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Ruler Vol 6 Chapter 10

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Author: Anit666

Editor: Weasalopes

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【Sam’s POV】

“Would you care to take us on in a mock battle?”

Uhuh, I totally will.

“Pardon?”

Did my ears fail me? Did she just ask me to fight her? Huh, I think I’m getting in these types of situations more than I’m willing to admit.

Why are people so eager to fight me? Couldn’t they get, like, some more productive hobbies like drinking cyanide? A strong cyanide at that; wouldn’t want them to survive and ask for a duel again. Fucking idiots.

“Would you care to take us on in a mock battle?” There was nary a change in her voice, expression or tone.

Hey, at least change your words a bit.

“Pardon?”

Well, two can play that game.

“Would you care to take us on in a mock battle?”

Wow. What kinda muscle-brained Princess is that?

“Pardon?”

Heh. She has no idea of my patience and tenacity. According to my calculations (and not a totally random number), I should be able to repeat this for about 45379272947 times.

Hmm, assuming that uttering this word takes 1.5 seconds for me, then I can spend the next 2158 years, 5 months, 12 days, 8 hours, 28 minutes, 1 second and 50 milliseconds repeating the same fucking word continuously. Wow.

Lucia Lumen Constantine’s eyebrows twitched a bit at my repetition.

“Would you care to take us on in a mock battle?” Her tone sharpened.

This has unexpectedly become fun.

“Pardon?”

Leilani giggled.

“Fight us.” Lucia gnashed her teeth and articulated in a simpler manner.

“No.”

Not that I would actually accept.

“What? Why?”

Because that sounds like a pain in the ass.

“Because you are the Princess of this country. It would be bad in a lot of ways if I accidentally hurt you.”

“There’s no need for you to worry about that.” She smirked.

Oh, daring today, aren’t we?

“Still no.”

“Now what?”

“Because I don’t want to get hurt.”

“…What?” She scrunched up her nose.

“If you’re so confident that I won’t be able to hurt you, that implies that you’re strong enough to hurt me. And like any other normal person, I would like to avoid any unnecessary pain.”

Masochism is fortunately not one of my hobbies.

“…Weren’t Adventurer’s supposed to be those who lived for the day and took any danger head-on?” She frowned.

Woah. Looks like someone needs to brush up on their knowledge of Adventurer psychology.

“Quite unexpectedly, most of the Adventurers value their lives, and endanger it only when the reward is worth the risk.”

“Then you should have no problem.”

“Oh? How so?”

“If you win, then you’ll officially be qualified to marry Cecile.” She smiled.

“Sister?!” The person in question shrieked, but Lucia paid her no mind.

Wao.

“In case it wasn’t apparent from the conversation we had earlier, Cecile and I are still at the stage of developing our relationship. Thoughts of marriage haven’t even popped up in our mind, especially because we have a war at our hands.”

And more importantly, we don’t want to marry each other. I currently ship her with Solomon.

⟦Really? I think Lantz suits her better.⟧ Simon interjected.

Nani?

⟦Simone, I know that you have a particularly inferior taste in such matters. There’s no need for you to remind me of that.⟧

⟦…What is that supposed to mean?⟧ Her voice was as cold as Absolute Zero.

Shit.

⟦Maxwell will explain it to you. Bye.⟧

“Ah, you are right. My apologies, Samael.” Lucia smiled wryly. “Then how about this; you can have a mock battle with Doherty here in exchange for, let’s say, a chance to browse through the Grand Library of the Church of Meteron.”

Woah, fuck. She was aiming for this right from the very beginning, wasn’t she? The very fact that she knew books, or in essence, information, would be a better lure than Cecile shows the extent of the research she has done on me.

“Why do you want to fight me so much?”

“I just want to see for myself whether you’re worthy to be the target of the love of my cute, little sister.”

I see, I see-

⟦You don’t actually believe that, do you?⟧ Simone asked.

⟦Haven’t you been, like, too active these days?⟧

The number of times she has interfered with my monologues has already reached two digits.

⟦I’m just trying to understand you better to finish that so-called assignment you gave me.⟧

⟦Woah.⟧

Simone took it more seriously than I thought. Well, whatever.

Anyway, like she said, I would have to be an absolute buffoon to believe Lucia’s words. Then the question is; what does she truly desire from that so-called mock battle? Does she want to ascertain my strength and abilities? Sounds a bit too simplistic for a Demigod, but then, who am I to judge?

Or maybe she wants to delve into my personality? How I approach her proposal would help her determine how she should approach me- it’s possible that is the main goal behind her offer.

Now then, how should I respond?

“The Grand Library; how many books does it contain? And on what subjects? From which authors? Of which races?” I asked as I rested my chin on my hands.

Of course, it’s another story that I truly am interested in that library. Because information will determine how much I can profit from my victory; the more I know, the better.

“It houses more books than the entirety of this Kingdom combined. We have books from every time period, continent, and species.”

“Even books from demons?”

“Even books from demons.” She smiled.

Oh?

“But why? Shouldn’t the Church despise demons?”

“Of course, we do despise those filthy creatures. And that’s exactly why we’re willing to do anything to eradicate them.”

“Oh? So you wish for the demons’ extinction?”

“Precisely.” She clenched her fists.

Of course, it was clear to me that she was lying. She might have fooled all others, but she can’t fool me.

“I see.” I sighed lightly. “Well, that is a tempting offer.”

“Yes. So you will duel Doherty at the-”

“However, I won’t be accepting it.”

Everyone’s eyes (except Stolz’ as he didn’t have them) narrowed at my response.

“…But why?” Lucia asked with a dangerous frown.

“Simply because I don’t want to.”

“…What?”

“I’m a man of conviction, Ms. Lucia. I came here to meet the King, and meeting the King is all I would do.”

Everyone stared at me in stupefaction for some moments, before Lucia’s head drooped and Doherty trembled.

“Blasphemy!” He barked. “How dare you insult our pope?!”

Mana swirled around his hand which was going for the sword strapped on his back. Of course, I was faster.

“Regina Style: Mana Zone.”

The spell did what it was created to do and made all the mana inside this room my own. In other words, no one would be able to use mana unless I permitted them to do so.

Doherty moved swiftly in spite of being deprived of his mana. He took out his great sword, raised it overhead, and brought it down to smash me with his full strength.

However, before the sword could hit me, Stolz intercepted his sword with his own. With a single hand he took the entire brunt of Doherty’s weight and power, and with a single flick of his wrist he fended off Doherty’s sword.

Lantz, on the other hand, was already pointing his sword at Doherty’s neck, glaring at him to back down. Leilani had stood up from her seat and went behind her bodyguard, who had also taken out his Katana like sword.

The King had also stood up from his chair in a hurry thus causing it to topple down, and was staring at us with a twisted expression.

The only ones still seated were me and Lucia. Her eyes were glittering like a child who had found a new toy to play with, and the ends of her lips had curved into a wide smile.

Some might be unnerved, while others should be interested, by how we were able to remain so calm despite the situation taking such an explosive turn.

However, the truly interesting ones were someone else. After all, the member count of this room had been reduced by two, and the series of events that led to it were the most intriguing.

The moment I cast ‘Mana Zone’, Leige moved. Within the blink of an eye, he crossed the table, grabbed Cecile gently yet quickly, and flew outside with her before they were affected by my spell.

Some might say that it’s just a Royal Guard protecting his retainer, but Leige Lauder is supposed to be the personal bodyguard of the King of this country, Bachuss. The fact that he abandoned the King to protect the Princess, and that too without any hesitation, is what makes this interesting.

“Fall back, Doherty.” Lucia ordered her knight.

“As you wish.” Doherty replied, sheathed his sword and went back to his position.

“The others as well. There’s no need to worry, so you can take your seats.” She signalled to others.

The others readily accepted her words and went back to their chairs.

“What do you think, Your Majesty?” She finally addressed the King in a formal tone.

“Hmm. Samael……. passes the test!” He exclaimed with a rather gleeful tone.

I see, so this was also a test, huh? 

Well, fuck this shit I’m out.

“The Royal Family sure loves its tests.”

“My apologies, Samael, but this was something that had to be done. But as I had expected, you passed with flying colours.” A beautiful, happy smile blossomed on her face.

“Thanks, I suppose.” I shrugged and leaned back into my chair. “But what about Leige and Cecile…?”

Was that also planned?

“Ah, don’t worry about it.” The King chuckled. “He has been doting on her since she was little, so he tends to get a bit overprotective in these situations. I sometimes feel that he is her second father hahaha!”

“I see.” I nodded.

I stand corrected; this is interesting.

Heh.

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