Chapter 118 - As Known, Like a Scoundrel (2)

Just as Siorin was about to ask about the token.

VMMMM.

The Imperial Knight's sword began to cry out.

And a beat later, Sword Aura formed on the Imperial Knight's sword.

The Sword Resonance was continuous, and the Sword Aura formed on the sword was clear and stable. His spirit was not just fierce, but even downright ferocious.

He looked completely enraged by the First Prince's provocation.

In contrast, Arwen's appearance was almost pitiful.

She didn't even raise a Sword Resonance, let alone a Sword Aura.. She merely stood blankly with her sword lowered.

In a father's eyes, that sight looked very precarious and frail.

Siorin glared at the First Prince, who could be called the culprit of this situation.

"If any problems arise due to this spar..."

"They won't."

Before his words of resentment could even finish, the First Prince spoke in a nonchalant tone. And he added one more thing: Arwen would never lose.

It was a strangely confident tone.

Siorin became even more displeased.

Having created this situation out of foolish bravado, what right did he have to act so arrogant?

However, his anger did not last long.

Right now, rather than anger, it was time to worry about his daughter's safety as she stood before the Imperial Knight.

Siorin narrowed his eyes.

If his daughter seemed to be in even the slightest bit of danger, he intended to stop the spar immediately.

Because as a father, he absolutely did not want to see his daughter bleed.

But that was just a groundless fear. And one he held alone.

"Dame Arwen has improved even more."

"Compared to the last time we saw her at Winter Castle, her state has deepened even further."

He heard the Iron Lions whispering. It was a tone just as carefree as the First Prince's. Not a single one of them was worried about Arwen.

"He's already being pushed back in spirit. Tsk."

There were even those who pitied the Imperial Knight.

The Iron Lions evaluated the Imperial Knight's spirit, which Siorin had thought was full of venom, as nothing more than a dog barking with its tail tucked.

"Excluding His Highness, Dame Arwen is the second strongest knight in the delegation."

The Vice-Commander of the Iron Lions explained to Siorin, who was just rolling his eyes at the incomprehensible situation.

"If she's the second, does that mean Arwen is the strongest after Sir Erhim?"

"Unfortunately, I am not the first."

Erhim shook his head with a bitter smile. His gaze was directed behind the First Prince.

There stood the First Prince's personal knights, the only ones among the delegation whose abilities and tendencies he had not yet grasped.

Erhim's words meant that one of them was stronger than the Vice-Commander of the Iron Lion Knights, an elite knight order renowned even within the kingdom.

It was hard enough to believe that Arwen, who was merely an Apprentice Knight just two years ago, was stronger than him. To say another such existence was included in the delegation... it was unbelievable for Siorin.

But whether he believed it or not, the situation gradually began to flow exactly as the Iron Lions had said.

Beads of sweat began to form on the forehead of the Imperial Knight, who had raised his spirit to the fullest. In contrast, Arwen's face hadn't changed in the slightest from when the spar first began.

She suddenly turned her head.

"Tell me what you wish."

Her lips spoke so. And to her, the First Prince said,

"Crush him completely."

He told her to show absolutely no mercy.

NOD.

Giving a small nod, she lowered her sword.

STEP, STEP.

As she stepped forward, the Imperial Knight flinched and backed away.

"Urgh!"

Perhaps realizing his unseemly behavior a step too late, the Imperial Knight gritted his teeth and readjusted his grip on his sword.

"How dare a nameless knight like you!"

Then, stomping his foot forcefully, he thrust his sword.

SWOOSH!

Along with a sharp sound of tearing air, a flash of the sword swept toward Arwen's neck.

Arwen dodged the attack far too easily simply by bending her waist.

SHK.

Bending down, she swept the floor with her sword.

Startled, the Imperial Knight jumped up and dodged the attack without even having the time to block the sword.

That was the beginning.

Arwen consecutively aimed for the Imperial Knight's lower body. Sometimes she stabbed her sword as if to pierce the top of his foot, and sometimes she swung it as if to sever his ankles.

Each time, the Imperial Knight frantically moved his feet and scurried backward.

"W-What the hell are you doing right now!"

The Legion Commander shouted furiously. His face was full of anger.

It couldn't be helped.

Because anyone could see that the Imperial Knight was being toyed with.

SWISH, SWISH.

Every time Arwen's sword moved, the Imperial Knight hopped around, and to others, it looked as if he were drunkenly staggering through a dance.

"Is this how the kingdom's knights toy with other knights!"

The Legion Commander called her a shameless wretch who didn't know how to respect her opponent's honor,

"Imperial Knights should practice blocking low more diligently. To be so helplessly beaten like that."

And the First Prince responded with mockery.

"Haaah!"

Conscious of the furious Legion Commander, the Imperial Knight ignored Arwen's sword sweeping at his lower body and swung his sword down powerfully.

It was a strike that clearly showed his will to split his opponent's head open, even if it meant giving up his legs.

"Arwen!"

Siorin shouted in shock.

But unlike her startled father, Arwen was completely calm.

She didn't dodge the sword flying at her as if to split her head, nor did she retract her thrusting sword.

She simply twisted her wrist slightly and smacked the Imperial Knight's lower body with the flat of her blade rather than the edge.

SMACK!

Struck heavily on the leg, the Imperial Knight's body spun around on the spot.

His legs shot up into the sky, and his head toward the ground.

The fact that he didn't drop his sword and swung it to the end even in the midst of that was certainly commendable, but the misdirected sword merely cut through the empty air in vain.

Watching the Imperial Knight flipped upside down as if doing a handstand, Arwen extended her foot with an expressionless face.

THUD!

Kicked squarely, the Imperial Knight's body rolled across the floor with a crash.

There was no scream.

The knight who rolled on the floor lay limp and motionless. The Imperial Knights hurriedly ran over to check their comrade's condition.

SHAKE, SHAKE.

Seeing the Imperial Knights shake their heads, the Iron Lions cheered.

"Ooooh!"

The Imperial figures became angry.

"What disgraceful behavior!"

Amidst this crossing of joy and sorrow,

"Surely that knight wasn't the best in the fortress."

The First Prince poured oil on the fire once again.

"I will face her!"

"No! I will step up!"

After that, the knights of the fortress stepped up time and time again.

Among them was the Senior Knight De Gaulle, who had been looking for a chance to make up for the humiliation of their first encounter, and there was also a Triple Chain knight who was counted among the best in the fortress.

But none of them could defeat Arwen.

"Guaah!"

An Imperial Knight who had spouted cheap obscenities at Arwen got his mouth torn open, and a knight who had stepped up ignoring her for being a woman was knocked flat, his arm nearly severed.

Even the fifth knight who stepped up seriously failed to block Arwen's sword and tumbled to the floor as a bloody mess.

"Next!"

Arwen provoked her next opponent with an impassive face.

The Iron Lions went wild, and the Imperial Knights spat out curses.

Siorin blankly looked around.

He wondered if this was truly a place meant to welcome a nation's delegation, and if that woman standing right in the middle was really the daughter he knew.

"Next!"

Having blown away her sixth opponent in a flash, Arwen shouted boldly.

A faint smile lingered on her flushed face.

She was truly like a fish that had met water.

The Imperial Knights stepped forward to break her momentum.

Seven times, eight times, and nine times.

But they too merely offered up a victory before rolling on the floor in front of her.

"Next!"

She had already fought nine spars, but she didn't even show a hint of fatigue. At her imposing figure, the Legion Commander spoke in a voice thoroughly filled with venom.

"Bring a Paladin."

The completely heated atmosphere of the banquet hall froze over.

Even the Iron Lions, who didn't know the imperial language, had stiff faces, as if they had clearly heard the word 「Paladin」.

It was only natural.

The Empire called the knight among knights, those who had formed four rings, a Paladin. In kingdom terms, it was no different from summoning a Silver Lion to a place where ordinary knights crossed swords. To exaggerate a little, it was like an adult interfering in a kids' fight.

This meant that the Legion Commander's pride was severely wounded, and it also meant that he would never end this spar in defeat.

"Arwen."

Then, the First Prince stepped up.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Arwen, who was preparing to face a Paladin with a stiff face, looked back at the prince's words.

"That's enough."

At those words, Arwen chewed her lip. Her face looked somewhat resentful.

But she did not refuse the prince's order.

SHK.

Sheathing her sword, she glanced at the Imperial figures and returned to her seat.

"What is this..."

"This is enough for entertainment."

Just as the Legion Commander was about to have a fit, the First Prince spoke slyly.

"It wouldn't be very honorable to win against an exhausted knight anyway."

At those words, the Legion Commander was struck dumb. He seemed to have finally realized that the kingdom's knight had just finished ten spars without resting.

"Then what about the other knights? I do not think there is no one among Your Highness's knights who can compare to her."

But not intending to let it go just like that, he coaxed the prince to continue the sparring.

"Entertainment should end as entertainment. If we do more here, wouldn't we hurt each other's feelings?"

Having stoked the fire and provoked the already finished sparring, the First Prince's answer was far too brazen to be said at this point.

The heavily vexed Legion Commander's face turned bright red. A face that looked as if it would explode at any moment,

Right then, the First Prince patted his chest.

An extremely unnatural and comical gesture.

Watching that, Siorin ended up letting out a hollow laugh.

He was utterly dumbfounded by the action with such an obvious intent.

CLINK.

A token dropped out from his inner pocket.

"Oops. Why is this... Surely it isn't broken."

The First Prince picked up the token with an exaggerated attitude and pretended to inspect it this way and that.

"T-That is?"

"I didn't mean to show it on purpose. Oh my."

A dreadfully awkward tone of voice.

"Someone gave it to me when I mentioned I had business in the Empire."

Showing off a token with the name 'Montpellier' clearly engraved on it, his words and actions did not match at all.

"They said no one would look down on me if I had this. It was a useless worry. Even though I'm a royal of a small country, I'm still undeniably a royal. As if anyone would ignore me just because I didn't have a token like this."

The Legion Commander shut his mouth.

"He says he will attend as soon as he is ready!"

At that moment, the knight who had gone to call the Paladin under the Legion Commander's orders returned and spoke triumphantly.

Freaking out, the Legion Commander gestured to the knight. And he whispered something to him.

The knight, looking back and forth between the Legion Commander and the First Prince with a puzzled face, left the banquet hall once again.

In the end, the Paladin did not show up until the banquet was entirely over.

When the banquet ended in such a lukewarm atmosphere, even Siorin couldn't help but chuckle.

From the moment he confirmed the token's existence, he had pondered its usage. He had constantly agonized over how to use it so the Royal House of Leonberk's honor wouldn't be soiled, and how to present it so the First Prince's pride wouldn't be hurt.

But all those worries turned out to be meaningless.

The First Prince blatantly sold the name of Marquis Montpellier. He proudly flaunted the token to the point that it was embarrassing for those watching.

It was a truly irrational action, and an unimaginable method.

But its effect was just as certain.

It was astounding.

His daughter's words—that whatever he expected, he would see even more—seemed to have been meant for situations exactly like this.

The First Prince's actions were enough to be called unconventional.

But the true unconventionality hadn't even started yet.

Siorin learned this fact when he had a private audience with the First Prince after the banquet ended, asking him to refrain from sudden impulsive actions in the future.

"It's only just begun."

The First Prince grinned and told him of his plans.

"But if you do that, Your Highness's name within the Empire..."

Even at the dumbfounded Siorin's words, the prince paid no mind.

"It's something I already experienced in the kingdom anyway. What do I care when it's not even my own country."

The prince's expression as he said that somehow even looked excited.

At a glance, he also looked like an unbridled foal.

* * *

The annual visit of the Leonberk Kingdom's delegation was nothing new.

The fact that a royal was included in the delegation was new, but that was it. The only ones who cared about a small country located on the frontier were the Emperor and a few nobles; no one else paid attention to the delegation.

If left alone, they were people who would disappear without anyone even knowing they had come and gone.

But for some reason, there was a lot of talk about the delegation lately.

"They say he has a terrible fondness for showing off his knights' martial prowess."

"Doesn't he propose a spar between knights to every noble he meets? What an incredibly immature figure. Not even considering his country's position."

Most of the rumors were about the eccentricities shown by the eldest son of the Leonberk Kingdom.

An immature royal who liked to show off his knights, completely failed to consider the kingdom's position, and was only desperate to feed his own vanity,

The Scoundrel Prince who proposed spars between knights everywhere he went, leaving no place without causing a stir.

"It seems that's all he has to show off, being from a small country. Even that is nothing to flaunt compared to the Empire, though."

The Imperial nobles sneered at the prince's ridiculous bravado and pride.

And they had no doubt that his petty pride would be shattered before the power of the massive Empire.

But that wasn't the case.

The rumors they heard were unusual.

It was said that the knights of the border fortress suffered consecutive defeats against one of the prince's knights.

It was said that the knights of the Empire's 97th Knights were also all defeated.

It was said that even so-and-so, a renowned swordsman of the frontier, was miserably defeated.

The kingdom's knights, whose level they had thought would be far below the Imperial Knights, were reaping a winning streak against them.

"Tsk. So they were just show-offs boasting about their strength all this time."

"They've rusted because no one dared to oppose the Empire."

The nobles clicked their tongues at the pathetic behavior of the Imperial Knights.

"Just how long must we watch a mere prince from the kingdom run wild in the Empire?"

"There's a limit to playing along; do the frontier nobles even have any self-awareness that they are nobles of the great Bourgogne Empire?"

They also insulted the frontier nobles who danced to the tune of the immature prince's games.

"I heard that Count Anjou's knights were all completely crushed."

But even they couldn't just keep sneering when they heard the news that Count Anjou, a renowned great lord in the East, had been humiliated by the delegation's knights.

And not long after, shocking news reached the nobles' ears.

"There's talk that Marquis Montpellier is backing the First Prince. I heard he even handed over his family's token."

It was the fact that one of the Empire's few Marquises was publicly sponsoring the First Prince.

"It seems Marquis Montpellier intends to use a puppet prince to completely devour the kingdom."

"Marquis Montpellier is exactly the type of figure who would do that and more."

They thought Marquis Montpellier's backing was part of a scheme to swallow the kingdom whole.

So they assumed that the Imperial nobles and knights had simply given him appropriate face.

"It won't last long anyway."

"The territory they will soon reach is none other than Marquisate of Yves Saint, isn't it?"

They believed that ridiculous little prank would soon come to an end.

The family of Marquis Yves Saint, one of the delegation's stopovers, was a powerful house with enough strength not to care about the sponsor the Scoundrel Prince relied on, and was also one of the true powers of the Empire, commanding as many as two Paladins.

Not long after, news that the delegation had arrived at the house of Marquis Yves Saint was heard.

The Imperial nobles looked forward to the gratifying news they would soon hear.

A few days later, news arrived that the delegation's knights had sparred with the Marquis's knights.

But the contents were completely different from what the Imperial nobles had expected.

"What? Marquis Yves Saint's Paladins lost?"

"Was a Silver Lion of the kingdom included in the delegation or something!"

The nobles were appalled.

"I cannot believe it. Even if a Silver Lion of the kingdom came, it makes no sense for a Paladin to lose."

That the kingdom's Silver Lions were of a lower standing than the Empire's Paladins was a fact known to any Imperial noble.

For an Imperial Paladin to lose to a Silver Lion of the kingdom like that, it was a hard thing for the proud Imperial nobles to accept.

But there was something even more shocking.

"What? A Silver Lion of the kingdom wasn't included in the delegation's roster?"

It would be hard enough to believe the Paladins' defeat even if a Silver Lion of the Leonberk Kingdom had stepped up, yet their opponent wasn't even a Silver Lion.

For the Imperial nobles, it was a completely absurd situation.

"Then just who could have defeated two Imperial Paladins!"

That was the moment when those among the Imperial nobles who showed a more serious interest in the members and movements of the delegation began to emerge.

And among them were the imperial princes of the Empire.

"Has Marquis Montpellier gone crazy?"

Some imperial princes cursed Marquis Montpellier for throwing his weight behind an immature prince,

"Shouldn't we make an example of him to establish the Empire's prestige?"

Some imperial princes said that proper punishment must be dealt to the prince running amok like a headless chicken.

"He's an amusing fellow."

And some imperial princes showed interest in the Prince of Leonberk, who had the Marquis Montpellier family as a sponsor.

"Prepare for departure."

And a few of them even left the imperial capital to meet the prince.

It was around the time when three months had passed since the Leonberk Kingdom's delegation entered the Empire.

* * *

Around the time the imperial princes of the Empire began to move to meet the First Prince, Marquis Montpellier was staring at the documents piled up in front of him with a completely absentminded face.

The urgent letters that flew in through the emergency contact network contained consistent complaints.

FLASH.

At that moment, the crystal orb began to flash. He reflexively stroked the crystal orb.

From the other side of the crystal orb, the voice of a high-ranking noble, counted among the best even in the Empire, could be heard.

『This is Marquis Yves Saint.』

『The reason I am contacting you by even mobilizing the emergency contact network is...』

Montpellier unconsciously squeezed his eyes shut.

'Just what on earth is he doing over there!'