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Side Story Chapter 10

“No, I don’t want to.”

“Ah, let’s just do it one more time please,” Kireua insisted.

“You already passed my test, so you don’t have to do this.”

“But still…” Kireua grabbed Cain’s arm.

“I said that I don’t want to do it. It’s already been three hours since you started doing this. What’s wrong with you? Have you forgotten we’re at war right now?”

“I just want to test out something.”

Cain realized he couldn’t disregard the last part and came to a halt. “Have you come to a realization after our spar, by any chance?”

“Mmm…” Kireua pondered how he should answer Cain’s question for a moment. He had been wondering what excuse he should use, but learning a lesson seemed to be a perfect excuse.

Kireua nodded. “It seems that way.”

“What do you mean it ‘seems’?” Cain frowned.

“I now have an idea why you’ve failed to get married until now, Sir Cain,” Kireua said with a mischievous sparkle to his eyes.

Cain tilted his head. “…That’s very random.”

Kireua tilted his head back. “Men shouldn’t nitpick on every word like that.”

A vein bulged out of Cain’s forehead.

“…Wow,” Cain remarked with a cold smile. “Now I realize who you take after.”

“You mean His Majesty?”

“No, I’m talking about your mother, not your father. You’re good at provoking people, just like Her Majesty Charles did when she was young.” Cain shook his head.

“Hmm…? No person could be more elegant than my mother.”

“That’s because you haven’t seen your mother when she was a little girl. Alright, fine. I, Cain de Harry, the finest Imperial Knight in the entire Empire, will give you a lesson.” Cain gestured at Kireua with his finger.

That was what Kireua wanted. Besides, a proper stage was set already.

“Come,” Cain said.

Kireua realized that they were at the vacant lot where he had passed out that morning.

“You changed your route after expecting how things would turn out, didn’t you?”

“Do I look that kind to you?” Cain asked sarcastically.

“Yes, he said that you always grumble and complain but you have the warmest heart in the world.”

“Hmm? Grumble and complain? What man said such nonsens—”

“His Majesty.” Kireua chuckled.

Cain closed his mouth and scowled.

“…So that’s how my master thinks of me,” he grumbled to himself.

The air around Cain changed and his golden aura spread over the area.

‘Coal,’ Kireua quickly called out in his mind.

-I’m not coal!

The black cotton ball popped up on top of Kireua’s shoulder.

‘What? You know what coal is now?’

-I read what coal is in your head, Kireua!

‘Huh… so you can read my mind.’

-Yup! Shouldn’t I?

‘This lump is really dangerous.’ Kireua thought. He had enough worries already and also had no intention of leading a similar life to Cain’s. After the war, he wanted to date and get married someday. Then he would have at least two children, but to think that Coal was going to watch the whole process…

‘Hell no. No way.’

-Mating?

‘…You little bastard.’

-Kireua, haven’t you thought of mating?

‘Stop. I’m really going to beat you if you continue.’

-Haha~!

Coal bounced up and down on Kireua’s shoulder provocatively. Kireua’s veins bulged on his forehead, but he knew he had to hold back his anger since he needed to ask for Coal’s help.

‘I’ll let this slide, so can you do that thing again?’

-What?

‘You know, you eat something and you spit it out. You already read my mind, so why would you pretend to not know about it?’

-Nope. Your aura doesn’t taste good.

‘You said you’re hungry. If you do this for me, I promise you I’ll find something tasty enough for you to eat.’

-Really?

‘Yeah, for real.’

-Then okay!

“When in the world are you going to start?” Cain asked just as Kireua finished his preparations.

“Actually, right now.” Kireua smiled and drew his sword. He infused all his aura into his sword, immediately sending fire rising up from it. However, Kireua wasn’t done.

‘Eat it now!’

-Thank you for the meal~!

Gulp.

Cain tilted his head in confusion when Kireua’s fire was extinguished.

“Your Highness, what are you doing—?”

Cain cut off his question with a startled shout.

“What…?!

Kireua’s flame quickly returned, but pitch-black instead of red.

“E-Ebon flame…?” Cain stuttered in shock. The sudden change of attribute could only be caused by one thing. “Yo-Your Highness! Have you manifested an authority?!”

Of course, Kireua didn’t answer Cain’s question since he himself didn’t even know what this was. Besides, the Emperor had always told him when he was a boy to hide at least thirty percent of his ability.

Although Kireua was still so curious about Coal’s identity that it was driving him insane… Cain couldn’t see Coal anyway, and there was no guarantee that he knew anything about it. In that case, it was better to hide Coal’s existence until the end. Above all, Kireua had already been betrayed once even though it hadn’t been long since he had returned to the Empire.

“…Ugh.” Kireua groaned. The wave of black fire undulated; controlling the wave was quite hard.

With difficulty, Kireua managed to swing the sword in an elegant arc, launching an aura attack forward. His strike clashed with the ground, leaving a vivid black line right in front of Cain.

“Urgh… did I miss?” Kireua smacked his lip in disappointment, but his eyes slowly widened. Judging from the visible steam rising from Cain’s sword, Kireua didn’t miss.

“I didn’t even see you drawing your sword… I guess I should have expected it from you, Sir Cain.” Kireua nodded.

“…Your Highness,” Cain stiffly asked, “what power did you just use?”

* * *

Numerous tents were set up near the south entrance to Raymond Valley; they were the self-proclaimed Southern Avalon Empire’s temporary base.

“Your Majesty, are you really going to sit by and watch this happen?”

In the central command tent, ten executives—all famous nobles within the southern region—had gathered. Although each one of them had remained quiet out of respect for their leader losing his son, they couldn’t sit on their hands anymore.

“Your Majesty, if we continue to do nothing, the chance of letting this opportunity slip out of our hands increases. Though I hate to admit it, the southern region became a pretty good place to live after Queen Consort Charles became Duchess Pontier.”

“…I know.” Dargo rane Suspen nodded.

“Our people are already starting to talk amongst themselves. The Combat Emperor can have such an effect on his enemies…”

“I said that I know—but we don’t have any other options, do we? If this battle was between two armies, it might have turned out differently, but… I’m not skilled enough to deal with Cain de Harry.” Dargo shook his head.

One of Dargo’s strengths was his ability to quickly admit his flaws; it was also the first step to becoming a better person.

“According to our intel, he’s on his own.”

“…No way.” Dargo frowned. “If he came from Arcadia, then he would have brought the national army.”

“No, the national army is still in the vicinity of Demerre’s land.”

“Demerre’s land…?” Dargo blankly mumbled.

It would take two days to get from the southern gates of Arcadia to Demerre’s land. In order to get here from Demerre’s land, it would take fifteen days at least.

“He must have ridden his horse here on his own. With his ability, it would be more than possible to shorten the time required to get here.”

Dargo shook his head. “He really is a monster. That basically means he got here from Arcadia within a matter of days.”

“That is why he’s the Combat Emperor Star, but Cain de Harry is a human, just like us,” one of the executives exclaimed. “He will be exhausted eventually and he’s on his own right now. This is our chance.”

Dargo slammed his fist into the table, silencing the tent.

“That one man made our enemies’ morale soar through the roof,” Dargo slowly said. “On top of that, we’re at Fortress Raymond, the perfect place for them to fend off an attack.”

“But—”

“I’m not finished. There is an old story. The only route an army could take to get across a river was a single wooden bridge, but a lone enemy general stood on top of the bridge and stopped the army long enough to buy his master’s pregnant wife time to flee.”

The executives fell completely silent. The story of the Swallow Empire knight was famous. The story went that there had been a thousand pursuers, but they had all gone back empty-handed because they could not get past that general.

That had all happened in the time when authorities hadn’t existed. Mana and physical strength had been the only things that mattered in that era.

“Cain de Harry is the man who reached the peak just with his physical skills and control over his aura. In addition, he can fight equally against people with authorities,” Dargo flatly stated.

“Still… we can’t go back like this, can we? We’ve been holding ourselves back for too long. Are you telling me we have to go into hiding like that hellish time?!” one of the executives fumed.

The past twenty years had been truly difficult. They had to feign their loyalty and stay quiet as mice because they were scared of the Emperor—a truly dreadful state for the prideful nobles.

Dargo shook his head. “Of course not. If we encounter a variable, then we can just respond accordingly. All I’m saying is we shouldn’t overwork ourselves when it’s clear we’re at a disadvantage.”

“You mean…?”

“We have to ask for reinforcements,” Dargo declared. In spite of the executives’ wide-eyed stares, Dargo remained nonchalant. “Isn’t there a perfect person for the job? I actually thought of them right away. Is that not the case for you?”

“Who are you considering right now? Who can defeat Cain de Harry in a one-on-one battle…?”

“Just like I said, we can’t do one-on-one battles,” Dargo refuted. “Knocking down the entire fortress would be easier than defeating him.”

“Then are you saying you know someone who can do that?”

Dargo nodded. “You all should know this person very well.”

“Pardon?”

“From what I’ve heard, the people in the north are at a stalemate because of the Heaven’s Mind and the First Prince,” Dargo mentioned.

Jaws dropped.

“So I’ll request reinforcements from the army in the north. They have to arrive sooner than the national army, so we’ll ask for a small enough group to warp here.

“The Three North Stars! Yes, one of them would definitely be enough to—!”

“We need a specific person from the Three North Stars,” Dargo interrupted. “There is someone I have in mind. Do you want to hear about it?”

The executives’ eyes were sparkling with excitement. The Three North Stars were the most famous celebrities in the Avalon Empire, along with the leaders of the Four Guardians.

“If we’re breaking through the castle gate, not fighting a one-on-one battle, she’s the perfect person for the job…”

There was only one woman among the Three North Stars.

“All of you, immediately contact Anna bel Grace, the Wind Elemental Spirit Monarch.” Dargo commanded.