Finally, the impending day of him leaving the Palace had finally arrived. He had already fully received the rewards from his achievements, and had already claimed the extra goods that the King had promised through the Herald.
What was left was for the King to fulfill his promised 'wish.'
"Please have a duel with me."
From Sunhyuk's unexpected words, Marquis Reinhart was stupefied.
"His Majesty has already requested that Sir Reinhart will not decline the request of Count Drachen."
After naming the Drake, the Princess, who had frequent visits afterwards, explained that everything was guaranteed by the King's promise.
"This greenhorn must hold no fear."
The Marquis snorted with a grim look. It was a face as if asking if he was going to seriously compete one-on-one against him.
"Please allow me three attacks."
"His Majesty has also promised that."
Though Marquis Reinhard did not like it, but since it was the promise of the King, he had no thought of breaking it so he accepted the proposal of Kim Sunhyuk.
"Since I am a Rider, I will duel with you in a mounted position."
"You're a guy that requires quite a lot. Do whatever you want. The result will not change anyways."
"It was an answer fitting of an elite. After receiving the permission of the Marquis, he mounted the already prepared horse.
"At least you have some mettle. But if you're competing against me in belief of your own strength, I will immediately break your legs."
Afterwards he rode a normal horse instead of the Drake, as if surprised, he told him something that he was unsure of whether it was a compliment or a threat.
"Also, I will tell you in advance. His Majesty has assured me that no matter what the results are from this duel, there will be no revenge in any case."
"So the cat is thinking of the rat. Do not blame me if you loathe me later on."
The Marquis sneered, and with a meaningful smile, Sunhyuk mounted on the horse.
"Then let us start."
"You're quite noisy."
From that blunt voice, he lowered his visor, raised his spear compatible on a horse onto his armpit, and prepared an assault posture.
"Hiya!"
With a loud shout, he kicked the horse and instantly broke into a charge against the Marquis.
"Wind Piercing."
The gathering of the attribute's power that looked harmless in the start suddenly became powerful and sharp. However, Marquis Reinhart was one of the top elites of the Royal Palace, so he was able to completely disperse this attack with a brilliant light from his sword.
"You have two more chances, greenhorn."
"Ugh. I will go again."
After a long time, he recollected himself and charged once more, gathering the attribute's strength. Then, after the wind was spiralling on the tip of his spear, he quietly muttered the Wind Piercing Skill.
Nevertheless, the result did not change this time. The attribute's strength was not able to overcome the sword aura, and was swallowed instead before even arriving at the destination.
"You have one more left."
After two mere charges, as if the Marquis had fully measured the strength of Kim Sunhyuk, he was leisurely waiting. Well, it wasn't strange for a Marquis, a great swordsman in the Kingdom, to not be scared of one who was not even in the top of his class among the Knights.
"Wind Piercing."
Sunhyuk quietly muttered once more as the attribute began to spiral like a whirlwind at the tip of his spear. The Marquis was blatantly disappointed.
It was to be expected.
Though on the surface, it looked as if he was trying to follow up on the failure of his former follies. It was obvious that he would look stupid and immature.
However, it was nothing more than a visible phenomenon from the surface. He also had his own thoughts.
"Atiya."
'Leave it to me!'
Before the aura of the attribute reached the sword aura of the Marquis, Sunhyuk secretly summoned Atiya and spiralled her onto the spear. Just like then when she had thrown herself onto the spear before the collision against the Advanced Knight, she disappeared after gathering a lot of wind power at the tip of his spear.
In a split second, the aura of the attribute enlarged greatly, but Sunhyuk was not satisfied with this much.
"Wind Fang."
He emanated an attack that was incomparable to the previous two attacks that he had.
Grooooooooooowl.
The roaring cry of the unique Wind Fang accompanied the incomparable attack as the air ripped towards the towards the Marquis. The Marquis suddenly changed, and quickly raised his sword without hesitation.
He once again slashed the sword aura into all directions against the blow of the wind. However, this time, it wasn't easy to disperse the blow as the persistent, sudden attack penetrated the sword aura and bared its fangs.
After a screeching, tearing noise, it clashed around him. Then the dirt and dust swallowed the entire area.
Ha! For even this to not work.
He looked closely to discern if the Marquis was done in by his attack, but he could already feel that his attack did not fully work again this time. But, his persistent attacks had luckily penetrated his sword aura, so he was somewhat thrilled. Even though it was a few wind slices, it was enough to rip his clothes and shake his hair into a mess.
"You bastard!"
Though he had succeeded in defending his attack, in return, he had become an absolute mess as a result, becoming fully infuriated. With his veins popping out, he grabbed his sword tightly and began to muster a killing intent instantly. At this rate, he would be cut to shreds by the Marquis's sword. However, rather than being fear-stricken, he was actually leisurely taking his time.
"I have lost."
"What, what?"
"I admit my defeat. I am grateful to the Marquis for allowing me to experience such a high level of refined swordsmanship."
"What are you saying…"
Enraged to the tip of his head, he was about to rush forward, but the Princess stepped forth.
"His Majesty wished for an individual like Count Drachen not to be injured, and if he felt that he had reached his limits, His Majesty has promised that he was allowed to admit his defeat and stop the duel whenever."
Wondering what kind of sheer nonsense this was, the Marquis looked at the Princess with a dumbfounded look. However, an an experienced master swordsman, soon grasping the situation, his face became very distorted.
The black-haired Stranger lowered his head politely in thanks, however there was definitely a slight smile on his lips. The moment he saw that strange emotion, he realized that he was aiming for this situation against the Marquis in the first place.
'Repay good with faith, and justice for evil.'
Then he began to recollect the pledge that he had spoken during the knighting ceremony. Though it wrapped up the ceremony well, but the meaning was simple.
'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'
It was no different from the saying that he repaid what he received. Thus, Kim Sunhyuk took the initiative in keeping his beliefs.
'Ah. I think I can finally live now.'
After arriving at the Castle, there was not a single person that considered his opinion. He was mindlessly thrown from side to side in their political games, and did not even think of listening to his thoughts. Continually accumulating stress at the Palace, the disease was becoming worse.
'Speak. I will listen if you have anything else you desire.'
Then, the King proclaimed that he would listen to one of his requests. The moment he heard this, his eyes lit up.
Obtaining something through his wish was a bit burdensome, and no matter how cooperative the personality of the King may be, he knew that receiving grace through such means was rather uncomfortable. So he asked for a trivial wish, one that couldn't even live up to cover the reputation of the King.
That was exactly the 'safe' duel against the Marquis.
After mindlessly reprimanding him for the whole time, he wanted to exact a minor revenge, and more importantly, he wanted to evaluate how great the strength of a Superhuman was.
The result was a half success. He was able to exact his revenge against the Marquis, and he realized just how much he lacked in strength. That was the reason why though he was relieved, he wasn't fully comfortable right now.
There was hope though.
[Kim Sunhyuk]
[Level 7]
[Dragon Rider]
[Possessed Attributes]
Contracted Elementals
Basic Wind Elemental (Atiya)Tamed Dragons List
Drake (Goldrake)(Earth) / Submission 100Condition: Hunger, Peace, Sleep
[Strength 29 / Endurance 28 / Agility 31 / Magic Resistance 37 ]
[Possessed Skills]
…
Kim Sunhyuk focused on the newly additional phrase "Earth" added at the Attributes column. Not only that, the question mark had been replaced with the same Earth attribute. It seems that he had discovered a new function.
All of this was thanks to Princess Ophelia. If she had not named it that appalling name, Goldrake, then he would have been wandering around trying to find a way to overcome that limit for quite a long time.
She was an annoying rascal, but it was clear that he was in her debt.
However, it wasn't like there were still no problems. Unlike the time when he could feel the wind growing as he rode on the horse, he could not find a way to develop the Earth attribute.
"Ugh. Am I supposed to dig and enter some dirt?"
Since he had obtained the wind that way, wondering if he could obtain the Earth aura this way, he began to wander around the whole place with determination of raising his Earth attribute dominance.
Finally, the day had arrived for him to depart from the Palace. Whistling in bliss, Sunhyuk who was packing his belonging was visited by another guest again. It was the child; Princess Ophelia.
"I have heard that Goldrake has no saddle nor armor yet. It's presence is a symbol of our victorious cavalry, so I have made this in concern for it – should the lack of armour harm the drake's reputation, so please use this well."
At this time, the Princess was showing a young girl's face. Though her voice was solemn and firm, he could feel that she wanted to equip the Drake with saddle and armor.
The helmet was luxuriously crafted with gold horns, and the chest was glamorous with gorgeous, immaculate wavy patterns. After equipping this high-quality armor on the Drake, he looked even stronger.
"Ohoh. Actually, these are the master works of the royal blacksmith. I was initially worried that there would be a problem, but the workmanship is surely that of a master blacksmith."
To be honest, there were no better armor than the firm scales of the Drake, but seeing how overjoyed the Princess was like a child over this, he could not dare say so.
"Be blessed with longevity, good health and happiness until I see you again, oh brave and peerless Goldrake."
As if she couldn't help but leave the Drake, it seemed that the Princess was indeed a young child. It was a bit unfortunate, but Sunhyuk cautiously promised that if a time comes, he would visit her next time in the Palace with the Goldrake.
"This departure now will be in anticipation for our future reunion, so I will await with joy."
The farewell of the Princess did not change, and as the owner of Goldrake, he was able to receive the favor of the Princess as a result.
"Then we will shall depart."
Then arriving outside the Castle where Commander Mengsk and the Western Armies were, they began their return home march.
TL Afterword:
Calvis: Ooh, finally they're out of the Capital. I just want to see how he develops that Earth attribute. Too bad he doesn't have teachers to teach him like Toph in Avatar.
Editor Afterword:
T0ngan: Hmm, if ever the MC finds another mount, perhaps he can gift the princess the drake.. Anyways – all eyes on how MC will develop earth… he already is a master of the shovel.
Borderline Masochist: N/A
Translator: Calvis
Editor: T0ngan/Borderline Masochist