Chapter 152
Meanwhile, at the table of the Rising Stars…
“Ulabis-nim and Akshuller are matched up against each other for the preliminary rounds?” Sonna muttered while staring at the Group B list of participants. The members of Group B were the participants who drew numbers 11 to 21.
Ulabis and Akshuller could be considered one of the strongest participants in this Masters’ Battle, and to think they were actually matched up in the first bout.
“It looks like Group A will be a war between mages. Terra’s Force Mage and the Seven Mages of the Magic Tower…”
“Insane, this is really insane!”
Babel ignored the clamor around him and intently examined the board.
“Where is he…” Babel’s eyes brightened upon seeing someone’s name. The name he was looking for could be easily found because it was located at the very top of the board.
“Group A, number 1. His opponent is number 2…”
While Babel was muttering to himself, the voices of a man and a woman could be heard next to him.
“He’s a Rising Star like us, but he’s actually a protagonist of the opening day,” said Sonna.
Shrek sighed and said, “His opponent is—hm, it’s a bad sign. His opponent is the Knight of Steel, Babelon.”
The Knight of Steel, Babelon was also famous as the Red Heart, and he was the representative of the Hart Kingdom.
Masters from outside the three great powers were often thought to be at a much lower standard than those from the three great powers.
Most of them were merely A-Class, which meant they could use Aura Blade, which was the bare minimum to be classified as a Master.
In contrast, the A-Class knights of the three great powers were held to rigorous standards. The strength and the sheer number of their knights meant that the imperial representatives had to have distinguished themselves from their peers through a series of fierce competitions.
“That cocky brat’s gonna be humiliated before the competition even begins.”
“The Knight of Steel is one of the few non-imperial knights with real?abilities. No matter how arrogant or confident he is, he will never be able to win.” As usual, Estu supported Tetsu’s statement with a sleazy smile of his own.
“The outcome is very obvious. I just can’t understand the rationale behind Avalon’s decision to choose that brat. They definitely have many other brilliant individuals, so why did they choose him?”
“It will be a disgrace for the entire Avalon if he loses here. I mean, the Knight of Steel is truly strong—yes, but it’s undeniable that he hails from neither of the three great powers. Wouldn’t it be funny if Avalon’s representative gets his ass kicked by the representative of a mere kingdom on the opening day, no less?”
“Non-imperial this, non-imperial that.” Sonna couldn’t take it anymore. She was furious as she said, “Don’t you ever get tired of saying that? You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover!“
“There’s no need to read the pages of such a book.”
“Do you have to see an apple to confirm that it's red? You don’t have to, right?”
The Logan brothers started laughing among themselves.
“Ugh!” Sonna was trembling in anger at their antics.
There were other non-imperial participants who heard the conversation, but they didn’t dare to criticize the Logan brothers openly. Of course, their expressions weren’t really that much different from Sonna's.
“How can you openly discuss your roots in public? Just how conceited and impolite can you be? I didn’t want to meddle, but I believe that statement doesn’t stand.”
“What?” The Logan brothers turned toward the feminine voice from a nearby corner. It turned out that the speaker was a young lady. She was sitting with her fellow holy knights.
Her demeanor and features—silver hair and silver eyes—definitely made it clear that she was a noble holy knight of the Hubalt Empire.
“You didn’t have to interfere, Lilith,” said her fellow holy knight with a confused look.
“No, I have to. Of course, not every imperial noble think this way. However, in my opinion, you’d be better off abandoning such biases.”
“Well…” The holy knight wanted to say something, but he ended up sighing in resignation. "Do what you want. Considering at your often interactions with Selen, I doubt I will be able to overcome your obstinacy."
At that, Lilith turned her attention away from her fellow holy knight and stared at the Logan brothers.
“Hermes' goddess, Lilith Aphrodite. What did you just say?” asked Tetsu.
Lilith twitched in response to Tetsu’s question.
Similar to other swordswomen, Lilith had always hated being evaluated based on her beauty rather than her swordsmanship. Just like any other knight, her hands were filled with both large and small calluses. She didn’t remove them because she believed that it would be an insult to her efforts. She would rather much prefer people to acknowledge her as the Silver-eyed Ghost Sword.
“You said you don’t need to see an apple to determine if it’s red?”
“It is as you say…” Tetsu nodded without hesitation and explained, “There are such unchanging laws of the world. The kind of things that we can take for granted—the laws of nature.”
“The laws of nature?” Lilith smirked at that. “Nothing in this world is absolute in the first place. Those laws you spoke of are products of the people’s knowledge and biased mindset.”
“What are you—” Tetsu was swiftly interrupted again.
“And about your little metaphor…” Lilith paused. “Aren’t there green apples, too?”
“What?”
“Unchanging laws of the world? Putting such a restriction on your mind will also restrict your growth, and that is what is happening to you two.” Lilith smiled at the Logan brothers, but her eyes were terrifyingly cold. “You brothers will never be able to defeat him. Ever.”
“Listen to this girl…!”
“We were going to let it go because we’re from the three great powers. What’s wrong with you?!”
The Logan brothers couldn’t take it, and they simultaneously stood up.
However, the host’s voice interrupted them.
“The drawing has ended! The first match of each group will take place in two days, so please be prepared.”
“Finally, if your country’s representative has yet to appear, I hope you will convey the relevant information to them. Participants who fail to appear on time will be considered to have forfeited the match.”
Once the host’s words fell, Tetsu turned around and said, “Let's go, Estu. We will gain nothing from listening to her nonsense.”
With that, he started moving toward the table where the officials of the Swallow Empire were seated.
“Make sure that you can take responsibility for what you said, Lilith Aphrodite.”
“I could say the same to you...”
Estu stared at Lilith for a moment before walking away.
Eventually, the Logan brothers vanished from view.
“She’s so cool!” Sonna's eyes were bright as she stared solely at Lilith despite the clamor around her.
“That’s true. She does live up to her name of the Silver-Eyed Ghost Sword.” Even Shrek was impressed.
Sonna and Shrek continued staring at Lilith, and Babel, the only person remaining at the table aside from Shrek and Sonna, finally stood up. By sheer coincidence, he happened to meet Joshua’s eyes, and they stared at each other for quite a while.
“In the end, that position will belong to me. I will have you heed every one of my orders like a puppet until the day you die.”
After muttering to himself, Babel turned away from Joshua’s gaze. He couldn’t maintain his gaze on Joshua any longer.
“Babel von Agnus…” Joshua stared as Babel disappeared from view.
Eventually, someone could be heard erupting into laughter.
“I can hardly wait for our bout in two days, Avalon’s monster, Joshua Sanders,” said a middle-aged man who looked like he was just passing by.
The middle-aged man’s voice sounded familiar to Joshua, so he pointed it out. “So you were the one who called me pretentious earlier.”
“...”
“The Knight of Steel Babelon of Hart Kingdom."
The middle-aged guy stopped walking and turned his head to look at Joshua behind him.
“Was I that loud earlier?” At first glance, Babelon seemed to be a gentleman, all thanks to his sweet smile. “I hope you’ll understand me. I really can’t stand the jerks from the three great powers. They make me lose my appetite”
Joshua remained silent, and Babelon shrugged. “And since you are so young, I have even stronger feelings, and—oh! Speaking of age, I’ll apologize in advance.”
Babelon’s smile deepened when he saw the confusion on Joshua’s face.
“Your mother probably promised to cook you something delicious if you win the battle. I guess you would have to disappoint her now… I feel bad. It’s like stealing a child’s toy. You’re young, though, just at fifteen. So don’t worry about it. Your participation alone brings great honor to your family.”
Joshua calmly listening finally smiled. He was familiar with people like Babelon. An iron fist in a velvet glove. People like him were the most insidious. Since someone like Babelon was his first opponent, Joshua had no reason to hold back.
"Didn’t you hear what I say?"
Babelon tilted his head and asked, “What you said?”
“The result will remain the same.”
Babelon finally turned around to face Joshua.
“Are you trying to say nonsense like you are going to win Masters and be crowned the champion?”
“Well…” Joshua chuckled. “Whether it’s nonsense or not, you’ll find out soon enough.”
Babelon laughed for quite a while before stopping. He then stared at Joshua and said in a voice thick with threat and intimidation, “I’m sincerely looking forward to it, Joshua Sanders.”
The opening day was in two days, but for the key players of the opening match of the upcoming Reinhardt Masters’ Battle, the battle had already begun.
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