feinan shook his head.

“Power… maybe. For the research I want to do, I need to receive the title of Wizard, a high-ranking mage.”

After finishing his words, Feinan slowly stood up.

“I’m truly sorry, Zeke.”

Feinan left the room as if fleeing.

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