The academy’s training ground, boasting the empire’s highest-level facilities.
A special area located inside it.
A loud explosion erupted in a place created based on cutting-edge magic engineering technology.
Boom!
Surrounded by dozens of battle dolls tougher than steel, a huge man swung a large sword.
His hair resembled a lion’s mane, and his muscular body was evident.
As he applied force to the hand holding the large sword, a sharp aura surged out.
A crescent-shaped aura shot toward five battle dolls in an instant.
Screech!
Boom!
“Hmm!”
The battle doll shattered by the aura and crashed into the wall as the man uttered a single syllable.
But while he briefly looked around,
A large number of battle dolls armed with swords charged at him simultaneously.
“An attack from all directions. But!”
As the man shouted, the muscles in his thick forearms bulged.
Then, a circular sword strike swung around him.
Boom!
The battle dolls that had charged toward him were smashed to pieces like tofu and sent flying.
At this point, the remaining dolls numbered fewer than ten.
After turning the rest into scrap metal, the man, resembling a lion, stepped on the remnants of the battle dolls.
“This is nothing.”
He finished his sentence with a confident smile.
The aura-coated foot crushed the remaining shards like dust.
After placing the large sword, which was as tall as an adult man, on his back,
He was about to leave the space when a voluptuous woman with glasses blocked the entrance.
“Still relying on such crude combat methods, Professor Leslie.”
“Angelica. Are you picking a fight in the middle of the day?”
“It’s not a fight. It’s a legitimate critique as a fellow professor.”
“A magic faculty professor lecturing a knight faculty professor. That’s strange.”
“When it comes to combat, the department doesn’t matter. I’m just saying you should fight with a bit more finesse. I’m still amazed you hold the professor position at the academy with nothing but strength.”
“Tch. That’s something you should ask the chancellor about. The one who gave me the professor position is the chancellor, not you.”
The man, called Leslie, grumbled.
Kicking aside a piece of the shattered battle doll, he sent it crashing into the wall.
Seeing this, Angelica furrowed her brow.
“Look at this. You’re someone trusted by His Highness Maximilian, yet you can’t even present yourself with a bit more class. Who would guess you’re the vice-captain of the Imperial First Knight Order?”
“Ah, stop your nagging.”
“What did you say?”
“Finesse, elegance, whatever. In the end, what matters is strength. His Highness’s advantage in the imperial succession struggle is due to his mastery of the sword, isn’t it? In the end, if you have strength, most problems are solved.”
“Ugh, please stop with that talk about power. Do you think acting refined would harm you in any way?”
“Well, I’ll think about it later. Anyway, if you’ve got an unresolved problem, maybe it’s because you’re lacking in strength.”
Leslie smirked as he said this.
Angelica sighed deeply and then changed the subject.
“Oh, by the way, have you heard that the Starell family has betrayed His Highness Maximilian?”
“Yeah. Didn’t the family’s young lady have the Duke’s child? Is that true?”
“How should I know? But I don’t think the Duke would lie, so it’s probably true.”
“Good grief. Not only did they join the Imperial Princess’s faction, but now the Starell family betrays him too. With the Duke’s actions, the succession struggle’s landscape is becoming increasingly chaotic. Should we kidnap the princess?”
“Are you crazy? Even if you’re one of the ten strongest men in the empire, that’s impossible. You haven’t forgotten what happened to the second prince, have you?”
“Oh, right. My bad.”
Leslie scratched his head as if he had just realized.
The public death of the second prince, Albireo, had been publicly declared a suicide.
But those in the know understood that the Duke had orchestrated his death, making it a “suicide.”
If you touched the Duke’s woman, that’s what happened—no one could target him carelessly.
‘The man who treasures his woman above all else… This is the first time I’m facing him directly. I’ll have to see for myself in the next professor meeting.’
Leslie narrowed his eyes as he recalled the Duke’s figure, whom he had only passed by from afar before.
After he crossed his arms and stood there, Angelica turned her body toward the exit.
“Anyway, I came to talk before the professor meeting starts. I’ll be leaving first, so come see me before it’s too late.”
“Yeah, see you later.”
“And His Highness Maximilian will be returning to the capital soon, so keep that in mind.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up and leave.”
Leslie waved his hand dismissively as Angelica exited.
As she left the training ground, Leslie turned around, a serious expression on his face.
“The Duke, huh. This is getting more interesting.”
One of the three Swordmasters in the empire.
He had reportedly won a duel with the head of the Magic Tower without harming the hostages.
What level of skill must he have to face directly?
Leslie unconsciously tightened his fist as he thought about it, heading toward the meeting room.
* * *
“Hmm. So this is the place.”
After finishing my conversation with Liliana, I stood with my hands behind my back in front of the grand conference room door of the Academy’s main building, staring blankly at the reddish-brown door.
Having seen off Milinarize and spent some time grinding against Liliana’s backside, I found myself roughly thirty minutes late to the meeting.
It didn’t seem to be over yet.
Should I just barge in?
Before I possessed this body, I wouldn’t have done such a thing in my old world.
But after becoming a high-ranking noble in this one, a naturally arrogant attitude started to seep out of me.
As I stood there absentmindedly, the spirit tied to my waist—Cheonryeo—spoke up.
[Playing around with women and being late? Impressive.]
‘It couldn’t be helped. If I want to make my women happy, I need to spend as much time with them as possible.’
[Uh-huh. Of course.]
‘Something about your tone seems a bit disrespectful. Do you not want to feed on mana anymore?’
[Sorry, my bad. But… is it really okay to be this late?]
‘You clearly don’t know how this works. It’s natural for people of higher status to arrive late to meetings.’
[Wait, seriously?]
‘Nope.’
[…What the heck…]
Cheonryeo trailed off as if dumbfounded by my answer.
That one… always earnestly reacts, even when I mess with her.
Anyway, I suppose it’s time to go in.
Honestly, the fact that I was late was nagging at me a little.
Endless and Elda were probably waiting inside too.
‘I wonder what they’re discussing in there.’
To find out the answer to that curious thought, I used my authority to open the door while keeping my hands behind my back.
Creak—
“………”
As the door opened, all eyes at the long table turned toward me.
Dozens of gazes, each with different expressions, fixed on me.
They seemed to have been in the middle of a conversation, but fell silent the moment I entered.
Step— Step—
Thud.
“You’ve arrived, Duke.”
“Mm.”
“Thank you for coming despite your busy schedule.”
“It’s fine. I have time to spare.”
“Fufu. With final exams and vacation ahead, we have matters to discuss. We invited you hoping you’d hear us out.”
As I took my seat, Endless smiled from the head of the table.
Still flaunting her massive J-cup chest and those sturdy horn-like handles on her head.
In the midst of it all, I casually spoke to her in informal speech, but seeing as she didn’t react, it seemed fine.
‘I’d like to speak casually to Justia as well.’
Well, it should be okay.
She didn’t seem to mind either.
Besides, after what happened between us recently, she was definitely one of my women now.
And it’s not like it matters—soon I’ll become the Magic King.
Whether it’s a guardian dragon or a princess, I should speak however I want.
“?”
But something felt off.
As I looked around, I noticed the professors in the room were all silently watching me.
Come on, don’t make it awkward.
I opened my mouth and said,
“Continue.”
“Ah, yes.”
The professor with the grand mustache responded, then began rambling on about final exams and whatnot.
I leaned my chin on my hand and let the words flow in one ear and out the other.
Beside me, Elda whispered,
“You came, my husband.”
“With you here, of course I did.”
“Ah… ahem. So, the High Priest has returned to the temple?”
“Yeah. Left this morning.”
“I see.”
Elda gave a small nod.
Looked like she didn’t intend to chat much, what with the meeting going on.
As expected, meetings are boring no matter where you are.
Though… I was getting slightly annoyed by the constant stares I’d been feeling.
‘Hmm.’
There were twelve people in the conference room.
Some showed subtle fear on their faces.
Others looked curious.
The rest… were cautious.
‘Geez. Are these reactions because of the imperial succession struggle?’
It was a clear split—former supporters of the second prince looking nervous, the neutral faction trying to curry favor, and the first prince’s allies looking tense.
Is this what it feels like to suddenly become the key player in the succession game?
At that moment, I felt an especially intense gaze and looked up to find a lion-like man staring straight at me.
‘Who the hell is that guy?’
Why’s he looking at me like that?
His eyes were carefully analyzing my mana.
He had the presence of a beast, yet his gaze was sharp—clearly trying to gauge my level.
‘Must be someone from the first prince’s camp.’
I vaguely recalled someone like him among the Knight Faculty’s professors.
Was his name Leslie?
The look in his eyes showed deep wariness.
Whoever he was, he clearly wasn’t friendly.
‘Annoying.’
Trying to assess my power without even introducing himself?
Maybe it’s time to teach him a lesson and check something while I’m at it.
As the mustached professor droned on beside me,
I turned my awareness inward, sensing the energy flowing through my body.
What I wanted to show him… was the origin of the Absolute Sovereign.
More precisely, the thing that stirs within me whenever I use my authority.
Normally I don’t feel it, but whenever I invoke my power, I get the distinct sense that it’s lending me strength.
I think of it as my origin.
If I can understand it better, it might help me ascend to a higher realm.
I want to reach Grandmaster soon.
Now, what would happen if I showed this to that lion-like guy?
From the looks of it, he’s at the peak of Sword Graduate level.
‘Let’s give it a shot.’
Having decided, I used my authority to grab his gaze that had been trying to assess my mana.
!?
As his gaze was caught, he flinched.
What’s wrong?
Didn’t you want to see my power?
Well then—you might as well see it properly.
Curious about how he’d react, I dragged his gaze toward the origin of the Absolute Sovereign.
Whooosh—
“Hurk!”
As the lion-like man peered into my origin, his eyes flew wide open, nearly tearing at the corners.
Then, despite his size, he began trembling uncontrollably.
His strange reaction drew the attention of the bespectacled professor beside him.
With everyone’s gaze turning toward him,
His face went pale, and he abruptly stood up, shouting:
“Aaaaaargh!”