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Side Story Chapter 72

“Come. Don’t even think about mentioning your knights’ honor,” Joshua commanded.

There were hundreds of Imperial Knights in this place, but not one said a thing. They were going to go up against the Martial God, the emperor of the Avalon Empire.

One of the Imperial Knights turned and began to reach for the other practice weapons. “Then we’ll also get wooden swords—”

“It’s fine. As long as you don’t use your mana, you’re free to use your swords.”

“H-How could we…!”

“I said that it’s fine—and besides, you won’t be able to leave a scratch on my sleeve at your level.”

The Imperial Knights\' pride was great, as great as anyone’s, so they couldn’t let Joshua’s comment slide. If they felt nothing when they were insulted like that, they weren’t even men.

The Imperial Knights drew their swords, all traces of hesitation burned away..

“…Yes, Your Majesty.” Decker nodded. “Everyone, brace yourselves. The man in front of you has fought millions of soldiers alone.”

“Yes, sir!”

“We will now attempt to defeat His Majesty. Think of this as actual combat, not a spar.” Decker’s muscles tensed as he prepared to initiate his attack. He exploded forward like a bolt of lightning.

The other Imperial Knights leaped into action as well. In a perfect order, hundreds of knights surrounded their target, Joshua.

“Oh?” Joshua exclaimed. He had been preparing to block Decker’s attack, but Decker, who had looked like he was going to attack Joshua right away, took several steps backward; Decker’s initial charge was a feint.

“Get into an attack formation!” Decker shouted.

“Yes, sir!”

The scattered knights came together in groups of three to five people and stood in triangular formations.

In chaotic battles like real war, there was a high chance of allies ending up fighting against each other, which was why formations were created. By determining their positions in advance, tragedy could be prevented, and people could fight more efficiently.

“They weren’t complete idiots.” Cain observed from below with a slight grin. Supposing they’d attacked Joshua one by one, they would’ve been defeated in no time.

“This is not good,” Joshua admitted. Now that the Imperial Knights were in formation, Joshua would be subjected to a barrage of attacks from all directions. When Joshua deflected one attack, two to four more would pour in. Those trapped in the center of their formation had to deflect the onslaught of attacks again and again. That was why the formation was named…

“Waterfall Formation,” Joshua murmured.

“Attack!”

Joshua’s eyes gleamed. Five of the Imperial Knights instantly closed in on him, with an extra ten Imperial Knights behind those five. Only a fool would stand in a waterfall, just as it was said that sometimes that was better to avoid getting caught in a shower of rain.

The clack of his staff striking the ground drew the Imperial Knights’ attention. Joshua used the staff to leap high into the air high above the Knights, from where he unleashed a real waterfall.

“Urgh!”

“Ahhh!”

“D-Don’t push me! Arggh!”

Decker was bewildered. Although Joshua’s method of breaking through their siege was extraordinary, Decker was really confused by what he was looking at.

“H-How is he still floating in the air…?” Decker wondered. He was sure that Joshua wasn’t using his mana as there was no way Decker would miss a mana flow like that, but Joshua was continuously swinging his wooden staff down even at this moment as if he was suspended in the air by invisible threads.

“Urgh!”

Shortly after, the last knight of the group was hit and collapsed. In a matter of seconds, over ten people were groaning on the ground.

Only then did Joshua slowly land on the ground.

“You aren’t giving up already, are you?” Joshua asked with a faint smile on his face.

“…Group two! Take group one’s place!” Decker roared.

The knights standing in the second row moved forward while the ones in the third row took the collapsed knights and retreated. Although Joshua could interfere with their formation change, he idly watched them instead.

“Monster…!” Decker exclaimed, his anxiety slipping out. Although he had expected it, Joshua was unimaginably powerful. What was the use of a formation against an enemy who could fly in the air without using mana?

Decker’s mind raced to formulate a plan.

‘Retreat momentarily while he’s in the air and use the moment he comes down to the ground—’

“...You aren’t planning to use the moment I land, are you?”

Decker turned pale. It was as if Joshua was seeing right through him.

“Try it,” Joshua suggested, and then jumped back into the air.

“E-Everyone get back!”

Instead of flying straight up, Joshua flew diagonally, continuing to swing his wooden staff.

“No you aren’t! Head! Head! Head!”

“Argghhhhhh!”

A chorus of one painful scream after another rose into the air as Joshua used the impact of his staff smacking their heads to bounce himself up again. He looked like a wolf jumping into the middle of a flock of sheep.

“H-How embarrassing…!” Decker dumbly mumbled. He felt like he was fighting against an expert mage’s volley of magic attacks, but he couldn’t do anything about it—Decker and the others couldn’t reach Joshua with their swords.

Decker bit his lower lip. ‘Th-There’s no other way.’

After defeating ten more knights, Joshua landed on the ground again.

“I can tell what you’re thinking just from the look on your face.”

“Y-Your Majesty…?”

“You must be thinking something pathetic, like, ‘There’s no other way’ or something.”

Joshua was spot on once again.

“Cain!” Joshua shouted.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What would you have done in this situation?”

“I would have placed the strongest knights in the first row and tried to slow you down and keep you on the ground at least once,” Cain immediately replied.

“How?”

“By any means necessary. At the very least, I wouldn’t have chickened out like those cowards that are sparring with you,” Cain sneered, his narrowed eyes sweeping over the Knights.

The Imperial Knights’ faces reddened in humiliation. It was true; they cowered before the Martial God’s skills.

“I see.” Joshua finally smiled, content. His head turned, but immediately stopped, his jaw gaping.

His daughter was excitedly waving her arm at Joshua so hard that it looked like her arm would fall off.

“Daad—Nope. Your Majestyyyyyyy!”

“Iruca…?” Joshua was about to wave back to her, but a spiteful set of eyes caught his attention. Joshua furtively lowered his arm. “Mmmm…”

He might be facing his biggest crisis since he had returned to the Palace.

“Let’s conclude today’s spar,” Joshua quickly said.

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty.”

Decker agreed because he didn’t want to see the Imperial Knights dishonored any further. He would have normally declared that he and his knights were going to fight until the end, but Princess Iruca, the Imperial Knights’ idol, had shown up. The Imperial Knights couldn’t afford any more humiliation and had already lost their will to fight. On top of that the most feared woman in the Palace had made an appearance.

The woman in question approached Joshua and the Imperial Knights

“Your Majesty, if you’re done with your work, may I have a word with you?” the woman elegantly asked. It looked like she was carefully maintaining her composure. “Anyhow, judging from how he’s harassing the knights as soon as he returns, that seems His Majesty was greatly stressed while he was away.”

“...Did that look that way? Yeah, I think I got a little stressed because I’ve had a lot on my mind lately…”

Joshua trailed off. Unsurprisingly. Joshua’s appeal for her sympathy didn’t work at all.

Icarus, the Heaven’s Mind, officially the Second Queen Consort of the Avalon Empire, beamed. “What a coincidence! So do I. Let’s hear the details later.” Icarus’s eyes gleamed as she examined the Imperial Knights. “For some reason, it looks like the Imperial Knights have been neglecting their training.”

“N-No! We drenched ourselves in sweat in our morning training today too—!

“Is that why you got beaten up by His Majesty in spite of the fact that you’re holding real swords?” Icarus asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Decker shut his mouth.

When encountering Icarus, it was best to only present actual accomplishments and never make excuses.

“We’ll do better!” Decker shouted.

“Of course you will—else, I’m going to help you out myself.”

“What do you mean…?”

“The knights on the battlefield happen to be exhausted, so it’s about time you fill in for them, isn’t it?” Icarus tilted her head.

Decker and the other Imperial Knights turned pale.

The Imperial Knights currently had two main jobs: one was to guard the Palace in case of emergency, and the other was to fend off and execute the rebels that were endangering the Empire’s peace. For the sake of their wellbeing, the Imperial Knights had been taking turns guarding the Palace and deploying to the battlefield at three-month intervals. The Imperial Knights in the Palace right now had returned from the battlefield less than three weeks ago.

“W-We’ll grind ourselves!”

“And Your Majesty?” Icarus turned.

At this point, Joshua’s instincts were warning him of terrible danger.

“I think talking here is a good idea…” he began.

“W-We have a problem!” Just then, a soldier came flying towards them, confusing the gathering.

“He’s wearing the uniform of the front gate guards.”

Upon realizing that Joshua was there, the soldier\'s eyes widened.

“Y-Your Majesty.” He bowed.

“Skip the formality. What is going on?” Joshua asked.

“There is someone who wishes to enter the Palace. I tried to send them back, but the news that they brought sounded serious…”

“It’s okay. Go on,” Icarus said with a gentle smile.

“...I know it’s bizarre, but this person… is saying that His Highness the Second Prince is in danger in western Avalon.”

None of them understood what was going on still, but one person’s eyes widened—Cain’s.

“Is the person who delivered the news a woman?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes, that’s right.”

“Brunette. Mid-thirties?”

“Yes, she d-definitely looked like that.”

Cain vanished from the practice area before the soldier’s words had fully left his lips. Considering that Joshua was with them right now, it was a tremendously rude thing to do.

“…Let’s get going too.”

Fortunately, no one in this place was that inflexible.