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Start Normally, Finally Be Extraordinary (2)
Arwen couldn’t help but admire the First Prince as the apprentices rolled over in succession.
How long has it been since we parted ways?
On top of that, he was now facing an official Templar Knight.
She was excited to hear the sound of the wind as the swords swung, and powerful metal sound as they clashed.
However, instead of those amazing sounds, she only heard stupid words.
“This is the seventeenth work of the Master Swordsmith…”
“This is the 100th work of the master…”
The Prince and Dunham seemed to be competing about who had the best sword.
“I never heard that the master crafted his 100th sword…”
“He had. He finished it just a few days ago.”
“I heard the last one he released was his 70th, over a year ago.”
It was so childish to compare whose sword was better.
“Before he was able to finish this sword, he had melted quite a few of his works.”
Dunham looked at it and looked resentful.
It was absurd. They were grown-ups, but they were like snot-nosed kids comparing toys in the playground.
“If you can’t believe it, send someone to Count Ellen and ask,” the Prince added.
“Is that for real? Is that really the master’s final work?”
How long should they be doing this insignificant exchange?
“It is. And if you beat me, it will be yours.”
Dunham’s expression changed by the Prince’s provocation.
“Hwaahaaak-!”
As he yelled, energy could be felt in all directions.
He revealed his considerable power. His expression was as serious as ever.
The Prince smiled.
“Although you took the wrong path, I know that you endured a lot to reach that level,” he remarked.
She knew that the Prince had a mana heart, and he found it superior to mana rings. As he beat several opponents with mana rings, it seemed that his mana heart was indeed superior.
“I would like to express my respect to Your Highness by doing my best in this battle.”
Suddenly, Dunham’s sword was covered with a strange light. It was evident that it contained a lot of mana.
“Ha, respect…” the Prince laughed. “That sounds good.”
He had a peculiar smile.
“If only my people respected me…”
The Prince turn around. Arwen flinched as she saw the Prince’s expression.
However, the Prince’s gaze was not directed at her.
“Adelia.”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“Watch carefully.”
“I will.”
The Prince turned to Dunham once more, gripping his sword tight.
“This is how your skills would be in the future.”
The Prince rushed in.
* * *
“How many have come before us?”
Count Bale Balahard asked, to which York Willowden responded with an insignificant tone.
“You’re the fourth.”
Bale frowned. York Willowden continued.
“While the First Prince was locked up in that palace, the Third and the Fifth Prince visited, and just a while ago, the Second Prince also came. The Fourth Prince has not come. Probably he won’t be coming at all. Because he’s not interested at the throne.”
York Willowden kept his relaxed expression as he held a teacup to his lips.
“So…”
“The knights haven’t chosen yet.”
“I’m not here to discuss their choice…”
“It’s not good for you to say that.”
There was an edge in Bale’s tone, which York criticized.
“Aren’t things this way because of your choice? If the Commander of the Third Legion had supported him, neither the nobles nor the other princes would be in the positions they are now.”
“I am a simple soldier. All I have to do is defend the border, not politics.”
“Then go and defend the border. Don’t pretend to be a political noble.”
Bale shut his mouth at that. He knew it was partly his fault why the First Prince had been considered an outcast amongst the nobles and the knights.
But he had an excuse.
He thought his nephew was too stupid to be a king. He had been so ferocious in announcing it because he knew that the First Prince would be cancer to the kingdom.
His nephew wasn’t just incompetent. He was explosive, greedy, and terribly impulsive.
Of course, he tried to heal his nephew’s rot.
However, his efforts didn’t bear any fruit, and he only earned his nephew’s grudge.
At one point, he pulled his drunk nephew out of bed and struck him hard.
However, instead of the Prince learning his lesson, he tried to stab his uncle one day.
Bale realized then that his nephew could not be saved.
Disappointed and frustrated, he returned to the north.
Soon after, he received a gift from his nephew.
Poisoned liquor that shamelessly came with an enclosed letter.
Bale drank it, nevertheless. The cheap poison was burned by his mana. Along with the poison, his affection for his nephew, his blood and flesh, burned off.
It was only for the love of his sister that he agreed to meet his nephew again.
[To leave a child in the midst of the time when he needs a foundation… the king is showing the intention to leave him out as a legitimate successor.]
If that happened, the queen said, it would kill her.
If he refused her, she said, he would be taking her life.
So, even if he hated him, he went back to the palace.
He had no expectations that his nephew would change, and he had no affection left for him to want him to change.
All he wanted was to make him lose a little weight, then go back to the north.
However, the stupid creature he believed would never change did the impossible.
He started to change.
He endured the hard training and improved day after day.
He couldn’t tell if it was because of the loss of memory, or from being brought back from the brink of death. The only thing that matters was that his nephew has finally changed.
He thought that he had burned off all his affection along with the poison, but it seems that remnants remained.
He knew that he had to start over and help the Prince regain the rights that were originally his.
That’s why he wanted to reach out to the Templar Knights once more.
“You said it directly with your mouth,” York Willowden couldn’t hide the frustration from his voice. “You told us that the First Prince should never be a king.”
Bale let York’s cold voice pierce his ears.
“And now, you are acting like you are his guardian!”
Bang-!
York Willowden struck the table.
“What happened to everything we had planned over the last few years? If it’s going to be like this now, you shouldn’t have done that in the beginning. Have you ever thought about how confused the kingdom will be with your sudden change of heart?”
Bale had nothing to say because York Willowden’s words were true.
If the Commander of the Third Legion intervenes once more in the new structure of succession, there will be confusion.
But nevertheless, he would stand by his decision now.
“It was bad judgment,” he admitted, as he looked straight into York Willowden’s eyes.
His great friend. A knight of the Quad Chain, one of the five gifted ones like him.
“And now, I am correcting it.”
The person his nephew needs the most.
“Please give him a chance… at least so he can stand on the succession line along with the other princes.”
Bale bowed to York, who was astonished at what just happened.
Bale was a proud warrior who never bowed to anyone except His Majesty, the King.
“Please,” Bale kept his lowered head down.
York Willowden sighed. “I don’t know… did you change, or has the First Prince changed?”
His tone was gentler this time.
Bale didn’t answer.
“Let me think about it first,” York told him.
Suddenly, the door burst open.
“Sir Willowden!”
A breathless knight rushed in.
“What a fuss! You are disturbing us!”
However, it seems that the knight had something more important to do than to take the reproach of his leader.
“You have to come out, Sir!”
“What the hell…”
“It’s because of our visitor!”
At those words, Bale jumped out of his seat.
“Let’s go. Tell me about the situation as we walk.”
York Willowden stood up and hurried off with them.
* * *
“What the hell were you thinking?!”
The knight trembled as York Willowden’s temper flared.
He had just told them that the First Prince and Dunham Fahrenheit had started a battle with real swords.
“What the hell are we going to get out of it?!”
Victory will not increase the knights’ honor, and if the Prince suffers a wound, it would be him, York Willowden, who was in charge of the fortress, who would be accountable.
“Don’t worry,” York turned to Bale. “If it was Dunham, he’s pretty talented. He would know how much power he could use, and when to stop… but why the hell is he so stupid!”
Bale Balahard responded briefly, “Oh no, I’m not the one who should be worried right now.”
York Willowden looked confused, “What?”
“It’s you, not me, who should be worrying.”
York Willowden frowned as Bale continued.
“I fought the First Prince a while ago… and I had to use the Aura Blade in sparring.”
York’s eyes widened in shock. What is this man saying?!
“You should pray that your knight wasn’t hurt.”
“That’s really weird,” York Willowden said, his complexion turning pale.
They quickened their steps. They had to stop the battle before anyone gets hurt.
However, it seems that they were too late.
“Wow!”
As they reached the grounds, they heard the crowd shouting.
“Ahhhhh!”
Then, they saw a screaming figure flying.
York rubbed his eyes.
He knew that flying figure.
Only
It crashed to the ground with its tongue hanging out and with its eyes half-closed.
That bloody mess on the ground was a Templar Knight.
What happened?
York Willowden looked around. Knights clad in iron, shouting in excitement, oblivious that their Commander had come.
The First Prince was standing in the middle of the crowd, holding a longsword. The Prince was in good shape, his shoulders heaving up and down as if he was out of breath, but without any wound or scratches.
“Didn’t I tell you,” York heard Bale Balahard’s amused voice, “that I had to use the Aura Blade?”
The Prince suddenly shouted before Bale’s words even sunk in.
“Next!”