Emperor of Steel

Suk suk.

Woosh.

After a long time, the Torlot Fortress became noisy since the parade ground was being used.

Knights and soldiers, gathered under their commanding officer, were surprised to see Darren’s body tied up.

After being tied up for quite some time, he got his consciousness back and began to shout at the men looking at him.

“Free me! I’ll let my father know of this and give that Rakan guy the real lashes!”

“Where is that dog barking from?”

Luke simply disregarded Darren’s intimidation and asked Philip for the whip made of ogre skin.

“Will you do it yourself?” Asked Philip.

“It is probably the most effective in that manner.”

Except for the ones who would deliberately go out for patrolling, all the other troops were gathered in the parade ground.

Luke’s intention was to make an example out of Darren to put the others in line, and he knew that everyone would take their jobs seriously if he did it himself.

Right when Luke was about to wield the whip.

“What is all this?!”

“Free Sir Darren right away!”

Suddenly five men appeared and blocked the others.

They were all wearing a breastplate with a scale crest. They ran over to the parade grounds after knowing their uniforms were out of order.

“You guys must be?” Asked Philip.

“We are the knights of Count Juke. Free him and apologize to him right away.”

They were all being very arrogant and asking for Darren to be released.

“Are you the attendants of Darren?” Asked Philip.

“That is right. Please release him before we report this to the Count.”

Luke heard that and was irritated. He then swung the whip.

Crack!

“Ahhk!”

Darren’s skin was burnt when the whip touched his skin.

“Bleed, bleeding!”

“This bastard!”

The five knights rushed toward Luke.

‘Hut, caught you guys.’

Luke needed to make an example to keep the soldiers on their feet.

So Darren was sentenced to be whipped. However, he didn’t mind if there was anything more effective.

He used the whip on all the five knights and hoped that it was going to be an example to Darren.

“Huh, now you’ve really done it!” Shouted one knight.

The five knights were the ones who constantly helped Darren.

There were two of them who could handle Aura—Experts—and the other three had great sword skills.

So they thought they could easily overpower the young man and save their young lord.

However, they were on the side which was getting hurt by the whip.

The whip moved in all directions. It struck all the five knights like a snake going after its prey.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Screams and cries came out of their mouths along with their tears running down their eyes.

“Ahk!”

“Ah!”

“It hurts! stop, stop!”

Luke looked at the screaming knights, who were rolling on the ground.

However, Luke didn’t stop.

‘To stop it so quickly is not so easy.’

The clothes of the knights were torn apart by the whip.

Their noses and ears were cut while they rolled on the ground.

After seeing his retainers bleed, Darren’s face went pale out of fear and frustration.

‘That, that!’

‘Oh my god, that guy is totally evil!’ Thought the soldiers.

The complexion of the soldiers gathered in the parade ground became pale. It was the same with the knights.

They didn’t give their young commander the respect he deserved at the beginning, but that all changed now.

“Huhuhu, let’s get to the punishment now shall we?” Asked Luke.

Luke looked at the knights then to Darren and laughed.

His smile was almost like the Devil’s smile. Darren pissed himself unknowingly.

“Eik! Please save me! I was in the wrong! I did a mistake!”

“I am not going to kill you. I am just punishing you according to the military law.”

Luke looked at the soldiers who were there to witness it and began to punish Darren.

Crack! Crack!

“Ahhk! Kaak!”

Every time the whip hit him, the screams of Darren got louder and louder.

Darren passed out just after being hit by the whip ten times, and by the time Luke completed the 50 whippings, Darren’s back was completely tattered.

Luke asked the knights to pull Darren out. He then addressed the soldiers on the ground.

“I won’t question you about what and how you have been doing things so far. However, anyone who undermines the discipline of the unit from this very day will be punished in accordance with the military law.”

Luke’s voice wasn’t that loud.

However, everyone in the ground heard it very clearly.

As the new commander, who just told his troops what he wanted, left the ground, Anna and her seniors gathered at their lodgings for the countermeasure meeting.

“Don’t we need to look after our bodies?”

“Yeah. Even though he is young, I don’t think he will think twice about doing something like that again.”

“The rumor is that he is a Destroyer. He defeated 4 Gigants all by himself.”

“Re, really?”

At the words of Anna about him being a destroyer, the eyes of all the knights went to her.

“I heard this from the aide. I think he can use magic and had great sword skills too.”

“Uh! Then he is a Rune knight.”

The knights began to talk with the information that Anna brought to them.

If Darren was there, he would have asked the new commander to prove it to him.

Such an arrogant guy was in the infirmary room.

“Phew, let’s get down to toning our bodies.”

“Yeah, that would be the right thing to do.”

The knights tentatively concluded their meeting.