Emperor of Steel

The Coronation ceremony of Luke had continued for a week.

Nobles, as well as the people, wished for the prosperity of Symphonia by drinking the beer given by the royal family.

At the end of such a bright festival, all the messengers and ambassadors from the nations were ready to go back.

Wooong!

The long-distance teleport gate in the Rakan estates was opened under the direct orders of their king and a person came from there.

When he appeared, Luke greeted him in his usual cold demeanor.

“Welcome, Arch Duke Gregory.”

“I didn’t expect to meet the King directly.”

The visitor was none other than Arch Duke, Sword Sage, Albero de Gregory of Holy Empire.

At his words, Luke smiled and shook his hands.

“Haha, you don’t have to interpret it like that.”

“No, since you have become the monarch of a nation, you need to be humble. Besides, isn’t the King the fiancé of our Pope?”

“Yes, but…”

Luke who was about to answer felt his body turn stiff.

It wasn’t the attitude and actions of Gregory which made him feel like that, but because he could feel what Gregory intended to say.

‘This is very thorough. In addition, his body seems to have aged.’

Gregory, who looked very much like a young man, wasn’t suitable for the actual age of 120.

As a Sword Sage, he had a powerful aura and divine power, and all thanks to that, his body regeneration and abilities were exceptional.

But now, Arch Duke seemed lean, as if he was seriously ill and held a cane.

In addition, his head had white hair here and there with wrinkles on his face and hand.

It wasn’t just his appearance.

He couldn’t feel the overpowering looks from him anymore.

‘Was it because he lost a huge amount of aura when we fell into the trap of the fairies? But I am fine so how…?’

Looking at Luke who was lost in thought.

Gregory smiled.

“You seem to be very surprised with my appearance.”

“Yes, I haven’t heard anything about Arch Duke’s health.”

Argos would have surely been the first to relay the information if anything happened to Arch Duke Gregory.

Yet, Luke had heard nothing from them.

“Huhu. All this time I had to keep it a secret, so there is no way you could have heard it.”

Gregory had to hide his condition thoroughly.

He couldn’t cause any rift between Luke and Reina, and there was no saying how the opposition would react if his illness came out.

“It was pretty hard. I can’t say that I am alright now… but I won’t retire.”

“…!”

At his words, Luke’s eyes changed and he stepped back without his knowledge.

It was because he felt a much stronger power than he did at the arrival, well, he actually could feel nothing.

‘His body has gone weak! He has no energy left! Did he get infected with something?’

While Luke was thinking so, Gregory spoke.

“By the way, when you went to the Southern Continent, you ended up learning the second half of the Gold Sword?”

“Yes, I told Reina after coming back… let’s move somewhere to sit.”

Luke took Gregory to his Rakan’s personal training room.

On the way there, he explained how he got the second half.

“Physical pain… that is amazing. I never knew that there would be anyone in the world with such ability.”

“It was quite different from the divine power. If divine power was something that you borrow from God and use, then this could be the enlightened power from the body.”

Luke who talked about Nanda’s ability for a while. Lifted the wooden sword and cast the Gold Sword.

“The second half is largely divided into a minimum of 8 parts to 64 parts. Depending on the application of fusions and forms, hundreds to thousands of variations…”

In the beginning, Gregory was curious and watched every single progress.

With excitement, his expression changed.

“Oh my! That was the second half!”

“But there could be some southern skills in here too, or maybe I am not able to understand it rightly…”

“Hmm…”

On hearing Luke’s words, Gregory picked up a wooden sword from the armory and began to visualize it.

When Luke left the spot, he slowly wielded the wooden sword and unfolded the second half of the Gold Sword.

At first, it wasn’t much different from Luke’s.

However, an intense glow began to spark at the sword Gregory was wielding.

Kwang!

‘No!’

As the aura exploded, half of the equipment in the training center got blown away, and Luke was just shocked.

It was a simple motion of wielding the sword with aura, and there was a difference when he began to unfold the second half.

But the difference in power was like heaven and earth.

Though what Gregory did wasn’t as good as his memory, but it felt very close to it.

What was going on in there?

Arch Duke Gregory spoke to Luke who was puzzled.

“I think that because the King is still inexperienced and the actual power isn’t coming out.”

“I am inexperienced?”

“Yes, the king is strong and undoubtedly strong to compete with me, but there are things which you are yet to realize about the depth of the sword other than just wielding it.”

Currently, Luke’s skills were intermediate.

However, his true realization wasn’t still there.

“Because I haven’t realized… will I know when I go to Sword Sage level?”

At Luke’s question, Gregory smiled.

“Well, it isn’t something that I can simply put like that. You will only know it when you realize and feel it, but I too only realized it after the injury I received a while back.”

What was he supposed to feel and realize?

When Luke tried to question more about it, Gregory changed the topic.

“But why did you invite me? I don’t think that it was just to inform me about the second half.”

Gregory stayed in Bless to defend the Empire when Reina was gone. He was taking care of the Empire while hiding his health condition.

However, Luke and Reina had asked him to come to Rakan through magic communication.

“Is there some tough fight going on? Did the fairies try to do something again?”

“No, it isn’t like that… the Arch Duke might be a little angry when you hear this.”

Luke, who was speaking, had a slight grin on his face.

“Please be the notary.”

“Notary? Have someone you want to duel with?”

A duel would need a notary.

For the sake of Luke who was strong, Gregory was worthy enough to be a notary.

However, who was the madman who wanted to duel with the King of a nation?

“No, not a duel but a wedding.”

“Wedding? No, don’t tell me…!”

Luke could see Gregory’s eyes go wide for the first time.

Maybe Luke was the only one who witnessed such an expression of Gregory.

“Because Reina said that she wanted to have a wedding before she left. I said that it is too fast, but she is acting stubborn, so…”

“My Majesty.”

Maybe it was Luke’s illusion that he felt like Gregory was calling him as Majesty.

Not surprisingly, Gregory continued to speak with the wooden sword still in his hand.

“The story will be discussed more while working on the Second Half.”

“Th, no!”

Looking at the face of Gregory, Luke began to sweat for the first time.

Maybe he had to survive first to ask for the permission.

Luke, who had been sweating for a long time in the battle against Arch Duke Gregory, headed to the Devil King’s castle.

Drrrr!

When he pressed on the wall behind the throne room, a hidden secret door opened with a low sound.

Luke, who was busy for a long time, had visited the secret lab and the workshop with a sad expression.

“This is the place which has been a strong foundation for me, but now I will have to bid my farewell.”

It was in the very laboratory that Luke had come to recover from the revival and became the successor of the ruined estates.

However, he could no longer use those facilities.

As he was a king, he couldn’t get away with such things.

Which was why he was transferring his base from Rakan estates to Brandon, the capital of Symphonia.

The representative was Katarina Magic Tower.

The Katarina magic tower which was promoted to the Royal Magic Tower was integrated into the former Milton Royal Magic Tower, it was to expand the scale and the buildings along with research institutes.

“I am going to move the things in here to the secret room that I set up in Brandon’s palace.”

Luke opened up the subspace bracelet, packed the records, materials, magic tools, and magic stones, and everything else in the workshop and lab.

He decided to get something useful right there and leave, leave those which weren’t in need, and then slowly move them later.

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

Luke, who was almost done packing up the items, hit his head when he realized he forgot something.

He placed his hand in the safe of the cabinet in the lab.

His hand, moving for a second, pulled out a small wooden box.

Inside the box was a pair of gold rings. Simple yet elegant old-fashioned rings, which had the words ‘forever together’ written on it in an ancient language.

‘I never thought that I would see this ring again…’

The ring was made by a dwarf who Syamon had met on his business trip when he had gone to a distant nation during his time when he was still in the Veritas Magic Tower.

It was very difficult to buy his work, but at that time, he was too excited to propose to Katarina, and he bought the ring after giving the dwarf everything he had.

However, the rings never made it to their owners.

When he returned from his trip, Katarina was nowhere to be found.

‘I won’t let the same thing happen again.’

He was dead struck by keeping Reina, Katarina’s incarnation safe!

Woong!

A light magic rose from the rings Luke held.

It was as if the rings were responding to the oath.