Chapter 81

"Are you saying I'm not the king?"

At Louis' sudden and rude remark, even the gentle Kojirou furrowed his brow.

In an instant, the atmosphere in the room became the worst, and Louis and Kojirou exchanged sharp glances.

The air was tense.

Regas, sensing the abnormal situation, stepped between them.

"What, what a rude thing to say, Louis!! I'm sorry, Mr. Kojirou, my student is being rude..."

Saying this, Regas bowed repeatedly.

His forehead was drenched in an unusual amount of sweat.

But that was only natural.

If the Sword King Kojirou were to be offended, no one knew what he might do.

No matter how gentle he was, Kojirou was a warrior and could potentially cut down a student in a fit of anger.

"Please, please show some mercy..."

"Hehe, don't worry. I won't lose my temper with a child."

When Kojirou said this, Regas let out a sigh of relief.

Then he turned to Louis, grabbed his shoulder, and spoke as if trying to reason with him.

"Why do you say such things, Louis? This person is a famous swordsman who is in high demand in many places, you know?"

Regas desperately defended Kojirou.

But Louis' resolve did not waver.

"I understand that you called Mr. Kojirou for our sake. It must have cost a lot of money, and it's not right to say this to such a great teacher... but he is still not a 'king.'"

Saying this, Louis did not change his stance.

Then Kojirou said, "Oh dear," and approached Louis.

"I don't like to show off, but I have no choice after being accused like this."

As he said this, Kojirou rolled up the sleeve of his right arm and showed his upper arm to Louis.

There, a golden emblem, the 'King's Mark,' shone.

It was undoubtedly the proof of a king.

"How about that? Are you satisfied now?"

"...It's well-made. Someone who hasn't seen the 'real thing' would be fooled by this."

Louis said this and placed his hand over Kojirou's King's Mark, suddenly releasing magic.

Then, a spark flew from Kojirou's golden King's Mark.

"Hot!"

Kojirou quickly pulled back his arm.

He rubbed his suddenly hot arm... and when he let go, the golden King's Mark was gone, replaced by a silver emblem.

Seeing this, Regas was shocked and confronted Kojirou.

"W-What's going on!? The color of this light is not the King's Mark, but the General's Mark!!"

"......"

Confronted by Regas, Kojirou fell silent.

Kojirou had been teaching in various places under the pretense of being a holder of the King's Mark. This was a serious breach of contract.

If it were discovered, it would be a major issue.

However, Kojirou did not lose his composure even in this situation.

"Oh, so it's been found out, huh?"

Kojirou said this without any sign of remorse.

"The business of using the King's Mark for lectures was going well. I didn't expect to be stopped by a kid like this."

Saying this, Kojirou looked at Louis.

There was no anger in his narrow eyes, but Louis felt a terrifying killing intent in the depths of those eyes, making his skin crawl.

The other students and Regas also sensed the change and braced themselves.

Before they knew it, Kojirou was surrounded by the students.

"Well, it's clear you won't let me go back quietly."

"Of course not, impersonating a king is a crime in our kingdom. We'll have to take you in quietly."

Prince Yuri urged, but Kojirou did not comply.

Then... he quietly said, "Well, there's no helping it," and took a surprising action.

"Since it's come to this, there's no choice. I'll have to kill everyone."

Saying this, he pulled a small knife from his pocket and deeply slashed Regas' abdomen, who was nearby.