The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

The great hall fell silent after the eerie sounds of something getting smashed and destroyed rang out.

The red sword light disappeared in an instant, leaving only a trail of tiny specks of light that scattered in the air.

“Your… Your Majesty!!! You bastard!!!”

The Great General was the first to react. He immediately charged toward Davey.

Seeing that, Davey hastily sheathed Red Ribbon and blocked the incoming spear attack.

“You bastard… You bastard! How dare you do that to His Majesty!!!”

“…” Davey shook his head at the Great General, whose face had turned red from anger and was on the verge of exploding. Then, Davey said, “Get out of my way.”

“Bastard! I will kill you!!!”

The Great General saw the annoyance flash across Davey’s face. The expression immediately made his anger soar, his moves becoming even wilder. He shoved Davey’s arm away to increase the distance between them and tapped on the mana in his body. A moment later, the tip of his spear was covered with a green glow.

Davey knew that the Great General was above the level of a Swordmaster, but it seemed like the man’s power was of a much higher density and quality than ordinary ones.

“Stop!!! Great General, you have to stop!!!”

The Hyeon Kingdom’s King shouted loudly, but the Great General did not pay attention to it.

The Great General charged forward like a ferocious beast with eyes red from his anger.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“You bastard!!! I will kill you today!”

“I’m already annoyed at your negligence,” Davey said as he stepped forward, not feeling threatened by the menacing glint of the spear that was headed for his neck. He evaded the attack with a single step.

“Ugh?!”

The attack was completely impossible to evade without years of experience and skillful judgment but Davey had done so. In fact, he was even able to launch an attack of his own, digging into the gap of the Great General’s defenses and unhesitantly thrusting the tip of Red Ribbon’s blade toward the man’s chest.

“S… Stop! I told you to stop!!!”

The childish cry rang out just before the sword tip of Red Ribbon made contact with the Great General’s chest.

The entire great hall was once again plunged into silence. It was as if everyone had been dunked with cold water.

“Ugh…”

Despite attacking with great momentum, moving his spear with the determination to kill Davey, the Great General could not help but gulp dryly when Davey’s sword tip almost touched his heart. When Davey had jumped at him without any hesitation, he must have known that he would have died if the Emperor did not stop Davey just then.

“Great… Great General, put down your weapon! Now!”

The Great General, who was left in a daze, finally heard the urgent cry that rang in the great hall. Finally realizing the situation that he was in, he widened his eyes and stepped back. He pulled his spear back slowly. Then, he turned and said, “Your… Your Majesty! You’re safe, what a… Heup!”

Davey’s sword energy had obviously been aimed at the Son of Heaven, which was why the Great General was so surprised to see that the Emperor looked fine.

Not long after, the Great General’s jaw dropped open. Why? Because someone just fell from behind the Emperor, who had collapsed on his seat.

“Urk… Urgh…”

Davey silently replaced Red Ribbon with Blue Ribbon, who was the best weapon at killing these guys.

“What brings you here, o’ great and distinguished noble?”

“Ugh…”

The uninvited guest coughed up a mouthful of blood. He had been wounded from Davey’s earlier attack.

Davey did not attack the Emperor but the bastard who had been hiding behind the Emperor.

“In… Intruder!!! Great General, what are you doing?! Hurry up and protect His Majesty!!!” The Empress Dowager cried out.

Finally snapping out of his trance, the Great General hurriedly rushed to the Emperor’s side as he wielded his spear. He shouted, “Your Majesty! Please rest assured! I will punish those who dared to harm Your Majesty’s safety even at the cost of my life!”

“Ah… Aaaaaaaaah…”

The Emperor, who witnessed the slow and horrible death of the man in front of him, was thoroughly confused.

“Quit yapping around,” Davey said, ignoring the Great General’s spiel. As he lowered Blue Ribbon’s blade on the neck of the collapsed man on the floor, he asked, “Care to answer?”

“Fu… Fufufufu…”

Davey could not believe his eyes.

As if this entire “mosquito race" was filled with psychopaths, the man giggled as he looked up at Davey with a pale face. His body started to shake and disintegrate.

“I did not expect a lowly and measly human like you to successfully find me.”

“What a blabbermouth. So, are you going to answer or not?”

“Fu… Fufufu. Do you think I will answer you? How dare a lowly human like you do this to a noble of the night like… Aaaaack!!!”

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, why do you have to talk so much?”

High-ranking vampires were almost considered as half-immortals. Originally, the high-ranking vampire population should not be too large. However, Davey had already seen this scenario unfold before.

This situation was almost similar to the one with Vampire Pace, the vampire who had clung to the bastard Second Prince Carlus, and had done all the dirty work for him in the Rowane Kingdom. He was the one who had planted the powers of a high-ranking demonic beast in Carlus, just like what was happening now with the man who was slowly dying under Davey’s hands.

Looking at how weak and inferior the man was, Davey felt sorry to even refer to him as a high-ranking vampire.

However, there was no mistaking the power of half-immortality that was coursing through his veins. Perhaps he himself also believed in that power. Perhaps he was sure that, even if Davey cut him down with [Aura Blade], he could just liquefy his body and reconstruct it back to perfection.

But what if Davey cut him down with Blue Ribbon? If Blue Ribbon’s basic power to slash anything beyond the laws of nature was combined with the power that could destroy evil… Blue Ribbon would become the vampires’ most feared weapon.

This time, the situation was turning out to be different from before. The dying man’s body started to distort, slowly turning into that of a hideous monster. It was as if the man had always been in this form and not a vampire at all.

Davey looked around the silent great hall once again. Looking right at the wide-eyed Emperor, he asked, “Do you know him by any chance?”

The Emperor shook his head vigorously. With a trembling gaze, he said, “I… I don’t know! This… This Emperor does not know that person!”

Davey then turned to look at the Empress Dowager.

“My goodness… There’s a monster like that in here…”

Ming’s Empress Dowager looked surprised too. She truly did not know who the man was.

Davey swung Blue Ribbon once before sliding the sword inside its sheath. Then, he said, “I think these guys are the ones who intervened and played tricks on us.”

“What… What is that monster…? Prince Davey, do you know what that is?” The Emperor asked.

Davey nodded lightly. “Well, they’re morons whose dreams will not come to fruition.”

They were the ones who dreamt of resurrecting Demon Lord Perserque. Funny, right? As long as Perserque was with Davey, there was no way that they would be able to fulfill that dream. Besides, even if Perserque got resurrected, there was no way that the future that they hoped for would happen.

“I beg your forgiveness. I was forced to wield my sword and show disrespect towards Your Majesty, since that guy was aiming for your neck,” Davey said with a bow toward the Emperor.

The Emperor, still feeling panicked and dazed, nodded towards Davey. “This Emperor…understands. Th… Thank you.”

Davey could understand the gratitude, but he was confused by the Emperor’s tomato-red face. He wondered to himself.

The Emperor was acting like a shy little girl in front of Davey, and that did not escape Davey’s observation.

—Davey, use the authority.

Perserque gave Davey a piece of advice to explain the Emperor’s peculiar behavior. Only after looking at the Emperor with the authority did Davey understand a bit.

The result was quite different from what he expected.

***

The meetings and discussions were called off. The fact that a monster had hidden right where the two nations’ leaders had gathered together for a meeting was a very complicated problem. It was also a problem because the Hyeon Kingdom had taken complete responsibility over this matter and not Davey.

The fact that such a problem had occurred within their territory meant that the Hyeon Kingdom could not defend themselves at all. In other words, it was like the Hyeon Kingdom could only receive a beating despite being innocent.

Under the covers of the tranquil and quiet night, the Emperor, who was reading a book in his white pajamas, looked at the woman who sat in front of him and savored her tea. He called out, “Mother.”

“What’s the matter, Your Majesty?”

“Are you really…not involved in this matter, Mother?” The Emperor asked with an inquisitive look.

The Empress Dowager smiled gently. “Yes. Do you believe that I will be so crazy to do something like that? Come here, let your mother give you a hug, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor trudged to where the Empress Dowager was sitting. He was soon in his mother’s warm embrace.

Gently patting the Emperor’s head, the Empress Dowager said, “The Chancellor of Peace, the Great General, and this mother of yours are all on your side, Your Majesty. Everyone is praying for your safety and health, Your Majesty.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Just believe in this mother of yours. Can you do that?”

“If it’s Mother… Of course…” The Emperor looked up at his mother with shining eyes. He then added, “Please don’t overdo it.”

“All you have to do is trust this mother of yours,” the Empress Dowager said.

After patting the Emperor’s back until he had fallen asleep, the Empress Dowager chuckled at the child and rose from her seat. Then, she went out quietly and called out, “Myung Ling.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, Empress Dowager.”

“What about that thing?”

“We have acquired it with a lot more ease than expected,” the man said after popping out from within the darkness. He handed over a brooch to the Empress Dowager.

The brooch was none other than the brooch that they had given to Davey as a gift. However, it did not look the same as before. The jewels engraved on the brooch were now emitting light.

“Should I assassinate him?”

“Asura, are you trying to make a dent in our great plan? Everything that we need is in order. We already have Hyeon Kingdom’s treasure, the brooch containing Prince Davey’s power, and…the Mountain’s Guardian Deity,” the Empress Dowager calmly said. She then turned to ask, “Did I get that right, Chancellor?”

Another figure appeared from the darkness. Walking from the other side, the pale young man with a cold expression on his face answered loudly, “Yes.”

Obviously, the man being called the Chancellor was an wrinkled old man with a gentle smile on his face. Yet, the Chancellor who had appeared at this time and place looked like a completely different person.

“All of our plans are proceeding perfectly.”

“Do not worry. Everything is going well. Soon, all of the Mountain’s Guardian Deity blessings will flow inside the Son of Heaven.”

“Are you sure that it’s only Prince Davey that you want?”

“That’s right. The bastard is our race’s biggest enemy. However, his power is very interesting. We have to make that bastard’s power ours.”

“He’s not an ordinary person. The moment something goes wrong… I will abandon you all. That is our deal.”

“You worry about the simplest of things. The Son of Heaven’s terminal illness will be cured by the Mountain’s Guardian Deity’s power. We will kill Prince Davey and you will get that power. It’s a simple deal. There should be nothing that will make us want to abandon each other.”

The Empress Dowager nodded in determination at the cold-faced man. The prince had to die for her wishes to be fulfilled, because he was the most dangerous variable in the entire continent. She knew that if they did not deal with his existence, their future would be for naught.

The Chancellor, or the man wearing the mask of the Chancellor, quietly disappeared back into the darkness.

The Empress Dowager watched the Chancellor’s disappearing back. After a moment, she extinguished the flames of the candle in the room and whispered, “I will not let the Son of Heaven die at an early age. Just believe in this mother of yours. Even if this mother of yours is hailed as a heretic and is burned to death… I will make sure to save you, Your Majesty.”

***

It was a new day, and today was Tanya’s Bow Test.

Of course, the Hyeon Kingdom was recognized by the Ming Empire as the Nation of Bows, so the test could not be prevented. Well, they could not really stop Hyeon's biggest event.

—Huh? Davey, your brooch?

It was only polite for Davey to wear the brooch, which had been a gift from the ruler of another nation to him. However, it was nowhere to be found.

“I gave it away.”

—Give it away? To whom?

“To the person who gave it as a gift,” Davey said with a smile. He opened his arms to Tanya, who had changed into her ceremonial robes after finishing her hundred-day baptism to take the test.

“Brother!” Tanya shouted with a big smile on her face. She ran up to Davey for a hug.

“Did you prepare well for the test?”

“I’m sorry. Brother… The technique that you taught me… I still haven’t mastered it…”

Davey patted Tanya on the head silently. He knew how difficult it had been for her. He said reassuringly, “You will be able to do it. Don’t worry. I, your brother, will be watching you from behind.”

“Is that…so?” Tanya asked. She looked up at Davey with bright and cute doe-like eyes that shone with slight confusion.

Davey smiled brightly with a nod. Gently grabbing Tanya by the shoulder, he said, “My dear sister, you have a lot of tension in your body. Your muscles feel tight, huh?”

At the same time, a desperate and pained scream rang loudly from the depths of the Inner Palace where Tanya lived.