Chapter 225: The Dignity of the Empire’s Strongest (2)

Christian Schweiker. As the son of a fallen noble, no better than a commoner, he soon distinguished himself frighteningly quickly. 

Duke Dominic Florian was another prominent man in the same generation. Because of that, he had competed with Duke Schweiker countless times since they were young, but Duke Florian was unable to beat him. Counting both official and non-official matches, they had crossed their swords more than 30 times, but Duke Florian had never won. 

And as time passed, forget about winning, Duke Florian could feel a greater gap in ability between the two of them. The last time they had fought was ten years ago, and in that duel, Duke Florian had only lasted 20 exchanges before he lost his sword and fell into a shock. Duke Schweiker hadn’t even considered him as a rival; Schweiker was at a completely different level from himself. That was when Duke Florian realized that he would never be able to win against Duke Schweiker in his entire life. 

The best knight in the Empire was Duke Christian Schweiker. 

The best teacher in the Empire was Duke Hector Sebastian.

This became solidified in the heads of the citizens in the Empire until it became common sense. There were even occasions where a knight of the Florian Duchy left the family to ask Duke Sebastian to teach him.

Duke Florian had trembled in humiliation and shame. He had gone through countless efforts to push his family into a golden age that would be difficult to see again. But even with all that, in the public’s eyes, Duke Florian was recognized as the eternal second-in-command.

There were people in the world who had honor, wealth, and power but could never be satisfied as the second-in-command, Duke Florian was one of them. He wanted even more honor and merit in order to put Florian Duchy at the top. 

That was why this war was an excellent opportunity for him. It could even be considered the last opportunity of his life.

Until now, he had refrained from overtly wanting to gain merits, but there was a limit to his patience. Perhaps he had gotten more restless after realizing that his son had been used as bait. But now, in front of his eyes was Milton Forrest. 

Duke Florian had already been regretting the fact that Duke Sebastian had gone out before he had, but now that Duke Sebastian was struggling against Milton Forrest, Duke Florian believed he had justification for intervening in the fight. At least, that was his excuse.

Truthfully, Duke Sebastian wasn’t truly struggling, the duel was just taking longer, but Duke Florian couldn’t afford to wait any longer. What if Duke Sebastian was able to kill Milton? Duke Florian didn’t even want to think about that.

“Duke Sebastian, move! If you continue to show such a pathetic and wretched battle, then I won’t let you go either.”

“What did you just… mm.”

Duke Sebastian was furious but managed to calm his anger.

‘...Let’s calm down. This isn’t the time for this.’

It might be different if it was anywhere else, but they were on the battlefield right now; a battlefield in which knights of both sides were watching. If knights who were supposed to be allies began fighting, then it would be a story that would be talked about for 100 years as the dumbest thing.

‘It can’t be helped.’

It was very unorthodox, but it didn’t seem like Duke Florian had any intentions of stepping down. In that case, Duke Sebastian had no choice but to step down himself if he didn’t want there to be a fight between allies. But…

“Is this a cowardly joint attack? Is that how the Empire fights?!”

There was no need for Duke Sebastian to step aside. A knight stepped forward shouting loudly from the Lester Kingdom’s side. He ran straight towards Duke Florian.

“Who are you?!”

When Duke Florian shouted at him, the knight responded back, equally loudly.

“I am the leader of the Lester Kingdom’s Southern Knights, Jerome Taker!”

CLANG!

And with that, Jerome collided with Duke Florian.

“Whaaaaa!”

“Sir Taker! Destroy the Master of the cowardly Empire!”

There was a loud roar from the Lester Kingdom’s side.

“What on earth… guh!”

Duke Sebastian wasn’t able to adapt to the suddenly chaotic situation when he had quickly moved out of the way.

Clang!

‘Tsk, what a pity.’

Because Duke Sebastian immediately moved out of the way, Milton’s strike only hit his shoulder brace. 

Duke Sebastian bellowed at him.

“A surprise attack? Do you have no shame as a Grand Duke?”

“I apologize, I thought we were in the middle of a duel, but I guess you thought differently?”

“......”

Milton was right. In the end…

“You!”

Duke Sebastian took his humiliation and turned it into anger. He attacked Milton again. 

It was no longer one-on-one combat. It had become a two-to-two fight and all four of them were Masters. In the entire continent’s history of war, such cases were rare.

At first, the fight was between Milton vs. Duke Sebastian and Jerome vs. Duke Florian. But there were times where the opponents changed. However, just as they had exchanged over 100 blows…

“I can’t keep watching.”

Another man jumped in from the Imperial Army.

“Marquis Gotham.”

“Marquis Baker Gotham is taking the field!”

The Imperial soldiers began shouting.

Marquis Baker Gotham the Spiritual Eye. He was considered to be the most gentle of all the Masters in the Empire as well as being known for reaching the level of a Master as a blind man.

But then, someone appeared from the Lester Kingdom’s side as well.

“I’ll be your opponent, Marquis Gotham.”

When Marquis Gotham heard a harsh voice running towards him, he frowned with unseeing eyes.

“...Is that Sean Palan?”

And so, all three officially identified Masters of the Lester Kingdom had stepped forward.

***

One of the Imperial soldiers spoke in a daze.

“Should we be paying money to watch this?”

He could be speaking nonsense…

But everyone around him agreed. Where else might they see something like this? A fight between Masters. Not to mention, it was a three vs three fight. This kind of scene was unprecedented in the continent’s history of war. All six of them were at the pinnacle of knighthood and had made names for themselves on the continent. Every time they exchanged blows and collided with each other, the other knights from either country tried their best not to miss a single thing.

Duke Sebastian attempted to stab Milton and Milton avoided the attempt by dodging the attack while running behind him. And then there was Marquis Gotham attacking Duke Palan, but Marquis Gotham didn’t blink an eye at Milton suddenly attacking him and instead, swung his sword to block the attack.

CLANG!

‘He really can’t see?’

Milton attacked from what he had been certain was a blind spot and had even utilized Leonard’s speed. And yet, Marquis Gotham blocked his attack as if he had been waiting for Milton to attack. 

But, because Marquis Gotham had to block Milton, there was a gap and Duke Palan took the chance and attacked him. Duke Palan’s specialty, consecutive attacks, painted a splendid picture of lights flashing in the air as he attacked Marquis Gotham, however...

“Sean Palan!”

Dominic Florian gave off a wild spirit as he charged forward to block Duke Palan.

CLAAANG!

Sparks flew into the air. Duke Dominc Florian blocked all of Duke Palan’s attacks with his shield and longsword.

‘He read it?’

Duke Palan gritted his teeth when he realized that his opponent was perfectly reading his attacks. In fact, Duke Florian was slightly better than Duke Palan. He was able to read Duke Palan’s flow of attacks and block them with his shield while simultaneously attacking with his longsword in his other hand. When that happened, Duke Palan’s flow was stopped and his form deteriorated.

“This is the end!”

Duke Sebastian took that chance to butt in and attack Duke Palan. It was the very definition of a moment of desperation. But then…

“I won’t let you!”

Jerome swung his sword and intervened. With the first strike, he blocked Duke Sebastian’s attack.

CLANG!

And the next attack aimed for Duke Florian’s neck.

Screech…

“Guh…”

Duke Florian managed to block the attack with his shield but his form collapsing was inevitable. And before he knew it, Duke Sebastian and Duke Florian were within his range of attack. The moment the two of them realized it...

Sha!

A strike sharp enough for there to be a sound after it… 

A strike so perfect that it was impossible to sense...

With a wide semicircle, Jerome’s sword aimed for the two Masters.

All of his attacks, including this third one, were all done in a single breath.

“Whooo…”

“How dangerous.”

It may have been an attack that looked perfect, but maybe it was because his opponents were also abnormal, but Jerome’s third attack only resulted in a few slashes on Duke Sebastian’s chestplate. Duke Sebastian felt cold. If he had been just a bit closer, then it wouldn’t have been his chestplate but his chest that would’ve been cut. It was half luck that helped him avoid it.

‘He’s strong. It would’ve been nice if this youngster was a part of the Empire…’

Even in the midst of a life-threatening situation, Jerome’s ability was so great that Duke Sebastian couldn’t help but feel envious.

Jerome was feeling equally disappointed.

‘They’re all difficult. The Empire really is the Empire.’

Although Jerome was struggling internally, his expression remained unchanged.

The feeling of walking on a tightrope across two cliffs - that was what all six Masters were currently feeling. It was a tense situation in which even the slightest mistake would lead to their deaths, but it had already been many hours since the fight started.

They had already exchanged over a thousand blows. It was such a difficult and fierce battle that it was impossible to describe what was happening.

‘If it was possible, I’d rather just move on from this day.’

Milton looked at the setting sun as he thought to himself. If they dragged things out for another two hours, the sun would set. Then, even if it was precarious, it seemed like they would survive.

And Milton knew exactly how.

‘It’s all thanks to Jerome.’

In the midst of fighting for his life, Milton still took the opportunity to look at his opponents’ abilities. Although he didn’t have the time to look at it in detail, he still had to look at their Strength stats.

Hector Sebastian - Strength 94

Baker Gotham - Strength 95

Dominic Florian - Strength 97

All three of them were strong but Duke Florian was the strongest. He seemed to have reached the peak as a traditional Knight. 

A Strength stat wasn’t definite and in reality, the situation at the time and the individual’s sense played a great influence. But even including that, the Empire’s Masters were really strong.

And yet, the Lester Kingdom’s knights were able to fight on equal footing. That was only possible because...

Milton Forrest - Strength 93

Sean Palan - Strength 95

Jerome Taker - Strength 99

***

I was all thanks to Jerome and his Strength 99. Jerome’s genius was finally beginning to show itself. What was more surprising was that Jerome’s Strength stat had risen during the fight. From what Milton could remember, Jerome’s Strength stat had originally been 96, but as the fight progressed, it went up little by little until it had reached 99. The only reason both Milton and Duke Palan were alive was because Jerome had stepped in and balanced things out every time they had been in danger. If things continued as it was, it seemed like Count Sabian’s operation could be carried out.

But the problem was...

Jerome’s brilliant performance had stimulated someone who should never be stimulated

***

From the beginning, he had never intended to join in. While it was a rare sight, it didn’t cause his blood to boil with excitement. If he intervened in a situation where the fight was already balanced at 3 vs 3, then people would talk. That was what Duke Schweiker thought. However...

That mindset slowly changed.

‘Impressive. It’s not unusual to improve during an actual fight but… that’s really impressive.’

Duke Schweiker was stimulated by Jerome Taker who continued to develop in front of his eyes. Jerome wasn’t enough to be his opponent, but if they met ten years, no, just five years later, then he might be someone who could be a worthy opponent. But things weren’t looking too good for Duke Schweiker to think, ‘let's fight five years later’ and let Jerome go.

In the end, he couldn’t bear it and stepped forward.