Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
In the following month, Lucien spent most of his time getting used to and improving his blood power, like what the real Beaulac would do. In the rest of the time, he attended many parties held by different nobles, where he further achieved a few preliminary agreements with them for the cooperation in the underground palace. He also remembered to go back to the remote villa to reinforce the power of Fake Death and Sleep (Strong) that he cast on the real Beaulac and gave Beaulac the nutrition to survive. So far, Lucien had not found the time to conduct the magic experiment on Beaulac to awaken his blood power.
Today, the sky was rather gloomy, and the wind was freezing. It seemed that the first storm of the year was coming.
The smell of old rotten wood was everywhere in the Gorse family’s villa built in the time period of the ancient magic empire. Lucien was wearing a black knight armor and walked down to the bottom floor of the basement with great confidence.
Seeing Lucien’s manner, the leaders of the Gorse family, no matter if they liked Beaulac or not, slightly nodded. In their eyes, the spirit that Beaulac was carrying right now matched the great honor of the family, and only a young noble like this was qualified for chasing after the dukedom.
“It’s been only a month… Beaulac looks pretty good. Wait… has he awakened his blood power?” exclaimed Nuremburk von Anjou, the Aldenburg Count, who almost forgot to put back his thick cigar back to his mouth out of his surprise.
Nuremburk von Anjou was the third most powerful member of the family. He was a level eight radiant knight, respected as Dim Starlight. It was very easy for Nuremburk to tell the power of Beaulac since Lucien was not hiding it at all.
Ulrich, the Gorse Duke, a level-seven radiant knight respected as the Moon of Order, nodded. “The heritage that he got from his father definitely helped him with to awaken his power.”
“Beckman had much of uncle’s affection. He must have some good stuff.” Nuremburk looked at the duke with a meaningful smile on his face. Both Ulrich and Nuremburk had the same blond hair and blue eyes, but some of the duke’s hair had gone gray.
The uncle that Nuremburk mentioned was the father of Ulrich and Beckman, the previous duke. It was said that the previous duke had considered Beckman to be his inheritor, but in the underground palace, Ulrich all of a sudden revealed his power as a level-five grand knight, thus he finally beat Beckman, who had a lot of magic and divine items. In the end, Ulrich became the inheritor of the dukedom.
The marquises and counts from the family were all looking at the old duke with a strange look on their face. In their mind, they shared the thought that Beckman died young because of the old duke.
When Beaulac had no blood power, he was not a big deal to the old duke at all. However, Beaulac was totally different now. Such a confident and calm young man surely would get the special attention from the old duke.
As the duke, Ulrich said in a cold tone, “I don’t like those who win because of the powerful items, but a winner is a winner. A winner will not be condemned and will have everything promised.”
Obviously, the old duke was holding a contemptuous attitude toward Beaulac, but he also promised that he would make this competition fair.
“Very good,” said Nuremburk meaningfully. In his mind, he doubted any grandiose speech from the noble family, especially the duke who had been controlling the family for almost forty years.
Within the Holy Heilz Empire, there were many other noble families that longed for the Gorse family’s power with envy, not to mention the mysterious and ambitious emperor. Thus, Ulrich must be very capable as the leader of the Gorse family.
The Emperor, Rudolf II, was the only one who managed to ascend to the legendary level after inheriting the throne after the first few ancestors in the blessed family. His power was horrific, and he gave himself a strange title, the New Law and the First Born.
When the leaders of the family in front of the weird stone gate were talking, Lucien joined the other family members who were already there.
Claire and Relph pretended to regard Beaulac as their enemies, so they did not even greet him. The atmosphere was a bit embarrassing.
After a few seconds, Arthen, who was still wearing his fancy military suit, walked in with his noble friends, including Jocelyn and Duda. With great confidence, he nodded to the other family members, including Lucien.
“Are you going as well?” Seeing that Jocelyn, Duda and the rest of the young nobles were fully-equipped, Nuremburk asked.
Duda’s voice came from underneath the sallet and it sounded hollow, “Yes, Your Excellency. I’m only one step away from becoming a real knight. My father sees the competition as a great opportunity. If anything happens, I believe that the magic circles built by the Gorse family can send us out in time. We won’t die in there.”
Obviously, Duda was more or less afraid.
“I can assure you. Aside for the magic circles, the Glorious Crown, Sir Metatron, will also go down into the palace to keep things under control,” said Nuremburk assuringly. He and Duda’s father, Count Porti, were friends. And of course, he did not mention the hidden power. The Gorse family wanted no one from the other noble families to die in the palace as they did not welcome any unnecessary trouble.
Hearing Nuremburk’s words, Lucien closed his eyes to hide his concern. The fact that Metatron would also be in the underground palace was not a piece of good news for him.
The Glorious Crown, Metatron, was one of the two gold knights in the Gorse family. He was almost three hundred years old, much senior to the current leaders of the family. Thus, he was very respected.
“There is no need for us to worry at all knowing that Sir Metatron will also be there.” Duda nodded, feeling more relieved.
Although most of the young nobles had awakened their blood power on their own, they still lacked real fighting experiences when compared to the nobles from the Duchy of Violet and some other countries. The greatest challenge that they ever faced was fighting against the goblins and cynocephalus. In other words, they were like flowers living in a greenhouse.
Therefore, when facing a real cruel fight, the young nobles were still very nervous.
Seeing that Nuremburk was looking at them, Jocelyn put on an elegant smile, “Sir, I am already a knight, and I want to be on my fiance’s side.”
The rose-colored chain mail revealed her beautiful figure. Many of the young nobles standing behind Arthen were stealing a glance at Jocelyn from time to time.
Hearing Jocelyn’s words, a big smile appeared on Arthen’s face. At the same time, the rest of the nobles turned to stare at Beaulac, waiting for the embarrassed look on Beaulac’s face.
However, Lucien was just smiling, as if he was watching a boring opera.
Lucien’s response greatly disappointed Duda and Arthen, and a young noble named Andris could not help being sarcastic, “Beaulac, are you a lady?!”
In his eyes, Beaulac was just a coward!
Lucien cast a glance at Andris and then said, “I hope you won’t kneel down in front of me later.”
“We’ll see. Are you going to fight with the many items left by your father?” Andris saw the pouch tied to Lucien’s belt around his waist.
“I can promise you that you will never want to see them in person,” said Lucien using a threatening tone. Lucien had put his rings, amulet and all of the other divine and magic items in the pouch.
When Andris was totally pissed off by Lucien’s attitude, a bunch of people walked in from the gate of the basement, and Deniz was the one leading the group.
“Hi, dear Beaulac, we’re here to help you,” greeted Deniz right in front of the nobles. However, no one was paying attention to him, since the blond-haired and green-eyed young lady was Princess Sophia, the only daughter of Rudolf II.
“Sophia, you are here for the competition as well?” Ulrich, the Gorse duke, slightly frowned.
There was a very sweet and adorable smile on Sophia’s face, “That’s right, uncle Ulrich. I want to join the competition to see what will happen down there. It’s also a test for myself. I’m a level five alchemist. Even without the protection of Ms. Marnina, I am still the most powerful one among all of us.”
“But…” All the leaders of the Gorse family were rather hesitant. If anything ever happened to the princess, the family would be in great trouble.
“Let me in please, uncle Ulrich! I can protect myself!” Sophia blinked and secretly pointed at her chest, indicating that she still had another way to guarantee her own security, “Some other royal family members also went down before, and I’ve been given my father’s permission.”
The last royal family member who joined the competition was the emperor himself, and at that time, he was still a prince.
Since the emperor had agreed, Ulrich nodded with a gloomy face, “Do be careful.”
“Yeah!” Sophia celebrated happily. Then she walked to Lucien with Deniz. Today she was wearing an armored, milk-white dress, and she greeted, “Good to see you again, Mr. Beaulac.”
The princess was as beautiful and sweet as a blooming tulip surrounded by many butterflies and bees, and Lucien found it was hard to remove his eyes from her.
“I will try my best to protect you, Your Highness, even at the cost of my life,” Lucien answered using the opera tone. However, his heart was filled with questions. Why did Sophia want to join the competition? What was her plan? Was she just helping Beaulac become the next inheritor of the Gorse family?
Lucien hoped that his plan could still be carried out as he expected.
The rest of the nobles looked rather pissed. They had no idea why the princess would show affection to this useless Beaulac. The princess was a level five alchemist with an awakened blood power!
Meanwhile, many young nobles started considering if they should join Beaulac’s group. In their eyes, with the support of the princess and Deniz, Beaulac was very likely to win!
All of a sudden, the situation had changed!
Suddenly, a deep voice came from the gate, “Uncle Ulrich, I am in as well.”
All of them were very surprised. A tall and blond man walked in. His face was very featured, showing his manhood. Obviously, he was a tough man.
Seeing that the man looked a bit like the princess, Lucien was even more confused. Why was everyone interested in the competition of the Gorse family?
“The prince?!” They could not believe his eyes.
The young man who was wearing the simple silver armor was the first successor in order of Holy Heilz Empire – Beyer, the Prince of Steinburg!
He was a genius close to becoming a radiant knight!
