Chapter 148: Chapter 148

The plan to craft a shield using part of the True Gold obtained from the previous Demonic Realm expedition had been established quite some time ago.

To this end, the kingdom’s finest blacksmith and artisan jeweler, along with several mages from a school skilled in magic tool crafting, were mobilized.

Following the blueprint drawn by the Queen, they used all sorts of rare minerals (including True Gold and True Silver) and valuable byproducts of magic beasts.

Thus, after several months had passed, the resulting outcome was precisely this shield before his eyes.

First of all, in ordinary times, it could be made into a shape similar to a bracelet worn on the wrist; depending on the wearer’s will, it transformed from a small buckler covering the forearm to a long kite shield shape held directly by hand, or even a large rectangular tower shield.

True Silver in the middle assisted the weight-reduction magic above the shock-absorbing lining, and above all, the True Gold coated on the outermost section shifted in response to incoming attacks, possessing the most flawless defensive capability.

“In particular, when responding to physical attacks, it will take on properties like True Iron. In theory, even a full-power fist swung by an ogre can be blocked without taking significant damage.”

Listening to the explanation, Shan exclaimed, “Oh.”

Simply using it in the shape of a shield was something even A Thousand Shapes could handle, but in terms of defensive capability, the difference was beyond comparison.

Let alone battles against magic beasts, considering that there was no need to exert any Fighting Spirit whatsoever to defend, it held a tremendous advantage even in combat against knights.

Even if he used A Thousand Shapes like a shield, unless he infused Fighting Spirit into it, it would end up being sliced cleanly by the magic weapons of skilled knights like Lug or Ravana.

Furthermore, the method of dealing with elemental attacks was not ordinary either.

For instance, if one blocked a fire-breathing attack with a normal shield, the flames would pass right over the shield and roast the person; however, if blocked with this shield, the emanating cold air neutralized the flames and protected the user.

“With this degree, it won’t fall behind even when compared to A Thousand Shapes.”

“At least no matter where you go out to fight, taking this along will allow you to feel a bit more at ease.”

As Shan, who had changed the shield’s form several times, smiled with an expression as if he had obtained a fun toy, Cheryn said so and let out a soft sigh.

“Honestly, crafting it as armor rather than a shield would be safer, but no matter how I thought about it, an armor with such functions couldn’t be made. It wasn’t a problem of the amount of True Gold, but structurally it was too complex.”

If they worked hard somehow, they might be able to make a helm that way, but the conclusion was that making it into a shield was better than doing that.

If full plate armor with such functions existed, one truly could have become an invincible warrior.

Though Shan felt regretful, he nodded in agreement.

“By any chance, does this have a name?”

“Yes. Originally I thought about letting you name it yourself, but still, naming it myself makes it feel like giving a proper gift.”

Saying it bothered her that she couldn’t participate much in the actual crafting due to being so busy, Cheryn stroked the shield and spoke.

“Wall of Silence.”

“Wall of Silence?”

“It means that all attacks grow silent before this shield.”

Shan looked down at the shield, then nodded.

In truth, he had thought of names like ‘Immortal’ or ‘The Unbroken’, but he felt that this was also quite poetic and not bad.

*

After receiving the gift, Shan returned to his mansion and handled the work that had piled up in the meantime.

First of all, the very first thing he checked was the matter of the Altoan acrobatics troupe.

While Shan was away due to the war with Ruman, they had recovered their health to some extent and returned to Hasra by ship; thanks to having contacted his butler Enselo in advance, he was told that Enselo had looked after them and found decent jobs for each of them.

“Shall I call them over, Master?”

“No, that’s fine.”

Shan hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

It was enough that they were living well, and he did not wish to unnecessarily call them out only to see them feel uncomfortable around him again.

Next, he checked on the matter of Blois Barbelka, the son Count of Palles and Cheryn’s cousin.

Originally, when Blois was coming from Palles to Hasra, Shan had agreed to become his guardian, but because Shan had emptied Hasra for months due to the war with Ruman, he had been unable to pay any attention to Blois.

Fortunately, Blois had not been idling around at all.

“He enrolled in the knight academy?”

“Yes. Although he is living in the dormitory, his luggage has been kept here at the Velakar Mansion.”

The Pendia Royal Knight Academy had been conducting classes in earnest for a while now, and as it gathered and raised talented boys from all over Pendia, both the training intensity and curriculum were famous for being harsh yet sophisticated.

With the principal being that Darkal, there was no way he would teach half-heartedly.

Since he would meet Blois anyway during the victory festival, Shan decided not to bother visiting the academy.

As he handled several tasks inside the household and checked the capital’s security duties as the Lord Protector, a few days flew by, and finally, the victory festival began.

Just as it had been during Cheryn’s coming-of-age ceremony, the streets were covered with flower petals, and people celebrated their kingdom’s victory with alcohol and songs.

They clinked their glasses in joy over the great Lord Protector and the terrible end of the Ruman pirates who had defiled their kingdom’s honor.

Although war originally devastated a nation, the reason everyone’s atmosphere was bright was that this war was fought abroad strictly by professional soldiers.

If thousands of sturdy men from the capital had been conscripted and over half had returned dead, the mood could never have been like this.

This was also the reason why Pendia’s internal affairs, far from declining during the past war, actually flourished.

Because if young and sturdy farmers, servants, and laborers disappeared as soldiers, the kingdom was bound to be shaken that much.

The banquet hall of the Red Palace.

Shan stood beside Cheryn, gazing at those gathered in the banquet hall.

Most of the bureaucrats, military nobles, and their families who followed Cheryn were familiar faces with considerable intimacy, but imagining what they would think of today’s announcement made him break into a cold sweat.

As if reading Shan’s mood, Cheryn smiled and whispered.

“Don’t be so nervous. When you act like that, it feels like I’m going to get nervous for no reason.”

Hearing those words, Shan, feeling his tension ease slightly, let out a soft sigh and smiled despite himself.

Before long, Cheryn looked at the others and began her speech in a clear and distinct voice.

“In the name of the Queen, I express my gratitude to everyone for gathering here despite your busy schedules. This festival is to congratulate the brave warriors who won a great victory over those wicked pirates of the south…”

After listing the usual conventional phrases, Cheryn finally brought out the introduction.

“Thus, in order to promote friendship with the Count of Meln in the near future, the marriage of his younger sister, Venoa Chambel, and Baron Roden Weavers of Boldran will take place. I hope everyone will congratulate them with joyful hearts.”

As soon as her words ended, the people gathered in the banquet hall welcomed it with thunderous applause.

Nobles acquainted with him patted his shoulders.

“Congratulations, Baron!”

“My daughter is going to be so disappointed! I wanted a son-in-law like you…”

“Don’t listen to this man. His daughter is only thirteen years old!”

“Ahem! They’re only eleven years apart! My grandmother was twenty-eight years younger than my grandfather!”

Everyone knew that the proportion of warships and troops lent by the Count of Meln in this war was far from small, and how great a help trading with them would be to Pendia.

Already trusted by the Queen and the Lord Protector, and now bound by marriage with a powerful foreign noble, this young man was certain to become a powerful figure in the kingdom in the future.

Roden cleared his throat with a flushed face and received the shower of congratulations pouring in from around him.

After bringing up that topic, Cheryn continued her second statement.

This time, perhaps she too was somewhat nervous, as her voice was lowered slightly.

“And I would like to speak of the hero who served as the commander-in-chief of this war and displayed the most outstanding achievements.”

Naturally, everyone’s gaze gathered on Shan.

The one who leaped between ships alone to slaughter hundreds of pirates, scaled the walls of Licharzo Island, escaped after being buried in an underground passage dozens of meters deep, and burned down an entire nation’s capital.

Even one of those deeds would leave a mark in history, yet he had accomplished several in a single war, making it almost wasteful to even speak of.

“Duke Velakar fulfilled his duty as the kingdom’s Lord Protector, but originally, a knight who demonstrated such valor should receive a fitting reward. Is that not so?”

“That is right!”

“However, he is already the highest-ranking noble in the kingdom and the one who commands all troops. What I can give him is only this, but I could hardly give him this, could I?”

Saying so while playfully adjusting the crown on her head, Cheryn’s appearance was incomparably charming, causing several young nobles to wear entranced expressions despite themselves.

Of course, they had to flinch at the sharp gaze of the Lord Protector standing right next to her and lower their eyes.

“Therefore, I give myself to him as a gift, and I also intend to possess him. The seat beside the Queen of Pendia shall be a gift fitting for a hero who brought down a nation.”

At the news that the Queen chose an Altoan as her consort, Shan had expected shock and confusion, but unexpectedly, the nobles’ response was lukewarm.

It was an atmosphere as if they had resigned themselves, thinking, ‘What was bound to come has finally arrived.’

Only a few young noble scions of low status wore shocked expressions.

After a brief silence flowed, one person broke the quiet by clapping his hands.

It was none other than Roden.

“Long live Her Majesty the Queen! Long live the Lord Protector!”

“May Pendia last forever!”

“The greatest warrior claims the most beautiful woman!”

As his boisterous voice resounded, the others also matched the mood, shouting and clapping.

Amid cheers even greater than the ones Roden had received moments ago, Shan glared sideways at Cheryn.

‘And here she said it wouldn’t be easy…’

While planning the engagement declaration the day before, Cheryn had confidently claimed that although there might be some backlash, she would smooth it over.

Yet judging by this reaction now, it appeared she had already persuaded all the nobles long ago.

As Shan grimaced upon realizing he had been played, Cheryn smirked playfully.

After exchanging glanced for a moment, Shan knelt on one knee before Cheryn for the next process and spoke.

“Your Majesty, I no longer wish to be a sword that protects the kingdom, but one who protects Your Majesty’s smile and family. Will you grant your permission?”

“I grant it.”

Though the two had already been informally engaged, publicly declaring it before everyone was a first.

As Cheryn replied with a slightly flushed face and extended her hand, Shan kissed it.

Placing her hand on the shoulder of Shan, who stood up from his seat, Cheryn spoke to all the nobles present who would serve as witnesses.

“In accordance with ancient law, the marriage shall take place on the first day of the year following the Lord Protector’s coming-of-age. Let this be proclaimed far and wide to all people of the kingdom.”

*

After the shocking engagement declaration, Shan was bombarded with questions by many people, just as Roden had been.

This was especially true because bureaucratic nobles tended to find Queen Cheryn difficult to approach.

While answering various questions, Shan also came to converse with Blois, who had come out on leave from the knight academy.

Whether the knight training was severe, the boy’s cheek fat had thinned out so much that he looked several years older.

“Now we’re really becoming relatives, Big Brother!”

Blois seemed immensely delighted by Shan and Cheryn’s engagement.

It was natural, since he had admired Shan ever since he hunted the ogre and won the jousting tournament in the past.

Shan patted the excited Blois’s shoulder to calm him down and asked.

“That’s how it turned out. More importantly, is the knight academy manageable? I couldn’t pay much attention as your guardian.”

“I feel like I’m going to die…”

The boy let out a sigh and shook his head without even the bravado typical of his age.

Shortly after, feeling that such an attitude lacked dignity, he cleared his throat with a ‘ahem’ and spoke maturely.

“Still, I have to endure it if I want to become a splendid knight.”

“It’s certainly not something that comes easily.”

Shan smiled bitterly, recalling the hellish training he had undergone in the past to acquire Fighting Spirit.

Truly, that was so terrible that he was not confident whether he could do it again if asked to.

Naturally, the students of the knight academy did not train as harshly as Shan had back then.

If they did, ninety-nine out of a hundred students would drop out due to either physical or mental issues.

In the first place, what the knight academy pursued was to steadily cultivate a large number of Fighting Spirit users and deploy them as military strength.

After chatting a bit more with Blois on the topic of the knight academy, Shan subsequently talked with Roden and learned the inside story of this matter.

“Since a few months ago?”

“That’s what I heard. I just found out too.”

Roden spoke while giggling in disbelief.

He said that after purging the old territorial nobles along with her coming-of-age ceremony, Cheryn had been subtly pressuring the remaining ones to approve of her marriage to Shan.

Wasn’t that right around the time Shan had shared his first kiss with Cheryn?

Shan turned his head despite himself and looked at Cheryn, who was gazing down from the high seat.

Truly, the spiderweb spun by the Spider Queen was so intricate and tough that there was no corner to escape from.

Afterward, the story of their engagement spread straight through the banquet hall across the entire capital.

Although people were surprised by the news of taking an Altoan as the royal consort, they were not as shocked as expected.

In the first place, the figure named Shan was a person possessing power and fame too immense to be defined simply as an Altoan; moreover, right now, having succeeded in the Ruman expedition, his value had soared to its peak.

It was a time when somewhat self-contradictory thoughts like ‘It makes no sense for an Altoan to become royalty, but if it’s the bloodline of Shan Barendil’ could be accepted.

Of course, it was not that there were no discontented individuals, but even this was swept away by the continuing fever of the festival.

Above all, starting from the second day, the highlight of the festival, the jousting tournament, was held.

[“Glory to the Goddess, loyalty to the Royal Family! We will now begin the Hasra Jousting Tournament hosted by the royal family!”]

Gazing down from the high seat of Hasra’s famous site, the ‘Battleground of Glory’, Shan felt a peculiar emotion.

It was because he remembered the time a few years ago when he won victory here and gained fame.

Back then, as a newly appointed Altoan knight, he had been despised by many, but now he sat in a private box with a great view as the most noble aristocrat.

And that too, sitting together with Cheryn while holding her hand.

The greatest advantage of an official engagement was precisely that intimate contact became possible to some extent even in such public places.

People sitting in lower seats watched with keen interest as the Queen and the Lord Protector held hands intimately and conversed up above.

Some claimed that the Queen strategically accepted the Lord Protector to maintain her authority, but anyone who saw them up close would have known that affection was practically dripping from her eyes.

In fact, Cheryn originally had little interest in such jousting tournaments, so if not for Shan, she wouldn’t have even bothered to come watch.

“The people’s enthusiasm is amazing.”

“It’s because it’s being held for the first time in several years due to the civil war. I heard that originally it was held once every year at earliest, or once every two years at latest.”

“That’s right. And that’s why it blew a massive hole in the royal budget.”

Cheryn spoke in a somewhat contemptuous tone.

One of the reasons she disliked jousting tournaments was the reckless expenditure of funds.

Even so, the reason for holding the event this time was not only to display that Pendia had normalized enough to hold such events to its heart’s content, but also to recruit knights who would become the kingdom’s strength.

Of course, even now at the knight academy, boys were diligently sweating and training, but it would take several years before they became knights capable of pulling their own weight.

Thanks to that, this time they prepared not only jousting, but also events competing in martial skills and even archery; furthermore, knights who had already accumulated sufficient achievements and proven their abilities under Cheryn, like Lug and Ravana, were excluded from participating.

“Uaaaah!”

“Go! Go!”

“No! My money!”

“Get up! Get up! Please!”

As always, the jousting tournament was bustling with the cheers of spectators alongside the screams of gamblers.

Watching the tournament, Shan realized that the level was not as high as he had expected.

In fact, it was natural: the neighboring country Libert was in the middle of a civil war, war with Ruman had been waged until recently, and Pendia had also lost a large number of skilled knights during its civil war.

Amidst this, it would be strange for a powerhouse to suddenly pop out of nowhere.

Still, it wasn’t that there was none at all; a knight with a unique name from the Southern Continent and a few knight-errants from Libert were quite usable.

Watching quietly, Cheryn asked.

“Are there anyone worth appointing?”

“A few people, more or less. Of course, their loyalty will have to be slowly verified later…”

“That’s my job.”

Shortly after exchanging such words, Shan’s eyes turned toward a certain knight.

A knight who was said to have come from Horais was seen vanquishing enemies with agile spearwork and roaring.

His spear skills were average, but his horse-handling skills were truly magnificent.

It seemed likely that he would win unless something unexpected happened.

As a few days passed, precisely the figures he had anticipated advanced one by one.

As competitors of similar skill faced off, matches were left undecided several times, adding to the heat, and people babbled animatedly about who would emerge victorious.

However, there was one point on which everyone agreed.

If the Lord Protector had participated, the winner would undoubtedly have been him.

Though there was no way he, designated as the Queen’s consort, would enter.

On the day the final match was held, Rosag, a knight from Horais, defeated Vekeuneiha, a knight from the Southern Continent, after a fierce struggle to claim victory.

Amid everyone’s cheers, Rosag, having received the prize money alongside the awards ceremony, suddenly raised his hand high.

“Mm?”

“What is it?”

While everyone was puzzled, his raised hand extended forward and pointed at Shan sitting in the high seat.

Considering Cheryn was right next to him, he had essentially pointed his finger at the Queen.

Before soldiers startled by that disrespectful attitude could rush in, the young warrior from the steppe shouted in a loud voice.

“I came after hearing that the world’s strongest warrior is in this land! Lord Protector of Pendia, I am willing to offer all of this prize money to the nation, so please teach me!”