Who Dares to Discuss Qualifications? (2)
“What?”
When Lionel Leonberger awoke from his nightmare, the first thing he did was grope under his pillow. A cool, hard texture reached his fingertips, and he grabbed onto something and pulled it out. It was a rusty dagger.
As he held the blade in his hand, the anxiety that had remained like scraps at the edges of his mind subsided somewhat. Only then did he feel his burning thirst.
He grabbed the jug standing by his bed and brought the entire thing to his lips.
‘Glug, glug, glug,’ he drank and almost retched at the fishy taste of the water. He forced himself to endure the foulness as he continued to drink. The water wet his throat and cooled his insides, and his momentary confusion subsided.
He suddenly felt better.
As he turned his head, he saw a woman who quietly slept next to him, with a somewhat distracted expression on her face.
It was the queen.
“Ah…” Lionel gasped, for seeing the queen jarred loose his memories of the prior night. After returning from his hall, he had begun to drink alone. When the queen returned, they had talked together and soon started tilting back glasses. The queen got drunk and fell asleep.
He now knew that the fishy taste was not due to the water, but rather the fact that he had drunk too much last night. This was due to his foolishness. He scolded himself for self-medicating, for it was not good if the monarch tried to cure his troubles with alcohol. Lionel shook his head once and looked at the queen.
Even though only in her mid-thirties, she was suffering. Still, the look he gave his wife was a dry one. He looked at her skin, smooth as jade. The long scar that ran across her slender shoulder came into his sight. Something sharp skimmed through his mind, so he gently pulled the blanket over her shoulder. He got up from the bed, careful not to wake the queen.
Lionel stood at the window and looked out, the moonlight falling upon him.
He saw movement in that light: Palace knights dressed in their golden armor moved below the palace walls. The knights usually stood as stock-still as statues at their posts, but tonight they seemed busy for some reason. The number of knights Lionel could see was several times more than usual.
‘Chek chek chak chek,’ came an unusual sound from outside the door. It was the sound of a heavily armored knight moving. The hair stood upright on the king’s back.
He put his dagger down and grabbed the sword he had mounted as a wall decoration.
Unlike common decorative swords, this was a real iron sword; its sharp blade unsheathed so that it could be used at any time.
“Sire?” the queen called to him as she woke up.
“Shh, something must have happened.”
The queen did not reply. She got up quietly, threw on her coat, and came to stand next to her husband.
‘Dook dook!’ someone knocked on the door.
“Your Majesty? It’s Schmilde Stuttgart.”
Lionel Leonberger lowered his sword. It was Count Stuttgart, the captain of the palace knights and a champion of the kingdom.
“Can I come inside?”
The king turned his head, saw that the queen was getting dressed, and told Schmilde that he could enter.
“What’s this fuss in the middle of the knight?” Lionel demanded.
The old knight glanced at the sword in the king’s hand, bowed his head, and reported on the situation outside.
“There was an intruder in the dungeons. All the palace knights and guards who were guarding there were found dead. They are drained of blood.”
An uncommon frown came to Lionel’s features as he listened to Schmilde, the Nogisa, blur his words as he reported.
“They were drained of blood?”
“It is impossible to know whether the blood has been sucked from them and whether the intruder is human.”
“Is this blood-draining the work of a vampire?”
The old knight shook his head and said, “I don’t know at this time.”
“What of the gates?”
“All have been sealed off, Your Majesty. Three or more knights have been stationed at each, so nothing can enter or exit.”
The queen listened to the exchange between the king and Schmilde and intervened by asking, “What about the princes and princesses?”
“The palace knights have been sent to guard them. But,” and here the old knight stared at the king before carefully speaking on, “the whereabouts of His Highness the Third Prince is unknown. The Dragon Slayer is also gone.”
Before Lionel Leonberger could even respond, a loud noise came from outside.
“We have determined the whereabouts of the lost third prince!” came the reports of a knight as he stumbled in.
“Speak. Where is the third prince?”
At the king’s words, the palace knight knelt and said, “His Highness the Third Prince is blocking off the front of the palace and cutting down the palace knights! He is heading straight here!”
There came a tumultuous noise from outside as the knight gave his report.
“Nooo!”
“Aouch!”
A series of terrible screams rang out, and then all was silent once more.
The palace knights stood in rank below, against the door, swords drawn and shields readied. Guards took up their bows and took in their positions.
‘Dwaak!’ the palace’s main gate was smashed inward, and something flew through the opening.
‘Kudangatangtang,’ came the sound as an unidentified armored individual rolled across the floor and groaned.
It was Prince Maximilian, his body bloodied.
‘Wakadakaka!’
Before the second prince had even lifted his sword, a shimmering flash flew through the dust that had been kicked up by the sundered door.
“Stop it!” the king cried out urgently.
The king didn’t care how desperate his voice sounded; he was just relieved to see the palace knights standing before the second prince with their shields at the ready.
The king was worried, and this was evident in his frown. He couldn’t make out distinct voices due to the distance, but the sound of sword slices came clearly to his ears.
“Don’t block! Avoid, avoid!” came the urgent shout of the second prince.
The warning came too late, for barely had the words left the prince’s lips when a blade slashed through the bodies of the ranked palace knights.
The king groaned as he watched the upper bodies of the palace knights flop to the floor, their torsos cut clean through their shields. Maximilian staggered to his feet, and Prince Gillian Leonberger appeared.
His flowing hair covered half his face, and he was holding Dragon Slayer in one hand.
Red eyes glinted from under his hair.
“This guy!”
The king watched as Maximilian charged at Gillian, with mana gathering on the tip of his sword.
It was clear to everyone’s eyes that the second prince was no match for the third prince. He did have momentum on his side, though, and the second prince managed to land a kick before blades flashed, and Maximilian once more rolled to the floor, in great peril.
“Sir Schmilde! Go save Maximilian!” the king commanded.
The Nogisa’s answer was firm, “Your Majesty, I cannot leave your side.”
“The future of the kingdom is over there!”
“To me, Your Majesty is the future of the kingdom.”
The old knight did not budge, even upon the king’s strident command.
The king looked down once more, his face distorted.
The palace knights who had shielded the second prince had not been able to block his blow, and their bodies had been cleaved in twain. Arrows loosed by the guards did not even come near the third prince.
“Sire! Where are you!? Your Majesty’s son is here!” came the shouting of the third prince as he looked around. His voice held the unstable timbre of the typical madman.
There was no way that he would slice into the king’s knights and attack his brother in the king’s chambers without being mad.
“Why don’t you show up before your son!?”
Is this a coup? The king thought.
No- If it was a revolution, there would have been factions that followed Gillian. The third prince was alone. He had just grabbed Dragon Slayer and ran wild as he began his slaughter.
All the guards had died in an instant. Soldiers and knights were constantly facing the third prince, but they were unable to stop him.
“Will you come out if I do this!?” the third prince cried as he sliced through a palace knight and dumped his body to one side, and then charged at the second prince.
Maximilian’s sword was sliced in two as he blocked a blow from his prone position. Gillian stepped on the second prince’s chest and aimed Dragon Slayer at his brother.
“If you don’t come out now, I can’t guarantee my brother’s comfort!”
The king watched this scene play out, his teeth clenched.
“Sir Schmilde!”
“Even if Your Majesty banishes me because of this, I cannot leave your side now.”
The king burst into a fit of anger as he heard these words and roared, “I will go over there!”
“Sire!”
“You do your job, Nogisa, and only that! You shouldn’t be stopping me!”
The king grabbed his sword and left the room. The queen followed him. The Nogisa sighed and led his palace knights to the bottom.
“Oh! Oh! Here you are now!” Gillian shouted in glee as he saw the king.
“You are insane. You won’t do this without being mad. You are definitely not sane,” the king said as he ground his teeth and looked around. He took in the corpses of palace knights, cut in half. Their bodies were shrunken as if all the blood had been drained from them. This state was consistent through all the corpses, just as the Nogisa had said.
We are at least saved the trouble of finding out who the fuck attacked the dungeons, King Lionel thought. It seems that Gillian has no intention of hiding his atrocities.
“An idiotic and incompetent man is set to take the throne, take the kingdom! How can I not go mad!?” the third prince anxiously cried as he lifted Dragon Slayer into the air. “Can’t you see, Your Majesty!? Dragon Slayer has not accepted anyone in four centuries! But it has accepted me! Isn’t this proof that I am the next king!?” the third prince shouted and laughed as he showed Dragon Slayer off. It sounded as if screeching demons flowed from his mouth and from the sword.
“You are insane. You are not just mad! You’re completely, insanely mad. You dare kill my knights and slaughter my guards? You dare do this and think you will be safe?”
“Oh! It seems that it’s not enough to be the master of Dragon Slayer. But … Your Majesty has no choice, either way.”
“To dare do something so-“
“If all the men who have Leonberger’s blood die,” came Gillian’s interruption, as his red eyes flashed under his tangled hair, “Your Majesty will have no choice!”
The third prince now raised his sword. Maximilian did not move; he had passed out.
“Yes!? Stop! Do you think I will hand you the throne after seeing what you are!?”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter. If you won’t give it, I’ll just take it away,” Gillian said as he put the sword against his brother’s heart and applied pressure to the hilt.
‘Wikududududu!’ a bluish brilliance cut through the dark aura that had entered the room and slammed into the third prince, saving Maximilian’s life by milliseconds.
‘Dwang!’ Gillian managed to block the blue flash with Dragon Slayer, and shouted, “What kind of man dares face me!?”
“It’s me, you bastard!” a voice roared from beyond the door, and the first prince appeared.
A bright glow enveloped his sword, and King Lionel began to shed tears.
Adrian’s sudden appearance was a surprise, but the most unusual presence was the brilliant flash, and the great concentration of energy gathered at the tip of his sword.
It was not just the king who was caught off guard; no, everyone was amazed by the magnitude of such momentous magic.
Such a level of power was only expected in knights who had trained and battled throughout their lives and finally reached completion in their later years.
“Aura Blade!” someone shouted as they understood what they were seeing.
The young prince, only seventeen, had learned to do the impossible.
Prince Adrian lowered his sword as he walked toward Prince Gillian.
‘Tuku, tuku, tuku,’ so great was the silence that only the footsteps of the first prince could be heard as they echoed through the hall.
‘Chik,’ the footsteps finally stopped, and the first prince quietly spoke.
“Who are you?”
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