Old Grudges

The next day, after King Norwick's departure, Doom's new curriculum was put on the agenda.

Following his mother with a Champion Swordsman as his guard, Doom found Harlan's attire unusually formal today.

His pure-white power armor was covered in scars yet exceptionally clean. Doom's personal emblem was engraved on the left chest, while a blue cloak with gold trim hung behind him, embroidered with Doom's emblem as well.

Doom kept his excitement buried deep inside, showing nothing on his face. However, his wandering gaze as he looked around along the way still betrayed his anticipation.

The War Academy. The foundation of the Guardian Domain. All the laws of war and the training of warriors were completed within the academy.

Selected youths who passed the requirements entered the academy at seventeen, where they learned everything related to warfare.

After at least thirty years of brutal training and lengthy, systematic psychological conditioning, they began their graduation assessments.

A warrior who graduated successfully could expertly employ the detailed tactical methods he had learned and complete missions under extreme circumstances, even without power armor and while unarmed.

Warriors who had undergone psychological conditioning were pure. They would not become dejected by failure, proud because of success, fearful in the face of powerful enemies, or compassionate toward the weak.

Their tenacious minds would build a high wall deep within their consciousness, blocking all unnecessary thoughts detrimental to reason.

From the day a warrior apprentice graduated from the War Academy, he became a qualified member of the Night Watchers.

They would become Nul's sharpest blades and its unbreakable bulwark.

The War Academy provided the Norwick Dynasty with at least five hundred people every year to maintain the Guardian Domain's absolute military might.

At its peak, the Night Watchers had thirty thousand qualified warriors, enough to sweep across all of Nul and suppress every petty villain.

Doom was filled with anticipation as he prepared to undergo warrior training.

In the past, his mother had educated him gently, patiently teaching him experience and knowledge and answering his questions without tiring. But like every other family in the Guardian Domain, she had imposed one mandatory requirement:

Before she gave her consent, he had to respect her and stay away from the War Academy.

Because the War Academy was saturated with violence and bound to all forms of killing. Conflict and destruction were its eternal, unchanging refrain.

The Guardian Domain took pride in the Night Watchers and respected and worshiped the warriors who protected their home and country, but it did not blindly believe in them.

Before children's minds matured, many mothers forbade their sons from coming into contact with too much violence.

"Mom, isn't this the wrong road to the Command Branch?"

Following his mother, Doom realized that something was off about their destination. According to royal tradition, a prince entering the War Academy first went to the Command Branch to study military command. After that, he pursued other studies according to the royal family's arrangements or his own needs.

Queen Daisy smiled gently at her son, tenderness nearly overflowing from her eyes, but she did not answer his question. She took his hand and continued forward.

When the three of them arrived at their destination, Doom finally learned what his first branch would be!

On the training grounds, warrior apprentices with towering builds and an average height of 2.3 meters fought one another, sweating as they competed in martial skill.

They wore only shorts and no auxiliary equipment. Their wheat-colored muscles gleamed beneath the sunlight as they fought one another with primitive swords and knives, deciding the victor.

"Your Majesty the Queen, Your Highness the Prince."

The warrior apprentices did not come forward to pay their respects. Instead, an old man with a full beard approached them.

The handsome old man's thick white hair was combed back, and his full beard was neatly trimmed. He smiled peacefully, deep wrinkles appearing on his face.

"Xilan! I haven't seen you in ages!" Doom cried out in delight and ran over to hug the old man.

Xilan, the Court Swordsman! He had served the old King Norwick and taught the current King Norwick.

Nearly three hundred years old, he was now the dean of the Duel Branch, responsible for teaching swordsmanship to warrior apprentices.

During the Siege War, he had stood beside King Norwick as the king's most trusted companion. He had witnessed Doom's arrival in the world and looked after Doom for several days.

"Whoa~" Xilan caught Doom as he crashed into his leg, marveling at the strength he now possessed. His face was full of smiles. "Little Doom, I haven't seen you for a month, and you've grown taller again!"

Doom acted without restraint beside the old man. He raised his head to look up at him, his face full of smug pride. "I eat well and sleep well, so of course I grow quickly!"

"Hey, old man!"

A harsh, utterly impolite voice rang out, making Xilan's expression change. He hated the owner of that voice.

The old man was no pushover either. His aged face was filled with contempt as he replied sarcastically, "Well, well, who could it be? If it isn't the Savage Swordsman, Harlan!"

"What? You still haven't died on the battlefield?"

"Heh heh~ I won't die even on the day you die of old age!" Harlan replied with a disdainful laugh. He showed no respect for his elder, only bluntly arguing back.

The Champion Swordsman turned around "casually," facing Xilan and "accidentally" revealing the red personal emblem on the left chest of his armor.

"How is that possible?" Xilan cried out in shock. He had seen it. A warrior's habitual, meticulous observation had let him spot the emblem on Harlan's chest at first glance.

"Doom!" The Court Swordsman crouched solemnly before Doom and asked with utmost seriousness, "Did he use some despicable trick to make you accept him as your personal guard?"

Doom looked bewildered, not quite understanding the relationship between the two men. They seemed rather unfriendly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, old man. You need to look at this!"

Harlan looked smug as he removed a holographic projector from his waist. It displayed a three-dimensional recording of yesterday's oath-taking ceremony, without missing a single detail.

The sight before him transformed Xilan's expression from disdain to solemnity and finally to stunned blankness. He stood there, speechless.

Queen Daisy walked lightly, disturbing nothing. She quietly pulled Doom away from the old man.

Doom looked at his mother in confusion and was about to ask a question when Daisy covered his mouth.

"Shh!" Queen Daisy pressed her slender index finger to her lips, signaling him not to make a sound. She gave him a playful wink, making Doom look forward to what would happen next.

"Take a look at this, too!" Harlan turned around smugly and revealed the emblem on his blue cloak.

Xilan's expression shifted rapidly from livid to calm. It took him less than a second.

Then he smiled easily. "Congratulations. You now possess an honor equal to mine."

With that, he turned and walked toward the edge of the training grounds. He took a stone sword from the weapon rack and tossed it before Harlan. "Come! Let me see whether you're qualified to shoulder this responsibility."

"Hmph! You think I'm afraid of you?" Harlan sneered, then shouted toward the training grounds, "Someone come over here! Take off my armor!"

Who wouldn't want to watch a duel between the Court Swordsman and the Champion Swordsman?

Duels like this were common throughout the Duel Branch. The apprentices soon took their seats in the stands around the training grounds, eagerly awaiting a clash between two warriors at the pinnacle of swordsmanship.

Several students came over to Harlan and helped remove his power armor.

"What's wrong with them?" Doom did not understand. What grudge did the Court Swordsman and Xilan hold against each other?

"It's complicated." Daisy put an arm around Doom's shoulders and patiently explained beside her son's ear:

"Master Xilan is a Court Swordsman with extraordinary swordsmanship. He was also your grandfather's personal guard, possessing exceptional strength and countless honors.

"Haran Ogilvy's swordsmanship is superb, and he, too, is covered in honors. But he isn't a royal guard, so he has always been a level below."

"The matter that truly caused their grudge is very..." Daisy pondered for a while before finally uttering two words: "Complicated."

As his mother explained, Doom gradually came to understand the reason for their hostility and mutual grudge.

Anticipation shone in his eyes as he looked at the two men on the training grounds.

During his academy years, Haran Ogilvy had been an outstanding student. Xilan had once been his teacher and had liked him very much.

On the battlefield, Haran had slain enemy generals and killed foes. With his intensely personal style of swordsmanship, he had earned the title of Swordsmanship Master.

As a Swordsmanship Master, one could submit an application to have a holographic recording entered into the Royal Swordplay Archive as a reference for the royal family's inherited swordsmanship.

It was an immense honor, and the lifelong pursuit of every Grand Swordsman.

But Haran's swordsmanship projection was rejected for a very straightforward reason. Xilan believed that his swordsmanship was not swordsmanship at all, but rather an intense instinct, not swordsmanship.

Members of the royal family should not learn this "swordsmanship" of swinging a blade like beasts, relying on instinct.

Harlan strongly disagreed with Xilan. He believed that humans were beasts as well, and the royal family were human. At the instant victory or defeat was decided, instinct was sometimes more effective than sword techniques.

The argument between the two had a major impact. In the end, student and teacher parted on bad terms.

Then, one afternoon, Harlan grew angrier the more he thought about it. He blocked the entrance to Xilan's home and cursed him for three full hours.

Just as he was gloating, convinced that Xilan was a coward who did not dare to come out and face him, Xilan appeared behind him carrying vegetables he had bought at the market.

Without saying a word, the two tacitly found a place and engaged in a secret duel.

No one knew the result of the duel. Afterward, Xilan stated on many occasions that instinct was indeed effective sometimes—but not often!

Harlan also stated that rigid, orthodox swordsmanship could sometimes produce unexpected results—but not often!

This outcome allowed everyone who had been following them to breathe a sigh of relief, recognizing it as the beginning of their relationship being repaired.

But what happened afterward twisted their relationship even further.

Harlan quietly married the old man Xilan's beloved granddaughter!

When the granddaughter stood before the old man holding the marriage certificate and leading Harlan by the hand, declaring that she loved only this man for the rest of her life, Xilan, who had spent his entire life shedding blood but never tears, cried.

He rushed out of the house in tears, challenged the employee handling marriage registrations at the Office of Internal Affairs to a duel, and beat the man half to death!

In the past, their strength had been roughly equal. Harlan had been slightly inferior in terms of honors and had always been held down.

But things were different now. After becoming a royal guard, Harlan possessed honors equal to those of old Xilan.

He had come for revenge!