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Side Story Chapter 40

Although Kireua and Guiltine were both Class A knights, Guiltine was much older than Kireua, so Guiltine was certain that he was more experienced than Kiruea by leaps and bounds.

The vigorous hum of a Master’s mana in motion shook the air. Aura clashed in the air again and again, but disappeared upon impact. Their attacks were like two crescent moons—a battle between Guiltine’s sickle and the lunar halo from Kireua’s sword.

The situation quietly began to change.

Guiltine flinched while he was firing yet another of his aura attacks. The air around the area suddenly changed. More concerningly,tThe rain of yellow aura attacks had turned black at some point; black as the peculiar night where the moon was covered by shadows. It was, of course, a technique Kireua recreated using Coal’s power.

Magic Sword Art Level 4, Moonset Sword: Lunar Eclipse Night.

“…Ugh!”

The density of Kireua’s rain of aura changed, becoming sturdier, quicker, and stealthier. Guiltine, unable to fend off the assault, coughed up blood.

His two-meter-long sickle audibly cracked. A weapon without aura was just a lump of metal, so as soon as the amount of Guiltine’s aura decreased, his weapon was the first thing to suffer.

“...They’re aura attacks… but I’m losing…?” Guiltine mumbled in disbelief.

His sickle broke completely in half, allowing Kireua’s rain of body-crushing aura attacks to plow through the broken weapon.

Guiltine didn’t even get to leave behind his last word because he was immediately pulverized by the aura rain.

-Kyaaaahhhh!

Not long after, a figure came out of Guiltine and screamed.

“Mmm…” Kireua grunted quietly after landing on the ground.

Would the Grim Reapers from the myths look like the figure that came from Guiltine? No, Kireua had read about this in a book before. The Demon Spirit had five vassals, and they each ruled over a Demon Sub-Realm. Judging from the figure’s appearance, it must be the Black-Headed Grim Reaper.

-Yummy food!

Kireua stiffened.

-Ahhhhhh!

Coal popped up and opened its mouth cavernously wide and flew forward.

-Yummy!

The Black-Headed Grim Reaper disappeared into Coal’s gaping maw. Coal trembled violently. Kireua gave it a sharp look. It didn’t even cough out what it ate. A Grim Reaper was related to the Demon Realm, so if Coal fed on those kinds of creatures…

‘Is Coal really related to the Demon Spirit?’ Kireua wondered.

“...Murderous intent?”

He swung his sword to the left where he sensed a very vivid murderous intent coming from. It collided with another sword with a deafening clang.

Kireua frowned at the numbness in his hand. “The Adsaraks were the knights of this castle’s original owner, so how did you end up becoming the rebels’ dog?”

“…Everyone has their own story.”

“I wonder what your story is.”

Lacoon changed the topic: “I didn’t know you would beat Sir Guiltine, so I guess the rumor was true.”

“The rumor?”

“Black moonlight… It’s just like a power only a demon would use.” Lacoon expression looked grim.

Kireua couldn’t understand Lacoon’s reaction. If a member of the Imperial Family was related to a demon like the late Fourth Prince Kaiser, the Dark God, or Emperor Marcus, then the rebels would be over the moon with joy. The current Emperor of Avalon had gone up against them because they were involved with demons—that was how he had become the emperor, so the rebels would also have justification to overthrow the government.

“Did you know that it isn’t my father whom I respect most? It was His Majesty, ” Lacoon said.

Most of the citizens in the Avalon Empire respected the Emperor of Avalon. In fact, the name of Joshua Sanders, the Martial God, was known to all the people of the continent; if someone had to choose the most famous person in the continent, Joshua would always come in first place.

“With him as our emperor, I thought the dream of unifying the continent would come true,” Lacoon reminisced.

“Unifying the continent? You dreamed of something foolish.”

“Do you really think so?”

Kireua tilted his head. “You wouldn’t be able to say that if you knew the end of all people with the same dream.”

“No. I don’t know about other people, but it’s different for the Martial God. He had more than enough power to conquer the continent if he wanted. I never understood his decision,” Lacoon bitterly said.

Kireua shook his head because he at least understood why the Emperor of Avalon chose not to attempt to unify the continent.

“Everyone lives in a different environment, is from a different race, and has a different set of values in life. Therefore, putting them in one place by force would only result in destruction—just as it did in the Thran Kingdom and Swallow Empire.”

“Well, history is bound to repeat itself. People with the ambition to conquer the continent will eventually rise to power again. Their wars would result in astronomical casualties, and the weak and small countries would disappear from the map,” Lacoon said with such confidence that it almost seemed as if he’d seen it happen himself. He tightened his grip on his sword. “If His Majesty had unified the continent with his power, then this civil war wouldn’t have started in the first place.”

“How in the world did you reach that conclusion?”

“Regardless of what they think, everyone will bow before absolute power. Let’s say a hundred, five hundred, and a thousand years passed like that. Then the difference in their living environment and races won’t be meaningful anymore.”

“It’s said that nothing in the world is more futile than speculating on what-ifs.”

“Yes, no one has ever unified the continent. Just like you said, only cowards would make such speculations without trying.”

“If you really think so, test it yourself.”

Lacoon gave him a confused look in reply.

Kireua applied more force against Lacoon’s sword, but Lacoon held his position in the air.

“Your dream is to see the continent unified, so there’s no way you wouldn’t be able to defeat a single prince, right? Or did you want His Majesty to take care of everything like a parent taking care of a baby? Waaah, waah,” Kireua mocked.

Lacoon’s eyes narrowed. “…I see the rumor about your mouth is also true.”

Kireua grinned, but he couldn’t waste any more time. Although Anna was stopping the noise from leaking out, there was no telling when the rebels would come pouring out of the castle.

“Do you want to make a wager?” Kireua asked.

“A wager…?”

“If you lose, become my knight. You’ll bring me the information about the rebels and serve me as my loyal knight.”

“…What if I win?” Lacoon raised an eyebrow.

“For you, it would be strategically advantageous to capture me alive, but as you can see, that won’t be easy. Capturing someone alive is much more difficult than killing them.”

“Does that mean you’ll surrender if you lose?”

“Of course.” Kireua nodded.

“Why should I believe that?”

“We can swear on our mana if you want.”

Lacoon stared at Kireua. “Swearing on our mana is unnecessary.”

“What, then?”

“Please swear on your father’s name instead.”

Kireua’s eyebrow rose. Lacoon had definitely said that he looked up to the Emperor of Avalon more than anyone else, and judging by how he was willing to trust an oath made in the Emperor’s name, it seemed that he wasn’t lying.

“…I don’t know if I have any right to say this, but I won’t disgrace his honor as his son. I won’t make a fake promise.”

“That answer is good enough.” Lacoon straightened.

-Your Highness, be careful! I heard about Wiesel den Adsarak. The Adsaraks are famous across the continent, right?

Anna delivered a message through her wind elemental spirit using “Elemental Spirit Whisper”, a technique that only a high-ranking elemental spirit mage could use. Kireua sent a reply using telepathy with his mana.

-That is why he’s perfect to test my ability.

Kireua recalled what had happened in the south as he infused his mana in his sword. When he had gotten the chance last time, Selim had stepped in, so Kireua couldn’t do anything. Besides, he hadn’t known that Dargo rane Suspen, a continent-class knight, would be killed that easily.

-Tell me if you need help. I’ll step in if things turn too dangerous.

Kireua understood why she was concerned. That was Kireua’s first time fighting against a continent-class knight.

The top ten knights of the Avalon Empire were classified as continent-class. Their ranks included the people with the Four Guardians’ powers as well as Lacoon den Adsarak, the man in front of Kireua right now. Lacoon was officially the ninth strongest knight in the entirety of the Avalon Empire, so if Kireua won this fight, the whole empire would be flipped upside down.

Kireua\'s eyes widened because he suddenly felt his hands growing cold around his sword.

“This is…?”

Kireua wasn’t mistaken—his hands were actually freezing.

“This fight was already over when you made contact with my sword,” Lacoon said. “My mana has a tendency to permeate into whoever I come in contact with, and it became stronger after I manifested the snow god’s authority. My mana is the polar opposite of your mana of fire, Your Highness, so surrender. At this rate, your entire body will freeze.”

Kireua belatedly drew up his fire mana. Glacial ice and scarlet flame—it was a fight between two manas with totally different attributes, and Kireua was already half frozen before he could light his fire.

“I have to spare your life, so I’ll be gentle.”

“Bullshit,” Kireua rudely cursed. If his enemy used extremely low-temperature ice as his power, then all Kireua had to do was melt the ice with even hotter fire. He so happened to have the ebon flame, the hottest energy of all types of energy in the world.

Lacoon flinched when the black flames suddenly rose in front of him. More worryingly , the ice on Kireua quickly melted, and he blew away his hair stuck to his forehead. Lacoon’s eyes spun with bewilderment.

“Why don’t you go gentle on your lover instead?[1]” Kireua replied with a smirk. Lacoon stiffened.

“His Majesty this, His Majesty that… Do you know that you never called me by my name?” Kireua swung his sword as hard as he could toward Lacoon. “Do I still look like just His Majesty’s son right now?”

1. Lacoon’s previous line was 손속에 사정을 두겠습니다, and Kireua’s reply was 사정은 그쪽 애인한테나 하시고. While 사정을 두다 can mean going easy on someone else, 사정 can also mean to ejaculate or plead. ☜