Chapter 76

The moon glittered high in Oratio’s night sky.
In the imperial palace lit by moonlight, the sound of string instruments echoed.

The newly risen stars who had become knights this year,
and the stars shining high in the sky after earning achievements across the land.

Many knights had gathered in the imperial palace’s banquet hall, sharing a leisurely time.

Among them, people commonly called ‘high-ranking figures’ could also be seen.
Knights and high-ranking officials.
Despite it being the imperial palace’s banquet hall, it felt too narrow to accommodate everyone,
so the banquet was being held openly, using even the outdoor garden.

Inside that banquet hall.
Aiden, a boy with black hair tinged with blue, was leaning against a wall and carefully looking around.

Beside him stood Violet, a girl with faint lavender hair, neat and composed.

The melody of the string instruments echoing through the center of the imperial palace’s banquet hall was calm, yet it added to the tension.
Unlike the gentle music, the two of their hearts were beating irregularly.

“I thought we had grown quite a lot in our own way…….”

Aiden muttered in a low voice.
Every time he moved his gaze, powerful people he wouldn’t even dare challenge entered his sight.

Violet smiled faintly.

“We realized before that we were frogs in a well. This is the world outside the well, so of course there are many walls to overcome.”

Everywhere her gaze turned, she saw knights wearing ornate decorations on their chests.
The badges pinned to those decorations represented the lives they had lived as knights,
and some of those badges were enough to make the boy’s and girl’s eyes shine.

Among such knights, Aiden and Violet’s decorations each had only a single blue badge hanging from them, marking them as an ‘Academy valedictorian.’

“Those are the Academy graduates from this year, right?”
“I heard they spent the same year as ‘that one’ from House Levvels.”

Gazes mixed with interest, wariness, and curiosity poured toward them.

Aiden felt burdened by those gazes, but it was also true that one corner of his heart felt strangely excited.
The same was true of Violet.
Hiding her tension, she slightly raised her fine eyebrows and looked back as if enjoying people’s gazes.

“Violet.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it obvious that I’m nervous?”
“I think you would’ve looked fine if you hadn’t said that.”

The two looked at each other and laughed softly.
They felt proud of the fact that they were participating in this banquet.
It felt as if the past days when they had forced down their fear were patting them on the back.

“I wonder where Schilt is?”

Aiden scratched the back of his head.

“There’s a chance he isn’t here.”
“Weren’t new knights required to attend?”
“It’s true we received a letter from His Majesty the Emperor, but attendance isn’t mandatory.”
“If a letter from His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t mean attendance is mandatory, then what does?”

Aiden shrugged.
Violet let out a short sigh toward the boy.

“He probably came to the banquet. I’m only saying he might not be here right now.”
“Mm……. Now that I think about it, that could be true. He is both a child of House Levvels and a knight under them.”
“Right. Marquis Girium gave the opening speech, exchanged a few brief greetings, and then left the banquet hall.”
“He might have left the banquet hall with the marquis then.”
“He doesn’t exactly have the personality of someone who would enjoy banquets.”
“True. The guy only knows swords.”

Violet thought of Schilt.
Schilt Levvels.
Before he was a child of the marquis’s house, he was the one who had competed with them for the Academy’s top seat.

“…….”

In truth, saying they had competed was not the right expression.
Because neither she nor Aiden beside her had been a match for him.

Just when they thought they had taken one step closer, he would be two steps farther away.
That was the kind of irritating person he was.

The Academy’s top seat.
In other words, if there had been only one recommendation letter for the knight examination instead of three?
There was no need to think deeply about it. Schilt would have been the one to receive that recommendation letter.

His skill was one thing, but he was also good-looking, so he was popular with the Academy’s female students…….
No, no matter how decent-looking he was, she refused to accept that filthy personality that looked down on others while drunk on his own greatness.

“Anyway, Marquis Girium’s speech was insane. Right, Violet?”
“…….”

Violet quietly looked at the boy beside her.

“Violet……?”

Then she burst into a small laugh.

“You’re right. The marquis really does give good speeches.”

Around the time the boy and girl were getting lost in the sound of the string instruments.
The tension between the knights and nobles loosened, and smooth exchanges began.

After some time passed like that.

Thud.

With a heavy sound, the guard standing before the banquet hall’s doors shouted.

“His Majesty the Emperor of the Oratio Empire. His Majesty Kerum de Evgenia is entering.”

The piercing sound of trumpets.
The ornate doors of the banquet hall slowly opened, and beyond them, one person entered.
Even the string instruments slowed by one beat and paid him respect.

The gazes filling the imperial palace all turned toward him at once.
Everyone welcomed their emperor with proper courtesy.

Kerum leisurely entered the banquet hall wearing a red cloak that dragged along the ground.
His steps held confidence and dignity,
and his benevolent smile held mercy and composure.

The red-haired man moving toward the center of the crowd greeted everyone with his eyes.

Kerum slowly headed toward the center, one step at a time.
When he stood in place, the people filling the banquet hall all raised their heads at once.

“Glory to the Oratio Empire!”

Kerum looked around for a moment, then lightly raised his right hand.

“Glory to the Oratio Empire.”

His low yet gentle voice echoed, and Kerum’s gaze swept over everyone.
An imposing presence that encompassed the banquet hall.
However, it was not born from a difference in power, but the force of authority that came from dignity and benevolence.

Kerum opened his mouth while looking at each person in turn.

“Tonight, I am truly pleased that we could prepare such a meaningful occasion again this year.”

When he paused for a moment, people’s gazes focused on him even more.
His red hair shone under the golden light.

“I hope to offer this banquet as a small comfort for the efforts of all of you who stand as pillars of our Oratio.”

The knights wore smiles, and the nobles nodded.
Warm gazes turned toward one another, adding a friendly atmosphere to the banquet hall.

“Before we enjoy the banquet, those whose names are called shall come before me.”

The soldier standing behind Kerum turned a page of the document.
Red eyes read down the document.
When his gaze left the paper, satisfaction rested at the emperor’s lips.

“Lionel Vermon. Berisa Arknight. Nox Levvels. Lucius Reinhardt. Howart…….”

Starting with the names of the Knight Commanders,
the names of the knights who had participated in the battle in the north earlier today were called.
The knights whose names were called came before the emperor and lined up.
All the knights stood with their backs straight and waited for the calling of names to end.

“Lucas Liberator. Serpens.”

When the final two names were called,
the sound of murmuring grew faintly louder.

Two people walking from the far end.
People moved aside for them.

“Lucas! These clothes are seriously uncomfortable.”
“…….”
“Tch, and you’re not even wearing them yourself.”

The boy with light brown hair grumbled quietly.
As if the tailcoat were uncomfortable, the boy kept tugging down his sleeves.

The gray-haired man standing beside the boy was not even wearing a tailcoat,
but no one questioned it.
A black robe that seemed newly prepared, and a massive greatsword that made one wonder whether it could even be swung.
At the same time, the rough yet somewhat orderly impression he gave made people look up at him.

Seeing him, Kerum murmured his name once more.

“……Lucas.”

Lucas grasped Kerum’s intent and lowered his head in apology.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty. I chose clothes that would not restrict my movement, in preparation for any unforeseen situation.”
“Raise your head. You have never once dressed properly since you were a new knight. I had no particular expectations.”
“Thank you.”

The corners of Kerum’s mouth lifted into a grin.
He remembered the year Lucas became a new knight.
A new knight who had not even dressed in a tailcoat,
a fellow he could not tell was bold or simply lacking manners.
He had only been amazed that someone like that could become a knight.

‘I was even more amazed when that fellow became the finest in our empire.’

So what if he didn’t wear a tailcoat?
Kerum was grateful enough that he had come here.
His brazen attitude of apologizing first was infuriating,
but how could he spit in the face of a man like that?
He was one of the people who had contributed the most in today’s battle.

“These knights are the central figures behind the victory in today’s battle. Without a single casualty, they faced more than ten thousand monsters, and even a Vampire Lord and a Death Knight.”

Neither the knights nor the nobles were very surprised.
Because it was something that had been mentioned in Marquis Levvels’s speech that opened the banquet.

However, to two people, it came as a shock so great they could not close their mouths.

“Violet……? I’m not seeing things, am I……?”

Aiden rubbed his dark blue eyes.
The boy blinked repeatedly, and his gaze was fixed not on the emperor, but on someone else.

“……It looks like it’s really him?”

Violet also could not focus her attention on the emperor.

The kid standing beside the man carrying a greatsword.
His appearance had changed from back then, but he was definitely the kid who had come to the Academy several months ago.

Violet tried to understand the situation.
A moment later, her eyes began to tremble.

“Lucas Liberator……?”

It was certainly a name she knew.
A name no one who dreamed of becoming a knight could fail to know.
Wasn’t it the name of the Sword Saint who had vanished?

Violet’s gaze moved toward the man beside the boy.
Gray hair. A solid build. A black robe. And a greatsword.

“Huh……? It’s real?”

He had felt like nothing more than a legend passed down,
someone she had wanted to meet but thought she never would.
That person was standing right before her.

Then what in the world was that kid?
If she thought back to when he came to the Academy, the relationship between those two was…….

‘Master and disciple……?’

Neither Violet nor Aiden could hear the emperor’s voice anymore.
Monsters are no match for us.
Humanity’s possibilities are limitless.
Knights are the pillars of this empire, and so on.
Those words which should’ve made them feel an overwhelming sense of belonging didn’t reach them.

“The Sword Saint’s disciple…….”

Aiden reacted to Violet’s murmur.

“If he’s standing there, that means he’s become much stronger than he was back then, right?”

The girl nodded,
and Aiden continued with a question that sounded like he was talking to himself.

“Everyone standing before His Majesty the Emperor is Expert-level. That person Lucas…… must certainly be at the Master realm.”

Aiden let out a hollow laugh.
He didn’t continue speaking.
But Violet also knew what the boy had been about to say.

To be able to stand in the same place as people like that at his age.
Was that even possible?
Thirteen years old. Sword Expert.
She had never imagined those two terms could be connected.

Violet glanced at Aiden.
The boy’s fist was clenched with all his strength.
Jealousy? Anger? Despair?
What emotion was he feeling?

Worried, she placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Aiden, are you all right…….”

But when she saw the boy’s face, her worry vanished like the tide.
He was smiling.
His fists were clenched tight, but his face couldn’t hide its smile.

“So there’s no such thing as impossible……!”

Jealousy? Anger? Despair?
No. Those eyes were not of that kind.

Those eyes that had begun to burn brightly…….
belonged to someone who had begun chasing a dream.