Volume 2, Chapter Sun Knight’s Daily Duty #6: “Attend all kinds of ceremonies”

Akakuroi

After drinking till midnight with Roland, I learned something new…

Even a Death Knight can get drunk.

Well, it’s fortunate he can; if not I would not have been able to let the bar waitresses and owner to harass him and use this handsome man to— No! I mean use this handsome corpse to cover the cost of the alcohol.

I didn’t know that a bottle of alcohol could be that expensive! When I saw the receipt, I nearly fainted, but at the same time I felt lucky for myself—I had left without paying for the wine when drinking with Elijah earlier today.

Because we had been drinking till midnight and the owner and waitresses touched Roland multiple times, when we finally left I had to carry a drunken corpse to Pink’s house. By the time all that was done and I had returned to the Church, it was early next morning.

The moment I stepped into the Church, before I even had the time to clean up and take a nap, Storm suspiciously pulled me into a corner and said in an ambiguous tone, “There’s a guest looking for you.”

A guest? And what was with Storm’s tone? Why does he sound as if I’d gone out on a clandestine love affair and have been caught red handed…? I’m innocent! All I did was covertly go out for a drink with a corpse; I’m not having an affair!

Even though I was full of questions, I still smiled and said, “May I ask, brother Storm, in which reception room is the guest?”

Shaking his head, Storm replied, “How can she be in a reception room?”

“Not in the reception room?” A look of suspicion could not help but appear on my face.

Seeming satisfied with me giving an expression besides a smile, Storm beckoned with his hand and said, “Follow me.”

After a short while, we arrived outside a rather private Prayers Room. Supposedly, this was a place for Holy Knights to pray quietly. However, as far as I understand, it’s actually used for noisy activities such as “Let’s all have packed lunches here” instead of quiet prayers.

The moment I entered the room, I understood why we couldn’t go to the reception room—after all the reception room was a public place. This was not someone who could appear when she wanted in a public area.

It was the kingdom’s one and only princess!

I couldn’t help but begin to praise the princess’s clean cut way of doing things. Elijah just went back drunk yesterday and today she was coming knocking on my door. Turning to face Storm, I said, “Brother Storm, is it okay if you excuse us for a while?”

With that, Storm walked out reluctantly with a keenly curious look on his face.

“Elijah has already told me about your plan, but I’m not going to support you.” Without beating around the bush, the princess got straight to the point. Eyeing me scornfully, she said, “You must’ve thought that brother went against my will and forced me to marry the Son of the God of War, right? Let me tell you, you are wrong! Brother has already discussed it with me and I’ve agreed. As a princess, to sacrifice myself for my kingdom is my duty.

“I think there’s some misunderstanding between us, Your Imperial Highness,” I said, still smiling. “Your Highness must understand that, no matter what the situation is, I will never harm Hell Knight. It is the promise I once made to the God of Light, to protect every Holy Knight.”

Upon hearing that, the princess was a little stunned. She looked at me suspiciously, doubting what I had just said.

“However, even though I wouldn’t do anything, it doesn’t mean that the Pope treats the Holy Knights as his brothers. He would not show any mercy to anyone who possibly poses a threat to the Church’s existence. You should know by now that the Pope and I are not on good terms and that he definitely won’t show any mercy because of me. As for me, it is impossible for me to stay beside Elijah 24/7. And if even you, Your Imperial Highness, are going to be married into another country, then who, may I ask, will be able to protect Elijah?”

Upon hearing that, the princess’s expression changed, her initially determined look starting to sway. I knew that things were starting to work out. Even if the Princess was willing to sacrifice herself, I doubt that she’d be willing to sacrifice her beloved one.

After looking rather indecisive for a while, the princess suddenly said angrily, “How dare you threaten me with Elijah! Messenger of the God of Light? No, you’re the messenger of the ignoble! Brother Sun was right about this!”

Brother Sun? After wondering for a moment, I understood. By Brother Sun, the Imperial Highness was referring to my teacher. He had a rather good relationship with the Imperial family, which was why the princess would address him as brother. Though if one went by age he ought to be called uncle, my teacher never accepted any address that was older than brother…

After hesitating, I asked, “And what did my teacher say?”

Giving me a cold glance, the princess started recounting the conversation.

“What is my student like? Hmm, overall he’s a nice person…that is if you don’t go against him.”

“And what happens if one does go against him?”

“Hmm, you will still think that he’s a nice person. But at the same time, you will have questions along the lines of “Why am I so unlucky lately?” Work on one task and you will manage to fail two, drink cold soup and you will manage to get scalded, eat porridge and you will manage to get choked by bones, walk alone in the corridors in the palace and you will manage to step on bull shit…”

“But how is it possible to be scalded by cold soup? Why would there be bones in porridge in the first place? And how is it possible for bull shit to appear along the corridors in the palace?”

“Hence, my student is a fairly good person overall. That is, if you didn’t do anything against him.”

“You’re not some perfect Sun Knight! You’re a filthy, selfish, treacherous person! Even your teacher thinks the same,” the princess said angrily.

My teacher! His examples were absolutely awful; if it was me, I would definitely not do something that was as obvious as scalding someone with cold soup!

“Your Imperial Highness, even if I’m selfish, do you really believe that I don’t have the will, on my own, to allow Hell to be together with the woman he loves?” I asked with a frown.

Giving me a cold glance, the Princess said sarcastically, “Don’t think I’ll believe that what you’re doing’s really for Elijah’s good.”

Sneering, I said, “Although Elijah is one of the Twelve Holy Knights, his identity can’t be exposed. Hence, he’s just an average royal knight. And you should know how hard it is for an average royal knight to get the hand of a princess.” I then added sarcastically, “But to tell you the truth, rather than trying to come up with a way to let you marry a royal knight, I might as well fight the Son of the God of War and claim you for myself. Not to mention that that is by far easier! After all, I’m the head of the Holy Temple, the messenger of the God of Light.”

After hearing what I said, the princess began to frown, her lips forming a tight line.

“And if by chance I win, not only will I become one of the royals, but since the new king doesn’t have any sons, my child might even have the chance of becoming the next king. What could get any better than that? As an overall good person, am I actually stupid enough to give this chance to Elijah, even having to crack my head open just to come up with a plan for this to work?”

Half pretending to be angry, I turned my head and looked away, watching from the corner of my eye for the princess’s reaction.

She looked suspicious and remained silent for a while. Unable to find a good answer, she then asked in a softer tone, “Then why are you helping us? Aren’t we doing things against you?”

I immediately retorted, “You weren’t doing anything against me! Although Elijah doesn’t want to be the Hell Knight anymore, he’s not threatening the Church at all. And although Your Imperial Highness wants to marry the Son of the God of War, that is the prince’s idea. Moreover even, if it was prince’s idea, with the decreasing fame and prestige of the kingdom and the rise in the Church’s power, as a king, trying to raise the kingdom’s prestige is normal and can’t be considered opposing me.”

With that, the princess looked even more perplexed, no longer like a high and almighty princess, but more like a confused little girl.

Amused, I said, “Although you’ve heard my teacher hinting to never do anything against me, you’ve forgotten to ask what is considered going against me.”

“Then what kind of action is ‘going against you’?” Getting no reply, the princess actually said in a flirtatious way, “Come on, say it! Only when you say it will I know and avoid myself from doing anything that would anger you!”

Being flirted with by a princess who was much older than me, I couldn’t help but shiver. Just then, I remembered an example of someone doing things against me. Giving a cold smirk, I said, “Then I’ll give an example: just recently, a certain jerk actually wanted to murder my vice captain and snatch away my brother’s woman. That’s totally not taking me, the Sun Knight, seriously. If I don’t make him pay for everything he did, then I’ll write my name backwards in my own blood!”

The eldest prince was indeed worth praising; it was finally the day of his coronation, but there was no sign of him lavishing in luxury at all.

Although today was the day of the king’s coronation, no decorations had added to the palace at all. Only those who were more observant would realize that the carpet had been replaced by a new one…or had it just been washed?

Rumor had it that the Chief of Protocol was unhappy with how frugal the crown prince was and went to nag at him. But all the crown prince had said was “Father has already decorated and adorned the palace for many years; it is flamboyant enough as is.” That silenced the Chief of Protocol once and for all.

No wonder the princess was willing to marry a guy she doesn’t love. Her brother is already so selfless, she couldn’t just say that she already had someone she loved and hence didn’t want to get married, right?

Furthermore, during the ceremony, I grudgingly discovered that the Son of the God of War, who happened to be standing opposite me, was actually rather handsome. As leader of the warriors, I had envisioned him to be a big, tall, muscular man with a head of messy hair and unkempt dressing… I was absolutely wrong.

Indeed, he was big, tall, and muscular, but not overly. And seeing from how fast his pace was one could not say that he was someone who only had strength. He was very agile and flexible too. Not to mention that head of black curly hair, which made him resemble a jaguar, graceful, fast, and extremely dangerous. No wonder Adair lost to him, and very nearly lost his life in the process.

Looking at how the ladies were constantly peeking at the Son of the God of War, one could tell that this guy was rather good with women… Maybe the crown prince honestly thought that he would be a good person to marry, hence approving his younger sister to marry him. Of course, he wouldn’t know that his younger sister already had someone in mind.

Returning to the coronation, it needs to be said that although the ceremony didn’t look very luxurious, but it was still very solemn. What was more important was that everyone was looking forward to the crown prince’s coronation wholeheartedly, for his coronation also meant that a particular someone was finally going to descend from his throne.

When the king passed the crown to the Pope and the Pope then placed the crown on the prince’s head while announcing that he was the new king, a lot of people looked quite relieved.

I guess I was the only one who didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. After all, although what that ‘fat pig king’ did would make anyone want to stab him to death… To tell the truth, handling a king that was as stupid as a pig was easy compared to handling this king who would probably be a tiger in pig’s clothing.

I sighed. It looked like the days that I only had to handle a ‘genuine pig’ had ended. Today marks the beginning of a long battle with a ‘fake pig’. I just hoped that I wouldn’t be the tiger that gets eaten…

While I was still sighing away, mourning the end of my ‘good days’, all the messengers from different countries were presenting their gifts. A full length mirror embedded with precious stones, a whole set of accessories made of precious stone, a sword decorated with precious stones…

But seriously, although these presents that were embedded with precious stones were really expensive, none could be considered a real precious gift. Actually the presents for the fat pig king’s birthday were much better than this. But then again, this was not because the other countries were stingy. For events that related to a country’s reputation, it was impossible for them to be stingy.

The real reason was probably because the time period from the announcement of the ceremony to the ceremony itself was very short, less than three months long, in fact. A few countries which were further away probably rushed here the moment they got the announcement, just to be in time for the ceremony. Within this time period, it is doubtful that there would be much time to prepare any decent presents.

Although the presents weren’t that impressive, it seems that the king didn’t mind at all. In fact, he looked rather happy.

Don’t tell me… Suddenly, everything seemed so clear to me. Don’t tell me that this fake pig king did it on purpose! After all, with his father spending money like water while being on the throne for so long, the country’s coffers are probably more than half empty.

If each country comes with real precious treasures, those priceless treasures absolutely couldn’t be sold in the market. If anyone found out that the present that was presented to the king actually appears in the market, there would only be two possibilities. First would be that the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound’s exchequer had been robbed. Or second, and worst, would be that the king of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound had actually gone ahead and sold those treasures.

Whatever the case, the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound’s reputation would be ruined.

However, due to the fact that the time span between the announcements of the ceremony to the actual date had been too short, it would mean that none of the countries had enough time to prepare any decent gifts. Hence, the ones presented would all just be some things that’s been embedded with precious stones or made out of gold. In that case the king would only have to pluck out those precious stones, melt the gold crafted items into gold blocks, and sell them without anyone finding out.

Crown prince— No! Now as the fake pig king, you’re absolutely amazing. If we weren’t rivals, I would definitely bow to you to show you my admiration for you tactics and strategies for earning money. If I told this to the Pope who equally loves money, maybe even the Pope would want to call you his brother!

Then the Son of the God of War waved to the warriors behind him and two of them immediately brought forward their gift to the king.

It was a shield, but it was plain to see that if you used it to fend off enemies no one would dare attack you, since people usually are not willing to attack a shield that is totally covered in diamonds. I would definitely be the first one to kill such a wasteful person. Even one tiniest diamond on it that might be chipped off is equivalent to burning away all the salary I would save for the next twenty years!

Nodding his thanks, the newly crowned king’s eyes reflected the lights from the diamonds. Even his smile got wider. Seeing that, the Son of the God of War announced proudly, “This is a shield put together by magicians, jewel workers, and blacksmiths. The national crest of Kingdom of Forgotten Sound is formed with diamonds in the middle, and surrounding it are magical precious stones which have been embedded to form a charm that can ward off magic spells. Additionally, its physical defense is top notch. Even a huge axe wouldn’t be able to do any harm to it!”

After that explanation, everyone in the hall was amazed. This could be considered one of the best presents given today.

But all I did was smirk to myself, predicting that the fake pig king would rather push his most trusted knight forward to shield himself from an attack rather than give the shield a chance to have any of its corners chipped.

“Store it well.” The King addressed the guards beside him. This is the first time today that after receiving a gift he actually spoke instead of simply smiling and nodding.

Satisfied at how the carefully the guards carried the shield out, the Son of the God of War then turned around and said provocatively, “We, the Monastery of the God of War, have shown our respect to his Majesty. We wonder what the Church of God of Light has to offer to congratulate His Majesty.”

Walking towards the red carpet in the middle of the hall, standing just two steps away from Son of the God of War, I took out a bracelet. The bracelet was golden and translucent, a little like glass. It was formed by eighteen small marbles and one larger marble, all engraved with rose patterns. Indeed, it looked very delicate, but had nothing to do with the words “precious” or “treasure”.

After bowing to the king, I said humbly, “Sun doesn’t have anything precious in possession; all we can give is this rose marble bracelet that has received the God of Light’s blessings.”

The king just retained his smile and nodded politely, as for Son of the God of War, he just laughed out loudly without holding back. The rest of the crowd on the other hand, started frowning. Indeed, this present seemed too cheap.

Then I added on with a smile, “Under the protection of the God of Light, Your Majesty will remain healthy throughout your life. However, if Your Majesty ever gets injured, just break one of these rose marbles and Your Majesty will receive the God of Light’s blessings, with an effect equivalent to the performance of a high level healing spell. As for the blessings of the biggest rose patterned pearl in the middle, it will be equivalent to having a highest level final healing spell performed on you.”

Hearing my explanation, the king almost could not hide his surprise and desire. He whispered a few words to his sworn knights and a knight immediately came forward to receive the rose marble bracelet from my hands and passed it to the king. After fingering the marbles for a while, he immediately put it on, not even caring about how unhappy Son of the God of War looked the moment he did so.

Smiling to myself, I thought, Even if it’s a gift given by me, the king still loves it!

After all, to a person with a lot of power in hand, the most terrifying thing they could ever encounter would be assassination.

With this marble bracelet, it was equivalent to having a cleric who could perform eighteen high level healing spells and one final level healing spell constantly by their side. Not to mention that it couldn’t be bribed by enemies or be the first to be targeted and killed, like a cleric. With all this, why wouldn’t he want to wear the life-saving marbles immediately?

Furthermore, those life-saving marbles were not something that could be made by an average cleric! A total of thirty high level healing magic spells need to be performed in order of make just one small rose patterned marble, and as for the big one…

It’s not that I’m stingy and am only willing to give the king one, but that’s the only successful bracelet that I’ve made.

Even for someone like me who has so much Holy Aura that it’s almost overflowing, I can only cast around ten high level healing spells per day. So this pearl bracelet actually took me more than a month to complete… To secretly add the fund for the king’s present into my pension isn’t that easy!

“Knight-Captain Sun!” A holy knight came running at me and reported in a low voice, “There are a few necromancers and undead creatures causing a ruckus in town.”

Remaining smiling after listening to the report, I could see the Son of the God of War smiling at me and naturally, I returned the smile politely… Damn you idiot, how dare you sabotage me!

I can’t believe that any other necromancer beside Pink, who was within the contract, would dare to come and mess around in Leaf Bud City, the headquarters of the Church of the God of Light. It was not like they would think they had too many undead creatures at hand and wanted to give some to the Church of God of Light to help train Holy Knights and clerics.

It must be the Monastery of the God of War’s doing!

Everyone on land knew that what I hated the most were undead creatures. If any undead creatures were to appear now, I would definitely apologize to the King, and then rush out to fight the undead creatures. And then the Monastery of the God of War would then be able to propose to the princess and pull strings with the Royals, and so on and so forth.

“Necromancers actually brought undead creatures into Leaf Bud City, a city that has received the blessing of the God of Light?” I sternly replied. “That’s absolutely detestable! Listen, order my Sun Knight Platoon to fight those dead creatures that don’t have the blessing of the God of Light. I think my platoon has been slacking off too much recently; it is indeed time to train them, to make sure that they will be strong enough to defend and protect Leaf Bud City.”

“Understood.” Immediately the Holy Knight nodded and rushed back to pass on the message.

The Son of the God of War opened his mouth and slowly said, “Sun Knight, it’s such an important day today. With undead creatures appearing in the city, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for you to handle them personally?”

I confidently replied, “Please do not worry, sir. Today is the king’s coronation, as well as the day the God of Light gives his blessings. As for those undead creatures, they definitely won’t get chance to receive those blessings. Hence, my Sun Knight Platoon will most certainly wipe them out successfully.”

Hehe, what is there to be worried about?

The Monastery of the God of War was not used to dealing with undead creatures. I doubted they would dare to find the really powerful necromancers who are actually able to cause a ruckus; those really powerful necromancers would never be bothered enough to do these things… Unless they’re like Pink, then there’s a chance that they might do it out of boredom. But for there to be a necromancer like Pink… I’m afraid she’s unique in this world.

For that reason, I am sure that undead creatures running loose in the city is all the Monastery of the God of War’s idea and has nothing to do with His Majesty at all. After all, due to the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound constantly worshipping the God of Light, the people in this kingdom are vehemently against the idea of undead creatures and dark auras. The king probably wouldn’t be very happy with the Monastery of the God of War for doing this. Just seeing how the king had made no effort to call me to get rid of those undead creatures personally, I could tell that he was probably getting a little pissed off with Monastery of the God of War’s actions.

Seeing that he was unable to chase me away, the Son of the God of War just went straight to the point and said, “Your Majesty, this time not only does the Monastery of the God of War wish to congratulate you on your enthronement, we have a request to ask of you as well.”

Cooperatively, with a curious expression, the king asked, “Really? And what would that be?”

With his gaze moving toward the princess, the Son of the God of War said, “I’ve heard that the princess is a clever yet beautiful lady and this has caused my admiration for her. Today, when I first saw her, it merely confirmed what I had heard, but she is even more beautiful than the rumors say, which doubly confirms my will to have her as my bride.”

Compared to etiquettes needed to propose to a kingdom’s princess, the Son of the God of War was too abrupt, both in action and speech. However, the warriors of the Monastery of the God of War were always very frank, without any subterfuge in their action and speech, so no one could really blame them for it.

Just then a group of warriors carried in one treasure chest after another from outside. When the Son of the God of War opened one of them, the room was immediately lit up by a chest full of gold and precious stones. “And this will be the betrothal gift,” he said.

Every member of the royals studied the king’s expression and upon seeing no sign of discontentment, everyone immediately realized that he already had the intention of marrying the princess to the Son of the God of War. Hence, everyone started congratulating and giving their blessings. Some even started complimenting the marriage and saying things such as what a perfect match it would make.

“Please hold on!” I shouted. While everyone was still stunned, I kneeled down and proposed sincerely, “I, Sun, have feelings for Her Highness too. In view for my wholehearted and sincere feelings for Her Highness, I wish and hope that His Majesty will give me a fair chance to win over the hand of Her Highness.”

The moment I said those words it immediately caused a small commotion amongst the royals around me, and even the king was stunned. The Twelve Holy Knights stared at me with disbelief, as if they’d seen a monster instead of their Sun Knight.

“Unbelievable! And here I thought that the first person Sun would ever propose to would be the statue of the God of Light!” Storm said incredulously. The rest of the Twelve Holy Knights immediately nodded in agreement, except for Judgment. That’s what I call a real friend; he knew me well indeed!

Feeling my gaze, Judgment patted Ice on his shoulder and raised his eyebrow as though to say, I thought the first person you would propose to would be Ice.

Before the King could react and reply the Son of the God of War turned around and furiously bellowed at me, “You asshole!”

A count that was at the sidelines immediately ran out to stop the Son of the God of War before he could say anything insulting in front of everyone. After comforting the Son of the God of War, he turned around, smiled, and said, “Sun Knight, since you’re proposing you must have prepared your betrothal gift already, right?”

Hearing that, the Son of the God of War was delighted. He added, “Without any betrothal gift, all you are doing is just trying to cause a mess!”

“Sun does not have anything special. All I can do is pass along the blessing of the God of Light again, to show Her Highness my love for her.”

With that I took out another rose marble bracelet. But this bracelet was not made by me. After all, I really don’t have enough time to come up with two within such a short period of time. So instead I taught the Pope how to make these pearls under the condition that he had to give a total of hundred and eight pearls as a ‘teaching fee’.

The king’s eyes lit up at the sight of the bracelet. He gave a low grunt and then looked rather troubled. From what I could see, I guessed he was probably thinking of a way to prevent me from getting the hand of his sister while also getting the bracelet.

Sighing deeply—probably because he couldn’t think of a way to keep the pearls—he turned to face his sister and asked, “They are both good young men! Princess, it seems that they’re both serious about you, what do you think?”

According to the king’s script, the princess should be shy for a while before looking at the Son of the God of War from the corner of her eye. But of course, a human’s predictions can’t win against the God of Light’s predictions. The princess remained silent, but she did not look at anyone. Instead, a royal knight behind her jumped out—Elijah.

Kneeling before the king he shouted, “Your Majesty, I’m the real one who’s serious about Her Imperial Highness! The princess and I are the ones who really love each other!”

Upon hearing that, everyone turned to look at the princess. However, the princess showed no sign of denial at all. And as for someone with such high stature, silence was an equivalent to agreeing.

There was a sudden uproar in the crowd. The situation now is absolutely unbelievable. Why was it that there was not even one person coming to propose in the past, but now they were all coming together at once? Just what kind of situation was this?

It was obvious that the king had not expected this turn of events. He was startled for a while, but then turned and glared at me.

Your Majesty, you’re just so clever. Although it really was me who caused all this, you don’t have to stare at me so directly. After giving a shocked expression, I quickly switched to a confused look and met the king’s gaze, as though I didn’t understand why he as glaring at me. Seeing that, he instead turned to look at Elijah and frowned lightly.

Two sworn knights who were standing beside the king immediately jumped out. A younger knight, who looked around his thirties, scolded, “Elijah, don’t mess around! You can’t marry Her Highness!

Ignoring his words, Elijah turned to meet the eyes of the older sworn knight, looking ashamed and apologetic. However, all the elder sworn knight did was sigh, and did not reprimand him.

Storm softly whispered near my ear, “Although that elder knight is not Elijah’s real master, he’s really fond of Elijah and has taught him many things. He can be considered half a teacher.”

I nodded and had to use all my strength to prevent myself from smiling. Hahaha! I didn’t know that there was actually this level of relationship with his teachers, but now Elijah’s chance is a lot higher.

“I can’t believe that Elijah’s actually this courageous… But it’s even more unbelievable that Sun actually has an affair with the princess,” Storm whispered to Leaf and Blaze, who stood beside him. As the distance between us was a little farther, I had to strain my ears to catch what he was saying.

Wait, wait, wait! Just who is having an affair with the Princess?

“I heard from the Sun Knight Platoon about how Sun wasted Elijah for no reason, so much that he nearly died from all the alcohol. Now I see—it must be due to jealousy as rivals. And the very next day the princess had a secret meeting with Sun. I guess it was because she cheated on him and was trying to explain after he found out,” Storm concluded. His face had an expression that said ‘I’ve got the ultimate gossip, and I can now die with no regrets.’ As for the other Twelve Holy Knights, they were currently all straining their ears to pick up the gossip.

So my Sun Knight Platoon members are not the only ones who love to gossip… The entire Holy Temple is filled with gossipmongers! Why are you still called the Holy Knights? You all might as well change your name to the Gossip Knights!

While still internally shouting and protesting about how the Holy Temple should be renamed to Gossip Temple, the king questioned seriously, “Sister, is it true that you have feelings for Elijah?”

Without speaking, the princess quietly nodded her head. Seeing that, the king remained silent as well. His face slowly turned darker and darker. Everyone dared not to say a word and the whole hall descended into an awkward silence. Even the Son of the God of War remained quiet, unable to comprehend what was happening. Frowning, he could only stare at Elijah and me with a very hostile gaze.

As the awkward silence persisted, I slowly opened my mouth and said, “If that’s the case, then let the swords within our hands judge the matter and stop this meaningless chatter. That is the true way of a knight.”

What? You say that this phrase sounds familiar? Cough, cough… Dead corpses don’t have any right to intellectual property!

The moment the Son of the God of War heard that, a smile immediately spread across his face and loudly agreed, “That’s great! A warrior only uses the sword in his hand to determine the victor!”

Of course he would have agreed to it. He already knows that I’m not good with swords and that Elijah is just a knight. Not to mention that he thought that Elijah didn’t have God’s blessings; even his class itself put him at a lower hand. Warriors are better at one to one, whilst knights are better at war. This is the nature of the classes that is known to everyone.

“Then let it be so!” With that said, the king left swiftly. From his expression, it was clear that he wasn’t too happy.

I smirked, my first step to success completed.

Suddenly, Leaf came running at me. He patted on my shoulder and said, “Sun, don’t be sad, there’s always bigger fish out there! Even if you can’t get the princess, it’s not that big a deal.”

“I’m rather close with Elijah, so I will tell him not to bully you too much,” Storm said while patting my back with a ‘we’re good brothers, I will cover you, don’t worry’ look.

“If that Son of the God of War dares to punch you too much, I definitely won’t let him rest,” Blaze promised while punching the air.

“S…Sun, don’t worry. Even if it’s against the rules, I would still…still help you to block the life threatening blows… Although I might have to block them for you many times, I will never give up on saving you!”

“…Can’t you guys have a little more confidence in me?”

Hearing that, the “cruel, cold-hearted” faction from the Twelve Holy Knights only gave me a cold glance. As for the “good, warm-hearted” faction, they actually said, “Of course! We have absolute confidence in your recovering ability. The two of them definitely wouldn’t be able to kill you. And that is why we are confident enough to let you go up there to get beaten up.”

Why is it that, the “cruel, cold-hearted” faction’s cold glances didn’t manage to make me feel cold but what the “good, warm-hearted” faction had said made me feel as if I had been hit by a blizzard…