Chapter 79 – The Black Knight

Seyfat Kingdom…..I had finally returned back here.

However, I couldn’t tell if it’s good or not….it was ambiguous at best.

[What’s wrong, Fate?]

Aaron was walking next to me along the castle hallway. We’re here for Barbatos family’s head position handover. The king needed to be informed about that.

So, here we were now at the castle, seeking an audience with the king.

Earlier, I felt uncomfortable when I passed by the castle’s main gate.

As before, the gatekeeper was not a holy knight, but a normal person who had no daily job. He had the look of a dead fish in his face. And there were laceration scars here and there.

Even now, the evil deeds of the holy knights continue on.

As I approached the gate, the fellow was trembling in fear badly. Right, I too……have become the target of fear for these unfortunate beings.

As I was also one of those people once, I understood their feeling painfully well. However, there was nothing I could do right now.

I shook those thoughts away, and replied to Aaron.

[No, it’s nothing.]

[I see….]

While saying that, Aaron stared at the skull mask that I wore over my face.

This fellow, wearing a mask like that……you aren’t thinking of concealing your identity, aren’t you? We are going to to have an audience with the king now.

Wearing a mask that inhibit recognition, what will the king think if he was met with someone he couldn’t recognize at all? he had been holding his head thinking about those things all this time.

Even so I told Aaron,

[I will not take this mask off]

[I understand. But……]

[Then, what’s the problem?]

[What do you think His Majesty will do if he see it!? Very well, you can wear the mask, satisfied?!]

I got choked in the neck, and pushed back to the wall. Well, I guess playtime is over.

Before reaching the destination, there was a huge door. It was lined with expensive-looking, neat and clean silver and gold decorations. I guessed it’s to give impression of how the king is like.

Aaron asked for confirmation whilst giving me a sideway look.

[Are you ready?]

[Yes, anytime.]

At that point, for some reason Aaron grinned a smile.

[I do not know what has happened here since I stayed in Gallia, but this should be somewhat easy. I’ll accompany you.]

As I entered inside, I could see a red carpet laid on the floor toward the throne, and holy knights lined up on each side, facing each other.

This is quite bombastic. To think this many will come after hearing the return of Barbatos family. Or perhaps, it has something to do with the king…. Well, it’s not something I should be bothered with.

I could tell that they’re just eager to see the man Aaron brought up…..what kind of man I am. It’s painfully obvious from how the holy knights are looking at me.

I’m still wearing my skull mask, so there is no way to know who I really am thanks to the recognition inhibition effect.

Walking past the slightly noisy holy knight, I continued walking, then kneeled before the throne. The throne was covered by the thin cloth which hindered my line of sight. I wonder how the king’s look like, since I couldn’t tell from where I am now.

In front of the throne, two holy knights stood guard with long spear in hand. They wore full plate from head to toe, giving off some kind of foreign pressure.

Aaron bowed a little, then mentioned about his apology to the king. Afterward, he started to tell about Barbatos family’s future, and proceed to introduce me.

[My successor…..Fate Barbatos. He might be young at the age of sixteen, but he’s quite…..no, he’s already a fine swordsman. Even then, he has defeated Tenryu, the living disaster of Gallia.]

As Aaron told the king about me with lowered head, small laughter started to resound from the holy knights. Perhaps, they’re laughing at the part about me taking down Tenryu.

I had defeated something that in their common sense cannot be beaten, so hearing what Aaron said, those who doubt it could only laugh.

At the end of his speech, although it’s before the king, Aaron couldn’t help but to have cloudy eyes as he retreated back.

Then, without even saying anything to me, a lone holy knight stepped on the red carpet and led me to the throne.

Eh!? This guy is……somewhat familiar. Ah, it was that lanchester Holy Knight guy who ruled the territory that I dropped by when I went to Gallia. At that time he was blown to the sky by Myne. So he actually survived that.

That said, he’s not someone powerless, so that much shouldn’t be a problem.

Lanchester somehow said a bad words when we arrived before the king.

[I will not accept such a liar into the rank of the holy knights. If it’s left to me, I will just immediately slay this abominable person right now.]

The king behind the curtain did not give any reply. Neither did the two holy knights who guarded the throne. So Lanchester took that silence as an affirmative.

With an ugly smile, he quickly sprang into action. Really now, this is the throne room. There should be a limit on what you can do as you like……

So I drew my sword.

Aaron opened his mouth to say something, but I raised my hand to stop him.

[Well, this is much better. It’ll be easier to make them understand.]

Lanchester who heard it looked at me resentfully and said with a weirdly sweet tone.

[I think you don’t understand your situation. I am Ritt Lanchester….one of the Great Five. How about that, do you understand now?!]

[Can you just start already? I guess that holy sword is just an ornament, isn’t it?]

[Why you]

The holy sword is drawn, and it’s slashing toward my neck.

Slow….too slow. The slashing trajectory is bad. And his stance is too weak.

I couldn’t even be bothered to guard against it.

When his sword reached my neck, his face full of pride was changed completely.

In any case, his attack didn’t even do anything to me.

[Impossible….this…this can’t be!]

Afterward, Lanchester attacked me relentlessly. But the result was the same.

Area E.

There is huge gap between me and Lanchester in term of stats, and the difference was like another dimension in itself.

Someone who has achieved Area E can only be hurt by others who has also achieved Area E. That’s why no matter how many times Lanchester attacks me, there will be no effect.

It was also the reason why Tenryu was called the living natural disaster.

[Damn, in that case let’s see your identity]

Lanchester who lost face in front of the king, declared that he’ll use appraisal skill.

There is no reason for me to show my stats to him, so I rather easily observed Lanchester’s eyes movement. When someone uses appraisal skill, their eyes will move distinctly.

I simply cause sparks of magic power inside my body coinciding with the skill activation. It’s the method to prevent appraisal skill that Aaron himself had taught me,

[Gyaaa—–]

What I heard next was Lanchester’s cry. He’s closing his eyes with both hand and crumpled down on the red carpet.

Originally, the method will only temporarily blind the opponent, but the effect didn’t only stop there if the user is someone of Area E..

Both of Lanchester’s eyes exploded.

As I looked at the scene, I brandished the black sword.

It’s not over yet. Since Lanchester did attack me, it’s my turn to attack him in kind.