Side Story Chapter 16
Cain gathered all the knights in the national army inside Fortress Raymond and delivered shocking news: “We’re going to have a tournament against the rebels.”
“What?” Kireua’s eyes widened. “Sir C-Cain, what do you mean by a tournament?”
“It’s exactly what you heard, Your Highness.”
“Did Dargo rane Suspen suggest it?” Kireua asked.
“I’m the one who suggested it.”
Kireua stopped speaking. A tournament was completely different from the duels Kireua had fought in before. At the time, he was confident in himself, but this…
‘…Wait, it’s actually not bad,’ Kireua thought. An idea had popped into his head. The commander of an army played a very crucial role in war; naturally, it was the same for a tournament even though the commander only had to lead one hundred knights. And Cain de Harry, the Combat Emperor Star, was here right now, so the odds of the national army winning the tournament were quite good.
“Hah, Marquess Suspen must not have heard the story about you, Sir Cain.” Kireua clenched his fists. “They’re all dead me—”
“Keep in mind that I won’t participate in the tournament this time,” Cain interrupted.
“What?”
“That was his terms.”
The other knights who had been watching the conversation were also taken aback.
“Yo-Your Grace, what do you mean you’ll sit out the tournament?”
“Nonsense. There are less than one hundred knights in this fortress that can truly call themselves knights.”
“Marquess Suspen is not only great at tournaments but also small-scale battles. In fact, he’s the third-strongest…”
“Wh-Why would you make such a deal?” Kireua exclaimed through the panicking knights.
“Are you not confident about winning this tournament?” Cain asked.
“…What?”
“If it had been my master—His Majesty—he would have crushed a hundred knights on his own.”
Kireua’s face darkened because the other knights were in the room.
“Sir Cain… Are you trying to test me?”
“Did it sound like that?”
Kireua tilted his head. “Are you not trying to test me?”
“I am trying to test you.” Cain nodded. “Are you not confident about this tournament?” Cain repeated; his expression was totally calm.
Kireua had no idea what was going on inside Cain’s head, but…
“…I don’t care if there are a hundred knights or a thousand because I’m the son of the Hero King and the Martial God,” Kireua answered, stoically meeting Cain’s eyes.
“Haha, I knew you would say that.” Cain smiled contentedly.
Kireua’s eyes slowly widened. “You do have a plan for this tournament!”
“Of course, I’m the commander of the great Golden Spirit Knights. To that end, I just requested reinforcements.”
“Pardon? But even if we ask for reinforcements right now…”
Cain pulled out something from his inner pocket before Kireua could finish speaking.
“Do you know what this is?” he asked.
“It’s a warp stone.” Anna spoke. She had been watching everything from a few steps away. She was currently wearing a robe that covered her entirely. She had been introduced as a mage who was here to assist the national army; since it was the Combat Emperor and Second Prince who had introduced her, no one questioned Anna’s identity.
“A warp stone…?” Kireua blankly repeated; he hadn’t heard of the item before.
Of course, he had a rough idea of what it was since the name was quite literal, but that only made it more difficult to believe that the ordinary-looking blue stone was a simplified version of a warp gate,
“I’ve heard that Iceline zin Rebrecca, who was formerly one of the Seven Mages in the Magic Tower and currently queen consort of the Avalon Empire, is a genius and that she could have developed it…” Anna muttered.
Kireua turned straight to Cain for affirmation.
“The reinforcements are supposed to come tomorrow at noon, but they’ll probably arrive before then. The enemy would never have imagined that I have such a valuable treasure in my hands.” Cain looked at the warp stone in his hand.
“Oh my god…”
“From what I heard, the stone is disposable and only able to teleport ten people at maximum… but those ten people can travel up to three hundred kilometers. Even the Magic Tower mages can’t create an artifact like this.”
“Th-Three hundred kilometers…?” Kireua muttered.
With a smile, Cain nodded. “Yes, it’s more than enough to reach Arcadia.”
* * *
“Your Majesty… do you think they’re serious about the tournament?” Dargo’s aide asked.
Dargo frowned because he had been wondering about the same thing, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he reached the same conclusion:
“They’re serious.”
“May I ask why you think so?”
“The Combat Emperor has a reputation to protect, so he has no reason to lie in front of that many people,” Dargo explained.
“…Indeed.” His aide nodded.
Tens of thousands of people had heard Cain’s proposal. If Cain had lied about it, the Combat Emperor and the national army were going to be humiliated even if they won the war. On the other hand, the other rebel armies’ morale would soar, and that was not the result Cain and the national army would want.
“Unless he’s planning to slaughter every last man in our army, there is no way the Combat Emperor was lying. He also will not participate in the tournament, just like he said.” Dargo concluded.
“I don’t understand why the Combat Emperor made such an offer when it would give us the upper hand.”
“Have we identified the number of the knights in the fortress?” Dargo asked.
“Less than a hundred men that can be considered knights are in the fortress. According to the report, there are five B-Class knights at maximum,” his aide reported.
Everything was within Dargo’s expectations. It had already been two years since they began their uprising in the southern region. Most of the knights in the national army had died, been taken prisoner, or scattered around the continent. The people who were currently residing in the fortress were all that was left of the national army in the southern region. So…
“We’ll put an end to the war in the southern region through this tournament,” Dargo declared.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
* * *
The visor of Kireua’s polished helm clicked into place.
“Do I really have to put this on? It’s a bit stuffy,” Kireua grumbled.
“It’s essential in a tournament. Some say that a commander should always be the vanguard to boost their army’s morale, but that’s bullshit,” Cain said.
“Mmm…” Kireua nodded. He vaguely understood what Cain meant.
If the commander went into the vanguard and died first, the army was going to lose no matter what.
“But I’m not saying you should lay low in the back. You just have to wear the same uniform as your knights, just like you’re doing right now, and lead the knights as the situation demands,” Cain explained.
“I understood.”
“In that regard, I forbid you from using the Deon Ring I gave you,” Cain added, handing over the heavy set of armor to Kireua.
Kireua sighed, but Cain was right. Magic armor stood out too much, especially the Emperor of Avalon’s. Kireua quietly smacked his lips and looked up. All the eighty-nine knights on Kireua’s side had already arrived. It was noon, so the tournament was going to start soon. However, Kireua lacked eleven knights.
“The reinforcements you were talking about will arrive in time, right?”
“Well…”
Kireua scowled. “Aren’t you being too irresponsible, even if your goal is to put me through hell to train me?”
“How would I dare to put you through hell? You’re mistaken, Your Highness,” Cain replied.
Kireua suddenly brightened up.
“You’re right,” he enthusiastically replied. “If anything goes wrong, you’ll probably cover your face and participate in the tournament.”
“Only a fool wouldn’t know it was me—my sword techniques are very famous.”
The moment Cain finished speaking, the ground rumbled with hoofbeats.
“Combat Emperor! Prince Kireua! I, Dargo rane Suspen, am here as the emperor of the Southern Avalon Empire!”
Dargo’s voice was immediately followed by a beast’s roar. Dargo was using his authority. The less-skilled knights on Kireua’s side froze up in fear.
“Woahhhhh!”
On the other hand, the enemy knights forgot about their fear and shouted at the top of their lungs, buoyed by the authority of the White Tiger, one of the Four Guardians.
“Mmmm…” Kireua grunted.
Dargo rane Suspen had become a Master over a dozen years ago and was titled the supreme commander of the south for a reason. Going up against Dargo was hard enough even without his knights.
“…Sir Cain,” Kireua said.
“Yes?”
“Isn’t it about time you tell me who these reinforcements are?”
As the tournament inched closer, Kireua began to worry because his life wasn’t the only thing that was at stake here; if they lost this tournament, the entire southern region was going to end up in Dargo’s hands.
“The reinforcements are ten knights at most… Even if they’re all Imperial Knights, this tournament isn’t going to be easy,” Kireua analyzed.
At that moment, Cain’s pocket buzzed. When he pulled out the warp stone, they found that it was shining with blue light.
“They’re here.” Cain grinned. “Your Highness, I think you’ll be able to focus solely on the tournament when you meet your reinforcements.”
“Pardon?”
“No… you might be able to surpass your limit. I think you’ll want to win no matter what,” Cain enigmatically continued before throwing the warp stone against the ground.
Cracks spread all over the brilliantly shining stone until it finally shattered in a blinding flash of light.
“Mmmm….” Kireua grunted quietly because the stone released a blast of light that was much brighter than he had anticipated.
Exactly ten people walked out from the light.
Kireua’s eyes widened. “Th-They’re…?”
Although Kireua wasn’t sure if he should consider himself lucky or not, he was almost right about the identity of his reinforcements. The ten people that had just appeared were wearing armor engraved with the symbol of the Avalon Empire, marking them as Imperial Knights. However, the surprising part was…
“Long time no see.”
“Yo-You…!” Kireua’s eyes lost focus. “Se-Selim Sanders…?”
Before him stood an undeniably attractive man with deep blue hair and sharp facial features; he cut a majestic figure with his spear in hand. He also happened to be Kireua’s only brother.
“Has it been about ten years, Kireua Sanders?” Selim asked.
Kireua’s jaw dropped to the ground. “How did you…?”
Seriously. Selim was supposed to be in the northern region, so why was he here?
It turned out that there was even more shocking news.
“The civil war in the northern region is over,” Selim answered.
“What…?”
“The national army won, obviously,” Selim said. He walked past his frozen brother. “It’s time to end the war in the south now.”
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