The Grand Duelist

When Joseph examined the horse he was riding on. He discovered that the horse actually looked quite heroic. Its eyes were filled with intelligence and if compared to the other horses, it was groomed well and dashing.

Joseph subconsciously rubbed the coat of the horse and its eyes narrowed, revealing a comfortable expression.

The middle-aged man looked baffled.

Kaiser's horse was actually known as the most unruly horse within their group and with just a few head pats and head rubs, Joseph actually managed to subdue Kaiser's horse?

A wry smile emerged on the middle-aged man's lips, and Kaiser who was observing everything from a distance in schadenfreude angrily snorted.

He had been observing Joseph thinking that he would be humiliated by his horse, but he didn't expect that Joseph could subdue his horse this easily under his deft head pats and skillful head rubs.

Kaiser couldn't say anything anymore and he speechlessly entered the carriage under the middle-aged man's surreptitious glance.

Joseph finally moved forward along with the carriage.

The middle-aged man followed behind him as the two of them casually chatted. From their talk, Joseph learned that the name of the middle-aged man was Charles.

He was actually the Captain of the Mercenary Group that accompanied this merchant caravan.

Joseph merely smiled.

It actually made sense.

How else would someone as arrogant as Kaiser would yield if not due to the words of his immediate supervisor?

Joseph looked around and hearing the laughter and all sorts of stories that these mortal experts had. A strange expression appeared on his face. It turned out that this world was actually completely similar to the world of Victory when it came to how realistic the NPCs were.

They had their own worries, dreams, goals, and ambitions.

They also had their own hobbies, likes, and dislikes.

They also had their own family, relatives, loved ones, and people whom they hate, dislike, and had a crush upon.

Listening to the stories of these mortals evoked a strange sensation in Joseph's heart that he couldn't quite grasp.

A light smile surfaced on Joseph's lips for he felt incomparably peaceful.

A crimson aura subconsciously spread out of his body, but this aura that emanated a fierce killing intent became tame under Joseph's comfortable mood. In fact, it felt like it became a spring breeze that gently rocked everyone making them warm and comfortable.

Eventually, under the effects of this crimson aura, the surrounding spiritual energy gathered around Joseph. Of course, this spiritual energy was invisible to the eyes of the mortals.

But that didn't mean that it didn't affect them...

The eyes of the surrounding mortal experts brightened. They didn't know why nor understand, but they felt incredibly great as if they just came from a long and good regenerative sleep.

After several hours, Joseph finally understood how spiritual energy worked and how it could be manipulated.

Under his careful control, he dispersed the surrounding spiritual energy.

The mortal experts then simultaneously awakened from their reverie as they started talking about what they had experienced.

The merchant caravan continued on their journey and night eventually fell.

On the side of the road, the carriages formed a circle surrounding the main merchant carriage and everyone was gathered within this circle.

The mortal experts summoned the servants and they all started to prepare dinner.

Some of the servant girls threw Joseph a few glances before whispering among themselves.

Their actions were understandable but it elicited a few helpless smiles from Joseph who could only try his best on making sure that he was low-profile enough before they reached the City of Eichenwalde.

Whenever the servant girls approached Joseph.

He would gently push them away for he could feel Pixie Fairy Elizabeth's anger bubbling inside his mind whenever one of these girls went near him. Joseph was afraid that Pixie Fairy Elizabeth may erupt, but he also didn't want to disrespect these servants.

After all, even though they were mere servants...

Disrespecting was still the equivalent of disrespecting the master behind them.

Joseph who was a mere freeloader couldn't afford to do such a thing.

Joseph swept his gaze towards the other mortal experts and a light smile escaped on his lips. He distanced himself from them as he sat leaning on a big tree. Raising his head, he stared at the skies and he found a multitude of stars that no mortal could possibly count.

Right now, he was experiencing a peace of mind that he had never experienced since the death of his parents.

Back then when his parents were still alive...

They often traveled remote areas in the City of Sibu to stare at the skies like this and observe the stars flying across the cosmos.

Joseph pondered for a while, but then Pixie Fairy Elizabeth's voice rang out within his head.

Master... Does staring at the sky like this help you comprehend the workings of the world?

Joseph lightly chuckled.

Of course not, but I don't know. Maybe the secrets of life are hidden somewhere out there in space.

Pixie Fairy Elizabeth turned silent. Even she could feel the tranquility that Joseph was feeling right now so she didn't say anything anymore, afraid that she may ruin his peace.

But it was unexpectedly Joseph who broke the silence as he asked.

Hey, Elizabeth... How long would it take for me to get out of here?

It depends, master... If you kill yourself three more times then you can instantly get out of this place.

Joseph revealed a bitter smile and shook his head.

What I meant was, how long do you think would it take me to complete this King's Trial?

Oh, that's what you meant? To be honest, master. I also don't know. You're the very first candidate that entered the King's Trial so I don't really have anyone to use as a benchmark for how long you would stay here in this place.

I see...

Joseph fell silent.

He really wanted to go back.

He wanted to return now and be with Alice and Ezreal.

But he also knew that with great power came great responsibility.

If he wanted to live a peaceful life in the future, he must convince the world that they shouldn't mess with him.

Only through this method could he achieve true peace.

That was why Joseph couldn't settle down until he had become the strongest player in the world of Victory.

But...

Just give me an estimate, Elizabeth. Several weeks? A month? Half a year?

Half a year, master? Are you underestimating the difficulty of the King's Trial?

What? Then, at least a year then? Do you really think that I can wait that long with how many people are waiting for me outside?

Pfft...

Pixie Fairy Elizabeth chuckled before she dropped a bombshell that absolutely flabbergasted Joseph.

I think at least a hundred years, master.

A what?

A hundred years, you didn't hear me? Master?

Joseph keeled over as he spat all the air that he had in his lungs.

A hundred fucking years?! Are you fucking serious, right now?!

Yes, master. I'm not joking...

You're not joking? Wait, that doesn't make sense. However, what if...

Joseph fell into deep contemplation as he asked.

If I spent a year in this place... How many days is that in the outside world?

In the outside world?

It was Pixie Fairy Elizabeth's turn to become silent.

Ah, I know! It's about a week, master!

Joseph heaved a sigh of relief when he heard her answer.

A week in the world of Victory meant a day in the real world.

Wow... Just how did P.H Works achieve something unbelievable as this.

But if I must spend a hundred years here, what will happen to the age of my brain? Will my brain also age for a hundred years while I am here, or what? Damn, I hope that they had thought about this problem...

Joseph shook his head and he suddenly raised his head. He looked towards the direction of the servants and found that a female servant was approaching him. She was carrying a tray of food on her hands and a sweet smile could be seen on her face.

She placed down the tray onto the ground before turning to look at Joseph for a while.

"Thank you..." 

She then turned around and left.

Joseph didn't say anything.

He reckoned that the servant girl should be the one that needed that panacea leaf earlier.

Joseph turned towards the food on the tray and after Pixie Fairy Elizabeth confirmed that there wasn't any poison in it.

Joseph started eating. 

Afterwards, he took the jug of wine and took a sip.

A melancholic smile appeared on his lips for he remembered certain events when he was still a child.

Back then, his father wasn't actually that much of an avid drinker but he often collected rare wines across the world.

Of course, he only took those wines whenever there were visitors.

But when those moments came, Joseph often went out and secretly drink a bit of those rare wines.

He would always be caught by his father after he had sipped and he would senselessly laugh towards his father as if he was mocking him for not hiding the wines properly.

His father, who was a kind middle-aged man who could never lay a hand on his son relegated the job of disciplining Joseph towards his wife.

Whenever Joseph was caught secretly drinking his father's wine. His mother would descend like the final boss of a random game and beat his ass up.

Joseph lightly chuckled.

With sadness visible within his eyes, Joseph took another gulp of the coarse wine

Joseph drank the entire jug of wine.

Pixie Fairy Elizabeth helped him cleanse his body, while he approached the mortal experts who had already formed a circle around several fire pits in the area. Bursts of laughter came from the men, and as Joseph listened from their stories and laughter, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Some of the intoxicated mortal experts became courageous as they approached some of the servant girls to flirt with them for a chance of some private time. 

Seeing their actions, Joseph was now looking at these NPCs as if they were genuine humans.

At first, he thought that the Artificial Intelligence installed within the brains of these mortals in the world of the King's Trial was vastly inferior to the ones installed within the NPCs of Victory.

But in the end, he found that both worlds were completely similar, may it be in the culture, their habits, or even their mindsets.

Charles approached Joseph, carrying several small jugs of wine.

After passing over half of the jugs of wine that he was carrying to Joseph.

He sat down next to him and said, "Thank you for that medication of yours earlier, Joseph. You really are too kind. I only asked you for a painkiller leaf but you gave us a thousand-year-old panacea leaf!"

After finishing his sentence, he took a cup and drank wine using it. But when he saw that Joseph directly drank his wine from the jug.

He set that cup aside and followed Joseph's example of drinking wine directly from the jug.

"It's not a problem, but if you are going to ask me where I found that thousand-year-old panacea leaf. I hope that you'd believe me but I really did only find it randomly in the forest."

Joseph prepared himself for trouble.

A mortal like him carrying treasures was basically attracting disaster to himself.

Charles awkwardly scratched his head for Joseph actually predicted what he wanted to say.

He wanted to ask Joseph where he acquired that thousand-year-old panacea leaf but seeing that Joseph really didn't have the intention to speak. Charles just set that matter aside. After all, the panacea leaf wasn't really that useful, even though it was a thousand-year-old.

Witnessing that Charles went speechless from what he had said.

Joseph didn't talk anymore.

He only slowly savored the taste of the wine he was holding in his hands.

Charles soon awakened from his trance and he realized that the jug in Joseph's hands was almost empty. A smile spread on his lips as he asked, "Joseph, it seems like your tolerance for drinking is more formidable than I expected..."

"How about we go there and compete with my brothers right there?"

Joseph wanted to refuse at first, but seeing the honest and straightforward smile on Charles's lips.

Joseph couldn't find it in his heart to refuse.

After all, he was a mere freeloader that couldn't afford to offend anyone here.

Joseph followed Charles at the fire pit near the center of the carriages' encirclement. There were several dozens of mortal experts surrounding the big fire pit and they were all laughing together as they talked about the experiences they had encountered throughout their life.

Charles randomly approached one of them and kicked that guy on his back before jokingly saying: "Jojo, I heard you mention that you enjoyed your time in the Alluring Fragrance Teahouse in the City of Eichenwalde before. You better be not lying, all right?"

The guy named Jojo that Charles kicked moved aside, and emptied two spots beside him as he replied: "If you're not convinced then you can come with me. Of course, you must be the one that should settle the bill since you're the host..."

"I mean, you can't expect me to pay for the girls there, all right?"

"That place may be good but it's too expensive for me..."

The moment he said these words in a self-deprecating tone...

Everyone laughed out loud and Charles even jokingly scolded for a bit before sitting beside Joseph.

Joseph swept his gaze at the NPCs around him and a strange sensation overcame his body for he was reminded of the time when he killed several NPCs within the place perpetually hidden from the sun, several weeks ago.

Back then...

Joseph didn't think too much about what he had done for he thought that they had gone mad.

But right now, he realized that even though those people may have gone mad.

That didn't invalidate the fact that they were still human beings that had their own ambitions, goals, dreams, and all sorts of quirks that make up who they were in this world.

Joseph felt regret how easily he forgot about those that he killed.

Tonight... 

Joseph drank a lot even though he couldn't make himself drunk due to Pixie Fairy Elizabeth's constant cleansing. Even though Joseph didn't say anything that much. The others around him got familiar with him for they laughed and drank together with him.

Later on, some courageous and flirtatious servant girls gathered around and joined them as well.

That also included the servant girl that received Joseph's thousand-year-old panacea leaf.

However, instead of giving Joseph a random striptease or some kind of a lewd service, she just sat beside him. It was unknown what she was thinking.

It wasn't until midnight came did the drunk mortal experts collapsed one by one.

The servant girls also returned to their carriages to sleep.

Joseph remained in front of the barely alive fire pit and he kept on staring into the fire, his thoughts incomparably deep and unknown.

However, one thing was for sure...

Right now, Joseph felt a peace that he had never felt before ever since the death of his parents.

Joseph eventually laid on the grass and stared at the starry skies.

He stretched his hand out and tried playing with those stars using his hands, reminiscing about the time that he and his parents laid together on a bed of soft grass as they played with Joseph who even bragged that he would someday reach the stars.

What he had said back then sounded silly, but now that Joseph was an Immortal within the King's Trial. He possessed strength and power that could be considered as the strongest within the world.

He decided that someday in the near future...

He would definitely go into space and step on a star, declaring one of the silly declarations he made back then to his parents as complete.

Joseph eventually closed his eyes as his consciousness darkened.

His body, under the guidance of the Gaming Capsule, went into a regenerative sleep under the effects of the True Sleep Mode function.