CH 248

The second day of the knight competition began. There was a significantly smaller number of knights present in the stadium, due to more than ninety percent of the participants being eliminated on the first day. However, the stands and the distinguished seats were brimming with even more people than on the first day. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the birth of the new champion.

“The King of Maren will probably win, don’t you think?”

“I think the Princess of Eland is a strong candidate as well. I heard that there’s nothing she can’t cut with that Aura of hers.”

“But she can’t cut what she can’t hit. In addition, rumors have it that the king’s sword, spear, and armor are all magical armaments. They say he had obtained it from a hidden, ancient evil land.”

“He’s that talented, but he still uses magical weapons? Ha! Oh, my…”

Many nobles whispered among themselves while staring at Eugene’s tent. Some uttered words of jealousy, but most of them seemed to have acknowledged Eugene’s strength after witnessing his fights in person. It appeared that the rumors surrounding the King of Maren weren’t groundless after all. Moreover, the majority of people were also forced to acknowledge the Dukedom of Maren. At first, they simply believed that a group of sneaky merchants had taken the Caylor Kingdom’s division as an opportunity to declare independence. But now, they saw that the Dukedom of Maren truly had a firm foundation.

In truth, quite a few nobles even felt a sense of crisis.

‘Four knights from Maren made it to the round of 16, including the king.’

‘The knights who gathered when the king was visiting the Crown Prince of the Roman Empire weren’t ordinary warriors either.’

‘All of the guards were former, experienced mercenaries. There were more than five hundred of them at first glance.’

‘Including the mercenaries and the soldiers of the other lords, how many troops do they really have?’

‘The king is also a Duke of Brantia. I have heard that there are many knights in Brantia who follow the king. If they also joined forces with him…’

Quite a few well-informed nobles felt their hair stand on end. No one doubted Maren’s massive wealth. In fact, most of them had traveled all the way to Maren to congratulate and celebrate the founding of Maren because of the city’s wealth.

However, the wealth and power of a nation were different matters. One could hire mercenaries with enough capital, but skilled knights could not be mobilized with money alone. And since experienced, powerful knights contributed greatly to a nation’s overall strength, being wealthy didn’t always correspond to strength.

However, the nobles had come to realize that the Dukedom of Maren possessed numerous strong, honorable knights. In fact, Maren did not pale even when compared to other nations. King Jan Eugene Batla stood in the center of it all. The king was called an unparalleled knight, and there were many knights who revered, or even worshiped him under his command.

‘We shouldn’t carelessly provoke them.’

‘We should focus on forming a non-aggression pact with them for now.’

‘Tsk, tsk! Too bad for Caylor. Even if they manage to reunite like before, they could be overshadowed by Maren.’

‘But since the Caylor Kingdom provoked Maren, they brought all these upon themselves.’

Most foreign nobles even felt a sense of fear toward Eugene and the Dukedom of Maren. However, there were a few people with different ideas. They were those desperate to deal a blow to Eugene and the Dukedom of Maren. Such nobles firmly believed that it was necessary to cripple Maren and Eugene for the sake of their own kingdoms. They stared at Eugene’s tent with scheming eyes while whispering.

“Hoho. That arrogant king will suffer great humiliation today. Well, I wish he would just die instead, but that would be quite difficult, right?”

“That’s true. But soon, it will be revealed that he’s nothing without his magical weapons.”

The nobles of Assir whispered before simultaneously turning their gazes. They saw a man armed with a rather crude, but sturdy plate armor. The middle-aged knight was seated while holding his longsword upside down with the blade touching the ground. A red jewel was set on his weapon.

It was Count Hatres.

“He should make it to the semifinals, right? It’ll be all for naught if he doesn’t...”

“That should be easy. Didn’t we give him the Holy Light Seal and even superior-grade refined mana stones? Even the great warrior of our country will be hard-pressed to match the count by now.”

“Hey, why don’t you stop talking about the great warrior?”

“Ah, yes.”

The so-called ‘great warrior’ had been beaten and humiliated like a dog by a woman. He was no longer Assir’s pride, but its disgrace. Even the fact that he had been defeated by Eland’s elf princess wasn’t very comforting as she was still a woman.

“By the way, who is Count Hatres’ first opponent today?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t checked…” the young noble responded while scratching the back of his head. It was the same noble who had first suggested giving Count Hatres the Holy Light Seal. He had only confirmed that Count Hatres and the King of Maren would clash in the semifinals, but he had skipped over checking the count’s earlier opponents in haste.

“Tell your men to go check.”

“Yes.”

“Our first match is! The great knight of Caylor! The man with the cold heart…!”

The young noble turned around to give orders to his servants, but he was interrupted by an announcement. Count Hatres headed to the center of the stadium along with the loud introduction.

Simultaneously…

“What?!”

“W-w-what’s that woman doing there?!”

His opponent was none other than the destroyer of their great warrior. The elf princess of Eland slowly walked forward while holding two swords.

***

“…”

Count Hatres frowned. He was an honorable, prideful knight. Knowing that he would be facing the King of Maren in the semifinals, he hadn’t bothered to check the match table to confirm his previous opponents.

He was confident in defeating anyone. However, he could not help but be somewhat startled to see that the Princess of Eland was his opponent. Obviously, it wasn’t because he was afraid of his opponent.

‘I even have to face a female knight now?’

He was known as the strongest sword of the Caylor Kingdom. His opponent was the princess of the elf kingdom, but considering his achievements and reputation, he still felt disgraced that he had to face a woman.

‘However…’

It was something he could not avoid if he wanted to achieve his goal. As such, Count Hatres straightened his longsword and held it by his chest before introducing himself.

“Nice to meet you. I am—”

Princess Lilisain interrupted him, “No need. I can have a proper match with His Majesty if I defeat you. Bring it on.”

She was beyond excited at the thought of finally having a real match with Eugene. In fact, she had been unable to sleep properly the night before. In addition, Count Hatres was someone Eugene had mentioned to her before. Eugene had provoked her by saying, “I don’t know if you can even beat him, Princess. If you can do so, I will willingly fight you in a proper match,” and Eugene had been referring to Count Hatres.

She had defeated the great warrior of Assir yesterday, so she would completely meet His Majesty’s expectation if she defeated the count.

“…”

However, such was the story told from Princess Lilisain’s perspective. Count Hatres was infuriated after suffering the worst, passive humiliation of his life.

“Like king, like princess. Fine. Although it is a competition, there’s no need to speak before a duel held with real blades. Now…”

Princess Lilisain’s figure blurred before Count Hatres could finish his words as she charged at him like a ray of light.

Fwoosh!

Two beams of blue lightning enlarged and reflected in Count Hatres’ eyes.

Clang!

Then, his helmet was split.

***

‘What’s this? What’s going on? Why am I lying down?’

Count Hatres attempted to stand up as he stared blankly at the clear blue sky. He could not see even a single puff of cloud.

However, it was in vain. As soon as he attempted to move his body, the blue sky distorted like a haze, and he felt a splitting headache. It was then that he heard a voice just above his head.

“Concussion. You should just lie down…”

The voice was quickly buried by the deafening roars from afar.

‘Ah, is that it?’

Count Hatres finally realized it.

One strike.

He had lost in a single strike.

‘How stupid. Haha…’

He had clicked his tongue seeing many knights paying the price of belittling their opponents on the first day of the competition. However, he had made the exact same mistake.

‘I forgot… that from the moment she picked up a sword, she was no longer a woman, but a knight.’

How could he have forgotten it? No matter how sturdy one’s armor was and how sharp their sword was, they could lose their lives to a child with a knife if they let their guard down. How could he have thought that only Jan Eugene Batla could be his opponent?

‘I… I have brought disgrace on my own path as a knight.’

“Kekeuh…”

Count Hatres chuckled after rebuking himself. He should have walked the road of knighthood if he wanted to rebuild the Kingdom of Caylor. He should have appealed to honor and revealed his chivalry. However, he had instead chosen to tread down the path of a politician. From the moment he agreed with Crown Prince Voltaire’s suggestion—no, he abandoned his knighthood the moment he personally led his delegation to keep the other two forces of Caylor in check.

He could not believe that he had judged the other knights for betting their fate on a single round. Count Hatres relaxed his grip while feeling as if something were escaping his body. He had kept his hand tight on his pommel even as he was knocked unconscious by a single blow to his head. But now, his partner left his hand.

As the growing cheers engulfed the stadium, the era of an old knight came to an end.

***

“…”

The nobles of Assir took on blank expressions after the confirmation of Count Hatres’ defeat. They had seen nothing but a flash. Afterward, they heard the sound of metal clashing against metal, and then they saw Count Hatres on the ground.

‘What did we just see?’

‘Is this a dream?’

If it were, it was the worst nightmare possible. Their only hope, Count Hatres, had lost. Moreover, he never even got the chance to face the King of Maren. He was knocked out by a single blow to the head by the elf princess responsible for the defeat of the great warrior as well.

The eyes of the Assir nobles unwittingly followed Princess Lilisain’s back as she returned to her tent. Eugene came out to greet the princess, and he took a single glance toward where the Assir nobles were seated.

“…!”

“Ugh! Uah…”

Eugene’s eyes blazed for an instant, and the nobles of Assir started to tremble. The same thought came to their minds after making eye contact with Eugene for only a moment.

‘H-he knows!’

‘The king already knows everything!’

They were certain, though they could not explain it.

“T-this is not the time.”

“We must hurry out of here… N-no, first, let’s collect the Holy Light Seal and…”

The nobles rose from their seats in a hurry.

“Distinguished guests from Assir.”

“…?!” The eyes of the nobles filled with shock when they saw a group of knights approaching them. The knights were wearing armor similar to the elven princess.

“His Majesty the King would like to speak with you, sirs. I’m sorry to bother you, but please keep your seats until the competition is over.”

“Ah, t-that’s…”

“I implore you, sirs. Please accept His Majesty’s favor.”

“Hmm!”

The knights were extremely courteous, but their hands rested on their hilts.

***

Madrica lost by a narrow margin after lasting more than ten minutes with his opponent.

“Uaaaaaaaaahhh! Huaaagh!” Madrica collapsed on the spot and started bawling like a baby. It was quite shocking for the people of Maren to see their knight in such a state when that same knight had always been noble and honorable. However, he had fought his best for the duration of two days, and even those who didn’t favor him were applauding him for his achievement.

Although he had lost in the round of 16, he was still an honorable and brave knight of Maren. On the other hand, Edmund broke through the round, then came to face Princess Lilisain in the quarterfinals. Just like all of her previous opponents, he also suffered defeat without exchanging more than three blows with her. It was simply impossible to stop the power of Aura with shields and armor. Moreover, Princess Lilisain’s swordsmanship was superb, and even Swordmaster Pranbow acknowledged her skills with the blade.

Once she finally reached the semifinals, the spectating nobles finally came to a realization. They finally realized how powerful she was as a knight, and how fraudulent the ability known as ‘Aura,’ which could only be utilized by pure-blooded elves

“Eland! Do you know anyone in Eland?”

“We must win over an elven knight of Eland! A pure-blooded one if possible!”

“Use all your connections! It might be difficult to ask the king, so ask the governor to lay a bridge between Eland and us!”

The lords were desperate to somehow establish a relationship with the elven knights, although they didn’t even know where Eland was located. There were many famous and outstanding knights in the world, but Princess Lilisain was simply overwhelming.

However, the people interested in her weren’t just the lords looking for powerful knights.

“Kyaaah! Princess! Over here! This way, please! Please look over here!”

“Princess Elf! Ahhhk! She looked at me! Oh my gosh!”

The attention and admiration of women were concentrated on the princess. After all, she had achieved consecutive victories against big, burly male knights. As such, it was only natural that a strong, beautiful princess knight was popular with both men and women of all ages.

Unfortunately, one individual possessed a rather unhealthy affection toward the princess.

“Kieeeeeeeehhh?! Get lost, you little bitches! The princess knight is mine! Get out! Get! Kieeeeeehkkkkk!”

“Insane bastard.”

“Kieh?!”

Eugene subdued the spirit and prevented her from running rampant with jealousy by shoving her inside her leather pocket. He turned his head after hearing a disturbance.

“Huh…?”

Count Hatres was walking toward him after denying the help of his aides. His eyes were sparkling, and it was hard to believe that they belonged to someone who had just lost.