< The duke's apprentice (2) >
As the conversation went back and forth like that, I started to mediate.
– It’s not polite to ask for a duel at first sight of Kairin.
Nigel scolded Kairin and
-My student, Kairin challenges you to a duel.
Raven looked at Sang-woo with the nuance of ‘would you like to try it?
‘What did you mean to fight?’
Sang-woo finally understood the master’s words.
‘For some reason, his expression was hardened.’
It wasn’t a greeting.
‘But to fight in the first meeting… Do you have a grudge against me? Or something like sparring.’
That’s how Sang-woo started to get in touch with the nature of the situation.
he asked himself.
“Do you want to sparr with me?”
Kairin, not understanding Sangwoo’s words, looked at Nigel.
“I wonder what that disciple said.”
-You ask if you want to fight with yourself.
“yes. That’s right.”
Kairin answered confidently.
The word came through and Sang-woo immediately asked.
“Then how are you going to fight? Now?”
“I want to fight right now.”
“You will regret it.”
“I have no regrets.”
“I’m a bit strong.”
“Since he is the successor to the Stormbringer swordsmanship, of course he should be.”
“I don’t see you as a woman.”
“If you’ve been looking at me as a woman all this time, you’ve been ignoring me.”
Kairin doesn’t want to lose a word.
During the conversation, Sang-woo felt that Kai-rin’s personality was formidable.
‘Wow, he has a pretty face and his personality is like fire.’
but if you want
Sangwoo nodded.
“great. Then let’s do sparring.”
His consent was communicated right away, and Kairin replied with a meaningful smile.
“great. Family lord, I want to have a sparring with this person here. May I use the gym for a moment?”
Her tone of voice was too stiff to be a granddaughter.
Nigel nodded his head in pain.
– So be it.
“thank you. Then follow me.”
Kairin turns around and leaves the waiting room.
Since he was listening to Nigel’s message, Sang-woo followed her a beat late.
“let’s go together.”
And Raven and Nigel who saw such Kairin and Sangwoo.
Their eyes met and they shrugged.
– Shall we go too?
-Let’s go.
The two older brothers, who had risen from the sofa, also walked slowly to follow them.
* * *
Meanwhile a few hours ago.
The emperor’s bedroom located deep in the imperial palace.
The curtains were draped, blocking all the windows, and the room was brightly lit by spheres of mana.
And a huge bed in the middle.
In the middle of the bed, the size of a room, the old Emperor of Urencia was sleeping soundly as if he were dead.
“…….”
And Lucas standing on the bed next to him.
He looked at the emperor’s face with dark spots, expressionless, and then quickly left.
Pod!
After that, he reappeared in a fancy room.
There was a desk, so it looked like an office, and all kinds of books wrapped in gold were placed one after another on the wall.
It was small enough to be called a library, and each book was so colorful that it felt like an ornament.
And a man sitting in the office.
The cool-looking man with a neatly trimmed beard lifted his head from the desk, perhaps feeling the mana flow.
There is Lucas in a neat suit.
The man who saw it laughed.
“Oh how long is this? Lucas.”
“It’s only been a few months. It’s been a while though.”
Lucas speaks in the fluent Urensian language.
The two of them shook hands warmly, presumably because they were already quite close, and soon sat down on the sofa on one side.
“Yeah what is it? I heard that work on Earth is busy.”
“Now that I’m a bit more organized, I have less to worry about. Just because something happened.”
“Day? What is it?”
The man asked, surprised by Lucas’ slightly troubled expression.
“It looks like the Tibern portal has been breached.”
“hmm? Does that make sense?”
The man looked like he couldn’t believe it.
In fact, even though he hadn’t been there himself, he knew of Lucas’ ability to completely block Earthlings from entering and exiting the Tibern portal for decades.
“I’m not sure either. I didn’t see anyone who entered the portal.”
“Hmm, but I guess you came here because of your heart attack.”
The man who pinpointed the pulse.
Lucas nodded.
“You are also quick-witted. It’s like a court archmage.”
Yes.
The man in this office right now.
He was Duke Isaac Bismarck, the modern court wizard and head of the Duke of Bismarck.
“It’s nothing. There’s no way you, a meticulous and thorough person, would visit without reason.”
With those words, Duke Bismarck buried himself deeply into the soft sofa.
“It’s no big deal. I thought it was a big deal again.”
His words seemed to relieve tension.
Lucas’ expression changed.
“You must be nervous. It may be out of our control.”
Yes.
In the meantime, those who monopolized the portal between Tibern and Earth fundamentally blocked the exchange of information.
They only benefited from the exchange of modern weapons engineering and mana science technology and the exchange of supplies, resources, and human resources.
The two held hands in the process.
No, it was purely thanks to Lucas that they held hands.
Because he had visited Duke Bismarck first, as if he knew.
Then, they were promised cooperation in the matter of handling the Earth’s supplies that came over via the Tibern portal and of finding human resources.
Since then, Lucas and Bismarck have grown rapidly, sharing only the latest civilizations of both Earth and Tybern.
The Duke of Bismarck was already a family of great power, but through this he was able to become the strongest family in Urencia.
Currently, it was to the point of executing state affairs instead of the sickly emperor.
Of course, the political battle was getting fierce because of this part.
And for that, it would be advantageous to hold the control.
Bismarck also agreed with Lucas.
However, I didn’t feel it was very important.
Because the situation was already in their favor.
“The trend is already with us. It means that even if new challengers for vested interests appear, they have enough power to suppress them.”
“It is. But our dominance will be further weakened.”
“no. Rather, you will be able to achieve higher development through competition. see you now How far the Urencia Empire has progressed despite the lack of competition. Just by making a combined magic bullet of a rifle and mana stone, one soldier now can carry out the duties of dozens of soldiers during the Great Invasion.”
Yes.
The Urensian Empire is only a small area when viewed relatively on the huge planet Tibern.
They were confined to a huge barrier and were living only within that small land mass.
Originally, stagnant water will rot.
It would not be strange if the Urencia Empire, unable to obtain new resources from outside, had already perished during the decades of war.
The reason they were able to hold on.
It was because it constantly developed itself and replaced old weapons to maximize efficiency by raising the strength of each soldier.
And in the process, the Duke of Bismarck, who ostensibly led all of this, received enthusiastic support from the people of the Urentia Empire.
Thanks to this kind of support, he was in the process of sweeping up a huge amount of wealth by setting up a corporate merchant group based on global capitalism.
Of course, all of this was because of Lucas’ help.
“And magic has also made great progress with Earth’s algorithmic studies, and food resources are being solved through growth magic in Earth’s genetically modified crops. I am still at this level, but I am looking forward to the Urencia Empire, which will grow more splendidly in the future.”
Bismarck was indeed full of expectations.
Although he is a person with a strong desire for power, there was no way he would not want to see the place he lived in develop.
Besides, Tibern is a planet larger than Earth.
And there is no other country here.
There is only one Urencia Empire.
If you can become the master of this empire…?
‘God will not be envious. Even him.’
He was his father’s disciple, but surpassed him and became almost a god.
Even if I couldn’t reach him with my skills, I wanted to surpass him by reaching the pinnacle on the other side.
That’s why Lucas’ comment that the Tibern portal seems to have been breached was what he wanted.
Because he wanted more exchanges between Tibern and Earth.
And he had all the preparations and confidence to stand at the center of the exchange and take over the world.
‘A greedy friend. Let go of greed now.’
Deep down, the Duke of Bismarck, whom Lucas disapproved of.
He smiled even brighter, as if to hide his true feelings.
‘As expected, it was too big.’
And, likewise, Lucas, who has already noticed Duke Bismarck’s sinister intentions.
He realized that he couldn’t go all the way with him.
I felt like I wanted to explode my head right now.
In fact, that level of power was available to him even now.
‘…Not now.’
But Lucas persevered.
Because the death of Duke Bismarck also becomes a ‘variable’.
‘That day was not far off. Bismarck. Keep quiet until then.’
On that day, even this insidious nobleman could be wiped out.
Two people looking at each other with conflicting thoughts.
Lucas stood up first.
“Anyway, I understand. Still, I won’t ask you to deal with the behemoth if you find it. I just want you to share the information.”
“Hmm, that’s about it. I see.”
“And the true emperor is still alive.”
It wasn’t that the emperor was seriously ill, but rather a question with a nuance of ‘It’s strange that he’s still alive’.
Duke Bismarck nodded.
“It’s still useful.”
“…All right.”
Lucas, who had buttoned up a button on his suit jacket that had been untied, offered the Duke of Bismarck a handshake.
“Then see you next time.”
“Okay. Come again.”
Pod at the same time as shaking hands! and Lucas disappears.
He briefly appeared near the barrier close to the Bismarck duchy.
It must have been near the barrier where Sang-woo was, but the barrier teeming with monsters.
At the guard there, he simply received permission to enter, passed the barrier, and appeared in the forest where the Tibern portal was located.
Pod!
Then Lucas looked back for a moment.
The direction in which the Urencia Empire is located.
‘Please don’t let a variable occur…’
He didn’t know if there was an intruder or not, but his heart was strongly convinced of this.
That means there must be an intruder.
However, he also had other schedules, so he couldn’t just walk around the planet Tibern.
‘At times like this, I envy Jeong Sang-woo. I wish I had two bodies.’
Lucas sighed.
He quietly crossed the portal to return to Earth.
And unlike Sang-woo, who was determined to be found out, Lucas didn’t notice his existence, and he noticed it later.
* * *
The gymnasium of the Raven duchy.
It was located in the backyard of the Raven duchy.
There were already full of knights working hard in the middle of the day.
“Haap!”
“hot!”
Bagak- Kaga-
gak-
Two men wielding wooden swords wearing thick protective gear to protect themselves, probably for sparring.
However, the sparring was quite splendid because the techniques were diverse swordsmanship.
Whether they were awakened or not, their physical abilities were excellent.
‘Ah, isn’t it an Awakener here? Are there any Awoken here too? What do you call it?’
Around the time Sang-woo tilted his head, focusing on the wrong part.
The knights who noticed their appearance shouted.
“It’s the family head!”
“Everybody stop! Line up!”
After just a few seconds of those words, the knights lined up one after another.
Oh and ten were in perfect condition.
“The gathering of the 3rd squad of the Raven Knights has been completed. Meet the patriarch!”
“Meet the head of the household!”
Everyone got down on their knees and bowed.
While everyone is admiring the moderation.
Nigel dismissed them.
-I need to use the gymnasium for a while, so take a break.
“yes. All right!”
The knights moved swiftly, putting all the equipment they had used back in place and quickly sweeping the gymnasium with brooms.
The gymnasium was quickly tidied up.
After tidying up, the knights sat around the gymnasium and looked curiously at the family members.
At that time, Kairin moved first and stood on top of the gymnasium.
Jeobeok-jeobeok-
The gymnasium was paved with stones, but it was slightly higher than the normal flat ground, giving it a somewhat stage-like shape.
And then she calls Sang-woo.
“Come up.”
< The Duke's Apprentice (2) > End
