The Villain's Retirement-Chapter 45: Ambush (2)

Ever since two years ago, Elara believed her life had already ended. Everything had gone sideways. Her father had lost their estate to a bunch of very powerful people. She quit school, and she was forced along with her father to live in one of the underground money-making properties of those powerful people. It was to manage a gold mine where slaves enter from time to time with the aim of working tirelessly. Some were prisoners of war, kidnapped, while some were also gambling addicts.

Many were whipped and even killed. What she witnessed there was far and so different from the cruelty she had known her entire life and at school.

Seeing blood and corpses now, it wasn’t the first. She had grown used to it.

Ard’s voice then spoke, looking at her.

"Are you with them?"

Elara swallowed. She couldn’t speak. Then for some reason, tears—warm—suddenly started to come out of the corners of her eyes streaming to her cheeks, filling her face. It was not the first time she had cried, but it was the first time since a long time ago.

’I don’t want to die...’ she said to herself, but only to herself.

With the same expression, Ard spoke again.

"Why do you cry?" He asked.

He wasn’t gentle and just said the question like a simple query. But Elara had gave up. There was no way she could escape even if she used her mana. There was a time she thought her future was bright, but that was a long ago. She should have known this man was not sane to begin with since the start was what she thought.

Steeling herself, she finally found the resolve to speak.

’Insane.’ She said controlling her facial expression then paused, "...Kill me." She continued, wiping the tears from her eyes.

At her words, Ard didn’t need to think.

He raised his stolen sword with his right hand. He had only wanted a quiet life all this time, but for reasons he couldn’t understand, this suddenly happened. He had corpses on his hands, and blood smeared on his face in this dark cold night. Adding one more corpse wasn’t going to be a problem especially to someone who seemed to have had clearly tried fooling him. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

There was no pause, no doubt, as he brought the blade up, intent on cleaving the head of the girl he had danced with. He sighed. He could just leave for another place and learn to avoid things like this better.

*Swish*

*Clink!*

The sound of flesh being cleaved never came. Instead, steel rang against steel.

"Brother!"

A young man with short, curly blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a solid, manly frame appeared and had blocked his strike with a rapier.

Ard’s crimson eyes narrowed, and thought became unnecessary. He struck again, this time letting mana flow silently beneath his fingers, a faint, calm energy radiating from him. In response, mana erupted through fueling his fingertips, back, waist, and every muscle, his body tensing as he braced for the strike.

Then in the next second, Gary retreated a few steps clutching his neck. Little amount of blood had seeped from the wound. The blade connected but it narrowly missed his vitals, and not enough to kill him. Not only this, Ard could still feel the shock screaming up his arm from the immense impact of their sword clashing, making him feel as though he was a kid going up against an adult.

In Ard’s eyes, impressive would have been the word to describe the human knight, yet at the same time, he had met so many so-called geniuses not just in the Human Realm but also in the Demon Realm, and had triumphed almost over anybody or would rather not engage.

Ard was about to increase his strength and speed to finish the fight when all of a sudden, a powerful surge of mana accompanied with decent mana from figures started to get close and was heading towards their direction, stopping even him.

Then, in the next few seconds, while Gary was full of light wounds around his body, including his face—

"Enough."

The word landed heavier than steel.

A crushing surge of mana pressed down from behind Ard, halting his forward motion mid-step. The air itself seemed to tighten.

"Stand down, Lord Ard," a deep voice commanded.

Ard turned slowly.

There, on top of a two story building stood the Duke of Jian—Reynard von Jian—gripping a massive greatsword that radiated restrained magic power. His expression was calm, but his eyes were sharp and compose as always. But this time, he looked very pissed, carrying the weight of unquestionable authority.

"This ends here," the Duke said evenly. "Lower your blade."

The Duke’s voice cut through the chaos, calm but carrying an edge sharper than any blade.

"Lord Ard," Reynard called from atop the two-story building, his greatsword resting lightly on his shoulder. "I suggest you lower your weapon... or do you want to fight me too?"

The words were simple, but the air around him shifted as if even the air could feel his power.

Right now, the Duke was releasing a stable yet noticeable amount of mana so powerful that the very street seemed to hum beneath it. It wasn’t chaotic or wild—it was refined, restrained, and looked undeniably coming from a strong person.

Ard’s crimson eyes narrowed, and even he could feel the raw weight of it pressing down on him.

The Duke was not just a knight, but a high knight, and someone at the highest realm of the limits of a High Knight!

Then he noticed the soldiers, Faller among them, arriving and coming to a halt. Their eyes first fixed on him, then swept across the carnage left in the ambush. Ard allowed himself a faint inward smile. The combined presence—the Duke, his knights, and even Gary—was a force capable of crushing mountains.

A slow exhale escaped him.

His hand tightened on the sword for a heartbeat... then he let it fall.

With a clang, it clattered against the cobblestones, the sound almost swallowed by the oppressive stillness the Duke’s presence brought. However, Ard was already moving. Mana seeped discreetly from beneath his feet, causing his shadow to slightly ripple like liquid ink beneath his boots, clinging to him, ready to swallow him into the ground if needed.

He cast a calculated glance at the nearest dark alley.