Bang! Bang!

  The sound of a clash between two wooden swords filled the whole training room. The knights who were watching the current battle were fired up.

  “Go! Go! Your Highness! Beat His Majesty to a pulp.”

  “Don’t be defeated by a child, Your Majesty! I bet all my money on you!”

  I panted heavily in exhaustion, but I didn’t lose my concentration. I was still in a stance, ready to intercept any of my father’s attacks.

  While he was also panting, it was just a light catch of breath, as if he had only taken a small jog, which irritated me greatly. He didn’t even pose any stance and was full of openings. He is completely underestimating me, huh?

  As for why this happened? We will have to go back thirty minutes ago.

  .

  …

  ….

  “Now then! This lesson is over,” my mother said in a happy tone.

  Finally, it was over. I was dying to know more about the scale of the Wood Dragon. I intended to search for books about the dragon and whether it was really capable of affecting the soul.

  “Mother, can I browse through the books?”

  “No. Reading time is over. If you are bored, join your father. I love you, child.”

  “Huh? What ar—”

  Before I could even finish what I was about to say, with a wave of her hand, I was sent outside of the archive, right beside the entrance.

  “...”

  I sighed heavily. I had forgotten—a visitor only has a limited amount of time to stay inside the archive. It looks like this will be harder than I thought. For now, should I go to the training grounds?

  .

  …

  …..

  Before I went to the training grounds, I was feeling famished, so I asked the maid to send a meal to my room first. The meal was quite delicious.

  After that, I headed straight to the training grounds. Even before I entered, I could already hear the shouts and grunts of knights in harsh training. All of them trained wearing only pants, leaving their upper bodies bare. I could hear the maids’ loud screams coming from behind the wall barricade.

  Seeing the knights in training reminded me of my subordinates who were under my supervision in the Upper Realm. Well, the war is over now, so I doubt they are in danger. They must be enjoying their lives right now.

  The one in charge of the knights’ training was the commander of the Knights Order. They were the ones tasked with overseeing and protecting all the citizens throughout the Empire.

  He saw me approaching him, so he bowed and greeted me.

  “Greetings, Your Highness, the Crown Prince. Welcome to the training grounds. If you want to meet with His Majesty, then you are just in time—he is training right over there.”

  As I followed where he pointed, sure enough, Father was there. He was holding a long sword, swinging it repeatedly in one direction with the same strength and the same speed every time, which I admired. He must be enhancing his control and precision in swordsmanship.

  Perhaps sensing my gaze, our eyes met. My father’s focused expression immediately changed into a happy one. He threw the long sword he was holding and waved at me with both hands.

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  “Hey! Isn’t this my most proud son, Arthur!?”

  Ugh… here comes another headache. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but my parents seem to enjoy embarrassing me in public. My mother treats me like a child, while my father shamelessly boasts in the presence of many people. I mean, sure, no one will speak out since they are the Empress and Emperor. Still, don’t you two mind your reputation!?

  Although I was complaining in my mind, even if I said this to them, it would go in one ear and out the other. It was completely useless.

  That’s why I had no choice but to go along with them.

  “Yes, yes… Your most proud son is here.”

  “Hahaha, it’s always interesting to see your indifferent expression. I wonder just where you got it from?”

  I also wonder about that sometimes.

  “So, what did you come here for? Your fighting lessons won’t start until after your baptism.”

  Of course, I knew that. I just came here because of what Mother said. But seeing the knights dueling, my blood started to boil.

  “Father… do you want to have a one-on-one?”

  My father seemed surprised at what I said—he had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

  “Ohh? That’s the first time I’ve seen you make that kind of look.”

  “What kind of look did I have?”

  “A beast hungry for a fight. Come down to this arena. I’ll satiate your hunger.”

  He grabbed two wooden swords from the weapon rack and tossed one of them to me, which I easily caught.

  “Commander Darius, come down here as well and be the referee for this fight.”

  The commander of the Knights Order, Darius, didn’t immediately carry out my father’s request. He seemed dissatisfied with something.

  “Your Majesty, I apologize for being rude, but isn’t this excessive?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “His Highness is only three years old. He still has an underdeveloped body and hasn’t even begun any training yet, and now he's dueling with Your Majesty, who is practically the strongest in this empire!”

  “Ahh… I see what you mean. Don’t worry, I’ll hold back and only use my swordsmanship. If you’re worried about his physique, then take a look at him again! Do you think your children’s bodies when they were three years old were as mature as my son’s?”

  “No, they weren’t, but… I understand, Your Majesty. I’ll be the referee.”

  “Good. You should’ve listened to me in the first place.”

  Father, aren’t you being too harsh? Look at the commander—he’s so dejected. His words must have hit a hard spot for him.

  I have to say, though, Father is definitely suited to be an Emperor. He doesn’t lash out at people who disagree with him and at least listens to them. I wonder if this is the kind of Emperor they aspire for me to become? If he could just fix his haughty attitude, then he’d be perfect. Alas.

  My father and I stood facing each other with a fair distance between us. I took a stance, ready to attack the moment the battle started, while my father had a laid-back expression, his sword pointing at the ground. Right now, he had a lot of openings that I could exploit. He’s looking down on me just because I’m a child—well, that will be his huge mistake today.

  “That is a stance I’ve never seen before.”

  That’s no surprise. This stance came from my personally made technique called the Demon-Culling Sword Technique. I found killing demons one by one to be a waste of time, so I created this technique focused on efficiently slaughtering demons.

  The referee, Commander Darius, stood in the middle. He looked at us both to check if we were ready. He raised his hands and said,

  “The duel between His Majesty, Emperor Alexander Sylvania, and His Highness, Crown Prince Arthur Sylvania, has now… begun!”

  The moment the referee signaled, I immediately dashed toward my father.

  “How hasty!”

  My father continued to stand still even after seeing me charging at him. His arrogance was quite infuriating.

  I readied my sword and made a right slash at his torso.

  Bang!

  “Is this all you can do?”

  As I expected, with just a casual slash, he deflected my sword. But I grinned in victory. Instead of resisting the deflection, I let the momentum carry me, twisting my body into a spin. In an instant, I was behind my father.

  “Wha—!?”

  I bent my knees to gain momentum, then jumped! Now, we were at the same height. I positioned my sword like a dagger and stabbed at his neck. However, instead of feeling the sensation of piercing flesh, all I felt was the wind whistling. My father had vanished from where he was, and all I stabbed was just air.

  Then I realized I was actually hovering in the air. In shock, I lost my balance and fell face-first to the ground.

  “Ouch…”

  What the heck just happened?

  “Whew… that was close.”

  I heard a sigh of relief a distance in front of me. I raised my head to look at my father, who was definitely standing in a different spot than before.

  “Father, you cheated! You said you’d only use your swordsmanship!”

  “I could say the same thing to you! You were about to pierce my throat. If I hadn’t dodged that, you would have killed me then and there!”

  Ah, right. My father is not an immortal. In the Upper Realm, our way of training was battling each other until one of us was dead, then the dead could just be revived in the Holy Star—but mortals can’t do that.

  “Even so, that was impressive. Do you want to have another round?”

  “As much as I want to, Father, I can’t move my body. I’m too exhausted.”

  “Oh, let me help you stand.”

  What we didn’t realize was that Mother had actually been watching our whole fight.

  “You two… what are you doing!?”

  “Uh-oh.”

  Yeah, definitely 'uh-oh'. We are dead.