"Haa…"
Dar, who arrived at the training ground before Yuren, sighed when he saw Veil's chilling eyes from the nobles' seating area.
Veil usually acted intellectual, but in reality he was a bloodthirsty murderer who could crush armor and swords with his bare hands and tear people apart alive.
Thinking that if things went wrong, that murderer's rage might explode on him, Dar swallowed dryly and turned his gaze away.
"Yuren Rox…"
Yuren was currently the hottest topic in the kingdom. He had slain multiple powerful monsters and gained such fame that Duke Roper personally called him the greatest contributor to the northern wall reclamation.
Yuren was a powerhouse shaking the kingdom, but Dar never once considered the possibility of his own defeat.
"I have Kovis Archery."
Dar had learned the ancient archery technique called Kovis Archery from the magic tome Veil gave him.
The mysterious abilities of Kovis Archery had turned the ordinary training knight Dar into the Shattering Archer Dar.
Moreover, after analyzing Yuren's fighting style from the information Veil provided, this was a fight Dar could not possibly lose.
"He's finally here."
From the west entrance of the royal training ground, Yuren strolled in with a relaxed expression.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
"Young Master Yuren!"
"Sharkrai King Slayer!"
"Sea Serpent Slayer!"
"Undead Slaughterer!"
The moment Yuren appeared, cheers erupted from the spectators. He waved both hands at the crowd as if enjoying the cheers and walked slowly forward.
'This damn bastard!'
He was already annoying for interfering with their plans, and now he showed up late and even responded to the cheers. Dar felt blood rush to his head.
"Please take care of me."
Dar suppressed his anger and pretended to be calm as he extended his hand to Yuren.
"Yes. Please take care of me too."
Yuren smiled brightly and lightly shook Dar's hand.
"Then I'll prepare."
"Go ahead."
After shaking hands, Dar stepped back to create distance, but Yuren simply stood there grinning and staring at him.
'This guy…'
Dar grew even angrier, feeling like Yuren was ignoring and mocking him.
"Now, let me introduce the two who will duel today."
The man in front of the king acted as host and spoke loudly enough for the entire training ground to hear.
"First, the eldest son of the Rox family, Yuren Rox, who not only slew the Orc Champion, Sharkrai King, and Sea Serpent, but also drove back the undead at the northern wall!"
"Uwaaaaaah!"
"Sir Yuren!"
"Monster Slayer!"
"Undead Slaughterer!"
The moment the host introduced Yuren, the spectators' cheers exploded. Yuren waved at the crowd again.
"Next, the Shattering Archer Dar Castein, whose hundred-shot-hundred-hit archery can strike an orc's eye from hundreds of meters away, whose destructive archery can shatter armor and pierce bone, and who single-handedly slew the bone-armored Bone Rex with only arrows!"
"Uwaaaaaah!"
"Hope of the Archers!"
"Shattering Archer!"
Dar ignored the cheers directed at him and only glared at Yuren.
"This is a spar. Any attack that threatens the opponent's life will be considered an immediate loss. Now, prepare!"
Grind.
Although he couldn't kill Yuren as the host said, Dar clenched his teeth, determined to at least cripple him so he couldn't move for a while.
"Begin!"
The moment the spar started, Yuren took four steps to the left and raised his finger. Dar noticed a thumbnail-sized metal bead held between Yuren's middle and thumb fingers.
'Not a dagger, but a bead? He thinks I can't hit small objects? What an idiot!'
Dar assumed Yuren brought beads instead of daggers as a counter to his arrows.
Dodging the bead and shooting would have been wiser, but Dar decided to show off his skill and aimed at the metal bead Yuren was holding.
Paaang!
Ping!
The instant Yuren flicked the bead, Dar also released the fully drawn bowstring.
Clang!
A tremendous impact sound that didn't seem like a collision between bead and arrow shook the training ground.
"Kuk."
Dar smirked at Yuren's pathetic idea and reached for another arrow from his quiver when he suddenly felt something right in front of his forehead. And then…
Bam!
He lost consciousness.
**
"How predictably pathetic."
I looked at Dar, who was lying unconscious with his tongue hanging out and eyes rolled back.
[Name: Dar Castein]
[Traits: Kovis Archery, Master Archer lv2, Illusion Sword lv2, Aura Adaptation lv1]
[Affinity: -87 (Disgust)]
[Current Mood: …]
"Since he's unconscious, his mood doesn't show."
This spar went exactly as I planned from beginning to end.
"I felt it the moment I suggested the spar yesterday."
Two days ago, when I mentioned the spar in front of Dar, I realized one thing: Dar had an extremely strong pride.
To provoke him, I deliberately waved at the nobles' cheers even though I didn't care. When Dar moved and took his stance, I just stood there relaxed.
As expected, the pride-wounded Dar aimed his arrow at my bead.
He fell for my provocation and ended up lying comfortably on the dirt floor without even showing a single one of his abilities.
"W-what is this…"
The king, watching from above, was the first to run down with a stunned expression.
"Your Majesty."
Behind the king were his escort knights, who also looked just as shocked since they clearly hadn't seen it clearly either.
The Marquis and Duke Roper from the spectator seats were also coming over.
"What about Dar?"
"He's just unconscious."
The king immediately checked on Dar's condition first.
"I-I see. That's a relief. But what kind of magic did you use? Why did Dar suddenly collapse?"
"It wasn't magic. I simply used one method with hidden weapons."
"A method with hidden weapons?"
After answering the king, I picked up the metal bead that had fallen nearby.
"Huh?"
"Two of them?"
"There are two."
Just as they said, I was holding two beads, not one.
"Uh, but these beads…"
"They're slightly different in size."
"One is a bit bigger, the other smaller."
"That's the secret."
The two beads I threw were a Sichuan Tang Clan hidden weapon called Child-Mother Orb (子母丸).
"Secret?"
"The larger one is the mother orb, the smaller one is the son orb."
"Hoo, mother and son…"
People began paying close attention, interested in the hidden weapon story.
"First you throw the mother orb, then immediately throw the son orb right after. The small son orb is hidden behind the large mother orb and can't be seen."
"I see!"
"Using the difference in size!"
"It's a technique that exploits the opponent's carelessness! Kahaha!"
The king clapped his knee and laughed loudly as he understood.
"Yes. The opponent who blocks or deflects the mother orb won't notice the son orb coming right behind and gets hit directly. Just like this guy…"
The example target, Dar, was lying comfortably unconscious, unaware that everyone was watching him.
"I never imagined such a method existed. Amazing."
The king seemed to find the Child-Mother Orb very interesting and was shaking with excitement.
"What do you think, Captain?"
"It's an excellent technique. Some might call it cowardly, but a duel is a duel. Those who let their guard down deserve to lose their heads. If Young Master Yuren hadn't held back, this man would already be dead. I think it was a brilliant move."
"So that's how it is."
"Thank you for your kind words."
"No need. I only spoke the truth."
I was very grateful for the escort knight captain's words. Thanks to him, the king's affinity toward me was rising rapidly.
"Usually when a duel or fight ends too quickly it's boring, but this was quite entertaining. Excellent."
"It's nothing."
I bowed with a humble expression at the king's words.
Honestly, I could have beaten Dar with a single dagger, but since I successfully drew the king's interest as planned, it was another success.
"By the way, I saw you throw one bead, so how did two fly out?"
"That's the second secret of this method. And it's a secret I can't easily explain."
"A secret, huh? Hahaha! Well, if I knew everything it wouldn't be fun anymore. I understand."
I was worried the king might get upset, but he seemed to take it well.
"Hm."
Looking around, the Marquis was giving me a thumbs-up, and Duke Roper was clapping with a big smile.
"Whistle!"
"Amazing!"
"As expected, his fame isn't fake."
Other nobles and spectators were also cheering. The only people in a bad state here were the unconscious Dar and Veil, who was suppressing volcanic rage behind his calm expression.
"You raised your son really well."
"Haha, right? He woke up late, but now he's become a real blessing."
"Truly. You can relax now."
"Yes, yes. Hahaha!"
Veil was smiling and chatting with the Marquis as if everything was fine, but when I saw his mood, chills ran down my entire spine.
[Current Mood: Wants to rip off the necks of every human here.]
Normally his current mood should be about me, but Veil's mind had almost snapped — he wanted to kill not just me, but everyone present.
I'll have to fight Veil eventually.
Whether I wanted to or not, it looked like I'd have to clash with Veil soon.
I'll need to make some preparations.
"Young master!"
At Peru's voice, I turned around. Peru, squeezed among the people, held up three fingers toward me.
"Three seconds? It took longer than I thought."
**
The day after the spar
I was summoned to the audience chamber by the king's call.
"Did you rest well?"
"Yes. I wasn't particularly tired."
"Haha, of course not. It ended so quickly. Ah, Dar has woken up. Since he has no injuries at all, it seems you controlled your strength well."
"I'm glad."
The king smiled with satisfaction as he told me about Dar.
"You know why I called you, right?"
"I think you called me to open the treasury."
"Kuh. As expected, your straightforward answer is pleasing."
The king had a typical bold, manly personality. Making excuses or hesitating would only lower his favor.
"Correct. What I give, I give properly."
The king came down from his throne and walked to the door. Then, just like before, he chanted a spell to open the royal treasury.
Chaaaak!
The golden treasury opened before my eyes once again. I never imagined I would see it twice.
"Hehe, taking three at once — you'll probably be the first and last in the kingdom's history."
"It is only thanks to Your Majesty's boundless grace. I am truly grateful."
"Good. Go and choose two more."
"I am deeply grateful."
After bowing to the king, I entered the treasury.
"Hmm…"
Yesterday while resting, I had thought a lot about what to choose from the treasury. Honestly, most items inside weren't useful to me, but there was one category that could be very helpful.
"Magic tomes."
Ancient magic tomes containing techniques or abilities would be a great help for future matters.
"But there's a problem."
No one knows what ability a magic tome has until they open it and the power is engraved in them.
Dar, whom I knocked out yesterday, was originally a sword trainee who obtained an archery magic tome from Veil and switched his main weapon to the bow. Veil probably gave it to him.
Plus, there were many useless ones.
Magic tomes didn't only contain combat techniques. They had everything from cooking and crafting to cleaning. If I got unlucky, I might only gain life skills.
"But…"
Yesterday I thought about it. With my eyes that could see everything, perhaps I could know what ability a magic tome possessed.
"Haa…"
I shook off the tension with a sigh and moved toward the area with magic tomes.
"Kuk!"
The moment I saw the magic tomes, I covered my mouth with both hands. Otherwise, I would have burst out laughing.
[Lake's Ocean Swimming Technique]
The ability of Lake, called the dolphin of the Kirak Kingdom, allowing safe and fast swimming in the sea filled with countless dangers such as waves, floating debris, various changes, and monsters.
Not only the name of the magic tome, but even its contents were completely visible to my eyes.
"What a ridiculously broken ability."
Even though it was my own ability, I thought it was truly overpowered as I set down Lake's Ocean Swimming Technique.
"Ah!"
While scanning the magic tomes, I was so shocked that both my hands and mind stopped at the same time.
[Lactor's Steel Wall]
Creates a steel wall using one's own mana to defend against mental attacks. The more mana one possesses, the stronger the mental attack it can withstand. The ability of Lactor, called the golem of the Kirak Kingdom.