Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei
“I should probably get going now.”
Arid said these words with a sad expression on his face. Seeing this, Lukas decided to ease his disciple’s worries a bit.
“I will come see you as soon as possible.”
Like a light being turned on in a dark room, Arid’s expression became bright in an instant.
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes.”
He slightly restrained Arid, who was coming in for another hug, patted him on the shoulder, and hurriedly left the room.
Lukas then witnessed the situation he had expected.
The East and West Priests and Bargan were glaring at each other.
When the door opened, they all turned their heads at the same time.
“My Lord.”
“Young Dragon!”
As Lukas and Arid approached them, they greeted them with similar expressions.
“Young Dragon, did this guy do anything rude to you?”
“I told you that it would be fine.”
Unlike before, Arid answered in a sharp voice.
But the East Priest’s words touched Bargan’s reverse scale.
“…this guy?”
He glared at the East Priest with a fierce expression.
“East Priest, please watch your words. That is not a person you can treat lightly.”
The East Priest chuckled.
“Then what kind of person is he?”
“He is my Lord.”
“But that doesn’t make him my Lord. At best, he is just a Fighter, and even if he does well in the arena, he would just be a Champion.”
“…”
For a moment, Bargan couldn’t think of anything to refute the East Priest’s words.
“You are the same, Fighter Bargan. You are receiving the treatment of a Major City Lord now because you are impersonating Kangki, but do not think that such treatment will last forever.”
“…East Priest.”
This time, it was a cold voice that called out to him.
It was Arid.
His face was twisted in an expression of anger that Lukas had never seen before.
“I have advised you over and over to not be rude.”
“Young Dragon, I-”
“Ah, it seems that the East Priest doesn’t acknowledge me as the Young Dragon.”
“How could that be possible? The Young Dragon knows how loyal I am, don’t you?”
“Even though I said something many times, you refused to heed my words. Is that how the East Priest shows me his loyalty?”
“Th-, that’s not…”
The East Priest was so nervous that his wrinkled face became pale.
Bargan looked at Arid in surprise.
He didn’t know what kind of conversation they’d had inside, but the Young Dragon seemed to be more polite than the two old priests.
“Fighter Bargan, will you please excuse the rudeness of the priests?”
“N-, no. It’s fine.”
Bargan quickly bowed his head as he stuttered a response. Seeing this, Arid smiled gently before turning back to Lukas.
“Then I look forward to seeing you again.”
“I hope you have a safe and smooth trip back.”
Lukas used a different tone when seeing Arid off.
It was fine when it was just the two of them, but it wouldn’t be good to speak informally to Arid in front of members of Dragon God Island.
Because they had spoken a lot beforehand, Arid bowed his head and left Lirua with light steps.
Bargan glanced at Lukas and said.
“By chance, did the Young Dragon express any concerns about the current situation in Lirua?”
The thing Bargan mentioned now was probably the thing he was most worried about.
Major City Lord was a position that was originally meant to be obtained through bloody efforts and after fulfilling several tricky conditions.
One needed to obtain the position of Champion and maintain it for a year in at least five cities, and, most importantly, they had to have reached the semifinals in the Championship.
But what about Bargan?
He had failed to become the Champion in even a single arena.
It was for that reason that Bargan had tried to hide his identity with the [Creed of Kamesh], but the Young Dragon had been able to see through him from the very start.
Lukas shook his head at Bargan’s worries.
“No.”
“If not, maybe he proposed some kind of condition to you in order to keep it a secret…”
“There’s no need to worry, Bargan. The Young Dragon is on our side.”
“…”
Although his anxiety didn’t disappear completely, Bargan nodded because his trust and confidence in Lukas far exceeded his fear.
After thinking for a while, Lukas opened his mouth again.
“There is only a bit over a month left before the Championship begins.”
“That’s right. It’s just around the corner.”
“…there’s some place I need to go first.”
“Huh? Where…?”
“Death Island.”
“…!”
Bargan was shocked.
“Th-, that…”
“It’s a very dangerous place. I know, but I’ll be fine. I plan to head there in order to prepare thoroughly.”
Lukas continued in a low voice.
“Bargan, before I leave, there’s something I need to tell you.”
* * *
The next day.
As the day dawned and he prepared to visit Nekdu, Lukas welcomed an unexpected visitor.
“Long time no see, Master.” (TL: Imagine if this was a cliffhanger…)
It was none other than Min Ha-rin. The young woman tried hard to not display her joy on her face.
“It has been a long time.”
“Yes. You… Are you feeling better now?”
Lukas tilted his head at Min Ha-rin’s concern.
“Mm? Who told you I was hurt?”
“N-, no. It’s not that. I just kept hearing a lot about Master in Lirua, and I thought that you went through a lot of hardships here.”
Before coming here, Min Ha-rin had wandered the streets of Lirua for a while.
She heard the citizens of Lirua swearing at Lukas.
Calling him a coward, a fraud, and a runaway.
Just thinking about it made her puff up in rage.
Min Ha-rin really wanted to throw a couple wide range spells in their faces, but she forcibly endured it with superhuman will.
“I’m fine. Everything is alright.”
“I, I’m glad. And…”
Min Ha-rin bowed her head and apologised.
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“I was the one who recommended Lirua. I think that made things more complicated…”
She wasn’t wrong.
Had he headed to another city, Lukas could have won the title of Champion easily.
But Lukas shook his head.
“You only made the suggestion, but the choice was mine. Moreover, it is thanks to Lirua that I was able to reach 8 stars faster than expected. So in the end, everything worked out.”
“You reached 8 stars?”
“Right. It’s a bit of a long story, so I think I’ll put it off until next time… By the way, you’re the Champion. Is it okay for you to wander around like this?”
Min Ha-rin smiled awkwardly.
“I’ve been having a lot of matches lately so I’ll have to go back tonight. The Championship is just around the corner, so the arena is at its fiercest.”
Considering the time it took to travel there and back, it was clear that Min Ha-rin had only just managed to squeeze a bit of time to come.
Lukas nodded.
“That’s why you came so early in the morning.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think you came here just to see me. Did something happen?”
“Actually that was my first reason. Fortunately, it seems that you’re okay, so I’ll tell you the rest right away.”
Min Ha-rin paused for a moment, her expression changing.
“Do you read the news, Master?”
“I paid attention to it in the past, but I haven’t in the past few days.”
It was necessary to collect information in order to bring down Kangki. So he’d taken the time to read the various newspapers in the city every day.
Thanks to this, he was able to obtain knowledge that he couldn’t get just by reading books.
“Then you probably didn’t see these articles.”
After saying that, she reached into her pocket and pulled out two pieces of paper. She held the first one out to Lukas.
There was no need to unfold it.
The article was so large that it filled the entire page.
The words written in those large letters were as follows:
[The Kisura Arena completely dominated!]
[The Greatest Upset! Super strong Champion Shivar killed!]
[What is the true identity of this super rookie who shot up like a comet, ‘Kran’…?]
“…”
Lukas was silent for a moment before finally speaking.
“Kran.”
“Yeah.”
Min Ha-rin nodded.
“Over the past few days, his name has spread across the entirety of Combat Island. I heard that he displayed an amazing performance. So it’s natural that they’d be enthusiastic. The Fighter he faced was no joke. In fact, he was one of the strongest contenders for this Championship.”
Champion Shivar.
He’d seen that name before.
It had been on the ranking list of Champions that had been made by dozens of experts.
“If it’s Kran, that wouldn’t be too difficult.”
A man who stood at the very edge of mortality.
It was for that reason that Lukas had wanted him to be his ally in the Great Game.
The fact that Kran had appeared in the Heavenly Realm…
‘Kasajin…’
Was he also somewhere in the Heavenly Realm?
Was the identity of the Absolute on Death Island none other than Kasajin?
Deciding to not express his doubts and worries for now, Lukas opened his mouth.
“There is another article. Is that one also about Kran?”
“No, but…”
Min Ha-rin’s expression became very serious at that moment.”
“It might be something even more serious than that.”
Then she showed him the second article.
And Lukas’ eyes went wide when he saw it.