Chapter 224: You Will Be My Trophy

Chapter 224: Chapter 224: You Will Be My Trophy

"Huh? Why would it end like that..."

Elvira couldn’t comprehend such a cruel ending. It completely overturned the ideals she had been taught her entire life.

"An era on the brink, a people in decline, Knights in decay, and a kingdom in ruin."

Lance summarized the story.

"Faced with a mess like that, it wouldn’t have mattered who became king."

He looked into the girl’s eyes and continued.

"I don’t think it was that the king didn’t understand people’s hearts."

"Rather, she didn’t understand herself, nor did she know how to cherish herself."

Seeing Elvira’s half-comprehending expression, Lance reached out his right hand, placed it on her long, golden hair, and ruffled it vigorously a couple of times.

"I’m not telling you all this to negate the kindness in your heart."

"I just want you to know that becoming that kind of person won’t necessarily make you a king who can satisfy everyone."

"The trial you experienced might just be a reflection of the world’s longing for a certain kind of king—they yearn to be led by someone like that."

"But ruling is complicated. It’s not enough to just be a good person."

"That kind of bottomless self-sacrifice will only foster a crowd of insatiably greedy villains."

Lance pulled his hand back, looking at the small tuft of hair he had tousled atop the girl’s head.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

"Before you can become a king celebrated by later generations, you first have to become yourself."

"Go and be the Elvira who feels wronged, who laughs out loud, who might even cry her eyes out in the market over a few rotten apples."

Lance was, in fact, projecting his lingering frustrations about that character from his past life onto the girl before him.

Now, seeing that she seemed to have taken his words to heart, a sense of satisfaction welled up inside him.

But he didn’t know.

He didn’t know what would happen when a person integrated another’s ideals into their sense of self, making themselves more complete.

In Elvira’s vision.

The firelight illuminated Lance’s smiling face.

At that very moment, she clearly felt as if a Giant Dragon was roaring deep within her heart.

Conquer! She wanted to possess!

When she heeded Lance’s words to be herself, the first thing she heard was the cry of her own selfish desires.

Her Dragon Descendant blood boiled violently.

’Pin him down!’

’Pin him down! Your Power is immense! There’s no way he can resist!’

Lance watched as Elvira stared at him blankly, her gaze fixed, as if she had been completely stunned by his grand reasoning.

"What’s wrong?"

he asked, a little puzzled.

Elvira’s eyes suddenly refocused, and a completely unrelated sentence blurted out of her mouth.

"It’s summer!"

The girl stared intently at Lance, her voice crisp and clear.

"I like summer, too."

Several huge question marks practically popped up over Lance’s head.

’Isn’t this topic change a little too abrupt? Weren’t we just talking about being a king?’

In the days that followed, the two grew even closer.

They even held an eating contest in a city tavern.

Faced with stack after stack of grilled meat cutlets, Lance was ultimately crushed by the surprisingly capable girl.

They climbed the towering city walls together and sat side-by-side on the stone bricks, watching the sunset at the edge of the plains.

They wandered through the streets and alleys together, eating their way through all the famous delicacies in Golden Ears City.

Time flowed by, day after day.

In this Trial World, sometimes getting used to another person’s presence only leaves you with regret when it’s time to part.

「The tenth day.」

It was the day the trial ended, the day to leave the Star Realm.

Lance stood in the courtyard, looking at the empty house, and felt an unexpected pang of reluctance to leave.

He had truly grown accustomed to the golden-haired girl’s presence.

But just like finishing a video game, the end of the song means the crowd disperses; it was an inevitable conclusion.

In the end, he had to say goodbye to the girl who could eat seven meat pies in one meal.

Lance composed himself and shouldered his Heavy Spear.

This trial was now successfully completed.

He was now heading to the canyon to receive his Heroic Spirit Protection.

He pushed open the wooden door, preparing to stride away.

As his gaze swept across the porch, he noticed a gleaming red apple resting quietly on the stone pillar used for hanging lanterns by the door.

Lance smiled knowingly.

He reached out, picked up the apple, and took a hearty bite.

The sweet juice burst in his mouth.

He held up the bitten apple and waved back at the street, not knowing if he was bidding farewell to this world or to a certain someone.

He journeyed onward until he finally arrived at King’s Canyon.

A massive waterfall thundered down from the towering cliffs, its mist filling the air and refracting a brilliant rainbow.

Below the waterfall was a flat, stony beach, where the stream flowed over smooth pebbles and into the distance.

Lance, shouldering his spear, stepped on the stones and entered the core area.

When he passed through the mist and got a clear view of the scene ahead,

his steps came to an abrupt halt.

Before a statue holding an inverted longsword,

stood a straight and tall figure.

She wore a magnificent silver-and-blue Battle Skirt, her golden hair fluttering gently in the mist.

In her hand, she tightly gripped the King’s Choice Sword, which radiated a golden light.

Lance looked at the familiar face, a surprised expression appearing involuntarily.

"Elvira?"

Before she could reply, the system interface popped up.

[Trial Dungeon: Epic of the King (Final Stage)]

[The Coronation Ceremony now officially begins!]

[The gears of fate have begun to turn. The successor of the Red Dragon and the chosen of the White Dragon have finally met in King’s Canyon.]

[Here, you shall continue the unfinished "Battle of the Two Dragons"!]

[Combat Rules: No retreat, no mercy. Use everything you have learned in your life to utterly crush the fated enemy before you. The victor shall be crowned the one true king in this canyon!]

[Note: This duel has attracted the attention of the Heroic Spirit Hall. You are being watched by Heroic Spirit Clovis, Heroic Spirit Lotar, and Heroic Spirit Leonidas!]

[Trial Reward: The victor of this battle will receive 1 point of Star Realm Legend and the blessings of the three Heroic Spirits, which will converge into a unique Protection.]

The corner of Lance’s mouth twitched violently, uncontrollably.

He finally understood everything.

’So after all this time, Elvira isn’t some NPC spawned in the Star Realm. She’s also a Trial Taker from the Material Realm who came for the Heroic Spirit Baptism!’ ℯℯ𝑙.

’And the sword in her hand is the King’s Choice Sword I put back. No wonder the poor girl was having such a miserable time.’

He also finally understood why Heroic Spirit Clovis had been staring at him every day.

’Duh!’

’The Founding Monarch was watching his own blood descendant hang around a notorious guy like me every day. Of course he was going to be on high alert!’

"Kid! What are you spacing out for!"

Ascalon’s voice exploded in Lance’s mind.

"That’s the King’s Choice Sword! She’s a descendant of Clovis! HAHAHAHA! Fate! This is fucking fate! The battle that Lotar never finished all those years ago has fallen squarely on your shoulders today, kid!"

Actually, Lance had a question. He had heard the story of the Founding Monarch, but it seemed that both the system prompts and Ascalon were telling him that the Red Dragon and the White Dragon never had a decisive outcome to their battle back then.

However, in all the Legends, the Red Dragon had defeated the White Dragon.

But just then, Elvira moved.

Wielding the Holy Sword that glowed with golden light, she splashed through the water, walking toward Lance step by step.

Gone was her usual charming naivete. She was staring intently at Lance now, and in her emerald-green eyes, Lance could sense a strange danger.

Not life-threatening danger...

’More like... a Giant Dragon eyeing its treasure?’

"You must have known I was also here for the Heroic Spirit Baptism when you saw this spear of mine, right?"

Lance looked at her and said, half-joking:

"If I’d known you were going to be joining me here today, I would’ve added a couple more handfuls of chili peppers to that grilled meat last night."

"Too late for that, Lance."

Elvira stared into Lance’s eyes, her demeanor now extremely aggressive and completely different from before.

"That night, you told me that before I could become a king, I had to first become myself."

"I took it to heart."

Elvira took a deep breath, making no attempt to hide the boiling desire in her heart.

"So I’ve decided. I’m not just going to be the king who pulled out the Holy Sword. I’m also going to be a king who cries, who laughs, who gets angry, and who holds on tight to everything she likes..."

She suddenly raised the tip of her sword, pointed it at Lance’s chest, and a dazzling, brilliant smile bloomed on her face:

". . . a greedy king!"

"And I’m going to defeat you, too!"

"You will be the final prize of my trial!"

’This way, my feelings should get across to him, right?’

Elvira thought to herself.

The fact that he had seen her at her most pathetic had been her biggest regret over the past few days.

But, thankfully...

Here, she still had one more chance to reverse that image.

’Lance, I’m going to show you my most brilliant side.’

’As the top genius of the Royal Capital, Elvira, the Crimson Crown Dragon.’