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Arcadia’s main street was as bustling as always.
A boy in his mid-teens had his cheeks puffed up angrily. But still, even though he was grumpy so early in the morning, he appeared to be in good health. His very cute face was sadly half-hidden by his robe.
“Jerk. First, you tell me to follow you because I’m some sort of the best species and now you leave me like this?”
The boy—the elf, who was actually a few hundred years old—was throwing tantrums like a brat. He even kicked at some pebbles on the ground.
He was Ash, whom Joshua kicked out of the palace.
“We’ll see. If I don’t hear any news from you, I’ll take my revenge by making you go crazy when you need me. HMPH!”
But of course, the idea of finally getting a break was exciting as well. Despite his annoyance, his sudden dismissal was an opportunity for him to laze about. However, Ash has no intention of spending his precious vacation somewhere crammed with humans.
“This isn’t perfect at all, but I can take this chance to rest.”
When Ash arrived at the forest Joshua had chased Evangeline into, his pout was replaced by a smile. As an elf, there was no other place where he felt more at ease than a forest.
But his smile didn’t last for long.
“You look happier, child of Elenburs,” a voice called out at that moment.
Ash’s face went ashen as his eyes widened in surprise. Someone had beaten him here, but that person shouldn’t have been here—ever.
“S-Sir Krevas?”
The statuesque, black-haired man appeared before Ash.
“H-How did you—”
“This isn’t the time for you to be relaxing and enjoying such idle time, is it?”
“What do you mean
?”
Ash quivered like prey before a predator. He shrunk and cowered as Krevas’ dry and lifeless voice echoed in his ears.
“Do you know who that kid Joshua is going after? Asmodeus’ contractor.”
“That—”
“But of course, that contractor was once a human being
 His name is
” Krevas paused mid-sentence.
Ash’s face was tinted with curiosity, imploring him to continue.
“Jerath dek Orbis,” Krevas declared. “Right. The elves once considered him a friend, right? It’s the secret that you could never reveal to the world.”
Ash’s face fell as the weight of Krevas’ words continued to ring in his ears.
“Wasn’t being betrayed once enough? Human beings will never be friends with your kind. They are naturally selfish; that’s how their god made them from the very beginning. Right now, the Primordial Stone is serving as the World Tree’s replacement, but now that he has appeared again, it won’t be long before
”
“Where?”
Krevas paused, an amused smile creeping onto his face. This was the first ever instance that the elf had interrupted him.
“The Great Plains of Aiyash. There’s a building there called the Magic Tower, made by humans who had stolen the fundamentals from us,” Krevas answered, ending the conversation.
***
“Master!” A familiar voice called out to Joshua as soon as he emerged from the underground space.
“Cain? How did you
?” Joshua stopped in his tracks upon hearing the voice. He was perplexed to see his knight.
Cain had somehow broken through the barrier in the Fourth Prince’s inner chambers. More importantly, there were ten men, presumably Imperial Knights, lying unconscious on the floor.
“You—”
Cain snapped back swiftly, trying to rid himself of the blame.
“I didn’t know what to do!” Cain immediately protested. “Apart for a small number of people, everyone was trying to rush in. I came late, but I have no intentions of letting them in!”
Cain pointed to the wall where Joshua came out from.
Joshua frowned.
“So you decided to just whack all of them on the head?”
“It’s better than them making my Master look like a criminal,” Cain muttered to himself, but it did not go unheard by Joshua.
“A criminal? Me?”
Joshua scanned Cain’s face with a perplexed look.
“I mean, how could I not worry when I saw the people who went in? Knight Commander Rod who is a Superhuman like you, Count Arie, who’s known to be a psycho, and even Duke Tremblin of the Nine Stars—”
“Let’s get moving first,” Joshua said as he tossed a single glance behind him before he strode away.
“Did you take care of everything already? How about those three
?”
Cain swiftly followed after Joshua, and his eyes widened as he connected the dots.
There was only one way in and one way out—and his master left unscathed. The conclusion was obvious.
“Dear god—”
“I’m saying this just in case, but it’s not what you think.”
Cain clamped his mouth shut.
“Isn’t it really unfair to have to move according to the opposite party’s wishes?” Joshua mused.
“What do you mean by that?”
“He wanted to push me to the edge. Maybe that’s why he successfully manipulated the Emperor to send Count Arie and Duke Tremblin. I think I’m left with only two choices now: Be obediently captured and try to explain my way out despite the long time it might take, or fight.”
“Master, what if you win the fight?”
Joshua shook his head.
“As you said, they had sent a Nine Star and Superhumans. Doesn’t that mean that they had assumed the worst scenario?”
“My word
” Cain nodded sagely.
“Even if I won against them, it wouldn’t change anything. It’s them. They were personally sent by the Emperor. I would instantly be branded as a criminal of high treason if I fought them—and that’s what he’s hoping for.”
“Yes
”
“No matter what’s the outcome, there’s no loss to him. It was a plan that he came up with that wouldn’t even allow any flaw for a 1% risk that he might suffer a loss.”
A question formed in Cain’s head.
“When you say ‘him,’ you mean Fourth Prince Kaiser, right? Do you have some kind of history with him that I don't know about? Because I could totally se—”
Cain’s attention was yanked away from the conversation.
As they exited the Fourth Prince Kaiser’s palace, they found a vast crowd of people arrayed on the spacious lawn. There were thousands, possibly tens of thousands of knights waiting for them.
“What the
” Cain cursed under his breath.
“There’s Count Sanders!”
“We have an Imperial Order! Stay vigilant—no matter how young he looks, he’s reached the ranks of the Superhumans!”
“Do not waver, Imperial Knights.”
When were the Knights summoned? A variety of flags flew above the knights. Notably, the flag of the Tremblin family. The other flags belonged to the other noble households.
Cain swallowed a dry gulp.
“Master
 I know you can handle hundreds
 but can you handle tens of thousands of them?”
“Well
”
“Please take this seriously,” Cain wept. “I really don’t want to die in vain just like this. You might not know, but the moment I attacked the imperial knights, I would have already been branded a criminal of high treason.”
“Ah, right. I forgot about that.”
“Master! Please stop talking about it like it’s not your problem too.”
The army paid no heed to their conversation and closed in on the pair. To make things worse, another group of soldiers had appeared from their rear as well.
“Surrender immediately.”
Cain recognized the voice. He nearly hurt his neck from how fast his head turned.
A man that looked like a snake and an elderly man were making their way to Joshua. Cain knew who the elderly man was, of course.
The Pride of the Empire. The Sword Emperor.
“Duke Tremblin!”
“Oh?” Duke Tremblin squinted, an unusual diversion from his poker face. “I see that some talents have risen during my absence from the Empire. You don’t look any older than thirty, yet you’re already a very skilled A-Class.”
The casual analysis of his skills in just one glance made a chill run down Cain’s spine, underscoring the Duke’s power.
“I am well acquainted with the name Joshua Sanders, but this is the first time I’ve seen you.”
“Master.” Cain wanted to cower behind Joshua right now, but he instead turned to his master pitifully. “How did you manage to get past those monsters and come out of that hole?”
The encirclement glowed with a strange confidence. The Sword Emperor and a Master, who had already seen Joshua’s escape method. A gathering of the best troops and Knights, and they even had mages supporting them from behind, all against two people.
It was clear that Joshua and Cain were outnumbered.
“Choose.”
Duke Tremblin took a step forward and drew his sword. Just the incredible, beyond perfect way he held his sword made Cain sweat.
“You can either surrender according to the Imperial Order
 Or you can try gambling your neck against my sword.”
Duke Tremblin stepped forward without waiting for an answer.
But Joshua was unfazed.
“Ah, you asked how I escaped?”
“Master?” Cain nervously asked.
“I can’t believe you don’t know yet. Because I’m Joshua Sanders. Your master.”
Cain’s pupils trembled.
“Do you believe me?”
“I don’t
 I honestly don’t
 but do I have a choice
?”
Cain slowly quelled his nervous fidgets. He drew his own greatsword from his back and pointed it forward. He manipulated his mana hall in his body and leaned against Joshua’s back.
“Remember what I said before? No matter how rough the road is, I will always have your back.”
“Even if you have to be a bachelor forever?”
Cain froze.
“Why are you talking about this now?”
“Dating is unnecessary for swordsmanship training.”
“I don’t know if you know this, but the main reason, up to 90% of it, that a man wants to be great and successful is to get a kind and pretty wife.”
“You know that not everyone thinks the same way, right?”
“And I’m not gonna live alone for the rest of my life. If I can’t get a wife, I’m gonna stick to you forever, Master.”
“But I like women.”
Cain gave Joshua a suspicious glare.
“In that case, then please get us out of here safely and introduce some girls to me.”
“I will consider what you say.”
“Is that a promise?” Cain gleefully asked.
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The conversation ended there. They would be under attack soon with Duke Tremblin’s saber aimed at them.
‘We can’t lose!’
His remaining tension was completely released as Cain spread his mana throughout his body. He refused to be a burden to his master. He believed that if he worked hard enough, he would not be falling back when compared to others. He might not be able to go beyond the limits of his master, but Cain thought that it was enough to be able to stand beside him.
The muscles in Cain's body twitched as if they were going to explode at any moment.
“Enough!”
A completely unexpected voice broke the standoff.
Everyone’s attention was diverted to one place. To be exact, it was the space between Duke Tremblin and Joshua.
Just then, a tremendous roar shook the palace. The reinforced stones of the Imperial Palace cracked and split apart like an earthquake had struck.
One person stood alone in the epicenter.
“Why
?”
Even Joshua was dumbfounded, as he had not expected such a turn of events. After all, that person was never someone to come forward in a situation like this.