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Naturally, the building was blown away with a thunderous explosion. Rose skillfully dealt with the three beams shot by Jeongjae. One beam completely missed her. One struck the Crown Princess squarely in the torso. The last one was deflected off by the punch swung by the Iron Wall Warrior.

“Uh?”

Jeongjae let out a foolish sound before he realized it as he watched Rose deflect ‘Star’s Gleam’ with her fist. As Rose, propelled backward by Jeongjae’s magic, regained her footing on the ground, the blue beam she sent flying in return exploded a random tavern in the distance.

“That was fun,”

Rose said, shaking her head from side to side.

“Right, if you’re going to charge, you need to be prepared for that much, don’t you?”

Jeongjae didn’t respond and immediately generated two more magic circles in the sky. One was the Flame Magic Circle, and the other was the Lightning Magic Circle.

Seeing two bolts of lightning rushing toward her, Rose gripped her sword tightly with both hands and swung it powerfully.

With a stable swing akin to a professional baseball player hitting a pitch, both bolts of lightning shot up into the sky. Jeongjae, struck by Rose’s blade, directed the lightning back toward the ground, but Rose raised one hand to the heavens, catching the falling bolt.

“Wait a second, how is that possible…”

Seeing Rose throw back the lightning she had caught, Jeongjae hurriedly rolled to the side. The Lightning Magic completely missed, but the Flame Lightning grazed the edge of Jeongjae’s robe, leaving a black scorch mark. Rose shook her hand and frowned.

“Indeed, you’re pretty strong. But it’s disappointing compared to what you bragged about. Is this really the attack of the strongest being I’ve ever faced? Park Jeongjae, I didn’t think of you this way, but it seems you’re a bit of a braggart too.”

“Don’t you think I’m being more than generous here?”

“Hmm, then let’s see you give it your all.”

With quick footsteps, Rose closed the distance to Jeongjae in an instant. Anticipating a brawl, Jeongjae hurriedly cast physical enhancement and automatic counterattack spells on himself. Rose swung a punch toward Jeongjae’s midsection, feeling a tingle in her arm as she smirked.

“A counterattack spell? Isn’t that a little silly?”

“Those who can’t break through it usually say that.”

“Let’s see about that…”

Seeing Rose throw her head back dramatically, Jeongjae anticipated a headbutt and cast a powerful counterattack spell across his whole face. However, Rose didn’t stop her head and simply smashed her forehead into Jeongjae’s face.

The Iron Wall’s Protection twisted Jeongjae’s magic. The shock that momentarily seemed to return to Rose was caught up in the overwhelming authority of the protection, which exceeded Jeongjae’s spell, and was sent back to the Grand Mage.

Thanks to the protective power of his robe, Jeongjae barely sustained serious injuries and flew about 20 meters back, crashing into an empty building. As Rose slowly approached Jeongjae, sword firmly gripped, she said,

“Look carefully, this is who I am, outsider.”

“Ugh…”

Baron Harriet moaned as he rose from the wooden planks. The Crown Princess, Rose Caprice, was walking toward Jeongjae, a sneering expression on her face.

“When you were wallowing in comfort in your safe country, I was watching the fall of my homeland. While you were a soldier in a land free of war, I was fighting against a hundred thousand enemies alone. Don’t feel wronged by my dismissiveness. I am another lord of this nation, and you are nothing compared to what I have had to face to hold this position!”

“Sounds good.”

Jeongjae replied, fully standing.

“That kind of strong self-esteem is tolerable only when it gets broken down.”

“Try to break it as much as you can!”

“Freeze in place!”

At that moment, the freezing magic circle laid beneath Rose activated, thoroughly binding the Crown Princess’s feet to the spot. Rose struggled to break the ice, but the magic-created ice was not ordinary. Jeongjae summoned a large magic circle from the sky targeting Rose.

“Star’s Gleam!”

This beam was particularly large, as Jeongjae poured all the destructive power he could muster into a single magic circle. Rose judged this attack to be one she couldn’t deflect and raised her hands to cover her face. Jeongjae’s attack struck Rose squarely.

The Crown Princess flew backward like a piece of paper blown by the wind, crashing down onto the ground upside down. Jeongjae did not hold back.

Immediately, a deluge of lightning and flames began to pour down on Rose, who discarded her ruined armor and wore only a chainmail, dodging or deflecting the barrage. Frustrated, the Crown Princess seized a fireball heading her way and hurled it at Jeongjae.

Jeongjae extinguished Rose’s counterattack with just a flick of his finger. Rose glared at Jeongjae with fierce eyes and, with a sudden leap, shot up into the sky, landing right in front of him. Before Jeongjae could attempt to distance himself, she grabbed one of his arms and tossed him high into the air.

Caught off guard by Rose’s sudden attack, Jeongjae could do nothing as he soared upward. If he had been calm, he could have used telekinesis to control his fall speed, but in this sudden situation, he could only watch as Rose elbowed down toward his ribs.

With a terrible, pained scream, Jeongjae rolled on the ground.

“That attack shattered even the Demon King’s ribs.”

Rose said with a smirk as she landed gracefully. Jeongjae hurriedly used healing magic to stabilize his shattered ribs and stood up. Breaking a bone was a relatively minor injury for him. Fixing a broken bone for emergency treatment wasn’t particularly difficult.

“Well, I think I’m still all right…”

“You must have just healed it, right?”

“Of course.”

Jeongjae chuckled. Rose was strong. Rose Caprice was certainly one of the most powerful beings in this world.

The myth about Rose, the knight on horseback, was so strong that sometimes, the state of Rose being without a horse was underrated. Whenever Rose made a decisive achievement against a large army, she was always mounted on a horse. To her, riding was much more than just horsemanship. On horseback, her protection shone even brighter.

On the other hand, Rose was wary of facing overwhelming numbers when not mounted. There was a risk of being captured or restrained by the enemy. Facing a single Orc was not hard, but taking on thousands of Orcs alone carried the risk of even the great Rose being taken prisoner, should she not be mounted.

However, there was a crucial fact hidden within that. Even without a steed or unarmored, Rose was always the strongest in one-on-one duels. When facing a singular strong opponent rather than multiple foes, there were few who could match Rose Caprice.

She was humanity’s joker, a strategic weapon, the spear and shield of the Empire, and also its crown. Had extraordinary heroes like the party of heroes not been born in the same era, she would have taken the world by herself. Had the strongest demon lord in the history of the continent not been present, she would have spread her dominion across every corner of the land.

If there exists a human who could scoff at the heavens, that person is none other than Rose Caprice. If there exists a human who can claim ownership of the earth, it is also Rose Caprice.

The sight of her approaching with her sword raised appeared more colossal than an Ogre facing her directly. A sweet impulse arose to declare her surrender and back out of this fight.

Jeongjae quickly suppressed that impulse. There were other great individuals in this world besides her. There were three queens if you counted them alone. And two of them—likely trusted and supported Jeongjae.

To kneel in fear of just one queen would mean betraying the trust of the other two, he thought as he pulled a revolver from his cloak and aimed it at Rose.

“This thing took down a Gargoyle. How long can you hold out?”

“A Gargoyle?”

Hearing the name of one of her most significant rivals, Rose furrowed her brow. In the meantime, Jeongjae took out the scroll of ‘Van Fleet’ from his cloak and threw it into the sky.

“Infinite Barrage Magic, Van Fleet.”

The chamber of Holmes’s revolver began spinning furiously as it started pouring out pea-sized mana bullets. The muzzle aimed directly at Rose’s forehead, and Rose Caprice took all the mana bullets raining down on her with her face.

Rose staggered. She was clearly astonished by the destructive power of the mana raining down on her. But she didn’t take any action to defend her face, merely standing still, slowly starting to approach.

Jeongjae was aghast. This was an attack that even made diamonds drop off the Gargoyle. The power was the same. This magic was not one that could have its power reduced just because it was directed at Rose.

However, despite taking a direct hit to her forehead, even bouncing a few mana bullets away, Rose was slowly, very slowly moving forward.

Like a raft rowing against the wind. Fearless of the hail of bullets, advancing toward the enemy trench like a hero defying all odds.

Rose continued to approach while facing Jeongjae’s Van Fleet head-on. The moment she reached close to Jeongjae, a trickle of blood ran from her nose. She grasped the muzzle of the Grand Mage’s gun and said,

“I’ve seen this weapon before. It’s the heirloom of the Walter family.”

“What the…?”

Jeongjae pulled back the Van Fleet magic and snatched the pistol away from Rose’s hand. Rose Caprice glared at Jeongjae, her eyes wide, blood dripping from her nose.

“I won’t lose. I can’t lose. Because I—am the one destined to be this nation’s Emperor. I—am the one who must rule this continent. No one can threaten that fact…”

Barely raising her sword, Rose aimed it at Jeongjae. Jeongjae countered the blade aimed at him with the pistol’s muzzle, pushing back toward her.

Both were significantly exhausted, lacking the strength to truly push each other away. The intersection of the gun and blade trembled and vibrated in place. Just then, at that moment of unfruitful confrontation, two arrows flew toward Jeongjae and Rose simultaneously, making both of their weapons fall to the ground.

Without needing to look sideways, Jeongjae instinctively knew who had shot the arrows.

An elf lord with flowing blonde hair and pointed ears.

Margaret from Eramenia was aiming her empty bow at the two of them with a smile.

“It was quite a fight, friends, but you’ve taken too long. The Imperial soldiers are on their way to check the situation.”

Margaret said.

 

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