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Side Story Chapter 251

Iceline, the First Queen Consort and Selim’s biological mother, was an upright person, so she also felt bad about it; she believed that it wasn’t fair that Selim got to receive a much more valuable gift.

Of course, Kireua didn’t think that in the slightest. One son had zero talent in the spear, and another son was a genius spearman comparable to the Martial God. Kireua himself would have chosen the latter.

‘Her Majesty spent months upgrading the Deon Ring that His Majesty had given me.’

The magic artifact upgrade was done by a master craftswoman, so the Deon Ring could now be considered the Imperial Family of Sanders’s treasure, not something inherited from the Agnus Family.

“You look…” Isaac blinked at Kireua.

As that could be expected from her reaction, Kireua looked a lot different after the shroud of light around him disappeared. Mysterious runes were engraved all over the white armor, and his helmet, which seemed to be seamlessly joined to the rest of the armor, completed his formidable ensemble. Kireua’s cape, which used to be red, had turned translucent; it was unclear what the cape was made from.

“White Knight…?” one of the knights blankly murmured.

The knight quickly went quiet after seeing black fire suddenly rising from Kireua. The two contrasting colors slowly harmonized.

“Oh…”

The Avalon knights exclaimed without realizing it. Kireua looked as overpowering as Isaac, surely not less.

“It’s still just an artifact.” Isaac muttered. She clenched her fists. Her Draconic Armor was a priceless treasure made from dragon scales, each one of which was worth thousands of gold—and yet Isaac couldn’t break through Kireua’s defenses even despite the apparent qualitative difference.

“No matter how good the materials are, human-made gauntlets can’t compare to a dwarven’ masterwork.”

“…What?”

“It’s said that materials and tools don’t matter to a true master of their craft.”

Kireua grinned, revealing his canines. He could feel his confidence rising now that he was clad in the love of a woman who cared for Kireua like her own blood.

“No one can defeat me now.”

Kireua swung his sword.

Isaac\'s eyes widened.

‘I’ll stop this one first!’

She would counterattack right afterward. Their fight was as good as over once she successfully delivered her counterattack—that was how lethal the dragon blood on her armor was to humans.

The moment the sword and her armored fist met each other, Isaac gasped. The runes on the armor’s surface sparkled and she felt an odd sensation in the leg she’d set forward to throw the punch.

‘Twine…?’

Twine was a Third Circle spell that was notoriously tricky to deal with. It caused ensorcelled tree roots to seek out the target and restrict their movement. However, this particular Twine had more to it.

‘What in the world…?’

The dragon blood on Isaac’s Draconic Armor was bubbling in response to the runes for some reason. Isaac stared, bewildered.

“From now on, we’re going to fight with only our skills, not our fancy items.” Kireua smirked.

“…You cheeky shit!” Isaac threw a left kick up high and trapped Kireua’s sword between her legs; then she spun around like a windmill on her hands. Naturally, given the strength difference between arms and legs, Kireua lost his grip on his sword.

Isaac’s smile died on her lips when she suddenly felt extreme pain in her thigh.

“…Ugh!” She staggered. What in the world had happened? She had clearly seen Kireua lose hold of his weapon, so she couldn’t figure out where this pain was coming from

Her eyes found their way back to Kireua.

“Mi-Mind Sword…?” Isaac’s eyes gradually widened as it sank in. Kireua was holding something long and translucent. It wasn’t complete, but it was definitely the Mind Sword.

‘Impossible!’

Isaac’s shock was only natural. Cain de Harry, a man who had been focused on cultivating his sword skill for decades, was one thing, but Kireua wasn’t him—he was just a boy in his twenties. Only an advanced Master could use the Mind Sword!

‘Besides, wasn’t the Second Prince of Avalon supposed to be a halfwit with no talent until not too long ago…?’

The First Prince of Avalon was called a genius among geniuses, so Isaac wouldn’t be as surprised as she was right now if she had been fighting him.

“P-Prince Kireua can use the Mind Sword…?”

“It’s… a lot shorter and blurrier than Sir Cain’s, but it’s the Mind Sword without a doubt.”

“In-Incredible…”

The nearby knights were even more surprised than Isaac. As they were walking on a similar path as Kireua, they knew how remarkable an accomplishment this was.

“This means… that we made the right choice, yes?”

The five nobles that had chosen to join Kireua\'s mission instead of Selim’s were over the moon. While they hadn’t made the choice purely to support Kireua—they had to go through the Black Monster Forest to find the missing youths—

‘…But this is turning out better than I originally expected. To be honest, I thought he was insane when he first proposed assassinating the emperor of Hubalt…’

The only reason that they were able to come this far was that Cain, the Combat Emperor, was with them. If Kireua had told them about his plan without Cain, they wouldn\'t have even pretended to listen to him—but they had to admit it now. Even without the Combat Emperor by his side, the Second Prince of Avalon was strong; a true son of the mighty Martial God!

“Ohaaaaaaaaa!”

“Yeahhhhhh!”

One of the knights clenched his fists and let out a cheer. The thrill spread to the other knights like wildfire. Even the noble lords couldn’t help themselves from joining in.

Cain took in the sight and smiled contently. ‘…I\'m proud of you, Kireua.’

His face was still pale, but, to see that Kireua earned the nobles’ sincere loyalty, he couldn\'t be happier.

‘This is just the beginning, Your Highness. Once we finish the mission and go home, you\'ll be able to compete with His Highness Selim in earnest.’

Of course, before that happened, they would have to wade through piles of enemies.

Isaac distanced herself twenty meters away from Kireua, clawing for breath. Her right thigh was covered in blood. Surprisingly, the Mind Sword could pierce through dragon scales, which were supposed to be the sturdiest material in the world. It should have been impossible with Kireua\'s insufficient mastery of the Mind Sword…

“…Shit,” Isaac swore.

Kireua\'s ebon flame, the disgusting, unnatural flames of the Demon Realm, would burn anything they came into contact with. Isaac\'s Draconic Armor was no exception.

“I don\'t think you can keep fighting like that… Do you really want to see this fight to the end?”

“…One leg will be enough to kill you,” Isaac hissed, her teeth bared.

“Will it, though?”

Before the words had even left his lips, Kireua disappeared. Isaac was already jabbing her elbow at him when he reappeared behind her, but,

‘I responded too slow!’

Isaac bit her lip. As expected, her thigh injury was being a problem. Her arm moved much slower than she had expected it to.

“Ugh!” Isaac groaned.

In contrast to Kireua, who brought his full power to bear, Isaac’s counter was weak and hastily executed. The winner of this exchange was obvious.

Kireua still had more surprises for her, though. His translucent cape fluttered wildly, suddenly enveloping both him and Isaac.

“What… is the meaning of this?”

“It looked like we needed to have a talk in private.”

This was another ability that the First Queen Consort had installed in the Deon Ring during her upgrades. She told Kireua that she had been thinking of the Emperor of Avalon as she had created it.

The cape perfectly separated the people within from the outside world. Its occupants could see outside, but those outside couldn\'t see or hear a thing. What exactly Queen Consort Iceline had been thinking of doing with the Emperor of Avalon when she’d come up with this…

‘…is none of my business! Get a hold of yourself!’ Kireua told himself. He slapped his cheeks and cleared his throat to return his attention to the matter at hand. “You’re not happy about it, are you?”

“What?”

“You don’t like the fact that Bel is your fiance,” Kireua clarified.

Isaac had said that her engagement had been decided before her birth, so Kireua was certain that Isaac’s engagement was entirely the Martial Emperor’s doing.

Isaac frowned. “You know nothing…!”

“I saw the look on your face when you were talking about Bel.”

“What?”

“No one in the world can talk about their loved ones with as little emotion as you did,” Kireua pointed out.

Isaac fell silent.

“How about we make a new deal?”

“What kind of deal?” Isaac asked.

“I can’t trust someone who takes a promise so lightly, so let’s put it in writing—no, I guess the document will be left in our souls.”

What Kireua was thinking of was, obviously, another Mana Pledge.

Isaac smiled crookedly. “Do you think you’ve won? I think you’re misunderstanding something here—”

“No, you will form a pledge with me.”

Isaac knew that Kireua had had a silver tongue, so she wasn’t interested in letting him talk.

“Oh, oh. Calm down and hear me out.”

Just then, Anna arrived at the site.

“Hey! Kireua!” she immediately screamed.

“That lady over there used to be just like you.”

A wide smile crept onto Kireua’s lips. He had a plan to make Isaac his second loyal servant—no, reliable left-hand woman.