Volume 2 Chapter 14 (2/2)

(I don’t remember what is the exact nickname for Youya. It’ll be checked when posting the chapter on the site)

The Weakest Strongest knight.. Huh. It was a title I received after I won a competition that consisted of many powerful knights and received the championship title. Not only is it an embarrassing name but there was another reason why I did not like the name.

[It’s a shame for Selene, but that nickname isn’t suitable for me anymore.] (Youya)

[Why is that so? It’s a fact that you achieved victory in a tournament to decide the strongest knight. Uncle Youya who was given special permission to participate in the tournament certainly defeated the elite knights who were participating in the tournament and won fair and square. Hence the name was fitting for you who was inferior in every aspect and yet still won the tournament with your overwhelming skill.] (Selene)

I shake my head in response as she was misunderstanding my intentions.

[The reason that I attained victory in that tournament was because of the rules. In that tournament we had to battle using wooden swords and the moment someone lands a clean blow onto their opponent’s vital spot, then it would be the end of the battle. However, in an actual battle those knights could easily receive ten of my attacks and disregard their own defense to focus purely on attacking me. On the other hand, if I were to receive even a single blow it would be over. Now do you know how advantageous that tournament was to me in a battle between swordsman? It was impossible for me to defeat any of the top knights in that tournament.] (Youya)

Having speed and strength in that tournament was advantageous due to the rules, however there was no competition between the individuals’ attack power and defensive powers. It was because of those rules that I was saved and managed to win. It is disgraceful but I had only realised that I obtained the victory then only because I was saved by the rules and not of my own strength. After that, I was ashamed of my own conceit and decided that I would become a first-rate swordsman and would become stronger.

[That may be true but it doesn’t change the fact that you were the one who won the tournament.] (Selene)

[I will admit that, however I won’t accept the title of being the strongest. I feel guilty towards the knights who were clearly far stronger than I was. I’ll only say this once but I do not plan to give up being the strongest. I have the bonuses from the level reset and the strength that I obtained from struggling with the weakest status possible. I will continue moving forward using both of them as my weapons.] (Youya)

Surely, that was my current motivation to seek strength. Now that it came to this, it is a good time to reveal my wish to her.

[Selene. I am asking you as the person who is also Princess Lutra. Should you win the inheritance tournament, please let me attend that tournament once more. This time, I will win with my own strength and truly become the strongest knight. I will definitely win as Princess Lutra’s knight and dedicate this victory to you. It is because of this that I wish to ask you.] (Youya)

This is something I had to do to redeem the pride of the knights from my weak victory and abandon the false title of being the strongest that I obtained. It is my apology to the knights for falsely snatching away the title of the strongest, and also a test for me to move forward.

Selene’s face turned red and looked straight at me in a rigid manner.

[How about it? Selene.] (Youya)

She regained her composure after I called her name.

[Uhm. Ah. It’s nothing much.. I promise that once everything is over we will host another competition to decide the strongest knight.] (Selene)

[Thank you.] (Youya)

Selene seemed to receive a shock as she turned her face.

She was behaving weirdly.

[Now then. Since we’re having a break lets go shopping together. We can’t afford to not go sightseeing when we’re in such a beautiful place. Let’s enjoy ourselves until the day is over.] (Youya)

[That sounds great! Luna wants to eat all the delicious food in the city!] (Luna)

It seems that Selene’s mind hasn’t returned to her body yet. Looking at the surroundings, it seems that Til was done. Let’s head over and meet up with her before our sightseeing trip.

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In the shopping district, we began taste testing several kinds of foods at different stores. Selene had finally returned to the usual Selene once we began to eat. However, rather than having a heavy meal at one store, we were buying and sharing several smaller meals from one store at a time before moving on to the next, sampling as much delicious food there was possible. Rather than just walking around the town sightseeing, we could enjoy the trip much more this way.

[Meat mochi is delicious. Luna wants to eat it tomorrow too.] (Luna)

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Among all of the dishes that we ate, Luna’s favourite was a meat dish, ribs wrapped within glutinous rice and steamed, having a sweet and salty taste. The combination of the salty meat wrapped with sweet glutinous rice produced a delicious juice that was quite marvelous.

[I think that this is good too. It’s fun to stretch the bun and the sour and sweet cream inside is good too.] (Til)

Til’s favourite was a dish similar to rice cakes. And was one of Greenwood’s specialities, made from the local produce. By grounding up glutinous rice to make rice cakes, they added tropical fruits such as mangoes into the cream which was wrapped within the rice cake. It felt extremely refreshing to be able to enjoy the taste of the different fruits within the cream. Many of the foods here were made using glutinous rice and rice cakes, which makes it seem like gluttonous rice seems to be a specialty for Greenwood.

[Selene, which was your favourite dish?] (Youya)

[Let’s see. My favourite was from the third shop we visited, the freshwater fish skewers. It feels strange to me that it’s taste came from merely seasoning it with salt.] (Selene)

[Ah so it’s that dish. That was certainly delicious. It looks like it was caught from the river nearby, It’s freshness was on a whole different scale.]

Mountainous foods such as animals and mushrooms, fresh crops from fertile fields were delicious but ingredients from a beautiful river were on a similar level. Greenwood is a nice place and the food here is wonderful too. My stomach is so bloated that it was pushing against my armour. We also entered several stores hoping to make use of the rare drop, the Insect Ruby from the dungeon however, the results were disappointing to say the least. None of them were capable of producing a gauntlet enhanced by the item.

[It’s a shame.] (Selene)

[Yeah. Even though we managed to obtain something this rare. But let’s just focus on enjoying ourselves for the rest of the day. Let’s postpone making your gauntlet in another city.] (Youya)

The smiths in this city were not capable of making a gauntlet enhanced with the ruby. In that case, we will focus on utilizing the ruby in the next city. Fortunately, the next city that we will be visiting once we are level 30 is a smithing city, the City of Flames

[Alright, let’s reset our minds and enjoy ourselves in the city. Recover our strength and ensure we are in perfect physical condition for the race to obtain the Magic Egg.] (Youya)

[Luna will do her best! Do her best to eat more food!] (Luna)

[I want to visit another weapons store. I have to purchase several spare threads for my bow.] (Til)

[I want to visit an accessory shop. Recently I’ve been perspiring a lot and the ribbon’s colour has become dull.] (Selene)

Everyone had an idea of how they wanted to spend their time in the town. It makes me happy that the girls are enjoying themselves in the town.

In the end, we enjoyed our time exploring the city in Greenwood until the late evening before finish a light dinner while enduring the urge to drink any alcohol. Then, we finally departed for the forest of God Trees. Let’s continue to ride this momentum and obtain the magic egg.