Chapter 26: The Little Prince and the Record of Ravishment

Victoria moved with great flair.

Her movements were more restrained than before she received Gilbert’s teachings, but in terms of performance, they had become even more dazzling.

Chwaang!

“Crack!”

“Next!”

A single round.

The knights who stepped forward to face Victoria were all knocked out in one exchange.

At first, those who had doubted either their own eyes or the skills of the knight in front of them, soon began to accept reality and cheered as three knights fell one after another.

“Who is that adventurer? It’s as if she’s treating the knights like toys…!”

“I heard all the famous golden-ranked adventurers were invited to the royal castle?”

“That’s the Goddess of Duel! The Goddess of Duel has descended into the tournament!”

Selly, who was thrilled by her friend’s performance, kept patting my arm and shouted.

“Victoria sis is so strong! She’s beating knights with one hit! Did Uncle teach her all that?”

“Not everything, just a little. Victoria was already strong.”

“Go on, sis! Take them all down!”

The shift in mood was not just among the audience.

It was spreading among the knights as well.

The knights who had fallen to Victoria weren’t nameless ones.

“How could she defeat Sir Leonhart so easily…!”

“Is that the skill of an adventurer?”

“Her swordsmanship is perfect. Who is she a disciple of?”

That adventurer, she’s not someone who can be easily faced.

As that feeling spread, the knights hesitated to step forward.

However, they couldn’t just stand still.

When the next challenger didn’t appear, Victoria raised her sword and taunted the knights.

“Is this the end of the duel? This is more boring than I thought!”

Boos and cheers erupted from the audience!

The knights gritted their teeth.

If they backed down now, the honor of the knights would be in the dirt.

At that moment, two knights stepped forward.

One was a burly knight, and the other was a small-framed knight.

It was the smaller knight who spoke first.

“It seems you’ve been taught by a very renowned knight, but I don’t think you can take us both on alone. May we challenge you together?”

At those words, Victoria smiled brightly and shouted.

“Alright! I accept your challenge!”

With her shout, the audience erupted in noise.

There was no doubt about her impressive skills, but facing two knights alone was an entirely different matter.

Especially since these two knights, known as the [Barius Duo], had earned their reputation by defeating five knights together.

As things stood, voices predicting her defeat began to rise.

“She seems like an extraordinary talent, but this is where it ends.”

“She’s still young, lacking experience. She can’t tell the difference between courage and recklessness.”

“I’m curious, though. How long will that adventurer be able to endure against the Barius Duo’s combined strength?”

The two knights and the adventurer clashed in the center of the arena.

As expected, the Barius Duo unleashed a fierce combined assault.

The success of their attack, using their drastically different physiques, was as fast and natural as a giant with multiple arms attacking.

Victoria, who had been knocking down enemies with unstoppable force, was now on the defensive, struggling against an intense onslaught!

Seeing this, Selly asked in a concerned voice.

“Is Victoria going to lose?”

I calmly answered her.

“No, she’ll win.”

At first glance, it looked like she was being pushed back badly.

But, to me, who was used to sparring with Victoria, it was clear.

She wasn’t being pushed back.

She was reading the information about the combined attack technique.

Just as I had expected, after enduring a certain amount of the assault, Victoria proudly declared.

“That was an impressive attack! Now, it’s my turn!”

In an instant, Victoria transitioned from defense to offense.

The Barius Duo, who had been relentlessly attacking, faltered slightly under her sudden offensive, and Victoria seized the opening.

A precise strike aimed at the inevitable gap created by their combined attack!

As the Barius Duo’s momentum crumbled, their coordination became messy, and they eventually collapsed in one fell swoop due to their mistakes.

When the Barius Duo fell, the audience erupted in cheers like never before.

“We won! We won against the Barius Duo!”

“Doesn’t this mean she’s unbeatable among knights? She took on two of them and won!”

Just as the excitement reached its peak in the tournament, a knight stepped forward.

He was known as the Duke of Albion’s knight.

The audience, who had been cheering moments ago, fell silent at his appearance.

Could this adventurer really defeat the Duke’s knight?

However, the Duke’s knight did not draw his sword.

Instead, he lifted his visor and asked Victoria.

“That swordsmanship, it’s from Sir Gilbert, the leader of the kingdom’s knight order. Are you his disciple?”

“I learned from him, but he’s not my master!”

“You learned from him, but he’s not your master?”

“Yes! My master is Lord Kyle!”

“[Crimson Moon Sword] Kyle…?”

The knight paused for a moment after hearing Victoria’s response.

He then nodded and replied.

“I see. In that case, I may just have the chance to see ‘that’ technique. Let’s have a duel in the finals.”

He then spoke to the announcer.

“It seems like the number of participants has sufficiently dwindled by now.”

“Ah, yes! The battle royale is over! With this, the tournament qualifiers are complete!”

The sudden announcement of the end caused the audience to boo, but the participants, relieved to have made it through the qualifiers, returned to the waiting room.

The remaining audience members scattered in small groups, chatting about the match, and I gave a final wave to Victoria’s back as she disappeared into the waiting room before checking the time.

“It’s almost time for my appointment.”

The appointment with the important person that the elder had mentioned.

There was still some time left, but since they emphasized the importance of the guest, it would be best to go ahead and wait.

I turned to Selly, who had been chattering next to me.

“I have somewhere I need to go for my appointment. Can you go to Victoria?”

“Appointment? Who with?”

“Well, I’m not sure. But I heard the person introducing me is someone important.”

“Then hurry up! You don’t want to hear anything bad for being late!”

At the mention of an appointment, Selly, who had been frowning, changed her attitude when she heard the person was important and pushed me from behind.

I laughed and replied to her.

“I’ll be back before the finals, so enjoy the match!”

“Fine, just go quickly!”

I turned away from Selly, who kept pushing me, and headed to the meeting place.

The meeting place was a massive mansion.

A luxurious mansion I had never been to, in this life or the previous one!

I was struck with awe at the fact that such a huge mansion existed in the capital.

‘How much money must they have to build such a massive mansion in a city where land prices are famous for being high?’

To run a restaurant as a hobby, one would need this kind of wealth!

With a trembling heart, I knocked on the mansion door, and soon a butler in a neat suit came out to guide me inside.

“Lord Kyle, I will show you the way.”

The inside of the mansion was as magnificent as the exterior.

As I marveled at the opulent interior, Graham, who had dressed even more formally than the last time we met, welcomed me.

“Welcome, Kyle! Welcome to the headquarters of the Kingdom Culinary Association! Thankfully, you’re not late!”

“After your repeated reminders, how could I be late? But who are these people?”

I asked, noticing there were quite a few people around.

Graham answered in a playful tone.

“Who would be here at the association’s headquarters? Members of the Kingdom Culinary Association! Now, let’s have some introductions! This is Kyle, the owner of [Party House]!”

“Ooh!”

At Graham’s introduction, people gathered around.

Each of them approached me with a friendly smile and offered to shake hands.

“So you’re the Kyle who made that buttermilk chicken! I’ve heard a lot about you! I’ve been dying to meet you!”

“You also made the corn salad hot dog, right?”

“Add the whole chicken that Graham ate to the Party House menu! That old man brags about it like it’s only for him!”

The reactions were very friendly.

I exchanged greetings while checking each of their faces.

And among them, there were familiar faces.

“Well, well! The rising star of cuisine!”

“Lord Robert, right? Is it true that you spread the strange rumor about the hot dogs?”

“Haha! Not ‘Lord’ Robert! Just call me Robert! And it’s not true that I spread the rumor! It was just a little bit of my fans’ overzealous enthusiasm!”

I chuckled at Robert’s shameless excuse.

After finishing the introductions, I asked Graham.

“So, who is this important guest? They haven’t arrived yet, have they?”

“Not yet. They haven’t arrived yet. The main guest always shows up last, right?”

“Surprises are nice, but I’m starting to feel like if I don’t hear about this person soon, I might be disrespectful.”

“Yeah, it’s about time I told you.”

Nodding, Graham said with a serious expression.

“The important guest we’re expecting is… His Highness Prince Theodore, the second prince.”

“Excuse me? The prince?”

I was taken aback by the unexpected guest and asked again.

Theodore? The youngest prince?

Why is the prince here?