Chapter 51

Sometimes, Adam acted as if he knew the future, but this was one of the few foolish things he had done.

If they were his people, he should have either kept them completely out of sight or refrained from showing any familiarity. He surely knew that much.

After all, the emperor—who harbored the intent to destroy everything Adam possessed—was watching.

Judis looked down at the sleeping Adam before rising to step outside.

“Then I will stand by the warrior’s side and watch over him.”

“Alright.”

One of Judis’s subordinates approached Adam in his stead.

At that moment, Adam’s fingers twitched. Judis, who had been taking off his rain-soaked robe, noticed it and shouted.

“Nine, step back!”

At his command, the subordinate swiftly withdrew.

Where he had stood just moments before, a glass bottle that had been on the table lay shattered into countless pieces.

Had it hit directly, his forehead would have been split open.

If he was lucky, he’d be unable to move properly for just a few days.

Nine felt sweat forming at the nape of his neck as he crouched low, eyes fixed on Adam.

If given the order, he looked ready to strangle the ungrateful warrior’s neck right then and there.

“Hah… hah…”

The tension from Nine reached Adam without fail.

As a result, even while struggling to steady his breath, Adam remained on guard against his surroundings.

His hand fumbled at his waist, searching for his sword—but the holy sword he once carried was nowhere to be found.

‘How many enemies are there?’

His fever-clouded mind processed information sluggishly.

He remembered being attacked and losing consciousness, but upon opening his eyes, he was met with unfamiliar faces.

No… perhaps he did know them. But more importantly, what was the current situation?

The first person he spotted was Judis.

He called Adam’s name in an unusually soft tone, seemingly trying to calm him as he shot to his feet.

“Calm down, Adam.”

“Don’t call me that name.”

His sharp response came instantly.

Judis flinched, but he couldn’t afford to hesitate—he had no idea what Adam might do to his subordinates.

Even now, Adam’s eyes darted around as if searching for a weapon.

“I understand that you’re confused, but I was only trying to help you.”

“Help? Ha! If you really want to help, how about doing something about your lunatic father first?”

“I’ve tried.”

Judis smiled bitterly.

At that moment, Adam resembled a finely honed blade.

The murderous intent radiating from him was so intense that even Judis’s subordinates dared not approach.

His abrupt movement had reopened his wounds, causing fresh blood to seep out.

Even though he was clearly injured, no one in the room dared to look down on him.

Nine, who had brought the fallen Adam here, was no exception.

He had initially scoffed internally upon seeing Adam wounded by the emperor’s knights.

But the reality was entirely different.

‘That level of killing intent…! He’s far greater than the rumors suggest.’

The Demon King’s death had been far too simple.

A warrior with no proper companions, no external assistance, had slain the Demon King alone.

And at the same time, a rumor had spread throughout the capital.

‘This Demon King was nothing special.’

‘They say he was the weakest in history.’

Nine, too, had believed those rumors.

Unlike the warriors of the past, who had assembled proper subjugation forces, this one had done it alone.

No matter how skilled he was, it should have been impossible for a single human.

With swarms of demonic beasts and powerful demons wielding magic beyond human capabilities, how could he have cut through them all and reached the Demon King?

Even if he had managed to, his body should have been battered and broken by the time he arrived—one touch from the Demon King should have been enough to kill him.

And so, people concluded that the Demon King must have been weak if a lone warrior could defeat him.

‘Easy? What nonsense…’

Nine clicked his tongue internally.

‘It was simply that this generation’s warrior was exceptional!’

He himself had been handpicked and raised by the crown prince.

Though he wasn’t a noble and thus couldn’t take the knight’s exam, he had received the crown prince’s favor and served by his side, training relentlessly.

If not for his birth, he could have even vied for a position among the emperor’s royal guards.

Yet, now, standing before this wounded warrior, Nine’s hands trembled.

‘And what is this eerie presence?’

It wasn’t just killing intent.

No, it was something far more unpleasant and ominous…

It felt disturbingly similar to the aura he had sensed when the Demon King was still alive.

Nine lifted his gaze to his master.

Judis, seeming just as uncertain, signaled for him to hold back, keeping his stance tense.

“Calm down and let’s talk. If I intended to harm you, I would have killed you while you were asleep.”

“……”

A brief silence followed before Judis was the first to speak again.

Crash!

The result of that response was Adam, gripping a shard of broken glass from the shattered water bottle in his hand.

Water dripped down his fingers, trickling over his skin.

His hand, now thoroughly soaked, was tinged pink—perhaps the glass had embedded itself, mixing his blood with the water.

“So, do you expect me to thank you?”

Adam’s mocking tone finally made Judis lose his patience.

“I’m not asking for gratitude, but shouldn’t you at least have the decency to acknowledge it? Now, put that down. This isn’t how you treat someone who came to help you.”

“And how am I supposed to trust your shallow guilt? If you expect nothing in return, then you could just as easily turn on me at any moment.”

“Watch your mouth! How dare you speak that way to His Highness the Crown Prince!”

“You, stand down.”

Caught between his subordinate and the warrior, Judis furrowed his brows in frustration.

Nine, whom he had personally trained, valued his safety more than his own life, while Adam, still reeling from confusion and physical weakness, couldn’t fully grasp the situation.

If he stepped back now, a fight would surely break out.

Either outcome was a problem.

If Adam won, then with the very same holy sword that had slain the Demon King, his subordinate’s life would be cut short in vain. But if Adam lost…

As much as he sympathized with Nine, he couldn’t let that happen.

He would sooner sacrifice his own subordinate.

Judis swiftly calculated the situation in his mind.

Did he really have to abandon him?

If so, then right now…

Your Only God

is concerned about your condition.

“Ah…”

At that moment, the eerie, surging killing intent around Adam dissipated.

Sensing the sudden shift in atmosphere, Nine instinctively moved to subdue him—but others entered the room first.

“What’s going on?”

The healer and Eveline had returned from preparing medicine.

Nine, poised to jump in, hesitated and observed the situation instead.

Fortunately, Adam had ceased all movement just before they entered.

Standing still, he looked utterly docile.

But… was it truly safe for someone to approach him?

Just as Nine was about to rise and stop Eveline from getting any closer to the warrior—

“…”

His movement was halted by a mere gesture from the Crown Prince.

A silent command to wait.

Nine froze in place, unable to act.

Eveline carried a glass bottle containing small, round medicinal pills, indicating that they had successfully prepared the remedy.

“So, you’re well enough to stand now.”

Neither Eveline nor the healer grasped the tension in the room.

More precisely, Adam had already withdrawn his killing intent before they entered.

“We were really worried earlier. The healer said your fever wasn’t going down because you got too drenched in the rain.”

Your Only God

lets out a sigh of relief.

“…”

Adam pressed a hand to his fevered forehead.

His mind was too hazy to think clearly.

At Eveline’s neck, a sacred relic glowed faintly. Adam stared at it in silence.

“It’s a relief that you’ve regained consciousness, but you should still take your medicine. You’ll need to recover quickly if you want to return home soon.”

“That’s right! You heard the healer, didn’t you? Just take the medicine first! We worked really hard to make it.”

“…Alright.”

Quietly accepting the medicine, Adam swallowed it in one go—without even drinking water.

“Good boy,” Eveline said, patting his head, while Adam lowered his gaze slightly to match her height.

Was this real?

Judis, utterly bewildered, glanced back and forth between Adam and Eveline.

Where had those sharp, menacing eyes—ones that had just moments ago looked ready to tear him apart—gone?

All that remained now was a docile lamb.