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He opened his information window to check his current state. Among the various details beginning with his name, the most important thing was his mana reserve. The number was 330. Considering that the realm called Sword Master was generally reached around 300, he had already secured mana to the very limit.

Mana absorption had become extremely slow after passing 300. Now, even absorbing mana stones through the Mana Addiction trait was inefficient. Only personal training and time were involved in this now.

There were two ways to gather mana. One was mental training, and the other was physical training. In other words, both were related. Most methods used by knights were physical training. They were not achieved through simple training alone, but if they were classified as the latter because the body was being moved, then only these two categories remained.

In this state, there was one more thing Louis could do: the special experience gained during war. When he encountered special circumstances, the System poured an enormous amount of war experience into Louis. The war he had fought to become king had made Louis a swordsman on an even higher level.

Louis merely gripped his sword, but the knights who reacted to it broke out in cold sweat. In particular, Fridzin, a newcomer who had entered to replace the knight who had died during Sire’s intrusion, swallowed.

‘There’s no… no end in sight.’

It was understandable. Compared to his own value, which had now reached around 189, Louis had reached an unimaginably higher realm. In that situation, however, not everyone was merely admiring him. Matter steadied his breathing and prepared to land even one proper attack.

When Louis first trained after becoming king while accompanied by several armed men of the Sword Expert level, the one who laughed the most was him. Judging by age and time, it should have been normal for Louis to struggle even in a one-on-one match. To Matter, who had gripped and swung a sword ever since he had barely begun to perceive the world at the age of three, Louis was one of the cases he simply could not accept. The immediate problem before him now was which side he should attack.

Just one strike.

Striking the king with a sword was a great crime, but what moved Matter in this situation was simply his desire to be acknowledged by him. No one except Matter himself knew how much time he had carved out to train for this one strike. At the very least, knocking him down or forcing him into a corner was Matter’s pure objective.

Looking at Louis overall, there were almost no openings. However, according to the training Matter had carried out thoroughly in his mind, Louis’s right flank and left rear were weak. Normally, there appeared to be no openings, but once several people began rushing him, a gap would soon open like a habit.

That brief instant was everything Matter was betting on. But which side should he choose? That was the problem before him now. Right or left? If he had to choose… he could not. It was to the point that he would have needed to ask a fortune-teller for help if one had been there. Regardless, it did not take long before the frozen newcomer Fridzin rushed in.

In terms of order, the next one who had to attack was Matter, and since he was the last one, that meant all five had attempted attacks. When he made up his mind and chose a direction, Fridzin was already being struck once in the chest and sent flying into the air. Matter narrowed his eyes and closed the distance with Louis. The gap opened just as he had thought, barely, and the moment he tried to fill it, the small hole was filled before he could reach it.

‘It wasn’t this side! Damn it!’

What he felt next was an impact that struck his head. As if he had become a straw doll, he floated into the air and rolled across the floor.

“Urgh…”

That was how it ended. Louis checked the experience that had not moved at all and let out a sigh. The knights were on the floor, trying to gather themselves. Each had been hit once or twice. The struck areas were crushed in as if they had been hit by hammers. That was how great the difference was in the density of mana distributed in an instant. Louis looked over the fallen men one by one, then his gaze stopped on Matter.

“Matter.”

“Yes… yes, Your Majesty.”

“You have worked hard all this time. Your aim was good.”

“Thank you!”

It was a voice and sincerity that surprised even Matter himself. It was an action that shocked him the moment he let it out. At that moment, a group was coming toward Louis. Including knights and retainers, there were about eight people in all. The man at the center wore an elegant cloak and tunic, making it obvious to anyone that he was someone of high standing.

This man was none other than Marquis Phillipeu James, who had originally ruled about half of the capital. Originally, he had been in a firm alliance with Marquis Vesk and had aimed for the revival of their houses, but after Marquis Vesk was crushed by Louis, he had been keeping quiet.

Even so, the reason he had deliberately come here was because of the announcement Louis had secretly conveyed. It was that he would attack Duke Christopher. Naturally, Phillipeu James was one of the people who had to agree to this matter. Of course, Phillipeu James did not support Louis.

Part of it was because he was jealous of Louis, or because he disliked him for malicious reasons, but more than that, Louis’s demand had been beyond imagination. Its contents were that all the troops possessed by Phillipeu James would be made obedient to the king. He had stayed up all night cursing, and perhaps he had never been this angry until coming here.

Until a moment ago, that was. He had seen Louis facing the knights from a distance while walking over. The reason he had deliberately arrived late was largely to observe the extent of Louis’s skill. But…

‘This has to be a joke, right?’

He was certain it had to be a joke. It was difficult to imagine that even Kaban Ferdinand, the only Sword Master, could produce such an easy result against those six. Even though Phillipeu James carried the blood of a marquis, a noble among nobles, he had held a sword day and night and reached a certain level of his own.

That level was enough to deal with roughly two centurions. Against proper knights and royal guard captains of that level, it was absolutely impossible and not even worth considering. His mind was complicated, but the people he had brought also froze cold. They were all powerful nobles to their bones, nobles who each possessed no small amount of pride.

That was how terrifying Louis’s mana density was. With his traits layered on top of it, those who had come close were completely captured by Louis. Even so, his rebellious emotions toward Louis seized him with anger once again.

“Your Majesty.”

“Oh, Marquis Phillipeu James. It has been a while.”

Louis was the only person who could speak so leisurely in front of Phillipeu James, who had quite the temper. The reality was that even the former king had been intimidated before him.

“…”

Louis looked at him. Above his angular nose, his face was full of dissatisfaction. Louis knew better than anyone what that was, but he played innocent and spoke to him.

“What brings you here?”

For a moment, an inexplicable ominous feeling hovered around Phillipeu James over whether he should speak or not. It was certainly the first time he had felt this way. No, he had felt such a feeling from his father, who had already died and become bones, but the problem was that the person before his eyes now was far younger than him and, originally, someone who would have held equal status.

Even so, now that he had come with his friend and retainers, if he showed weakness, it was obvious that this force would collapse in an instant and be absorbed by Louis. Once he thought that, something more urgent than his anxiety pressed at his heart, and he spoke.

“I came because I wished to speak about the matter.”

He finally brought it up. The eyes of the royal guard captains and knights, who had been groaning in a corner while a high-ranking cleric boy healed their wounds, changed in an instant. It was blatant hostility that could be felt on the skin. As if refusing to lose to that, the people Phillipeu James had brought also looked at them with displeased eyes.

“Speak.”

“First of all, I oppose attacking Duke Christopher.”

“Why?”

“He is a duke of the Kingdom of Ruderwin. Ruderwin is a far larger country than ours. If we strike a duke who possesses an enormous amount of land in Ruderwin, it is only natural that it will turn into an all-out war.”

“Are you acquainted with them?”

It was a casual question, but Phillipeu James was quite flustered before eventually denying it.

“They will not attack us. The duke is already practically in a state of rebellion.”

“Even if you finish off Duke Christopher, what do you intend to do if Ruderwin attacks?”

Louis lifted his sword and looked at its surface. Frost Heart was smiling.

“I will destroy Ruderwin.”

“That… that is absurd…”

“Whether it is absurd or not is not for you to decide, Phillipeu James.”

The aura released from Louis pressed down on Phillipeu James. The corners of his eyes trembled.

“So what do you intend to do?”

“As I told you. I will strike Duke Christopher. I have more than enough justification. They attacked me, and they wanted my life, so it is only natural that I want his and theirs.”

“That is not what I meant.”

“I roughly know what you want. The reason you came all the way here is not the issue of whether I strike Duke Christopher or not, but because I requested that you entrust all your military authority to me.”

Phillipeu James possessed a considerable force. If one looked only within the capital, he currently had more troops than Louis. Louis’s forces were naturally greater than those of the marquises forming each faction, but it would take time to summon all those troops to the capital. This meant that if Phillipeu James changed his mind, he could raise a rebellion.

Of course, it would not last long. At most, it would not even last a month before he was trampled by regular armies coming from every direction to suppress him. However, during that time, it was anyone’s guess whether all the nobles inside the inner castle, even Louis himself, would survive.

This was the method Marquis Vesk and Phillipeu James had used to bind the former king, Orpendius. No, from far earlier than that, these two houses had accumulated private soldiers over several generations. Just because Marquis Vesk had been dealt with did not mean Phillipeu James had become easy to handle. In any case, he still held a dagger of his own in his chest. It was the kind of venom that made it impossible to know what he might do if cornered.

Louis had ordered Phillipeu James to entrust all the private soldiers he had gathered. There was no compensation. He had simply issued a royal command as king. It was stranger that Phillipeu James had not had a fit. Louis also had a reason worthy of doing so. He intended to neutralize Phillipeu James’s power through this opportunity.