Knights: "You! Do you think you can get away with killing the prince?"

All the knights drew their swords.

Ryu: "You're the ones who forced me into a duel I didn't want. Besides, the prince said he was going to kill me in the duel! You're telling me I should have just let him kill me? What kind of logic is that?"

Knights: "Since the prince decided to cut you down, you should have just accepted your fate and remained silent. That's the attitude a commoner should have towards royalty."

Ryu: "What the hell?"

It was an absurd argument. Ryu couldn't believe this was happening. But the knights seemed to genuinely believe it was the right thing to do.

The knights began to slowly surround Ryu.

Sophie, beside them, cried out in anguish.

"Brother~~!"

Ryu: "Let's deal with this first."

Ryu held out his hand towards Harris...

"...Ugh... What? Sophie?"

Sophie: "Brother...?!"

...Harris, who was supposed to be dead, opened his eyes.

His chest wound was gone, and his severed arms had magically reattached.

Knight A: "This... is this healing magic?!"

Knight B: "But only those at the Pope's level can use healing magic to cure fatal wounds or missing limbs..."

Knight C: "Could it be... that the prince being cut down was an illusion?"

It wasn't an illusion. The healing magic Ryu used was different from normal healing magic. He had used space-time magic to rewind time. He could revert things back to their state before they were injured, whether it was a fatal wound or a missing limb. Of course, he couldn't bring someone back to life if they were truly dead, but he had realized that if someone had recently died and their soul was still present in their body, he could rewind them.

However, it was understandable for people who had never heard of such a thing to think they were being tricked with an illusion.

Harris: "An illusion...? You know, Aiga and the others said the same thing..."

Harris (glaring at Ryu): "You... You used a cowardly trick! How dare you humiliate me in front of Sophie! But now that I know the trick, it won't work on me again. Prepare yourself."

Ryu: "It wasn't an illusion or a trick... Well, whatever. If you want to experience it again, I'll give you as many chances as you want."

Ryu pointed his sword at Harris' chest.

The wound on the prince's chest had completely disappeared, but the hole in his armor and clothes from Ryu's sword remained.

As Harris saw the hole, the sensation of being stabbed through the heart returned to his mind. The feeling of the blade slicing through his ribs, piercing his heart, and continuing on, severing the ribs on his back as it exited on the other side.

In fact, at the moment the blade passed through, Ryu had used acceleration magic on Harris as well. However, he didn't change the physical speed of his body, only his brain.

[Acceleration Axle] made it feel like time was slowing down for those who were accelerating. In other words, it would make the sensation of a blade passing through your body feel slower.

For Harris, it must have felt like the sword was slowly piercing his body. He had already lost the fight when his arms were cut off, but he had intentionally stabbed his chest for this purpose.

"Ugh...!"

The pain flashed back, and Harris stumbled backward, clutching his chest.

"Huh!"

He drew his sword again, radiating killing intent. Harris let out a dumbfounded cry at the sight of Ryu.

He retreated, taking one step back, then another, and finally shouted, "Enough!" Then, he ran away.

"Your Highness?! Wait, Your Highness!!!"

The knights hurried after the prince, who fled on horseback.

(Scene Change)

(The prince realized for the first time that he might actually die and felt a real sense of fear. (Although he had actually been killed once.)

It wasn't a fear he felt in his head, but an instinctive fear that his body felt, prompting him to flee.

However, as he ran, his head cooled down, and he remembered that he had run away leaving Sophie behind.

But he couldn't go back now. The thought of facing Ryu again made his feet feel like lead. His body trembled in fear.

But having fled in front of Sophie was an unbearable humiliation for Harris.

Now he understood why knights Aiga and the others had said they couldn't defeat Ryu. Even if he sent his knights after Ryu, they would likely be defeated again.

But he couldn't forgive such disrespect towards royalty...

That's right, he was a prince, royalty!

He had to use his royal power to punish this insolent man. Royalty didn't need to fight themselves.

As he considered how to punish Ryu with his power, Harris returned to the villa.

(Scene Change)

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(Text: A request for Ryu's services? Don't miss it!)