The Grand Duelist

The several system notifications that appeared in front of every player of the world of Victory caused quite a turmoil.

"J-Joseph... So, he lying... He really was..."

Bloodstained Lilium stared at the system notification floating right in front of her eyes.

The name Joseph gave her quite a shock, but connecting the information within the system notification to the fact that Joseph annihilated dozens of players at once in a single attack including that one and only Legendary Player, Kristian.

It made sense that Joseph was indeed a Mythical Ranked Player.

Only a player like that could possibly do such a thing.

But...

She gnashed her teeth.

She had already decided that she would cut ties with Joseph when she found out that he didn't really inherit any properties from his parents that made him pay his debt towards those companies.

However, right now, everything had changed.

Joseph now had the qualifications which made him worthy enough for her to pursue.

She opened the messaging system of Victory and typed in Joseph's name along with his gamer tag.

She inwardly prepared the message that she would send towards him, but when she tapped on Joseph's name...

A system notification informed her of a particular message.

[The user is currently unreachable. Please try again later!]

Unreachable? He logged-out? That could be possible, but...

Damn it! I'll just send him a text!

I doubt that he changed his mobile number that he had a year ago.

Bloodstained Lilium logged-out of the game and emerged from her Gaming Capsule.

She took her smartphone on top of the desk beside her Capsule and started typing.

Joseph! I saw the system notifications and wow! I really didn't expect that you weren't joking to me when you said that you had a Mythical Class! I really am sorry for doubting you at that time. Are you available sometime this weekend? I really want to treat you to a meal so we can reconcile about the fact that I didn't believe you back then...

She quickly sent the message before returning to the world of Victory.

Right now, she had something else to do.

It was to recover the items that she lost when she died within the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Nether.

Whenever a player died in the world of Victory...

There was a chance that they would drop one of their equipped items.

Bloodstained Lilium dropped her Karabiner98k, a weapon that she painstakingly tried her best on gathering the materials necessary for its creation for at least six months.

It was an incredibly valuable weapon that she couldn't afford to lose.

She distanced herself from Crimson and went out of her way towards the Royal Palace by herself.

She needed to stay away from the Crimson Guild since she was sure that Joseph would definitely be an enemy of the Crimson Guild.

If Joseph saw her with Crimson Guild then it would be difficult for her to explain what was going on.

"Hey, where are you going? We're still not done yet with the meeting!" Vladimir sent her a message.

"I won't participate anymore." Lilium almost immediately replied.

"What? Why are you acting like that again? Are you on your period or something? Come back here or else I won't give you the remunerations that you want!" Vladimir replied.

Lilium revealed a sneer.

Remunerations? Does he really think that I still need that money of his now that I found a gold mine? What a joke. Haha, I can finally cut this bastard off.

Lilium chuckled as she imagined her future while riding Joseph's coattails. She was confident that her plan would succeed for she and Joseph didn't have any bad blood or enmity against each other. In fact, she even supported him for a few months while he was depressed and grieving.

Of course, she only did that because she didn't want Joseph to kill himself.

If Joseph committed suicide, then she wouldn't be able to partake in the so-called hidden assets of Joseph's parents. That was one of the reasons why she became the ideal woman for Joseph and catered to his emotional needs back then.

She knew on her last visit to Joseph's place that Joseph's parents didn't really have any hidden assets.

Everything was actually just a delusion that she had back then.

But although she was angry about the fact that she basically fooled herself regarding those so-called hidden assets.

She thought, right now, that everything that she had done back then for Joseph was worth it.

Why?

It was because Joseph was actually a Mythical Class Player!

She could ride on his coattails and achieve her dreams of living a luxurious life.

A smile escaped on her lips. As far as he could remember, Joseph was a virgin that did not have any relationship with a woman ever since he was born. In that case, then this will be easy. I will make sure that he'll definitely not be able to resist me!

Then, after that...

Hehehe...

Her smile turned twisted until it became hideous. Her entire body was trembling, but not because of anxiety or fear. But because of the excitement that was running through her veins right at this moment. She really didn't expect that while she was looking for a treasure, there was actually an even bigger treasure so close to her.

This incident really opened up her eyes and now, she revised her earlier plans and focused them all, not on the other arrogant young masters in the city, but only for Joseph. 

Yes, that's right...

Those arrogant nouveau riches do not matter anymore.

In the fact of a Mythical Class Player with unlimited potential, just how they could compare? 

... 

It was late into the night when a phone call rang within Ray Gabriel's house. 

He almost immediately awakened when he heard the ringtone, thinking that it came from his beloved sister overseas. 

However, his bloodshot eyes became even more crimson in color when he realized that the phone call came from his trusty Secretary, Elizabeth. 

He didn't want to answer the phone call at first, but Elizabeth didn't usually call him at this time of the day. After all, it was currently dawn, and most people, even the scientists tirelessly working for the sake of maintaining the world of Victory had to sleep. Ray Gabriel wasn't an exception to that.

"Damn it... My wrist hurts..." Ray Gabriel moaned in pain as he raised his trembling arm and fetched the smartphone on top of the desk beside his bed.

His wrist was sore and so much pain that he reckoned that he couldn't even raise a spoon. However, his desire to sleep became his strength which enabled him to take that smartphone off the table and receive the phone call that came from Elizabeth.

"What's wrong... I hope what you are going to say to me is worthwhile. I'm still in the process of recovering from that emergency maintenance... If the news is something that you can handle yourself then I hope that you just do it yourself, Elizabeth..."

Ray Gabriel said in a sleepy voice.

"Ah, yeah right! I'm sorry, sir... I shouldn't have called you..." 

"It's fine, it's fine... We can't cry over spilled milk anymore so just tell me what's going on."

Ray Gabriel replied.

"Actually, sir... The news I have doesn't really concern the stability of the world of Victory. But I think that you'd be interested to hear about it, that is why... That is why I called you..."

Elizabeth who was normally a stern woman in front of her co-workers couldn't act strictly towards Ray Gabriel at this moment.

It was because she knew how much effort he rendered just so he could stabilize the world of Victory as soon as possible and rectify its problems.

Even she, wanted him to rest, but this news really was just that interesting and considering Ray Gabriel's activities within the past few days.

She thought that he may want to hear about it.

But...

"Didn't I tell you not to call me if the news doesn't concern the stability of the world of Victory? If it's about meetings then let those guys handle it. They're much better at it than me anyway! What's going on with you, Elizabeth? Why do I feel like you're slowly becoming disobedient?" 

... Ray Gabriel became angry instead.

He really was too tired.

Tired to the extent that he wanted to sleep for at least a month.

But since that wasn't possible due to his responsibilities, he planned on taking advantage of every second that he had on his break to catch up on some sleep and reduce his sleep debt. However, right now. Elizabeth actually interrupted his sleep for some nonsense?

It seems like she really needs to be punished so she'll know the consequences of disobeying me...

Ray Gabriel thought to himself.

But the bombshell that Elizabeth dropped in the very next moment dissipated all of his anger towards her.

"Sir... The King's Trial that you and Mar designed and made for at least six months has been activated..."

"See, what you are saying is just... what?! The King's Trial has been activated?! Who activated it? That's not supposed to activate for at least two years! Why it is activated two years earlier than NOAH had predicted?"

"Who triggered it?"

"Don't tell me it's that brat, Joseph, again?!"

"Yes, sir..."

"..."

The phone call went silent.

But it was shattered once again by Ray Gabriel who replied in a helpless tone of voice.

"Now, I really regret not intervening at that time when we could've chosen not to give that class to him. Just take a look at how much trouble he's giving us! Goddamned it, I'll be there in thirty minutes. Prepare the helipad, I'll be sure to witness just how he's going to pass the King's Trial."

"B-But sir... You're not in the condition to fly with how sleepy you are!"

Ray Gabriel snapped, "You knew about my condition, yet why did you still tell me about this? If you kept that news to yourself then I would still be sleeping peacefully in my bed!"

"But now that I know about what's going, do you really think that I can still sleep properly without personally seeing how that brat will perform and complete the King's Trial?"

Elizabeth went silent on the other line, there was a look of apprehension on her face.

Yes, with how many years she has been with Ray Gabriel.

She already knew what kind of a man he was.

He was someone that would never stop until he achieved what he wanted to achieve, he was a relentless man that didn't know when to give up.

Some may call him foolish, some may call him a genius, and some may call him a madman.

But for Elizabeth? 

For her, he was just a curious man.

And that was the reason why he was so charming for her.

In fact, one of the reasons why Elizabeth told him this news wasn't because she wanted him to feel incredibly curious to the extent that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep.

It was actually because of her selfishness...

She wanted him to be with her for as long as possible. 

And with how many duties and responsibilities Ray Gabriel had...

The only time that the two of them could be beside each other was when Ray Gabriel was observing the First Mythical Class player, Joseph. This was the reason why Elizabeth bothered sending that email to Joseph when he finally ascended to the Mythical Rank.

It wasn't because it was the will of the company.

It was Elizabeth's way of expressing how grateful she was for Joseph's existence.

After all, Joseph unexpectedly became the reason why Ray Gabriel could spend more time alone with her. 

Even though the two of them weren't really talking that much in those times since Ray had his eyes plastered on the monitor.

Such times were still precious for Elizabeth and she greatly longed and desired for those moments.

This was why as soon as she received the notification that the King's Trial had been activated.

She hurriedly called Ray and informed him about the news, despite knowing that he should've taken his time resting and shouldn't even visit the company so he could take as much time as he needed to rest. 

Everything was Elizabeth's selfishness.

That was why she was anxious right now.

Ray was a smart man.

If he detected that Elizabeth acted on her own selfishness...

She was afraid that Ray may kick her out of the company.

That was something that she didn't want to happen at all costs.

"I-I'm sorry, sir..."

Elizabeth apologized, she had awakened from her reverie and this was the only thing that she could do in her current state of mind.

"Sigh..." Ray heaved a deep sigh, "Elizabeth, we've been together for several years already..."

"Have you grown tired of being my Secretary to the extent that you're forgetting what kind of a person I am?" Ray continued in a somber voice, the sadness was evident in his tone, but it was Elizabeth who received the most damage from what he had said.

"No... I haven't forgotten... I know... I know what kind of a man you are, sir..."

Elizabeth hurriedly replied.

At this moment, tears could be seen welling in her eyes.

Thankfully, they were just in a phone call and wasn't talking face to face and in front of each other or else, Elizabeth would've run away right now out of embarrassment.

"Good..." Ray paused for a moment, with the several years he has been with Elizabeth...

He also knew what kind of a woman Elizabeth was, like how Elizabeth knew him from head to toe.

He also knew about Elizabeth's feelings towards him.

Unlike what Elizabeth and Mar had in mind...

Ray wasn't really that dense of a man.

After all...

He was the brain behind the world of Victory.

It'd be quite strange if a smart man like him didn't know how to read along the lines.

"I'll be there in thirty minutes. Prepare the helipad and the strongest coffee... Also, inform old geezer Mar about the activation of the King's Trial..." 

Elizabeth trembled, but her work experience enabled her to do her job under immense pressure so she still managed to reply.

"But sir, sir Mar should be sleeping rig-"

"Hey, what is this difference in treatment, Elizabeth?"

"You can interrupt my sleep but not that old geezer's sleep? Wake him up! We're in this together, all right? You better not sleep too, Elizabeth! You'll be with me until the end of that brat's Trial!"

"Y-Yes, sir!" Elizabeth replied with hesitation, but when she realized what Ray had said. Joy and excitement flashed across her face as she swiftly moved and prepared everything for Ray Gabriel and Mar's arrival.

...

"Your Majesty! Please, please grant justice to this loyal citizen of your Kingdom!"

Joseph raised his head and stared at the source of the voice and there...

He found a beautiful woman.

However, the woman had a blank look on her face as if she had lost hope on living.

Right now, she was currently held in both arms by two men who were arguing against each other.

Joseph could understand the words that they were using to speak, but they didn't make sense when those words were connected to form a sentence. A frown surfaced on Joseph's face and a voice intervened on the argument of the two.

"You bastards! You two are in the presence of His Majesty! How dare you argue in front of him!"

The two middle-aged men felt shivers down their spines as they straightened their backs before kneeling on the ground, they didn't dare to raise their heads as one of them spoke up and said.

"Your Majesty! Please grant justice to this loyal citizen of yours! This man right here is trying to take my daughter to sell her in the underground slave market. I discovered him and we got into a scuffle when he was about to kidnap my daughter..."

"But he's denying my allegations until we are now in front of you to ask for your judgment, your Majesty."

Joseph stared at the man who spoke and he used all of his knowledge regarding body language towards him, yet he couldn't find any traces of strange body language that indicated that the man may be lying.

Joseph's gaze then landed on the other middle-aged man who sat at the right side of the woman.

That middle-aged man felt Joseph's gaze as he hurriedly calmed himself down and said. "Your Majesty! What this bastard is saying is slander!"

"Your Majesty has already outlawed the trading of slaves so it's impossible for slave traders to be in your Kingdom! There's virtually no slave trading in the Kingdom anymore! He's lying!"

"I'm lying?! You bastard, then why did you try to take my daughter away from me?!"

"Your daughter? That's my daughter, you asshole! How dare you try and claim that my daughter is your daughter? You filthy slave trader!"

The middle-aged men leaped towards each other and started throwing punches.

Joseph's eyes narrowed into slits.

The same dignified voice that intervened earlier rang out once again.

"Order in front of His Majesty! Last warning! If you two dare to fight each other once again in front of this court, then both of you will be sentenced to death!"

The two middle-aged men and even Joseph himself were astonished by the cruelty of the man's ultimatum.

When the two middle-aged men heard what he had said...

They instantly quietened before staring onto the ground once again while facing Joseph's direction.

It seems like they want to hear what my judgment is in this matter...

Joseph swept his gaze on the dignified man standing on his right-hand side.

Ding!

[Information regarding the person has been made available.]

[Name: Arturo Buenaflor. 

Your right-hand man. He had accompanied you throughout your entire life. You trust him with your life.]

Joseph rapidly blinked as he stared at the dignified man. He didn't know what to say.

He wanted to gather more information about Arturo Buenaflor, but these two middle-aged men were still waiting for him.

He turned his gaze towards them and said.

"This matter shouldn't even be brought in front of me. Wouldn't this problem be solved if we asked that woman herself?"

"Hey there, woman. Tell me who among the two of them is your father."

The beautiful young woman clad in a dirty tunic that looked like it hadn't been washed at all for the past few months trembled when she heard Joseph's voice. She raised her head and when her eyes met Joseph's gaze, she suddenly screamed as if he was a pig being butchered.

"NO... NO... WHY AM I HERE... PLEASE DON'T... PLEASE DON'T COME... DON'T COME NEAR MEEE! DON'T KILL MEEE!!!"

She screamed with such intensity and madness that the stern soldiers in the Palace Halls felt dizzy.

Joseph even cringed in pain. 

He swept his gaze at Arturo Buenaflor and found that his trusted aide only had a frown on his face.

Eventually, Arturo Buenaflor gestured at a soldier and that soldier moved and covered the mouth of the young woman.

"So, that is the reason why both of you came to visit me for my judgment? That is indeed quite troublesome. After all, this problem would've been solved if that young woman didn't have such a mental illness." Joseph lifted a slight smile as he stared at the two men.

His brain madly spun as he observed their body language but to no avail.

Goddamned it, I reckon that those bastards from P.H Works didn't use a high-level of Artificial Intelligence to create this world! These people here are really devoted to their scripts! I can't even deduce if they are lying or not! They are closer to a machine than a human being!

Joseph inwardly vented his frustrations out when he realized that no matter how hard he was trying...

He couldn't deduce the thoughts of these NPCs.

Time passed and after several minutes of observation, Joseph finally gave up.

"I have decided."

Joseph stood up...

"Listen to my judgment, citizens of my Kingdom!"

"The young woman right there is the source of the problem so...

"She must be killed!"

Everyone was astonished by his decision, but nevertheless...

One of the soldiers moved towards the young woman who was now trying her best to escape the constraints on her body. But no matter how much she screamed and cried, the soldier's blade was now positioned near her neck.

With a command from Joseph, her life could easily end.

Joseph stared at the two middle-aged men and found that they didn't have that much of a reaction. Just when Joseph thought that their reaction was because of the fact that their Artificial Intelligence wasn't really that high compared to the native NPCs within the world of Victory.

Joseph suddenly discovered something strange.

There were looks of schadenfreude in the eyes of the two men.

At this moment, the executioner already had his sword above his head and when his sword was about to separate the woman's head from his shoulders...

Joseph cried out loud.

"Wait!"

The executioner abruptly stopped. His blade was only an inch away from the woman's neck.

"What's wrong, Your Majesty?" Arturo Buenaflor turned to look at Joseph.

There was a look of concern on his face. 

"There's nothing wrong with me, but there's something wrong with those two!" Joseph whispered to Arturo as he then turned his gaze towards the two middle-aged men and said.

"You bastards! How dare you lie in front of the King! Men, execute them along with that woman!''

The faces of the two middle-aged men turned pale, but before they could even shout nor appeal for mercy. The blades of the nearby soldiers pierced through their bodies... 

Killing them, along with the young woman whom they brought here in front of the King's Court.

Joseph stared at the gory scene in front of him and there was a look of anger on his face.

He sat down back on his throne and deeply sighed.

Arturo Buenaflor stared at the bodies of the three and after ordering the soldiers to clean them up.

He turned to look at Joseph and asked.

"Your Majesty, if you don't mind me asking. Can you tell me why you decided to kill that young woman along with those two that claimed to be her father? You gave our men the order to kill that young woman, but you stopped her execution so you can include their father to the mix and in the end, all three of them were executed..."

"What's going on, Your Majesty? Are you okay?"

Joseph glanced at Arturo Buenaflor and said, "Arturo... Tell me, who do you think is the father of that woman earlier?"

Arturo hesitated for a moment but he still answered, "It should be the man on the right side of us, Your Majesty. He's the one that has the most compelling story for me. As for that guy on the left-hand side of us, I am certain that he was lying."

"Really?" Joseph glanced at Arturo and revealed a languid smile.

"Yes, Your Majesty..." Arturo bowed and answered.

"That's a good guess, and that answer of yours would be the answer of everyone if they looked at the situation at first glance. However, why do you think that I ordered the execution of that young woman alone, earlier?" A meaningful smile appeared on Joseph's face as he asked.

Arturo Buenaflor was a man who had experienced a lot in his life so he quickly realized what Joseph was hinting about as he replied.

"Wait, Your Majesty... Do you mean...?"

"Yes..."

"I ordered the execution of that young woman to test the waters."

"If one of them really was the father of that young woman. Then, they would've cried out loud and begged me to give her to the other man for as long as she wouldn't get executed. Even though she would probably suffer more than she would in that place than if she was executed here, at least her father wouldn't be able to witness her death personally..." 

Complex emotions flashed across Joseph's face, "A father's love is quite complicated, if her father was really among those men then I reckon that what I said to you would be his decision. He'd rather send his daughter to be a slave than to see her being executed right in front of him..." 

"But, Your Majesty... If that's true, then both of the men should be slave traders. In that case, they should be the only ones that must be executed..."

"Why did you also sentence that woman to her death?"

Joseph deeply sighed, "You saw how that woman acted earlier when I asked her about who among the two of those men was her father, right?"

Arturo bowed and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. I did..."

"Then, you should've seen from her reactions that she had suffered, several years, if not, at least a decade of continuous abuse. Only continuous abuse that long could possibly break a human being until they don't even seem to be a human anymore. Instead, they'd be more like scarred beasts..."

"Arturo... Do you think that even if I pardoned that woman, gave her money to live her life somewhere else away from all the suffering, would she be willing to accept that money and keep on living? After all those years of continuous abuse?" 

Arturo Buenaflor went silent. The answer was painfully obvious, so he didn't answer anymore.

The King that he was serving was actually the King of a failing Kingdom. He was branded as the most foolish King of the entire continent due to the fact that after only a few months of him being on the throne, the Kingdom was already on the brink of bankruptcy.

But...

Arturo was now doubting the words of those men.

Was His Majesty really that dumb like what the others had said? 

Arturo didn't think so after seeing this display of wisdom and knowledge.

However...

Arturo gnashed his teeth.

It was already too late.

Arturo had long resolved himself to do what he must do.

He took a wine bottle out of his chest pocket and said, "Your Majesty, you must be thirsty from what happened. Here's a fine wine that I got from the kitchen staff to quench your thirst."

Joseph turned to look at Arturo and smiled, "Thanks, Arturo. If not for you, then this job of mine would be more hectic than what I would want to." 

Joseph received the cup of wine from Arturo.

While he was thinking about his next steps as to how he could solve the various problems of the Kingdom. Joseph drank the wine from the cup and his eyes suddenly widened in shock.

What...? 

What did I drink?

Is this wine?

Joseph's figure continuously trembled.

The wine that should've tasted bitter sour tasted more like drinking fire as it numbed his entire body.

When the wine reached his stomach, Joseph suddenly coughed a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto the ground.

"Arturo... You..."

He finally realized what was going on.

He was poisoned.

Poisoned none other than his right-hand man, the trusted aide that accompanied him for several decades!

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty..."

"With you sitting on the throne, there's no way that this Kingdom can prosper..."

"From now on, I'll do everything myself. You do not have to worry about your journey to the Yellow Springs, Your Majesty. I will take care of the Kingdom that you inherited from that bastard father of yours..." 

Amidst Joseph's darkening consciousness.

He could see the evil smile on Arturo's face and eventually...

No matter how much he tried on struggling against the grasp of death. Joseph's life was over and a system notification floated right in front of him, informing him of his death.

[You died!]

[You lost 1 out of 5 chances that you have in the King's Trial!]

[Don't worry, you still haven't lost, yet!]

[Keep on fighting! You can do it]

[Sincerely,]

[P.H Works.]

When the system notifications disappeared...

Light returned to Joseph's eyes and he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.

In front of him was a gorgeous young woman that was currently in the process of undressing.

What the fuck?

These were the words that Joseph could utter as the young woman undressed all of her clothes and leaped on top of him on the bed.