Chapter 147: True To Her Name
What’s in a technique’s name? The Zion Clan’s Rose Divine Art, ‘Rosary,’ by any other name would still hold the same noble martial principle within.
-** William Shakespeare, <Romeo And Juliet> **-
An originally unscheduled ten-minute break.
In that time, Her Majesty seemed to have steadied her shaken spirit and declared she would continue the match with a reinvigorated face.
It seemed she had come up with some clever trick.
�
However, I had already guessed what scheme Her Majesty might be nursing.
Having stirred her temper this far, she would surely retaliate by a method that would be called cowardly.
“Little Heavenly Demon. If you use low-hand tricks, then I have ways as well.”
The Queen, Her Majesty, said that and sat down. In the second game, I ended up moving the White Murim Alliance.
However, right after the game began when I drew on my internal energy to move a piece, the pawn would not budge for some reason.
“……”
“Why aren’t you moving? Surely you are not already tired, are you?”
Without the judges noticing, Her Majesty was drawing up internal energy to interfere with my Poltergeist, stopping me from moving the piece.
Even if it was the same Poltergeist, the sheer amount of internal energy left in our Elixir Field was different, so no matter how I struggled I couldn’t move it.
There was no way to overcome the monstrous force pressing the pawn down from above.
“To be honest, it’s a bit much.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to resign?”
“Spare me the joke.”
It would be a poor move to report Her Majesty’s cheating to the Sword Debate Judge now.
If Her Majesty quietly withdraws her energy, there will be no evidence.
In truth, this kind of foul play was exactly what I had been hoping for.
Once she resolved in a passion to win by any means, I expected she would certainly obstruct the moves by some means.
‘So you’ve taken the bait.’
That very reaction from Her Majesty was the key to reducing my burden.
I would use her help to overcome the current situation where I had to move a heavy piece with Poltergeist.
Like this.
- Grrr!!
Not to lift and move the piece.
But to push down in the same direction as the force Her Majesty was applying with Poltergeist.
I began pressing down on the piece with maximum power.
- Crack!
Only then did Her Majesty seem to realize something was wrong, but it was already too late.
I immediately used lightness skill and leapt onto the Sword Debate Chessboard.
I landed atop the head of the pawn made of eternal marble and, at full output, unleashed Diablo Step and 1322.77 Pound Weight simultaneously.
A fine art executed deploying two techniques at once by using the essence circuit created in my martial trousers and the blood paths inside my body.
It was a new Kung-Fu theory I conceived while sparring with Nobel, inverted and unleashed.
- Boom!
With Her Majesty’s Poltergeist and the power of my two Kung-Fus combined, no Sword Debate Chessboard, however sturdy, could withstand it.
“W-what despotism is this!! How dare you!”
““You said it was acceptable to move the pieces directly, so I tried. I stepped with Stomping Steps and used lightness skill to advance two squares, but it seems the board was shoddier than I expected.
“Are you insulting the palace’s specially enchanted Sword Debate Chessboard?!”
“That hardly seems a thing for Her Majesty, who was the one pressing the pieces into place with Poltergeist to prevent me from moving them, to say.”
“Nonsense…!! This is slander!!”
When Her Majesty glared at the Sword Debate Judge with a wronged expression, Sir Maxwell answered.
“We cannot accept Little Heavenly Demon’s claim without evidence. However, regardless of that, we cannot continue the match as is, we must replace the Sword Debate Chessboard.”
“There is nothing in the Royal Palace that can replace this Sword Debate Chessboard…!”
Her Majesty shamelessly continued her lie, but Sir Maxwell did not waver.
“It’s all right. I have a small travel Sword Debate Chessboard in my bag. Let’s use that.”
“I cannot allow this match to be insulted by such a cheap thing!”
“Hm. That’s regrettable. If so, by the judges’ discretion, we must declare Your Majesty’s loss by forfeiture.”
“But just this once! By my broad magnanimity, I will let it pass! The travel Sword Debate Chessboard! Proceed with it!”
“As you command.”
While Sir Maxwell rummaged in his bag, a court lady pulled a cord and the floor opened, swallowing the cracked Sword Debate Chessboard and pieces.
Now that she could no longer exhaust my internal energy with heavy pieces, all of Her Majesty’s schemes were nullified.
“Ha…”
Seeing her sigh deeply made me think I might have gone a little too far, but Sword Debate Chess is a more merciless game than the martial world, so there’s nothing to be done.
I moved closer and sat opposite Her Majesty across the small table and Sword Debate Chessboard, but Her Majesty did not complain that I was nearer than the invitation specified.
“…Begin.”
“As you command.”
Watching the long ceremonial incense, absurdly grand for such small pieces, burn in Buddha Fire, I was certain of victory.
Not just a game or two, but the great victory I would take in this wager.
Even if one sews together a shattered spirit like a rag, the tide had already begun to tilt in my favor.
Having easily beaten Her Majesty, who could not reason, I was able to perform above my usual level in the third game as well.
“As the White Sword Queen, I will sally forth against Black’s Pawn! My affiliation is the Bourbon Family(Namgung Clan) Of Versailles!”
“I designate Black’s Pawn’s affiliation. An insignificant vagabond of the Afternoon Tea Party(Hao Clan).”
“Ha! A weakling! Now then, take the Monarch Sword Form Ancien Régime!!!!!!”
“Activating Afternoon Tea Party’s trait Escape Move and narrowly flees to a nearby cottage.”
“Acknowledged. A warrior of a widely differing realm performed an ultimate move, so with the ‘butcher’s knife’ modifier the escape succeeds conclusively.”
“What?!”
Her Majesty, uncomposed, declared her next action by emotion.
“I will cut down the door and enter!”
“Little Heavenly Demon, respond.”
“Before that, there is something I must say.“
“If it is information related to the narrative, I will accept it.”
“Thank you. In the shabby cottage, a frail woman and children are trembling together with the Afternoon Tea Party vagabond.”
“Suddenly…?!”
I began to tell the prepared story in a low, laid-back voice to the startled Queen and the judges.
“The vagabond’s name is John(Zhang). A commoner like any other in the martial world, an average John or Richard. Those beside him are John’s family.”
“Why reveal the name…”
“Born into poverty, John had no opportunities. He only began learning Kung-Fu late past his thirties and barely attained first-rate at the age of fifty. Now, to provide for a fox-like wife and rabbit-like children, he does simple chores like food delivery for a Black Path sect.”
“S-so he lives an extremely hard life it seems.”
“John is a responsible, kind man. He has never once stained his hands with blood, nor has he ever wronged other civilians.”
The reality of the martial world seeped through the cracks in her shattered heart.
In a calculated tone and pace, the image of the lowly heterodox warrior John was vividly drawn.
The Queen, the judges, the court ladies, the attendants.
Everyone gathered in the audience chamber began to listen to the lowly tale of John’s family.
And after a moment, certain their hearts were fully moved, I decided to finish the duel.
“Are you truly willing to behead him, the man driven into official combat by the whims of fate, who lives a hard life to support his family, for the greater cause of White’s victory, Your Majesty?”
“…?!”
Her Majesty lives a life where she never meets those who dwell in lowly places.
To her, the story of a pebble-like man sunk to the bottom of the martial world would be no different from the tragic tales in childhood storybooks.
But told in an appealing tone and manner, the vagabond John gained life in that moment and began to breathe.
“Pardon me for the impertinence, but I ask, is beheading John truly the chivalry Your Majesty speaks of?”
In the heavy silence filling the room, the whispered question echoed as if by illusion.
“Keheuk…!! John…! How could you live such a hard life…!”
In the end, the Queen, absorbed by the story, could not help but burst into tears.
“Little Heavenly Demon has not declared a counter-technique yet.”
“There is no need. John brought a thin porridge and cold tea from the kitchen to the White Sword Queen, pleading that she not kill him before his wife and children.”
“…No! John!! I cannot cut you down!!”
“This humble food may not suit the noble palate of the Bourbon Family’s Sword Queen, but it would not be proper to slight a guest.”
“Sword Queen, respond quickly.”
“I……! I……! I will finish without leaving any of the porridge and tea John gave me……!”
Then, with the meal finished, it was time for the plot twist.
“Unfortunately, John was not a duelist but a realist. What mattered most to him was the safety of himself and his family.”
“Suddenly, what nonsense is this—”
“One minute earlier, thinking that if he survived his meeting with the Sword Queen he would be suspected as a White spy and his family executed, John poisoned the porridge with a hidden intangible toxin. For reference, the poison’s source was the prodigy from the Tanne Clan Of Sachsen(Tang Clan) right next to him.”
“…What?!”
Her Majesty’s face went pale, but Sir Newton calmly rendered his judgment.
“If it is an intangible toxin, there is nothing to be done. The White Sword Queen has died a sudden and violent death.”
“I trusted him……! I trusted him……!!!!!”
“Even bearing the heavy responsibility of head of household, to poison a warrior from the White side who pitied him, all to protect his family. This too is a tragedy born of the World War. It is truly heartbreaking.”
Thus the Queen lost her Sword Queen in the middlegame and was defeated in the third game as well.
Among the subsequent games, the most memorable was arguably the seventh game.
Having taken White again, right after the Murim Alliance Leader was put into Sword Debate checkmate, Her Majesty went on with sophistry like, ‘Who do you think the skies of Great Britain belong to! This country is ruled by the Queen!’
Unexpectedly, the judges accepted it, and I immediately cut down Prince Albert, who had nearly become the Murim Alliance Leader, to dishearten the White Sword Queen, then demanded a three stage morale reduction adjustment.
In the end, perhaps feeling guilty for sacrificing her husband, the Queen was so distraught she forfeited the wager entirely.
“By virtue of Her Majesty’s forfeit, I hereby declare Little Heavenly Demon’s victory.”
I achieved a crushing victory over Her Majesty without needing to continue twenty games.
“How… How could this happen…”
“I have learned a move.”
The name Victoria has roots in the Latin word for victory.
In the eyes of Her Majesty, who failed to live up to her name, tears as small as chicken droppings welled up.
Having defeated a master in the Unrestrained Realm, it was time to demand a rightful reward.
“Your Majesty. Do you remember the stakes of the wager?”
“…You asked to choose one treasure and one Kung-Fu of the Ancient Tomb Clan, did you not? Very well. Say what you wish.”
She wore the look of someone who no longer cared about the wager and just wanted to rest.
She seemed to assume I did not know much about the Ancient Tomb Clan and would pass it off casually.
Well, she still had to keep her promise.
“I am deeply honored. In that case—”
Her Majesty, diligently rehearsing the ritual for swallowing bitter defeat,
<I would like to take ■■■■ for now.>
“…Huh?!”
She froze her breath upon hearing my whispered request.