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Side Story Chapter 86

“Not at all! His Majesty has returned, so of course I should come. By the way, you’re still beautiful, Your Majesty. It looks like you haven’t aged at all.”

“Not at all… If anything you’re the one who’s become more handsome, Alliance Leader Zirfel.”

“Hahahaha! The vegetables from the Allied Powers of Palentine are known for their freshness! They seem to be the reason why I look healthy and handsome, so I brought a carriage full of them here. Ah, it’s a specially made, refrigerated carriage to keep the vegetables fresh, so you don’t have to worry about them spoiling.”

Iceline continued to smile despite Zirfel’s overwhelming chattiness. “Then I should pick out some of my artifacts for the Allied Powers.”

“What? The artifacts you made, Your Majesty? Oh, my. I think you’re overpricing the vegetables I brought.”

“It’s okay. You must have been busy, but you still came all the way out here. This is the least I can do.”

“Haha, to be honest…” Zirfel trailed off. Iceline tilted her head curiously. “...I never envied the Martial God before since he’s on a totally different level than me, but I envy him so much for marrying a woman as beautiful as you, Your Majesty.”

Iceline elegantly shook her head. “No, not at all. In fact, I’m grateful to His Majesty for taking me in as his wife despite my many inadequacies.”

“You’re also humble… My, my. Anyhow, I’d like to express my sincerest congratulations on His Majesty’s return. Oh, right—will we be able to meet him today?” Zirfel asked.

Iceline just smiled, but she was secretly feeling quite anxious. The season had changed already, but Joshua hadn’t sent any messages about when he would return from the west.

‘Where is he? What is he doing…?’ Iceline wondered. Thanks to Joshua, Iceline and Icarus, the Queen Consorts who were present in the Palace, were busy as hell trying to cover for Joshua.

“Your Majesty Icarus! We finally met again!”

“Oh, my! Duke Edgar from the Fordran Kingdom!” Icarus approached Edgar. “I’m so grateful to you for coming all the way from the south.”

“Haha, I’m here too, Your Majesty.”

“Duke Triman! It’s been so long! The last time I saw you was during the summit—has it been five years?”

“It’s close to six, Your Majesty. Our Draia Kingdom is really cold, so we’re glad to come here. It’s like having a vacation.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy. I couldn’t even come out to greet you when I received word that you two had arrived,” Icarus said with an apologetic look.

“Don’t mention it. We’re busy prepping our team; the other delegations must be as well.”

“Pardon? Prepping their teams?”

“It’s a tournament hosted by the Martial God himself! Who could have imagined he would start such a grand event right after he returned? Hahahaha!”

The corners of Icarus’s mouth trembled, threatening her perfect smile.

‘Oh, for goodness’s sake! I’m going to give him the scolding of his lifetime! He started all this, so why did he disappear again?!’

* * *

Meanwhile, Kireua and Selim were welcoming the knights who had come to participate in the tournament. All sorts were gathering in the arena.

“Selim,” Kireua asked, “did you really defeat Marquess Drenius and his army with only one hundred Black Knights?”

The arena was already full of knights, so it was very noisy. Nevertheless, Selim could hear Kiruea’s voice as clear as day.

“Yes.”

“…Remarkable. You defeated a great army that was entrenched in a castle with only a hundred people.”

“It was only possible because Marquess Drenius let his guard down and came out voluntarily. I basically raided an empty castle.”

Kireua shook his head. “That is still amazing. No ordinary man would be able to think about taking on tens of thousands of troops with only a hundred knights.”

“You say I’m great, but I find your accomplishments rather remarkable.”

“What accomplishments?”

“I heard about how you went up to the enemy headquarters on your own and took the enemy leader’s head.”

“About that…” Kireua maintained his composure, but he still couldn’t help clenching his fists. The mainstream story was that the western rebel army had lost, and Turtler, their leader, had been executed by none other than Kireua. Kireua felt a pang in his conscience and immediately tried to straighten out the facts.

“Isn’t that the princes of Avalon?”

A man pushed his way through a crowd of knights wearing expensive blue magic armor and walked to Kireua and Selim—a man Kireua was familiar with.

“Duke Uraxen…” Kireua murmured.

All the knights had been occupied with assessing each other’s strength, but now everyone’s eyes were on Kireua, Selim, and Uraxen.

“Who is it?” Selim quietly asked Kireua.

“He’s from the new Tetra Kingdom. You heard about their mage knights, right? He’s their leader,” Kireua explained.

“…I did.” Selim nodded.

“No one seems to be saying hello to each other, so I thought I would start,” Uraxen proclaimed when he’d made his way to the princes.

“If you’d stayed where you were, I would have gone to say hello,” Kireua said.

“How could I? Even a dog barks the loudest in its home, so it’s only right for a guest to say hello first.”

All of the knights watching them flinched from the brazen insult. Kireua was a prince, and Uraxen was a duke. They were technically ranks with equal powers, but that only applied when the two were from the two equally strong countries. On top of that, the Tetra Kingdom was a newly founded country. Obviously, Uraxen had a plan in mind.

‘I need to come on strong here. The Four Paladins aren’t here right now, but many of their paladins are,’ Uraxen thought. He was certain that joining a side was all about the timing. For weeks, Uraxen had scoured not only the Palace but also the entirety of Arcadia. Although it was a diplomatic faux pas, Uraxen didn’t care about that at all—in his opinion, that arrogant prince had invited it upon this country.

Besides, Uraxen had become certain during his search that the Emperor of Avalon wasn’t in Arcadia right now. Although Uraxen wasn’t sure about why Avalon had brought together the entire continent, he had an idea. Hubalt was getting too strong, so Avalon must want to form an alliance by using the name of Martial God.

Who wasn’t even there right now?

However, it wasn’t going to work. Once the people found out that Avalon was powerless, they would scatter right away, so what Uraxen had to do from now on was very simple.

‘Degrade Avalon as much as I can. If I can solidify my relationship with Hubalt and successfully form an official alliance, this journey would mean something.’

“Your words seemed barbed,” Kireua angrily replied, unaware of Uraxen’s plan. “Am I supposed to be the dog?”

“Oh, no. I didn’t mean it that way… Is that what it sounded like to you?”

“If this is about what happened earlier, it’s a pretty childish move, Duke Uraxen.”

“What happened earlier? I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Your Highness.”

Kireua scowled. Even if he brought up what had happened, no good would come of it. Besides, Ulabis had told Kireua that he needed to keep his temper in check in front of foreigners.

“First of all, I apologize. I would like to state once again that that wasn’t my intention. In any case, I see that His Majesty still hasn’t made his appearance. It’s my personal opinion that it would be discourteous to not show up until the end when he invited all these guests… Ah, don’t worry. I don’t want to make an issue of it as long as the other distinguished guests don’t mind,” Uraxen said.

At this point, even the knights from the other countries became certain that Uraxen was intentionally provoking Avalon’s princes, certain that the Emperor of Avalon wouldn’t show up.

“Even if we don’t get to meet His Majesty, I hope we still go through with this tournament. It’d be a shame not only for me but also for all the other guests if their journeys were meaningless, wouldn’t it? They’re all awfully busy to go back empty-handed.”

Kiruea clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug into his flesh. Although Selim didn’t know the full context, he also glared at Uraxen, who was smiling slyly.

And there were other people who had seen everything. Joshua and Cain were looking down at the arena from atop the high rooftops of the Palace.

“It looks like things are taking an interesting turn,” Cain remarked. “Are you going to sit out until the end?”

Joshua nodded. “Yeah, I should let the next generations take charge, so my children will have to handle this matter.”

“But the delegations will raise complaints if you don’t make an appearance until the end. We now have a common enemy—the Hubalt Empire.”

“I will, but not right now. I can’t solve all their problems forever.” Joshua shrugged. After Joshua’s disappearance, another civil war had broken out in Avalon. The cycle was likely to repeat.

“Maybe we should have brought Ranger. He’s officially the vice-commander of the Imperial Knights, so this might not have happened if he was around…”

“Anyhow, those guys bug me more.” Joshua looked elsewhere.

Cain frowned. In the remote corners of the Palace, glimpses of shadow could be seen. Of course, no one other than Absolutes like Cain or Joshua would ever have noticed them.

“Rats are sneaking into the Palace,” Cain observed.

“They’re moving very subtly… I have an idea where they’re from, but I had no idea they’d be so brazen in the center of my Palace.”

“Well, they must have had no idea that you would notice them since everyone is focused on what is going on in the Palace.”

“That’s why life is funny.”

“Pardon?”

“No one can see the future.”

Cain smiled faintly. “I agree.”

“Get some rest here. You must be tired after so many days taking care of the business in the west, so let me take care of them.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Cain asked.

Joshua broke into a wide smile. “I’ll bring all of them to their knees in five minutes.”