Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Banquet
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Today, as always, I was sorting through the steady stream of reports.
Recently, overwhelmed by so much work that I couldn't handle it alone, I'd hired some aides...
"Aiden? What should we do with this?"
"File that with last year's records and bind it into a volume."
"Aiden? The Finance Ministry just sent over the final quarterly settlement."
"What?! Why are they sending it now? The deadline was yesterday! I've already finished most of the draft report!"
"Aiden?!"
"What?! What now?!"
I snapped at the aides, who kept asking me endless questions.
"Sir Raoul... he's here!"
My body froze at the unexpected name.
The only person I knew called Sir Raoul was the Black Knight.
"The Black Knight? What about the Grand Duchess?"
"She's heading to the training grounds right now."
I jumped up from my seat at the aide's words.
"You all handle things here!"
"Uh... Aiden?!"
-Creak!
As I ran to the training grounds, a worrying thought crossed my mind.
The confident Luna.
She was the protagonist of this story, the strongest human in the novel by the end.
The fear that she might lose made my heart pound.
No way?! She won't lose, right?!
-Thud thud!
After running for a while, the training grounds came into view.
There, Luna was talking with a black-haired man.
"Shall we get started?"
"Yes."
That man... Raoul?
Just as described in the novel, he had a sharp-featured face.
His black hair and piercing eyes made it easy to recognize him as Raoul.
"Antoni. My sword."
"Yes!"
A boy who looked about seventeen stood beside him.
A squire?
He handed Raoul a very long longsword...
-Shing...
What kind of sword is that?
A longsword longer than an average adult woman.
Above the hilt was some gray material, with sharp barbs protruding on both sides, making it look like...
A two-handed sword?
"Still swinging that brutish blade, I see."
Luna said that as she drew her beloved sword, Haimeiden, with a faint smile.
"I won't yield the first strike."
-Clang!
In an instant, Raoul appeared before Luna.
I was stunned by the speed I couldn't follow with my eyes.
Wh-what? Is he a bullet or something?
Even more astonishing was Luna, who met his sword as if she'd anticipated the move.
Her body blurred and vanished.
-Boom!
-Clang!
The silhouette of a woman faintly visible.
A-afterimage... is actually possible?
While I was shocked, Raoul's form blurred as well.
-Crunch!
-Clang!
-Crunch!
"Ev-everyone, fall back!"
At Charles's urgent shout, I and the onlookers retreated.
This... is a Swordmaster?
I'd never seen Luna go all out before.
I'd only vaguely assumed she was strong from the novel's descriptions.
A chilling sound echoed with the faint silhouettes.
The ground cratered, trees sliced apart—I couldn't believe my eyes.
This... isn't too much?
Their clashes wrecked everything around them like a natural disaster.
"You've improved quite a bit."
"The same to you, Your Grace."
The two seemed relaxed despite the chaos.
"Shall we see how much your swordsmanship has grown?"
"As you wish."
The moment they finished speaking...
-Boom!
A massive roar rang out as they reappeared,
Locking swords, faces twisted in effort.
Luna thrust quickly, pressing him, forcing the Black Knight back.
He checked her advance with his long sword.
But as if she'd foreseen it,
She blocked his long sword with Haimeiden and slipped inside, prompting the Black Knight to raise his hilt in defense.
-Clang!
A clear metallic ring echoed.
She swung her sword down, seized his guard, and thrust at his face.
Raoul hastily leaned back.
As he kicked at her with his foot, she hurriedly retreated.
They stared at each other, and then Luna spoke.
"You became a Swordmaster through mana and enlightenment, but your swordsmanship is still lacking. Or perhaps... it just doesn't suit you."
Raoul nodded stiffly at Luna's arrogant words.
"I know."
"Then why not change your style? Are you still clinging to the recklessness of your youth?"
He replied calmly to her mockery.
"It might have been youthful folly, and it was sorely lacking, but without that version of me back then, I wouldn't be who I am today."
"You must know how foolish it is to bind yourself with self-imposed limits..."
Raoul shook his head at Luna's near-sneer.
"It doesn't matter. That's my knighthood."
"What a shame. The past is just the past. To chain yourself with it and impose restrictions."
She gazed coldly at Raoul.
"That will bring your defeat."
With those words, Luna left an afterimage again, and Raoul soon followed suit.
-Thud!
-Boom!
The two clashed fiercely.
Blue and red sword auras spread out, shattering everything around them.
At this rate... won't the training grounds be destroyed?
The decorative trees were already broken like they'd been through a typhoon.
After all that damage... shouldn't Raoul pay for repairs?
"Haa..."
The thought of organizing repairs made me sigh involuntarily.
At that moment.
-Thud!
With a dull sound, Raoul's afterimage vanished, and he tumbled across the ground...
-Plop.
Luna appeared, pointing her sword at him.
"Do you surrender?"
"Ugh..."
Raoul stared at Luna with hollow eyes.
He lowered his head.
"I surrender."
-Shing.
Luna sheathed her sword and said,
"I won't duel you again."
Raoul lifted his head, looking dazed.
"There's no point in this anymore. Rest until your wounds heal, then go."
With that, she turned and left abruptly.
Indeed...
Raoul, who had been Luna's fiancé.
And they were childhood friends.
If her parents hadn't passed away, they might be married by now.
But everything changed when her parents died, and Raoul...
Failed to show courage when it mattered, leading to this outcome.
Anyway, is it lingering resentment?
Luna's retreating figure looked a bit lonely.
Maybe... because she lost her childhood friend.
"Arrrgh!"
Raoul screamed, hacking wildly at the training grounds with his sword.
A knight full of regrets...
When I read the original novel, my impression was...
Raoul doesn't love Luna.
He's just trying to undo his past mistakes.
Dueling to make up for his weak younger self.
Wanting to marry Luna to erase that feeble past of his.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Luna headed to her office after defeating Raoul.
Her heart wasn't at ease.
She'd defeated a friend she'd known for a long time.
A friend from her childhood, before she even knew what love was.
'Foolish guy...'
She hated that he was still wasting time trying to fix his own mistakes.
She could never be with him anymore.
Luna had never seen Raoul as more than a friend.
As children, adults had pushed them together as friends, and while others her age were lost in teenage fantasies of love, Luna was fighting to survive.
Back then, she was too desperate to think about love.
And it was Raoul who prolonged that hellish time.
Luna knew it too.
She knew that if her mere regent broke a noble agreement, the Emperor might intervene.
Of course, the regent had silenced Raoul knowing that.
In her desperation, she'd pinned great hopes on Raoul, only for him to shatter her expectations of imperial intervention.
After that, they could never go back to how things were.
Luna had been deeply disappointed in him.
Back then, she thought love was just a fantasy.
Of course, that was that...
And as a friend, she still felt sorry for him.
Her once-close friend was still hung up on the past, unable to move forward.
'Idiot. If he'd changed his sword style, the outcome might have been different.'
Luna knew why Raoul used a two-handed sword.
It was a promise from their childhood.
She understood it was his plea to her.
That's why she'd been certain of victory.
Nothing was more cumbersome than a two-handed sword in a Swordmaster duel.
'If only Raoul had met someone else...'
Lost in such thoughts, she opened the office door.
'I wish he'd fall for someone like the Crown Prince.'
That was the end of what Luna could wish for Raoul.
Because she...
"Why are you just standing there? Come in."
"Ah?"
She startled at the familiar voice of Aiden.
Luna was already deeply in love with Aiden.
"I'm going in."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I approached Luna, who stood blankly in the open doorway.
"Why are you just standing there? Come in."
"Ah?"
She seemed surprised I was behind her.
"I'm going in."
I said to Luna as she entered the office with an awkward expression.
"Congratulations on your victory."
"Hehe, this was nothing."
She smiled brightly.
"But... the Black Knight will probably stay here for a while, right?"
"Probably? He won't leave right away."
"Hmm... I see?"
I honestly had no idea how to handle this suitor...
Should I approach him first?
"Then, how about holding a banquet for the Black Knight?"
"What? Why would I?"
Luna crossed her arms and glared at me.