“I, Arnold Lakes Adler, the Seventh Prince of the Empire have come to seek an audience with you, Your Majesty the King of Rondine.”

“Oh, Prince Arnold. I’m glad that you came. I heard that your little brother’s ship was hit by a storm. I pray for his safety.”

“Thank you very much.”

Leonard greeted the King of Rondine as Arnold.

The King of Rondine is a plump man with a splendid mustache and beard. His age should be around the late forty.

His name is Carlo di Rondine.

He continues waging war against Albatro ever since his father’s generation. When he noticed that Albatro has been seeking cooperation from other nations in order to fight, he personally sent a goodwill ambassador to the Empire to ask for the Empire’s cooperation, this man is the person who created the reason for their visit this time.

“This is sudden but, Prince Arnold. Since your brother is absent, I assume that the head of your mission here is now you, correct?”

“Yes, that is so.”

Leo only answers the question without saying anything more than necessary.

This was the point that Elna who is now kneeling behind him repeatedly reminded him of.

However, the world is not so kind that it would let him off with just that.

“Very well then, can I hear the Emperor’s reply?”

Saying so, King Rondine got down from his throne.

The Principality of Rondine was seeking the Empire’s assistance to fight against the Principality of Albatro.

The Emperor’s response was a no. However, among the various gifts the Empire brought are weapons and their blueprints. Although the official response was negative, the Emperor had no intention to cut ties with Rondine. That was his intended answer but most of the weapons were loaded on the ship Al was riding on and everything has already sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Leo wondered how to answer and give him a safe reply he prepared in advance.

“Regarding that, I want Your Majesty to hear it from one of our imperial knights herself. Elna.”

“Yes. How do you do, Your Majesty. I am Elna von Amsberg, Commander of the Third Corps of the Imperial Knight Order.”

“A, Amsberg…..the rumored prodigy of the Brave house huh….th, this is surprising. I heard that you would be accompanied by the Imperial Knights but I never thought……..”

“Your Majesty did not expect the wielder of the Holy Sword to come here herself, correct?”

The King of Rondine repeatedly nodded at Elna’s words.

Elna, on the other hand, returns his surprise with a smile to relax the tension.

From her outside appearance, Elna is a lovely and beautiful girl so her smile lightly softens the atmosphere.

“Please rest assured. I can not use the Holy Sword outside of the Empire’s territory.”

“W, well, it’s not that I doubt you or anything…..I apologize if I offended you somehow.”

“No, I understand well that the Brave house of Amsberg is such an existence. And this is the answer. Your Majesty.”

“Wh, what do you mean….? Can you explain this to me?”

Elna begins explaining to the King of Rondine who can’t make sense of this situation.

“Our Empire is a military superpower. For the Empire to make a move would mean that a high-ranking general such as myself would also be dispatched. To put it simply, the Empire can easily destroy both your country and the Principality of Albatro, Your Majesty.”

“Y, Yeah, that’s right. I understand that.”

“As expected of Your Majesty. You are really wise. However, our Empire also has its rivals. If the Empire officially sent me here as a reinforcement for your country, our rival will also send a reinforcement to assist Albatro as well. If that’s the case, the only future waiting for both countries would be exhaustion and eventually the destruction of the south.”

“Th, that’s…..”

“Unfortunately, that’s our answer, Your Majesty. Because our Empire is too strong, if we make a move, other nations will also respond in kind. Therefore, His Imperial Majesty can not agree to your request. Especially when your nation is the dominant one in this conflict.”

“U, Umu….As expected of His Imperial Majesty. He even included the situation of the continent in his decision. However, it would be hard for my country to defeat the Principality of Albatro alone. There are other countries that give them assistance after all.”

Elna nods.

Of course, Elna and Leo are aware of that. That’s why they brought weapons and blueprints with them as a gift to imply to Rondine that they have to settle with this but as long as Elna and Leo don’t have that, they can only stay silent.

“Of course, I am aware of that. That’s why the Emperor is hoping that we can continue our friendly relationship while we provide you the assistance you need little by little. As a start of that, the Emperor sent me to Your Majesty’s side this time. This is to show you the military might of the Empire. Will this be acceptable? Your Majesty, are you interested in testing the power of a hero’s descendant?”

“OH! So that is the case! That is great!”

Finally aware of our intention, King Rondine’s expression brightened.

After all, If they were refused by the Empire then they have to make a huge adjustment to their course of action.

The Principality of Rondine can no longer defeat Albatro alone. It wouldn’t be impossible if they take their time but the King finds that unacceptable.

The King wanted to unite the south within his generation. If he can’t do that then his country wouldn’t be able to beat the countries in the central part of the continent which keeps on growing bigger and bigger and will eventually get swallowed up by them.

For that reason, the plan of becoming the King of a unified southern country has been engraved in his mind. It was certainly an ambitious plan but this was also because he wanted to protect the south.

To this King Rondine, he absolutely wants to witness the power of the hero’s descendant, humanity’s strongest.

“Umu, But you know, we don’t have anyone who can compete with you one on one in our country. So, Prince Arnold. Can our side have more than one fighter?”

“If the person herself doesn’t have a problem with it then I won’t object.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I see, I see. Then how about 10 people from our side? That should be suitable for a person of your caliber.”

“Understood. 10 people it is.”

Elna carefreely accepted.

The King did not think that she would accept it so easily but since nothing good would come out from changing the terms now, he called out 10 skilled knights who are stationing in the castle.

Thus, inside the space made in front of the throne, a 1 v 10 battle began.

“OOOOOHHHHH! !”

The first person who moved was a large-framed knight.

He charged in with a practice sword but from Elna’s point of view, he was full of openings.

While thinking that, she would thoroughly retrain him if he is her subordinate, she lightly hit his sword.

The practice sword the large-framed knight is carrying was cut in half in the middle with a dry breaking sound.

“Eh……?”

“I’d recommend that you come at me all at once you know?”

The large-framed knight’s face turned blue like he was cut by a sharp blade.

Disregarding him, Elna glances at the 9 remaining knights.

For a moment, the knights were frightened by Elna’s gaze but soon they recalled that they were standing in front of their King so they mustered up their courage.

First, three of them simultaneously come to attack her from three different directions.

From Elna’s point of view, their attacks were so slow that she could yawn, she cut all the approaching practice swords in the middle at the same time.

Seeing the practice swords get cut in half by Elna who is also using a practice sword again, the remaining knights unconsciously stepped back. Seeing them like that, Elna shouted at the knights.

“IF YOU ARE A KNIGHT THEN DON’T EVER TAKE A STEP BACK IN FRONT OF YOUR LORD! PEOPLE WILL SAY THAT THERE’S NO KNIGHT IN RONDINE YOU KNOW!”

“Y. YES! We are coming! “

Like an instructor training her pupils.

That’s what Leo thought as he looked at the scene.

The knights who were shouted at approach Elna without fear. And for the first time, Elna blocks their swords.

That alone brings out the shout of joy from the Rondine side.

However, that was staged by Elna. The only ones who noticed that are probably Leo and Elna’s subordinates.

Showing them the overwhelming might then slightly holding back to let them save face. This is the technique that the imperial knights often use when they have a noble as their opponent.

Fortunately, no one on Rondine’s side noticed that.

Relieved, Leo let out a small sigh while thinking how much longer will this continue for.

“I wonder if Nii-san is having a hard time over there too………”

He mutters that with a voice that no one can hear it but himself.

For Leo, Al has always been a great brother who can do things that he cannot do.

As a child, there was a tree that no one could climb. Among the children, they were talking about who would be the first who can climb that tree. Leo was training earnestly to climb it but no one, not even Leo was able to do it and eventually the tree climbing fad passed.

However, shortly after that, Leo found a small bird injured on the top of that tree.

However, Leo couldn’t help it because he couldn’t get to the bird.

At that time, Al passed by and asked him what’s wrong. Then, he told him to wait at the tree and disappeared somewhere.

After a while, Al came back and easily helped it. He gets it healed and brought it back to its nest.

Al solved the situation by borrowing a valuable magic tool that allows you to float in mid-air, without permission.

That was how Al solved the situation in a way that Leo couldn’t even imagine. If it is that brother of his then he would be able to easily act like him.

Thinking so, Leo focuses on himself.

He decided to act out this good for nothing role with all his power.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like