Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 274

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 274
Selection Examination
The Imperial Palace Training Ground was packed with Imperial Guards and soldiers from the Imperial Defense Ministry. With the talent selection approaching, they were all undergoing internal promotion examinations as well.
The Imperial Guards in particular had two Captain positions vacant. Everyone was pushing themselves to their limits, honing their skills with intense focus.
Barsabe, nursing severe injuries, leaned against the second-floor railing and watched her colleagues train.
“My goodness, Toothless. You can’t even train, yet you show up every single day?”
“Ugh, seriously.”
Her roommate pressed a cold drink against her cheek in mock mourning for Toothless’s absence. Barsabe took it roughly and drained half of it in one gulp.
Ever since that rainy day—ever since she’d survived the black armor—everyone had been doing this. The first joke she’d heard while lying in the hospital bed was something like “You really don’t have teeth anymore.”
“Why do you keep calling me Toothless when I don’t have any?”
“Because you don’t. We’re mourning.”
“Go finish your laps. I saw you skip a whole round. You know what happens if Captain finds out? It gets multiplied by ten?”
“Does our Toothless not know the meaning of self-training?”
“I’m dying, seriously!”
“Ahahahaha!”
While her colleagues trained with sweat and roars, Barsabe could only watch idly. Every muscle in her body itched to move, but there was nothing to be done. They’d said if she pushed herself now, she’d never hold a sword again.
She frowned and glared toward the center of the training ground. Her roommate’s gaze followed.
“He’s insane, right? He’s been at it for an hour straight.”
“We both got beaten up together, but I don’t understand why that bastard looks so fine. It’s unfair.”
It was Berik. He was running across the training ground with weighted sandbags strapped to him. Running, rolling, getting scolded by Captain Jeirat, then charging in with a sword and getting beaten. He’d been repeating this endlessly for an hour without showing a trace of fatigue.
Her roommate pulled out a cigarette and shook her head.
“You at least have the excuse of being injured, but my limbs are fine and I can’t keep up with that bastard’s stamina. What would’ve happened if my belly hadn’t been pierced?”
Barsabe let out a sigh somewhere between admiration, amazement, and lamentation, dropping her gaze downward. Seeing this, her roommate patted her shoulder teasingly to comfort her.
“Don’t be like that. Bad mood slows healing. I heard rumors that he’s a non-human.”
It was a rumor that had spread from Captain Jeirat’s background investigation of Berik. Of course, the spark for it came from his miraculous recovery rate and behavior that was anything but human.
Barsabe scoffed with furrowed brows.
“Non-human? That’s funny. I’d believe it if he were a dog.”
“I’m leaning toward that too. The more you watch, the less human he seems. Haha.”
How many people had seen Berik’s bare body while treating his ruptured organs and mangled limbs? If he were non-human, there would surely be peculiarities remaining on his body. Rather than vague rumors, more concrete and certain details would have surfaced.
“Is that why Captain Jeirat pushes him so hard?”
“Push him? He beats him all day long.”
“…Have you ever seen the Captain move unnecessarily?”
At Barsabe’s question, her roommate merely shrugged. Berik and Xiaoxi were almost the only outsiders besides the Imperial Guards and Defense Ministry. Yet despite this, Captain Jeirat trained them alongside the Imperial Guards, and he made no effort to hide it.
Crack!
“Aaaagh!”
As expected, a sharp impact rang out followed by Berik’s scream. The troublemaker had been hit by Captain Jeirat. Everyone had been pretending not to notice, stealing glances at Berik, but now they turned to look openly.
“It hurts, mister! Look!”
“…What?”
“No, look! See this! A bump! A bump!”
Crack!
Berik clutched his forehead and collapsed forward. His body, already drenched in sweat and sticky, seemed intent on using this as an excuse to lie down and rest. Jairot, noticing this, clicked his pocket watch in warning.
“If you don’t get up within one minute, you’re banned from the Training Ground.”
“Aaaaagh!”
It was an irritated shriek, but his body obeyed faithfully. Berik sprang to his feet and threw punches at the empty air. Without even looking, it was obvious who he was imagining.
“Damn it. Just wait until I become captain!”
“…Hah, hah.”
As Xiaoxi exhaled heavily and tried to pass Berik, Berik tumbled forward to block his path. While he flailed his sword about recklessly, Xiaoxi diligently continued his basic training under Captain Jairot’s orders.
Berik gripped his sword again with a smirk.
“Xiao, are you done?”
“…No, still two laps remaining.”
“Forget those—come spar with me instead. The others won’t even try.”
Xiaoxi wiped away sweat and caught his breath. Wasn’t that obvious? Even if it was called sparring, it was a small match where victory and defeat were decided. What benefit was there in fighting someone of no rank? Win and you break even, lose and it’s a complete disaster.
Most of them were facing promotions soon, so they had to choose their opponents carefully. And more than anything—
“Hah, hah, we’re outsiders, after all.”
There was underlying resentment. Who exactly were these people to use the Imperial Palace Training Ground, and what were they that Captain Jairot personally oversaw them? The favoritism was undeniable, and each time Berik caused a commotion, the surrounding gazes grew more hostile.
Well, the fact that Berik treated sparring like actual combat was probably another reason they avoided him.
“So what if we’re outsiders? We’ll be family soon anyway.”
“…I’ll finish my laps.”
“No way! Stop this boring running and spar with me! Come on, let’s actually swing swords properly! Xiao, I promise I’ll go easy on you. Okay?”
Berik grabbed the hem of Xiaoxi’s pants and hung on. After a moment of hesitation, Xiaoxi decided to rest anyway and stopped moving. Berik shook his body back and forth, shouting.
“Let’s sparrrr!”
“Hey. Why don’t you shut your mouth?”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yeah. Who else is here?”
At that moment, a soldier from the Imperial Defense Ministry warned him in a voice dripping with displeasure. Berik, still clinging to Xiaoxi’s feet, turned his head back to look at the man.
“Then will you spar with me?”
“…You? You disrespectful bastard.”
“You called me ‘you’ first, you idiot. Is your memory span one second? Either spar with me or mind your own business and do what you were doing. Stop picking fights, you mutt.”
As the tension escalated rapidly, the atmosphere grew tense. The Imperial Defense Ministry finally released the irritation they’d been holding back, while the Imperial Guards murmured and stepped back.
“Does the Imperial Defense Ministry not know Berik?”
“They might not if they were outside the palace at the time.”
“If they don’t know, they should at least stay quiet. Half of them should leave.”
Did the Imperial Guards stay silent because they were fools? They knew from watching Berik spar with Captain Jairot. His skill aside, he showed such strong attachment to winning and losing that the outcome was quite unpredictable.
If they got injured right before a promotion, they’d only lose. And with Captain Jairot overseeing him, they were in no position to say anything.
“…Ah, sparring? You want this?”
Crack!
The man couldn’t restrain his surging anger and struck Berik’s face. It happened far too quickly. Berik had been chattering away, and Xiaoxi had been cooling off with his shirt fluttering. The man’s attack sent Berik’s head snapping completely backward.
“What kind of bastard are you, acting up here? You’ve been irritating me for days. Well, this works out. I’ll make sure you can’t come back here. Sparring? Let’s do it.”
“…Haha.”
Whoosh.
Blood trickled from Berik’s nose as he held his head high, yet his eyes gleamed with an unmistakable brilliance. The joy of finally meeting a worthy opponent radiated from him. Thwack! Just as Berik gripped his dark blade with all his might and lunged forward—
“Berik.”
Captain Jeirat’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“This is not sparring time. Causing a disturbance will result in penalties. And you there—state your unit.”
“…I am Hamp, assigned to the 294th Division of the Imperial Defense Force, Fourth Army.”
“Soldier Hamp, the Imperial Guards are not conducting sparring at this moment. You should cease as well and withdraw.”
He glanced at the blade suspended in mid-air, then lowered his head. He had landed one satisfying blow—no regrets there. If anything, he was grateful for the intervention. The man dragged his feet reluctantly and shuffled back among his comrades.
“Ugh…”
Meanwhile, Berik’s nose bled profusely as his sword hand trembled violently. He was holding back as instructed, but it was unbearable. He wanted nothing more than to drive his blade into that man’s flesh, tear it open, slice it apart, and make him bleed.
Grind.
The sound of his teeth grinding was unmistakably audible. The Imperial Guards’ knights whispered among themselves upon witnessing it. That beast actually listens to Captain Jeirat? Unbelievable.
Yet his temperament remained unchanged. Berik hurled his sword down and unleashed a frustrated outburst.
Clang!
“Damn it all! This is absolutely infuriating! I took one hit! My nose is bleeding!”
“If you can’t stand it, quit. No one is forcing you. Without you, the Training Ground would be far more pleasant. We’d actually welcome it.”
“Jeirat! Damn you! Just wait and see!”
Boom! Crash crash!
He stomped the ground several times in fury. Xiaoxi handed him water, and instead of drinking it, Berik poured it over his head to cool his rage.
“Hah, damn.”
“…You’re doing well.”
“This is doing well?”
Xiaoxi nodded. Captain Jeirat had just taught Berik discipline, and Berik had accepted it. For someone who lived like a ruffian to wear the uniform, such a process was essential.
Xiaoxi understood this through experience. To submit to something, one must first break and suppress one’s instincts.
“I wish I hadn’t said such things from the start.”
When Berik first came to the Training Ground, Captain Jeirat had actually been more inclined to appease him. The very existence of a Mage Knight held inherent value.
But—
‘I want to rank first.’
‘Everyone wants that. But those who seize it are ultimately those who desire it more desperately than others. You only desire strength. However deep that runs, your sole driving force remains that one thing.’
‘Then? Is there anything else?’
‘Berik, create meaning. Decide what you want to do once you become strong. Without that, it’s difficult to reach your goal, and even if you do, you won’t fully enjoy the joy of it.’
Captain Jeirat’s advice brought to mind that day with Berik. Beyond his father’s violence and the assault by brigands, it was that recent day. When Timothy asked whether he and Ian were truly close friends, Berik had nothing to show for it—his words simply died in his throat.
“I should have known that after saying all that, you’d change your attitude and act like this. Damn it, I was deceived. Ian wasn’t even the one who brought it up!”
Crunch!
Berik crushed the water bucket and hurled it far away. Then, as if venting his frustration, he dashed off. Xiaoxi, who had suddenly lost his water bottle, sighed.
Thwack!
Without hesitation, he began running again. Both of them desired the same thing. To be selected and prove their worth. That was the path to honoring themselves and their comrades.
Captain Jeirat watched the two with a whistle in his mouth, as did the Imperial Guards’ knights beside him. He blew the whistle forcefully and shouted.
“I see some of you slacking off! Keep moving!”
“Yes, sir!”
“If you have complaints, climb to the captain’s position! No matter how much you shout from below, you won’t be heard!”
“Haaaaaah!”
Screeeech!
The Imperial Palace Training Ground had never been noisier than these days. The shouts of challengers desperate to achieve their goals echoed relentlessly, day and night.
* * *
And then came the long-awaited day.
The talent selection examination that would span two weeks was finally beginning. Those with numbered badges pinned to their chests stood in a line, waiting to enter the Training Ground. Berik and Xiaoxi were no exception.
“Line up single file and enter. Maintain your order and spacing!”
“I will call the front row first. After a simple physical examination over there, you’ll proceed to the basic fitness test. Those who fail to meet the standard will be dismissed immediately, and those who pass will receive name tags. We’ll then arrange your matches.”
“Quiet! Stop making such a commotion!”
“You there! Leave your weapons at the entrance!”
It was chaotic and incredibly loud. Berik grabbed Xiaoxi’s arm in front of him and shook it, releasing his nervous excitement.
“Wow, there are so many people.”
“….”
“Hey? Xiao, look over there!”
Berik turned Xiaoxi’s head upward. Familiar figures stood before the second-floor railing. Ian, Romandro, and Jin were watching the two of them.
The moment our eyes met, Romandro waved both hands enthusiastically in greeting—a show of support wishing us well and to be careful. Jin carefully raised one hand as well, while Ian simply smiled with his chin resting in his hand.
“Iaaaaan!”
“….”
“Xiao, you shout too. Romandrooo!”
My call was lost in the chaos, but it reached Ian. He nodded with a smile, as if to say, go ahead and show us what you’ve got.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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