Ch.104103. The First Trial (6)

# 103. The First Trial (6)

“You say it’s nothing?”

“Yes, it’s nothing, really.”

It was just simple bravado.

Not meant to provoke you, but rather bravado to maintain his sanity.

He needed to convince himself that the fist was nothing—just an ordinary punch that didn’t hurt at all—in order to endure.

‘Otherwise… the situation would be too bleak…’

Maintaining a positive mindset was important.

Even if thinking that way didn’t actually change the situation at all.

I dismissed the summoned sword that had left my hand and drew it again.

“I’m coming again…”

***

And so that bleak situation continued for a long time.

10 minutes… 30 minutes… and then for an hour, the situation persisted.

During that time, Albert continuously attempted attacks, changing his patterns and rushing at the Emperor without rest.

However, the Emperor blocked every attack with ridiculous ease, and not only that, he struck Albert with exactly one hit each time he charged in.

Of course, even a single blow from the Emperor would be powerful enough to endanger the life of an ordinary student.

And no matter how exceptional Albert might be, that power was difficult to withstand. In fact, since Albert had lower basic defense than ordinary children and lacked proper defensive skills, those attacks were even more devastating to him.

“You’re enduring much better than I expected…”

“I don’t know… what you thought of me, but it’s troublesome if you overestimate me like this.”

“The situation certainly warrants high praise.”

As the Emperor said, Albert was enduring well despite the circumstances.

And he kept getting up no matter how many times he was knocked down, even now when his entire body was covered in bruises.

-Thud! Thwack!-

Albert looked at his blood-stained body and rose from the ground once more.

Then he raised his sword again.

“You’re really persistent… Don’t you realize you can’t land a single hit on me?”

“Haa… haa… I know that.”

Albert already knew.

In fact, he probably understood better than anyone that he lacked that level of skill.

Yet, ironically, he hadn’t lost his confidence.

The Emperor wondered about this.

‘Why does he go this far?’

The Emperor took in the sight of him continuing the trial despite being covered in bruises and blood.

That somewhat reckless but persistent and brave appearance made the Emperor contemplate many things.

And then he posed a question to Albert.

“Why are you going this far?”

“You already know the answer to that…”

“Then… let me make you a proposal.”

Albert tilted his head upon hearing those words.

A proposal in this situation…

It was out of place in both the current situation and atmosphere, but he listened anyway.

He had no choice but to listen.

“If you give up now, I’ll grant you the title of Duke along with one-tenth of Lucerne’s territory. What do you think?”

“…”

“If that’s not enough, I can also gift you treasures from the Michael Imperial Palace vault and high-quality female slaves. I promise this in the name of the Kainis Empire. Of course, this is if you give up on my daughter.”

After hearing all this, Albert let out a scornful laugh.

That laughter echoed through the previously quiet arena, reaching the ears of the Emperor, the Empress, and her.

“What does that laugh mean?”

“It means stop talking nonsense.”

At this statement, far more reckless than anything he had done so far, the Emperor, the Empress who was listening to the conversation, and even she herself were shocked.

“Title? Territory? If I were going to give up for such trivial things, I wouldn’t be standing here in the first place. I wouldn’t give up even if Your Imperial Majesty offered me this entire country.”

Hearing his words, the Emperor burst into hearty laughter.

Then, with a bright smile, he said to him:

“You’re certainly an interesting fellow. I like you.”

The Emperor slowly walked toward the bewildered Albert.

He seemed surprised by the fact that the Emperor was moving for the first time, and even in that situation, he was still looking for the Emperor’s weakness.

‘His feet?’

Albert stared blankly at the spot he had never tried to attack before.

And as soon as the Emperor approached him, he gripped his sword tightly and…

-Thunk!!-

Albert’s sword pierced through the Emperor’s shoe and reached his foot.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell what was most important—whether it had pierced the skin and drawn blood, whether he had landed a hit.

More precisely, he had no time to check.

“You really are… remarkable.”

The Emperor, once again impressed by his insane dedication, kicked him with tremendous force.

With power incomparable to any of the attacks he had delivered until now.

-THUD!!!-

***

One hour before he lost consciousness.

Two people who looked so alike they could be siblings were searching for someone.

“Are they really at the dueling arena?”

“I’m telling you they are! They definitely went toward the arena. I’m absolutely certain.”

“But going straight to the dueling arena right after meeting? Well… I guess for Father it makes sense… but still…”

Although Ellin spoke with confidence, Leo couldn’t readily believe what he hadn’t seen himself.

Ellin said to Leo:

“Just shut up and follow me. You talk too much for someone who didn’t see it.”

“What did you say?”

“Are you hard of hearing on top of being blind? I said shut up and follow me. I saw where they were going.”

Leo muttered quietly at Ellin’s remarkably confident attitude.

“Says the one who was late because she was sleeping…”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing… I didn’t say anything…”

Ellin, trusting what she had seen, headed straight for the dueling arena, and Leo had no choice but to follow.

They quickly arrived at the arena, where they could hear the bright sound of metal and the familiar rough breathing of someone.

“See, they’re here.”

“You’re right…”

They moved very slowly toward the source of the sound, trying not to be detected.

When they had almost reached it, they saw some familiar faces.

“Everyone’s here…”

Albert’s party members were quietly watching the trial from a blind spot where the two people in the arena couldn’t notice them.

Rachel asked Ellin who had just arrived:

“Where have you been?”

“Um… I just got a bit delayed.”

Rachel spoke to Leo, who was cautiously lingering behind Ellin:

“You come here too. Let’s watch together.”

“…”

“Your sister is really nice.”

Ellin and Leo joined the group and watched the trial with them.

Chris, who had been watching the scene from the beginning, raised a question:

“But… why is he doing this?”

The answer came from Leo.

Leo pointed at Albert, who was struggling in the arena, and said:

“If he does well there, I think the Emperor might permit them to marry.”

“What?! Really?!”

“Why are you so surprised? They’ve been dating for a while, so it makes sense. Father is probably testing that guy right now. To see if he’s worthy of his daughter.”

“…”

Rachel’s expression darkened rapidly upon hearing those words.

Seeing Rachel’s reaction, Leo shared one piece of good news:

“But if he fails there, they’ll probably have to break up right away.”

“Really…?”

“If they can’t marry, they’ll have to separate in the end.”

“That’s true…”

Encouraged by those words, Rachel carefully observed the duel again, hoping for Albert to fail.

Leo asked Rachel, who was visibly happy and sad at his every word:

“Do you like him?”

“What…?! It’s not like that!”

Rachel’s tone, voice, and face were completely transparent.

‘She’s really bad at lying.’

Leo sat down next to Rachel and said:

“Is that so? Well, that’s fortunate then.”

“Fortunate? Why?”

“The probability of him failing there is almost zero, practically nonexistent.”

“Huh? Is it that easy to impress His Imperial Majesty?”

“What’s easy about it… It’s extremely difficult. I just think that guy will probably do well.”

And looking at Albert now, one couldn’t help but think that way.

Leo muttered as he watched him getting up again and again:

“He’s really stubborn… Why does he go that far?”

“It means he loves her that much, enough to get up again after being beaten like that.”

“You’re quite the romantic…”

Though Leo spoke that way, he found Albert’s determination interesting and even envied it.

‘Could I ever go that far for someone?’

Leo shook his head.

‘No way… Unless someone did that for me.’

Reina and Eve, who were also there, had similar thoughts to Leo’s.

‘I wish I had someone like that…’

‘Could I ever love someone that much?’

The two of them envied both the princess who received such tremendous love from one person and Albert who could love someone so deeply.

But there were also people thinking differently.

“But… how strong is he really? I’ve never seen Albert so completely outmatched before.”

“Seriously, we’d probably die if we took hits like that.”

Eve sighed at Chris and Rachel who were having such thoughts while watching the scene.

“Sigh… Is that all you two can think about?”

“What else is there to feel?”

“Why are you two thinking so deeply about this? Maybe he just wanted to fight His Imperial Majesty and challenged him.”

When Rachel said that, she—who had been watching the duel—approached their hiding place.

Then, facing the surprised group, particularly Rachel, she said in a deadly serious voice:

“That’s not it at all.”