Chapter 45: Fraudulence

Liam was just an ordinary gamer who barely earned enough money to use on basic needs and to enjoy the benefits of Royal Bundles in the game. He could confidently say that he was one of the top ten most experienced players in the game. He won online tournaments along with his guild mates and they had a lot of championships under their names.

None of this was without sacrifice since he had to invest hours into playing Star Fantasy. He had to become better than anyone else. There wasn't even enough time for other things besides going to work and going shopping for food.

He believed that his life would waste away by gaming and nothing else.

'Yet how did things end up like this!?'

Arnold was nestled between two imperial force knights from the empire. Both wore a blue mantle on their right shoulders and had helmets on their heads. The Imperial Force were an organization that dealt with criminals, protected the people and defended fortresses.

Unlike the Imperial Army that head directly into war, their job is to protect the encampment or fortresses of the army. It wasn't uncommon that royalty and nobles would stay behind in the fortress to relay orders from the base to the main army. If the supreme commander were to directly head into war then their main objective would be to protect the base in its entirety.

The atmosphere felt suffocating  and even the faintest breath could be heard from Arnold.

They were inside a wagon heading towards the capital. The carriage departed from the city about ten minutes ago.

"Will you be alright?"

"Of course, mother! I have nothing to fear since I'm innocent. I wouldn't intentionally injure someone."

That was the conversation between him and his mother before he left.

"Others won't see it that way. I have a feeling that some of the court nobles won't vote in your favour even if the evidence is there."

In other words, even if Jurius was hated and had no power as a prince, this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Arnold.

Why not slay the bigger fish instead?

If anything, Arnold wanted to applaud them for taking advantage of the situation so cleverly. Of course, he wouldn't take this lying down.

'Fucking bastards. I need to take care of those kinds of people before I even think about making my crystals circulate the market.'

His enemies could use many means to make his life difficult. They could find a way to take the crystals from Arnold as well. If his money was taken then there would be no mercy just like there would be no money for him to live leisurely.

We can use the crystals to make the empire wealthier!

It will only be wasted since he'll use it for booze, women and gambling.

Those were but some of the things they could tell the emperor in an attempt to take his wealth.

'I'll fucking slaughter them all. They think I can be a pushover just because I was deemed unworthy of being the head?'

It was better than not doing anything against potential threats. He would be seen as a softy otherwise.

"So, uh, how long until we get there?" Arnold looked at the guard to his left.

The guy only ignored him which made Arnold frown.

'The hell? I'm being treated like a criminal.'

He could do nothing but obey them at this moment due to the circumstances. Causing any more trouble would come back to bite him and not tell in his favour in court if they heard he assaulted a serviceman of the empire.

'Where's Jurius? I haven't seen the bastard in two days. Surely he's also being transported to the empire, right?'

If that was the case then it was suspicious why the two weren't transported in the same vehicle. Was it because of Jurius' status as a prince?

'But why would anyone be considerate of a prince with no power? Fuck, what the hell is going on? I want to know why that bastard did what he did last night.'

Arnold was peacefully sleeping when Jurius startled him. Although he was awake, he had no control over his body. He wasn't even able to speak.

'It wasn't the sword that controlled me, was it? No, can a weapon even control its master?'

He was under the impression that the sword accepted him as its master. His opinion changed last night, though.

'I'll take care of that fucker later. In any case, where is this coachman going?'

Arnold noticed that they were taking a path that was a longer way to the empire instead of the main highway. The path was desolated and trees were all around it, creating a dark and ominous shadow over the road.

"Where the hell are you taking me? This isn't the way to the capital."

"Sit down."

When Arnold was about to stand up, the knight to his left forced him to sit down.

"Tch." Although he wanted to punch the guy in the face, he forced down his anger.

 The carriage suddenly came to a halt.

"?" When the knight was about to stand up to see what was going on, they suddenly heard the horses neigh as the carriage rattled.

"What the hell is going on!?" The knight ran out of the carriage only to be hit right in the face with a log.  

He flew a few meters away and was rendered unconscious.

"Enemies! Shit!" The guard grabbed Arnold and was about to escape through the other door. However, before he could, his head was sliced right off. All that passed by them was a shadow.

"Uwaaah!?" Arnold jumped back  against the carriage when he saw the man's neck being sliced through like paper.

The horses seemed to have been tackled by something huge judging by the fact that even the carriage was almost tipped over earlier. One of the horses ran away due to the chaos.

'Who…..'

Arnold considered summoning his Aura Sword. Even if he was injured, he could still fight.

"Heya~!"

When he was about to take it out, a cheerful voice came from atop the carriage.

He looked up and saw someone's black panties underneath their skirt. The wind made it that much more visible to his eyes as her already short skirt was fluttering.

A pair of brown thighs were wrapped in black stockings and the person wore black thigh-high boots.

"Liumiala?"

◇

"What the hell was that earlier? Were you the cause of that?"

'Isn't she a mage? There's no way she can tackle a full-grown horse with physical strength alone.'  

Liumiala shook her head.

"It wasn't me. It was my two squad members." Liumiala looked behind Arnold. "You two can come out now."

The bushes rustled and two figures came out. One was a muscular man and the other was a tall and skinny man.

Both were wearing the same cloaks as Liumiala.

Judging by their brown skin and long ears under the hood, Arnold knew that they were also dark elves. He remembered three others being in her group but it seemed that the third person was busy elsewhere.

"These two have been my friends ever since we left our settlement in the Forest of the Wood Elves. The large one is called Ziom and the skinny guy is Si."

"Humph."

"Greetings."

The big man and the tall skinny man spoke respectively. The former actually harrumphed while arrogantly looking at Arnold.

"So why did you guys have to hurt knights from the Imperial Force? Even our castle's coachman is missing now," Arnold looked at the front seat of the carriage after noticing the coachman was gone, "Haa…This is troublesome. My mother will be pissed once she hears about this."

"Imperial Force? These guys? Pft." Liumiala chuckled. "These guys aren't part of the Imperial Force. They are henchmen of someone in the underworld." Liumiala said.

"…I sensed something was amiss when they arrived at our city that early. Then what of Jurius?"

"He is being transported to the empire by a real vehicle of the Imperia Force."

"I see. Thanks for saving me although it wasn't necessary."

"Why is that?" Mia asked with a smile, "I only wanted to help."

"Help? It's odd how you're always there at the right time. You're having the time of your life increasing my debt, aren't you?"

'I could've escaped easily by myself. But if I was too late to notice then I wouldn't be alive right now…'

In response to Arnold's fed-up tone, Mia giggled.

"You're right~. I'll squeeze you dry~."

Arnold smiled wryly as he sighed.

Liumiala strode with a skip in her steep and grabbed the head of the surviving guard who was writhing in pain. That muscular dark elf seemed to have gone too overboard with hitting him.

"Who sent you? Tell me their full name right now."

"You….you think…I'll tell you…?" The man sneered, his broken teeth visible.

"This will make it easier for me to make a deal with my client. You understand this man is a very important person in noble society, right?"

"Ha… Haha…This trash? He's an arrogant bastard… He is too incompetent so the duke…decided to replace him…. What part of him is important exactly…?" The man only spewed insults and didn't listen to a word Mia said.  

Mia sighed and took out a dagger.

The man shrieked.

However, she gave the dagger to Arnold instead. Arnold took the dagger in his hand and covered it in Sword Intent. The dagger's blade released extreme heat as the energy of Sword Intent engulfed it.

"You think I'm scared of being tortured? Our household trained us to endure any kind of torture…"

Before the man could finish, Arnold swung the dagger in front of his face. One of his eyes was cut out and spurted blood.

"Gyaaaaah!!!! It hurts! It hurts!!"

"So much for being trained to endure torture." Arnold chuckled and looked into the man's remaining eye, dagger inches away from his pupil, "If you don't tell me then you won't just lose an eye. I can make your eardrums explode and make you unable to speak. Do you want that? To live like a vegetable?"

"You…Y-You bastard! You really are a villain…!" Arnold swung the dagger again. The man's right ear was sliced off.

"This concerns my life and death. If you tell me then you can save this poor life of mine. In return I shall spare yours. Fair deal, right? The catch—however—is that you run away, far away and never show your face to me again."

"….." The man glared hatefully at Arnold. He gritted his teeth.

That was a sign that he still wouldn't tell Arnold.

"Hey you." Arnold called out to the muscular Dark Elf. Even though Arnold was smaller than him, he seemed fearful of Arnold.

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Hold his head firmly."

"Understood!"

With the inclusion of Sword Intent on the dagger, its passive abilities would be reinforced with a heat damage effect that deals 2% HP damage every hour.

With the state the man was in and the addition of Sword Intent, he would be near death by the end of the day if he didn't receive medical treatment. Since Sword Intent was an active ability, it wouldn't just vanish after a while. It would actually increase in intensity once enough time passed by.

Arnold gave the dagger back to Liumiala since it served its purpose.

Liumiala was silently gazing at what Arnold was about to do next.

The Dark Elf man called Ziom grabbed the guard's head with his large hands. He held the man's head firmly while straddling his back.

"I wonder how much a trained knight of a noble household can endure. Your friend is already dead so you'll have to take his punches as well."

"!!!" The man struggled as tears and blood fell from his eyes.

Arnold didn't pay his resistance any heed and only covered his fist in darkish blue aura.

"Do you know that a person can shatter another's nerves using the force from aura alone thus causing immense pain? This depends on how skilled the person is. It just so happens that I can do that very skilfully since I am a genius at aura manipulation. One punch can generate a powerful charge similar to an electric surge."

"N-No. Please…!"

"Ah? I thought you said you could endure? Sorry but I've already decided to give you ten punches in total. You'll be a good boy and accept, right? If not I guess we'll summon you as an undead. There are necromancers in your unit, right?" Arnold looked at Mia.

"Yip. We can summon this guy back from the dead and make him tell us under the spell." Mia answered happily.

"!!!!"

The man couldn't get away with that giant sitting on his back.

"Clench your teeth tight otherwise you'll bite your tongue. I don't want you dying. Oh, that's not me being merciful or nice. I only want to let out my frustration at that bastard prince." A refreshing smile bloomed on Arnold's face.

The colour drained from the man's face.

◇◇

After a gruelling few minutes of punching the guard, Arnold stood back up. His hand was covered in blood.

Ziom shivered when he made eye contact with Arnold.

"Take this guy to the city and inform my mother of what's going on. If anyone pursues you then you kill them," Arnold ordered the large man, "Oh, right. Remember to take detours around the city before you go to the castle. That way you can tell if you're being followed. Now go."

"R-Right away!" He obediently nodded and picked the bloody man off the ground. He was still wheezing so he was alive.

The big dark elf ran towards the horse and jumped on top. They ran off towards the city that was still visible from where they were standing.

"Hey, hey. You can't just order my subordinate around, you know?" Mia feigned a troubled expression.

"I'm your client, aren't I? So that means you listen to whatever I say. The same goes to your subordinates. If you don't then I leave a complaint." Arnold said nonchalantly.

"I guess you're right." Mia shrugged helplessly. But she seemed to enjoy this judging from the smile on her face.

"The Caervil Family head. That's what the man said, right?"

"I was too busy punching him that I didn't hear." Arnold held out his hand to Si who quickly took out a cloth and began wiping his hand.

"So what will you do now that you know who it is?"

"Isn't it obvious? Find out more information about this household head first. Destroying them comes after."

'A noble family named the Caervils…Either they are countryside nobles or they are new in the storyline.'

They were most likely not in the game's DLC storyline. The game's description of noble families had also never mentioned the Caervils. Perhaps they weren't that high in rank. However, the fact that they could fool the Imperial Force and plan Arnold's murder meant that they had considerable authority.

"Information, huh? But from who exactly?"

Arnold looked at Mia as if he was tired of her games.

"It's obviously going to be you. Find out more about this family and their members. I want each name."

"Hahaha. I hope this job will be as good as the incident with that red haired girl." Mia seemed happy at being able to benefit from this job as well.

"Whatever. I'll pay you when I have enough money. I'm broke as you can see."

"Roger~! I'll do a good job!"

'This girl is so tiring. My life is at stake here but she's smiling so happily.'

He knew why she was happy. She would gain a lot of points from saving Arnold's life. Points in her organization, in fact. With enough merit carrying out missions and accepting deals, she would be able to rise in rank.

She was basically using Arnold but he thought that was fine as long as she did her job how she was supposed to. If she could do that then he wouldn't mind having her as a confidant when he became greater than his father in the future.

"So what should I do first, boss?" Mia's smile vanished and was replaced by an expressionless face. This was how she was when she was working.

"Send a fake Arnold von Berkley to stand in the trial. I'm sure you can handle the transformation magic part on your own. After that I want you to follow the same route as these guys were about to take me."

"Fake? Hmm, I guess I can do that."

"Once the trial is over, I want you to abduct Jurius even if he is found guilty. Contact me when the time comes."

"Okay!" Mia nodded with an amused smile.

'Good. I should hide myself for the time being until they find anything useful about this household.'

"What'll you do in the meantime?"

Arnold was silent for a moment as he pondered.

'I have nothing to do while they do their work so shouldn't I return as Nova?'

Arnold spoke, "Get me an identity altering device. A high grade one."

'Let's have some fun before I ruin that scheming bastard's life.'

◇◇

A few hours later.

'This dark elf sure works fast, huh?'

Arnold looked at the goods in front of him. There was dragon scale armour which was different from what he wore before. There was also a sword of fairly high quality.

"This one seems similar to the previous earring I wore." Arnold looked at the silver earring in his hand. It was the artifact that Liumiala got for him to change his appearance.

'Come to think of it, doesn't my demon lord factor state also have silver hair?'

Although that was the case, it was stupid to use it so conveniently. Besides, he didn't need that power so badly at the moment. He would only use it if there was a need for it. Say, if he was in a life and death situation.

'Alright. Then I'll use artifacts for now. If it breaks then I'll use the power.'

After putting in the earring, he activated it to change his hair colour. His eye colour also changed to red.

He now resembled the man known as Nova, the self-proclaimed strongest swordsman on the continent.

Liumiala took something out from her bag. It was a vial.

"Here. The potion." She presented the small vial with blue liquid.

"Is that the highest quality there is?" Arnold took the vial and looked at it closely.

The bottle was made of high quality glass and there were gold runes patterned around the top half of the vial. When he opened it up, a fragrant smell permeated into his nostrils.

If this was the game then he could just break the vial then a green light would embrace him. However, he knew that if he did that then it would be a dead giveaway that he was a player.

'It's probably shittier quality than the potions we always used in the game. Well, we were a top guild so we needed only the best equipment and supplies.'

"Yes. I paid a fortune for it so be grateful."

'It doesn't really look like anything special.' Arnold drank the liquid.

 His arm began cracking by itself after the potion was consumed. He groaned when he felt his bones rearrange themselves. His skin was moving as if there were worms under it.

'Shit. This is even more painful than being stabbed through the chest.'

After a while of holding in his tears, he began moving his left arm. Although his arm managed to heal, the scar was still visible on his chest.

"It actually worked just like she said it would. Victoria is really not an ordinary maid."

Perhaps it was because she had also gotten injured like Arnold many times in the past so she came up with effective ways to heal herself. Those oils were definitely not something that everyone had access to.

'Maybe it's also something from the game. If so I wonder where she gets it from?'

"Are you ready?" Liumiala held out Arnold's sheathed sword. He took it and tied the sheath around his back.

"Yeah. Remember that your only job is to find out information about this noble family and abducting that bastard of a prince."

"Okay, okay. I won't interfere any more than necessary~." Liumiala shrugged helplessly.

"I'll hide for the time being. Nobody should be able to recognize me with this artifact since it's better quality than my previous one," He tapped the earring, "Make yourself as conspicuous as possible when you approach me while I'm Nova. And keep an eye on the city as well. Chances are that they'll look for me there if they hear of my escape."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to follow whoever I find snooping around your family's castle? We don't even have to take all these steps. We can crush them that way."

"You think I'll just leave them be with just dying? No, I want to make that bastard suffer who attempted for my life."

He wasn't sure but perhaps one of his many death flags had officially shown itself. It was stupid not to completely destroy the source. If it was necessary then he'd kill all the family members as well.

That was how serious he was about eliminating his death flags.

"I understand. Then I'll see you in the empire in a few days."

Arnold nodded. "Yeah."

The two of them began walking up to the city's gates after finishing their discussion in the sea of trees nearby. 

Liumiala handed Arnold a bag of coins before disappearing with her companion into the crowd gathered in front of the gate. Arnold—now dressed as Nova—entered the city once again.