Chapter 68
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: A Calculated Duel
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Though he absolutely hated the idea, a mischievous thought came to Chris, and he grinned.
“Does that mean you’ll think of me as a little brother from now on?”
“What?”
“Please take care of me, Sister Jupien. I’m so happy to have a cute older sister like you.”
“!!”
Jupien’s expression twisted as if she’d heard an insect whispering in her ear.
“You, stop it.”
“Why? Don’t be shy. I know how you feel. You pretend to hate it, but you actually like having me as a little brother, don’t you?”
“I do not! Stop talking nonsense.”
With a flushed face, Jupien spun around and disappeared.
Meanwhile, the people watching them looked on with surprised expressions.
They didn’t know what conversation had passed between them, but it seemed their relationship wasn’t as bad as they thought.
‘Young Lady Jupien usually doesn’t even bother to associate with others.’
‘Did she come to acknowledge that scoundrel after this incident?’
An unexpected turn of events.
The Third Prince, Maisac, spoke to Jupien with a slightly surprised look as she approached him.
“Jupien, to think you’d stoop to talking with a guy like that. Don’t do things that lower your dignity.”
“……”
“This older brother is advising you for your own good. That guy is different from us by birth. Even if he’s become a Prince, he’s just from a collateral branch.”
Maisac spoke with a heavy, admonishing tone.
“He’s nothing but an insect to be crushed under our feet anyway. Paying him any mind will only tarnish your own reputation.”
But Jupien’s reaction was unexpected.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“…What?”
“You’re noisy, so don’t open that filthy, stinking mouth at me. It smells like a sewer.”
For a moment, Maisac stared blankly.
Of course, he and Jupien had never been on good terms.
On the contrary, they despised and snarled at each other, but a reaction like this?
“You… you, are you siding with that bastard?”
“Siding with him? No. I hate that guy.”
“Then why?”
“It’s just that your mouth really stinks. Because you’re always spewing disgusting nonsense.”
“……”
“It’s making my ears rot, so get lost.”
Jupien disappeared with a cold expression.
Coming to his senses a moment later, Maisac ground his teeth.
‘That damn bitch.’
But Jupien was not someone he could easily mess with.
Her father was a war hero who had sacrificed his life for the Dark Magic House, and many people respected him.
Instead, Maisac’s anger turned elsewhere.
Toward Christian.
‘Insect-like bastard. I won’t let this go.’
Maisac took a deep breath.
After composing his expression, he walked toward Christian.
As Maisac approached Christian, a chilly tension filled the banquet hall.
The atmosphere was thick with the feeling that something was about to happen.
“Hey.”
Chris stared blankly at Maisac for a moment.
Maisac’s eyebrow twitched.
But Maisac didn’t just erupt in anger.
He considered himself a noble, and getting angry at someone as insignificant as Christian was beneath his dignity.
“Did I not call you? Are you deaf to my words?”
But again, there was no response.
Not only that, as if to ignore him completely, he brought a glass of ginger ale to his lips.
“You…! How dare you…!!”
The moment he finally exploded in anger.
Christian looked calmly at Maisac.
“Were you calling me?”
“…What?”
“You called out as if addressing a subordinate, so I wasn’t sure if you were talking to me.”
Chris lifted the corner of his mouth.
“I think you’re mistaken about something. I’m not your servant. Or perhaps, do you not know the proper etiquette when addressing a fellow Prince? If you are of such a noble bloodline, please show the minimum courtesy that befits it.”
“!!”
Maisac’s face turned beet red.
“Who would consider the likes of you a Prince….”
“Should I take that to mean you are disrespecting the authority of the Acting Head, Marquis Langham, who acknowledged me as a Prince? No, the Acting Head’s decision is the same as the Head’s. Are you disrespecting Lord Nordian?”
Maisac’s mouth clamped shut.
One wrong word here, and he would be guilty of defying the Head’s authority.
“You… you….”
“Not ‘you,’ but Prince Christian.”
Christian said, enunciating each word clearly.
“The title you will use for me is Prince Christian. Unless you intend to defy the authority of the Head, that is.”
“……”
Maisac, his face crimson, was rendered speechless, and Chris snickered.
‘Give me a break. How many years have I lived through?’
A pampered young master like Maisac was nothing more than a well-prepared meal for Chris.
‘I need to piss him off as much as possible.’
Chris’s goal was to make Maisac lose his temper.
Why?
To make him overreach.
The man’s recklessness would become a great opportunity for him.
An opportunity to win the hearts of the ordinary Majin of the Dark Magic House.
“How strange. To think that Prince Maisac, born of the noblest bloodline, wouldn’t even know such basic etiquette.”
Christian tilted his head.
Innocently. Which made him seem twice as infuriating.
Then he whispered softly.
Loud enough only for Maisac to hear.
“Could it be that Prince Maisac wasn’t properly educated by his parents?”
“!!”
Bingo.
Maisac completely lost it.
“You… you….”
Fwoosh.
An ominous energy flared up from Maisac.
A black and red aura.
It was the red Magi of Destruction mixed with Dark Magi.
Influenced by his mother, a direct descendant of the Destruction House’s head, Maisac had mastered Destruction black magic to a very high level.
Even more so than Dark Magi.
He was at the level of a 4-Star Lower rank.
A skill level not at all lacking for the title of Prince.
If they were to fight without the power of the alliance, even Chris would have a hard time dealing with him at his current level.
But Maisac didn’t act himself.
Instead, he ground his teeth and said.
“You insolent bastard. You’re all talk. The credit you earned during the recent artifact expedition must have been fabricated through some kind of trickery.”
“……”
“I refuse to acknowledge your achievements. Above all, the idea that someone like you defeated a 5-Star Majin is absurd.”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
Maisac gave a sneering smile.
“I’m telling you to prove, here and now, that you are truly worthy of being a Prince. Let’s see… Sir Usran should be a suitable opponent.”
“!!”
A stir went through the hall.
Usran.
A 5-Star Majin.
A commander-level Majin of the combat troops.
“If it’s true that you defeated a 5-Star Majin from the Extreme Poison House, then you should be able to face Sir Usran. Prove it here.”
An absurd demand.
An impossible task.
A 3-Star defeating a 4-Star is possible, however slim the chance.
The power gap isn’t absolute. Various factors can lead to an upset.
But from 5-Star onward, it’s different. A lower level can never face a higher one.
Moreover, wasn’t Chris not even a 4-Star, but a 3-Star? And one who’d reached that level less than a month ago.
“You’ve misunderstood something. I was only able to face the 5-Star Majin from the Extreme Poison House because I combined my strength with many comrades. I didn’t do it with my power alone.”
“So, you’re going to run away?”
“That’s not it. It is an honor as a Majin to be able to cross swords with someone as great as Sir Usran, so there is no reason to avoid it, regardless of the outcome. However.”
Chris shrugged.
“It troubles me to have someone as important to the family as Sir Usran step forward for a mere clown show, rather than a true duel where a Majin’s honor is at stake.”
“!!”
A clown show.
The hall fell silent.
He was right.
This duel was not a true duel between Majin.
The high and mighty Princes.
To be precise, it was a duel being held on the arrogant whim of Maisac.
While they would have no choice but to obey, any proud Majin, especially a strong one at the 5-Star level, would feel displeased by this situation.
But Maisac failed to realize this problem at all. It was due to his habit of always being revered and treating the family’s Majin like his personal servants.
“So many excuses. Are you afraid your pathetic true colors will be exposed?”
Christian let out a low sigh.
“Since you put it that way, I have no choice. However, I have a condition.”
“What is it?”
Chris looked toward Sir Usran, who was standing in a corner of the banquet hall with a deep frown.
Then, he bowed his head respectfully.
“I would like to make this a duel to request Sir Usran’s guidance. Sir Usran, please grant me your teachings.”
A request that elevated Usran’s honor.
A flicker of light appeared in Usran’s eyes for a moment.
With Christian’s request, this duel was no longer a clown show, but a sparring match to guide a Prince.
‘Thank you.’
Usran thought to himself.
Maisac had forced Usran to do similarly humiliating things several times before.
He had obeyed out of necessity, but how could he feel good about it?
Compared to Maisac, he naturally felt a sense of favor toward Chris.
And that wasn't a sentiment unique to Usran.
‘...They called him a scoundrel, but to see him act like this.’
‘He’s different from the rumors.’
A Majin’s honor was not a matter of power or faction.
Any Majin would have no choice but to view Christian’s recent actions favorably.
In other words, with a single phrase, Christian had succeeded in making a good impression on every Majin gathered here.
‘This isn’t the end of it.’
Christian stepped onto the dueling ground.
Banquets for Majin were always equipped with a dueling ground in preparation for such events.
‘I need to make a strong impression.’
After all, what mattered most to the Majin was strength.
That he was more than worthy of being a Prince.
No, he had to show that he was more outstanding than any other Prince.
‘Winning is impossible.’
Sir Usran’s level was 5-Star Middle.
He was a higher level than the masked woman from the Extreme Poison House back then.
As the Star levels rise, the gap between Lower, Middle, and Upper grows, so it would likely take two of the masked woman to defeat Sir Usran.
‘But I don’t necessarily have to win. I have a plan.’
That’s right.
Chris had anticipated that Maisac would act this way.
That was why he had thoroughly researched the combat tendencies of the high-ranking Majin attending the banquet.
“Thank you for giving me this precious opportunity for your guidance.”
Before the duel, Sir Usran responded to Chris’s polite greeting in a softened voice.
“On the contrary, I thank you for your consideration, Prince. As this is a guidance duel, I will grant you a ten-second head start.”
“I won’t refuse.”
Fwoosh!
Chris charged forward.
The sword in his hand was not the holy sword.
A common longsword.
Dark Magi surged.
Clang!
Usran’s sword and Chris’s sword clashed.
“A clean strike. Excellent.”
“Thank you. I’m not done yet.”
Ten attacks flowed by in rapid succession.
Those watching were impressed.
“Prince Christian’s movements are extraordinary. I heard he was only a 3-Star Lower.”
“And wasn’t it just a few months ago that he came to his senses?”
His movements were so excellent, far exceeding their expectations, that a thought momentarily crossed everyone’s mind.
-If only Christian had come to his senses a little sooner.
‘Perhaps he might have had the potential to surpass even Young Master Eshid.’
Christian’s movements were so remarkable that such thoughts arose.
But at the same time, it also meant he had his limits.