Chapter 221
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: The Challengers
Maren had become a duchy.
But simply proclaiming it didn't make a nation overnight.
Especially for a small state like a duchy or county, recognition from the great powers was essential.
If it didn't integrate into the order established by the great powers, all sorts of interference and difficulties would come knocking.
For a commercial city like Maren, maintaining good relations with trading cities and territories required the great powers' acknowledgment all the more.
Dozens of invitations, stamped with the seals of the council, the governor, and Archduke Eugene, were dispatched to various nations.
Since it took nearly two months for invitations to reach even the distant Holy Empire, the coronation and official duchy proclamation were scheduled for six months later, with ample time to prepare.
“In the meantime, we have to finish building the archducal castle! Gather every last laborer and throw them at it! What? Short on manpower? Pour money into it until it's not!”
Maren, where mana crystals and monster byproducts from a whopping twelve mana realms converged, was overflowing with money—literally.
Moreover, Maren handled everything from subjugating mana realms to producing, processing, and selling mana crystals and monster byproducts.
The profits were on an entirely different level compared to territories that only produced raw materials.
The people of Maren also knew better than anyone that hoarding wealth was like poison.
- Earn like dogs, spend like grand dukes!
Investments poured into every sector, and expenditures on necessary areas flowed freely without restraint.
With money came people, a natural progression.
In just one month, tens of thousands of refugees flooded in from Brantia, Kalsbagen, the inland regions of the Keiler Kingdom, and beyond.
Foreign nobles, merchants, and mercenaries, hearing rumors of the new nation's founding, came rushing in, drawn by the scent of profit. Naturally, there were many demihumans among them.
Maren had truly become a melting pot of races and species.
However, with the sudden influx of wealth and people came inevitable chaos and discord.
The Maren Guard, formed mainly from some knights and mercenaries, handled most issues, but there were limits.
There were far more people in the world who didn't respond to reason than one might think.
* * *
Boom!
“I, Rotoller Paradon, challenge Sir Yann Eugene Bartla to a duel!”
A knight bellowed loudly in front of the castle under construction, slamming his warhammer—looking at least twenty kilograms—into the ground with a heavy thud.
“That lunatic?”
“How dare he speak the archduke's name like that?”
The mercenaries temporarily guarding the castle were outraged, but none rushed out.
And for good reason: behind the menacing knight in plate armor stood over ten other knights lined up.
If heavily armed knights decided to rampage, the mercenaries had no chance of stopping them.
“Hurry and inform His Highness!”
As one mercenary dashed into the inner castle, Knight Rotoller Paradon continued raising his voice at the gate.
“If you are an honorable knight, accept my challenge! Surely you're not too cowardly to dodge it?”
Hahaha!
His accompanying knights burst into laughter, making Paradon even more triumphant as he shouted.
“The archduke of Maren? Who gave you the right to claim kingship!? This knight will show you what true kingly talent is today! Maren must accept a new archduke today!”
“……!?”
The mercenaries' expressions twisted grotesquely.
Knight Paradon was clearly a territory raider.
Freelance knights without titles banded together to seize vulnerable territories by force.
Of course, most territories had ties to nearby nobles and kin, so meddling recklessly made one an enemy of noble society.
Thus, they usually targeted remote minor fiefs, looting their treasuries, but a major city like Maren was beyond their wildest dreams.
So why had they brazenly shown up, babbling about a new archduke for Maren?
‘Judging by the accent, he's a foreign knight who clearly doesn't know His Highness.’
As the mercenaries guessed, Knight Paradon and his group hailed from another kingdom.
They had heard that the once-famous port of Maren had grown even wealthier, and some knight had become its archduke for his outstanding “achievements.”
- Huh? Does that mean I could too?
For hot-blooded knights cherishing grand ambitions with just a sword, such thoughts were inevitable.
“What? He slew a twin-headed ogre? Two of them?”
“And he even tamed one? His boasting alone qualifies him to claim kingship.”
Hahaha!
The mercenaries could no longer hold back at the knights' mockery. Swordsmanship aside, mercenaries outmatched knights in trash talk.
“Hey, you dog bastards! Sir Eugene isn't the type to just yap like you lot!”
“Who do you think you are, you foreign hick knights swarming in here spewing bullshit! You'd float around mouth-up if you fell into Maren's bay!”
“You couldn't face an ogre—you'd run off balls-flopping at the sight of a goblin, stinking up the place!”
“And drop those cute little balls while you're at it!”
“Got any to drop? Looks like yours fell off ages ago!”
“Your balls got goblin-fucked!”
Uahahahaha!
The mercenaries' roars of laughter turned the knights' faces beet red.
“You lowly scum dare!”
“Pfft, thaaat's riiight, you guyyys~.”
“Eek! Shut your mouths!”
“Shuuut yooour moooouths~.”
“Uwaaak!”
“Muuuuh… Hek!?”
A mercenary mimicking the knights with pursed lips froze in shock.
Paradon had charged with his warhammer, brutally smashing the gate.
Kwaang! Bang!
“Come out! Come out, you bastards!”
“You filthy scum! I'll kill you all!”
The knights had lost it.
Knights were prideful by nature, regardless of nationality or race, and these ones had come abroad full of hopes for advancement.
None could stomach insults from mercenaries they usually ignored.
Bang! Kwa-bang! Koo-woong!
The knights dismounted one after another, pounding the gate with battle axes and hammers.
“Sh-should we shoot?”
One mercenary aimed his crossbow, but others barked at him.
“Have you lost your mind? The city is full of important guests right now!”
“We have to avoid armed clashes as much as possible!”
Given the timing, they needed to leave a good impression on other nations and territories, so the mercenaries hesitated to attack the gate-smashing knights.
“Annoying. What's all this racket?”
At that moment, a clear, unique voice rang out.
“Ah! Lady Lilisein!”
“Princess Elrand!”
“Milady!”
The mercenaries' faces lit up at the arrival of Princess Lilisein—known as Eugene's consort—and the elf knights.
Of course, the parties involved, Eugene and Princess Lilisein, had no idea people saw them that way.
“What's this nonsense?”
Princess Lilisein's gaze on the gate-pounding knights was icy.
“Well, you see…”
The mercenaries quickly explained.
“So, these knights came to challenge His Highness the Archduke?”
“Y-yes. The one issuing the challenge is the big guy with the warhammer. Name's Rot-something Paradon.”
Before anything else, her goddess-like beauty left the mercenaries dazed, bowing repeatedly.
“Appallingly poor judgment. But that courage deserves high praise.”
“……Pardon?”
The mercenaries blinked in confusion at the pleased smile on Princess Lilisein's lips.
“A true knight must always seek self-improvement, wherever and whenever. In that sense, they qualify as genuine knights.”
“Um, Princess. Even so, the gate's about to shatter.”
“Sir.”
“Ah, y-yes, milady. Anyway, the gate…”
Shring.
Unyielding as a knight first and princess second, she drew her longsword.
“I shall protect His Highness's property.”
Her eyes gleamed with battle lust after so long without a proper fight—that very moment.
“Kieeeek!!!”
A shrill scream echoed as something sky-blue flew over the wall.
“Do you know how much this cost?! My castle… my gate! Kieeeek!”
The mercenaries cheered at the spirit collapsing like a dispossessed commoner, gasping.
“The Golden Spirit!”
“His Highness is here!”
No one called Mirian the water spirit anymore. In fact, few even knew he was one.
Anyway, Eugene—bound by pact to the golden spirit—arrived clad in plate armor etched with intricate swirling curves.
“Your Highness the Archduke!”
As all bowed deeply, Eugene gazed down at the gate below with sunken eyes.
“Those guys?”
“Yes.”
“Your Highness. Grant me this chance.”
Princess Lilisein stepped forward first. The other elf knights gripped their sword hilts, ready to leap at Paradon and his men.
‘Nice! They're solid.’
The mercenaries trusted Princess Lilisein and the elf knights to handle the disturbance.
It was only natural.
Eugene was Maren Duchy’s archduke and its supreme leader.
Common sense dictated he had no reason to tussle with such small fry(?). The levels were worlds apart.
“No. I'll handle it.”
“Y-Yes!?”
The mercenaries' eyes bulged.
Eugene leaped straight down to the gate.
Boom!
“Huh!?”
Paradon and the knights gaped at Eugene jumping from over ten meters up.
Not just the height, but the extraordinary aura from his armor shocked them more.
‘Armor infused with mystery?’
‘It's an artifact!’
And that wasn't all.
A pitch-black spear on his back, a left gauntlet twice as thick as his right arm, and a sword radiating mystical energy even sheathed.
Paradon and the knights instinctively sensed Eugene was a completely different breed of knight from anyone they'd seen.
“I am Yann Eugene Bartla. You want to challenge me?”
“Y-yes. I, Rotoller Paradon, formally request an honorable duel with you, sir.”
Feeling both instinctive danger and greed for Eugene's gear, Paradon answered.
Glancing past him, Eugene scanned the other knights with similar desirous glints.
“The rest of you? Here to challenge me too?”
“……!”
The knights flinched, exchanged quick looks, and nodded one after another.
“As expected, you value honor.”
“Give us a chance, and we'll gladly duel!”
Stunned by their response, Paradon raised his voice.
“No, sirs! What are you saying? I came first…”
“You win, and it's fine, right?”
“If Paradon falls, we just leave? Ridiculous.”
“Exactly!”
As if proving they were a band of middling knights, they chorused agreement.
That was why territory raiders rarely ended well.
Mercenary bands had firm leaders, but prideful knight raiders fractured into infighting, often killing each other.
‘Damn it…’
Paradon panicked but quickly steeled himself, staring at Eugene.
Top-tier gear and presence were impressive, but they didn't guarantee skill.
Besides, the feats and exploits he'd heard were absurd.
A single feat might be believable, but this was mythic legend territory.
‘Does that even make sense!’
So Paradon was confident.
In reality, he was probably mediocre, and rumors had bloated him up.
“Then let us begin. Witnesses will be the knights who came with me…”
“Witnesses? No, fellow challengers.”
“……?”
“And I'm short on time, so come at me all at once.”
“What!?”
Shring.
Eugene drew Wolfslaughter and Madarajika simultaneously, murmuring low.
“Of course, no ransom. Don't need it anymore.”
Wealth overflowed now, with more to come.
But chances like this were rare.
‘This damn armor craves blood too much.’
As if to prove it demonic armor, it absorbed only blood from battles and wars.
He'd been suppressing its hunger with Origin's authority, but limits loomed—he'd planned a mana realm subjugation soon.
This was perfect timing.
Moreover.
‘Probers are getting bold. Time to make an example.’
True to their word, the governor and council left him alone.
But outsiders subtly provoked him day and night, probing for “something.”
Even this idiot Paradon and his crew might be backed by one of them.
‘Time to show them.’
Properly.
The council would freak, but that wasn't his problem.
Wasn't he archduke to handle aftermath and seal it smoothly?
This was a warning.
To the Maren council, foreign nobles and knights sniffing for flesh to carve.
And soon-to-arrive Roman Empire crown prince and other “Origins”—a blood-soaked warning.
(To be continued next time)