118. Preliminary (1)

“Are you really okay now?”

The first prince, Louis Loir, was looking at his swordsmanship teacher, Arsene. Arsene, who had been in a hospital as a wreck not long ago, brazenly poked her face in, saying that she was in charge of swordsmanship class again with a body that was fine before she knew it.

“Yes. Thanks to His Majesty’s generous care, I was able to recover quickly.”

“Okay, please don’t overdo it. No matter how fast the knight’s body recovers, it’s winter, so you have to be careful.”

Arsene nodded and swung the wooden sword lightly. Lewis frowned as he watched the movement of the wooden sword. Although Arsene taught her several times, the path of the sword drawn by Arsene’s arm was still difficult for her to understand with her own eyes. The first prince, who gave up following the movement of the sword with his gaze, looked at Arsene with his eyes wide open.

“Are you also looking forward to the upcoming martial arts competition?”

Rather than looking forward to the martial arts competition, Prince 1 seemed even more nervous. Most of the knights who participate in martial arts competitions participate while belonging to some place. Citizens saw the competition in the finals of the martial arts competition as individual knights, but the high-ranking officials looked at the finals in the martial arts competition as a proxy war between their faithful knights. As a candidate for succession to power, of course, it was the New Year’s martial arts competition that had to be attended with tension.

“Yes. His Majesty has already ordered something.”

“… Right. Are you going out as one of the knights representing the escort knights?”

Prince 1 asked as if he were asking, but Arsene just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know anything.

“Right now, I can’t tell you for sure. There are seniors, so you don’t know what will happen.”

Arsene’s gaze sharply searched the backyard of the first prince’s palace. No one was caught in his senses, but it was impossible to recklessly reveal the King’s plan. The first prince, noticing Arsene’s blatant search, clicked his tongue softly, saying that he could not help it. The emotion expressed in the slight irritation turned into a tremendous sense of collapse about the current situation, and a bitter smile appeared on Louis’ lips.

“It’s damn good. isn’t it? Being the first prince of a kingdom, I have to look around and ask even what I want to ask my subjects.”

Prince 1 nervously drove his wooden sword into the ground. The ground soaked in the falling snow was frozen and did not accept the wooden sword well. Arsene was looking at Prince 1 like that with an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. God’s personality is annoying, so I’ve shown you a bad side.”

“No, it’s okay not to apologize. Your actions are right. How can you blame me for my lack of power?”

As if trying to whip himself, Lewis tightened his eyes and pulled out the wooden sword. Right now, this resentment needed to be resolved. take a rite of passage The jockey ceremony, which Arsene had informed and corrected several times, was now being reproduced in a fairly plausible manner in the posture of the first prince.

“Let’s continue training, Arsene. Maybe it’s because it’s been a long time since I practiced, my body felt pretty sweet.”

Arsene nodded while looking at the 1st Prince, who was overflowing with enthusiasm today. The feeling that the first prince was feeling right now was not something that could be resolved with a few simple words of consolation. A clash of swords, a deep breath of cold winter air, and a clear head would be much more helpful.

“Then, let’s start with the first inspection.”

The first prince nodded. When he had a lot of thoughts, the tip of his sword was bound to shake, but now the tip of Louis’s sword was standing straight. As Arsene watched the first sword ceremony reenacted by Prince 1, he recalled in a corner of his head the order the king had given him.

—

“There is nothing to say about it, but Sir Arsene. I have to participate in this martial arts competition.”

The work of the Mage Tower ended with a half-victory. The Mage Tower, which was an existing alliance of Benning, was almost dismantled, but the core force could not be thinned out. He found out that the Mage Tower was researching black magic and caught the black magicians, but it wasn’t enough to drop Benning with that much of an excuse.

The only other things the king could obtain were a blind knight under Benning and a wizard once called a genius. It would be more accurate to call him the man of the black-haired knight sitting in front of him rather than the man of the king.

However, half a win is enough.

The king considered the fact that he was able to maintain Leon Benning and Baek Joong-se, at least in this local war, as a greater achievement than anything else. Based on this, we have to overcome little by little. And, the king firmly believed that that knight would be the key.

“I will obey your command… By the way, would you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Anyway, Lord Arsene. Feel free to ask questions.”

Maxim raised his head and faced the king.

“What kind of knights do gods belong to?”

The king raised the corner of his mouth as if he knew how to ask that question. Maxim sensed something ominous in the king’s smile and swallowed dryly.

“I would like to hear your opinion first. Whose knight do you think Kyung will be participating in?”

“… Listening to your Majesty’s words, it seems that you will never compete as a representative of the Knights Templar. Am I going to compete as a knight of the first prince?”

To Maxim, who carefully asked, the king nodded.

“Agon’s knights and Marquis’ knights are all excellent. However, it must be difficult to deal with the hand that Benning is hiding and the knights of the Jackdaw Knights.”

The king rubbed the armrest of his chair and his eyes flashed.

“We are going to send Dennis to Michelle. I’d like to call Sir Adeline, but for now, it’d be better to let her act as an adventurer.”

The King’s sharp gaze turned to Maxim.

“And, Kyung Eun will participate as the teacher of the first prince, Louis.”

“Wouldn’t that raise questions about equity? Especially on Benning’s side… .”

At Maxim’s question, the king let out a bitter sigh. Maxim didn’t know if that sigh was the sigh of a king fighting for the throne, or a sigh of a father who had to intervene in a children’s quarrel.

“It is too late to discuss equity now.”

It was too late to write. Maxim thought the king was a few years older. The king quickly erased the emotions he had revealed from his face.

“If Sir Hugo does not participate in the first place, Leon Benning will not be able to raise the issue of equity.”

Maxim looked at Hugo Bern, the commander of the escort knights, who was still standing behind the king. I met many opponents, but that knight’s skill was unfathomable. Not only Maxim himself, but also Theodora, Adeline and Leon Bening. Perhaps, even more so than his own master.

When the thought reached that point, the leader also looked at Maxim. Maxim tensed at Hugo Berne’s dark eyes looking at him and straightened his body.

“… Yugo Kyung-eun, what kind of person is our leader?”

Asked by Maxim, the king let out a low laugh.

“He’s the strongest knight in the kingdom.”

The king’s words were simple, but the weight they contained was heavy. The commander of the escort knights did not blink an eye despite the king’s praise. But that wasn’t arrogance. As if it was an extremely obvious fact, Hugo was calm.

“If I hadn’t been confident that I was the strongest in the kingdom, I wouldn’t have sat in this seat, Maxim.”

Hugo said so to Maxim. In those eyes, it seemed that only the absolute strong could afford it. Looking at the eyes that dared to ask who could take his place, Maxim could feel the fire ignited by the pure desire for the sword after a long time. The forgotten sensation tingles in the palm of my hand. His eyes shone with a fighting spirit, and his muscles tensed to grasp his opponent and calculate where he would move.

“It’s a great attitude, but don’t forget that you’re having an audience with His Majesty.”

At Yuugo’s words, Maxim hurriedly withdrew his fighting spirit and straightened his stance.

“God has offended.”

“The fact that you can show such a sense of victory against Hugo, not fear, is great in itself. Jim seems to have good luck as a knight.”

The king laughed, saying that it was only lamentable that he could not find peace in the palace with purely personal force.

“This is the name of the king, Lord Arsene. First of all, break through the preliminaries and advance to the finals. And,”

The king looked down at Maxim and ordered.

“Finally, win this martial arts competition.”

Maxim knelt down and bowed his head. The victory that the king commanded, Maxim was able to bring it unconditionally. Whoever it was, it couldn’t be broken first until it defeated Leon Benning.

“I will make the packs of wolves that are stalking the royal palace tremble and retreat.”

“As it should be.”

The king nodded firmly. Aiming the tip of the sword at his son, the king’s voice resounded.

“Through this capital, let the name of the first prince resonate louder than Benning’s name.”

—

Louis was breathing heavily as he let the tip of his sword drop to the ground. I swung my sword for a long time today. The winter backyard no longer felt cold. His face, which was flushed from the heat, was cooled by the cold wind blowing. On the other hand, standing opposite Louis, Arsene did not break a drop of sweat. Lewis raised his head in resentment.

“You have been very diligent.”

At Arsene’s words, Louise raised her eyebrows. As if dealing with a child, he took all his swords lightly, and when he said that he was diligent, he felt like he was being teased for some reason.

“You don’t change your expression, but you say that well.”

“But you are right. You didn’t stop practicing your sword even while I was away.”

Lewis sighed and nodded. As Arsene said, even while he was gone, Louis swung the sword every day. No, on the contrary, he swung harder than when Arsene supervised him.

“… It’s a shame. When it comes to swords, you really seem to know everything.”

“I still have a long way to go. Handling a sword is bound to be a fight against oneself.”

Arsene’s words were not yet deeply accepted by Louis. That’s right, all I could do was nod my head together.

“I think it was a really good decision to learn the sword from you.”

Lewis measured the weight of the wooden sword in his hand. The wrist holding the sword trembled slightly. Black was ever-changing. Sometimes it was as light as a feather, other times it was as heavy as a block of stone.

“I’m thinking that I shouldn’t neglect it because it’s a world I don’t know.”

“The sword seems to have a positive effect on Your Highness, I’m just happy.”

Lewis smiled and returned the throbbing wrist. Time had already passed the morning, and the sun was looking down on them from the top of their heads.

“Then, let’s do one last thing and finish.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Arsene raised her sword at the request of the first prince. Just when Prince 1 tensed up again, Arsene suddenly spread his energy and put down his sword. Louis frowned in wonder at Arsene’s sudden change.

“Why?”

“Your Highness, it seems that an intruder came for a while.”

When Louis turned his head back, a familiar knight was hanging out at the entrance of the backyard. Louis recognized the face at once and narrowed his brows. The middle-aged knight was scratching the back of his head as if in trouble, blocked by the attendants guarding the backyard of the palace.

“That person… ?”

A half-automatic sigh escaped Arsene’s lips. What the hell is Paola doing there alone? Louis turned to Arsene.

“Certainly, it wasn’t Kyle’s knight, was it? I probably remember being with Kyle the last time he visited this place. Was your name, Paola Simon?”

“Yes. You will be right. I know that he is the vice-captain of the Jackdaw Knights.”

Louis watched as the attendant continued to block the knight, then shrugged.

“Well, let’s hear what the business is for now. From the looks of it, you really seem to have come alone.”

At the gesture of the first prince, the attendants who were staring at him retreated, and Paola walked slowly into the backyard of the first prince’s palace. Although free-spirited, his eyes imbued with knightly spirit stopped in front of the first prince.

“Meet Your Highness, Prince 1.”

“Yeah, what did you come for? I bet you didn’t come here to say hello.”

Paola let out a laugh and shook her head.

“No, Your Highness. It is true that I came to say hello.”

At those words, Louis rather frowned in embarrassment.

“Oh, you are a free knight. Why did Kyle come here?”

“Today is off duty. Can’t we just skip it for once?”

It wasn’t that he didn’t know Paola’s personality, but Arsene, who couldn’t even stand still, stepped forward.

“It is in front of Your Highness. No matter how generous Your Highness is, first of all, set the proper example.”

“… this. The small person couldn’t learn, so he made an excuse.”

Belatedly, looking at Paola, who bowed her head like a squirrel, the 1st prince subtly raised his eyebrows. It wasn’t quite the proper etiquette to begin with, but Paola’s attitude wasn’t particularly irritating.

“If you say you want to be my knight, there’s nothing I can’t accept.”

At Prince 1’s joke, Paola burst out laughing.

“No, I’m sorry, but I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that suggestion.”

Paola turned her head toward Arsene, who was looking at her disapprovingly. Unknowingly, he felt a familiarity with that dark-haired knight.

“How have you been, too? I wondered where he went for a while, but it seems that he solved the problem well at the Mage Tower.”

Come to think of it, weren’t the Jackdaw Knights mobilized in the case of the subjugation of the Mage Tower? Arsene nodded as she looked back at her memories.

“Yes. Fortunately.”

Arsene did not explain at length. How will the members of the old Raven Knights react when they learn that Christine, who was treated as a warrior, is now alive and has joined the King’s escort knights?

“Right.”

Paola turned her gaze back to Prince 1.

“majesty.”

“Speak.”

Paola’s voice was more serious than before. Perhaps he was trying to tell us his true purpose for coming here.

“I want to engage in a sparring with Your Highness’s knight.”

It was Arsene who frowned this time. How can you imagine that there will be two people today who want to take their anger out on you with a sword? On the other hand, Louis seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, raising his eyebrows, probably finding Paola’s proposal interesting.

“Dalian.”

Louis muttered, and immediately handed his wooden sword to Paola. Paola accepted the sword with both hands and bowed her head.

“Try it. However, Arsene is injured right now, so he will have to adjust.”

“There is no need to adjust.”

The voice belonged to Arsene. Arsene pulled out his wooden sword and was freeing it by turning his shoulders and wrists. Since I’ve been designated as an opponent for venting my anger, I’m fine with provocations like this.

“Whether you adjust it or not, I don’t think it’s going to be too much anyway.”