Future Knight

Chapter 31

“Princess! You must not wander around so carelessly.”

“Shut up! I said I’ll go on my own, so why are you interfering?”

“Your Highness, you are here to represent His Majesty Helrainer Dean Prompel III of the Visman Empire. Therefore, please remain in the conference hall.”

“Hmph! Politics and war are the duties of the nobles anyway. What am I supposed to do in that stuffy conference room? If you keep annoying me, you better disappear from my sight!”

The man in plate mail who couldn’t utter a word and bowed his head bore the emblem of the Helrainer Knights, the imperial guards of the Visman Empire.

“Now! Choose. Will you guard me by my side, or stay in the conference hall with them?”

“I-I will…”

“What are you saying? Speak clearly!”

“I will go with you.”

“Oh ho ho ho! Very well, I appreciate your loyalty. You shall accompany me.”

“……”

If things went wrong, the princess would undoubtedly sacrifice him.

Knowing this too well, the boy’s expression twisted as if he’d bitten into something bitter.

It had been the boy’s miserable fate for two years since he first met the vicious Edelene.

She had utterly destroyed the fantasy he had cherished in his heart since childhood about what a princess should be. Now, he was a boy who wanted to sever the relentless bad luck he had with her.

“Wow! This isn’t just a rural area, it’s a complete native village. Surely, the toilets here are those legendary outhouse toilets I’ve only heard of… There won’t be any bathtubs in the baths, no swimming pools, no ballrooms, no clothing stores, no jewelry stores, nothing! If I have to live in a place like this, I might go crazy.”

‘I’ll go crazy before you do.’

The boy swallowed the words he couldn’t dare to say out loud.

To her, the elves’ village, where they lived by gathering fruits and vegetables in the trees, looked exactly like the illustrations of natives she’d seen in books.

But, frustratingly, the appearance of the female elves seen occasionally was exceptional, something you wouldn’t easily find even in the palace ballroom.

Feeling jealous, Edelene scowled.

“Hmph! They are natives of a native village. Jaizen!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Who is prettier?”

“Yes?”

With a bewildered expression, Jaizen looked up at Edelene.

“I’m asking, who is prettier, that native over there or me?”

“Th-that is, of course, Your Highness is much prettier.”

Jaizen’s tone was far from sincere, but Edelene seemed completely unfazed as she laughed joyfully in a high tone.

“Oh ho ho ho! Naturally. I am the princess of the Visman Empire. Let’s go, Jaizen.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Princess Edelene, full of curiosity, wandered around with the boy Jaizen, who had a bitter expression, exploring here and there.

However, no matter where they looked, it was all dense forest, and soon losing interest, Edelene began to vent her frustration on the innocent Jaizen.

“What is this place? It’s nothing but this tiresome forest everywhere!”

“I heard that the village of the elves is just a part of the forest, Your Highness.”

“I don’t want to hear that! This is not what I came to see!”

“……”

She insisted on coming along with the delegation even though she didn’t need to, so what was she expecting to see? The boy Jaizen, who had unwillingly joined her in this ordeal, simply looked up at the sky and sighed quietly.

It was then.

From the sky above, something descended rapidly with a thunderous roar.

Buaaaang!

“Gasp!”

As the object descended rapidly like the wind, the forest trees shook violently, causing leaves to fall everywhere.

“Yahoo! This is awesome!”

“Can’t you ride quietly?”

“Let’s go around one more time, please?”

“No! Three laps are enough. Get down quickly.”

“Oh, come on, just one more lap, please? Just one?”

“I said no, how many times do I have to say it? Get down now!”

“No! I won’t get down!”

When Zikyon whined for one more ride, Kang Chan, furious, struggled to pull Zikyon off the air bike.

Edelene and Jaizen watched their antics with bewildered expressions.

“Jaizen.”

“Yes?”

“What is that?”

“I don’t know. This is my first time seeing it too.”

Edelene’s face lit up with a wicked smile at the sight of the fascinating flying vehicle.

“I want to ride what they’re riding.”

“Well, I think you need the owner’s permission for that?”

“They don’t seem to be elves.”

“Yes, judging by their round ears, they both seem to be humans.”

“Oh? Really?”

Edelene, grinning evilly, confidently walked toward Kang Chan and Zikyon.

“Hey! Get down while I’m asking nicely.”

“No! Give me one more ride!”

“Oh, I swear…!”

As Kang Chan made a move to smack Zikyon, they heard Edelene’s voice behind them.

“Hey, you there.”

A strange girl’s voice suddenly sounded from behind, causing Kang Chan to stop pulling Zikyon and turn around.

Standing behind them were a cute girl in a very fancy dress and a boy in shiny armor with fair skin, both staring intently at them.

Since they were people he had never seen before, Kang Chan asked Zikyon.

“Who are they? Do you know them?”

“Nope.”

When Zikyon also said he didn’t know, Kang Chan addressed the strange girl.

“Who are you?”

“I am the princess of the Visman Empire. Show proper respect to royalty.”

Kang Chan clicked his tongue at the sight of the girl introducing herself arrogantly.

“A girl who calls herself a princess wants me to show respect, what is that?”

“Oh, for… How can I call you a friend when you’re this ignorant? She’s asking you to bow, bow!”

“Bow? Why should I bow? Especially to someone I don’t know.”

“She said she’s a princess, a princess.”

“A princess? Do you have to bow to a princess?”

“I don’t have to, but you probably should.”

“Why don’t you have to?”

“Because I’m not human.”

“No way, if I do it, you do it too.”

“Are you crazy? Why should I bow to a mere human?”

As the two bickered again, Edelene’s expression hardened seriously after being ignored by Kang Chan and Zikyon.

“T-This is an insult.”

Jaizen stepped forward in front of the trembling Edelene.

“How dare you! How can you act so rudely in front of the imperial royalty!”

Suddenly, a little kid, who appeared to be young, scolded him informally, which left Kang Chan speechless. He looked at Zikyon and asked.

“And who is this?”

“Why do you keep asking me? I told you, I don’t know either!”

Turning away from Zikyon, Kang Chan glared at Jaizen, who was speaking informally to him, with a rather unpleasant expression.

“Kid, you’ll get in trouble for speaking informally to your elder.”

Seeing himself called a kid despite wearing the emblem of the Helrainer Knights of the Visman Empire made Jaizen’s eyes blaze with fury.

“K-Kid! You! I can’t forgive this!”

Jaizen took off his leather glove and threw it at Kang Chan.

“Draw your sword!”

“……?”

Kang Chan picked up the leather glove thrown at him and tossed it back to Jaizen.

“Why are you throwing your glove at me all of a sudden?”

Thwack!

The glove hit Jaizen’s face, turning his expression instantly pale, and even Zikyon was momentarily startled by Kang Chan’s unexpected action.

“Why does he look like that?”

“Hey, what you just did was a mistake.”

When Zikyon said he made a mistake, Kang Chan asked back.

“All I did was return his glove.”

“As far as I know, throwing a glove in human culture is a challenge to a duel to the death. Throwing it back means he’s not worth fighting.”

“A duel? To the death?”

While Kang Chan was startled by Jaizen’s words, Jaizen, who had slowly drawn his sword, approached Kang Chan with a fierce look that belied his naive appearance.

“Draw your sword immediately. If you don’t, I’ll cut you down with one strike.”

Reading the fierce aura from an unexpected opponent, Kang Chan’s playful expression turned serious.

“Huh, this guy isn’t ordinary.”

Kang Chan didn’t expect to fight a snot-nosed kid like this, but the killing intent Jaizen emitted was no joke, so he drew the two daggers he had attached to his waist.

They were high-frequency blade daggers, standard equipment for space infantry that he used to favor.

Not knowing the true value of Kang Chan’s daggers, Jaizen, like the elves, mocked them.

“You dare mock me, a member of the Visman Empire’s royal guards, with mere daggers? You’ll pay with your life.”

The Helrainer Knights, the royal guards of the Visman Empire, were one of the top three knight orders on the continent.

Being a member of such an order meant he was already beyond the category of an ordinary human.

The knights belonging to such a prestigious order had immense pride and valued their honor as dearly as their lives.

Being called a kid and having his glove thrown back at him as an insult, Jaizen was ready to risk his life to regain his lost honor.

But unfortunately, Kang Chan was also somewhat irritated.

He had been itching to see Jaina all day.

Zikyon’s constant annoyance since the morning was bad enough, but now a couple of snot-nosed brats had shown up to pick a fight, testing his patience to its limit.

Moreover, Jaizen’s mockery of his daggers almost made Kang Chan lose his cool.

“I’ll forgive you if you leave now.”

“As a knight, I’ll give you a chance. Make your move first.”

The fact that this young kid dared to say he would give him a chance made Kang Chan, already irritated, see red.

“A chance? Fine, let’s see you give me that chance!”

Determined to finish the kid quickly and go see Jaina, Kang Chan launched a powerful initial attack.

Rushing at the boy with incredible speed, Kang Chan swiftly slashed with his daggers.

Even without switching to combat mode, Kang Chan’s attack was at least on par with a Sword Expert’s level.

However, to his surprise, the boy effortlessly blocked the fierce attack he thought would end it in one blow.

Clang!

‘What? This kid?’

As Kang Chan was caught off guard, a blue aura sword suddenly emanated from the boy’s longsword.

Kang Chan was once again startled by the boy’s unexpected aura sword.