CHAPTER XXIX.
She has been having trouble staying awake whenever she is a little comfortable, like now that she is sitting in the reception of the Thermals.
Merce was so, so sleepy, she wanted to crash on her bed and sleep a couple of days straight.
But she couldn't!
She needed to make sure Baby Balcus was well fed and his diaper clean and… and… she loved him so much she was afraid of something happening when she was away from him!
Her baby is sleeping on a crib Lady Angelica gifted them and that is such a grim reminder of her position.
Her mother lost her mind in a depression and babbled about her biological father to Lord Balcus and since then she has been afraid of losing the little privileges she has been given.
In the beginning she believed her life was over when she was given to James, but the man turned out to be kind, funny and… energetic. And once they moved to this island things started to improve.
She was elevated among the commoners and given a nice and comfy job. that she felt she could lose any moment because her mother couldn't keep her mouth shut!
Her husband was Leon's enforcer and he knew a lot of the things that they were planning… including a rebellion!
Her home was overflowing with people the crown would classify as undesirables!
Like Alan Fia Spencer, the journalist who arrived a few weeks ago. and he did make quite the entrance, as soon as he got out of the airship he started handing pamphlets to the people, she read one too, and it was filled with praises to Leon and Duke Redgrave while ridiculing the Holforts.
At least the man's women were nice to be around, they practically lived in the Thermals after hearing the benefits of taking a bath in the miraculous waters of the Bartfort's fancy bathroom.
Her job was another one of the things that didn't let her sleep.
When Leon opened the Hotsprings there were around sixty people living in the Island and it was kind of easy for her to administer the place, everyone was nice and they knew she was the half sister of the Lord of the land and were kind to her as a result.
But with how the population of the island was growing she was beginning to be overwhelmed by the work, her baby boy was born a whole month earlier because of her stress and he was so small!
Luckily Lady Joan made sure her little Balcus received the help needed to survive.
Jenna has visited her too, she was the only true Bartfort that still considered her family and she has come to see how her other nephew is doing whenever she has free time…
Which isn't often, Lady Angelica is a strict instructor and she has been keeping her friend busy learning the ins and outs about administering a territory.
Merce wished she could have her sister around more often, she sees most of her customers at least twice a week, but Jenna can use the Estate's baths and that makes it even more touching when she takes the time to check on her…
0x0x0x0
He has reigned supreme in the fields of battle for over forty years, be it the kingdom of Ustio, the equally annoying nation of Belka, or the hated Kingdom of Holfort, he has spent most of his life making his presence felt in battle.
It's true that there haven't been any major conflicts where his presence was needed, but that was because his name was enough to scare away the enemy.
Things are getting agitated again though, and he has been preparing for what would probably be the last war of his life, the war were he would finally destroy Holfort, the one that would allow him take vengeance for his wife and daughter.
He couldn't care less about the House the Redgraves annihilated, he just wanted the war to start but that arrogant Count Garret wanted to claim as much glory for himself as possible by making preparations and alliances.
He didn't care about glory, not since the death of his family.
But as this would be the last war he could actively participate in, he too wanted every precaution taken to ensure their victory.
And that was the reason why he was traveling in a rather small two hundred long class airship with crew and only his personal armor, traveling across the frontier of the kingdom acting as bait for a small force of Duke Redgrave's elites.
Among them was the man's son-in-law, a supposed prodigy that was giving trouble for the Holfort kingdom just by existing.
His death would hopefully start the civil war the Principality of Fanoss has been waiting for, and that would be their time to attack!
Garret has even arranged the first stage of the war with an overambitious Marquis of the kingdom, they would attack the frontier nobles and take their territories for the Principality, they were supposed to retreat once said Marquis fleet confronts them, but of course, they would destroy that fleet as well and advance to the capital and kill every member of the royal family, then they would hunt and kill all of the kingdom's nobility and then his vengeance would finally be complete!
"Sir Vandel, there is a ship straight ahead. It's a two hundred meter long class, black body and a… horn. IT'S BARTFORT!'' The description does match that of the Baron… or Viscount Bartfort.
That is him, the Duke's son-in-law, but he has come under prepared, he doubted the number of armors that ship could carry would be nearly enough to give him a proper challenge!
He smiled, like every other supposed prodigy he has faced before this man was prideful and stupid.
Thinking that this would be enough to defeat him was insulting but it also made his job easier and put him one step closer to his goal!
"That's our target" he said with a smile and he could see his men smile as well, they had absolute faith in him, some of them had been with him long enough to have witnessed his prowess while others have heard tales of his exploits and considered themselves lucky to be in his service.
"Sir, one armor has come out of the ship!" another one of his men alerted him, and he waited for him to count the total number of armors that would be deployed to try and kill him, but instead the same man asked "No other armors are getting out?" as if he couldn't believe someone wanted a one on one duel against the Black Knight.
That got his attention, surely this man would not be so arrogant to believe he alone was enough to defeat him… he looked at the window of his airship and looked as the armor got closer and closer stopping just outside the range of his cannons.
"Let's hurry and get this done. Greetings Black Knight, I'm Viscount Leon Fou Bartfort, and I'm here to kill you!" the armor said with its speakers, then the airship behind him opened fire. "You cannot escape!"
"Sir, our engines are shot, our mobility is reduced to fifteen percent!" he smiled as he ran for his armor, that was an impressive ship, to be able to strike from that far! It was better than the best the Principality could offer but he would still chase it down after it right after defeating that arrogant brat!
When he arrived at the hangar he took a moment to appreciate his armor. It us a beauty, black and gold, and it was the first Armor he has ever felt comfortable with.
This is the first armor to move according to his expectations, the armor that could let him use all of his skills and talents!
The black armor had taken more distance from his ship and gotten closer to his own, at least the fool has some common sense.
"That's an impressive ship, I'll be taking it back with me!" He taunted his opponent.
From up close he could see the armor was extremely bulky and would have troubles keeping up with his mobility, that thick armor probably won't be enough to stop the sword the ruler of his country loaned to him for as long as he lived, his magnificent blade was made of adamantis, the strongest metal in the world and it will cut that Lost Item like butter!
"Will your ghost possess it?" the man asked sarcastically, by his voice he knew the man to be as young as the reports claimed him to be.
"Your arrogance will be your undoing young man!" he warned even if he had every intention of killing the fool, this man believed that because he could beat some pirates he was in the same league as himself?
"It's not arrogance if you can back it up Old man!" the opposing armor charged at him with surprising speed, an armor that big shouldn't be able to move like that, but it didn't matter, he prepared his sword to parry the incoming strike and cut the brar's blade in two.
But to his surprise his enemy's sword was not destroyed on impact and he could not react on time for the second strike.
A kick sent him upwards but he recovered his stance immediately.
The follow up strike was made with the same ferocity as the first but this time he was ready, he aimed a kick at his opponent's arm trying to disarm him but the kick was dodged and the retaliation swing of the sword almost cut his leg off!
After the short exchange he took some distance.
This young man was the genuine article, a true prodigy!
No doubt he has heard those stories about his sword being able to cut through armor and weapons in a single swing because the way the Holfortian parried his attacks were always aimed at the flat and not the edge.
His heart beat faster at the thought of killing such a man, his death would be truly devastating for House Redgrave!
And this was possible because of this man's pride, if he had come with more bodies to throw at him he would have lost without a doubt!
"When you die, your Liege will be done for!" he said before charging at top speed, he would show him that as talented as he was he still lacked the experience to match him!
Trusting his sword lightly to make his enemy dodge and still have the power for a follow up strike would injure or kill him.
Instead the young man catched the light thrust with his armor's bare hand and severed his armor's arm clean off the elbow with a clean cut!
Hastily he retreated once again looking wide eyed at the young man who discarded the arm of his armor and stored his precious sword on his armor's backpack.
"It's that all you've got?" the young man taunted as he retrieved a gun from another compartment of his backpack "You are too old for this, you should have retired a long time ago if this is all you have left!" The young upstart circled him until he was between his ship and him, cutting all options of retreat.
This wasn't supposed to happen!
BANG!
A shot from his gun impacted his armor's other arm, and left it as a mangled piece of scrap.
He was still speechless as the young man kept taunting him.
"Seriously if I was your age I would spend all my time with my wives and scold my son for every mistake he makes managing our land!"
He saw red at that moment, he no longer had his sword or even arms to strike back but he still has legs!
This brat dared to talk like this when his country killed his own family!
While dodging his kicks from the armor's backpack six small objects were released and started circling him and shooting at him from various angles.
With his arms gone part of his balance was gone as well and he had troubles dodging the barrage of bullets directed at his fuselage.
"I can't simply retire and spend time with my family because the kingdom killed them!" he finally shouted, hoping for the information to give him some opening for him to exploit.
"Is that why you killed the King and Queen of your country? Because they didn't want to keep fighting with the kingdom?!"
The man's retort froze him completely, how did this brat even know about that!
In the end it didn't matter because that was enough of an opening for him to put his sword through his armor, he was mortally injured and at this distance his legs weren't even long enough to reach his opponent.
The worst was that he was being pushed towards his enemy's ship!
His enemy would have his sword and head as proof of his victory and he would be presenting them to his Liege while his own crew has witnessed his defeat and they can't even pursuit this monster, they would spread the news of his defeat and the Principality of Fanoss would hesitate to attack or attack recklessly to avenge him.
This was the first time he tasted defeat and it was sour.
0x0x0
Alan was ecstatic, that was such a superb duel.
He was allowed to travel with the young man to witness and record this duel for the book he is writing for the Redgraves.
It will be his magnum opus, starting with Prince Julious' infidelity and from then he would embellish Lady Angelica's suffering harried by the royal entourage, the saintess for once will be the Villain.
Of course this duel will be there too, even if it didn't go as he expected.
He had expected it to be a far more difficult experience for Lord Leon, he expected the fall of the Black knight to be something to be remembered.
Now, don't get him wrong, the duel is something he will never forget, but not because of the defeat of an old Legend.
No, inside his own mind Alan has not labeled this duel as the fall of the Black Knight.
No, a more appropriate label would be: The New Dawn.
And wouldn't that be the perfect title for his book?
0x0x0x0
Luxion basked in the light and fire of the destruction he had brought forth on his ancient enemy, Arcadia was destroyed in its inactive state, never to harm his master or his descendants, never to harm a member of old humanity ever again!
With this, he would be able to return to his master and report his success!
Not only has he- destroyed all of the weapons of old humanity but he has also located and secured several abandoned cargo ships belonging to the old humanity.
In the next five generations the survivors of old humanity would be the rulers of this world!