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In that sense, it cannot be said that Eusus von Tenes, who is to inherit the magical armor Eldrad, is less talented than Russ. Realistically, Eusus could take Russ’s life within three seconds. Of course, some may argue that’s only if Eldrad is involved, but then again, Russ also shows his true abilities only when he has a sword, so it’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

If a swordsman with exceptional skill in wielding a sword is recognized as a warrior, then it would be contradictory to say that a magic swordsman with exceptional skill in handling magical armor is not a warrior. This was Eusus’s thought.

“Ugh, this is not the time to be worrying about such trivial matters.”

Eusus deliberately ignored Russ and tried not to pay any more attention to him.

After all, there was much to do. He had to organize the relics obtained from the ruins and plan to distribute the rewards fairly among the members of the knight order. Dealing with the aftermath for those who died inside the ruins was also an important issue. He was the leader of the Tenes Knight Order. The world wasn’t simple enough to just swing a sword around without any thought.

“It’s not worth my attention. There’s no need to waste my energy on such a person.”

Eusus turned away from the window. However, his ears still couldn’t shake off the song of the wind cutting through the blades.

* * *

Deep into the night, a shadow was running through the dense forest shrouded in darkness. The man, dressed entirely in black and even wearing a mask on his face, was unmistakably suspicious to anyone who saw him.

Leaping over the steep mountain ridges as lightly as a mountain goat, he easily crossed the forest, which was so dense that even the ground beneath his feet wasn’t visible. After running for a while, the man paused on a rock to catch his breath and murmured while adjusting his mask.

“To think I’d be reborn and end up doing all sorts of things, including scaling walls with a hood pulled over my head.”

The masked man, Repenhardt, chuckled bitterly. He was currently on his way to Viscount Kelberen’s castle in the middle of the night.

After spending a day in Gehallen Village, Repenhardt and his party headed for Kelberen Castle the next morning. The castle, located in the direct dominion of Viscount Kelberen, was approximately a day’s journey from Gehallen Village. As they entered the village at the base of the castle, the sun was already setting into dusk.

After finding a suitable inn, Repenhardt immediately started gathering information. It was rare for knights from the capital to visit such a rural domain, so the innkeeper was quite knowledgeable about the activities of the Graim family.

Well, being informed isn’t exactly about knowing the number of enemies or detailed personal information. ‘I heard that a distinguished knight has arrived at the Viscount’s castle’, ‘They say that this knight and the Viscount went on a grand adventure and returned with a mountain of treasures,’ ‘It’s likely that they are currently having a splendid party at the Viscount’s castle with those knights, or so the rumors went.’; Hardly substantial information, but just idle gossip.

However, for Repenhardt, that was enough. All he needed to know was that the relic, the Voice of Elucion, was still within the walls of Kelberen Castle.

After a simple dinner, Repenhardt went straight to a clothing store to buy black attire. Wearing black was essential for sneaking over walls in the dead of night. Not to mention, a thief certainly had no business showing his face, so a mask was also necessary.

Of course, no sane clothing store in the world would sell masks. So, he bought some black cloth, cut holes in it, and sewed himself one.

Touching the knot of the mask, Repenhardt suddenly chuckled.

“Come to think of it, this is the first piece of clothing Siris has made for me in this life.”

Although she posed as a female warrior, a Slayer was, in the end, nothing more than a female slave serving men. Naturally, she was also taught household skills alongside swordsmanship.

Thus, in his previous life, Siris had been skilled in cooking and sewing. She would knit scarves or embroider in her spare time, making clothes for Repenhardt. Her craftsmanship was excellent, producing quite stylish clothing. The knot on the mask was stitched meticulously, stitch by stitch, with great skill.

‘Tch, even though it is well made…’

Repenhardt sighed. It was a rather gloomy story that the first piece of clothing (if it could be called that) his lover made for him was a mask for thievery.

After finishing his preparations, Repenhardt left the inn alone. He left Siris and Sillan at the inn. Even though they understood his reasons, he wasn’t shameless enough to involve a priest directly in thievery. Moreover, while priests could be incredibly helpful in combat, they could be a hindrance in situations requiring stealth like this.

Siris was left to guard Sillan. While priests are excellent at enhancing others’ combat capabilities, they themselves are not combatants. Considering the situation in the Chatan Duchy, it was necessary to be prepared for anything.

Moreover, even though he had craftily disguised it with lies, Repenhardt himself knew best that what he was currently doing amounted to theft. No matter how much one harped on about a past life, the undeniable truth was that the legitimate owner of the Voice of Elucion was the Count of Tenes. Feeling less than honorable, he had no inclination to bring Siris along.

‘Ah, how did things get so tangled up. Tsk.’

Repenhardt clicked his tongue as he continued to sprint through the forest. Suddenly, he lifted his head to look beyond the branches.

“At last, it’s coming into view.”

Through the branches, the sight of a gray castle, shrouded in darkness, emerged. It was Viscount Kelberen’s castle, their destination.

Kelberen’s castle was a three-tiered fortress erected on a cliff beside the Yaham River, which flowed from the Setellad Mountains. It was designed with towers and an outer castle to prevent enemy invasions, an inner castle for slaves and attendants, and at the center, a tower and a high castle where the viscount resided.

Behind the castle was a cliff bordered by the river, and the front was surrounded by the forest he had passed through. There was only one castle gate, built high up on a solitary path with a drawbridge in front of it. To attack the castle, it would be impossible to send a large force over that narrow path. It was a structure thoroughly designed for defense.

As he observed the castle, Repenhardt clicked his tongue.

‘Why is a countryside lord’s castle so grand?’

Certainly, Viscount Kelberen’s territory was neither a military strategic point nor a trade hub. Of course, there was a need to fortify the castle to fend off monsters from the nearby Setellad Mountains, but this seemed too much.

Wondering, he continued to examine the structure of the castle and soon realized the reason.

“This is the craftsmanship of dwarves.”

The construction of this castle was not the work of humans, but of dwarves. This could be clearly seen from the structure of the walls and the placement of the towers. Employing dwarf slaves could build a far superior building at a much lower cost than using humans, so it made sense for a countryside lord’s castle to be so magnificent.

‘The Viscount of Kelberen has established his position through mining…’

In the current era, employing dwarf slaves for mining was a matter of common sense. Dwarves, being naturally resistant to dust―indeed, unaffected by it―and possessing superior strength and stamina, as well as an instinctive ability to read the veins of rocks, were considered a race specially adapted for mining and construction.

If open-pit mining were straightforward, human miners could be employed, but when it comes to digging into the earth, the productivity of dwarves simply cannot be matched. For such reasons, the household of Viscount Kelberen also possessed a considerable number of dwarf slaves, who were fully utilized in the construction of this castle.

‘Regardless, infiltrating won’t be easy.’

Hiding in the shadow of the bushes, Repenhardt continuously scanned his surroundings. Two human soldiers stood guard in front of the castle gate, and three more patrolled along the top of the walls, with fires lit at various points to maximize visibility.

It was a stern guard reminiscent of wartime preparations, evidently due to the valuable relics of the Silver Age that they possessed, warranting such heightened security measures.

‘Well, it’s all within expectations.’

With a slight smile, Repenhardt sensed the presences around him with his aura. As the soldiers on the wall crossed paths, he darted out from the shadow of the bushes and across the open ground beneath the walls.

Tap, tap, tap!

In just three steps, Repenhardt reached the dark shadow beneath the watchtower without anyone noticing, even as a well-built man passed through a lit area.

Logically, the presence of a guard and the approach of a patrol should have heightened the alertness, not diminished it.

But there was a flaw. No matter how vigilantly one might guard a position, being human means one’s attention can be diverted. Even knowing the approaching figure to be an ally, attention can shift momentarily.

Repenhardt exploited this brief lapse in attention. The formidable sensory capabilities of an aura wielder go beyond merely detecting presence; they can also sense the mental state of others to some extent. This is typically used to detect an opponent’s movements, but he noticed the moment the guards’ attention wavered and took action.

Naturally, not being a professional thief, Repenhardt made some noise. One of the guards, who had been exchanging nighttime pleasantries with a patrolman, looked down below the walls, puzzled.

“Huh? What’s that?”

But by then, Repenhardt had already hidden himself in the shadows. The guard, tilting his head in confusion, turned back to return to his post.

Whish!

With the sound of the wind, a dark shadow soared up towards the top of the wall.

“… Huh? Ack!”

Before the guard could even register surprise, a powerful impact struck the nape of his neck, and he collapsed. As the patrolmen on the wall were thrown into confusion by the sudden appearance of the intruder and were about to sound the alarm, a voice apologized.

“Sorry!”

With the apology, Repenhardt threw punches left and right. Golden aura blasts struck three patrolmen and the remaining guard, knocking them all unconscious in an instant.

After dealing with the guards, Repenhardt quickly crouched down and surveyed his surroundings.

‘Has anyone seen me?’

His fists were literally weapons. It was more effective to use energy projectiles with reduced power for non-lethal purposes than to punch carelessly. However, the bright flashes of the projectiles made them unsuitable for stealthy operations.

Repenhardt did not act without thought, however. Viscount Kelberen’s castle walls were fiercely guarded, with bonfires blazing every ten meters. He figured the light from the projectiles would not stand out too much in this brightness.

Fortunately, it seemed he had not been noticed.

‘Beginner’s luck, perhaps.’

Repenhardt sighed in relief and moved quickly.

He planted the guards’ spears into the ground and propped the unconscious men against them like scarecrows, making it appear from a distance as if they were still standing guard.

After securing the area, he surveyed the inside of the outer castle. The bonfires lit up the area well, but no signs of life were evident.

‘Well, given the time, everyone must be in bed.’

He had to hurry. No matter how well he arranged the guards to appear normal, it was only a temporary measure; a closer inspection would reveal the ruse. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself of the plan.

Even though Repenhardt possessed a superhuman body awakened with aura, he had no illusions about sneaking into a noble’s castle, stealing items, and escaping unnoticed like a legendary phantom thief.

Honestly, he couldn’t fathom how one could accomplish such feats. Had he regained his magic from a previous life, perhaps he could have cast a wide-ranging sleep spell over everyone in the castle and casually taken what he wanted.

‘But that would be more akin to the act of a bold bandit rather than a thief.’

Therefore, the only option available to him was clear. Since there was no way to avoid detection, the best strategy was to complete his mission before getting caught.

‘Quick and decisive. Grab and go.’

With a swish of his cloak, Repenhardt leapt down from the castle wall.