The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 83

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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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Our Neighborhood’s Strongest (83)
The mages plummeted into the sea, the Elementals they’d summoned never returned, and when the knights who’d mustered their courage last went to investigate the sea fog and sent back no word, fear etched itself across the faces of the Emperor and his ministers.
Meanwhile, the sea fog crept onto land and bore down toward the Main Camp like a rolling cloud.
Within ten minutes of the soldiers noticing the fog’s movement on the harsh wind, it engulfed them, and soon the soldiers began collapsing like sickened fowl.
“This isn’t ordinary sea fog! Everyone, hold your breath and get out of it!”
The knights recognized the fog’s abnormality and ordered the soldiers to evacuate, but there was nowhere to escape—the fog covered not just the Main Camp but the entire Coastal Region around it.
Mages and Elementalists hastily conjured wind to push back the approaching fog, but the protected radius extended only about twenty meters centered on the Emperor.
A handful of quick-witted knights managed to rush into that circle, but the rest all fell.
The Emperor watched the entire scene with an expression of utter disbelief, trembling.
“My… my thirty thousand soldiers… all at once… dead? How is this even possible…?”
“Your Majesty! Most of the soldiers have fallen, but they shouldn’t be dead yet.”
“How did this happen? Why is this occurring so suddenly? Is this truly the work of a dragon? Or is it a natural disaster? Could the Demon King have descended?”
“There’s not a single dead person, so there’s no reason to panic like that.”
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice reached the startled Emperor’s ears. Shortly after, three figures emerged through the fog.
The Emperor stared at the three men, untouched by the fog, unable to hide the tremor in his voice as he spoke.
“Not… not a single death? My fallen soldiers are still alive?”
“Yeah, they’re alive for now. I only mixed the faintest breath into the fog.”
Only then did the Emperor’s eyes register the three men’s features.
A man with green hair in green clothes, a man with blue hair in blue clothes, and a man with black hair dressed in foreign nobility garb.
“Are you perhaps the dragon who closed Saphir’s Gate?”
“Yeah, Jang Gain and I closed it together.”
The Emperor swallowed dryly without realizing it.
He’d heard that dragons were calamities, but he’d never imagined one could incapacitate thirty thousand soldiers so effortlessly.
If the dragon changed its mind, those thirty thousand soldiers could all be corpses right now.
Glancing sidelong, he noticed the mages and Elementalists were too occupied holding back the fog to spare any attention for confronting the dragon.
His every nerve drew taut as a blade’s edge, and his skin prickled.
“Are the two gentlemen beside you also dragons? Or should I say… are you dragons, sirs?”
The Emperor hastily corrected his usual rough manner of speech.
“This one’s a dragon, and this one is Jang Gain, Marquis of the Smed Kingdom. Oh, and Marquis Jang Gain is also a Sword Master.”
“There must be a reason you could have killed my soldiers but didn’t. What must I do to save them?”
“You were disrespectful to me because you believed you had thirty thousand sleeping soldiers, a Sword Master beside me, and mages and Elementalists to rely on, correct?”
……
At Noxscasarsis’s question, the Emperor couldn’t answer at once, swallowing dryly as he gauged the situation.
“Just say yes or no.”
“That’s… correct. I believed my loyal subjects’ military power would be more than sufficient to face a dragon.”
“How in the world did our dragon become so weak in human minds?”
“I lacked foresight.”
“Your shortsightedness could bring ruin to this entire nation. Other kings and emperors didn’t refrain from making dragons their enemies out of cowardice. They appease us because they stand to lose far too much should they make us their enemies.”
……
Shink.
While the Emperor stood speechless, Ilmaseuk Alberto, the Sword Master, suddenly drew his blade and charged at Noxscasarsis.
The distance between them was roughly ten meters, yet the time from drawing his sword to sweeping it at Noxscasarsis’s throat was barely half a breath.
Clang.
But Ilmaseuk Alberto’s blade never reached Noxscasarsis’s neck—it collided mid-strike with Jang Gain’s sword and rebounded in a shower of sparks.
Thud.
Jang Gain’s blade, having knocked aside his opponent’s weapon, curved with the fluidity of lightning and drove straight through Ilmaseuk Alberto’s chest.
Even with his chest pierced, Ilmaseuk Alberto clenched his teeth and swung his blade again.
Clash. Boom!
But that too was suppressed by Jang Gain’s left arm—unarmed—before a kick to his gut sent him flying like a ball into the fog and out of sight.
Noxscasarsis watched the man thrashing in the fog with an expression of utter bewilderment, then turned to Jang Gain.
“What’s wrong with that idiot? Did he really think such a pathetic ambush would work?”
“He executed it boldly, so he must have thought it would. But an ambush requires stealth, speed, and above all, it must be sudden enough that the enemy doesn’t see it coming—he lacked all the fundamentals.”
“In other words, he’s a stupid bastard without the basics. Right now, thirty thousand soldiers’ lives rest in my hands, and after a failure like that, how did he plan to take responsibility?”
“A stupid bastard wouldn’t think about responsibility. He probably only thought about earning merit and receiving the Emperor’s praise for slaying a dragon.”
“Oh, so he didn’t give a damn about thirty thousand lives at all.”
Listening to the two speak, the Emperor’s face went pale.
At first he’d regretted Ilmaseuk Alberto’s ambush failing, but hearing their words, he realized the idiot had enraged the dragon without any consideration for his thirty thousand soldiers’ lives.
Grind.
His teeth clenched of their own accord.
One fool was about to get thirty thousand soldiers killed.
How was he supposed to persuade a dragon now? His mind had gone blank.
Regardless of how desperately the Emperor’s mood had shifted, the conversation between the two men continued.
“Gain, but you’d believe that idiot is a Sword Master?”
“What? That bastard is a Sword Master?”
Hearing Noxscasarsis’s words, Jang Gain turned his gaze toward the man drinking a potion from within the sea fog, his expression momentarily stunned.
“Most of the Sword Masters I’ve known carried about as much Aura as that fool does.”
“I felt he carries a considerable amount of Aura, but something seems lacking for him to be called a Sword Master, doesn’t it?”
“What’s lacking? You damnable creature!”
At that moment, Ilmaseuk Alberto, who had finished drinking the potion within the sea fog, emerged from it with his right hand gripping a sword and his left hand clutching his chest where it had been pierced through.
“Surely you’re not thinking of attacking in that condition? You’ll die.”
“Die? Me? I was careless for a moment and fell to you, but that won’t happen again.”
As he spoke, Aura blazed up from his sword like flame, and a sharp Killing Intent pricked against the skin.
Jang Gain’s eyes widened as he sensed the Killing Intent.
He had regarded his opponent lightly, but from that rough Killing Intent emanated an undeniable veteran’s presence.
‘Wait—this isn’t someone to dismiss!’
As Jang Gain fixed his sword seriously toward his opponent, the Emperor suddenly bellowed.
“Duke Ilmaseuk! What are you doing now!”
“Yes? Your Majesty?”
“You are now provoking the enemy—no, the dragon—with the lives of thirty thousand soldiers as collateral.”
“Your Majesty, I act only for your safety, to punish these arrogant brutes.”
“Use your head, if you have one. Do you not understand what your actions now will do to my soldiers? Do you truly not realize that thirty thousand lives hang in the dragon’s grasp?”
“That is… I am… deeply sorry.”
“If you understand your fault, sheathe your sword and step back.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
As Ilmaseuk Alberto withdrew, the Emperor bowed his head toward Noxscasarsis.
“Dragon, the Duke’s eyes were clouded…”
“Wait! We can skip the apologies. Gain, it looked like you were about to fight seriously just then.”
“Yeah. That man Ilmaseuk—he may misjudge situations, but the Killing Intent that flared up for a moment was genuine. The kind only someone who has walked the edge of death countless times can emit. Not just Killing Intent, but true Killing Aura.”
“Killing Aura? Hmm, from where I’m standing, more than one person here is giving off that kind of Aura. What do you want to do?”
“Fight them all, I suppose. But didn’t you say there were three Sword Masters in Cram? I’m only sensing two with strong Killing Intent.”
“That’s true. But if you’re curious, don’t ask me—ask the Emperor.”
“Your Majesty, are there perhaps only two Sword Masters in Cram?”
“No, there are three.”
“My Aura Sensing detects only two.”
“One of them serves as commander of the Imperial Guard Knights, who protect the Imperial Palace, so he is not here.”
“Ah, so that’s why there are only two. Your Majesty, if I may make a modest proposal?”
“A proposal? I’m curious what it might be. Speak.”
“I am officially both a Marquis of the Smed Kingdom and a Sword Master. I have always been curious how strong the Sword Masters of other kingdoms and empires are, and I would welcome the chance to test myself against them now.”
As the Emperor listened to Jang Gain’s words, he cast a sidelong glance at the two dragons beside him.
“A ‘proposal’ suggests there is benefit to be gained should I accept it, wouldn’t you say?”
“Once my duels with those two Sword Masters conclude, regardless of victory or defeat, I will awaken the soldiers who sleep under poison’s influence.”
“But if you are defeated and die at the hands of my men, you cannot then speak such promises to the dragon, can you?”
“Ah, you’re right. Then let us secure the dragon’s promise beforehand. Noxscasarsis.”
“Yeah?”
“You heard what I just said, didn’t you? That regardless of whether I win or lose against those two Sword Masters, I will awaken—no, revive—the soldiers who have been put to sleep. Promise me you’ll do that.”
“Understood. If that’s what you wish, I will.”
“Your Majesty, did you hear? The dragon has given his word.”
“The other dragon has said nothing.”
“Virus, give me the same promise.”
“Understood. I give the same promise.”
“Your Majesty, is that sufficient now? Both dragons have made the same promise, so even should I fall, it will be honored.”
“Since the dragons have promised, I shall trust them. But why do you speak to the dragons in such casual terms without protest from them?”
“Ah! That is… well, we grew close while closing the Gate together.”
“I see. If you closed the Gate together, then familiarity would naturally have grown between you.”
The Emperor’s expression turned envious for a moment, then he turned his gaze to the two Sword Masters.
“Duke Ilmaseuk, Duke Breolli.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
At the Emperor’s call, Ilmaseuk Alberto answered from where he stood, while Breolli Kante stepped forward from among the knights and answered.
“You both heard the conversation just now between myself and Marquis Gain, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Since Duke Ilmaseuk Alberto has been wounded, Duke Breolli Kante shall face Duke Jang Gain first.”
“Your Majesty, I accept the command.”
Breolli Kante, clad in armor identical to the knights’, stepped past the emperor and stood face-to-face with Jang Gain, his expression shifting to one of mild surprise.
“This bracelet I’m wearing is a Concealment Artifact that masks even my presence itself—how did you discern that I’m a Sword Master?”
“Ah, so you were hiding your aura with an Artifact. I thought you were someone like me—skilled enough to contain your Aura inward and prevent it from manifesting outwardly. But that wasn’t it, then.”
“What? You can suppress your Aura inward and keep it hidden without an Artifact’s aid? Such a thing is possible?”
“If one applies oneself diligently enough, yes. But now that you tell me it’s an Artifact’s effect, I’m somewhat disappointed.”
“With a single Artifact you can deceive enemies efficiently on the battlefield—why the disappointment? If anything, I find it harder to fathom how you’d expend such effort mastering a parlor trick when an Artifact would serve just as well.”
“Well, people think differently, after all.”
As Jang Gain leveled his blade, Breolli Kante drew his own sword.

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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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