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Chapter 14: Multitasking
[Your Highness Eurius! How is your study going? I know you are very talented and it might be redundant for me to say this, but I’m always worried about you because there are so many sly people in the palace. My project is progressing well. Lately… (omitted)
As always, I send you my sincerity. I hope you accept it. I always pray for your health.]
-Marius-
[P.S.-I’ve told you before, but you’re not spending all day swinging your sword, are you? Neglecting the studies that are necessary for the emperor… (omitted)]
‘Sorry. The truth is, I do spend all day swinging my sword!’
Eurius apologized to him in his mind, and then looked for the real ‘gift’ he sent. He turned the letter around and found the direction he wanted.
Then he started to read it with the code they used.
[The contact with the guild is going well. But lately, the Blue Dragon guild leader has been insisting on seeing our top person. If he knew your identity, he wouldn’t dare say that… (omitted)]
Eurius shook his head.
‘No, he would have wanted to see me even if I was the emperor, not the prince.’
The person mentioned in the letter was someone who didn’t believe anything unless he saw it with his own eyes.
‘I’ll have to go to the north sometime for a smooth relationship.’
But that was after he had achieved everything he needed to get in the palace.
‘Today will be a tense day for a change.’
Today was the day he was supposed to receive swordsmanship training from a superhuman for the first time.
Eurius took Heinz along and headed to the royal training ground.
“I hope the commander wasn’t too angry.”
“Haha, you worry too much, sir! Do you think he would beat me up just because I asked him?”
The superhuman who agreed to train him was the imperial guard commander, Count Carlos.
The empire had four superhumans, but two of them were away as border guards, and one of them was Wilhelm, the second prince’s uncle.
So there was only one superhuman who could train him in the palace.
The imperial guard commander, Count Carlos!
He was a relatively young knight in his forties who had reached the fourth stage, which was rare among young superhumans.
Another interesting thing was his faction.
The emperor’s faction thought he was one of them, and the Count’s faction also secretly thought he was on their side.
The reason why the emperor’s faction thought so was because he was the imperial guard commander who only obeyed the emperor’s orders. They valued legitimacy and naturally considered him as part of their faction.
But there was something that made them hesitate. It was Carlos’s other identity.
Eurius couldn’t help but grind his teeth when he thought about it.
‘The Count was the first to make a move.’
Carlos was a low-ranking noble from a remote region who rose to his current position purely by his talent. But the one who recognized his talent early on was none other than Duke Wilhelm.
Carlos was both the imperial guard commander and Duke Wilhelm’s son-in-law, who married his daughter under similar circumstances as the current emperor’s second empress.
Thanks to that, whether it was Duke Wilhelm’s trick or not, his previous self couldn’t move the imperial guard, which was supposed to be neutral even in his imperial status, at the most critical moment.
They were already losing to the nobles’ faction after a long civil war. If they lost the imperial guard as well, it would be disastrous.
But Eurius had to make him his own this time. He didn’t care about anyone else who had been influenced by Duke Wilhelm, but Count Carlos was a true knight with unquestionable loyalty.
‘I have to make him my subordinate fast with this opportunity.’
Count Carlos bowed politely and led Eurius and Heinz to the training ground.
“I already know your skills well.”
He glanced at Heinz and fixed his eyes on Eurius.
“But for your future training, I would like you to have a simple spar with me.”
He wanted to teach Eurius as best as he could since it was the emperor’s request. And he couldn’t deny that he was curious about Eurius’s swordsmanship, which was said to be talented.
“Then, please take care of me.”
“Come at me anytime.”
Eurius drew his sword and faced Count Carlos on the other side.
“Ha!”
Eurius kicked off the ground and swung his sword at Count Carlos with a shout.
“Clang!”
Of course, as a superhuman who had reached an extraordinary level of skill, Count Carlos easily blocked his sword without moving an inch.
‘He’s more talented than I thought.’
Count Carlos calmly blocked Eurius’s sword, which was swinging at a speed that most knights couldn’t even see.
‘His force flow is stable enough to be almost at the third stage. And his swordsmanship basics are not bad for someone who grew up in luxury. He clearly trained hard.’
He evaluated Eurius’s swordsmanship sincerely, but he began to frown slightly after a while.
‘Hmm?’
The more he blocked Eurius’s sword, the more doubt appeared on his face.
“Let’s stop for a moment.”
He stopped defending and swung his sword lightly to the left and right.
“Thud.”
With that simple motion, Eurius was pushed back and had to regain his balance.
‘As expected…’
Count Carlos looked at Eurius with a blank expression and opened his mouth.
“You’re hiding your skills. Do you have a reason for that?”
The Count had a stone-like personality, but he felt humiliated by his opponent and his eyes glinted with faint anger.
The attack that had just repelled Eurius seemed light, but it was a sincere strike from him.
Based on Eurius’s skills that he had shown so far, he should have been rolling on the ground.
‘It seems impossible to hide my skills from a fourth-stage knight.’
This was the reason why Eurius had been worried.
Knights of the fourth stage were superhumans who had transcended humanity!
Even if he pretended to be mediocre, it wouldn’t be hard for them to notice that he was holding back after exchanging a few blows.
“I apologize, Count Carlos. I never intended to mock you!”
Eurius bowed deeply and apologized.
As the crown prince lowered his head to apologize, the Count also looked slightly puzzled.
Sir Heinz, who had been watching from the corner of the training ground, also approached them.
“I can hardly accept your apology, Your Highness.”
“Your highness, is there a problem?”
Eurius glanced at them both and put on a solemn expression.
“Count Carlos! Sir Heinz! Can you swear that you won’t tell anyone what you saw here?”
[Ding!]
[The trait ‘Emperor’s Dignity’ is activated.]
[Your charisma and charm increase.]
Count Carlos felt a sudden pressure from the crown prince that was only fit for a great king or an emperor.
‘Was the first prince like this?’
He had no interest in the power struggle of the royal family, but he knew that the first prince was talented in swordsmanship, but not very diligent in other matters lately.
“I swear on my knight’s honor that I won’t speak of what happened here to anyone, as long as it doesn’t harm the empire or His Majesty the Emperor.”
Count Carlos decided to find out what the crown prince’s intention was.
“I swear too.”
Sir Heinz was not someone who would divulge something that would harm himself.
Eurius nodded his head.
“Then, Count, please duel with me again.”
“Very well.”
Eurius and the Count faced each other again in the training ground.
‘This time, I’ll go all out.’
Eurius held his sword seriously and aimed at the Count.
“Woong.”
Eurius raised his force to the maximum output from his circle.
His sword was infused with force and glowed blue, but beyond that, tangible force condensed outside his sword.
‘Third stage! And quite proficient at that.’
The Count was surprised inwardly and also prepared himself earnestly. If the first prince was this skilled, he couldn’t afford to go easy on him.
“Peong!”
As Eurius and the Count clashed, a loud noise erupted in the training ground.
The clash was not just once.
Soon after, bluish sword lights rained down on the Count’s body like a storm.
But the Count was one of the top superhumans in the continent!
He couldn’t block them lightly like before, but he easily deflected most of the sword lights and stabbed his sword between Eurius’s attacks to disrupt his offensive.
It looked like a one-sided fight at first glance, but with the Count’s skillful technique, Eurius suffered considerable damage.
‘As expected, I can’t win with pure swordsmanship.’
No matter how much he had trained since his previous life, his main job was being an emperor. He couldn’t compete with superhuman knights who had practiced swordsmanship repetitively since childhood.
‘But I have another advantage now.’
Eurius clenched his fist out of nowhere and charged at the Count’s sword.
‘A fist wrapped in force field? But if he focuses on protecting his hand, the density of force in other parts will weaken.’
The Count looked puzzled and raised his sword to block. His sword split into two cleverly and aimed at Eurius’s fist and shoulder.
Force field or force grip were useful applications of third stage force in battlefields, but they had very low utility in one-on-one fights with high-level opponents.
They required delicate control, which inevitably made it difficult to control the force that enhanced weapons or defense. It was more efficient to use the same amount of energy for one purpose rather than multiple ones.
But!
“Peong!”
The Count’s body shook for the first time.
Contrary to his intention of blocking the fist with concentrated force and piercing through the weakened spot, both of his attacks bounced off.
“!?!?”
That wasn’t all!
The Count switched from offense to defense and felt an invisible hand trying to strangle his neck.
‘Force grip!?’
The Count was a superhuman after all. It was a sudden ambush, but he managed to block it. He shook off the force that was squeezing his neck and counterattacked.
But Eurius used force grip to pressure the Count’s neck while also swinging his sword like a storm and pushing the Count back.
This was the power of quad-core!
Ordinary knights, no matter how excellent their force control was, couldn’t simultaneously enhance their body and weapon while manipulating force delicately.
Normally, the force circulating in the circle would enhance the whole body and weapon, but it couldn’t quickly concentrate on other places.
But Eurius was different with his four cores.
The first core assisted the enhancement of his sword and body as usual.
The second core used force grip to hinder the Count’s movement.
The third core condensed force on his fist and feet to launch surprise attacks.
The fourth core used force step to move dazzlingly in the air and aim for the Count’s blind spots.
With these four cores working together organically and freely launching irregular attacks, even the superhuman Count couldn’t regain his composure for a moment.
[Ding!]
[You have created the skill Multi-tasking.]
This was what he called multi-tasking! It was one of the biggest achievements he had gained after his return.
“Chang.”
The Count was flustered and finally a small gap appeared in his impregnable defense!
‘It’s my chance!’
Eurius’s sword could have split the Count’s body in half in an instant.
He put all his strength into rushing at the Count.