A Dragonslayer’s Peerless Regression – 240



Episode 240

After finishing his conversation with the head of the household Zeke left the Four Seasons Castle and headed to Atlas’ mansion.

Inside the carriage Zeke was still in shock.

‘Arthur Draker was the Grand Master.’

Zeke’s prediction that there would be no Grand Masters after the era of the King of Heroes turned out to be wrong.

Then another question occurred to Zeke.

‘If Arthur Draker was the Grand Master why did he die in his previous life?’

The story known from his previous life is that after Abel Draker became the successor he stepped away from the family business and soon after became ill and died.

Even a black knight can get sick as long as he is human. However if he is of the Grand Master level the situation is different.

The King of Heroes who was of the Grand Master rank was so strong that he left for the Fairy Land saying that he was destroying the balance of karma.

Of course there was a gap between Arthur Drake and the King of Heroes even though they were both Grand Masters but it was still difficult to imagine that he would simply die from illness.

Eventually Zeke came up with a hypothesis.

‘It is highly probable that Arthur Draker’s death in his previous life was faked.’

It seemed more credible that the Grand Master had faked his death than that he had died of an illness.

‘If that’s true it’s hard to understand why Arthur Draker just left Abel and Siemens alone… Was he up to something?’

I could only guess that Arthur Draker had some secrets.

While he was pondering Zeke arrived at the mansion and met his teacher Duke Draker whom he had not seen in a long time.

He met Zeke and drank his alcohol as usual and said:

“I heard there was a huge uproar in the Four Seasons?”

Zeke nodded.

“Did you know that Abel became the Black Knight?”

“I also found out after the inauguration ceremony. I thought Arthur was up to something when he was promoted to Guardian Knight but I was surprised to hear that Abel was suddenly promoted to Black Knight.”

Duke also swallowed as if he couldn’t believe Abel’s promotion.

Zeke looked at Duke and asked.

“Master may I ask you something?”

Duke’s face hardened slightly as he saw Zeke’s expression and guessed what he was going to ask.

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Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“I would like to ask why my promotion to Black Knight was canceled.”

Zeke nodded silently at Duke’s words.

The case of a Duke who was once a Black Knight but is no longer a Black Knight is one that is rare throughout Draker history.

Although there were cases where a Black Knight retired due to old age or illness or due to injury from a duel it was unusual for a Black Knight to have his promotion stage canceled like Duke.

The Duke filled his glass again and downed it in one gulp.

He said looking at Zeke.

“Do you know why I drink alcohol all the time?”

“You just like drinking don’t you?”

“This guy! He doesn’t even know his teacher. He really doesn’t know.”

His hands shook as he took his glass away.

Duke said looking at Zeke.

“After that day no matter how much I drink I never get drunk.”

In fact Zeke had only ever seen Duke drink never drunk. He knew full well that he had acted like a drunkard at times but had never actually been drunk.

“What do you mean by that day?”

Duke rubbed his face with his palms and washed his face dry.

Before he knew it his lips had turned blue.

Zeke had never seen Duke this scared before.

‘It’s similar to the symptoms that appear in mercenaries or knights who have been greatly shocked after the end of the war. What did the wizard say at that time? Post-traumatic stress disorder?’

The Duke spoke barely able to catch his breath.

“I went beyond the dark sea.”

Zeke’s face hardened as he heard Duke’s words.

“When you say Dark Sea are you referring to the sea beyond the western part of the continent?”

The Duke nodded.

Zeke asked urgently.

“Why did you go beyond the Dark Sea? Is there something beyond it?”

The Duke kept his mouth shut for a while and then spoke slowly.

“I’m sorry but even you Zig can’t tell me anything about that.”

The Duke’s voice was firm.

But Zeke could guess quite a bit of information from that alone.

‘It was a secret mission for the Draker family.’

If it was a secret mission involving Duke Draker who was a black knight it wouldn’t be an ordinary problem.

Zeke recalled the last message from Terracan Draker who had intended to go to the Dark Sea.

‘Have you been given a mission to go beyond the Dark Sea to find traces of Terracan?’

Many questions arose but it was impossible to get any information about the mission from the Duke at this time.

Then the Duke opened his mouth.

“I can’t tell you about that mission but I can tell you about what happened afterward.”

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He took another sip of his drink and continued speaking.

“After that mission I couldn’t properly use the power of the Black Knight. No I was completely unable to fight.”

“No way! You taught me how to use the whirlwind.”

“I told you fighting is impossible. Just sparring with a sword is okay. But a real life-threatening battle… That’s impossible.”

The events beyond the Dark Sea seemed to have taken a toll on the Duke’s mind.

Zeke looked at the struggling Duke and something occurred to him.

‘I wonder if it would be effective if I buff it with the mental skill Unbreakable Will.’

But I remembered that when I previously buffed Felix with the Strong Mental Defense skill it was effective but there was an aftereffect.

Since the mental series could easily become irreversible if done wrong it seemed better not to touch it rashly in a serious situation like Duke’s.

‘I remember there was an eccentric wizard on the Nirvana side who was researching post-traumatic stress disorder. I’ll have to look him up next time I’m on the Aten Peninsula.’

If Duke Draker had regained his original power as a black knight and joined Zeke’s camp he could have seized the opportunity to win again in the delicate confrontation with Abel’s side.

The Duke spoke looking at the amber-colored liquor in his glass.

“What happened after that? It was the beginning of a dirty political fight. Since I was one of the representative black knights of the Gaju faction there were some elders who considered me a thorn in their side. It was also the time when I was just leaving. As if they had seized the opportunity they unusually canceled my promotion to black knight and removed me from my position.”

Zeke began to understand at least a little why Duke had grown tired of the Four Seasons and wasted his time shut away at the Academy.

He said clicking his tongue.

“If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have come back to Atlas. I didn’t want to see that dirty sight again.”

“Anyway I came back.”

“That’s right. I don’t know how I got involved with a guy like you and ended up going through all this trouble.”

Duke who had been grumbling took something out of his bosom and handed it to Zeke.

It was a fairly thick wad of paper.

“What is this?”

“What is it? It is the result of the sweat and effort of a great teacher who ran around because of his lacking disciple.”

Zeke unfolded the bundle of papers Duke had handed him and read the contents.

Surprisingly it contained a summary of the power structure and power relations of the current Draker family.

“Master what is this…?”

“The reason you guys are busy running around like the Black Sword Knights is because you have something you want to do. I mobilized all my old connections to write down the best information I can so take a look.”

Inside Drake information was life.

I wondered why Duke who didn’t want to come to the Four Seasons Castle endured it and did the things the Lord told him to do but it seemed like it was to collect this information.

Zeke felt genuine gratitude towards Duke.

In both his past and present life the only person who had ever done something for him without asking for anything in return was Duke aside from Decker.

He hesitated and then opened his mouth.

“…Thank you Master. I really mean it.”

Duke saw that and said lying down on the sofa.

“You bastard so be good to your teacher. When I get old and tired who will I rely on? You have to take good care of him and give him drinks every day.”

Zeke smiled as he looked at the Duke.

“Okay I understand. I will find a good match for you and help you get married.”

“Huh? Who is this guy trying to put in chains? I will forever be a glamorous single you punk.”

As Zig put the bundle of papers Duke had handed him into his inventory he suddenly thought of Andrei.

“Is Professor Andrei still in Valhalla?”

“After working there for a year he quit because he said it didn’t suit his personality. He then went back to Sagyeseong and joined there.”

“Where are you talking about?”

“Cheongeomdan. They come here every day because they’ve been fighting with Aul lately. They want me to look at their swords. They’re annoying.”

Even though he said that the Duke didn’t seem to mind.

‘I was already thinking of asking Lord Aul about the Eastern Empire when I met him so that’s good. I guess we should talk about it when you come.’

If possible I wanted to bring Aul and Andrei into the Black Sword Knights as well but since they were not yet official knights I planned to slowly persuade them after he became a senior knight.

Zeke thanked Duke again and went up to his room.

When he reached his room he took out the mask of Agamemnon.

Although I paused for a moment because of the Sea God quest the first thing I had to do was to find the Lake of the Fairies and recover Agamemnon’s Mask to restore its power as a holy relic.

Zeke turned the mask around and examined it carefully.

“I thought the design of the badge on its forehead might have some kind of history but I never thought it could be a holy relic.”

If it could regain its original power as a holy relic it would certainly be able to exert a powerful power that went beyond the power of purification.

‘It might be helpful when dealing with Abel’s side who have been baptized in the demon world.’

Zeke put his mask back on and took out his absolute compass.

It was hard to believe that if you just blindly followed the direction the compass was pointing to you would actually find the lake. Zig stared at the direction the compass was pointing and collected his thoughts.

‘Since it’s the lab… I have to leave the items I got from the upside-down tower and the Baptists’ Hersion with Paynen anyway. I guess it’s best to go out for now.’

Zeke had also hired Gellion the soul blacksmith to work with Paynen.

Although it was on the surface decorated as a laboratory belonging to a pharmaceutical company it was no different from Zeke’s secret hideout.

Zeke rode a carriage and headed to the laboratory in the center of Atlas.

Even while riding in the carriage Zeke would always look at the compass and stare intently at where the needle was pointing.

But as we entered the city the compass needle suddenly started spinning.

“Huh? What is this? Why is it like this?”

[The compass resets the optimal direction to ‘Fairy Lake’.]

[Information has been updated.]

[Starting to guide you in a new direction.]

The compass stopped spinning and pointed to one place.

But unlike before the needle’s position kept changing as I moved.

“Is it broken? Why is it like this?”

Before he knew it the carriage had arrived near the laboratory in the city. Zeke got out of the carriage and checked the compass again.

The compass needle was still moving slightly.

‘Hmm I don’t know what’s going on.’

As he was about to head towards the building where the lab was located feeling puzzled Zig felt something strange.

‘To live?’

A subtle murderous aura was felt around him that would be difficult for an ordinary reporter to detect.

Zeke pretended not to know and entered the research building. Then he felt those who were showing signs of murder moving towards Zeke as well.

‘An assassin in broad daylight? Whoever he is he’s got a big heart.’

That’s why the movement I felt was not ordinary.

Zeke deliberately moved to the garden behind the building.

Still sensing the assassins following him he went out into the garden and sat down on a bench as if nothing had happened.

Then he felt the aura of the assassins and waited for them to approach.

That was when.

“Oh! Your Majesty! When did you come?”

Gelion who was walking in the garden found Zeke sitting on a bench and approached him with a smile.

In an instant Zigg jumped out grabbed Gelion and rolled to the side.

Clang!

The assassins hiding in the blind spot stabbed Zeke with their swords where he had been.

Bam!

The bench that Zig was on was completely split apart.

Gelion’s face turned pale after being saved by Zeke.

Zig got up from his seat and hardened his expression as he saw who had attacked him.

‘Those guys?’

The assassins were none other than the ravens of Ishtar.