The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 98

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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 Town’s Strongest (98)
“Your Majesty, might I have a word with you?”
Queen Olivia, who had been enjoying tea with her concubines, frowned the moment Jang Gain appeared.
“Does Duke Gain have something to discuss with me?”
“I’d originally hoped to speak with you privately, but since you have company, I’ll just say it here.”
……
“You know that next month I’ll be marrying Princess Angelina, and afterward I’ll be returning to my dukedom, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“And you know that Consort Orphiena will be leaving with us as well?”
“I do.”
“Once the two of them depart the palace with me, they won’t be returning unless something extraordinary occurs. So might I ask that you refrain from troubling them for the month or so that remains?”
“It sounds as though I’ve been troubling them, but I have no idea what I could have done.”
“You truly don’t know?”
“No, I’m afraid I don’t.”
“Good heavens! Very well, I see I’ve wasted your precious time. I think it would be better to speak with His Majesty directly instead.”
“What is it you intend to tell His Majesty?”
Jang Gain regarded the Queen’s stubborn silence for a moment, then exhaled slowly.
“I plan to tell His Majesty that I’m taking all of the attendants who serve Consort Orphiena and Princess Angelina back to my dukedom with me. That way, they won’t feel compelled to watch your moods.”
“By what authority do you claim the right to take them?”
“Authority? It’s simply my preference. If I wish to take them, I take them.”
“They are unquestionably His Majesty’s people and property of the royal palace.”
“Even so, I suspect His Majesty won’t be able to refuse if I make the request.”
“What kind of tyrannical nonsense is this?”
“The nonsense is coming from you. If I tell them they’re all leaving with me when I return to my dukedom, they won’t need to worry about your disapproval anymore.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea why you think they’re watching my moods.”
“Your Majesty, you have a real gift for exasperating people and making them feel utterly hopeless. Let me be blunt: what possible good could you gain from making an enemy of me?”
“Duke Gain. I am the mother of this nation. Show some respect.”
“I am showing respect at this very moment.”
“Don’t you find yourself being disrespectful?”
“Would you prefer I truly became disrespectful? Shall I show you what that looks like?”
……
“I’m warning you—if you don’t step back now, you’ll learn firsthand what real disrespect means.”
“For all that you’re a Sword Master, you’re remarkably rude.”
“This isn’t rudeness, I assure you. In any case, I’ll be taking my leave. Next time, I do hope you’ll greet me with a smile.”
Once Jang Gain had finished his warning and departed, Queen Olivia ground her teeth audibly.
“Oh, very well! I shall restrain myself for now. But I promise you—your wedding day will be a day of reckoning.”
* * *
After the first snow fell, the weather turned bitterly cold. Within a week, nearly every river in the kingdom had frozen solid, and by the time the wedding was only four days away, the waterfalls themselves had iced over—one needed to break the ice and melt it over a fire just to have drinking water.
“I thought that with cold like this, the delegations wouldn’t come at all, but there are quite a few after all.”
Jang Gain, perched atop the Inner Castle Wall, gazed down at the processions of nobles from the kingdom and envoys sent from neighboring realms, whistling low.
“Now that it’s known you’re a Sword Master, they’re curious, want to verify if it’s true, and are trying to gauge what sort of person you are.”
Noxkasarsis spoke with a slightly bored expression, and Jang Gain shrugged.
“So you’re saying they didn’t come to congratulate me and the Princess, but to get a look at me?”
“Among all those people down there, very few are here to truly celebrate your wedding. They’re all coming to see you.”
“Suddenly I’m a celebrity.”
“Is that something to be proud of?”
“I’m just stating the fact.”
“Tsk, you’re an odd one. Besides, there seem to be quite a lot of strong fighters among these delegations—stronger than your typical envoy.”
Hearing this, Jang Gain nodded in agreement.
Since he himself knew how to conceal his Internal Energy inwardly, it was difficult for anyone except those sensitive to auras like Noxkasarsis to identify true masters, but the knights here mostly relied on Artifacts to hide their strength, making their power relatively easy to perceive.
“The strongest among them appears to be that elderly man in the delegation from Grangjunor—a Sword Master, by the look of it. Angelina must have been referring to Duke Fura Noid.”
“He carries considerable power, but it’s nothing compared to you. He’s no different from the Sword Masters we met at the Quardo Coast.”
“He’s somewhat stronger than they were—it seems he’s broken through a significant barrier.”
“It may look that way, but he’s still far weaker than you.”
Noxkasarsis sensed the Aura dwelling within Jang Gain’s body and silently clicked his tongue.
Ever since absorbing the Demonic Energy from the fingers of a duke-ranked Demonic Being, his power had surged dramatically.
“I broke through a barrier at least ten times thicker than whatever wall that old man penetrated. That’s why the gap is so vast.”
“And yet you grew stronger by absorbing Demonic Energy, so why are you going on about walls now?”
“By ‘wall,’ I mean my limits. What I’m saying is that I broke through an extraordinarily thick barrier—a limit.”
“You have a real talent for making simple things sound complicated.”
Crash-clatter-clash.
Just then, the canopy of the carriage where the old man sat was drawn back, and a sharp aura lanced toward the two of them.
Smirk.
Noxkasarsis, sensing the hostile intent, wore an amused expression.
“Looks like that old duke has spotted us. And he’s staring at us pretty fiercely too.”
“I didn’t leak any aura outward. Did you deliberately provoke that old man?”
Jang Gain’s frown deepened, and Noxkasarsis looked sheepish.
“Well, not exactly provoke—but that old man’s got his Energy Detection wide open, scanning everything around him. I figured he must be looking for you, no?”
“Now that you mention it, it was strange how he suddenly showed up and started pestering me to go see the delegation. What exactly made you want to provoke him?”
“Actually, I planted a Familiar near the queen, and she’s been talking to that old man frequently—kept cursing you as an insufferably rude bastard of the worst sort.”
Hearing Noxkasarsis’s words, Jang Gain frowned without meaning to.
Now he understood why a Sword Master was part of the Grangjunor delegation.
While the two were talking, Duke Fura Noid stepped down from the carriage and approached the base of the Inner Castle Wall where the pair was perched, then leaped straight up to the wall’s 30-meter peak in one bound.
Standing atop the Inner Castle Wall, Duke Fura Noid spoke.
“I am Fura Noid, Duke of Grangjunor. Are you the Marquis Kain?”
“Yes, I am Marquis Kain. I’m honored that you would come in person to congratulate my wedding, Your Grace.”
“Then the green fellow beside you must be that Green Dragon who caused a commotion at the palace.”
Noxkasarsis, who had been looking at Duke Fura Noid with the eager face of a child anticipating something amusing, stiffened in an instant.
“What, what did you say? Ha! This is driving me mad. Ever since I started hanging around Kain, humans keep taking me lightly.”
Shimmer-shimmer-shimmer…
A translucent barrier materialized around Noxkasarsis, and simultaneously a geometric luminescence formed above it, beginning to rotate.
Whoosh.
“After becoming a Sword Master, I traveled everywhere dragons were said to live, wanting to fight one. But I never managed to meet a dragon. And yet here, in a place like this, I’ve finally met the dragon I’ve always yearned for.”
Jang Gain drew his blade and stared at Duke Fura Noid—who burned with the fire of battle—with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Your Grace, surely you’re not thinking of fighting Noxkasarsis right now?”
“My dream was to become a dragon slayer. Today, I finally have the chance to fulfill that dream.”
“Ha, this is unbelievable. Kain, move aside. Even if you’ve told me countless times not to kill humans carelessly, I can’t restrain myself now.”
“This man came as a delegation to congratulate my wedding. There’s no need to kill him over a simple misunderstanding.”
“A simple misunderstanding? This human is attacking blindly, not knowing his place. How can you call that a simple misunderstanding?”
“Marquis Kain, step aside. Truth be told, I’d like to cross blades with you as well, but catching a dragon before it escapes takes priority.”
In that instant, Jang Gain’s face twisted with rage.
“Damn it! Is this old man insane? I’m actually saving your wretched life, so if you don’t want to die, know your place and behave!”
“What, what? You bastard! First, I’ll teach your mouth some manners!”
In a flash, Duke Fura Noid took one long stride toward Jang Gain and swung his blade down.
For a Sword Master, closing a 10-meter gap in a single step was nothing.
Thud.
But before he could even halfway through his swing, his jaw snapped to the side.
Jang Gain’s fist had shot out and buried itself squarely in Duke Fura Noid’s chin.
Thump.
After taking the punch, Duke Fura Noid staggered for a moment, then collapsed.
“Damn it! I told you not to mess around. You just won’t listen.”
* * *
‘Why am I lying on this freezing stone floor?’
After a moment of unconsciousness, Duke Fura Noid opened his eyes and became aware that he was sprawled face-down on a bitterly cold stone surface, filling him with confusion.
Sharp sting.
And immediately he felt a terrible pain on the left side of his jaw.
‘Why does my jaw hurt so much? As if someone had hit me—wait!’
As his dulled mind suddenly snapped back to reality, the memory of being punched in the jaw by Marquis Kain flooded back.
“Did… did I actually lose consciousness?”
As he hurried to get up, the world spun and it was hard to find his balance.
Unable to stand properly, he ended up sitting back down, and looking around, he saw Marquis Kain and the green man staring at him with pitying expressions.
The green man spoke.
“Kain. You deliberately provoked him so he’d make the first move, didn’t you? Because you were worried I’d kill him?”
“Yeah, I understand you’re upset, but he came as a delegation to congratulate my wedding. Bear with it this time. If anyone’s going to kill him, it’ll be me.”
“Listen here, old man.”
“O-old man? Did you just call me an old man…?”
Shimmer-shimmer-shimmer…
Mid-sentence, Duke Fura Noid saw a translucent barrier materialize around the green man, with a strange luminescence coalescing above it, and he hastily changed his tone.
“D-did you call me an old man, Great One?”
“I was about to kill you outright, but you’ve got sharp instincts. Count yourself lucky. The only reason I’m tolerating a cheeky bastard like you is because of Kain.”
As Duke Fura Noid’s sense of balance gradually returned to normal, he felt strength flowing back into his limbs, yet he dared not entertain the thought of drawing his sword against the dragon or Jang Gain.
How he had lost consciousness at the end began coming back to him with increasing clarity.
‘The Marquis struck my jaw with his fist before I could even raise my sword!’
The crucial point was that he had only become aware of the fist after his chin had already taken the blow.
He hadn’t seen how his opponent moved before that.
‘Did he move at a speed my eyes couldn’t follow?’
He was a Sword Master, the pinnacle of swordplay, yet was it possible for someone to move fast enough that even his tracking vision couldn’t keep up?
There might be differences in skill among Sword Masters, but could the gap truly be this vast?
Confusion mingled with a flood of questions.
He found himself resolved to provoke another confrontation and gauge the difference between them.
“Marquis Jang Gain. I, Duke Fura Noid, Sword Master of Grangjunor, formally challenge you to a duel.”
The moment he recognized the other as a superior Sword Master, he could not bring himself to speak with anything less than respect.

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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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