Darkness shrouded the ducal estate, making it seem like some silent land of the dead. Even though the patrolling guards rode past on the street less than ten meters away, they still failed to notice anything unusual here.

Arthur sat there in plain sight at the entrance to the barrier, having set up a little tea table and a lounge chair in front of the ducal ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ estate gates, leisurely brewing a pot of fine tea. At one point, he even invited the patrol over to share a cup.

"Thanks, but duty comes first."

After the patrol captain refused with a smile, he looked envious instead.

"The guards at the ducal estate really do get nice perks. You can actually sit around drinking tea on the job. Guys like us have to run all over the place in the middle of the night till we’re dead tired."

"Haha, don’t say that. Being a guard at the ducal estate comes with plenty of risk too." Arthur cast a sidelong glance at the shadows beside him and chuckled. "After all, with the ducal estate’s reputation, anyone who’d dare attack this place definitely wouldn’t be some ordinary nobody. Being a guard here might actually be more dangerous."

"Come on, brother, now you’re joking."

The patrol captain assumed Arthur was just showing off on purpose, so he laughed and cursed at him playfully.

"This is the ducal estate. Who would dare attack this place? Back during the royal capital unrest, plenty of dangerous criminals took advantage of the chaos to hit noble mansions all over the city, but nobody dared touch the ducal estate. Nobody could."

As he said that, the patrol captain shook his head with a sigh.

"That’s the Lion King’s reputation for you. The rest of us can only envy it."

"Perhaps."

The corner of Arthur’s mouth curled almost imperceptibly.

"The Lion King’s reputation... is indeed frightening."

"Right? That’s the Lion King we’re talking about. Even if he’s not here, how many people would dare provoke his name? And his only son... Young Master Muen Campbell, who they say is about to become a prince himself, has completely transformed over the last two years into someone incredible."

The patrol captain clicked his tongue in amazement. Just a few years ago, he too had treated all those scandalous little rumors about the Duke Campbell’s son as after-dinner gossip. Who could have imagined that in less than two short years, that former noble wastrel and playboy would turn into a young genius with a real reputation?

He had heard that a few months ago, Muen’s battle in the academy exchange tournament against that other genius named ** had been unbelievably spectacular. It had shocked no small number of people.

"Indeed."

The curve of Arthur’s lips deepened, and only a light sip of hot tea hid it, leaving him looking as calm and composed as ever.

"Young Master Campbell, and Ariel Bugaard, who fought him, were both quite astonishing."

"See? I told you. Ah, listen to me, saying all this to a guard from the ducal estate. I’m just making conversation because I’ve got nothing better to say."

The patrol captain scratched his head.

"All right, I won’t keep talking your ear off. Gotta get back to work. We usually just do a couple casual rounds through this area, since it really is peaceful here. Not even a petty thief in sight. If we finish early, we can go get a late-night bite sooner. Hope you’ll cut us some slack, brother."

"Of course. I definitely will," Arthur replied with a smile.

"Haha, much appreciated."

The patrol captain flicked his reins and led the patrol away into the thin night mist. Before long, even the sound of hooves had disappeared at the end of the street.

And only then did Arthur finally stop suppressing the smile on his lips.

"The Lion King, huh. Muen Campbell, huh. Ariel Bugaard, huh! Their reputations may be impressive, but in the end, all they scare off are cowards. In the eyes of a true wise man, that kind of reputation is just another one of your weaknesses."

Arthur’s eyes were full of disdain.

And by "wise man," of course, he meant himself.

Gather intelligence. Analyze the targets’ weaknesses.

Then, based on those weaknesses, assign them the most suitable opponents.

He had even accurately factored in how lightly guarded this section around the ducal estate was on Belrand’s side. That was why he could sit right out front in broad daylight—or rather, broad sight—and casually chat with the patrol.

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

Everything was so perfect.

With that, the Third Seat would surely see how exceptional his talent was. And among the currently vacant seats in the Salvation Society... perhaps he would have a chance to compete for one himself.

"All right, that should be about time." Arthur glanced up at the stars above. From where he stood, the constellations were still visible, twinkling.

By his calculations, he had maintained the barrier long enough for Bukadi and the others to finish off their targets.

There was no time to drag this out too long. Before dawn, they still had to deal with that turtle-shell Saintess.

Time to harvest the results.

Arthur drained the tea from his cup in one swallow. After waiting just long enough, the fragrance had reached its perfect point.

He stood, stepped over the sealing barrier he himself had arranged, and entered the ducal estate.

As the caster, if he stopped focusing fully on maintaining the barrier and entered it himself, the barrier’s effect would naturally weaken by a considerable margin.

But that didn’t matter anymore. This was already a done deal. There was no need to waste further effort maintaining it... he was the one meant to put a final period on all of this.

"Hm... let me think. The first one to be decided should be Ariel Bugaard’s side."

Arthur thought for a moment.

No matter what sort of setup or countermeasures you had, they still couldn’t compare to a pure gap in rank, a pure difference in crushing power.

Madam Serwyn’s side could be called a complete hard counter, yes, but she was old. Her hands and feet were slow. The girl might manage a bit of desperate resistance before going down.

As for Perfumer Lucy’s side... how long that lasted would depend on Muen Campbell’s endurance and stamina in battle. But judging from his track record of juggling so many women, it probably wouldn’t end any faster than the other two.

"Good. I’ll go to Bukadi first."

As Arthur headed in Bukadi’s direction, a sudden concern crossed his mind.

"Come to think of it, Bukadi’s temper is violent. He gets carried away too easily. He wouldn’t beat her until blood was spraying everywhere and she was half dead, would he?"

Arthur stepped into the courtyard.

Splurt—

Bright blood, vivid even in the night, sprayed out violently, like the fountain that had already been reduced to powder and scattered on the wind, creating a strangely artistic effect.

"There."

Arthur let out a helpless sigh.

The very thing he had been most worried about had happened after all. The other side had been beaten this badly. If she died by accident, then how was he supposed to use the Saintess’s closest friend to threaten her?

Just look at that blood. It was practically spraying all the way to the stars. Just how hard would you have to hit someone to make that much blood come out?

That bastard Bukadi. He was definitely going to—

"Lord Arthur..."

"What? You made a mistake and you still have the nerve to speak first?"

Arthur snapped angrily.

"Begging won’t help you. This time you will definitely be—"

"Save me..."

"Punished... Huh? What? Save you?"

Arthur froze halfway through his threat.

Wait.

Something seemed off.

When the crimson fountain finally subsided, that blood-soaked, miserable figure, so mangled that even the face could barely be made out... judging by the build, that didn’t seem to be the girl named Ariel Bugaard.

This tall. This gaunt. And faintly giving off the aura of the Holy Lord’s blessing from all over the body. It looked like...

"Lord Arthur..."

The blood slowly trickled away.

As the crimson receded from those sunken eye sockets, what Arthur saw deep in the eyes was not the familiar ferocity he knew.

It was confusion, pain, disbelief, and... the kind of terror that looked as though someone had hacked at him with a finishing move over a hundred times in a short span.

This was fear that had already been burned by force directly into the soul.

"Save me..."

With a thud, Bukadi finally lost the strength to keep standing and collapsed to the ground.

Only then did Arthur notice that Bukadi’s body was covered in wounds, big and small. Flames still burned on those wounds even now with a hissing sound, continuously searing flesh and blood in a way that made the skin crawl—it really did look as if someone had carved him up over a hundred times with a finishing move.

"Hah. What Dog Lover? I think Pig Lover would suit you better. Your health bar’s so long a butcher wouldn’t need this many cuts to break down a pig!"

Arthur stiffly lifted his head.

On the other side, Ariel Bugaard—the one who should have been Bukadi’s prey—dragged her sword behind her, swaying slightly as she slowly walked out of that empty stretch of ground where nothing at all had been left behind.

She was injured too, and badly enough. Blood had stained her dress red, and she looked like she had just come through a vicious fight.

But compared to Bukadi right now, the injuries on her body were no different from a mosquito bite.

No, that wasn’t quite right. Calling it a mosquito bite wasn’t accurate, because a mosquito bite at least left behind a swollen red welt. The girl’s wounds were visibly healing at a speed the naked eye could follow.

Soon enough, those wounds would probably smooth over completely, as if she had never been hurt at all.

"H... how is that possible?"

Once he had processed the situation, Arthur felt his head buzz.

Strange.

This was very strange.

This was not what his perfect plan had predicted, so... it was extremely strange.

Why was Ariel Bugaard the one still standing?

Why had Bukadi fallen, and in such horrible condition?

Looking at him now, didn’t it seem exactly like... exactly like...

"You lost?"

Arthur stared at Bukadi on the ground in utter disbelief.

"You lost to a little girl at late fourth rank?"

"N... not late fourth rank. Early fifth rank..." Bukadi said with difficulty, vomiting blood as he spoke.

"The hell does that change?"

Arthur flew into a rage and grabbed Bukadi by the collar.

"You’re a full two minor stages above her! You’re more than twice her age! Rank, experience, even the amount of food you’ve eaten—you’ve got more of all of it than she does! So why did you lose? Tell me, what possible excuse do you have for losing?!"

"She... that thing... that thing’s a monster..."

As though remembering something, the terror in Bukadi’s eyes deepened even further.

"She’s a monster! Otherwise how could anyone use that kind of move without stopping for even a moment? She’s a monster!"

"I don’t care what she is," Arthur gritted out.

"Even if you couldn’t beat her, you shouldn’t have ended up like this! My plan... my plan was perfect!"

That was right.

He was not the sort of arrogant fool who thought everything would proceed exactly according to the steps he had laid out.

That was why, when this perfect plan had been designed, it had been given plenty of room for error. He had already instructed them that in these three simultaneous actions, even if one side went wrong for some reason, all they had to do was stall briefly and wait for the others, and then—

"I... I know..."

Bukadi looked on the verge of tears as he said,

"That’s what I did too, but... but Madam Serwyn, she... she was earlier than me..."

"Earlier than you?"

Arthur frowned and looked around.

"Has she already finished? If she did, why didn’t she help you? Rust magic would’ve been extremely useful in a situation like this. Where is she?"

"She..."

"She’s right here."

Before Bukadi could finish, a calm voice interrupted him.

Hearing someone else speak, Arthur instinctively turned toward the direction the voice had come from, and then—

Rumble, rumble...

Something round came rolling all the way over.