Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at the middle-aged mercenary standing in front of Dorian.
‘A mercenary with a Master’s might…’
There were countless Masters in the Six Kings and the Five Demons, and even more in the famous houses and kingdoms. It was only natural that there were so many Masters with there being countless warriors in the world.
However, there was one group that had an extremely small number of Masters despite having countless warriors.
Mercenaries.
Since the mercenaries sold their might and pride for money, they had a lot of battle experiences. However, they were weak overall because they couldn’t receive systematic training.
‘Moreover, the talented ones stop being mercenaries pretty quickly.’
If they were talented enough to become a Master, it was better to join a prestigious house or kingdom to earn more money, fame, and positions.
The only people who kept working as mercenaries despite having talent were those who were trying to become the Mercenary King or those with strange personalities who loved freedom too much.
‘However…’
It was a complete opposite sometimes, even though it was extremely rare.
Some of them used to be Masters from a prestigious house or Kingdom, and they despaired from the fact that they couldn’t raise their skills, living like losers until they were banished for causing problems. That was another case where they ended up as a Master mercenary.
‘And that the same in his case.’
Raon chuckled at the middle-aged old man who was faltering on his single leg.
‘Mark Goetten.’
He used to be a knight from the Warner Kingdom who was ranked right below the Six Kings, and he managed to become a Master at a young age—however, he couldn’t surpass the novice stage for over ten years. He despaired over that fact and ended up causing an accident, leading to his banishment and becoming a mercenary.
The nickname he received as a result was the ‘Saber of the Fallen Flower’, which was slander in a sense.
He was a novice Master ten, even twenty years ago, and he was still a novice master.
‘But he’s slightly different from my expectations.’
Raon licked his lips while looking at Mark Goetten’s sharpened saber and conditioned body. He realized once again that rumors shouldn’t be trusted.
“Please come at me once you are ready!”
Dorian turned his wrist without realizing that he was facing Mark Goetten. He must’ve been too excited still.
“I’m always ready.”
“It must be nice.”
Mark Goetten chuckled while looking at the confidence in Dorian’s eyes.
“Wh-what is?”
Dorian’s shoulders suddenly started to tremble from anxiety.
“You shall reach the Master’s realm before thirty at the rate you are going.”
Mark Goetten narrowed his eyes without raising his saber.
“No, I’m not that great…”
“However, you will never manage to surpass the novice stage of Master.”
“…What do you mean?”
“The path towards a Master is always open for those with excellent talent and patience. Even if you are old, you can reach it eventually if you have enough talent and tenacity to keep training. However…”
Vanity and despair were welling up in his eyes.
“You need to have the real talent that surpasses the notion of talent in order to climb even higher than the novice stage of Master. The vice squad leader of the Light Wind squad, Raon Zieghart, is a good example. However, you unfortunately don’t have that talent.”
“I-I already know that I’m not as talented as my vice squad leader. But we won’t know until I try…”
“You know, I’m a narrow-minded guy. And I’m extremely narrow-minded at that.”
Mark Goetten raised his saber with a twisted smile on his face. A frightening pressure spread from his thin blade, curving like a crescent moon.
“That’s why I get irritated whenever I see a confident greenhorn like you.”
“Ugh…”
Dorian bit his lip. It felt like the temperature was getting lower from his frightening energy wave. However, he clenched his sword and lowered his posture, showing his determination to fight.
Hey.
Wrath briskly turned his head after noticing Dorian’s resolution.
Isn’t he going to die at this rate?
‘I’m not letting that happen.’
Even though he said he was going to raise him through hardships, Raon had no intention of letting him die or be seriously injured.
‘I’m just trying to enlighten him.’
Enlighten?
‘Yes. Both Dorian and that big-mouthed sister of his are gravely mistaken.’
Raon stared at Dorian’s back, his eyes blue like Glacier’s flower blossom.
‘And this stupid duel for the sake of that enlightenment.’
* * *
Adis Sephia’s Office.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
The door opened after an urgent knocking sound and a young warrior entered before bowing at him.
“Pr-president!”
“What’s the matter?”
Adis, who had been reading some documents, slowly turned his gaze up. His eyes looked like they were completely deprived of any emotion.
“I’m busy right now. You should save it for later unless it’s an important matter.”
He looked back at the document as soon as he finished the sentence. His quickly rolling eyes suggested that he was dealing with an emergency.
“It’s about your youngest son.”
“Hmm…”
As soon as the warrior mentioned the youngest son, Adis’s eyes suddenly stopped even though they’d been rolling left and right like a pendulum.
“What’s the matter?”
Adis raised his head. His curiosity was apparent in his gaze even though it used to be emotionless.
“The third lady took the fourth young master away with her.”
“Where? You know the location, right?”
His voice used to be calm, but it started to waver like the ocean. It was almost difficult to understand what he was saying.
“They went to the training ground for the guards.”
“Do you know who they have in there?”
“They are the warriors that the third lady has recently hired. Toten Robel, Kelmek, and Mark Goetten are there.”
“Two highest level Experts and one Master.”
Adis frowned while tapping on the document with the pen in his hand. He briefly sighed and pressed on his temple.
“Did she bring Dorian with her to make him spar against them?”
“I suppose. She must be trying to show him that the money she’d earned is more powerful than the young master’s might.”
The old butler, Ligwin, nodded from the right side.
“I know she hates him, but she’s already attacking her brother who finally returned after nine years. She seriously never grows up.”
Adis crumpled the paper where the ink was flowing down. His forehead was getting as wrinkled as the paper.
“It’s true that the young master is stronger than other warriors his age, but he won’t be able to win against any of them.”
The young warrior placed his hand on his chest and bowed.
“I’ll run there right away and stop them if you order me!”
He showed his spirit, asking for the order.
“Hmm…”
Adis tapped the desk with his pen instead of responding.
“Was Dorian the only person who was taken there?”
“No, the Zieghart swordsman who came with him followed him.”
“I see. That’s fine.”
He chuckled and took out another document from the right side. He lowered his eyes to read the document as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“President?”
“Leave them alone.”
“Whaat?”
“Nothing bad is going to happen since he is around. That’s why I’m telling you to leave them.”
“Who the hell is he…?”
“Raon Zieghart.”
“Raon Ziegh—the White Sword Dragon!”
The young warrior stepped back in astonishment.
“Why is he here…?”
“He said he brought Dorian here as the vice squad leader of the Light Wind squad.”
“Doesn’t that mean that I should go there to stop them? The White Sword Dragon might decide not to interfere because it’s a family matter, or his interference might aggravate the situation even further…”
“That’s not going to happen.
Even a faint smile appeared on Adis’s face from his conviction.
‘It’s definitely not going to happen.’
He didn’t know much about a warrior’s might since he was a merchant, but Raon’s gaze reminded him of his past.
‘He almost looked like the heads of the Six Kings or the Five Demons.’
Moreover, he wasn’t thinking about the heads in their youth. The impression he got was similar to when they had already matured during their thirties.
‘He’s literally a monster.’
He was confident in his ability to judge people, just like he said before, and he was still unable to understand the full extent of Raon Zieghart’s potential.
There was no way that a man like him would fall into the third daughter’s plot. He was definitely going to shatter her plan and drastically help Dorian.
“And the swordsman Raon is more than entitled to interfere.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
The young warrior was blankly standing there but raised his head upon hearing him.
“You, Dorian, and Palen are all gravely mistaken.”
Adis smiled gently and tapped on his desk.
“Because might isn’t the only thing he’s gained.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Did you still not realize? It’s…”
“President.”
The old butler, Ligwin, had been silent but suddenly stepped up.
“You will have to stay in the office all day long tomorrow if you don’t finish your work right now.”
“Ah, I see.”
Adis nodded and looked at the document instead.
“You need to make the preparations in order to see the young master tomorrow.”
“Yes. I’ve been waiting for this da—”
He hurriedly shook his head and frowned.
“That’s not what I meant!”
* * *
* * *
“Kuh!”
Dorian let out a painful groan while blocking Mark Goetten’s saber.
‘Wh-what is wrong with him…?’
He thought it would be an easy win because his energy felt weaker than Toten Robel's, but that wasn’t the case. The complexity of his saber technique, the aura emerging from him, and his physical abilities were on a whole different level.
Even though he’d only blocked the saber once, he already felt exhausted.
“Is this already too difficult for you? I guess I overestimated you too much.”
Mark Goetten nimbly swung his saber. The extreme sharpness of his blade fell down upon Dorian alongside a frightening light.
“Haap!”
Dorian unleashed the Ten Flowing Forms’ special technique, Blue Flower Floating Cloud. The blue cloud bloomed like a flower to create a thick barrier of aura blade, but Mark Goetten’s saber shattered that powerful barrier in an instant.
Whaam!
Dorian was pushed all the way back while feeling like a hammer was striking his chest.
“Kuah…”
He wanted to suppress it, but his scream broke out from his mouth. He realized that he was injured internally from the extreme nausea that resembled the motion sickness from a long carriage ride.
‘His saber technique wasn’t even special…’
The strike that destroyed his special technique couldn’t even be called a technique. It was proof that there was a huge difference in skills between them.
‘He’s reached the wall of the highest level, or…a Master.’
Dorian’s chin trembled as he looked at Mark Goetten slowly walking towards him. Once he realized that his opponent was far stronger than him, the excitement filling his head cooled down to a freezing degree.
“H-hey?”
Mark Goetten slashed diagonally instead of responding.
Claaang!
Dorian hurriedly unleashed the Ten Flowing Forms and the Flowing Cloud Footwork at the same time in response, but he couldn’t withstand the powerful impact and was bounced back.
“Kuh…”
“What’s up?”
Mark Goetten raised his chin while watching Dorian pant for breath.
“Wh-what is your name, Sir…?”
“Mark Goetten.”
“The Saber of the Fallen Flower? Gasp!”
Dorian voiced out his nickname before he hurriedly covered his mouth.
“You can say it. It’s true that my sword has fallen.”
Mark Goetten’s expression didn’t change even though his nickname was full of slander.
“And I’m your future.”
“Wh-what do you mean?! You’ve been saying that all along!”
“There’s this period called stagnancy upon reaching the Master’s realm. Your skills don’t increase for a while as a rebound for surpassing the wall.”
“I heard about it before…”
Dorian stiffly nodded. Rimmer had told him about that stagnancy period when Raon had reached the Master’s realm in the past.
“Some people keep escalating towards the sky without any stagnancy period, but some people can never escape from it, just like me.”
Mark Goetten made a sorrowful expression that was difficult to describe.
“That’s why I always get the urge to crush the confident young men like you to teach them their place.”
The saber’s aura became gradually thicker.
“You talk too much for my liking, but I like the conclusion.”
Palen snorted and pointed at Dorian.
“Start by trampling on his head so that he won’t be able to raise it ever again.”
“She seems to hate you so much.”
Mark Goetten snickered after looking back at Palen. The aura concentrated around his saber became twisted to turn into a thick and sharp astral blade.
Whir!
Dorian swallowed nervously upon feeling the powerful resonance of the astral saber. He clenched his sword without taking a single step back or trying to run away.
“Are you planning to continue even though you’ve witnessed the astral saber?”
Mark Goetten frowned while looking at Dorian’s trembling eyes in fear.
“I-I’m not anything special compared to the people around him.”
Dorian exhaled deeply while looking at Mark Goetten.
“I’m worse than them in terms of might and willpower alike.”
It was obvious when it came down to Raon, and even the team leaders, Burren, Runaan, and Martha were also better than him in every single aspect.
Even though Dorian had been watching their backs from right behind them, he’d never managed to gain a single enlightenment.
‘However, there’s one thing I’ve learned. I should never give up no matter the situation.’
He was scared. He was extremely terrified that he might die or be seriously injured from the astral energy, but he couldn’t simply kneel without trying anything since he was Rano’s subordinate, the one who had been watching him from right next to him.
Whir!
The light bursting from Dorian’s sword shone more brightly than ever.
“I’m not even dreaming about winning, but I have no intention to lose in an unsightly manner!”
“I don’t like those eyes.”
Mark Goetten ground his teeth and started to move. The astral energy piled up on his blade and dug into the space like a saw blade as it burst out.
“I’ll bring you to your knees in a single strike.”
His saber soared in a twisted manner and turned into red lightning falling down upon Dorian.
“Uwaaah!”
Dorian shouted as he thrust his sword. The Ten Flowing Forms’ special technique, the Great Ten Flows Slash that had previously defeated Toten Robel, created a huge cloud for the second time.
Crack!
The aura blade spread around in a cross shape to fill the entire space, but it was helpless against the astral energy.
Wham!
Even though the fog looked unbreakable, it was severed, and Dorian rolled on the ground while coughing up blood.
“Kuh…”
Dorian tried to stand back up, but he could only move his neck in his exhausted state. He wasn’t severely injured, but he couldn’t move his body because of the physical damage he received and the rebound from exhausting his aura.
“Ahahahaha!”
Palen laughed while pointing her finger at him.
“I knew it. This is your place. You can’t even win against a mercenary I’ve hired no matter how hard you polish your swordsmanship!”
She looked down on Dorian coldly.
“I’ve earned money while you wasted your time swinging your sword. I have enough money to hire mercenaries that can easily crush you, just like he did.”
“Ugh…”
“Kneeling in front of me is the most suitable for you. It was the case in the past, and it hasn’t changed now.”
“Haap…”
Dorian raised himself by supporting himself on the sword. He gritted his teeth while meeting Palen’s eyes.
“I-it’s not over yet.”
“Wh-what are you doing?! He stood up!”
Palen hurriedly stepped back and pointed her finger at Mark Goetten.
“Finish him off already. Destroy his mouth!”
“Hmm…”
Mark Goetten walked up to Dorian and furrowed his brow.
“This isn’t going to be pretty if you keep trying to move in your current state. You might become unable to move for a while from the severe internal injury.”
“I’m a coward. I don’t like scary things, and I hate painful things even more.”
Dorian inhaled deeply and raised his sword. His blade looked like it was curved because his wrist was trembling from exhaustion.
“…Even so, I’m aware that I have to stand back up right now to wield my sword.”
The thought hadn’t come to his mind before, but Raon wasn’t the type of person who would make him suffer for no reason. He added strength to his trembling legs while believing in Raon.
“I’m disliking your eyes even more now.”
When Mark Goetten was about to strike him with his saber with a wrinkled face, a red line interrupted like a flash.
Clang!
The deadly blade was violently pushed back. Raon’s long sword was floating in front of Dorian's eyes, clad in red flames.
“Why are you interfering now? This is a family matter!”
Palen pointed her finger at him with a frown.
“No, I’m related to this matter.”
Raon looked down on Palen coldly while pushing Mark Goetten’s saber back.
“You said that Dorian’s might was worthless compared to your money, didn’t you?”
“What about it?!”
“I’m sorry, but his swordsmanship isn’t everything that he has earned.”
He raised his left hand with a cold smile on his face.
“It's slightly harder than a copper coin.”
A copper coin fell from his hand. It was split in half.
“It’s slightly tougher than a silver coin.”
A silver coin fell from his hand this time. It was crushed like a cracker.
“And it’s slightly stronger than a gold coin.”
A gold coin fell from his hand for the last time. It was turned into powder and scattered into the air.
“What he’s earned is a bond called friendship.”
“Friendship? What kind of bullshit is that…?”
“You’ve been bragging that you made money, but Dorian made bonds in Zieghart. I’m telling you that I’m part of his power.”
His aura blade was burning as powerfully as the sun to crush Mark Goetten’s blue aura.
“Every single swordsman in the Light Wind squad, including me, is ready to fight with our lives on the line for his sake. You can never buy that with money.”
“Argh…”
Palen’s expression twisted as Raon coldly laughed at her.
“Make him kneel! Crush him completely!”
Palen ground her teeth and pointed her finger at Raon.
“I dislike your eyes even more than his. I feel disgusted.”
Mark Goetten brandished his saber with a frown. Blue astral energy emerged from his blade.
“Excuse me for being rough.”
“Your name was the Saber of the Fallen Flower, right?”
Raon raised his chin and bobbed his finger. Freezing coldness sparked from his blue eyes.
“Your astral energy is about to fall by my aura blade.”
