Chapter 42: Troublesome(1)

Beep! Beep!

Luke frowned and opened his eyes. He then looked at his desk and saw the magic communication device he got from the crown prince glowing. He then brushed his face with his hands and sighed. He also saw Nash waking up from the noise.

Of all the times Lance can call, why now?

"What's going on?"

Luke ignored Nash's question and just grabbed the magic communication device on the desk and looked at Nash with tired eyes. Nash then frowned and sighed while he's putting some mana in the communication device on Luke's hand.

Luke then saw a screen appearing in front of him. He then saw the crown prince's also tired eyes. They looked at each other, with tired eyes. They are both tired.

"Greetings to the future sun and glory of our kingdom. You look very dashing and princely today."

· You bastard, you think I can't sense the sarcasm in your voice?

Luke and Lance both sighed and massaged their heads to ease their headache, they got no time to play or joke with each other since they both want to rest so badly.

"Anyways, why did you call today? Your highness? You look pretty tired."

· Why did you think I called you?

Luke frowned and started to think. he then looked at Lance as if he finally knew what he was talking about.

"You already got the ownership for Mount Ceb? That's fast."

Luke could see Lance sitting back on his chair. Instead of looking like a charm, attractive prince, he looked like a tired next-door uncle from work.

· Thankfully, Mother and Father let me be because they still thought that Mount Ceb will still be full of monsters. And my brothers almost laughed at me for owning a useless mountain.

Luke nodded as if finally understood his situation. Who said that being an underdog in the family has no good sides? Take Lance here as an example.

"It is indeed useless now, your highness. But it will soon be a mountain of treasures and deadly weapons."

Lance closed his eyes and smiled while thinking about the military advantage that he'll have once everything goes well. He then looked at Luke who was smiling slyly despite having tired eyes.

· Come to the mountain tomorrow with Sir Klein. I also already picked some amazing inventors all over the kingdom to be his helpers. I'll send you the coordinates and use the teleportation circle in the mansion to get there.

Luke then heard Nash's voice in his head.

· No need to go to the teleportation room! I could make a teleportation circle right here, right now!

Luke looked at the back of the screen and saw Nash proudly smiling at him. Luke just sighed. he just wants to rest.

"Then I will meet you there. Your highness."

Lance didn't answer and just ended the call without a warning. Luke just frowned from the cold treatment but just let it slide. He then lies down on the bed again and slowly started to fall asleep.

-----------------

it's early in the morning. the sun is rising, birds are chirping, and all the mansion workers started to do their usual morning routine. It was a very basic but peaceful day for everyone. It will make you want to drink hot tea while looking outside the window.

Well, that is what Luke was planning but some unexpected guests were entering his room in this early morning.

Luke's eyebrow twitched while looking at Liam, all clean and neat, sitting in front of him with an innocent expression. It seems that the maids took good care of him as he ordered. Instead of looking like a beggar, he now looks like a fine young man.

Luke nodded in satisfaction and turned his head towards the man beside Liam.

Besides Liam is Klein, holding a blueprint while awkwardly glancing at Liam beside him. Luke just sighed.

'I just woke up, now what the heck is this?'

Luke massaged his temples and started to ask.

"So, what are you doing here Liam? I understand why Sir Klein is here but, why are you here?"

Liam then answered with a cheerful and determined expression.

"I want to be your personal knight!"

Luke stopped moving and blinked at Liam. Luke thought that there is something wrong with his ears and asked again to be sure.

"Pardon?"

"I wanted to be brother Luke's personal knight! I heard that you still do not have one!"

Luke squinted his eyes while looking at Liam.

"Uh, I still have no personal knight because I don't need one...?"

Liam looked shocked before looking at Luke with sad eyes.

"As expected. you are already strong enough that you don't need one."

Luke frowned.

"Hey, I am not saying that I am strong. it's just that having one will be a bit troublesome. And why do you even want to be my personal knight?"

"I, I wanted to be useful for brother and to also repay my debt but..."

Luke looked at Liam with disbelief.

'Aren't you suppose to be Noah's personal knight? Why me?'

Luke rubbed his temples and looked at Liam's extremely disappointed face. Luke then asked.

"Being someone's personal knight will be a tedious and busy job. there will be times where you will have no rest and can't sleep. Do you still want to be my personal knight after hearing this?"

Personal knights, it is when a knight swore absolute loyalty to their chosen master. There will be no blood pact or any kind of binding ritual that'll be needed to be one's personal knight. It is in the knight's beliefs that the knight's creed is stronger than any pact in the world and once they had their creed, they must not disobey or broke it or else they will be beheaded by their masters and believes that they cannot be a knight anymore in their next life.

'Wait a damn second, how did Liam even know about the knight's creed when he is not even a knight yet? This is weird.'

Liam then answered diligently.

"Yes! I am willing to go through any hardships and sleepless nights just to serve my utmost loyalty to you! I heard from the children that you often cough up blood whenever you fight and that really made me worried! Please accept me!"

Luke was about to say no as he planned from the start but stopped when he heard the mysterious voice again in his head.

· Hey, accept him. He seems to like you. Having a swordmaster as your knight will be beneficial for you.

Luke frowned. This voice is really getting on his nerves.

'Just who the hell are you?!'

The voice didn't answer and Luke just sighed in frustration. He then took out his old sword and toss it towards Liam. Liam caught it and looked at Luke with surprise.

"You can't be a knight without a sword, right? Take that for now, that is my old sword. I'll buy you a new one later."

Luke could see Liam's bright expression while looking at the sword in his hand. Liam then spoke with sincerity and adoration.

"No, I like this sword."

Luke looked at Liam with a questioning gaze.

"....Are you sure? That is a sword already used by me..."

"I know, that is why I like this sword."

Luke looked at Liam's bright face with a blank stare. He then decided to ignore him and looked at Klein. Klein felt his stare and automatically passed the blueprint in his hand to Luke. Luke then slowly opened the blueprint and looked at the contents with shock.

The iron giant... Looks amazing!

Its structure and design are really simple and neat but you could also see fine details like the inside of the giant and its functions. There were also some mechanical skeleton guidelines drawn on the side that really made the giant look sturdy and strong. Klein had really outdone himself on this blueprint.

'Wow, this is already perfect. As expected of Klein. he is really a good choice for this kind of work.'

Luke smirked and nodded in satisfaction while folding the blueprint and passing it back to Klein. He then smiled at him.

"It is good, the height and design are exactly how I imagined it to be. You really worked hard, Sir Klein."

Klein suppressed his smile and scratched his head. He looked proud.

"Y-yes! Of course! This is nothing! The real challenge is how long will it take to build it."

Luke nodded in agreement.

"Make it sooner. If you need anything, just ask me."

"Right! Okay."

Luke then stood up from his seat and went towards the door. Klein and Liam naturally followed behind him. They then flinched when they heard Luke speak.

"We're going to Mount Ceb."

Klein then asked in shock.

"Ah! The prince already claimed it? That was fast."

"We have to, we will soon go to war after all."

Luke heard Liam's shocked voice.

"War?"

"Yeah."

Good thing that Liam didn't ask for more information about the upcoming war and just kept quiet. He then grabbed the hilt of his sword with a serious expression. Luke thought that Liam was just nervous and ignored it, the three of them then went towards the teleportation room. When Luke opened the door he didn't saw the mage inside.

'Maybe he went for a break'

Luke, Liam, and Klein then quietly stood inside the magic circle. Klein then asked in awkwardness.

"Should I call Spencer? The mage is not here."

"No need."

"Excuse me?"

Luke just ignored him and heard Nash.

· I'll do it! That's easy!

Luke could feel that Nash was about to cast magic but stopped when he heard a knocking noise on the door. Luke frowned and went to see who it was. His eyes then opened wide when he realized who it was.

"Julius, what are you doing here?"

Julius stared at Luke with a serious expression before speaking.

"Brother, before you go, I must tell you something that you needed to know."