I Changed My Thinking and Saw Differently (1)
The court knights were busy preparing the camp.
Carls said he wanted to look around and disappeared; Arwen took his place next to me.
I looked at her for a moment before going into the carriage.
“Your Highness.”
Adelia bowed her head. Beside her, I saw a sheet perfectly laid, without any wrinkles, and a pillow that was neatly placed.
I was wondering why she hasn’t come out of the carriage. It turns out she was busy preparing this.
An S-class swordsman was doing maid chores.
It was like cutting meat with a legendary sword.
“Ha!”
“Oh, Your Highness, is there something you don’t like?”
Adelia had an anxious expression. She was really worried that she made a mistake.
A few days ago, that same face looked as if she wanted to devour the Templar Knights.
It was a really bizarre combination: weak and servile, yet thirsting for blood and war.
I have to work hard to make her become a person worthy of her fearsome trait and talent.
“Would you like me to prepare it again, Your Highness?”
She trembled as if she didn’t know what to do.
“No, it’s alright.”
After saying that, I lay down and closed my eyes.
My head was filled with complicated thoughts.
Mana chain, mana heart.
When I competed with double chain knights, I realized more about them.
When I opened my eyes in this body, every day was a series of disappointments. I watched people with infinite possibilities weighed down by those mana chains. However, they believe it was superior to mana hearts.
It’s arrogant and stupid, I thought.
However, after meeting the Templar Knights in person, my thoughts changed.
During my stay at the fortress, I used the power of [Judgment] countless times. Through it, I checked all the qualities of the knights around me.
Most of them had C-class talents. I rarely saw a B-class one.
At that level, they wouldn’t be able to reach the threshold of Sword Master even if they spent their whole life cultivating and polishing their skills. If they build amazing karma, they could probably transcend it, but that won’t be easy.
If they had been born in the past, with mana hearts, the highest they could attain to achieve would be Sword Expert. They would have to train their whole life to even reach that.
However, with their double-chains, they already achieved the status of Sword Experts at their young ages of the 20s and 30s.
After seeing that, I could no longer deny the change that mana chains have brought.
No one would be able to achieve superhuman feats anymore, unlike in the past.
However, the skills of the average swordsman have risen dramatically.
No superhuman, more swordsmen.
After 400 years, humans have become weaker… and became stronger.
Uncle was one of the five quad-chain knights in the kingdom. Even without seeing his full power, I could grasp a good estimate of his skills.
In the past, he would be a person looking for transcendence.
The mana chains would only be tying him down and limiting him.
But, with the current state of humanity, there were no more opportunities left to build karma beyond the extraordinary level. There was no more need to be a superhuman.
Thus, I decided.
The past will be left as the past. I shall watch the new age without bias.
Only after that could I be able to judge which was truly better.
“A clean slate,” I smiled. “Like when I was born as a sword and was brought into this world.”
It’s a good attitude.
I heard a familiar voice. When I looked up, I saw Uncle’s face in the carriage’s window.
“It’s not too late now. Do you know what I am thinking?” he said, smiling a little before he continued.
“If you try hard from now on, you will be able to bring everything back to normal. Besides, you’ve already won the hearts of the knights.”
What the hell? Uncle’s words were really absurd and had no context.
“Unlike the court knights, the Templar Knights are people with different origins, and they were locked in at that fortress. Their knowledge of noblemen is very lacking. In fact, some of the noblemen that visited there were received as strangers,” Uncle explained.
I didn’t know about this. I thought all the knights were the same. I was unaware of their difference to the court knights that came with me.
In the first place, they only told me their names before our swords met. They never told me anything else. I had no idea about them. In my eyes, they were simply knights. Warriors that I have to fight.
“Because they were such, you made yourself known in a radical but effective way,” Uncle continued.
What is he talking about?
I just fought to raise the level of my Muhun-si. However, Uncle seemed to be thinking that I had a greater motive behind my actions.
“Although that’s not enough to get the full support of all the knights in the kingdom…”
It was only after hearing those words did I realize what Uncle was pertaining to.
“York Willowden is an outstanding knight and a seasoned politician. If there is any disagreement, the voice of the Templar Knights matter in the discussion.”
My Uncle was thinking that I had been fighting to make the Templar Knights mine.
No, absolutely not. I just needed victories to include in my poem.
In the first place, whether I was in their favor or not, it didn’t matter to me.
My only concern was to regain my strength. The power that I had in the past.
“The other princes wouldn’t have been able to get along with the Templar Knights that quickly.”
Uncle’s expression was strange.
It was amused.
It seemed like he was proud.
No way, it can’t be. There’s no way.
“It was a very smart judgment,” he smiled.
Uncle was really praising me.
I was embarrassed. On one strange day, my Uncle, who always considered me as trash, praised me.
“Are you crazy?” I was embarrassed. Uncle, who should have been furious at that, did not take offense.
“You seem to be unable to remember our bet,” he said.
“Our bet? Beating the Third Prince?”
Uncle shook his head.
“No. Double-chain. I bet that you won’t be able to defeat a double-chain knight.”
“Ah…”
That was right. I had already beaten double-chain knights several times. Moreover, they were considered elites in the kingdom.
The bet is over.
The winner will be paid.
But… what was the bet about?
I couldn’t remember the price we committed.
“As promised, I will give you my full support from now on.”
It was only after hearing Uncle’s words that I remembered what the bet was for.
Uncle’s guardianship and full support.
“When we return, I will officially disclose my position.”
Uncle’s eyes shone brightly. He looked more determined than I have ever seen him before.
“The Templar Knights, and the Commander of the Third Legion.”
He sounded like a general who had a great battle ahead.
“That would be enough to start over.”
After talking alone, making conclusions alone, and deciding alone, Uncle left.
“No, Uncle!”
I hurried to call him back.
He glanced back for a moment, then continued walking.
Trust me. His eyes seemed to be saying. I’ll do it myself.
I have no idea what he’s about to do.
* * *
“Your Majesty.”
Bale Balahard gave a brief report to the king upon returning.
As always, the king simply shook his hand, as if he wanted him to go, but Bale suddenly stepped forward.
“I want to do what I had put off.”
The king, who was leaning back on the throne, raised himself in an upright position upon noticing his strange attitude.
“Speak.”
“From now on, I will try to properly serve as the First Prince’s guardian.”
The king stiffened.
“Are you talking about being his guardian as his uncle, or as the head of the Balahard family?”
His tone was as hard as his expression, but Bale Balahard didn’t care about the king’s reaction.
“Both, Your Majesty.”
It was the same thing he told the First Prince on their way back. Upon arriving at the palace, he would formally announce his position.
“As the head of the Balahard family, as the Commander of the Third Legion, as the Captain of the Black Lancers, as a Quad-Chain Knight… All those Bale Balahards would be the First Prince’s guardian.”
He didn’t want it to sound like a declaration of war, but he could not keep the determination out of his voice.
The king chuckled. His sharp eyes had a different expression. It was different from the contempt that the king had shown me recently.
The king’s eyes were sparkling with a little admiration.
“Good. I will keep that in mind.”
The king’s voice was as sharp as his eyes.
* * *
“It should have been this way from the beginning, but I’ve stepped away from it too much,” Uncle told me with regret.
“Now, His Majesty will have no choice but to think of the honor of the Balahard family whenever he deals with you.”
After saying that, he said we would get busy in the future, and that we had a lot to do.
Then, he left without waiting for me to respond.
The court knights expressed their congratulations after Uncle left.
“Congratulations, Your Highness. Now, a lot will change in the future. Please be prepared,” Carls said.
I saw people pretending not to glance at me.
Each passing servant, maid, and knight had changed thoughts and emotions.
I realized that the world around me has changed with that announcement.
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