8 Inspection

"If those of noble blood are confident in themselves, then do come forth in place of your guards!"

With his keen senses, Roland naturally picked up on the many conversations taking place below, and immediately rectified his mistake of being too vague.

He did not expect that the moment he mentioned those words, everyone on the platform would immediately turn to look at him in shock.

"Your Majesty, is this really a good idea? There might be implications if nobles who came to attend the coronation ceremony ended up returning injured…" Duke Ivan sounded worried as he voiced his concerns.

"Do not question me, Chancellor."

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty," Duke Ivan immediately backed away in fear.

Roland had already made the announcement, so even if he was not sure how it would turn out in the end, how could he change his mind with just a few words from the Chancellor?

Wouldn't doing so reveal to everyone that he lacked such considerations in the first place and even needed the Chancellor to remind him?

If that is so, people might even start questioning his capability as their ruler!

However, if the Chancellor had reminded him before he made the announcement, he would almost definitely have listened to the advice.

The representatives of each family had already started to gather in front of the wooden platform where the royal family was standing. There were familiar faces amongst them too, as it seemed like there were quite a few nobles who had volunteered themselves.

"What do you think is the ideal method of inspection, Erin?" Roland took note to deepen his voice so that his voice sounded as majestic as possible. He intended for it to sound like he was testing her rather than trying to obtain the right answer from her.

"I believe that friendly matches are still the most accurate way to see the strength of a person, Your Majesty," Erin's reply was instantaneous, as if she had already prepared the answer beforehand.

"You are right, Erin. That is indeed the case," Roland nodded in agreement before shouting out once more to the ones gathered below. "While this inspection is just a formality, I believe everyone is as curious as I am about the fighting strength of everyone gathered here. The most straightforward way of finding that out would be through friendly combat! But since there are too many of us here, let's end it after each person had fought just once. There is no need to fight till an eventual champion is found."

They might be words expected of a simple training maniac like him, but his feelings actually resonated with those who stood out to represent their family. They were nominated as the strongest within the family, and they took pride in it. So they, too, wanted to gauge their strength against that of the other families.

"Now then, let us start off with the Tonquello family!" Roland announced with a smile, looking at Marquis Berghis who had stepped out personally.

He might not be in his prime anymore, but as the Head of the Tonquello family, Marquis Berghis was still extremely confident in his strength. In fact, he could probably be considered as one of the strongest nobles in terms of personal fighting strength.

"As for your opponent, it will be…the royal family! I shall persona-personally send my trusted aide to do battle!" Roland initially wanted to take this chance to exercise a little, but a prompt voice transmission from Rose reminded him of his current status, and thus he changed it up.

"Your Majesty's private aide? Could it be Captain Alexander Flamers?" Berghis turned to look at the Captain of the Royal Guards.

"This is a good chance, pass the vigour potion to him before it starts," Roland instructed Rose. "He is probably not as strong as you, but we do not know for sure, so do be careful."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Rose nodded before leaving the king's side.

Berghis' eyes opened wide in disbelief as he watched the personal maid of the king make her way down to face him after borrowing a common sword from a guard.

A cold chill ran down his spine.

It seemed that the king might have truly found out about the plans for a coup, and had even tracked him down as being part of the group. Even though he had not yet agreed to join in on the plans, he truly was inclined towards it.

By sending a mere maid against him in combat, the king was probably trying to humiliate him in front of all the other nobles. This was likely the best that the king could think of at this stage. After all, even the king could not openly act against him without any evidence!

But it did not matter! If the king truly wished to be this underhanded, he would just have to return the favour by heavily injuring the maid! The king would not be able to blame him if he just insisted that it was an unfortunate accident due to the heat of battle!

And if the maid who was sent to humiliate him was instead heavily beaten up, the one who would be mocked by the nobles would no longer be him, but the king!

As Rose approached, the other representatives cleared out an open space for Berghis and Rose, at the same time, loud murmurs could be heard not just among the nobles, but the soldiers as well. All of them had seen the king send a mere maid down to stand with the rest.

What was the king thinking?

That was the question running through everyone's minds right now. Duke Ivan was worried too, but after the mild outburst from the king just now, he no longer dared to interfere.

Rose walked up to Berghis and took a short bow, "My respects to Lord Berghis."

"Are you sure you want to do this? Let me warn you first, I do not have the habit of holding back!" Berghis was no longer in the mood for pleasantries, but decided to give this young lady one last chance.

After all, if she was only doing this by the orders of the king and Berghis injured her heavily because of it, then it would truly be unfortunate for her.

"I believe I would be fine, Lord Berghis. Please do not hold back," Rose's answer was prompt and lacked any hint of emotions.

"You ignorant girl!" Berghis' face grew livid at the moment. Since this servant girl seemed to be overestimating herself, then he would show her how scary the world truly was!

"Hold on, Lord Berghis. His Majesty has something for you," Rose reached into her pocket and retrieved the vigour potion before offering it to him. "His Majesty believes that this vigour potion would be useful for you, and specially instructed me to pass it to you before the fight starts. Do make the best use of it."

"A…vigour potion…?" Berghis took the small bottle from her hands and stared at it blankly.

After a brief moment of contemplation, extreme anger rose up within him.

Did the king really think that a mere maid would be able to push him so far in combat that he would require a vigour potion to recover?

What the hell!

When he was out slaughtering soldiers behind enemy lines, the king was not even born yet!

Yet this same king actually believed that his servant girl, who was even younger than the king himself, would be able to gain the upper-hand against him, Marquis Berghis Tonquello, Head of the strongest army among the nobles?

Outrageous!

If he did not at least cripple the servant girl here and now, then he would truly be unable to fully release his pent up anger!

"Lord Berghis is wise, this is indeed a vigour potion. His Majesty considered that you might be getting on with age, and thus decided to bestow this vigour potion to you so that you could perform to the best of your abilities," Rose nodded once again.

"Then I guess I would have to thank His Majesty for his kindness!" Berghis snorted in disdain.

Noticing the unhappiness in Berghis' voice, Rose was worried that maybe the other party thought that a mere vigour potion was lacking as a gift. After all, he was the leader of a large family too. A mere vigour potion was easily obtainable if he wanted one.

"This might not seem to be much, but this is just the beginning. His Majesty had privately mentioned that he had already made preparations to celebrate any upcoming changes within the Tonquello family, and that he would be sure to make the event a true festival to go down in history. After all, the Tonquello family had contributed greatly to the Great Manta Kingdom!" Rose hurriedly added.

Roland had truly mentioned such a thing to her, thinking that with a new concubine, the Tonquello family might be expecting a new baby in the near future. Rose did not think much of it at that time, but still mentioned it now in hopes of scoring some points for her master.

"What did you say?" Berghis' eyes widened in shock.

A celebration for upcoming changes? Had the king already made preparations for the coup even before they drew up any concrete plans?

How?

He had not even agreed to join the coup yet, so there was no way that the king could have gathered any evidence!

So how was the king so confident of his findings? Being able to see through them so well, even to the extent that he could confidently task his maid to openly mock him in this manner?

Berghis turned his head up to look at the king who was standing proudly on the wooden platform, and the two men matched their gazes.

The king was actually smiling to him! Was the king mocking him for being so easy to see through?

Was he nothing but a fool in front of King Roland?

No! He refused to believe this!

This must be a bluff from the king!

The Royal Army had obviously suffered heavy losses from the great war, and he had even seen how little soldiers they had left in the facility. With the powerful army of the Tonquello family, he was confident of matching the Royal Army in a head on battle!

So there was no way that the king could be certain of his own victory!

Realising this fact, Berghis stopped panicking. And as his panic subsided, it was promptly replaced by anger as Berghis once again turned his gaze back to the young lady in front of him.

"Let the match start!" Duke Ivan announced after receiving a signal from Roland.

Rose got into her battle stance upon hearing the signal to the start of the fight, focusing all her senses on the man before her.

She was confident of her strength after years of training with Roland, but one bad thing about being Roland's personal maid was that she had to accompany Roland in his hermit-like lifestyle.

Thus she had never had the chance to meet Berghis prior to yesterday, much less witness Berghis' combat skills.

According to what she gathered from the other palace maids, Berghis was definitely one of the strongest nobles despite already being in his forties. He might no longer have the physical prowess of a young man, but what he gained in exchange was combat experience and tenacity.

Knowing this, Rose did not dare to let down her guard.

After keeping the vigour potion, Berghis picked up his spear and pointed it straight at her. His stance was stable and without flaws, as one would expect from a seasoned warrior.

"I will not take advantage of you! I will let you make the first three moves before I start attacking!" Berghis called out as he stood firmly in place.

The nobles around them nodded approvingly upon hearing that. While Berghis' words sounded arrogant, nobody thought that he was being overconfident.

After all, he was a man against a woman, a seasoned warrior against a palace maid, a renowned war-veteran against a nameless novice.

Everyone could feel that Berghis had the advantage in this fight. Even Roland was watching closely, slightly worried that this fight might be beyond Rose's capability.

And just as everyone was watching with bated breaths, Rose made her move.