Alteria Kingdom's Capital, Royal Palace
Standing atop a platform is a youth who donned a black trench coat with a sword strapped on his waist. Many people were gathered below the stage and whispering amongst themselves. The king had suddenly announced that all nobles were to gather in the royal palace, even the commoners were allowed to watch the spectacle.
Kai, who wore the black trench coat was looking at the people who had gathered. Many appeared to be displeased by the fact that even though they were summoned by the king, what met them was a youth who had obviously just reached adulthood.
"Tch. When is the king going to get here? The knights aren't doing anything to that boy."
"The boy is emitting pressure of B-class, he's probably the illegitimate son of the captain of the royal guard or something."
Whispers of scorn spread amongst the nobles. And about half an hour since Kai stood there did the final guests arrive. The arrival of the Sakamoto Palace made the scorn focused on Kai to be turned to them.
It was well-known that the Sakamoto Palace colluded with the Mariko Palace while Hyosuke was possessed.
Sakamoto Gen, the one who would've been Erina's fiancé had Kai not interfered, walked behind his father with a grim expression. Among the populace, Erina's relationship with Kai wasn't known so publicly, Gen was still Erina's future husband though not official.
The Mariko Palace's seats were right next to the Sakamoto Palace, Hyosuke sat there with Erina by his left and Yoshino by his right. Erina didn't pay any attention to Hyosuke and Yoshino, even if they were possessed, she couldn't forgive them that easily.
When the Sakamoto Palace was seated, the king arrived from the royal palace's doors and sat at a high seat like an overseer, it appeared that he wasn't in charge of today's event.
"Everyone, please quiet down."
"Ha! Who do you think you are to command us?"
"We were summoned by His Highness, the King, not some child."
Just as Kai instructed everyone, the nobles shot back with venomous words and threats. Erina wore an expressionless face but her eye visibly twitched. Gen who was watching Erina since he sat down took that as an opportunity. Right now, the relationship between the two was unclear but the Sakamoto Palace feared that Hyosuke would take the possession as an excuse to cancel the talks of engagement which were put on hold.
In Gen's eyes, Kai's attitude irked Erina and punishing him for it would definitely gain her favor which would in turn, give a higher chance of getting the engagement talks back. Sakamoto Ryo also noticed this and created a plan immediately.
"Lady Mariko Erina, it appears that the youth on stage has displeased you."
"That's exactly right father, I shall represent the nobles and punish him."
Gen stood up immediately after Ryo talked as if it was natural.
Erina didn't talk and kept her expressionless face but inside, she was cursing them. Kai had ordered her to not interfere directly and indirectly, he said he would also prefer if a noble like Gen were to attack him so he can show his strength before the exhibition match.
Hyosuke furrowed his brows and looked at Erina but when she didn't react, he kept silent. Yoshino understood the situation the moment Erina's eye twitched, as expected of the one hailed as a genius.
"You commoner, did you just dare to command the nobles? You deserve tens of deaths just for that sentence but since I'm merciful, I'll allow you to leave if you cut off that arm."
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Gen walked up to the platform and pointed at Kai's left arm. Kai's limbs were hidden by his trench coat and pants.
"And what if I don't?"
"Then, I'll kill you where you stand."
Gen unsheathed the sword from his waist and pointed it at Kai's neck.
"I see, then I'll give you this arm."
Kai stretched out his left arm.
"Smart."
Kai used his left fist and slammed it into Gen's stomach. He was unprepared for the situation but wasn't sent flying because just as Kai's fist slammed into him, Kai held Gen's collar.
"Hooh? Wearing mithril right below your clothes? Unfortunately, mithril isn't that strong of a metal when compared to the strongest metal on Gaia."
"Y-you bastard...!"
Gen held Kai's arm and pushed him away before charging forward with his sword.
"Die!"
Gen slashed down and Kai used his left arm to block...
"Ha! That idiot thinks he can block Sakamoto Gen's strike!"
"Even the dukes won't take that without any form of defense!"
"Everybody knows his sword is an Enchanted Gear on the level of a national treasure, looks like he's going to lose an arm today."
But the sword stopped as it hit Kai's arm and a loud ringing sound made from two clashing metal swords were made.
"An arm guard?!"
"Arm guard? Why do I need to guard something I don't have?"
Kai repositioned his arm and grabbed Gen's hand which held the sword and pulled him closer to him before giving a headbutt straight towards the floor.
The sound of Gen's head breaking through the wooden stage satisfied Erina but it shocked every other noble in the area. Even a duke would have to be careful when injuring Gen, they wouldn't be exempt from the consequences, not to mention a commoner.
"...Alright, now I should introduce myself."
Kai stood straight and fixed his trench coat like nothing had happened.
"Captain of the third princess, Alteria Natsumi's royal guard. Strongest adventurer, Dragon Slayer Angel's mentor. Youngest S-class who vanquished the demon that had possessed Mariko Hyosuke. My name is Kai."
Silence fell upon the area.
For two seconds, at least.
"HAHAHAHA!"
"THIS GUY IS A COMEDIAN!"
"CAPTAIN AND S-CLASS?! WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?! HA!"
"Just because he beat Sakamoto Gen, he think he's one of the strongest here? Arrogant fool."
The nobles all burst into laughter. All of them had tears in their eyes and some even fell to the floor while holding their stomachs. On Earth it would sound like Kai just boasted being the president on the internet.
Kai didn't let the laughter get to him and simply closed his eyes. Slowly, the laughter began to fade.
Starting from the ones on the floor to the ones who tried to keep themselves from laughing, they all began to shake. The ones who had power less than E-class even began to foam from their mouths.
Killing intent.
Genuine killing intent. It was impossible to be faked and could only be honed by killing others.
If Kai had used magic power to intimidate them, there were quite the number of ways like using an artifact or an Enchanted Gear but this proved to the nobles that the power Kai held was real and the amount of blood on his hand wasn't few.
"Looks like you all understand."
When Kai's words faded, King Atsushi talked.
"Everyone, I apologize for the Kai's method but we will hold another test to show you all that his words are not false. He will have a battle with the captain of the kingdom's royal guard."
Kai nodded and snapped his fingers, the instant he did so, a huge magic circle formed overhead covering the stage's area and the wooden stage became covered in earth and it quickly solidified. And for some reason, Gen wasn't excluded from the forming and soon, he was buried under the stage.
"Oi!"
Sakamoto Ryo stood up and leapt towards the stage.
"Release my son!"
"Ha? Ah, that piece of trash."
Kai pointed his finger at the floor and Gen's body emerged out from it; naked.
"Looks like his clothes were ripped out partway but there you go."
Using [Telekinesis], he threw Gen's body at Ryo who hesitated for a second before catching him. Then, he covered his son's naked body with earth and glared at Kai.
"Where's the mithril chainmail?"
"Broke it."
"Wha-? You can't destroy mithril that easily! Quickly fork it over or don't blame me for not being polite!"
"I said I broke it, didn't I?"
Kai released some pressure and made Ryo grimace.
"You bastard...!"
Ryo snapped and released tens of earth spikes from the floor in front and another set of spikes from the back. Then, a wall formed around Kai's area and slowly closed down.
"[Isolation Chamber]."
Kai simply let it all close in on him while dodging the spikes flawlessly.
"[Tornado]."
Starting from Kai's position, wind rapidly circled around him and it raised up to surround him, a tornado tens of meters tall which also covered the whole stage spread out. The crowd was spared from any sort of attack other than the large gust of wind. The walls and spikes of earth were instantly destroyed and Kai appeared without a single wound.
"Are you done? I guess that's all I can expect from the duke of Sakamoto Palace."
Kai provoked Ryo whose eye twitched in anger.
"I'll kill you, brat!"