Emperor of Steel

“Kuek! I can’t just die… in here!”

An old knight was walking on the unsteady path of the mountain.

His colorful armor and uniform were torn and broken everywhere, and the white hair on his head was ruffled.

His steps stumbled every time he tried to take a step while holding his stomach with one hand and using the other hand to use his sword as a cane.

The old knight was Duke Butler.

Due to the betrayal of Marquis Vanden, he had lost everything. However, he managed to escape with his life at the expense of his men.

“Vanden… Rudolf… I will take your necks! Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil himself!”

With a terrifying goal, he was running away, but the resentment of Butler didn’t die down.

Sniff.

“There are blood marks here!”

“Catch him! He couldn’t have gotten much farther away!”

From behind, he heard the cries of the Emperor’s dogs who were pursuing him.

It took less than an hour for a few knights to spot out the enemy.

His long struggle had failed.

“This way! Butler is here!”

Butler hurried at the shouts of the soldiers who were chasing him.

However, the dog’s under the Emperor ran and caught the leg of Butler.

“Keuk! These hybrid dogs!”

Catch! Catch!

After wielding his sword and slicing the two, the other dogs began to attack him too.

But in the meantime, the chasing men appeared.

“HuHuhu. If we cut the throat of this old man, we can get the title of Marquis and a manor… Keuk!”

The knight, who looked down on Butler, got his neck choked on a spear.

The soldiers, who were scared, didn’t approach the man.

“Tch, I am a dragon inside…”

The leader, who was leading the pursuit, raised his hand.

The archers aimed at Butler.

“Launch!”

When the orders fell, dozens of archers pulled their arrows.

Swosh! Swosh!

The arrow that flew threw the wind poured down like rain on Butler.

Butler wielded his sword to avoid the incoming arrows, but with his injuries, he wasn’t able to block all the arrows.

“Kuek! Kuak!”

Starting from his leg, dozens of arrows hit his entire body.

His armor did prevent him from dying, but the pain he had to bear was too much.

Thud.

Butler, who had no strength, sat down.

The soldiers, who thought that they had neutralized him, began to gather around and narrow the space they had with him.

The leader on the horse had himself got down, but Butler had no strength to even move a finger.

‘It is over! This is my end!’

It was so frustrating that tears of blood flowed from Butler’s eyes.

“Goodbye, Duke Butler. I will keep your manor and title and take your body to His Majesty… Kuak!”

The leader was about to end Duke Butler’s life when he threw up blood and screamed.

Behind him was a masked knight with a mando (wooden practice sword) on his back.

‘Who is he? I have no idea!’

Butler wasn’t the only one with that question running in his head.

The knights and soldiers, who were chasing Butler, were flustered at the sudden interruption.

“Y-you, who are you?”

One of the knights pointed his sword at the masked man and asked with a cold voice.

“Reichard de Baroque.”

“W-what?”

Listening to the unexpected name, the knights were all shocked.

Maybe their reaction was satisfactory to the masked knight because he laughed a little.

“However, right now, I am Orc Hero Shaikan.”

At the end of those words, the orcs’ goblin army began to pop out from the forest.

Kikikikiki!

Kaaaak!

The startled knights and soldiers attempted to counterattack, but the monsters were much faster.

With just a few of the monster’s spear wielding, the men died.

The knights fought back, but when they all rushed in, they were slaughtered.

Duke Butler could only stare at Shaikan with shock and amazement.

‘T-this man is the 3rd prince of the past Emperor, Reichard? I am sure that he was declared dead…?’

The 3rd prince, Reichard, was known to have been killed by an unidentified assassin while heading to his home lordship with Empress Magdalene.

However, the same rumored man had appeared there and insisted that he was the 3rd prince, so Butler was forced to think back.

‘Maybe he is an imposter using the 3rd prince identity?’

While Butler was trying to figure out all the possibilities…

He sensed an enormous power emanating from Shaikan’s body.

“T-this is…!”

The energy, which was emanating from his body, was too hard for even a Sword Sage to handle.

“Dragonic aura. It is the power that only those who have awakened the blood of God Dragon Tiamet can perform.”

“D-Dragonian!”

A legend that was passed down in the family of the Baroque.

Butler was aware of it, but he didn’t find it truthful enough to believe.

Drrr!

When Butler was shocked by Shaikan, he opened up his shirt to give out proof.

On his chest was a dragon scale.

As Shaikan’s Dragonic aura radiated, the scales began to spread over to his neck and shoulder.

“Oh, oh my god!”

The legend about the Dragonian wasn’t a lie!

At the shocked expression of Butler, Shaikan brought out his mando and cut his hand with it, making his blood drip.

He reached out to Butler, who was soaking in blood.

“You are dying. You have a stronger vitality than the others, but you won’t last long. You can live by drinking my blood which is filled with Dragonian aura. But…”

Butler, who was ready to drink the blood, stopped when he heard the following words.

“The souls of the ones who drink the blood of the dragon will regard me as their master. If the owner lives, you live. If the owner dies, you die.”

“….”

“What do you plan on doing? Would you accept it?”

Butler thought for a moment.

“What will I get if I became your subject?”

“Your family will thrive forever with the new nation that I’ll build.”

“New nation…?” Asked Butler.

“Yes. I will destroy the Baroque Empire and rebuild the Libiya Kingdom.”

The Countess of Ebra, Reichard’s mother, was a descendant of the people of the fallen kingdom of Libiya.

Butler was aware of it too, but he felt embarrassed and flustered when he said about rebuilding a nation that was destroyed 500 years ago.

Founding such a nation was impossible without considerable preparation and enthusiastic movement.

Although he had seen the power of the God Dragon, did Reichard have the needed political foundation?

“But, first of all, I want to take revenge on that Rudolf. How about that?”

That was the one thing needed.

It didn’t matter if Reichard could build a new kingdom or not.

The most important thing for Butler was revenge.

Butler was determined. He put down the sword in his hand and looked at Shaikan.

“If you can overthrow that crazy Emperor and that traitor, I am willing to be your servant.”

Butler drank the blood that was dripping from Shaikan’s hand.

The blood of the dragon’s aura that entered his body cooled down his body.

Along with enhanced metabolism, his body recovered several times faster than normal.

“Kuak! Kaaak!”

His wounds began to burn as they healed.

His aura, which wasn’t able to form because of his severely injured body, began to go back to normal.

‘To recover this quick! Is this the power of those who inherit the blood of the God Dragon?’

Duke Butler was amazed, seeing his body recover at an astonishing speed. He looked over when Shaikan’s words interrupted his amazement.

“Get up. If you want to overthrow Rudolf, we have a lot to do in the future.”

“Yes, Master!”

Butler followed Shaikan who was moving into the group of monsters.

The key to the Western Army, which Rudolf hadn’t completely eradicated, was in the hands of Shaikan, who was secretly building forces within the Empire.