Starting With an SSS-Rank Swordsmanship Talent

“The Astanian army has two Mythical Knights on their side. My golem almost died fighting against them. If they hadn’t run out of artillery ammunition, things could have ended badly for my troops.” Leroy explained.

Limuel raised an eyebrow and sent him a mysterious smile. “I heard that you had a discussion with their two Venerables. Can you tell us what you have discussed with them?”

Leroy narrowed his eyes upon hearing this.

This bastard… How did he get that information?

Is there a spy on my side?

No…

“I only negotiated a truce with them. It was necessary to give our troops ample time to rest.” He calmly replied.

Limuel rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his expression unreadable.

While he was silent, Leroy persuaded the others. “Everyone, I understand your concerns, but this war will not be as easy as you think. They might send their Mythical Knights to two separate locations. If they breached…”

He had already prepared his script for this meeting.

He needed more than a convincing argument to convince a group of arrogant nobles.

“We can just pretend to surrender.” While saying this, he let out a faint smile.

“Pretend to surrender?”

The nobles were taken aback and some also began to seriously consider his suggestion. Even Limuel fell into deep thought.

Leroy nodded his head. “Think about it…If we choose to fight them, we would only suffer heavy casualties. By pretending to surrender, we wouldn’t have to fight them. We can even buy enough time until reinforcements arrive.”

There was a heated discussion between the nobles as soon as he gave this suggestion. Some stuck to their previous decision and refused to surrender, but there were already a few who had changed their minds.

Something doesn’t feel right.

Limuel looked suspiciously at Leroy.

This guy is the type of man who would never yield. He wouldn’t even give face to the imperial family.

Something is going on here…

As if sensing his gaze, Leroy sent him a deep look.

Limuel let out a smile before looking away.

Did he sense something?

Leroy frowned. It would be bad if Limuel were to discover the truth.

The discussion continued for the next hour. Limuel tried to convince the others not to support Leroy’s suggestion, but the majority decided to trust Leroy.

Dammit! These idiots! Can they not sense that there is something odd about the whole situation?

Limuel cursed in his mind.

I need to get out of here and report everything to the imperial family!

After the meeting concluded, Limuel excused himself and left with haste.

He brought a few of his closest aides and they all headed to a secret entrance that led directly outside the city.

“My lord, shouldn’t we report this to the Venerable?” One of his subordinates said.

Limuel sent him a glare and replied in a cold voice. “No! We must leave at once! I have a feeling that Leroy has already betrayed us!”

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

“How is that possible?! No way!”

“Why would the Venerable do that?”

They couldn’t believe it.

Limuel sneered. “Leroy is already on the bad side of Harune’s imperial family. He also has numerous enemies among the nobility. If it weren’t for his overwhelming martial power, his household would have already been destroyed by those people.”

“If I’m not wrong, Astania must have already promised to accept him in their nation.”

Truthfully, he was still not a hundred percent sure about this, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that Leroy had already betrayed them.

“Enough talking and just follow me.”

Limuel led his subordinates to this secret passageway which was an underground tunnel that led to a hill over a mile away from the city.

Only a few people knew this secret passageway. Even Leroy didn’t know about this.

Due to the rough path of the tunnel, it took them almost two hours to reach the exit.

Looking at the bright sky outside, Limuel smiled.

“There are horses outside. We will move separately to-”

While he was talking, he noticed that his subordinates had gone unusually quiet.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he turned around and saw something that made him terrified.

The subordinates he brought were now lying on the ground with deep slits in their throats and the culprit was just about two meters from him, staring at him with a mocking smile.

“Limuel, I didn’t plan on killing you so soon, but you just dug your own grave.”

“V-Venerable… there must be a misunderstanding!” Limuel broke into a cold sweat and he hurriedly tried to explain himself.

“A misunderstanding? Do you think I don’t know what you’re planning to do?” Leroy sneered.

“No! I just wanted to-” Limuel was about to say something, but his words were cut off when Leroy suddenly grabbed him by the neck.

Kaahhkk! Ehk!

Limuel was a Transcendent Knight, but he couldn’t even break free from his grip. He tried to stimulate his energy core, but it was useless.

He couldn’t overpower Leroy.

With a frosty expression, Leroy added more strength to his grip.

In the next moment, the sound of bones cracking echoed in the tunnel.

Thud.

“Oh? You’re still alive?” With a disdainful smile, Leroy looked down at Limuel who was crawling towards the exit.

He had already broken the old man’s neck, but the strong vitality of a Transcendent Knight kept him alive.

“You would have lived a bit longer if you had stayed in the city.” Leroy clicked his tongue.

With a swipe of his hand, he cut off the old man’s head.

Khsshk!

After killing him, Leroy didn’t even bother to look at the corpse. He just spat a mouthful of saliva and left.

In your next life, you should treat people’s lives better…

…

Limuel’s sudden disappearance made many people suspicious. They felt that Leroy had a hand in the matter, but no one dared to voice their suspicions.

With Limuel’s death, the nobles of Halona were forced to follow the Venerable’s orders.

That was how Halona stopped their resistance and surrendered to the Astanian army.