Chapter 31: 31.
True to his words, Gilltian immediately announced the engagement between Adjest and I. It caused a massive wave amongst the populace and the noble circle.
The nobles who joined my banner were jumping in joy after they heard the official announcement of the Emperor. With the Blackwood family and the Roguepalace family tying the knot in the future, the Roguepalace family's future is secured. Their identity as the Royal family is unshakeable.
Of course while many are jumping in joy, there are also those who are brooding and jealous about the engagement but what can they do against it? Fight the strongest Duke Family for the hand of the Royal princess? Who among the younger generation could defeat the person who is feared by mages in the battlefield?
I was currently in my room resting and there are two individuals busy gossiping about things I'm better off not knowing.
"If you're just talking with each other, why not do it in your room, Felicia?" I said as I looked at Adjest and Felicia.
"Eh, a maiden's room is a special room." Felicia said while Adjest beside her giggled.
"So, you choose my room? How about my privacy?" I asked her helplessly.
"Mm. Besides you're not doing anything and just resting." Felicia replied with a straight face.
"You do your thing I'm training." I sighed before picking up my personal spear and a bunch of clothes.
"All you do is train, and do paperworks. Why don't you spend some time with Big sis Adjest?" Felicia said making Adjest surprised by her words and she tried to stop her by covering Felicia's mouth with her hand.
Felicia struggled to remove Adjest's hands while Adjest did her best to cover Felicia's mouth.
"Why...? You said that... mmphf... you like spending time... mmmphf... with big ... mmphf." Felicia did her best to utter those words.
Sighing in defeat, I decided to push back my training after I returned to my territory. I'm only going to stay in the royal capital for a few days. It won't be bad to just relax and just enjoy the bustling capital.
"Alright. You two get out, I'm going to change my clothes. We're going out." I said making Felicia's eyes twinkle as she dragged Adjest outside.
After leaving my room, Adjest pinched Felicia's ears. Her cheeks were tinged with a rosy color and she's a little flustered.
"W-why did you say that?!" Adjest said while Felicia was looking at her with pitiful eyes.
"But you said you like spending time with him so I did it for you." Felicia said and Adjest sighed.
"Anyway, Big sis Adjest... let's empty big bro's wallet." Felicia said with a grin.
"Why are you always causing trouble?" Adjest gave up on reprimanding Felicia.
"Trouble? You like the idea of spending time with big bro though?" Felicia said with a cheeky grin making Adjest pinch her ears once more. Felicia yelped in pain but she was happy for Adjest and me.
After changing my clothes, we once again roamed around the royal capital trying out different varieties of food. Felicia would drag Adjest on so many shops and I just helplessly followed them around while taking a bite at the snacks that I bought from the hawkers.
Many people recognized me since I'm still a hot topic because of my accomplishments. The hawkers that I bought food from even tried to give the food for free in fear that I would do something to them. Because of that, I would only pick up my food and leave a gold coin behind. I didn't even bother looking back.
'I miss the cheerful hawkers trying to entice me with their food back in my territory. Those guys would even talk to me so that I could personally hear about their problems since I know that they don't have that problem alone.' I thought to myself.
'Although the economy is improving here in the royal capital, the most common problems of the populace aren't resolved.' I thought about it. For example, the hawkers doesn't have a fix stand and its always first come, first serve, for the most boisterous spot in the market. I solved that problem back in my territory by giving them a shopping lane a street away from the main road so that there won't be any accidents regarding carriages hitting a hawker stall.
I was deep in my thoughts waiting for the two girls to finish their shopping when a kid slightly older than me came to me.
"Duke Blackwood?" I raised my head and looked at the person in front of me.
"Yes. Its me." I replied to him.
"I would like to challenge you to a spar." The kid said to me.
"And?" I replied casually and amused.
"I heard that you've defeated many people in the war and you're a spear user like me. I want to see if the rumors are true." He said to me while I just laughed lightly.
"Why should I prove my skills to you, just to confirm the rumors?" I asked him and he just looked at me.
"Yes." It was a simple answer and I could feel his battle intent.
I was amused about him but didn't answer straight away. I was thinking about what to say when Adjest and Felicia came out carrying shopping bags.
"Big bro, can you hold them for us?" Felicia handed me the shopping bags that she and Adjest were carrying.
"Sorry, as you can see, I'm wandering around with my fiancée and my little sister." I said and turned my back on him.
"Who's he?" Felicia asked me while Adjest was looking at me for an answer.
"Dunno. He said he wanted to fight me." I replied with a yawn.
"Looks like the rumors aren't true. You even use them as an excuse to avoid fighting me. It looks like you aren't much. What a pity." The kid said and we all stopped.
"Who do you think you are?" Felicia and Adjest turned back as they felt irked about what the kid said.
"Me? I'm Argeria Roglan Nimbias." The kid said looking straight at me and never at the two.
"Let's go. Don't bother refuting him." I said as I yawned once more. The two listened and turned around and we continued on our way but it seems like Argeria isn't having it. He rushed at me with a stab. The spear he had is a sparring spear so it wasn't a threat to me until I felt something at the tip of his spear and turned around before kicking the tip of his spear and sent a punch in his face.
He blocked my punch by crossing his arms but he felt the heaviness contained in my punch and slid back.
"You're strong. Fight me." Argeria said as he entered his fighting stance.
"Let's not do it here. Follow me." I said as I looked at the people watching us with interest.
I started walking back to the manor with a calm face. Felicia and Adjest looked at me in confusion.
"I thought we're ignoring him?" Adjest asked me, a little confused of my action. Felicia seemed to agree with her.
"Hm? Because he'll never let it go unless he gets what he wants. Are you still not done buying items you like?" I asked them and they both nodded their head.
"I'll make it quick then." I sighed as I thought about this two who are still not satisfied by the things they already bought.
"You plan on burying me with these shopping bags?" I asked them but they ignored me and just walked back to the manor.
After returning to the manor, I led the boy to the training room.
"You can go wild here." I said nonchalantly and I picked up a training spear as well. Adjest and Felicia wanted to see my skills as well as they sat down on the side to watch our fight.
Argeria felt uneasy after he saw me picking up the spear. Its like I became a completely new person in his mind.
"You're pretty good. I can say that you're probably a person considered as a genius by your family but you're no match against me. I can at least tell you that." I said and casually placed the spear in my shoulder.
"How could I know if I don't try." Argeria said as he charged at me straightforwardly.
He raised his spear to his chest to perform a stab but without moving from my position, I deflected his attack with a simple slice to the right.
Argeria having lost his balance, used the momentum from the swipe to turn 360 and send a slice coming from the left. I held my spear vertically and blocked his slice and he followed up by sending a kick from the right. I swayed my body to the right and with the butt end of the training spear, I attacked from a weird angle. (Brian Hawk's stupid sway back but MC did it to the right)
With my body control improving at a favorable pace, attacking from weird angles is now easier and with the attack coming from a weird angle, Argeria have to defend it from a weird place as well.
With his rhythm disrupted, I raised my body and punched him with a force that came from the muscles at the back. Argeria's left hand quickly let go of the spear to block my left hand but in the next second, a bone cracking sound could be heard. Gasp of surprise could be heard from the side, even Argeria found the strike unbelievable.
"You still want to continue?" I asked him calmly.
"Heh. Its just an arm. I could still fight." He said while I just chuckled at his answer. I remembered the time when I lost my arm completely from the enemy's magic gun.
"Very well. I apologize but I've got to finish this now. I've seen your spearmanship and it won't be able to move me out of my spot." I said to him seriously. Since the beginning of the fight, I never moved my feet and just continued fighting in the same spot.
Argeria gritted his teeth as he raised his right arm holding the spear and charged at me again.
He sent a stab once more but I know that it was going to be a feint. Using his own trick, I raised my spear and used my killing intent to disrupt his attack and made him hesitate on where to block if I countered.
After his feint stab, he tried to slash me diagonally which I blocked with ease and my killing intent made him raise his spear vertically to his left to avoid a swipe from the left but it never came. It was too late to realize that it was just a feint and was immediately hit by a baseball swing coming from the right. Argeria felt his insides churning as he felt like puking after being hit at the sides.
He keeled over and started coughing as breathing became difficult for him.
"Let's go. He's done." I said as I looked at the two wide-eyed ladies with their mouths wide open. I walked over and snapped my fingers to forcefully drag them back to reality.
"What did you just say, big bro?" Felicia asked me, a little absent-minded.
"I said let's go. Didn't you say that you're still not done shopping?" I said and the two meekly nodded their heads.
"What about him?" Adjest asked me as she looked at the kid clutching his sides.
"I'll have Idom sent him back to his family." I said as if it was nothing.
'Heh. That Argeria's got guts. Although he could already apply aura to the tip of his spear, he fought me without using aura and challenged me with pure spearmanship.' I thought as I called Idom over to tell about the kid at the training room.
"Let's go. You said that you're still not done shopping, yeah? We still have plenty of time before the sun falls." I said to them as we roamed around the place for a long time before returning.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone