Chapter 245 - Farce
The Margrave, the younger brother of the current emperor. And the Crown Prince, the heir of the Empire.
They had seen each other when the Crown Prince was young and had not met for a long time since then, so it would have been natural for them to feel awkward. Yet the two quickly grew close.
That was purely because they were both men, and men became childish in strange places regardless of their social positions.
“Uncle. I find that remark difficult to ignore. Dante may have lived only a short life, but with that brief life, he is aiming to become the greatest among the blood kin of the East.”
“Yes, I understand that as well, but even so, he cannot beat our Pale.”
The Crown Prince lightly bit his lip and refuted him again.
“The white-haired borderland knight who has made a name for himself in the northern neutral zone. I have heard rumors of his talent too. They say he trained imperial borderland swordsmanship to its peak.”
“Ahem. Yes, yes. Pale here mastered the anti-giant borderland swordsmanship I further developed in five years.”
“It is a talent that reaches the heavens. Even as the Crown Prince, I can only nod at such talent. However.”
“…However?”
The Margrave raised his thick golden eyebrows as he asked back, but the golden-feathered chick here was no less formidable.
“Yes. Even so, Dante is better.”
“I will listen as much as you like, so tell me. Tell me why the Fifth Son here is better than my knight.”
“Very well.”
The Crown Prince stood his ground against his uncle.
He did not have to do this. He truly did not have to do this, but he steadfastly defended the honor of the blood kin of the East.
The Youngest Son, that very blood kin of the East, kept dry-washing his face and searched for an opening to join the conversation.
“…Your Highness. I am truly fine. What does it matter whether I, as an Easterner, am weaker or better than a knight of the borderland?”
“Dante. You stay out of this for a moment.”
‘This is about me, yet you are telling me to stay out of it?’
He could not say what he thought and took one step back.
As a result, he came to stand beside the white-haired knight, who was watching the situation with his arms crossed.
“Are you not going to stop him?”
“Is there any need to stop them? They seem to be getting along well.”
The Crown Prince and the Margrave bickered, placing the Youngest Son and Pale on opposite sides of the scale.
“Uncle. I honestly do not know much about borderland swordsmanship. But Uncle, you do not know much about the curses and sorceries of the East either, do you?”
“The curses and sorceries of the East could not have held back the Snowfield Giants beyond that wall for so long.”
“Even so, they have more than enough potential. They blocked the West’s surprise attack and are even counterattacking, and all of that happened under Dante’s command.”
“That is not talent in combat. Being skilled at war and being good at fighting are different.”
As the argument between the two lengthened, the nobles outside the invisible line began slowly drawing closer.
Whether one was a noble or a commoner, watching a fight was still the most entertaining spectacle in the world.
Moreover, the subject of this verbal fight was, “This versus that, who is truly stronger?”
It was a dispute already carried out countless times among the nobles regarding the Three Generals.
“We should hear the opinions of others on this.”
The Margrave’s eyes turned toward the two generals standing like pillars at the entrance.
“Hey. Earth and Sky. Come here for a moment.”
Earth meant Kunkan, who protected the Empire’s territory, and Sky meant Raymond, who protected the Empire’s airspace.
The two of the Three Generals, excluding the escort, could not move from their positions unless another imperial order was given.
So, even though they heard him, they hid their expressions behind their helmets and pretended not to.
The Margrave changed tactics.
“Then you do not have to come here. Just raise a hand once. If you think the knight I raised is stronger than the blood kin of the East, raise your right hand. If you think the opposite, raise your left.”
“……”
The Youngest Son rubbed his forehead and watched the farce.
He had hoped the two generals would keep ignoring him like this.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Far from ignoring him, they waved their hands according to the Margrave’s wishes.
“Oh my. Even the generals’ opinions are divided.”
Kunkan raised his right hand. Raymond raised his left.
The Margrave looked toward Raymond and clicked his tongue.
“Raymond, I did not take you for that kind of man.”
“Do not scold General Raymond. Since General Raymond is always looking at the sky, does that not mean his field of vision is wide as well?”
“My nephew. It seems there is no sign that our opinions will narrow.”
“I think so as well.”
“Then does that not leave us with only one method?”
The Crown Prince’s golden eyes moved toward the friend he had recently made.
In truth, the friend who had expected this conclusion for some time now gave a suitable nod.
“…Very well. Instead, since the honor of the East and the borderland are at stake, let only Uncle and me watch, with no audience.”
“Good. I did not arrange this match to lower the East’s honor either.”
A match where the honor of the East and the Empire’s borderland had unintentionally been placed at stake.
When he looked beside him at Pale, the knight’s face did not seem particularly comfortable either. Then Pale looked this way and said one thing.
“I will lose appropriately.”
“……”
“I know His Highness the Margrave’s personality well, so I will handle it myself.”
“Just fight normally.”
“…Pardon?”
The Youngest Son realized that he too had been swept into the farce, but that did not mean he could stop it.
“I am going to win, but I have no intention of winning ambiguously. Do not get hurt while trying to hold back.”
“…Very well.”
The two who had become the subjects of the farce were men as well.
In the end, the four of them moved, and they reached the outskirts of the Imperial Palace in search of a suitable place.
The training hall used by the imperial knights was firmly locked at this hour, but that did not matter to the Margrave.
“Put on a new lock afterward.”
Behind the easily opened iron door, a wide training hall was revealed.
As the Youngest Son stepped inside, he sighed inwardly.
‘What am I even doing under the moonlight?’
[Since you are doing it, win. You said to fight with all your strength out of pride, so if you lose after that, you should know how embarrassing it is.]
Enad was right.
The head that had bowed so easily before the Chancellor and the emperor had strangely stiffened before a man his own age.
Perhaps it was because this was not a situation where he needed to lower it.
Thud—
He stood at a certain distance from the borderland knight.
The Margrave stood in the center, and the Crown Prince stood not far away, watching the two.
“Although this is a duel, both of you must remember that it is not for the purpose of taking a life. If the opponent becomes unable to fight, the duel ends there. Then, prepare.”
Shing—
The borderland knight drew his sword.
Ordinary swords were cold enough to be classified as cold weapons, but Pale’s sword gave off even a chill.
In contrast, heat poured from the Youngest Son’s sword.
Fwooooosh—
“…You use a sword.”
“It is a Magic Sword.”
The gracefully curved ink-black Magic Sword was held in the Youngest Son’s hand.
A heat haze wavered along the blade, and Bloodflame burned here and there across the sword’s body.
It was a sword clearly different from the longsword that gave off cold air.
“It will be difficult for you to defeat me with only a sword.”
“If someone heard you, they would think you had defeated Snowfield Giants through sword exchanges. Both you and I are specialists against opponents who do not carry swords, are we not?”
“……”
The borderland knight’s sword specialized in fighting Snowfield Giants who did not carry swords. The Youngest Son’s sword specialized in fighting sorcerers who did not carry swords.
The white-haired knight, intuiting that he could not defeat his opponent with a verbal blade, adjusted his grip on his sword.
At the same time, he lowered his stance. It was meant for facing a person, not a giant.
In contrast, the Youngest Son raised his sword into an overhead stance.
Amid the contrasting stances of the two, the Margrave’s voice rang out with the heavy resonance of a drum.
“Begin.”
The two, similar in height and build, kicked off the ground at the same time.
The exhilaration of battle naturally rose, and his mind moved even faster than usual.
‘If I thrust, the difference in blade length is more than a handspan. I have to cut upward.’
As it was, his opponent used the weight of his greatsword and the advantage of the overhead stance.
In simple terms, that meant he was striking downward, and the two different swords naturally clashed.
Boooooom—!
“……”
One of the Youngest Son’s eyes widened slightly.
Kagagagagak—
Even though it was an attack with the sword’s weight, gravity, and arm strength added together, the first exchange turned into a contest of strength.
Moreover, the borderland knight was gradually taking the upper hand.
[…This fellow. His natural body aside, his physical strength is no ordinary thing either.]
—So it seems.
Boooom—!!
In the end, the blood kin’s body, pushed back in the contest of strength, slid backward.
The swordsman who had seized a faint advantage accelerated further.
However, a sorcerer could attack both while charging forward and while retreating.
[Curse of Slash]
[Curse of Slash]
[Curse of Slash]
….
….
Blood Stream Sorcery was made by weaving curses into Samche and sublimating them through a blood magic circle.
Although it was called a slash, the Blood Viscount Kapus had used it as a thrust as well.
Shushushushushushushuk—
When the Youngest Son flicked his fingers, arrows made of hardened blood fired forward.
There was not one, nor two, but roughly ten.
He thought it would be enough to stop the knight’s charge.
However, the Margrave’s laughter-tinged voice, watching the battle from beside the Crown Prince, reached his ears.
“Pale is someone who breaks through even the rocks thrown by Snowfield Giants.”
Crash—!
Pale charged forward while smashing the blood arrows like candy.
He did not even knock them away with his sword. He thrust his shoulder forward as though breaking through a wall, protecting only his head to the minimum degree.
[Is that a human, or a bull?]
—I am starting to get confused too.
The blood arrows scattered into the air like shards of glass, but the sorcery was not over yet.
He knew that from the way the shattered arrow fragments were changing from solid to gas.
“You have to breathe too.”
Whoooooosh—
The curse transformed into gas tried to wrap around the knight.
If he inhaled it now, the Curse of Slash contained within would make his insides prickle.
Perhaps he found it unpleasant, even if he did not know the result, because the knight narrowed his brow and swung his sword.
Whoooooong—!
The borderland sword swept through the air in a wide arc.
The blade wavering with mana created a sword strike along its trajectory.
The blue sword strike pushed away the red smoke and served as both defense and attack.
Ruuuuuumble—
The distance the Youngest Son had opened by leaping backward closed in an instant.
Even so, the blood kin’s expression did not change.
“My Eldest Brother is better at this sort of thing.”
Eldest Brother Hiler’s sword strikes split into dozens, both large and small, before attacking.
Compared to that, a sword strike that was merely large and strong was on the easier side.
Crack, crack, crack—
Baaaaang—!!
The Ice Attribute wall laid out in front of him shattered into debris less than a second after it was made.
The one who instead paused at that defense was the borderland knight.
“…Ice Attribute magic.”
The Margrave murmured.
Unlike ordinary ice, the ice was red like blood, but he could tell at once that it was ice.
He stepped on ice every night and ran across ice every night, so there was no way he would not know.
“That blood kin of the East is certainly an unusual fellow.”
“I was surprised when I first saw it as well.”
“Is it because he has such unusual abilities that you thought he would defeat Pale?”
“I do not think the next Margrave is weak enough to fall to unusual abilities alone. However…”
The Crown Prince thought of the things the Youngest Son had shown him until now.
When they had first met at his sickbed, he had made him rise on his own instead of using some special medicine.
He had also taught him to find the problem within himself without relying on something else, and then overcome it.
He had not had the chance to say it, but he had truly learned many things from him.
From how to find a problem, to how to prepare for its handling, and how to resolve it.
After he became emperor in the future, he would always recall the teachings and realizations he had learned from him.
Since he could not lay all of that bare to the Margrave, he condensed it and condensed it again.
“I believe in his ability to solve problems.”
Clatter—
As though responding to that trust, Skeleton Soldiers surrounded the Youngest Son.