Chapter 117
Chapter: 117
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 117
>Chapter Title: Scarpino (4)
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>After a prolonged back-and-forth, the two finally reached a dramatic compromise.
Seongjin's ceremonial robes had been adjusted to a rather subdued hue. Amelia just couldn't let go of that "Black Devil of Delcros" concept after all.
As for Amelia herself—overcoming Madam Justine's desperate opposition that a completely black dress would look too shabby—she settled on a bold red fabric.
Either way, it was definitely something thirty million light-years removed from what the madam called this year's trends.
"I'm... I'm Delcros's top designer.... I absolutely cannot bear the stigma of being outdated! Come on, think about it! There's no concept I can't tailor, no design I can't bring to life. I'll make it work...!"
Gone was her usual drawn-out tone that grated on people's nerves. The madam was now furiously sketching in her design book with hollow eyes. And beside her, Amelia sipped her warm tea with a satisfied expression.
Sister Amelia, you're tough!
In all sorts of ways.
"The initial design seemed pretty good too, Sis."
Seongjin pushed some cookies toward her as he spoke.
Truth be told, even to Seongjin, who knew nothing about fashion, Amelia in that first mock-up dress had looked as lovely as a single white flower petal blooming.
At that, Amelia gave a smile that somehow felt bittersweet.
"Yeah. He said the same thing. On the day I wore that dress, he told me I was like a single silver rose glistening with morning dew. Back then, I firmly believed it was sincere."
Her eyes darkened, as if lost in some distant memory.
"...It's hard to explain, Mores, but this birthday celebration means a lot to me. That's why it has to be different from back then. I don't want to become that version of myself again—the one who did something she'd regret forever."
"......"
Amelia was like this sometimes. Worrying about things that hadn't even happened yet, as if regretting mistakes from long ago.
Wondering if it might poke at some unhealed deep wound, Seongjin found it hard to pry.
"...This dress will turn out great too. It'll definitely suit you, Sis."
"Yeah, I'm trusting Madam Justine's eye. That said, it might take me a bit longer. Why don't you head back first?"
"No, I'll wait. I'll just take a quick look around downstairs."
Seongjin left the private room, leaving Amelia and her guards behind.
[Why? Something up?]
The Demon King asked curiously as Seongjin moved purposefully.
'Yeah, there's some guy downstairs that's been bugging me.'
He hadn't just said it for show. Ever since earlier, an incredibly irritating presence from below had made his body itch.
It was the presence of a pretty strong Aura user.
The Aura activation was decent. Not quite at senior knight level yet, but that domineering aura could make even imperial palace senior knights yield a step.
But this wasn't a training ground or battlefield. Flaunting his hostility so openly—what the hell was this guy doing? Looking for a fight?
They say rice bends lower as it ripens; the higher one's cultivation, the more carefully one restrains their presence.
Yet here in the imperial capital, where strong Aura users roamed, this guy was shamelessly broadcasting his existence. What gave him that confidence?
He must have sensed me or the guards, but he's still going at it. He's picking a fight with me, right? Right?
[...Hey, why are you grinning like that? You're making me uneasy for no reason....]
'What?'
[.......]
Why's this guy shivering now?
Following the presence, he walked a short distance.
Then came the voice of a woman trembling in fear.
"...I don't understand why you're doing this to me all of a sudden. What exactly are you trying to say?"
Followed by a man's voice, cold enough to kill any affection.
"I'm asking for your firm confirmation on the promise of silence."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb! You must have heard something from the young master, right?"
At the end of an empty corridor stood a young man and woman facing each other.
The woman was pale and pressed against the wall, while a burly youth loomed over her, unleashing his full Aura to bear down aggressively.
"You'd better not test my patience, Lady Scarpino."
Seongjin was momentarily dumbfounded.
This guy was pulling this on a regular person? Someone without Aura would be utterly terrified, clueless.
Look at her. She's on the verge of tears.
'Should we just leave it?'
[Ignore it. It's between a man and a woman, right? It might just be some simple lovers' quarrel despite appearances.]
'...Huh?'
Lately, the Demon King's sense of normalcy felt surprisingly human sometimes.
'Even if it's a lovers' spat, it looks like it's about to turn into a crime scene any second.'
But Seongjin didn't need to debate intervening.
The youth suddenly whipped around with murderous eyes and snarled at him.
"Stop skulking like a rat and get lost!"
Swoosh.
An invisible wave of killing intent surged from him.
So violent was the pressure that any half-baked Aura user would've frozen like a mouse before a snake or even wet themselves.
Seongjin casually stepped forward into a stance, curling his lips.
'...This bastard?'
Now that he saw the youth up close, Seongjin somewhat understood his confidence.
The kid was ridiculously young for his cultivation level.
And the strength emanating from this youth far surpassed mere Aura activation.
The type they call a genius. The kind who accomplishes twice as much with the same amount of Aura as others.
"Squire... no, junior knight level, huh. Not bad."
The youth, surprised by Seongjin's nonchalant reaction contrary to expectations, spoke up.
Turning from the woman, he stepped forward, hand on his sword hilt.
"I'll commend your guts for not running. But you're no match for me. Get lost while I'm asking nicely."
No, he couldn't do that. The woman's eyes had widened like saucers upon recognizing Seongjin.
Whoever she was, she knew Mores.
"You should ease up yourself. What's with cornering someone who's not even an Aura user?"
"...Know your place before sticking your nose in, brat."
The youth advanced another step, ramping up his pressure.
Behind him, the woman seemed to want to say something, her pale face mouthing words, but his presence crushed her voice entirely.
"Hmm......"
I don't care much for these kinds of warnings, but courtesy calls for it.
"I'll warn you. If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be acting like this."
The youth scoffed.
"Ridiculous. That's my line."
Even accounting for not recognizing Mores's face, his confidence suggested he was some great noble.
"I never thought there'd be someone in the capital who doesn't know me. A foreigner?"
"...So that's your confidence? You're delusional like some celebrity."
"Celeb—what?"
"Your head's not right."
"...I won't warn you twice. I don't want to waste effort on a brat, so scram while you can!"
For all his words, the youth—Orden—was inwardly flustered.
He appeared to just be glaring steadily, but inside, his Aura was constantly shifting: from Five Forms Eight Styles to Seven Forms Two Styles, back to Five Forms Five Styles, then Eight Forms Eight Styles....
He had no intention of drawing his sword yet—just planning to crush the arrogant kid with presence alone.
'...It won't connect!'
No matter how fiercely he pressed or probed, he couldn't find an opening.
It made no sense. The boy's Aura activation was clearly only junior knight level at best.
The absolute gap in Aura quantity between junior and senior knights surpassed that between child and adult.
And yet...
The boy was parrying Orden's pressure effortlessly, responding perfectly. Even the seasoned knights of Zigsmunt territory couldn't handle his presence that fluidly.
And strangest of all.
'The distance is off...!'
To Orden, the truly dangerous points didn't align with the boy's sword range.
Meaning the boy's most confident spacing wasn't his sword interval at all.
'What the hell is this kid? Where did he even come from!?'
Orden broke into a cold sweat, quietly gripping his sword hilt.
Meanwhile, despite his outwardly relaxed face, Seongjin was rapidly racking his brain for a way out of this bind.
'Still not enough. My Aura's too low!'
He couldn't overwhelm even this obvious guy— a blow to Hunter Sung Jin's pride.
He'd thought he'd built Aura quickly so far, but apparently a few months of training weren't enough against top-tier talents yet.
Just matching the guy's pressure was already causing minor pains throughout his body. Forcing Aura operation.
Against someone near senior knight level, Seongjin's total Aura was simply too little.
-There's only one way to solve this. Get so strong you never have to push yourself like this again.
Back then, he'd thought it a half-hearted remark, but Logan had been right.
If the guy just attacked outright, he could manage somehow, but this pressure contest favored the opponent as time dragged on, forcing Seongjin into overexertion.
'...Damn it!'
Matching the shifting pressure gathered Aura in his arms and left leg, now his shoulders and knees creaked. Seongjin grew anxious.
'At this rate, the Holy Emperor's gonna chew me out big time again today.'
Splash!
Then. As he forcibly gathered Aura, causing a temporary depletion around his chest, a faint ripple lapped like wetting water.
'This...!'
The Aura filling Seongjin's channels.
The massive amount the Holy Emperor had stuffed in during that Aura storm in the palace garden remained, strangely retaining water-like properties, filling his channels without mixing with surrounding or his moving Aura—clumped purely.
But Aura was Aura.
Until now, he'd left it alone per the Holy Emperor's words.
'Maybe...'
Observing inward, he cautiously willed it. A ripple formed on the surface, a droplet splashing up. And.
Slurp.
The droplet swiftly melted into his depleted body.
'It works!'
If Seongjin willed it, he could assimilate that water-like Aura into his own! A spare Aura tank ready anytime.
-Pull one side of the canal, and the other side comes too. Remember that.
The Holy Emperor had warned.
But.
'If worst comes to worst...'
As Seongjin steeled himself glaring at the unrelenting youth.
"Young Duke Zigsmunt."
A cold voice suddenly came from behind.
Seongjin and the youth, fully focused on each other, flinched and whipped their heads toward it in unison.
"......!"
"...Sister Amelia?"
There stood someone neither expected.
Amelia, alone at the corridor's end without her guards, surveyed the standoff briefly before slowly walking toward them.
Click-clack.
In the silent hall, only her heels echoed, her sharp aura stabbing closer like a needle.
"Withdraw your threatening presence from my brother at once, Young Duke. Or else..."
Amelia fixed him with a glare as she warned.
"...I'll let you experience firsthand how deadly a dress pin charged with Aura can be."
Her voice was chilling enough to raise goosebumps.