Chapter 166
There was a two-story wooden building near the huge coliseum of Reinhardt, where the matches throughout the Reinhardt Masters’ Battle were taking place. It was rather tiny compared to the lodgings of the other participants, even considering the sheer amount of people staying in Reinhardt at the moment. As such, it would seem like the organizers were bullying the people assigned to the building, but it wasn’t the case.
Askhuller and Iceline were assigned to the building, so only two people were sharing the entire building, with a floor for each of them. On the first floor, Akshuller clenched and opened his hand repeatedly while staring at it in amazement.
“This is really great. At this rate, I should be able to fight once again. However, isn’t it practically a miracle for me to recover this fast?” Akshuller gently rolled his shoulders.
The rate at which he recovered was shocking. After all, his injuries were caused by Ulabis’ flames of annihilation.
“A world-class knight and divine power that puts even high-ranked priests to shame. Now, I’m even more interested in him,” said Akshuller before continuing. “Perhaps he might even become Igrant’s first Class 8 Archmage if he ever tried to pick up magic.”
At Akshuller’s obvious jest, Iceline remained standing like a statue with a serious expression on her beautiful face.
“Iceline? Is there something on your mind?”
“Yes,” said Iceline without putting that much thought into it.
“Oh? What—no, who is on your mind?” asked Akshuller with a dark look.
Akshuller thought about it for a moment before exclaiming with a wicked smile, “Aha! It must be really nice to be young. The fact that you can spend all day thinking about someone else makes me feel really emotional.”
“Huh? Iceline blankly stared at Akshuller. Then, her face abruptly turned red as she waved her hands and hurriedly denied it. “N-n-no, I’m not thinking about Joshua!”
“Oh??Why are you so quick to assume that I was talking about Joshua? I never said anything about him. Hoho. That’s interesting...”
“That’s… I don’t know—” Iceline's cheeks became so red that there was no way they could become even redder. In an effort to change the topic, Iceline stared angrily at Akshuller before shouting, “We got stopped!”
“Stopped?” Askhuller tilted his head at Iceline’s words.
“Yes! Someone stopped us while we were rushing toward you. He looked familiar, but I can’t seem to remember where did I see him before!”
“Hmm?” Akshuller didn’t say anything. He simply stared at Iceline with a look that asked her to continue her story.
Upon seeing that, Iceline obliged. “He told Joshua about sending his greetings again later, and it looked like Joshua was familiar with him. I found it hard to remain steadfast in front of him because he was giving off this indescribable, intimidating aura. I think Joshua and him will cross paths again during the Masters' Battle, but I..."
Akshuller watched as Iceline kept on talking frantically. It was a sight Akshuller had never seen before because Iceline always wore that cold and distant demeanor of hers, so he couldn’t help but stare right at her.
“Are you that?worried about him?” asked Akshuller.
“That’s—no, I’m not!” Iceline raised her tiny fists and started pummeling Askhuller’s chest, who had a cheeky smile on his face. “If you keep teasing me like this…!”
At that, Akshuller changed the topic and asked, “So, what does he look like?”
Iceline shivered, seemingly hesitating.
Seeing that, Akshuller said, “I’m just a mercenary—yes, but I think my imagination is better than yours when it comes to identifying people.”
Iceline seemed dispirited as she sighed and said, “He looked like a lion. He was in his forties and had golden hair like a lion’s mane.”
“...” Akshuller didn’t say anything, but his expression had already turned grim.
Meanwhile, the oblivious Iceline continued. “The officials of the Masters’ Battle were very polite to him, and he looked like he was in charge of something. I think the officials called him Ryan…?”
“You have no idea who he is?” Askhuller stared weirdly at Iceline. “You know, you can be pretty ignorant sometimes despite your sophisticated, know-it-all-like looks.”
“What…?” Iceline muttered blankly. She looked like she couldn’t believe Akshuller’s words.
Akshuller shook his head and said, “A very intimidating lion-looking man whom the officials of Reinhardt respect…I can only think of one person who fits that description, and he’s the current Lord of Reinhardt—one of the Twelve Superhumans, a level below the Nine Stars—the Lion King, Ryan Geiger.”
“...!” Iceline’s eyes widened. “The Lion King? Why didn’t I think of him? No, he’s well over sixty…”
Askhuller cast a peek at Iceline, who was mumbling with a puzzled face. His eyes gradually faded.
The Lion King—Ryan Geiger—was famous for wielding a bladed polearm with a slightly curved wide blade. The bladed polearm was a weapon called Bakdo in the far east, but they were an unusual sight in Igrant.
Ryan Geiger single-handedly vanquished the stereotype against freelancers. It was once common to assume that free knights were wandering because they lacked abilities. Otherwise, they would have already been employed.
“And he said something about sending his greetings later?” Akshuller muttered.
Iceline felt a sense of foreboding for some reason when she saw how Akshuller was muttering with a serious look.
“Yes, what does it mean?” asked Iceline.
“We’re in the Masters’ Battle, so a greeting can only mean one thing…” Akshuller trailed off.
“Don't tell me…” Iceline’s eyes widened.
“He thinks that the kid, Joshua Sanders, will defeat Theta and Ulabis to eventually challenge him.”
“Joshua is going to challenge him? That’s…”
Iceline’s pleasant-sounding voice abruptly stopped. If Joshua truly wanted to challenge the Lion King, then he would have to defeat Theta, one of the Magic Tower’s Seven Mages, who was a remarkable individual.
After that, Joshua also had to defeat His Highness Ulabis, who defeated the Mighty Akshuller. Iceline couldn’t continue her sentence because she realized that Joshua was extremely confident in his chances of beating Theta and His Highness Ulabis.
“No, more than that…” Iceline shook her head to stop thinking about the source of Joshua’s confidence. Once she was done composing herself, she turned to Akshuller and asked, “Why does he want to fight the Lion King?”
“There are two reasons.”
“Two…?” Iceline asked.
Akshuller nodded slightly at her before continuing. “First and foremost, legitimacy. I’m not sure why he is so confident about his chances of winning the Masters’ Battle, but even if he won and became the Lord of Reinhardt, there is no way that’s enough for him to capture the hearts of the citizens here…”
“...”
”I guess we can say that Joshua is planning on capturing their hearts by defeating the Lion King, who is the current Lord of Reinhardt.”
“What about the second reason?”
At that, Akshuller looked out of the window before saying, “This one is more plausible than the other. The Lion King is exceptional. He’s definitely stronger than me. However, he’s considered the weakest among the Twelve Superhumans, even though his rank is higher than the lowest-ranking Superhuman—the Mercenary King. If Joshua wants the prestige that comes with being one of the Twelve, it’s a great method to do so.”
“No way!” Iceline exclaimed.
“...?” Akshuller was dumbfounded to see her outburst.
“Joshua is too proud of himself, so there is no way he will deliberately target the weakest!”
“Hmmm…”
“He will definitely become the Champion of the Reinhardt Masters’ Battle, but there’s no way I’ll believe that he wants to challenge the Lion King because it’s the easiest path to earn his seat among the Twelve.”
Akshuller chuckled at that. “That’s reasonable, I suppose—but, you see? This is why I’m teasing you! It’s all because you always try to correct me whenever I say something that’s a bit negative about him.”
“I told you; it’s really not—” Iceline’s cheeks started turning red once more.
However, Akshuller interrupted her before she could explain. “For now, let’s just keep an eye on things. Nothing has really happened yet, so there’s no need for us to do anything in the meantime.”
At that, Iceline recovered her wits and muttered,
“The Lion King, and the Mercenary King.”
Akshuller couldn’t help but stare at Iceline as she mumbled away, his expression soon turning stiff.
***
“Ah…?Tower Master nagged me again. Successor and all that, I really don’t want to deal with such a troublesome thing.” Theta was holding a communication crystal ball, and he started covering it while sulking.
It was dawn, and the sun was still hiding. There was a saying about the older one became, the less one would sleep. Theta didn’t get even a wink of sleep last night, so he felt miserable.
“Should I start becoming greedy and really aim for that position? After all, no one would be able to oppose me if I were to become the Tower Master. I can do whatever I want by then…”
Theta kept on grumbling to himself until he arrived on a tiny woodland path near Reinhardt. Theta often slacked, but even he knew the importance of meditating at least once a day, especially in a place with a high concentration of mana like this place.
Theta had been walking for quite a while now, but he finally stopped.
“Can you just stop now? How long are you going to follow me around like a stray cat?”
Step!
As soon as Theta’s words fell, a footstep echoed behind him. It seemed that the individual following him no longer wanted to hide.
However, Theta was shocked when he turned around and recognized the face of the individual who had been following him for quite a while now.
“Joshua Sanders?”
“Theta Reios, no—” Joshua emerged from the grayish fog of daybreak. “Thetapirion Whitesox.”
“...!” Theta's eyes widened.
“The current Tower Master of the Magic Tower, Ian tun Murray, will die soon.”
“What?” Joshua’s words sounded incomprehensible to Theta.
“He’ll die after being betrayed by the person he trusts the most.”
When Joshua’s words fell, Theta's demeanor changed. His usual cheery and nonchalant demeanor, as well as his smile that seemed like it would never disappear, finally disappeared.
Theta’s expression darkened as he stared directly at Joshua.
“What did you just say?”
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