Book 2: Chapter 184
Shortly after returning to the inn, Lukas called Bargan to his room.
Their rooms were right beside each other.
In fact, considering the size of the rooms, it wasn’t necessary for them to get two, but the stubborn wandering Fighter didn’t dare to sleep in the same room as his Lord.
He even forced Lukas to let him pay for his own stay.
“You called for me?”
“Right. Have a seat.”
“Yes.”
Lukas had an unusually serious expression at that moment.
It wasn’t just that, it seemed that he was unconsciously releasing his aura. Bargan had encountered many strong people in his life, but whenever he faced Lukas, he couldn’t help but feel that his strength was fundamentally different from theirs.
With a slightly nervous expression, he went down to one knee and lowered his head.
“Bargan.”
“Yes.”
“I do not gather people casually.”
“…”
Bargan’s expression darkened. He hesitated for a while before lowering his head even further, unwilling to open his mouth.
“If there is anything I lack, I will do my best to fix it.”
“That’s not it.”
“…I’m sorry. My knowledge is limited, so I don’t dare to assume my Lord’s intentions.”
“I accepted your allegiance because I needed your knowledge. As you know, I am an outsider who knew nothing about the Heavenly Realm or its culture.”
Although it might not have seemed that way, Lukas had asked Bargan many questions during their time together.
“And now, I have enough of an understanding about the culture of the Heavenly Realm. Even if I have more questions in the future, I have at least adapted enough to be able to find the answers on my own.”
“…are you saying you don’t need me anymore?”
“Right.”
“…”
Bargan’s heart grew heavy in his chest, but he couldn’t refute it. As far as he knew, there were only two people that Lukas was really close to.
Rin Summers, the Champion of the Herui Arena, and Li Hao, the Whirlwind of the Babylon Arena.
Compared to Bargan, there was a large gap between them both in terms of strength and standing.
It was only natural for Lukas to find him useless.
“I will become the Champion of Lirua.”
“…yes.”
Although he nodded, Bargan was still skeptical about that remark. If Lukas had aimed to become the Champion in any other major city, his attitude would certainly have been different.
However, this was Lirua.
In this city, there were limits to how far one could reach just by fighting.
“However, that alone isn’t enough.”
“…what do you mean by ‘not enough’?”
“The match-fixing.”
Bargan’s body shook.
“I went around the entire city today. And I could tell with a single glance. Everyone in this city loves fights and loves the arena.”
“…”
“You must have too, Bargan. That’s why, when you found out about the darkness in Lirua, you were unable to accept it and ran away.”
When he heard those words, Bargan almost burst into tears.
Ran away?
He did.
That’s what he’d done when he found out about Lirua.
“…!”
Belatedly, he lowered his head again in order to hide his surging emotions. Under his bowed head, his eyes, which were always steady, rolled around excitedly.
“You have to do what you should do.”
“What should I do…?”
“You once ran away from Lirua. You refused to accept your responsibility and threw it away instead. No matter how much time passes, that fact will never disappear. Therefore, you must find that which you once threw away, and pick it up again. In some form or other.”
“…that.”
Was he telling him to face the darkness in Lirua head-on? If so then that was no different from telling Bargan to rush to his death.
Bargan looked at Lukas with a stiff expression on his face.
But Lukas looked back at him with a freezing cold gaze.
“Then what do you intend to do, my Lord?”
“I will also do what I should do, Bargan.”
Lukas spoke in a calm voice.
“Don’t look for me any longer.”
“…”
“Forget about me, and think only about what you have to do.”
* * *
There was a lot to think about, and a lot to do.
Therefore, two days flew by in a flash.
And now,
Lukas was standing at one end of the Lirua arena.
“Wooaaahh!”
“Dragon Hunter! Dragon Hunter!”
The crowd roared Lukas’ title with overwhelming enthusiasm.
It was inevitable.
For the two days after his match was decided, numerous newspapers and articles talked about the upcoming match. This fuss naturally became a form of advertisement, and before long, there were few Dragonmen in Lirua who didn’t know about Lukas.
As a result, today’s match became so big that it could no longer be seen as the debut of a new Fighter.
The opponent was also formidable.
Lukas looked at the Dragonman standing in front of him.
‘Jaihum.’
From what he heard, it was quite unusual for a rookie Fighter to compete with a veteran Fighter as well known as him in his first appearance.
Jaihum was a Fighter ranked 78th in the Lirua Arena, and his recent record was 8 wins and 2 losses. He was someone who was considered to be rising to the top with unstoppable momentum.
‘Good enough.’
His goal wasn’t just to take part in the Championship, but also to deal with the match-fixing in Lirua.
And this opponent was a suitable first step to allow him to break into the darkness of the arena.
Crunch.
He could feel the roughness of the sand beneath his feet. A hot wind suddenly blew over.
Lukas looked at Jaihum with a solemn gaze.
“Begin!”
The match began following the referee’s cry.
—And so, Dragon Hunter Lukas, the huge rookie Fighter that many people had great expectations for, stepped into the Lirua Arena for his first match…
And suffered a devastating defeat.
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