Father and Daughter

"How dare you think you can become this king's son-in-law!"

Indonesian S-class hunter Joko. For the first time, people realized that a man could fly higher than the clouds.

"Ino-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!

Australian S-class hunter Jerry McDowell was also smashed. He was beaten particularly badly, probably because he said in the arena, "Father-in-law, give me your daughter!"

"Lee Yong-wan!"

"Ki, I want to withdraw."

"You shouldn't have to make a fuss about challenging——"

Lee Yong-wan, an S-level Hunter from the Korean Firebird Guild, was one of the challengers. He had already won the challenge, so he had no choice but to fight.

"Your majesty! Wait! Gentle!"

"You lowly brat!"

Maybe it was because of his aversion, but being beaten by Leon was more painful and sad.

And so the twenty-seventh challenger was defeated and returned home. They sighed and looked at each other.

"I don't think it's going to work, do you?"

"I think so."

* * * *

It had been three days and three nights since Leon had been crowned champion and had put up an overwhelming defense.

"Yes, yes, yes, champion, if you need anything, just tell us. We'll arrange everything."

"Prepare the bathwater."

It's the sort of thing you'd pay a lot of money for, especially when you're Leon, who is said to have defeated the most suitors of any champion in history, and the highest chance of 'winning' a match.

Of course, there's no way he's going to do anything stupid like marry his own daughter.

"Hmm."

Leon was about to retire to his chambers to rest up after his latest bout with suitors, when an old man approached him.

"Are you Mr. Leon Lionheart?"

Leon's eyes widened as he realized the man had left out the name Dragonia. Under that stern gaze, the old man bowed deeply.

"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but it is not my place to disrespect your dignity."

The old man, the head chamberlain of the palace, bowed and tried not to incur Leon's wrath.

A chamberlain of the palace was not to be trifled with, even by the highest nobility, but the old man had to consider that the man before him claimed to be the father of the Emperor.

His own superhuman strength alone was enough to make him worthy of respect.

"Hmph, it is right that your loyalty should be to those you serve. I'm glad you understand that at such a young age."

"——"

Watching his grandson enter the academy this year, the chamberlain felt a subtle disconnect with the young man in front of him, who looked to be in his twenties.

The Emperor himself was no more than two hundred years old this Spring Equinox, and while the man before him looked younger than that, if he was indeed the Emperor's father, there was no telling how old he was.

"This king wishes to see Karina."

"——! Yes, sir!"

The chamberlain was taken aback by the act of addressing the Emperor, but he did as he was told.

"I've been waiting to see when she would summon me, but apparently my patience is shorter than I thought."

"At your service."

Leon didn't like the chamberlain's attitude. How could he not draw his dagger when his lord was called so lightly?

If King Lionheart had been treated lightly in Lionheart, the knights beneath him would not have left the one who did it alone.

'Those who do not have the right faith.'

The king's authority is divine, and the lightness of those who fail to honor it must be remedied by education and edification.

The carriage was ready, guided by the unpleasant chamberlain. Leon looked at it and clicked his tongue.

"What a shabby carriage."

The carriage was ornately decorated with jewels and gilt. Of course, the carriages of high nobility should not be compared to those of commoners, especially if it's royalty.

This was a bit much, Leon thought, but he held back until they reached the palace and he entered the room set aside for him in the palace.

"——"

It's gorgeous. From the entrance, only one person was allowed to walk down the pathway, which was lined with pure white marble and molten gold, and nothing was spared, from the trim to the tapestries to the artwork.

The rooms were equally luxurious and Leon could practically smell the money spent.

"Tsk."

"You don't like it?"

"You don't understand luxury. It's just a bunch of expensive jewelry and gold. It's not the taste of nobility, it's the taste of rich people pretending to be nobility."

Leon looked at the dark-haired woman who had been in the room since the beginning, waiting for him.

Karina Dragonia, the rightful Grand Duchess of Dragonia and holder of the imperial title known in this world as the Dragon Emperor, also his own daughter, lost two hundred years ago.

Leon alternated between the blue eyes that resembled his own and the black hair that resembled hers.

"Your tastes have grown foul in my absence."

"In my old age, my eyes are drawn to all things shiny."

"Do not forget the curse of gold. Or are you already under that curse?"

"Yes. ——."

Karina didn't answer since Leon knew it was a difficult question to answer.

He changed the subject he had brought up.

"I've traveled around the empire, and it's quite advanced. The commoners don't know hunger, and the nobles are fairly faithful to their duties. Without the help of the gods, you've created quite a country to behold."

"Absolute power somehow manifests itself in the presence of absolute force. It wasn't that hard to do."

"Yeah. Well, whatever."

He opened his arms.

"Come here. Let's hug."

Karina walked over to Leon without a word. He opened his arms even wider, making it easier for her to get into his arms but Karina didn't take him in her arms, just faced him head-on. It was almost as if they were in opposition.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Shooing away the suitors."

Leon sighed softly, loosening his arms.

"What's wrong with a father picking a son-in-law?"

"It is a matter of state business, a state business of ensuring the proper seed for the next Emperor."

"——This king wants you to marry in love as I and your mother did."

"Your Majesty, it will be one or the other."

Karina's gaze flicked to Leon, her stare sterile.

"A cog in the kingdom, or the head of a warm home, Your Majesty has already chosen."

Leon had already chosen the kingdom over his wife.

"Your choice is perfectly right, and so are the duties of this Emperor."

A conclusion she reached, she said, not as Archduke of Dragonia, not as a blood relative of the Lionheart King, but as Emperor of the Dragonia Empire.

"You are not doing this because of him, are you?"

"——"

Karina was silent at Leon's point. Then Leon spoke up.

"Why are you in such a hurry to find suitors? Do you think this king doesn't know, I was the last Grand Duke of Dragonia before you."

"So. What will the Lionheart King do?"

"I will share the burden with my daughter. Our forefathers always prepared for such things."

"I decline."

Karina rejected Leon's offer. She turned her back on him and opened the door.

"Enough. This is not your kingdom. It's my empire, and everything that happens here is my responsibility."

"Karina—!"

Leon's shout brought her to a halt. It was the voice of a father she hadn't heard in far too long, a voice that hadn't ended well.

He echoed it every day with regret, so he spoke frankly of his feelings.

"I gave birth to you in love with Castile. I want you to have a love that shines like a star. That is my duty as your father."

I will not abandon my duty.

* * * *

"Emperor!"

She pushed past maids and servants who bowed urgently at the sight of Karina.

Karina walks in silence, not saying a word, until she reaches her office.

[Haha, what a tearful display of paternalism and filial piety.]

A booming voice echoed from within, and Karina's brow narrowed at the sneer.

"Shut up."

[You haven't seen your father in two hundred years, that's a long time for you midgets. Shouldn't you be enjoying this father-daughter reunion a little more?]

Karina didn't answer him.

As she had said time and time again, she did not blame Leon.

She knew from the beginning that there was nothing wrong with his choice but that and this are different things.

[But it's amazing how you managed to overcome the forces of so many evil creatures. The Wisdom Lord was no ordinary man. Perhaps that war was one that the tin men could have won.]

"No, it wasn't."

[Hmm?]

Karina said into the void where no one was. The dense black aura in the air seemed to be poking its head around.

"There is a pantheon of gods in the heart of the Lionheart King. That must have been their last refuge."

[Haoh, this is so– I see, such things have fallen, abandoning such a magnificent temple to burrow into a cramped heart to survive.]

There was even a hint of amusement in the black thing's voice; after so many years of competing with the gods for supremacy of the world, the fall of a rival should be pleasant.

[Karina, you should have taken the man's offer, it was your only way to live.]

"I am strong enough to withstand you."

[Even your ancestor couldn't stand me, so he left me to his children, and still you midgets can't understand my power.]

The black, 'dragon-like' shadow sneered at Karina.

[It makes no difference, you must pay for the murder, my curse will not end until your bloodline is destroyed, and the moment you lose the heart, the scourge of mortals will begin.]

"It will not be so."

[Then what will you do? You do not have much time, and there is no one stronger in the world than the Lionheart King who can stand against me.]

"No, there is one."

* * * *

Meanwhile, the International Hunter Coalition had taken up quarters in the capital and were meeting there.

"Mr. Lee, over here!"

Lee Yong-wan was greeted by Allen Taylor, an S-class Hunter from the Maverick Guild of the United States.

"Mr. Taylor. Where's Minuteman?"

"He's out earning his keep. Didn't Miss Ha go with him?"

"Uh, and Yuri?"

"Oooh~ Someone has to earn money for lodging."

Thousands of International Hunter Alliance troops had gathered in the capital, and naturally, there were expenses for their food and sleep, which the Hunters were covering by taking jobs from the Dragonia Empire.

This would have to do until the courtship duel to break the quest was over.

"By the way, this is a big deal. I don't see any sign of the courtship duel ending."

"That's because the Lionheart King is holding out."

The problem is that Leon blocked the way. Dozens of S-class Hunters have already tried, but they've been crushed and lost.

"I don't think we can take on the Lionheart king one-on-one."

"I couldn't agree more. There are the best hunters in the world here, but they couldn't hurt the Lion King."

Yong-wan remembered the green Holy Knight he had met at the Jeju Island Gate, Holy Knight Georgic.

That monster knight had been attacked by four S-class Hunters and they hadn't been able to inflict a single wound.

He should be at least as strong as that, if not stronger, to have a chance against the Lionheart King.

'That can't be right, those Holy Knights are his minions.'

Beatrice the Magician Queen.

Yakt Spinner, the killing machine.

Vulcanus the Butcher.

The fearsomeness of the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods does not come from Leon alone, even his henchmen are monsters.

The only thing they can say is that they are out of the ordinary, and they have a god behind them.

"Let's get going, then."

"You mean the dueling grounds? There won't be any fighters from our side today, will there?"

"Well, there may be other powerhouses in this world. It's always fun to watch a fight."

Allen Taylor was next up, and I'm told he's been training pretty hard since the Rakshar fight.

He was excited to learn something from a fight with someone so much stronger than him.

'Well, against the Lionheart King.'

Yong-wan didn't expect much. This was his forty-fifth suitor today.

At this rate, even if there were a hundred, Leon would win easily.

"Who am I!"

A raspy, booming voice. A voice that could hardly be recognized as human heated up the arena.

[[Butcher!]]

[[Beheader!]]

[[Slayer!]]

"Huh?"

What?

"Who am I──!"

[[Agent of Divine Punishment!]]

[[War Horseman of Doom!]]

-Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The enthusiastic voices fill the stadium, and the armored hulk, drunk with it, is like a popular villain in professional wrestling.

[Alas! What an enthusiastic response! Indeed, what an overwhelming presence! The monster who is said to have wiped out not one but two golems crafted by His Majesty with a single blow has issued a challenge to today's champion, and his name is──]

The red-armored man draws two holy swords. The flaming holy swords, with their auspicious and violent aura, seem to represent the ferocity of this man.

[──Vulca~~~~~~Nus!!!!]

Why are you here?