As expected, their meeting was not good.
“…”
“…”
Arundel watched Zion and Hills, who were glaring at each other out like enemies meeting on a log bridge, with anxious eyes.
As if they didn’t like this situation very much, Hills’ expression was quite crumpled, and Zion was expressionless, but his mood didn’t seem much different from Hills.
Zion stared at Hills for a while and opened his mouth.
“Rejected.”
“Ha.”
At the short word from Zion’s mouth, Hills clicked his tongue as if it was ridiculous.
“I don’t want to work under you either!”
Although she didn’t expect this to happen, the atmosphere was much worse than she thought.
Besides, this guy, he’s talking down Zion. It seemed like there was nothing visible to the eye.
She wondered if she should stop Hills, but Zion didn’t seem to care about his tone.
He just didn’t seem to like Hills’ existence itself.
Feeling like she would see a fight if she stayed a little longer, Arundel, who couldn’t stand it, stood between them.
“Why is it rejected?”
Zion crossed his arms and answered.
“Because I don’t like that guy.”
“He’s going to be an important force in the Croyden Empire. As I told you, he’s very strong.”
As Arundel’s deep green eyes appealed, Zion frowned as if he didn’t like it.
“I heard it simply from the Prime Minister. He’s not a former prosecutor, and there’s no family to vouch for him.”
Arundel hesitated at Zion’s sharp criticism, but she couldn’t back down now.
“I told you. His background may be a bit weak, but he’s incredibly strong. Maybe he could even win if all the knights attacked him.”
Arundel whispered to Zion. She quietly spat out the rest of her words so that the vice-captain next to him wouldn’t feel bad.
If she had said this much, he should test Hills. At Arundel’s desperate look, Zion unfolded his crossed arms.
And he pulled Arundel’s wrist, which was blocking between them, to his side.
When Arundel stepped aside, the two faced each other again.
“He’s not a prosecutor, so he won’t know how to use a sword…What’s his main weapon?”
“Magic.”
Hills answered curtly. At his words, Zion called the vice-captain next to him with an oh-ho expression.
“Call all the knights in the palace now.”
“Where should I call them?”
“This place is too narrow. Bring them to the training ground behind the palace.”
There was a huge vacant lot behind the palace, which was a rarely used training ground.
It was often used when there were court magicians in the past, but now there were no magicians appointed to the palace because magicians only come by sending requests to the Magic Tower.
Thanks to that, the training ground was completely empty.
Zion seemed to want to test Hills there.
“Let’s test it.”
“Anytime.”
Their eyes clashed once again.
****
As expected, unmanaged grasses were growing here and there in the desolate training ground. The wall where moss grew freely even looked gloomy.
But as soon as the dark training ground was filled with robust men, it soon became lively.
The knights who were dragged in during training glanced at the faces of the emperor and empress standing in front.
Especially, their eyes occasionally turned to Arundel, who was hard to see, as they had only seen men throughout.
Bang-!
Zion knocked down the tree next to him with magic. And he spoke in a cold voice.
“If you don’t want to be a wronged knight, be careful with your eyes.”
At Zion’s no-nonsense words, the knights swallowed dry saliva. Hills also threw a word with his arms crossed.
“Yeah, you just need to look at my handsome face.”
Zion looked at Hills, who said such a thing, with a cold expression.
Soon, the prime minister, who was sitting together, shouted loudly towards the people in the training ground.
“Thank you for your time. This person in front of you is a candidate for the knight captain position.”
The prime minister cleared his throat once.
“So we called you to test his skills.”
When the words were over, the vice-captain in front raised his hand brightly.
“I heard he’s not a knight, how do you test him?”
At the unexpected question, the prime minister stroked his chin as if it was difficult. In fact, he was also hastily dragged, so he didn’t have a plan on how to verify Hills.
The knights were buzzing. It seemed that there was a big backlash against the fact that a person who was not a knight was a candidate for the knight captain.
In addition, unlike the knights who are armed, Hills, who is not even wearing light protective gear, looked very defenseless.
The prime minister couldn’t decide and looked at Hills. Hills flicked his hand with a smug expression.
“Come all.”
The prime minister and the knights in the place made a horrified expression. Some of the knights expressed their anger at this situation by laughing dryly.
The most angry vice-captain stepped forward.
“That’s ridiculous. You’re disregarding us.”
“Aren’t you the ones who are disregarding me? What’s so great about being a knight.”
Hills laughed and said. At his appearance, the knights were more agitated. Arundel saw this and touched her forehead.
“Stop.”
The murmuring subsided at Zion’s voice.
“He’s right. The origin doesn’t matter. Instead, you have to take responsibility for what you said, right?”
At Zion’s words, Hills loosened his body by turning his head left and right. And he did a light stretch and stepped forward.
Arundel, who saw his appearance, slightly pulled Hills’ clothes and spoke with his mouth.
‘Don’t kill.’
Hills chuckled and stepped forward. The angry knights surrounded Hills.
Arundel swallowed dry saliva at the unusual atmosphere.
In fact, Arundel was not worried about Hills, but was worried that the knights might get hurt, but Zion, who did not know this fact, just looked at the unidentified man standing in front of him.
“Start.”
At Zion’s words, the knights screamed and rushed in. Hills didn’t flinch at the movements of the knights coming from all sides.
When the knights got close enough for the sword to touch him, Hills spat out a single word.
“Sleep.”
With Hills’ single word, all the knights fell. They all seemed to feel sleepy.
“…!!”
“…!!”
The eyes of the prime minister and Arundel widened.
‘This… smart guy.’
She was worried that he might blow away the knights, who were an important force of the empire, but Hills controlled his pace well.
Hills glanced at the knights spread all around and let out a sly laugh. His provocative eyes were directed at Zion.
“What are we going to do now?”
The prime minister wiped his eyes once as if to confirm whether he had seen something wrong.
“…Amazing.”
The prime minister’s voice trembled with excitement.
“I’ve met many magicians, but it’s the first time I’ve seen someone use mental magic on multiple people at the same time!”
“Well, well, it’s something only I can do.”
Hills nodded his head while touching his nose. And he looked at Zion with a smug expression.
“Now… you too…”
“Rejected.”
But Zion announced his disqualification again.
At the sound of another disqualification, Hills couldn’t hold back his anger and walked up to him. With strong steps, soon he stood in front of Zion in no time.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like you.”
It was the same reason as before.
In the end, why did put them through all this trouble if he was going to say he didn’t like it? What sin did the sleeping knights have?
Arundel, who saw this from the side, thought so, but decided to quietly watch the situation for now.
But Hills seemed unable to accept this fact.
“This kid.”
Hills glared at Zion fiercely. He got closer as if he was about to fight with Zion at any moment.
Looking at him from the side, it was like fire and ice. However, it seemed that the ice did not melt in the fire.
The fire flared up in front of the ice.
“Tell me the exact reason. Don’t just say you don’t like it.”
“Seeing you use magic, you look more similar.”
“What?”
“So I don’t like it.”
Zion spoke in a calm voice as if he didn’t care about Hills, who was swaggering in front of him. Then Zion’s gaze went to Hills’ eyes.
“I didn’t like it from the moment I saw the purple eyes.”
“…”
“Even the energy looks similar when you use magic.”
Arundel, who was next to him, realized the person Zion said who looked similar.
Zion seemed to be talking about the ‘crown prince’ of the Shalbon Kingdom. The purple eyes he had recently seen were those of the crown prince of the Shalbon Palace. Except for the dragon.
The crown prince was actually Hills, and they had an uncommon common point of purple eyes.
And above all, their relationship was very bad. They even fought like crazy.
“Ha, I didn’t want to say this originally.”
Hills rolled up his sleeves once and glared at Zion. And he seemed to spit out some words at any moment, but only his mouth moved.
And he spoke in a small voice towards Zion.
“…Let’s talk for a moment.”
At Hills’ change of attitude, Zion frowned as if he didn’t like it.
“I have nothing to say with you.”
“I don’t like it either!!”
“But?”
“If Her Majesty the Empress next to you hears it, you’ll be embarrassed.”
Hills frowned as if he was frustrated.
Suddenly mentioned, Arundel opened her eyes wide and looked at Hills. But Hills avoided Arundel’s gaze as if something was pricking him.
“So let’s talk for a moment, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
There was a mockery in Hills’ tone.
Zion didn’t answer at all, just waved his hand once and went into a shabby wooden building nearby.
Hills glared at Zion’s back as if he didn’t like it and followed him.
‘What’s going on all of a sudden…’
How should she think about the two who are going in there saying they have something to talk about secretly.
Arundel stared intently at the wooden building where the two had hidden their figures. Then she mouthed a word to the prime minister.
‘Shh.’
Arundel brought her index finger to her lips. The prime minister nodded quietly, as if he didn’t want to get involved.
They moved their steps stealthily towards the wooden building where the two had disappeared.
When they gently put their ears to it, a faint voice could be heard.
–‘You’re damn quick-witted.’
Hills spat out his words in annoyance.
–‘Yes, I was the crown prince then.’
–‘As expected.’
Zion’s voice was sharp.
Arundel barely held back from shouting out loud. While she was in shock, Zion’s words continued.
–‘I thought it was strange. It didn’t make sense that the crown prince of the Shalbon Kingdom had such a personality, and that he hid such magical skills.’
He seemed to have not asked himself because it might be an uncomfortable story, but Zion seemed to continue to doubt.
Zion’s voice was heard again.
–‘It doesn’t matter what your identity is. However, if it becomes a threat to her, it would be better to cut it off now.’
–‘Don’t joke. The threat is not me, but you.’
With the creaking sound of the floor, Hills’ voice continued.
–‘Do you remember the peace agreement we made then?’
–‘I’ve never made such an agreement.’
At Zion’s cold answer, Hills’ snickering sound was heard.
–‘Yes, anyway! You may not remember, but I promised to help you, so I came to keep my promise.’
–‘…’
–‘You. Your energy is getting stronger and stronger, right? You can somehow do it now, but soon you won’t be able to control it and you’ll run wild.’
At Hills’ words, Arundel made a puzzled expression.
Run wild…?
Arundel listened more carefully out of curiosity, but for a moment no sound was heard. Then Zion’s voice was heard again.
–‘So, are you saying you can solve it?’
–‘I can’t guarantee it, but it will probably help.’
Even without looking, it seemed like she knew what kind of expression Hills was making. He would be making an irresponsible expression with his arms crossed.
Soon, Zion’s stiff voice was heard.
–‘What’s your relationship with Irina that you’re involved to this extent?’
–‘Well…what should I say.’
Unfortunately, Hills’ middle words were not heard well.
She was worried that he might say something useless, thus her heart was pounding.
No, he had already said something useless.
‘Shalbon Kingdom Crown Prince = Hills’
He admitted it.
She was very worried that he might be thought of strangely for being involved in it.
The hopeful part to find was that he still didn’t know that Hills’ identity was a demon. If he found out, it would be the end.
–‘Let’s talk about the details later. Her Majesty the Empress is waiting, isn’t she?’
At the end of Hills’ words, the sound of footsteps approached the door. Arundel hurriedly ran to her original position.
Soon the door opened, and Zion and Hills revealed themselves.
Zion looked very upset.
‘What did this guy say?’
In the end, the voice was not heard well, and she could not hear what Hills was saying. What kind of useless words did he say that Zion’s expression was so bad?
Besides, the word ‘run wild’ that she heard earlier was very nerve-wracking. She will definitely check what the meaning was later.
While looking at Zion with a worried expression, he opened his mouth.
“I’ll announce it.”
All the knights who had woken up from sleep looked around with a flustered expression.
The eyes of all were focused on Zion, who had opened his mouth. Arundel also momentarily forgot her worries and waited for the answer.
He was worried about Zion, but Hills had to get a job right away.
“From today, he will be the captain of the Royal Knights.”
Arundel finally let out a sigh of relief.
