Chapter 3 - Trouble

"Let's set it to 100 years from now."

Her heart sank.

"Are you crazy??!!"

"I'm not."

"You and my father would already be dead by then!! What's even the point?! Are you making fun of me?!"

"I would not be dead by then."

"Are you joking?? You're a human how can you live for 100 more years? It would be a miracle for you to live 80 more years."

"How old do you think I am, Elizabeth?"

"Around 20 to 25 years old in human terms."

"Well, that's just how I physically look. I am actually more than 400 years old. I lost count afterwards."

"How is that even possible?"

"Oh yeah, I never told anyone, huh?"

"Tell what?"

"That I'm not from this world."

"Stop jo-"

Elizabeth's angry facial expression soon distorted, as if her mind had a eureka moment.

"See? It's hard to believe at first, but given how strange I was acting and how I managed to achieve all these things, it's nothing short of a miracle."

"...."

"How come you're so quiet? It's unlike you."

"I am thinking."

"While you're thinking, let me tell you why I never had feelings for you, or had any interest in baby-making with you. You're loud and obnoxious, you mindlessly follow your father's orders, and you're just too young for me."

"...."

"If you have nothing else to do, then please leave my office. I still have so many things to do."

****

Sigh, I do feel bad for her, though. She didn't really do anything wrong, but I just don't want to burden myself even more.

Fuck this work. At first, it was fun to do, since I practically was bored as hell in that abominable world. But now it's just not fun.

Maybe I should just abandon this place and go do some adventuring?

No, that sounds terrible. I'm sick of fighting monsters.

Hmm? Someone's at the door. It can't be Elizabeth, her footsteps are lighter than this.

*BANG*

"It is I, General Dragul Grutt of the Heimer territory!!"

"Hmm? I've never seen you before. Ah, are you the general of that army sent to help the kingdom's frontlines by the previous Duke?"

"Indeed."

"So why are you like this?"

"Like what?"

"Barging into my room, shouting your name, and not even greeting your lord by kneeling. Isn't that an offense?"

"I do not accept you being the new duke. I have heard that you forcibly claimed the title."

"No, I claimed it legitimately."

"Then how about this, duel with me. If you lose, the title should be taken back. I heard that you pride yourself in your strength."

"Ah, so you're one of those shitty musclebrained fools."

"Excuse me?!!"

*BANG*

Oh look at this guy, he destroyed the door with just a punch. He truly is a shithead musclebrained dimwit.

Hehehe, let's do the duel. It would be fun to see that pride crushed.

"Okay, let's do it this afternoon. But if I win, you have to run around naked in the city."

"...."

Hahahaha, look at that furious face. His veins look like they're about to explode.

****

In the training area of the barracks, situated near the Duke's castle, a crowd of soldiers and knights have gathered around.

Not only that, members of the newly established police force was also gathering.

Only the elite guards, now called guardians, were not there. They were still doing their duties of guarding the castle.

The rumors spread quickly. The strongest general of the territory just came back from the frontlines, and the first thing he did was challenge the Duke into a duel.

There are currently 2 clashing opinions, one in which General Dragul would crush the Duke, and one in which the Duke would crush the General.

The holders of these 2 opinions were obvious.

The people who didn't see the Duke's excessive strength 2 years earlier, the majority of them being the soldiers returning from the frontlines.

And the people who saw what happened 2 years ago.

It was currently the designated time for the duel.

The duel announcer suddenly made an announcement, and a man towering 2 meters entered the training area with a prideful walk.

Two of his subordinates were carrying the man's armor.

The man looked fierce. His muscles were bulging, and scars covered his entire body.

He had a a veteran look, with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, and a long brown hair tied in a ponytail.

"The mighty General of the Heimer territory, Dragul Grutt, has arrived!!"

All the people in the training area immediately gave their salutations.

After that, a young man in his 20s entered the training area.

He was wearing clothes that he usually wore in his offce. A white buttoned up shirt, dark blue dress pants, and black leather shoes.

The head butler, Sebastian was with him. And in Sebastian's hands, was a big chest half the size of himself. Sebastian wasn't a normal butler, as he was previously a war hero. So he was strong enough to carry the big chest.

Shortly after, the announcer took the stage again.

"The Duke of Heimer, Lucius Von Heimer, has arrived!!"

All the people in the training area kneeled down to greet the Duke. All of them except for General Dragul.

'Hmph, I will not kneel towards this man until he proves his strength. And that will never happen. Just look at those weak muscles, they look like muscles from an average soldier. He's not a mage either, from what I've heard.'

While in the process of wearing his armor, the General asked the Duke.

"Where is your armor and weapon, Lucius? Don't tell me you're planning to fight me with that chest you're holding?"

The crowd went silent. The general had just mocked the Duke. He also called the Duke by his name, without any honorifics. In the Roan Kingdom, doing this was a taboo.

"Oh? My armor? Wait a second."

The Duke ignored the insulting implications of the General's words.

Sebastian then put down the chest he was holding in front of the Duke, Lucius.

Lucius proceeded to open the chest in front of him. As expected, the full body armor was inside of it.

He took out a single object, and left the chest open.

'Pffft, I've always wanted to show off this process. I bet their brains will malfunction.'

The object was round and thin. It had a 10 cm diameter and 3 cm thickness.

Lucius put the object onto his sternum. The object dug itself through his clothes, and onto his skin with tiny needles.

He wasn't in pain, as he had done it hundreds of thousands of times. He was used to it, and it only felt like a tickle to him.

No blood was also shed, since the device was smart enough to not let blood out of the attached area.

Seeing the Duke's strange behaviour, General Dragul had a hard time stopping his laugh.

'Don't tall me that puny little thing is his armor?'

"General, I can see that you're holding back your laugh. I'm not done yet."

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

After Lucius pressed the object, it started beeping in a low volume.

*WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH*

Suddenly, solid pieces armor flew out of the chest and started attaching themselves onto Lucius's body.

Some of those pieces were colored grey and white, but most of them were black.

The last flying piece that was attached was the helmet.

He then took off his leather boots, and took out the remaining 2 pieces inside the chest, the boots.

After he wore the boots, the armor suit started closing the gaps within itself. The gaps were parts of his body that weren't covered up by the previous process.

However, the suit still looked incomplete. Rough edges covered the suit, as if something was supposed to be on top of them.

Then, Lucius took out a big shiny black slab out of the chest, and pressed the disk attached to his sternum, which was now the center of his armor suit.

The big shiny black slab then started to vibrate.

It then flowed into his armor suit like a viscous liquid, and covered all the jagged parts of the suit.

The suit was now complete.

The entire suit looked insanely futuristic and had a jet black color.

The crowd was loud. Some people were screaming in awe, some were screaming in fear.

"Ta-daaaa. How was that?"

General Dragul was shocked. He didn't even finish putting on his armor.

"H-how?"

"What do you mean how? This is just how it is."

"Are you perhaps a magic knight?"

"Magic knight? What bullshit occupation is that?"

"Then, are you telling me that's not magic?"

"Of course it's not magic. It's pure science."

"Science? Is that something similar to alchemy?"

"Achemy? Ahahahahaha, don't compare science to dogshit alchemy. Quickly finish wearing your armor and let's start the duel."

After the General finished donning his armor, he asked Lucius another question.

"What about your weapon?"

"I'm just using my fists."

"I will be fighting with a sword, please don't look down on me."

"If you insist."

'Seems like this musclebrain is still underestimating me. I thought for sure that my armor suit would make him aware of my strength, but I guess not.'

Lucius brought out his right arm and made a fist. The forearm part of his armor portruded outwards and a blade came out of it.

The blade's length was a little bit shorter than the length of his forearm. It also wasn't colored black like his whole suit. The blade was metallic in color, made from a special alloy.

Then, the edge of the blade started glowing red hot and the air around it started to distort due to the heat, causing a visible thermal column.

"So, what do you think about my weapon?"