Always Showing Off Feels Great

A Guardian Knight's duty was to take the blade for the person they protected. Put more nicely, it meant doing everything in their power to protect them.

Though it sounded like being a death warrior, this position was highly sought after among noble children, especially the role of Guardian Knight to an important member of the royal family.

My grandfather, Darius, had been the Guardian Knight of the current King of Asura, Leonard Alec Asura, in his youth. I heard he had been quite handsome back then, and he was also very skilled with magic.

Unlike death warriors, Guardian Knights needed to remain by their charge's side for long periods while carrying weapons, so only someone deeply trusted could take on the role.

History had proven that once one person became another's Guardian Knight, their relationship would quickly grow closer.

And thus, they would forge a deep friendship.

The Silver Palace stood in the heart of Ars, the royal capital, atop a hill that was not particularly tall but high enough to overlook the entire city. Its white palace complex gleamed beneath the sunlight, like "a silver crown set upon the plains." The palace itself was dominated by silvery-white tones, its outer walls built from special magic-reinforced stone that was both solemn and luxurious. From afar, its spires and arched doorways formed elegant lines, while gems symbolizing royal authority were set into its domes. At night, magic formations lit them up, as though stars had fallen into the mortal world.

Its interior was incomparably grand. Huge portraits of past kings hung in the marble-floored central hall, while crystal chandeliers powered by high-level light magic cast magnificent patterns of light through stained-glass windows.

But this time, I was headed for Ariel's residence, the Silver Tear Palace. Led by a servant, I had to walk for nearly another twenty minutes before reaching my destination.

The Silver Tear Palace was built in the style of a Renaissance court castle, its main structure made of white limestone, with arched windows adorned in gilded reliefs and Gothic spires. Moonstones were embedded in its domes, giving off a faint deep-blue glow at night.

When I arrived, the princess was not in the palace. After asking a servant, I followed a hundred-meter colonnade extending from the eastern wing and entered the palace gardens.

As expected of a royal garden, it had a hedge maze, a teardrop-shaped mirror pond, and even a small hill in the distance.

When I reached the courtyard by the central lake, I saw today's main character.

To my surprise, she was not alone. There was a whole crowd around her, with Luke standing closest to Ariel.

The lively chatter immediately fell silent when they saw me arrive. Every one of them looked at me with hostility.

I stepped forward and gave Ariel a one-knee knight's salute. Normally, she should have extended the back of her hand at this point and allowed me to kiss it.

But something seemed to have gone wrong.

The people around Ariel surrounded her protectively, as if they had seen some prehistoric beast.

One bold boy, around thirteen years old, stepped forward and said, "Darius's demon, get out! Don't come near and hurt Her Highness the princess!" The other children behind him shouted in unison, "Get out! Get out! Demon!"

They varied in age. Some were seven or eight, some looked to be in their teens, and some, like me, were only around five.

But they all had one thing in common.

They were all children to me.

So why would I care about what children said? Besides, if I were in their position, I would look down on anyone connected to Darius too. His reputation was truly terrible.

But I had no intention of indulging them.

Without waiting for the princess to speak, I stood up on my own.

I looked at them with calm, utterly unruffled eyes. "Who are you? I am Princess Ariel's Guardian Knight, and I have the duty to protect Princess Ariel. You may not remain by Princess Ariel's side without my permission. Leave now."

The atmosphere instantly grew heated again. The little brats all started yelling at once, like a hornet's nest that had been poked. Several of the older boys were already rolling up their sleeves, clearly preparing to fight.

I retreated more than ten steps, leaving enough room so I would not accidentally hurt anyone important, then said, "If you still refuse to leave, don't blame me for taking action."

Perhaps because I had retreated, or perhaps because I was so small, the oldest among them charged at me. They swung fists the size of sandbags straight at my face.

I did not underestimate them. I immediately cast the beginner wind spell Wind Gale before me. A sudden gust appeared out of nowhere and blew the children charging at the front straight onto the ground.

Of course, I held back, and no irreparable casualties occurred. After seeing me easily knock down the older children in front with magic, the younger ones behind them pulled out wands that looked quite impressive and began casting spells.

May the great blessing of water descend upon that which you seek! Let the cool, flowing stream appear here and now—Water Ball.

The great blessing of water offers itself to that which you seek; let the flowing stream appear once more—Water Arrow.

Fiery spirit of flame, become the blaze that burns away thorns—Fire Ball.

Spirit of earth, gather into rock that pierces falsehood—Rock Strike.

They knew quite a few kinds of magic. Seeing all sorts of magical lights flashing, I casually waved a hand. An earthen wall about as tall as I was and one meter wide rose before me. To be safe, I placed my hand on it and secretly reinforced its structure with earth magic, making it harder and thinner until it became an earth shield.

Just as expected, every spell struck my earth shield without leaving a single mark.

Standing behind the earth shield, I raised both hands and combined the earth and fire elements within it, forming a blazing red magma sphere nearly half a meter in diameter, with molten lava dancing across its surface.

This move did not have a name yet, since I had casually made it up to scare people. I would call it Magma Bomb for now!

I fired the sphere at them. The children were probably stunned when they saw the magma ball coming. They might have expected me to deal with them, but they definitely had not expected Princess Ariel herself to be within my attack range.

The magma ball flew toward them at incredible speed. Unexpectedly, most of them did not run. Those standing beside Ariel bravely stepped in front of her, preparing to take the spell with their own bodies.

Fortunately, things did not develop in the worst possible direction. The massive magma ball passed over their heads, scorching the hair atop several taller children's heads, then fell into the lake behind them in a perfect arc.

The high-temperature magma boiled part of the lakewater, sending pale smoke rising from the surface.

I hoped I had not scared the children too badly.

I quietly walked forward. This time, no one dared stop me.

When I reached the courtyard, I calmly looked at those standing before Ariel. Luke was among them.

In a relatively mild tone, without mockery or sarcasm, I said, "Your courage is commendable, but you are not even qualified to be human shields. You could not last a second against an enemy. What use are you at all?"

Showing off feels so great. I've wanted to do that for ages.

I walked up to Ariel and prepared to kneel again in salute. But when I saw a puddle of slightly yellow liquid on the ground, I felt a little disgusted. In the end, I did not kneel.

I performed a common noble greeting and said to Ariel, "Your Highness Ariel, seeing that so many people are willing to protect you with their lives puts my mind at ease. I have recently been feeling dizzy and must rest at home for several days, so I am asking leave from you here. If there are any problems, you may send someone to contact me at my home."

Without waiting for Her Highness to react, I turned and left without looking back.

After I had gone far away, the hangers-on around Ariel gathered around her again. Standing amid the crowd, Ariel pressed her lips together and said nothing, looking as though she had suffered an enormous injustice. She had not spoken a single word all day and had been frightened into wetting herself by me. Though she felt humiliated, strange thoughts seemed to awaken within her as well.

Seeing her pitiful appearance, her companions immediately began chattering as they condemned me. They said things like I was too arrogant and had no respect for the princess, that I should be thrown into prison, and so on. Naturally, I could not hear any of it. Even if I had, I would not have cared.

Everything today had been within my calculations. The king had made me Ariel's Escort Knight only to place shackles on my grandfather Darius, preventing him from harming Ariel without restraint. So the important thing was that I possessed the identity of an Escort Knight. Whether I was actually by Ariel's side did not matter at all.

Scaring those children had merely been something I did on a whim. Keeping them away from me would make things quieter too. At the very least, the next time they saw me, I believed not one of them would dare breathe loudly in front of me.

That way, as long as Ariel did not die, this would have nothing to do with me.

I really was a clever little guy.

After that, my daily life returned to normal. Ariel never summoned me again.

I returned to my peaceful days of attending classes on both sides and studying magic whenever I had nothing to do while holding Isolte's little hand.

The summer of the year after Ariel's birthday celebration.

Today was an important day for every Water God Style warrior.

Most of the Water God Style warriors in the Asura Kingdom had gathered at the Water God Style Main Dojo in Ars.

Though the dojo was large, it still seemed extremely crowded.

On this day, the Water God Style held its ranking matches.

The ranking matches were divided into two halves.

The first half was for warriors below Saint Rank. Every participant could choose another warrior at the rank they wanted to attain and challenge them. The winner would be promoted to their target rank.

For example, I was currently Intermediate in the Water God Style. If I wanted to advance to Advanced, I needed to challenge an Advanced Water God Style warrior. If I won, I could publicly call myself Advanced Water God Style.

The format was the same as a normal sparring match. One side defended while the other attacked, then they switched roles and did it again. If each side won once, they had to find another warrior to challenge, continuing until they had won both while attacking and defending.

It looked rather crude, but the actual reward was only a title. If you did not compete, you could still go around calling yourself Advanced. But such an empty title was merely self-deception. Warriors like that died quickly, because many warriors liked challenging those of higher rank. They would be exposed very easily.

There were fewer Saint Rank warriors and above. Moreover, most warriors who regularly traveled outside had their own nicknames. Eris, for example, had once been known as the Mad Sword King. Thus, even fewer people pretended to be Saint Rank warriors.

Back to the point: both Isolte and I were participating in the Advanced rank matches today.

The opponent I selected was a thin man. In my view, the Water God Style was a school that placed greater emphasis on defense than offense. Its technical demands were somewhat lower than those of the North God Style and Sword God Style. Pure strength and a sturdy body were the solid foundation of the Water God Style.

However, that theory probably only applied below Saint Rank. The few people above Water Saint all seemed to have average builds, neither fat nor thin, while the Water God herself was an old woman in her sixties.

The match began. I attacked first, while he defended.

On the training ground, where the morning mist had yet to disperse, my opponent and I stood facing one another. He held his sword in his left hand against his forearm, his right palm lightly pressing against the hilt as he gave a sword-bearing salute. I lowered my sword tip to the ground, covered my right fist with my left hand, and returned the gesture with a lowered-sword salute. When our eyes met, his battle aura silently spread around him like ripples on a lake. Fallen leaves within three zhang of his feet were lifted by the airflow, hovering in a ring. This was the unique realm of Flow Perception possessed by Water God Style experts, using battle aura to sense an opponent's breathing and center of gravity.

I stepped forward first and drew Meteor, its blade tracing a semicircle as it slashed toward his wrist, the movement as natural as a flowing stream. My opponent did not draw his sword. He merely angled his scabbard to block. At the moment of contact, battle aura flowed through it, turning the force of my strike into a sideways push and deflecting my blade three inches away.

I smoothly changed moves, my sword suddenly accelerating like pouring rain. Yet my opponent shifted slightly and tapped his scabbard toward my elbow. If that strike landed, it would trigger the Intermediate Water God Style sword technique, Counterflow, forcing me to drop my sword. Fortunately, I retreated quickly and pressed the flat of my blade against his scabbard, using rotational force to transform my attack into an arcing sword light that drew an azure curve between us.

Meteor stopped at his chest and abdomen, and I won the round with ease.

The defensive round was even simpler. I used Meteor to perform the Water God Style's Swordlight Shield in front of me. I easily blocked his attacks. Since I had simulated it with magic, many spectators watching the match pointed and whispered.

But I was not the least bit guilty. The fact that I had not made a Big Fireball with magic and blasted them was already me showing them plenty of respect.

Wasn't using magic to simulate Water God Style techniques exactly what the First Water God had done? They were probably just jealous of me.

Perhaps they had been informed in advance, but the referee did not penalize me for my actions. Just like that, I easily earned the title of Advanced Water God Style.

Isolte also won her match easily. As disciples of Water God Leda Reia, neither of us had brought shame upon our old teacher.

Isolte came over with a bright smile to celebrate our victory.

Even after the matches ended, she kept chattering away.

"Dawn, let me tell you, this morning's matches were just appetizers. There was nothing worth watching. The afternoon duels are the real highlight. I heard that anyone below Saint Rank isn't even allowed to watch.

Come on, come on. Your senior sister will sneak you in through the back door. I heard a Sword King is challenging the Thousand Waterfall Sword Emperor this time! Oh, right, and the Thousand Waterfall Sword Emperor is planning to challenge our teacher for the title of Water God. I'm really looking forward to it!"

And so, holding hands, we snuck into the main Water God Style dojo from the back.