Chapter 111: The Golden Knight

“Huh?”

“Wasn’t he on our side?”

“That’s… what it seems like?”

Murmur murmur.

Because of the idiot’s idiotic remark, a slight crack appeared on the smiling prince’s expression.

However.

“……Sir Muno is an honored guest, Sir Alondo.”

“As such, I trust you will cooperate in enlivening the party’s atmosphere.”

Whether he had no brain or was relying on something else, Alondo continued to spout nonsense.

The prince’s expression hardened even more, and from here, I could see Princess Roanna’s right hand, which held the fan covering her face, tighten.

‘Ah, is this something only I can see?’

Smiling faintly, I turned to the side, and the idiot was just smiling smugly.

I wondered what he was trusting in to act like that.

Muno looked at the prince again and spoke politely.

“Well, it’s not a difficult task. However, Your Highness. As a guest, I am only concerned that I might injure a knight who must soon participate in the contest.”

“Hmm……”

As the prince wore a troubled expression.

“Your Highness, I do not mind at all. What use is a knight who fears injury? For the sake of preparing for the contest, I wish to show Your Highness some entertainment with proper equipment.”

The idiot dug his own grave even deeper.

And by doing so.

The sparring disguised as entertainment was arranged.

“Each of Sir Alondo’s artifacts is a treasure in itself, but when combined, they display transcendence-grade power, which is why they’re called the equipment of the Jewel Knight. Sir Muno, no matter how great your equipment is……. Hoo?”

Grrrrk.

Philip, who had lowered his tone and was laying out his concerns, gaped blankly as he watched Muno, still in his armor, put his hands on the ground behind him and stretch.

“Heave-ho. Mine isn’t so ordinary either, you see.”

To be precise, it’s not an artifact but my body.

Ah, since I have the Red Heart, does that make it an artifact now?

Tsk.

No, putting aside such useless questions.

“Is the Hernandez County a family that even His Highness cannot strike down?”

“Isn’t that why he’s showing such an arrogant attitude?”

“So, does that mean you can’t defeat him either, Sir?”

“Of course not. There’s a difference in skill, and our family heirloom, Lionel, is a named artifact among the transcendence-grade.”

My eyes were drawn again to the antique armor Philip was wearing, engraved with the golden lion crest.

“Since it’s clear I can’t possibly win, Sir Alondo always maintains a precarious line with me.”

I couldn’t help but tilt my head at his following words.

‘That was it just now?’

It seemed like he had crossed the line by a long shot.

Hmm.

“……You’re a better person than I thought, Sir Philip.”

“Huh?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

The more pushovers, no, good people you have by your side, the better.

‘Plus, he’s the owner of a named artifact…….’

The messy first impression was completely erased, and suddenly Philip started to seem appealing.

“Anyway, he must have believed he could overwhelm you with the power of his artifact if you were both 3-Star. Yours is, what was it again…… known for being used against magicians, right?”

“It handles anything well.”

Receiving the worried gazes of his acquaintances who were escorting the most important people at this party, including Philip, Muno slowly walked forward.

In the center of the hastily cleared party hall.

Alondo was standing on the opposite side.

“With the consent of both parties, the use of your respective equipment is permitted. However, if the sparring seems to be overheating beyond a certain point, Sir Prental here will intervene.”

At the 3rd Prince’s words, a middle-aged knight with a square face walked out from behind him.

Thud, thud.

‘At least 4-Star, no, 5-Star? Ho.’

It was my first time seeing the 3rd Prince’s escort knight, but an ability user of that level was qualified to be the judge(?).

Alondo also seemed to know him.

“Sir Prental is more than enough. Of course, I trust you will not interfere with me giving a proper lesson to my junior.”

……If he loses after saying that, how will he not be embarrassed?

When Prental looked at the prince at Alondo’s words.

The prince nodded with a small sigh.

And he slightly covered his mouth with his hand.

Suddenly, his voice echoed softly in Muno’s ear.

[Please be gentle, brother-in-law. I still need the Hernandez County.]

Hmm? Spirit Arts?

But this wasn’t the prince’s energy…….

Muno’s eyes took in Rasmia, who was standing behind the prince.

‘Interesting.’

He then gave a slight nod to the prince.

Was he relieved by that?

The prince’s faint smile returned.

Of course.

‘I’ll have to give him a proper lesson, though.’

– The black sheep of the Hernandez County. His martial prowess is quite usable, but there has been no development since his 20s when he was called a genius.

-. Assessed to be subpar in everything except martial prowess. Having not been designated as the successor even at the age of over forty, he participated in the succession war to build meritorious deeds.

I hadn’t quite understood what the report meant by ‘subpar in everything’, but now I was certain I did.

‘A guy who, at that age, can’t distinguish heaven from earth and runs wild as he pleases.’

He must have been surrounded by people who coddled him his entire life.

The kind of human Han Munho, who had to live by throwing himself headfirst into everything because he was only surrounded by people telling him to ‘die, die’, detested the most.

And, to top it off, he was supposedly a genius when he was young.

“Come, junior. As your senior, I will yield the first move.”

Seeing the smug smile on the guy’s face as he flicked his jewel sword, I could roughly guess how that arrogant and insolent personality of his had been formed.

“Then……”

Sssk.

“……I won’t hold back.”

Baaaaaam!

The junior’s punch, wanting to educate his senior, struck Alondo’s abdomen directly.

“Keok!”

For a moment, Alondo felt his breath catch in his throat from the pain, and his vision went dizzy.

‘Wh-what was that?’

He hadn’t even seen the guy move, but he felt his body being thrown back with a dizzying impact.

Then.

“Careful.”

Thwack.

With a light gesture, someone caught his body.

“Kuh?”

Enduring the dizzying pain, he looked back and saw Sir Prental, who was overseeing this sparring match.

He snapped to his senses.

“I, I was careless, Sir Prental.”

He tried to make an excuse, but the expressionless Prental simply helped him up after he almost crashed into the other guests and returned to his spot.

They said he was known as the silent knight, and it was just as he had heard.

In that situation.

“Will you continue?”

When he turned his head again, he saw the brat on the other side, beckoning with his fingers without even drawing his weapon.

Seeing that, the pain in his abdomen was stimulated again, and anger surged.

“Of course! I was just careless!”

“You said you’d yield the first move, so I threw a punch as a greeting, but if this is all you’ve got, I’m disappointed. Sen. ior.”

While his chest seethed at the guy’s expression as he tilted his head blankly, a corner of his mind grew cold.

The genius knight of Drasen, the Black Knight, the nemesis of magicians.

The new star of the kingdom, who had been attracting all sorts of rumors lately.

However.

‘That kind of rumor, I heard them too back in my day!’

Before the nickname Golden Knight, there was a time when he was called the genius knight of Hernandez.

If only he hadn’t stopped developing at some point, that punk wouldn’t even be able to cross swords with him and would only be looking up at him in awe.

‘Damn talent.’

He had always worked just as hard, so why had he stopped?

The self-pity he felt whenever he had such thoughts made that punk, who reminded him of his past self, even more of an eyesore.

And he had even allowed such a cowardly blow.

‘He probably activated his artifact from the very beginning.’

He had planned to test the waters and then, at some point, activate his artifact properly and finish it.

The punk had made the first move.

So.

“This is where it really begins.”

Thump.

Woooooong.

Alondo stomped his foot and simultaneously activated the Jewel Knight’s equipment set.

An immense energy filled his entire body.

All his physical abilities exploded, nearly tripling in an instant, giving him an incredible sense of exhilaration.

The power of a transcendence-grade artifact, which had allowed him to overcome the difference in level and defeat even 4-Star knights.

“This, is, the, true, knight’s, artifact.”

To adapt to the sudden surge in power and senses, he spoke one syllable at a time, showing off his momentum.

“Hwaaam. So, how long should I wait for you?”

The guy was yawning right in front of him.

“Insolent……!”

Pabak.

In that moment, Alondo, his eyes seeing red, rushed straight towards the guy.

He had planned to return the first blow exactly as the guy had done to him…… but.

Fwoooosh.

“Usable……”

The fist that was about to strike the guy’s abdomen cut through the air in vain.

“……it is.”

What?

K-thwack.

His head was thrown back on its own, and he saw the ceiling of the party hall.

Following that, he felt his body float upwards.

The sharp pain in his jaw and neck came right after.

‘How……?’

The moment he belatedly grasped the situation, he immediately twisted his body in mid-air and forced himself to regain balance.

Tak.

Clang.

He landed lightly on the ground and drew his sword stylishly.

As calmly as possible.

“Brawling seems to be your specialty. Now for my specialty, let’s fa……. huh?”

As he tried to deliver his prepared line, his pronunciation came out strangely slurred.

Simultaneously.

Thud thud thud.

Something yellow and familiar in shape fell in a heap on the floor right in front of his nose.

The moment he saw it, his mind went blank.

“Pfft!?”

“D-don’t laugh.”

“L-look away.”

Laughter from the onlookers could be heard from all over the party hall.

On top of that.

“The artifact seems really good, but the person using it is just…….”

The insolent young brat was even openly mocking him, and his mind, which had gone blank, turned red with rage again.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

In that moment, only one emotion filled his mind.

Rage towards the enemy who had given him such humiliation.

‘I’ll kill you!!’

The core of the Jewel Knight’s equipment was the jewel sword.

The moment he swung that sword, his physical abilities were amplified once more, extending a mana blade.

He had no doubt that it would wash away his shame.

Until the moment the guy swung his ridiculously large greatsword, from which a gray haze was shimmering.

Crack.

The豪快に振るわれたその一撃が、伸びていた自分のマナブレードを虚しく切り裂いた.

“Oh, that’s exhilarating.”

That was all the guy who had accomplished the absurd feat had to say.

“How……. How!!”

He couldn’t believe it.

No, he couldn’t accept it.

“Die!!!”

Pabababak.

No matter how frantically he swung, his sword didn’t land a single hit.

The guy, who was now shimmering with gray mana from his body as well, easily dodged all of his attacks.

As his mind went blank with the thought of what on earth he was doing.

The sword he was swinging naturally stopped.

Then, the guy’s hateful face appeared right in front of his nose.

“Hup!?”

“When was the last time you trained, Sir Alondo?”

“Wha, wha……?”

“It’s been at least a year, right? The artifact is a waste. Hah…….”

His mind went distant at those words that pierced his very soul.

‘I tried too! I did!’

He wanted to scream, but the words wouldn’t come out.

It was true that he had neglected his training for at least the past few years.

As his mind became confused with extreme humiliation, memories of the past resurfaced.

He knew himself that his martial prowess was the only thing that made him better than his brothers.

That was why he had gritted his teeth and tried so hard.

And yet, his smoothly developing skills began to stagnate at some point.

In front of the wall blocking his path to 4-Star, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find his ‘own path’.

When his only specialty began to be treated as something ordinary, it felt like the sky was falling.

That was why he had purchased the artifacts.

He had spent most of the inheritance he received on collecting this Jewel Knight’s equipment.

Thus, the genius knight of Hernandez became the Golden Knight.

He had maximized his only advantage, even if it was with money.

And yet, was that wrong?

‘What, what do you know!’

How could a guy who had so much talent that he became a 3-Star knight at the mere age of sixteen know the feelings of someone who had hit a limit?

He wanted to scream that, but the moment he met those black eyes again, no words came out.

The moment he looked into the guy’s eyes, he could feel it.

The contempt contained within, no, the confidence beyond it.

The look that only those who have lived fiercely can have.

He too had seen such a look many times in the past.

Exactly.

‘In the mirror.’

But at some point, had he stopped seeing it?

Why…….

“Rest. Sen. ior.”

As the black and unique gauntlet approached his eyes, Alondo slowly closed his eyes in a distant regret.

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