Raon’s lips parted as he looked at the Gambling Monster.
“The Conference of the Six Kings would be…”
“As the name implies, it’s an occasion for the heads of the Six Kings to gather in one place to discuss the past and the future.”
The Gambling Monster slowly nodded.
“I see…”
The Conference of the Six Kings was held back when he was working under Derus Robert.
Obviously, he wasn’t allowed to get anywhere near the conference hall and had to stay underground, as he was a dweller of the underworld.
“But why are they suddenly holding the Conference of Six Kings?”
Raon tilted his head.
‘It shouldn’t be time for it yet.’
He knew that the Conference of Six Kings took place periodically, and it wasn’t time for it yet. Considering they broke that rule, something serious must’ve happened.
‘Hmm? Wait a second. Could it be…?’
As he was wondering about the Conference of the Six Kings, an appropriate reason came to his mind.
“You look like you’ve realized it.”
The Gambling Monster chuckled and raised his finger. His thick finger was directed at none other than Raon.
“Yes, it’s because of you.”
“Because of Raon?”
Rimmer narrowed his eyes, asking what the hell he was on about.
“It was all thanks to him that we managed to find out that Eden had set up a branch in Cameloon’s vicinity, and that the White Blood Religion kidnapped people from a neutral city in broad daylight and set up their sorcery array.”
The Gambling Monster clicked his tongue, complaining that he shouldn’t need to explain the obvious details.
“The conference will be about how to deal with Eden and White Blood Religion, who are getting more and more active and violent.”
“Ah, I see.”
Rimmer grinned and nodded his head.
“But how did you find out about this, old man? You aren’t usually interested in stuff like this.”
He murmured that it was unexpected while looking at the Gambling Monster.
“Guess why.”
“Huh?”
“It’s because you’ve been playing around for a whole week without even leaving a message! That’s why the news reached me!”
The Gambling Monster ground his teeth violently while glaring at Rimmer.
“You obviously didn’t even realize what was happening with the Conference of the Six Kings because you don’t care about your work! You stupid, long-eared bastard!”
Raon sighed deeply while watching the Gambling Monster’s fist tremble violently at Rimmer, who was going ‘Ehe~’ with a smile on his face.
‘He’s right about that.’
There was normally no way Rimmer would be unaware of the Conference of the Six Kings. He must’ve been too focused on playing around during his vacation.
“Ahahaha. I have no excuse.”
Rimmer smiled awkwardly while scratching the back of his head. He looked like a gambler whose cards were found out.
“I didn’t even see you at the gambling house you usually frequent. Where the hell have you been?”
“I don’t have too much luck around here.”
He licked his lips while rubbing his fingers against each other. His eyes were halfway closed.
“Haa…”
Raon sighed deeply.
One day, Shitty Ears is going to either ruin the house or bring glory to the house. Crazy bastards like him never stay average.
‘That might be true.’
However, he felt so peaceful as he watched Rimmer being scolded for gambling. He felt like he was finally back home.
“Let’s save our talk for later.”
The Gambling Monster raised his fist towards Rimmer before turning his head towards Raon.
“You said you wanted a sparring partner, right?”
“Yes.”
“The heads of respective factions aren’t the only ones who participate in the Conference of the Six Kings. The brats that have started getting famous will also be there. It’s to allow the future prospects of the houses an opportunity to get to know each other.”
“Ah…”
He didn’t know about that because he wasn’t really interested in the Conference of the Six Kings.
“Even though it’s supposed to be a social meeting, it’s actually a bragging meeting.”
Rimmer snickered and shook his hand.
“The kids imitate the adults and say stuff like ‘I’m better than you’, ‘you are better than me’. It’s pretty fun to watch.”
“Well, he’s not exactly wrong.”
The Gambling Monster nodded in agreement even though he was still acting aggressively towards Rimmer.
“They even hold spars between the brats in the social meeting. It should be the perfect place for you to find sparring opponents, as they’ve learned the best martial arts properly despite being young.”
“Moreover, guys usually like to show off because they want to look cool in front of the girls. They will start picking a fight on their own even if you don’t do anything.”
“That’s true.”
Raon nodded.
‘I can already see it happening.’
Young warriors were usually impatient and didn’t have many opportunities to use their skills. Since it was a gathering of young warriors from the strongest factions—the Six Kings—and men and women would be in the same place, they were bound to contend for supremacy for one reason or another.
“That sounds pretty good.”
Although he should’ve been far weaker than them, experiencing the best martial arts of the other Six Kings with his eyes and body should allow a drastic improvement to his realm.
“Actually, your participation is compulsory.”
“Compulsory?”
“Yes. The lord’s manor sent an official document stating that you must participate no matter what. You should get ready—they are departing in a week.”
The Gambling Monster murmured that he should complain to them if he wanted to refuse.
“Is the head of house also going there?”
“The head of house has never personally attended the conference. He’s always sent a proxy instead. That hoodlum has also acted as a proxy once.”
“Ah, indeed.”
He pointed at Rimmer, and Rimmer waved his hand with a grin on his face.
“Where’s the location?”
“Owen.”
“Owen…”
The name Owen reminded him of their third prince, Greer se Owen, whom he met when he was a trainee. Since a long time had passed since they’d last met in Cameloon, Raon guessed that he must’ve gotten a lot stronger since then.
“The Conference of the Six Kings will be more helpful than you think.”
Rimmer chuckled and drew a small circle with his finger.
“Because kids aren’t the only ones who will be participating.”
He climbed the training ground’s wall after telling him to look forward to it.
“Where do you think you are going? I told you we need to talk!”
“Ah, let me go! Why do the old men love me so much?”
The Gambling Monster hurriedly chased after him when he realized he was running away, but Rimmer had already jumped under the wall.
“Argh…”
The Gambling Monster ground his teeth while glaring at the wall that Rimmer had climbed over.
“Why is he turning into a kid?”
“Don’t worry about him. He’s always been like that.”
“He’s like a troublemaker brat.”
“Then would you be my opponent instead of the brat, Sir Gambling Monster?”
Raon smiled faintly and walked towards the Gambling Monster.
“I received some enlightenment when I was kidnapped. I’d like to piece it together.”
“Seriously?”
The Gambling Monster exclaimed and furrowed his brows.
“I thought my eyes were playing a trick on me because of how much aura you had when I first saw you, but that wasn’t the case. How did you get stronger than before when you were kidnapped by Eden, out of all groups?!”
“I know it sounds strange, but it just happened.”
Raon simply shrugged his shoulders.
“You must be aware that I’ve been craving revenge.”
The Gambling Monster smiled coldly and raised his sword.
“Of course.”
Raon nodded and clenched Heavenly Drive’s hilt.
“Come at me.”
As soon as the Gambling Monster bobbed his finger, Raon stomped the ground. The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s heat dashed through his mana circuits, which had become even thicker and broader after recovering from his injuries.
The powerful energy engulfed his entire body in an instant to create a crimson flame on Heavenly Drive.
“Hmm!”
The Gambling Monster’s pupils expanded upon witnessing how quickly he was controlling his aura. Raon loosened his grip slightly and finished drawing Heavenly Drive.
Cring!
A clear sword resonance burst from the violent scratch of the blade on the scabbard. The Blue Rain’s resonance dashed towards the Gambling Monster’s eardrums, even more powerful than before.
Clang!
Although the Blue Rain’s speed and power were incomparable to the past, the Gambling Monster slashed the aura wave inside the sound with a simple swing of his sword.
“You…”
However, the Gambling Monster’s face didn’t look too good. His extremely distorted face revealed his feelings—he’d witnessed something that shouldn’t have been possible.
“It’s not just your aura, but even your swordsmanship has improved. What did you even eat over there?!”
“It’s too early to be surprised.”
Raon used the Supreme Harmony Steps to advance. When his diagonal slash was about to reach the Gambling Monster, blades rained down from the thin air.
The energy spreading from the dark blades felt powerful enough to shatter the earth.
Thud!
Raon regained his posture by using the River Footwork before slashing Heavenly Drive upwards. The Fangs of Insanity’s ferocious teeth dwelling on the silver blade roared violently.
Claang!
The earth-shattering strike from the Gambling Monster and the sky-splitting strike from Raon clashed in the middle.
Clang!
As soon as the two swords bounced away from each other, Raon and the Gambling Monster used their footwork to advance once again.
Whap!
Raon engulfed his blade with the rotating flame of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and slashed downwards. It almost looked like the sun covering the entire sky after turning into a sword to fall upon him.
“Hmm!”
The Gambling Monster frowned and swirled his sword. His blade multiplied in a conical shape to create dozens of black lines.
Claang!
Raon and the Gambling Monster were pushed back at the same time from the frontal clash between the swords.
Pssh!
A long cut on the Gambling Monster’s sleeve was making it flutter in the air.
“You…”
He frowned while looking at the large cut on his sleeve.
“Was it the same technique you used during our first fight?”
“Yes.”
Raon nodded.
“I chose it because that way, I can show you how much stronger I’ve gotten.”
He used the exact same technique that he’d used during the Promise of Three. He wanted the Gambling Monster to witness his growth, and he looked even more surprised than he thought.
“It’s ridiculous how much stronger you got. I almost want to pull your hair out in irritation.”
“It’s a relief that I have lots of hair.”
“And your arrogance also became worse.”
The Gambling Monster smiled coldly as he pointed his sword forward.
“Let’s begin the real fight.”
“Sure.”
Raon nodded and increased the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s output to the maximum.
They kicked the ground at the same time, and the two swords showed their fangs against each other’s necks.
Claang!
* * *
* * *
“Wow!”
Rimmer exclaimed while watching the fight between Raon and the Gambling Monster from above a tree behind the fifth training ground.
“This is great.”
He took out the liquor bottle hanging around his waist and gulped it down.
Drinking the cool and sweet liquor was awakening his mind. The liquor and weather were both great, and the fight was icing on the cake.
“By the way.”
Rimmer narrowed his eyes as he watched Raon push the Gambling Monster back.
“He got stronger once again.”
He was surprised when he saw him at Eden’s branch because he was already stronger than before, but he’d gotten even stronger than he was then. He couldn’t understand how he managed to increase his realm when he’d been bedridden all along.
“Is he sucking away the powers of an extremely powerful existence or something?”
It was completely nonsensical, but he couldn’t help imagining it. It was normally impossible to grow so quickly, after all.
‘He should be able to defeat even an advanced Master right now.’
Even though Raon was an intermediate Master, Rimmer had the feeling that he would be able to defeat an advanced Master if he tried.
‘This is terrifying.’
It was frightening to think that a nineteen-year-old monster who kept getting stronger all the time could even exist. Rimmer thought he would have nightmares every day if he were an enemy of such a person.
‘That geezer must be feeling a chill running down his spine right now.’
It looked like the Gambling Monster was soon going to have to fight with his full power, considering the rate of Raon’s growth. Rimmer was relieved that he wasn’t the one facing him.
“The Conference of the Six Kings…”
Rimmer licked his lips while watching Raon control fire and ice at the same time.
‘It’s going to be interesting.’
The only reason Zieghart’s reputation was piercing through the sky was the head of house. Although Raon had shown his heroic side, he ended up getting kidnapped and he only managed to escape through others’ help.
‘Which means, Raon… Will be most likely looked down on during the conference.’
Raon became famous throughout the continent until the incident because of his continuous victories against the apostles and Eden’s demons, but people completely stopped talking about his might after the kidnapping occurred.
Glenn was all everyone was talking about, and no one even mentioned Raon’s might. Rimmer could guess that there would be enough people picking a fight with Raon at the Conference of the Six Kings to fill a cart.
‘Ah, this is going to be so fun.’
He couldn’t hold back his smile in anticipation of the monster trampling over the arrogant children of the Six Kings.
‘They are going to need at least the Twelve Stars of the Continent if they want to stop Raon.’
Even though the Twelve Stars of the Continent were expected to become the supreme beings in the future, that was how strong they needed to be to stop Raon. Someone with poor skills wouldn’t even be able to swing their sword against him.
Rimmer grinned and finished emptying the bottle.
“I need to follow him.”
Since Glenn wasn’t going to participate in the Conference of the Six Kings anyway, he decided to follow Sheryl, who should be acting as the proxy, to have some fun. He wanted to enjoy watching the great descendants of the Six Kings be trampled over by Raon’s feet.
“You damn bastard! Fine! Let’s see the bitter end!”
The Gambling Monster ground his teeth and lowered his finger. Black energy spread out from the ground under his feet to engulf Raon’s body.
“Hmm.”
Even though Raon was getting dragged into the Gambling Monster’s sword field, he didn’t seem surprised at all and watched him with sparkling eyes instead. It almost looked like he was probing something.
“Huh?”
Rimmer gasped while watching Raon disappear into the dark sphere.
‘Is he already probing into the sword field? In this case…’
He could even trample half of the Twelve Stars of the Continent.
* * *
Zieghart
Lord’s Manor
Audience Chamber
Glenn’s lips slowly parted as he looked at Martha, who was lowering her head.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes.”
Martha slowly raised her head. Her eyes were clear and straight, without any sign of wavering.
“I’m fine now.”
The colors of her eyes and hair, and even her appearance were extremely similar to the White Blood Religion's leader. Her body must’ve originally belonged to Martha’s family, just as Raon suspected.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Martha nodded firmly.
“I heard that even the head of house mentioned that there should be an opportunity to save my mother. I have no time for sadness or despair when my mother is going through difficult times.”
Her eyes were frighteningly calm. She seemed to completely believe in what Glenn and Raon had said.
“I’m relieved to hear that.”
Glenn smiled faintly. He was planning to scold her if she was depressed, but her clear eyes made him proud.
“I’d like to ask a question.”
“I’m listening.”
“What should I do to get stronger?”
Martha bit her lips tightly.
“You are already pretty strong, even if we don’t consider your age. Trying to advance at a faster pace would turn you into a sandcastle with holes in it.”
“But Raon…”
“Raon is incomparable to even myself in the past. His advance has a completely different pace, so you shouldn’t try to catch up to him. Try to learn from behind him instead.”
Glenn slowly closed his eyes before opening them.
“Your strength is your instinct that allows you to notice the enemy’s weakness and your swordsmanship that combines attack and defense through Titan’s aura. You are currently nurturing your power by focusing on that strength, but you should try a larger variety.”
“A larger variety…”
“You should watch the other martial arts and learn them to understand their pros and cons by yourself. You are still too young to narrow down your choice. You need to experience a larger variety if you want to reach higher and further.”
He smiled gently and raised his hand.
“The Conference of the Six Kings will be held. You shall join it as well.”
“Understood. May I ask another question?”
“I’m listening.”
Glenn nodded, and Martha bit her lip tightly before she opened her mouth.
“W-will I be able to use the Sword Field Creation?”
“Sword Field Creation is a bloodline martial art that is only available to Zieghart’s lineage. It’s impossible for you to use it since there’s not even a faint trace of Zieghart blood in you… was what I used to think. However, you must know that there’s a man who broke that rule.”
“The squad leader…”
“He maximized the power of his affinity to make up for the flow dwelling in Zieghart's blood. You should be able to gain some hints if you ask him directly. However, I don’t exactly recommend it.”
He nodded, telling her to ask Rimmer about it if she was really curious about it.
“Thank you.”
Martha straightened her back and bowed confidently.
“You may leave.”
“Yes.”
She turned around without hesitation and left the audience chamber.
“I like her confident behavior.”
A refreshing smile appeared on Sheryl’s face as she looked at the door Martha had left through.
“Yes. I was worried about her, but she seems even more determined.”
Roenn also smiled faintly as he nodded.
“Denier got himself a really nice daughter. I’m looking forward to her future.”
Glenn also nodded. He seemed satisfied with the conversation he had with Martha.
“Then how about you act the same way towards Raon? It was perfect today.”
“Ahem!”
Roenn narrowed his eyes, and Glenn turned around while clearing his throat.
‘I know I should.’
And he obviously wanted to do so. He wanted to be kind towards Raon, but his body and face stiffened whenever he saw Raon.
“My lord.”
Sheryl stepped forward and stood in front of Glenn.
“Shall I participate in the Conference of the Six Kings just like the last time?”
Glenn had never participated in the Conference of the Six Kings before. She figured he wasn’t planning to participate like always and volunteered to go.
“Since we will be bringing Raon and the children, I shall…”
“No.”
Glenn slowly shook his head.
“I’ll be going this time.”
“What?”
“Hmm!”
Sheryl and Roenn widened their eyes at the same time. Their faces were filled with astonishment because it was completely unexpected.
“Are you really planning to join the conference in person, my lord?”
“Are you sure about it?”
“It’s about time I joined.”
Glenn closed his eyes as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“And I could brag about him, too.”
“What?”
“That’s…”
“Hmm?”
Glenn shook his head towards those two and suddenly furrowed his brows.
“Sheryl, Roenn.”
Glenn called their names with a serious face.
“Stay outside for a while.”
“Yes.”
They stared at Glenn’s stiffened expression before they nodded and left the audience chamber.
Cring!
Glenn raised his chin inside the audience chamber, which had been engulfed in silence.
“Come forward.”
As soon as his quiet voice faded away, a dimensional rift was created in front of the door.
Cring!
The space was torn apart like paper and an old man with long blond hair hanging down his back came walking out. A mysterious, otherworldly atmosphere and an overwhelming flow of mana surrounded him at the same time.
“It’s been a long time.”
The old blond man walked to the center of the audience chamber, supporting himself on a cane. The weak resonance of his voice felt like it was coming from an entirely different world.
“Yes, it’s been a very long time.”
Glenn furrowed his brows while looking down on the old man.
“Lord.”
