CH 245

Maren’s knight competition started off with a bang, and it ended the concern that simple one-on-one duels were less interesting. At the center of everything were King Eugene, and his knights.

“Hahaha! I’m only saying this now, but I knew things would turn out like this,” Maren’s governor said with a wide grin, and the members of the parliament took on awkward expressions. The governor had been the most opposed when Eugene had declared his intention to participate in the knight competition.

“Huh? Weren’t you against it from the very beginning, Governor?” Priscilla asked while narrowing her eyes. Unlike the governor, she had completely supported Eugene’s intention from the very beginning.

The governor quickly turned his eyes away from her.

“Ah, t-that’s because I was afraid that people would say that an adult was intervening in a fight between children. How was I supposed to know that such prestigious knights would participate in the competition?” the governor explained.

“I told you, didn’t I? That there would be fighters famous in their own nations, even if we have no idea who they were. I told you that we should definitely have His Majesty participate because other participants would consist of those suitable to be called the representatives of their region and countries,” Priscilla said.

“…He’s been on a tour of the dukedom for more than a month defeating monsters. I couldn’t possibly ask someone who had just returned from completing such a feat to participate in the competition—” the governor muttered.

Priscilla interrupted him,” But you were fine with Princess Lilisain participating, even though she had been with him through the tour? I heard that the princess and the elven knights had been mostly responsible for taking care of the monsters. Have you forgotten?”

“Ehem. W-well…” The governor failed to sneakily share in the glory of Eugene’s victory. He avoided Priscilla’s gaze. Priscilla was still a mere vice executive of the Palin Association, but her influence throughout Maren was tremendous. No matter what anyone said, she discovered Eugene before anyone else. Moreover, the Palin Association was responsible for managing quite a large portion of Eugene’s wealth.

“Anyway, you worked out the program, right?” The governor quickly changed the subject and spoke to the secretary.

The secretary answered with a smile, “Yes. I have made sure that His Majesty, Princess of Eland, Sir Edmund, and Sir Madrica would not face each other until the round of 16.”

“Hmm. We couldn’t help it since it’s what His Majesty wanted, but don’t you think it will cause a backlash from the people later on?” one of the parliament members asked.

The governor responded with a meaningful smile, “Well, you know one thing but not the other. The Princess, Sir Edmund, and Sir Madrica are relatively unknown compared to His Majesty. Rather, rumors have spread that they are His Majesty’s close aides. The knights participating in the competition are eager to display their skills by defeating any of them.”

“Hooh. Is that true? This is the first time I’ve heard of that.”

“Of course. His Majesty’s reputation is known to everyone, but the others are slightly lacking in comparison. Many people are jealous that their names are becoming known just because they are serving right by His Majesty’s side. What were they saying again?” the governor muttered, unsure.

“That’s supposed to be my seat…”

“Yes, right. That one. That’s the buzzword of the foreign knights in the pubs nowadays, right?” The governor pointed out.

“I don’t know about it being a buzzword, but it’s true that many knights are saying such things about His Majesty’s knights.”

“Haha! Anyway, let’s proceed according to the match table. It would be best if His Majesty and his knights all made it to the semifinals, but… That would be a bit greedy, right? Tsk.” the governor said as if he were regretful.

“I guess so. Two of the favorites were eliminated early, there are still about three or four of them.”

Everyone shared disappointed, regretful gazes while nodding.

***

“That’s supposed to be my seat, sir.”

“…?”

Edmund frowned. He had easily made it through the preliminaries after achieving two victories. His opponent, a young knight armed with plate mail passed down from generation to generation in his family, stared into thin air with a wistful gaze and recited in a clear voice, “If I had met His Majesty a year earlier, I would have made numerous contributions in the battlefield by his side… Oh, heavens! Why was I placed in the land of Sherman?”

Thuck!

The knight straightened his longsword and shouted solemnly, “I, Kyle of Pochettino, will defeat you and take my rightful place! Huaaaap!”

Chae-chaeng! Clang! Thuck!

“Kuagh!”

The knight fell to the ground with a scream after three instances of powerful, metallic sounds reverberated. Edmund sheathed his longsword after knocking down his opponent by striking them on the side of the helmet with his pommel. He muttered, “Why is everyone saying something similar every battle?”

Edmund was quite puzzled after hearing the same thing from all three of his opponents thus far. However, a satisfied smile still decorated his face. In any case, he had advanced to the round of 16. He would be hard-pressed to win the competition since Eugene was also taking part, but he was satisfied with his performance as Eugene’s knight.

“However, I can’t become complacent. I will have to win two more battles and advance to the semifinals to prove how strong I am as the lord’s sword,” Edmund mumbled. He was determined to prove himself as Eugene’s sword. He had great loyalty toward the one who rescued him from living the life of a prisoner.

***

“Sir Madrica! Your place, that—”

“It will never belong to you, even in a thousand lifetimes!” Madrica shouted before charging at his opponent like a bison. He was the knight who represented Maren for the past few years.

A fierce battle unfolded, and after a long time, Madrica successfully knocked down his opponent by tripping them, then thrust his dagger into their side. He jumped up and roared, “I have won! I am the sword of His Majesty and Maren! I have protected my place yet again! Ahahhahahaha!”

His armor was caked with mud, and it was a little, or rather, quite undignified to see him jump up and down with joy. Even so, Eugene lightly applauded Madrica for achieving yet another victory.

“Sir Madrica has changed a lot as well. In the past, he was only focused on being cool in battle,” Eugene remarked.

“A true knight. He does anything and everything required to win the battle without caring about saving face. In that respect, I highly value Sir Madrica,” Princess Lilisain commented while looking at Madrica with a proud expression.

Eugene turned his head towards her. “And is that why you kept making fun of your opponent for being bald? To win?”

“…Fweee, fweee~” Princess Lilisain desperately avoided Eugene’s gaze while attempting to whistle, something she had obviously picked up from the spirit.

Mirian spoke with a grin while splattered across Princess Lilisain’s shoulder, “Kihehe. The princess knight said that because her opponent was mocking you, sir. And he really was a red baldy, right? It wasn't a mockery, but an attack.”

“Whoever called you the spirit of desire? From today on, you are the spirit of justice and loyalty. Come here,” Princess Lilisain said.

“Kieee… I’m embarrassed.”

“Ahh~ Haaaagh~”

“Kieeeh~”

The elf and the spirit rubbed their cheeks against each other. Eugene felt goosebumps rising all over his body, even though he had been unfazed when he saw the Demon World for the first time.

***

At last, all sixteen finalists had been decided, and the first day of the knight competition officially ended. Over one hundred knights and mercenaries had suffered defeat, but not many were truly depressed. The Maren Parliament had many former, shrewd merchants among its members, and they provided the losers the highest quality refined mana stones and consolation money. Even so, a small number of warriors could no longer lead their lives as knights due to severed limbs. Their cries of despair could be heard from all over the place. This naturally included the nobles of Assir as well.

“What should we do?”

“I-I don’t know…”

The nobles of Assir felt as if they were at their own funerals. The great warrior’s life had been spared after he was fed refined mana stones, but he would be unable to eat for a while due to his jaw injury. Of course, the nobles of Assir were not sympathizing with the situation of the great warrior, or rather, the former great warrior. Rather, they were concerned that they had let down the expectations of the next emperor of the Roman Empire, especially since the great warrior had never even gotten the chance to use the precious magical tool. The crown prince would never let such a matter go. As such, a significant backlash would obviously descend upon the Country of Assir.

“I didn’t expect the elf princess to be so strong…”

“Didn’t you say she was a possible candidate to become the king’s wife? It’s not like he chooses his woman based on their fighting skills, instead of beauty, right? Ha!”

“Well, there’s a rumor that could possibly prove your statement. Apparently, he brought together the ladies of prestigious nobles in Brantia and had them battle to the death.”

“What?!”

“If it’s the man who ripped off a man’s arm with his spear, it’s certainly possible…”

“It’s not just possible. It’s most likely...”

“A princess who is just like the king—”

The nobles of Assir trembled while accepting such groundless, unconfirmed rumors as the truth. They grew even more fearful of Eugene as they thought about it.

“Anyway, what are we going to do now? We might have had an excuse if he lost to the king, but there’s nothing we can say about this, is there?” one of the nobles said as if they were frustrated.

“…” However, only silence greeted him.

“Well…” the youngest of the nobles carefully spoke while looking around.

“Regardless of which direction we head in, we just need to arrive at the right place, right? All we have to do is to beat the King of Maren, right?” the same noble continued.

“By what means? With the great warrior in his current shape?” another noble responded.

“The magical tool that the Crown Prince gave us. It’s still intact, right?” the young noble asked.

“Huh?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, why don’t we give the Holy Light Seal to someone other than the great warrior? Someone who has made it to the round of 16?” the young noble suggested.

“Hooh…?” The eyes of the Assir nobles glimmered.

The young noble was right. The skills of someone who managed to advance to the round of 16 were undeniable. Moreover, this tournament wasn’t limited to the people of Maren or the Caylor Kingdom. Rather, there were many prominent warriors from many different countries participating in the competition. Someone capable of making it to the round of 16 would be a strong warrior any noble family or kingdom would love to recruit.

“Then we should give it to the knight who will face the king tomorrow.”

“What does the match table look like?”

The other nobles of Assir immediately jumped on board with the idea. The young noble looked around before speaking in a quiet voice, “I’ve already taken a look. Well, I don’t know if it’s luck, but…”

The expressions of the nobles gradually became brighter as the young noble continued his words.

***

“This… for me?”

“That’s correct, Your Excellency.”

Count Hatres looked over the nobles of Assir with a suspicious gaze. They were suddenly acting amicable toward him and were even referring to him as “Your Excellency” when they had simply called him “sir” not too long ago.

“Although the great warrior of Assir was defeated in an unfortunate turn of events, we are still loyal. As such, we had been wondering how we could repay His Highness’ grace in the midst of everything.”

“And this is the conclusion we came up with! We will hand over the Holy Light Seal to Your Excellency, as you will be facing Maren’s King if you win two more battles tomorrow.”

“Hmm.”

Count Hatres looked alternatingly between the nobles and the ring on the table with suspicious eyes.

“Your Excellency, please listen,'' one of the nobles spoke up, recognizing that Count Hatres was doubting them. He quickly continued, “What did His Highness say when he gave you this magical tool? Didn’t he say it would allow you to destroy the opponent’s magic or mystery only once?”

Count Hatres answered, “That’s right. So, I am planning on using it amidst a decisive moment in my battle against the king.”

“Yes. But now, you can use it twice,” the noble explained.

“…!” Count Hatres’ eyes widened slightly.

“Isn’t twice better than once? It’s entirely possible that the king will try to utilize a series of strange mysteries when he is driven into a corner.”

“…” Count Hatres fixed his eyes on the Holy Light Seal.

The nobles quickly seized the chance upon seeing the fervor in the count’s eyes.

“If Your Excellency wins against the king, Assir will take your side in the civil war of Caylor.”

“Hooh…”

Crown Prince Voltaire had already made the same promise. He had vowed to publicly support Count Hatres if he defeated the King of Maren. The support of the Roman Empire’s next absolute would obviously be of great help to reunite the divided kingdom. Moreover, it was also true that many were better than one. If both Crown Prince Voltaire and Assir provided their support, he could crush the clueless nobles of the royal castle, as well as his greatest rival—Count Winslon.

“Your Excellency Hatres, it’s entirely possible that the god of destiny has led you down on this path.”

“Or perhaps the god of war is singing for the victory of Your Excellency Hatres, the man respected by all.”

“The gods are watching you.”

The nobles of Assir even started to speak of the divine. Count Hatres stared at the ring for a while, then eventually raised it before placing it on his finger. He looked up and responded to the nobles.

“I’m an atheist.”

“…”

Regardless, the Assir nobles smiled awkwardly, knowing that their plan had succeeded.