Episode 4: The three months that Logan promised his father have passed.
The servants and retainers who encountered Logan on the way down the mountain and to the inner mansion, or even saw him from afar, quickly turned around and avoided him.
It wasn’t just because of Logan’s notoriety.
“That’s it?”
“Why are you a beggar in the inner city…”
“Shh, be quiet! It’s the Archduke.”
“Is that the one…the one?”
“Shh. Shut your mouth, bitch!”
No matter how little they said, Logan, whose senses were greatly amplified, could hear them clearly.
But he didn’t really care about it.
Right now, Logan’s attention was focused on only one thing.
‘The time is now.’
I came down a little early because I don’t remember clearly, but the incident was still going to happen within a week.
A goal to be achieved next to personal force.
‘money.’
There are only a few cases left where you can get that money.
‘you can do it.’
Ugh.
A body with a strong force that responds according to will.
The clear growth in ability gave me confidence that I would be able to achieve my next goal without difficulty.
* * *
“Ah. You’ve been rolling around in the gutter for three months?! What on earth have you done in Seonsan?!”
“I heard you trained.”
“Ah. What kind of training did you do rolling in the mud? Oh my nose.”
Buck buck.
Sigh.
Although Rick was muttering, he kept pouring water and moving the scrub brush diligently.
Although I was taking a step away and expressing with my whole body that I did not want to get close to something dirty(?).
I had nothing to say when I saw the soup, which was almost as black as scum.
“Ah. Did anything happen while I was gone?”
A word thrown out of shame.
“Nothing much happened. Since Confucius is not here, the castle is very quiet… ahaha. What I mean is… I was bored. Yes, I mean I was bored. Yes, of course.”
“….”
“Now that I think about it, something special has happened! But that’s….”
“What is it?”
An unexpected answer came back.
The Grand Duke ran away to avoid a sparring with the younger Prince.
I don’t like being compared, so I gave up everything and went into hiding.
Such a coward is not suitable for the heir of a knightly family.
The closed-down training for the past three months had degenerated into strange rumors and spread within the family.
Eat.
“It’s absurd. Well, I think I know who did it.”
“You said you don’t care about rumors, right? You shouldn’t get excited, right?”
“Yes, it’s okay. Anyway, all problems will be solved when I meet my father.”
There was no way my father, a senior knight, would not know that he had awakened.
As soon as my father recognizes it, these rumors will disappear anyway.
But Logan’s complacent thoughts were shattered in just one day.
On my way to meet my father to report that Pegwan training is over.
Logan faced a completely unexpected situation in front of his official residence.
“What did you say?”
“According to family law, direct blood relatives cannot meet the head of the family without prior notice.”
As I glanced back with a puzzled expression, Rick spoke in a mumbled voice as if he had no confidence.
“It is true that it is a family law that existed hundreds of years ago….”
What kind of nonsense is this?
“I met you like that just three months ago?”
“Then the security guard did not do his job properly, Confucius.”
Logan stared blankly at the forty-something knights who blocked his path.
‘This never happened in my past life…’
Since I made a different choice from the past before returning, it was natural that the future would change, but I never thought that it would lead to worse treatment.
However, at that moment, Logan’s heightened senses allowed him to hear the conversation of the soldiers hiding in the official residence.
“Aren’t you crazy, Knight? Still, you’re an archduke.”
“I don’t know. You’re the one who’s just leaving. You’re retiring soon. I bet you were going back too.”
“Should I really go back? Should I cause a scene?”
“They said I was a coward who was scared even by a fourteen-year-old. So wouldn’t I go back?”
“Well, the driver will take responsibility anyway…”
“We didn’t know because it was our break time.”
At this point. It was a conversation that allowed him to fully feel how his reputation had fallen to the lowest level.
“There are no soldiers here, so there is no one inside right now to deliver the message. Come next time, Master.”
When combined with the driver’s shamelessly smiling face, Logan’s mood was completely shaken.
‘Hey, do you see this guy?’
Originally, Logan’s personality was anything but calm.
However, the decades of life away from his comfortable family as a mercenary and independent soldier were enough to build up patience in Mangnani that he did not originally have.
I didn’t necessarily want to play along with this shallow provocation, but…
there was something that bothered me.
No one…
‘doesn’t care.’
Inside the mansion, around the knight.
Many Gasols are looking this way, either overtly or subtly.
However, most, if not all, of those who were there were smiling, pretending not to notice or looking somewhere else.
There wasn’t even a single look of blame, let alone someone stopping the knight’s actions that deviated from the norm.
At this time, I was well aware that I was doing something that would be looked down on and that my reputation was at an all-time low, but this feeling was different.
‘Was it like this? This is a bit difficult….’ This
is the plan I had in mind when I came to visit my father.
The plan to gradually turn around his reputation by showing his father his changed side and gaining recognition was abandoned at this moment.
‘There’s no need to put it off until later.’
Although I ignored it in my head, the fire in my heart that was still young in my body moved to my eyes with calculated anger.
“What’s your name, knight?”
“I am the Dominion, Prince.”
The driver responded with a grin, as if he was now planning to openly ignore Logan.
“Yes, Dominant. You insulted me under the pretext of an already established family law.”
“…yes?”
“I, Logan McLane, challenge Knight Dominan to a duel to avenge an unjust insult.”
The knight’s face hardened as Logan continued his indifferent words.
slam.
Everyone looked at Logan in bewilderment, speechless, until the training gloves he took out of his arms hit the Dominan’s breastplate and fell to the floor.
Rick was the first to come to his senses.
“Go Confucius! No!”
Before the knight could reply, Rick desperately shouted and blocked Logan’s path.
From his perspective, Logan was a child(?) who had lost to Little Confucius not long ago.
However, I thought that I could never allow a knight to do something reckless like a duel.
but.
“It’s okay, Rick. He’s an old man anyway.”
Logan actually provoked the article further.
“Confucius?!”
Rick looked back with a pale complexion, but Dominan’s face was already grimly distorted.
Logan had no official title in the family.
However, due to the characteristics of a knightly family, a person was considered a knight-in-training until he or she came of age.
And it is tradition that it is not only against the rules for a knight trainee to request a sparring match with a knight who is nominally a ‘superior’, but is actually encouraged.
However, if it was a duel rather than a sparring match, it was a different story. It didn’t matter if I refused.
“Why? Are you going to refuse? Lord Dominan? If you’re going to talk down to a known coward, then do it.”
But Dominan could not refuse.
The moment the archduke touched him, the fact that he had ridiculed Logan first had already disappeared from his mind.
‘What a waste!’
Even if the other party is an archduke.
If you endure such insults, you are not human.
As a knight of Macline, if you duel with a person of direct blood, even if you win, the aftereffects will be significant.
But Dominan couldn’t think of such a thought.
Anger has eroded reason.
“I accept the duel.”
Suddenly, the Dominan’s teeth ground as if they were about to break.
* * * Eventually, the dispute that started at the entrance of the mansion was moved to the knights’ training hall.
The knights who were training suddenly became observers and witnesses of the sparring and looked at them with excited eyes.
Of course, no one among them expected Logan to win.
The measure of their interest was how well the Archduke would hold up against the knights, or how poorly he would fare.
There was no knight who did not see Logan being humiliated by Ronian in the public sparring held not long ago.
But…
‘You might be wondering if I’m terrible or if Ronian is a genius.’
What kind of rumors would spread if you beat the knight in this situation?
Before Logan even started sparring, he became curious about what happened next.
And fortunately, the knight who was to be used as a scapegoat did a great job of encouraging Logan’s fighting spirit.
“…Please take care of yourself, Archduke.”
Although Dominan was gritting his teeth with anger, his tone was polite.
On a topic that has been controversial, he does not have the guts to spit out abusive language towards a direct blood relative of his family in front of many knights in training.
“From now on, we will begin the official sparring between Logan McLane and Knight Dominan! Weapons will be limited to wooden swords for safety’s sake! I wish you both the best!”
A knight who accidentally took on the role of referee while training in the training hall.
His expression wasn’t good either, but all he could do was take away the real sword and limit his weapons.
However, I was still uneasy because a knight who wields the Force could kill a person with a wooden sword.
But Logan was too stubborn to turn things back.
‘If something happens, it’s absolutely not my responsibility. Still, Sir Dominan, please stay safe.’
His face twitched in anxiety, but contrary to his expectations, Dominan lunged at Logan first.
“Taaat!”
A faint red haze emanated from the charging Dominant’s body.
Proof that force is leaking out of the body. It was proof of inexperienced control, but it looked quite threatening to those who did not know it.
‘I’ll correct your habits.’
Paaaang.
The wooden sword flying in with a harsh noise suddenly split into three sword formations, upper, middle, and lower, and aimed at Logan’s entire body.
‘Finish it in one go!’
Dominan could not forget the insult just before.
The juniors are coming up as they get older.
When I turned 40 and accepted the rank of 53rd, the lowest rank in the Order of Knights, I had already decided to retire.
I was just enjoying my last days as a knight, doing some decent work.
But the archduke’s words ignited the last of the knight’s pride.
‘I am not an outcast!’
Although Dominan lacked talent among knights, he had his own special moves brought about by his experience.
I decided to retire anyway.
With that, I planned to overpower the Archduke at once and teach the subject to the young master who had no idea about the world.
He was confident of victory when he saw the archduke unable to move even though he was confident of a triple killing.
but.
Taaaaah!
“Gyeong!”
He let out a bizarre scream without realizing it due to the sudden sound of the impact and the severe pain in his wrist.
Tongue.
Degurrr.
The moment the wooden sword was thrown from the knight’s hand and rolled to the ground with a short scream.
The training hall fell into silence for a moment.
“What is the meaning of paint that doesn’t even move its wrists? Is this really the best for a knight?”
Logan’s mocking voice, speaking in an awkward manner, broke the silence in the training hall.
Then, as if it were a signal, voices of astonishment erupted from all directions.
“No way!”
“That archduke?”
“I didn’t even see it?”
There was also a hint of surprise in the voices of the embarrassed attendants and retainers.
“…A force user?”
“The Archduke?”
“Huh…”
The people who were more surprised than anything were the knights who were observing.
For the past few years, Logan McLane has been nothing more than a dirty piece of shit they want to avoid.
A lineage of direct descendants who has no skills but only causes accidents and acts viciously.
That bitch who didn’t want to go near him showed an unexpected appearance.
When the knights, who should normally be calm, look into each other’s eyes and talk louder than the servants.
“I’d like to give Dominan another chance as a judge. How about it?”
Logan’s voice attracted the attention of people everywhere.
“…That’s right. Are you okay, Dom?”
When the mesmerized referee looked at Dominan with eyes that were still amazed, Dominan nodded heavily with a distorted face that was even redder than before.
