I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 286

To cut to the chase, Lucas was defeated.

Somehow, he managed to drag the fight out, but in the end, he was directly hit by Dusk Bringer’s three consecutive full-power finger flicks. He lost consciousness and was knocked out. I covered my face with both hands in dismay. Oh, dear….

From the start, expecting him to win against a half-human, half-dragon in a pure physical strength battle was absurd.

“Hoo, hoo….”

Dusk Bringer, who was panting in front of the unconscious Lucas, suddenly came to his senses.

“I, I won….”

Dusk Bringer pointed at the fallen Lucas and shouted.

“You came at me so desperately! I ended up winning without even realizing it!”

…What is this? Some new kind of deception?

It was absurd, but the distribution of rewards should be done according to the rules. I waved my hand to the side.

“It’s getting late, let’s wrap this up quickly. Start the award ceremony!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The priests took the unconscious Lucas away for treatment, and I roughly grabbed the grumbling Dusk Bringer and brought him down.

A stage was set up on the training grounds.

Serenade was in charge of the awards ceremony from 3rd to 8th place. It was only natural since she was the sponsor of this tournament.

“Hello, I’m Serenade from the Winter Silver Merchant Guild.”

As Serenade stood on the stage and smiled brightly, cheers and applause erupted from the audience.

“Winter Silver! Winter Silver!”

“Serenade! Serenade!”

“Kyaaa! Sister! Take me!”

“Please buy me too! I’ll give myself for free-!”

…She’s popular. No, isn’t she more popular than me?

I watched the award ceremony with a strange feeling, feeling proud that Serenade had prepared the festival well, and also feeling a little jealous of the citizens who were enthusiastic about Serenade. Hmm.

The prizes for 3rd to 8th place had already been given out as soon as the results were announced, but Serenade still prepared plaques separately and distributed them to the participants.

“Prizes disappear quickly, but plaques remain for a long time with memories.”

I watched Evangeline’s back as she happily received her plaque, and then Serenade whispered softly in my ear.

“And also, we engraved our guild’s name on the plaques. Hehe.”

“Ah, I see….”

The winners are happy, and the sponsor gets to show off, a win-win situation.

While we were having this conversation, it was time to award the plaques to the finalists. As the lord, I would be in charge of awarding them to these two.

As I went up to the stage and Serenade went down, a sigh of disappointment came from the audience. You guys! Give me applause and cheers too!

First, the 2nd place award. Since Lucas was unconscious, Evangeline received it on his behalf. Holding the 2nd place plaque and the 3rd place plaque in both hands, Evangeline laughed, “Kuhahaha.”

“Plaques in both hands! I am the winner of this festival-!”

“Get down, get down.”

The citizens burst into laughter at the bragging Evangeline. I quickly pushed her down.

And then, the long-awaited winner.

I cleared my throat and looked down at Dusk Bringer, who was trembling in front of me, and declared.

“The honorable winner of this year’s martial arts tournament is this warrior, Dusk!”

“……”

“The winner is bestowed the title of Honorary Knight of the Martial Arts Tournament, and is granted the honor of being appointed as a knight under me, Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack, the lord.”

As I took out the ceremonial sword for the knighting ceremony, Dusk Bringer recoiled in disgust.

“N, no! I don’t want it! I don’t want to be your knight! I don’t want to!”

“Then shall we say you lost?”

That’s what I want. Do you want to reverse the outcome?

Then Dusk Bringer clutched his head and groaned.

“T, that’s even worse! Losing is worse than death!”

“Then you have to accept it. Come here.”

“Kuaaaak!”

In the end, Dusk Bringer had to kneel obediently in front of me, enduring the process of the ceremonial sword being placed on both his shoulders and head.

“….With this, Dusk has become an honorary knight of Crossroads. Do you swear to dedicate the rest of your life to the peace and well-being of the city?”

“K, kkk.”

“Oh, if you don’t swear, the ceremony won’t end, Mr. Evil Dragon. It’s just a formality, let’s get it over with quickly.”

“I, I swear….”

Dusk Bringer squeezed his eyes shut.

“I swear….”

After finally making the oath.

Dusk Bringer looked up at me, trembling with a flushed face. Tears even welled up in his amber eyes.

“I’ve never even made an oath of knighthood to the Emperor…! To inflict such humiliation on me… I will not forget this, Ash….”

“No, you’re the one who earned this humiliation yourself….”

You swept through the martial arts tournament to get this humiliation….

I snorted. It’s not even a proper knighting ceremony, just an honorary knight position for an event-like martial arts tournament. There’s no reason to be so upset.

When I handed him the sparkling glass 1st place plaque, Dusk Bringer quickly took it and ran down the stage, pointing at me.

“Just you wait! I will definitely repay this humiliation!”

Is it trendy to exit with such third-rate villain lines these days? I see it often.

Anyway, with this, the martial arts tournament was over.

As the final match ended, the spectators who had been slowly leaving now left like a receding tide, and the barracks quickly became deserted.

I looked at the tournament bracket posted on one wall and clicked my tongue.

“Oh dear, it’s been completely devastated….”

In the end, I couldn’t stop Dusk Bringer from winning. All of my party members who stood in her way were miserably defeated.

“……”

I turned my head for a moment and looked at my party members, who were happily eating festival food and snacks while holding their plaques.

Miserable… Hmm. It seems like only my heart is miserable….

“Don’t be too sad, Senior.”

Evangeline, who had approached me, comforted me. She was shaking the plaques in both hands excitedly.

“The martial arts tournament and the battlefield will be different!”

“……”

That’s right.

We didn’t use Damian and Junior, who are our strongest firepower and wild cards. If we go into a 5v5 party battle, we will be able to show our true strength.

‘That’s that, but Dusk Bringer’s specs are really absurd….’

Clearly, her efficiency is not good and her consumption is fast.

But the base durability of her body and the size of her magic power are at an absurd level from the start.

I wonder if we can exhaust it all in just a day or two of battle.

‘I need to re-examine the PVP [Player versus Player] tactics.’

While I was thinking that,

“My Lord!”

Lucas, who had woken up from his unconscious state, suddenly ran up to me, knelt down in front of me, and slammed his head on the ground.

“Please kill me-!”

Oh, I knew this would happen.

I smiled bitterly and patted Lucas’s shoulder.

“You fought well, Lucas. Don’t do that, get up.”

“That’s right! Mister! You fought the best, so if you ask to be killed, what about me?”

Evangeline also helped to comfort Lucas.

“Here, take this 2nd place plaque! And a full set of equipment crafting ticket! Wow~ Honestly, this seems much better than the 1st place prize?”

“……”

Lucas took the 2nd place plaque and the gift certificate that Evangeline handed him and stared at them silently.

“……Uu.”

“Uu?”

“Uooooooong.”

He started making a sound like a bear…?

Lucas was sobbing sadly. Evangeline, who was watching Lucas with wide eyes, muttered.

“Ah, he’s crying.”

I was horrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

“Huh? Is that crying?”

“I think so? Look! These eyes full of sadness! Ah! Tears are starting to come out-!”

“Uooooooong.”

Following Evangeline’s live broadcast, Lucas sat down on the floor with a face as if he had lost the whole world and roared sadly, “Uooooooong.” No, is he really crying!

“I just wanted to be praised by my lord. I just did my best….”

Lucas made a face as if he had been wronged and thumped his chest.

“But I got slapped for using beastification. And after that, I wasn’t allowed to be a guard. Uooooooong.”

“No, I slapped you because I was worried about you… and I didn’t let you be a guard because your injuries weren’t fully healed….”

“Uooooooong.”

Lucas was now hitting the ground as well as his chest while wailing.

“So, my plan was to get first place and the honorary knight position and naturally reconcile. Uooooooong. I lost. It’s all ruined. It’s all ruined….”

I was sweating profusely.

It’s very embarrassing to see a guy who was as tough as steel crying(?) so sadly. What, what should I do?

Then Evangeline poked my side.

“What are you doing, Senior! Mister Lucas is crying! Apologize quickly!”

“Huh? Do I have to apologize?”

“Why did you hit him? He’s old enough to understand if you talk to him!”

Well, that’s true… he’s twenty-two, so it’s not the age for corporal punishment… no, corporal punishment shouldn’t be done regardless of age. But….

“Not as a lord or commander, but as a close friend! Try apologizing first!”

“U, um.”

“Okay, follow me. I’m sorry!”

I opened my mouth, following Evangeline.

I’m sorry… I’m sorr… I’m… I’m… I….

“You crazy bastard, you were the one who used beastification first!”

“Oh, come on! Seriously!”

“Uooooooong!”

When I yelled, Evangeline smacked her forehead, and Lucas started crying even more sadly.

***

“I’m sorry for showing such a disgraceful sight, my lord….”

Lucas apologized, sniffling. I waved my hand.

“It’s okay, you idiot. I’m the one who overreacted back then, I’m sorry. I didn’t have to hit you.”

“Sniff… No, it’s not. I was the one who did something that my lord forbade….”

Lord’s mansion. Reception room.

For the first time in a while, all five members of the main party were gathered, having dinner and drinks with snacks.

Lucas and I had a dramatic(?) reconciliation. It was the result of Evangeline coaxing and appeasing us from the side.

“Senior, you’re sometimes so stubborn in strange ways. As a commander, you’re hesitant to apologize first.”

Evangeline tilted her head, sipping juice through a straw. I took a sip of my glass of cold whiskey and replied.

“Hey. It was a punishment within the military system, how would it look if I apologized first?”

“What’s the problem with how it looks? Reconciling with friends is more important. If you’re so concerned about formalities, you’ll regret it later?”

Anyway, we acknowledged Lucas’s contribution in the last battle and offset it with his mistake of using beastification. As for the excessive punishment, I, as an individual, apologized to Lucas, not as the commander of the front lines. It was cumbersome, but we were able to patch up the conflict between us.

Damian, who had been glancing back and forth between us, asked awkwardly, smiling.

“Umm, then can we all play together tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow seems like it’ll be really fun….”

Junior chimed in from beside Damian.

Junior, who had received herbs from the Imperial Mountain from the Winter Silver Merchant Guild, pressed them into his pipe and puffed out smoke.

“I heard the last day is the dance festival. There seems to be a lot of fun things to do. And I heard Your Highness is also participating…?”

Ah, that’s right. Tomorrow is the dance festival….

I, who was forced to participate, clutched my dizzy forehead and downed the rest of my drink. Now I have to dance in front of everyone!

Leaving me alone, the rest of the party members started discussing what they would do and play tomorrow. Do whatever you want….

‘Huh?’

At that moment, my brow furrowed as I looked up at the window.

Am I mistaken? It seems like I can see something whitish outside the window.