Side Story Chapter 17
“W-Wait a minute. The war in the north is over?” Kireua asked Selim, surprised.
“Can we afford to talk right now? I thought the tournament was going to begin at noon,” Selim answered.
Just then, Dargo shouted at the top of his lungs outside the fortress wall.
-Prince! Combat Emperor! Are you scared?! Why aren’t you saying anything? Only a hundred of our knights are here right now, just like we promised!
“…Shit,” Kireua quietly cursed.
The soldiers in the fortress were getting nervous. The more Kireua dragged his heels, the more the morale of the people inside the fortress was going to decrease.
“Open the gate,” Selim said.
The two soldiers guarding the pulleys to the fortress gate were baffled. Since they were born and raised in the southern region, they didn’t know who they were talking to right now.
“I am Selim Sanders, the First Prince of Avalon.”
The two soldiers’ eyes widened and they hastily saluted.
“Is that okay?” Selim asked, glancing back at Kireua. He was being considerate of Kireua because the Second Prince was indeed the commander of the fortress.
Kireua nodded. “…Open it up, please.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
The old pulleys creaked loudly as they turned. Meanwhile, Selim got on the horse that had been prepared for him in advance and looked up ahead. The nine knights wearing black armor also got on the horses one after another.
“Wait—!” Kireua shouted.
“It’s okay.” Selim raised his hand, indicating he already knew what Kireua was going to say.
It was a truly odd sight. While all the soldiers were looking down from the top of the ramparts, ninety-nine knights were standing before the gate. Eighty-nine of those were wearing silver full-plate armor while the other ten knights were wearing simple matte black armor.
“Wait a minute… They aren’t the Imperial Knights,” Cain murmured.
“What?”
“The symbols on their chests are definitely that of the Avalon Empire, but there are some people in the Imperial Family who are allowed to have an organization of their own, aren’t there?” Cain reminded Kireua.
Kireua's eyes widened; he understood right away. The Emperor of Avalon and the queen consorts each had one, and Kireua also had such an organization of his own in the past. Each member of the Imperial Family was allowed to maintain a group of guards in the palace to protect themselves.
“Among those organizations, the Black Knights only follow His Highness Selim’s orders,” Cain added.
At the same time, Selim said, “Everyone, get into wedge formation.”
The knights saluted sharply.
“Just like we did in the Great Plain of Ollen, Rodney and Agagette will be the ends of the wings. The valley gives us an advantage. The enemies have to climb up, but we only have to go downhill. We’ll use the momentum to break right through the enemy’s formation,” Selim explained.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The fortress gate opened up completely. A group of people were already running toward the gate from afar. At the very front of their wedge, Selim swung his spear valiantly.
“Let’s go!” he yelled.
“Follow His Highness!”
The horses neighed as they broke into a ground-shaking gallop.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Kireua belatedly pulled himself together and tightened his grip on his reins.
Cain bowed slightly. “Return,” was all he said to the younger prince.
Kireua was dumbstruck. “Aren’t you even a bit worried about me?”
Cain grinned like he knew exactly what was going to happen, and shook his head.
“Not in the slightest.”
* * *
Dargo became confused right after the fortress gates opened. The enemy vanguard was a group of people wearing black armor. They ferociously spurred their horses forward without the slightest sign of fear on their faces.
“…What? That is their plan?” Dargo blurted, more bewildered the longer he looked.
The whole team wearing the same uniform to hide their commander was basic tactics for a tournament. On top of that, the participants needed to be able to distinguish friend from foe in the heat of battle.
“So there are approximately ten in the vanguard?”
“Logically, one of them is Kireua Sanders, their commander… but I guess not, right?”
“Yeah, the Prince might be among the remaining eighty-nine knights.”
“Well, I’ll give him an A for effort,” Dargo’s aide sarcastically remarked.
Dargo chuckled in agreement. Kireua used a cheap tactic. His useless trick was no doubt an expression of his incompetence.
“…Wait.” Dargo came to a halt.
“Pardon?”
“It’s strange. The people wearing black armor aren’t wearing helmets,” Dargo noticed.
If Kireua was trying to confuse his enemies, he should have ordered everyone to cover their faces.
Dargo's eyes widened. His sharp vision instantly picked out the knight in the very front. The knight’s hair was deep blue, but his skin was snow-white—and there was only one spear like that in this country.
“S-Selim Sanders?” Dargo murmured, shocked. The nearby knights’ eyes widened as well.
“Yo-Your Majesty, what do you mean, ‘Selim Sanders’? Are you sure about that?” his confused aide asked.
His bewilderment was understandable since Selim Sanders’s name was one deserving of such regard. He was the genius of geniuses who had become a Master when he was fifteen. With his crazy talent and a single spear, at the age of eighteen he had been able to defeat Artmil, the wandering knight better known as the Wandering King of the Twelve Superhumans.
“Ge-Get into a formation!” Dargo hastily. His knights drew their swords.
The vanguard was way quicker than Dargo had originally anticipated. Dargo and his army were over five hundred meters away from the fortress, two hundred meters out of range of arrows. However, Selim and the Black Knights closed the distance in mere moments.
“What the hell…!” Dargo gritted his teeth.
Selim and the Black Knights were already a hundred meters ahead of the knights from the fortress. One hundred knights versus ten knights? It was suicide.
Dargo shoved those thoughts aside and began to circulate his mana. His aura shook the air. Once he also activated his authority, a white tiger roared vigorously.
“Don’t be afraid! The First Prince is still just a twenty-year-old boy! I, Dargo rane Suspen, am with you all!”
“Woaaahhhhh!”
Dargo and his knights also spurred their horses. Fifty meters were left until they collided.
“You cocky greenhorn!” Dargo shouted.
He stopped analyzing the situation. He didn’t care why Selim was here when he should have been in the northern region. The thought of what kind of glory he was going to enjoy filled his head. If he won this battle, he was going to capture the first and second in line to the throne of the Avalon Empire, an indescribably great achievement. Since the person who made the biggest contribution in a war was the one with the most trophies, Dargo might really become the emperor of the Avalon if he succeeded.
“Hahahahahaha!” Dargo burst into laughter. Just imagining the possibility of it coming true made his heart swell.
Dargo and his knights were just ten meters away from Selim and the Black Knights. At this kind of distance, a Superhuman could pick out individual pores.
Sparks rose into the air as a layer of Dargo’s aura covered his sword, itself taking the form of a sword. Dargo created an Aura Blade, which only Masters could manifest.
Dargo smirked at Selim. “I’ll chop his head off with one strike.”
Selim seemed to notice that Dargo’s eyes were on him.
Selim’s spear was twice his size and he was riding a horse, yet, Selim had no problem swinging the spear like a windmill.
Dargo had gone up against all the famous knights older than thirty. Therefore, although it was Dargo’s first time going up against Selim, he was certain that Selim’s behavior was caused by his youth.
“We’ll be the vanguard, Your Majesty!”
Ten of his knights riding their horses alongside Dargo sped up their horses. A tournament hinged upon the level of experience of its participants. Even if a knight was very strong individually, it may be completely different in a group battle.
“Everyone, divide into a group of three! Ignore everyone else and go for the First Prince! The fight is over once we have their commander!” Dargo’s aide shouted. Dargo didn’t even have to bother instructing his knights since his aide’s orders were textbook.
The end of Dargo’s mouth curled into a smile as the two groups of knights clashed.
“Wh-What?” Dargo’s smirk collapsed into slack-jawed confusion.
Although Selim swung only once, the three knights on Dargo’s left were instantly blown away. He then immediately swung his spear at the knights on Dargo’s right.
“Arghhhh!” The six knights fell from their horses, screaming as if an explosion spell had hit them. All the knights that were getting blown away were Dargo’s.
“Wha-What the fuck…! ” Dargo couldn’t help but curse.
The citizens of the Avalon Empire always said that the Black Knights under the First Prince’s command were the best knights in Avalon. Although Dargo had never believed the news before, now he had seen it with his own eyes.
“Spare no one,” Selim ordered.
An ear-splitting boom cracked over the valley as Dargo’s knights and the best knights in Avalon met once again.
* * *
Meanwhile, Anna had been watching the battle from the top of the ramparts. What she saw was difficult to process.
“…Cain de Harry,” she blankly called. “I have a question. Whose side are you on? The First Prince or the Second Prince?”
“…Why do you want to know?”
Anna shrugged. “Well, regardless of everything else, I need to serve Kireua Sanders, the Second Prince, from now on.”
Cain didn’t answer her even after a long time, so Anna turned to face him. “Why aren’t you saying anything? You should say you’re on Kireua’s side, obviously!”
“He’s the prince of this Empire, so treat him with respect.”
“Hmph, Kireua himself said to call him by his name. Anyhow, you aren’t really on the side of that freakishly strong First Prince, are you? That’d be too unfair!” Anna looked down at the battlefield with trembling hands.
Whenever Selim swung his long spear, at least three or four of Dargo’s knights dropped from their horses, screaming. It was like leaves falling in autumn.
“I’m still thinking about it,” Cain said.
“What? Thinking?”
“But in my personal opinion…” Cain trailed off for a moment and his eyes turned to the rear part of the battlefield. “…I’m on His Highness Kireua’s.”
“Really?” Anna brightened up. Kireua should at least have the Combat Emperor Star on his side to have a chance in this battle for the throne, in her opinion.
“Are you sure we can count on you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at Cain. “It’s really hard to trust a sly old knight…”
“It’s true; you can trust me on that. As you can see, my life will stay the same if I serve His Highness Selim.”
“What do you mean?” Anna asked.
“It’s not interesting. Of course, my interest doesn’t mean anything when it comes to deciding who is worthy of the throne. Look, do you think he really needs my help right now?”
The battle was quickly coming to a close. After single-handedly dismounting over a dozen knights, Selim was going wild at the center of the enemies like a wolf jumping into a herd of sheep.
“I no longer want to live life in that boring way,” Cain’s voice quietly declared.
Selim Sanders, the First Prince, was as monstrously strong as Cain’s master.
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