Chapter 1751: Crown [8]

Wilhelm did plan to stand back and watch as August's friends were killed, but the instant they started fighting back changed his mind.

They were not giving up hope when faced with an unscalable wall. It annoyed him that they thought they could find a way out of this situation.

More importantly, if they stalled long enough and August came back, wasn't his surprise going to be ruined?

In order to slaughter them and leave their heads as a gift for the young Azure Dragon, he actually decided to move himself.

He knew just as well as they did that they wouldn't be able to fight him individually. On top of that, when he was backed by so many geniuses, he could torment them from a hidden position and take them down without a fight.

He was going to have fun.

That was his thought as he stepped forward to enter the fray.

However, it seemed that others had different plans for him. In that moment, Iridia, Eris, and surprisingly enough, Raphael appeared in front of him.

"You three...kindly tell me what you're doing in my way," Wilhelm growled.

The three of them looked at each other in surprise for a moment. Obviously this wasn't a coordinated movement. Each one of them assumed that they'd be the only one involved in this confrontation, but it seemed like somehow, they'd ended up here together.

"You cannot go."

Eris raised her voice first.

"Stay here and wait patiently until that boy comes back."

"What?!"

Wilhelm scoffed, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Are you truly protecting them?"

"...? No. Not at all," Eris responded without a moment of silence.

"Your lackeys can kill them if they have the ability. You, however, are not allowed to join them."

"What is your purpose, Eris Noct?"

Wilhelm was already starting to get annoyed. He was known for his short temper, after all.

When someone like Eris, who was notorious for refusing to get involved in other people's business, decided to butt in like this, how else was he supposed to feel?

Did she develop some sort of feelings towards that boy?

'Impossible.'

Eris Noct never cared about other people to begin with. Let alone developing feelings, it would be a surprise if Eris even developed a friendship with another genius.

"You ask what my purpose is...?" Eris responded, reiterating his words as she ruminated over the question.

"I simply wish to see what happens when that boy returns. If you move now, then it won't be interesting anymore."

As aforementioned, Eris was chasing some kind of vague feeling in her heart that would lead her to benefits. She felt that it was related to August in some way, and if his path was interrupted here, it would be harder for her to find its source.

As such, she decided to help him, albeit slightly.

She was willing to stop Wilhelm, as he would overturn the situation. However, as she said, she didn't care about anything else.

If August's friends wanted to survive the assault of their current enemies, then they could do so with their own strength.

After all, if they lost, then were they even worthy of being the followers of someone who was trying to destroy the entire foundation of Arulion as they knew it?

Eris' reasoning wasn't satisfying for Wilhelm in the slightest. The fact that she was acting on a whim annoyed him even more, but that was Eris' nature.

This was exactly what he expected from her. A thought process that disregarded anyone and everything to get where it wanted to go.

The other two, however...

"Why is the Ignis Clan standing in my way?"

When Raphael and Iridia moved at the same time, it really did seem like they were following the Ignis Clan's decision.

They were both acting on their own. Neither of them understood why the other moved, but they were certain that if the clan learned of their actions, they'd undoubtedly be punished.

"Hmph."

Raphael sneered at Wilhelm.

"I have no obligation to answer you," he said.

But he was still going to. He wanted to see Wilhelm Liqua go into a rage.

He had only recently awakened. August's attack left him unconscious with a huge injury, so it was surprising that he was able to wake up at all. Still, he regained his mental faculties and immediately used a healing artifact to close his open wounds.

He watched as Wilhlem reappeared and as August's friends tried to fight. His original plan was to stay down and pretend to be unconscious, but that somehow changed on its own.

Raphael couldn't stand it.

The tactics that Wilhelm used were all cheap. On the other hand, while August did use tactics to his advantage, he never bullied his opponents.

"Unlike you, that guy has my respect. Even if we have to be enemies in the future, I won't stand here and let you defeat him through cowardly tactics."

That was it.

If August was going to be defeated, then Raphael wanted to see it happen honorably. Even if he wasn't the one to do it, he at least wanted to stop this kind of battle whenever he saw it.

Right, it was the Ignis Clan's way to support honor and valor.

Their founding ancestor himself might have strayed from these values, but that was none of Raphael's concern. He knew what kind of person he was and what kind of values he held.

He may have discriminated against commoners at a time, and his prejudice wasn't just gone just because of a few outliers, but during the heir wars, Raphael learned just how much an honorable battle meant to him.

The fact that he used sly tactics himself and then fell to an even more sly tactic made him furious.

That wasn't the kind of battle he loved. That wasn't the heart-

pounding beauty of a battle backed by honor.

As he fought for the position at the head of the Ignis Clan, he wanted to instill his values of honor into everyone and turn their people into a true warrior clan.

This was his first step towards that goal.

To throw aside his prejudice and acknowledge a true warrior from a lower class over a coward he viewed as an equal.

As Raphael expected, Wilhelm flew into a rage. So much so that he stopped caring about why Iridia stopped him.

"He has earned your respect? That commoner?"

"He may be many things, but he can no longer be considered a commoner."

India's interruption marked the destruction of Wilhelm's patience.

Now, he was really going to rage.

However, when confronted with three Holy Clan geniuses that he couldn't move past even if he tried his hardest...

Wasn't it more of a tantrum than anything else?