Chapter 421: Path of True Strength (1/2)

Arthur was disappointed that the knight wasn't as attentive to her own body as to the outside world. The path of true strength stems from within, or that was what a novel Arthur loved said.

”What have you done to me?” the Mad Prince looked warily at Arthur, trying to see through his tricks. In response, he shrugged.

”You should know better since it's your own body.”

”I've grown weaker, but how?” she seemed confused, but she shook the feelings away. Arthur smiled as her conviction returned to her. ”Forget it. I'm still going to win this.”

”That's the spirit!”

”Don't treat me like a child,” the knight scowled as she prepared to fight again. Arthur mused that she forgot about her earlier proclamation of gauging his strength and simply wanted to prove herself now.

Their sparring caught the attention of many who had eyes on the Mad Prince, awaiting a chance to belittle him. Now, seeing her lose a point against a new knight, most were simply sparring leisurely to watch the show.

”You bastards!” the Senior Knight roared. ”Fight properly, or I'll go down there and beat you myself!”

However, the supervising knight wasn't any better and kept his eyes on Arthur's new potential. When he sensed his gaze, Arthur wondered who knew of his existence in the academy as a knight.

”Everyone is watching you,” Arthur looked around. ”Are you sure it isn't time to step down? After all, the image you've built for yourself will be ruined if you lose.”

This was a test, as Arthur wanted to see her priorities. If she were someone he could use, she wouldn't care about image and people's opinions. When she heard his words, the knight hesitated and glanced to the side.

Countless eyes were watching them.

Arthur knew that retreating now was also hard for her, but he wanted to see what she would do. The Mad Prince gritted her teeth before disappearing and dashing toward Arthur.

”A good choice,” Arthur smiled as he raised his hand. ”Breakthrough the limits and conquer challenges. That is the path of true strength.”

However, Arthur still had a lesson to teach her. His hand rested on the sword's handle, preventing the knight from slashing. It was then that she realized that her strength had returned and that she had miscalculated again.

”This is your loss,” Arthur tapped with his forged arm and pushed the knight slightly, and a number appeared. After he lost two exchanges and won two, both of them had two points.

The knight stood there in a daze as Arthur walked off the arena, leaving this matter as a tie. After all, he couldn't waste his time on a single recruit, nor did he intend to win or lose against her.

”Wait!” she snapped out of her daze and called out, but both of them knew that she couldn't force him to spar with her.

As Arthur looked around for another one of his interests, a man he didn't know walked up to him. The newcomer had an air of elegance and beauty that Arthur didn't notice in the rest.

”Greetings, friend,” the young man with brown hair and blue eyes smiled warmly at him. Arthur glanced at his armor and noticed that it made the rest look like crude metal. ”How about we exchange pointers?”

The respectful attitude of this young man bugged Arthur greatly because he sensed that something was amiss. As he tried to think of a possibility, he could only think of one: someone from the upper echelons told this young man about Arthur's identity and purpose.

When he reached that conclusion, Arthur rejected this man's offer and walked away to watch the oddball's fight. The man didn't show his anger, despite the air around him shift a little.

'He knows of my identity,' Arthur inwardly sighed as he reached the arena. The oddball was sparing against Kaza, and it seems they were taking it seriously.

Like last time, Arthur noticed that the knight was growing stronger as he fought against the noble. The unsettling feeling came to him again, prominent enough for Arthur to make sense of what it was.

This knight was feeding on something to grow stronger, but Arthur didn't know what it was. All he knew was that as quickly as this power came, it slipped away from him. His observations told him that the common factor among all of these was either of two: despair or hardship.