Chapter 79
Zeke’s group returned to Atlas by train from Panstas, where the Graham family resided.
Lady Catherine planned to rejoin them in Atlas after gathering more information about the martial arts tournament from the central region nobles.
As Farrell got off at the central station and looked around Atlas, he said,
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here after graduating from Valhalla.”
“So Sir Farrell is also a Valhalla graduate.”
“Yes. Central nobles rarely go to Valhalla, but I really wanted to enroll because I admired Sir Flaubert.”
This made sense, as Flaubert was a knight from Thebea in the central region who was respected even by central nobles.
Zeke’s group headed to the mansion in Atlas.
Upon arrival, a familiar face was waiting for him.
“My lord!”
It was Liam Stone, who was about to graduate from the academy.
“Liam. It’s been a while.”
Liam had grown bigger since the last time they met, and his face looked much more mature.
From a distance, he looked similar to Farrell, who was in his thirties.
Zeke told Farrell and Felix to rest and went out to the garden with Liam.
“So, how have you been, Liam?”
“Thanks to you, my lord, I was able to complete the academy graduation exam safely.”
“I heard you were promoted to Purple Knight before graduation. Excellent.”
Liam was recognized for promotion to Purple Knight and would graduate from the academy this year. Among his peers, only Reina, one of the pureblood awakened ones, had achieved this.
Zeke asked Liam,
“I heard you refused the recommendation to enter Valhalla with Reina. Why?”
Liam beat his chest and replied,
“I want to be of help by your side as soon as possible, my lord.”
Zeke pondered Liam’s words.
‘In my previous life, Liam became a Red Knight after gaining practical experience without going to Valhalla. I wonder if he’ll grow faster gaining practical experience by my side.’
As Zeke contemplated, he felt slightly pressured by Liam’s burning gaze.
‘Well, having one more subordinate won’t hurt.’
Zeke accepted Liam’s decision.
“Thank you, my lord!”
While drinking tea, he asked about his other cousins.
“Leon Conrad ended up taking an indefinite leave from the academy, Owen Jiemens advanced a grade but failed this graduation exam. Reina Draker will graduate this time and enter Valhalla, and Jacken Valdek has been acting like a king among his peers after failing to advance.”
Zeke nodded at Liam’s words.
“So Leon finally broke down.”
Leon, who had bullied Liam, had his ear cut off by Zeke as punishment.
Leon, who had always been the perpetrator, couldn’t accept becoming a victim.
In the end, he chose indefinite leave, unable to overcome the shock of what Zeke had done to him.
“He brought it upon himself.”
Zeke, who had suffered at Leon Conrad’s hands in his previous life, agreed with Liam’s thoughts.
Just then, Decker approached from the garden.
“Young master. I’ve brought what you asked for.”
“Thank you, Decker. Put it here.”
Following Zeke’s gesture, Decker placed a fairly large box in front of Liam.
Zeke said to Liam,
“Liam, this is your promotion gift.”
Liam was flustered at those words.
“G-gift? What I’ve already received is more than enough, my lord.”
“Just accept it without argument.”
Liam opened the box with trembling hands.
And was shocked.
“M-my lord, this is?”
Inside the box were a new sword and light armor set specially ordered from Gelion for Liam.
Zeke smiled and said,
“I hope they fit well.”
Liam was too moved to speak properly.
He took out the gauntlets, boots, and breastplate from the box and attached them to his body.
“They fit perfectly, as if made for me!”
It was natural that Liam would like them since they were specially ordered from Gelion, referencing the armor Liam had used during his time as the Mercenary King in the previous life.
Finally, Liam slowly drew the sword from its scabbard.
Shing!
It was a sword carefully forged by Gelion, the soul craftsman.
Liam was so captivated by the sword that he silently stared at his reflection in the blade for a while.
“Do you like it, Liam?”
Suddenly coming to his senses, Liam immediately knelt before Zeke.
“Thank you for your grace. I will strive not to bring shame to your reputation, my lord.”
Seeing Liam even getting a bit choked up, Zeke smiled and said,
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Zeke, thinking the reunion was mostly concluded, immediately called Felix to establish the hierarchy between the two people.
“Liam is my first sworn subordinate. And Felix, you’re my follower. Felix, you should treat Liam as your senior.”
Felix asked in surprise at those words.
“What? Master, why am I lower ranked?”
Zeke looked at Felix and said:
“Are you dissatisfied?”
“Ah, no. I was just asking.”
Zeke looked at Felix and grinned.
“Alright, Felix. I’ll give you a chance.”
“What kind of chance do you mean?”
“If you can defeat Liam, I’ll change the hierarchy.”
At those words, Felix said with an excited expression:
“Really, Master? No take backs?”
That settled their duel. Shortly after, Felix and Liam stood facing each other.
Although his face was gaunt, Felix thought he could at least beat someone who had just graduated from the academy at seventeen.
He took his stance with his sword.
At the same time, Liam also took his stance.
But something felt strange.
‘Fresh academy graduate…?’
Woong!
A clear sword sound rang from Liam’s blade.
Whoosh!
Liam’s powerful sword strike, characteristic of his long reach, struck at Felix.
“Ugh!”
Felix barely blocked Liam’s sword and regained his balance.
He changed his mindset.
‘Damn it, fresh graduate my ass!’
Pride didn’t matter anymore.
Felix immediately used the Paladin inherited swordsmanship.
Whoosh!
As Felix’s heavy attack extended, Liam stepped back and looked for an opening with irregular attacks.
Watching their contrasting sword styles, Zeke smiled in amusement.
‘How ironic that light-looking Felix uses classical traditional swordsmanship, while heavy-looking Liam uses irregular swordsmanship.’
As he expected, their skills were nearly equal.
But since their sword styles were completely opposite, they would likely be good stimulation for each other.
“Eek!”
Despite his frivolous sounds, Felix demonstrated proper sword strikes from formal styles like the Paladin inherited swordsmanship and Agamemnon imperial swordsmanship.
Liam, who had slightly looked down on Felix’s light attitude, was also internally surprised.
‘His sword is solid.’
That meant his fundamentals were strong.
Having trained under his Arch Paladin grandfather since childhood and received the Aura Transmission, Felix naturally had solid fundamentals.
Clang!
After several hundred exchanges, both visibly showed depleted stamina.
“Huff. Huff.”
“Hah. Hah.”
Aura or not, they were both at their limit.
The two put their all into a final decisive move with their swords.
Whoosh!
That’s when it happened.
Liam, who was charging in quickly, appeared to strike Felix’s sword but instead dropped his own sword and rushed into Felix’s space.
“Huk!”
Felix, who had mainly trained in traditional swordsmanship, had never even considered dropping a sword during a duel.
Liam grabbed Felix’s legs using pankration techniques and took him down.
Then he grabbed Felix’s back and choked his neck.
“Keh!”
Felix, who had never learned pankration techniques, struggled in pain as his carotid artery was compressed.
Watching this, Zeke called out.
“Stop!”
At Zeke’s command, Liam immediately released the choke.
“Cough! Cough!”
Felix barely regained his senses while coughing violently.
Zeke looked at Felix and said.
“Felix, you lost.”
“Uurgh.”
Exhausted, Felix sprawled out in the garden.
Zeke was confident that Liam and Felix could fill in each other’s weak points.
Just then, Farrell approached where Zeke was.
“Sir Zeke!”
“Sir Farrell. What brings you here?”
Farrell handed Zeke a note.
“What is this?”
“News from a friend in Atlas.”
Zeke unfolded and read the note Farrell handed him.
He nodded.
“So Reina Draker is also participating in the martial arts tournament.”
“Since anyone above Purple Knight rank can participate, it seems House Tourn urgently registered Reina Draker’s participation.”
Zeke looked at Liam standing behind him and said:
“You heard that, Liam. Reina is participating in the tournament.”
He told Liam.
“Liam, you’ll also enter the tournament. Your goal is to defeat Reina.”
Farrell was shocked at those words.
“Sir Zeke! Reina Draker is from House Tourn and a pure-blooded awakened one. Though young, she’s one of the powerful favorites to win…”
Zeke grinned and said to Liam.
“You heard that, Liam. Work even harder.”
Liam bowed to Zeke with eyes full of determined will.
“Understood, my lord!”
Watching Liam, Felix and Farrell lost their words with blank expressions.
‘As expected of Sir Zeke. His thinking is completely different from ordinary people.’
‘Why did I agree to follow him?. Ugh ,I want to turn back time.’
* * *
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The day of the preliminary rounds for the Draker martial arts tournament arrived. Young knights and their house’s standard bearers gathered noisily at the assembly point on the outskirts of Atlas.
They waved larger and more elaborate flags as if trying to show off their houses and gain psychological advantage.
That’s when…
Thud!
A group of riders approached, leading military horses with massive builds.
An emblem with a huge bull engraved on it.
“It’s….it’s House Tourn!”
Among Draker’s blood allies, they were the most militant house with powerful physiques.
In the center of the Tourn house riders, Reina Draker, known as a genius pureblood awakener, arrived at the assembly point riding a massive warhorse.
When she appeared, riders from other houses exchanged glances and held their breath.
The intimidating presence of House Tourn’s knights with their barbarian-like massive builds was suffocating.
Then, following House Tourn, carriages and riders from another house entered.
An emblem showing two snakes biting each other’s tails.
“It’s Jiemens!”
The carriage bearing the Jiemens emblem stopped, and a young man with ash-gray hair and albino eyes stepped out.
Looking around, he said.
“Hmph, quite a lot of worthless rabble gathered here.”
Though he spoke arrogantly without hesitation, the riders from other houses backed away without a word when they saw Edward Jiemens.
Then, Edward spotted Reina and approached her.
“Reina! It’s been a while.”
As Edward approached, the knights of House Tourn standing behind Reina became alert.
Edward smirked and said.
“Can’t even say hello? How dare mere Tourn house lackeys glare at a direct descendant of Jiemens.”
Reina raised her hand to make the knights back off.
She bowed her head to Edward in greeting.
“It has been a while.”
“What a shame you came all this way. I’ll be taking the victory in this martial tournament.”
To those words, Reina said to Edward.
“Edward. You should be careful. I heard that person is also participating in this tournament.”
“What? Are you lecturing me?”
“Yes.”
Edward’s cheek twitched as he made a fierce expression.
“Who here could possibly stop me? You, Reina, who just became a purple knight? With mere pureblood awakening?”
“Not me. That person is…”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Just then, several people entered the assembly point on horseback.
Without any house emblem or riders, only about four people arrived directly on horseback.
The one at the front dismounted.
“Phew. Barely made it in time.”
Following him, Liam, Felix, and Farrell dismounted.
Zeke raised his hand in greeting when he saw Reina standing face to face with Edward.
“Long time no see, Reina.”
Seeing Zeke for the first time in 2 years, Reina’s expression hardened.
Seeing Reina’s reaction, Edward cracked his neck and approached Zeke.
“Huh. So. This pathetic guy without even a sponsor house is the one I should be careful of. Is that it?”
Edward stood in front of Zeke.
“Kid. I am Edward Jiemens.”
Edward thrust his face toward Zeke and said.
“Trash like you without a sponsor house doesn’t deserve to be here. Just quietly get lost.”
That’s when it happened.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
From far away came the sound of something approaching that shook the ground.
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