Masked Knight

Condensation of energy into shape!

The audience exclaimed in admiration. Crown Prince Aven looked reverently and unwaveringly looked at Rody. The surrounding diplomatic envoys of the various kingdoms also had reverent expressions. Only the Senior Prime Minister narrowed his eyes. No one could tell what was on his mind.

"Condensation of energy into shape!" The Crown Prince was the first person to shout loudly, "Earl Rody, I did not expect you to have already reached the level of a Paladin! Err…" He immediately remembered and corrected himself. "I think it is called Sacred Swordsman in your distinguished country."

Aven had forgotten that his own men had lost the fight. With large strides, he walked up to Rody. He looked at Rody with eyes full of respect and almost rushed to Rody to hold his hands!

Rody kept his scimitar. He frowned as he looked at the broken sword and with a wry smile said, "I have broken Your Highness’ treasured sword. I am sorry!"

Aven waved his hand and said, "Never mind, never mind! It is just a sword. I did not expect Your Excellency the Earl to have such excellent strength! If you do not mind, please give me some pointers!"

He was truly a youngster with a passion for martial arts. He did not feel depressed or frustrated even after defeat.

On the Roland Continent, all the strongest masters were from the Temple. Although the Sauron Kingdom was strong, they did not have any knight that had reached the level of Paladin. The person whom Rody fought with, Leho, was already an extremely rare master. The Crown Prince immediately thought of seeking advice the moment he saw a Sacred Swordsman standing in front of him.

While Rody was feeling embarrassed, the Senior Prime Minister finally walked over. Seth followed behind him. He whispered, "Your Highness, I suggest we go in first. Everyone is looking over here."

Aven ordered a few people to take Leho away for him to rest. Leho was now fully convinced, especially from Rody’s last strike which did not give him a chance to resist. He deeply understood that the disparity between himself and his opponent was too big. He bowed to Rody as he was being supported out by others.

Aven no longer had the mood to continue the banquet and the diplomatic envoys, with various thoughts in mind, gradually left.

The dinner banquet ended in a hurry. Ironically, everyone left even before the main course was served. Only Rody and the Crown Prince remained in the palace. The Senior Prime Minister seemed to leave deliberately. Just before he left, he deliberately whispered into Rody’s ears, "Your Excellency the Earl, you are indeed very powerful."

Before Rody could comprehend the meaning of the Senior Prime Minister’s words, he had already left with a smile.

The Crown Prince was struggling in his heart. As someone from the pro-war faction, he naturally had opposed the peace negotiations. He had already been reprimanded by the King that day, but he still felt that the peace negotiation was a disgrace. However, as a warrior, he revered powerful people like Rody. Aven never had the opportunity to seek advice from a master on the level of a Paladin. Now, there was such a great master in front of him. If he did not ask for advice, he would not feel at ease for the rest of his life.

His fixation on martial arts had made him temporarily forget about Seth. Totally unlike his cold attitude earlier, he enthusiastically and respectfully sent Rody off. Rody made a small request to take the broken sword away. The Crown Prince quickly agreed in exchange for a promise that Rody would teach him sword fighting skills during his stay at the palace when it was convenient.

"What were you trying to do just now?" Rody immediately turned to look at Seth the moment he closed the windows of the carriage.

Seth leisurely sighed. He did not directly reply Rody and whispered, "Didn’t you notice?"

"What?"

Seth then replied, "That Senior Prime Minister, he has been observing you the whole night."

Rody nodded, "I certainly noticed that. However, I would like to ask you why you proposed that I fight with the subordinate of the Crown Prince?"

Seth smiled gently as if in disdain. "So what's wrong with having a duel? I know that you are afraid of showing your strength. However, did you think the Senior Prime Minister would not suspect you just because you do not fight? After all, three Dragon Paladins have failed to kill you. Although Mouse and Augustine acted as your cover, do you think the old Senior Prime Minister would not be curious about you?"

Rody was silent.

Seth continued, "Either way, we have made some gains tonight."

Rody thought for a moment and whispered, "That’s right. The Crown Prince is not in collaboration with the Senior Prime Minister. I believe he was just being used by the Senior Prime Minister. Tonight, when you suggested the spar, the Senior Prime Minister did not object. In any case, if the Senior Prime Minister and the Crown Prince were working together, he would be afraid of my strength and would not so easily agree to it. Since he did not object, then he did not care whether the Crown Prince would lose face or not. What he was truly concerned was to test my strength."

"You can see things clearly but not deep enough!" Seth smiled. His gaze turned very strange. "While everybody was watching you during the match, I was observing the Senior Prime Minister. He…was a little bit strange."

"Oh?" Rody’s eyes lit up. He was certain that Seth was better to him when it comes to comparing wisdom. Since Seth could see something was wrong, then it must be very important.

Seth lowered his voice and slowly asked, "Let me first ask, how strong is Leho?"

Rody thought for a moment and replied, "He is not bad!" He paused for a while and then added, "According to normal standards, he is very good! He has already reached the level of a high ranked knight. In a kingdom, with this kind of strength, he can be the leader of an army. He can even be a senior commander in the Holy Knights!"

Seth smiled and looked at Rody. "I noticed that when you finally started to fight back, the Senior Prime Minister’s eyes lit up as if he was feeling pleased. However, when you repelled the opponent, you did not attack him but only broke his sword, the Senior Prime Minister looked disappointed."

"Disappointed?" Rody sat up straight. He showed a pensive expression and frowned, "Why is he disappointed?"

Seth gently stretched out two fingers and said, "There are two possible reasons for his disappointment. The first one is because Leho could not force you to show your true strength and easily lost to you. The result was that he could not thoroughly see your capabilities."

Rody nodded. "According to the normal train of thought, it could be explained that way. What about the second reason?"

Seth sighed and gave a wry smile. "The second possibility for his disappointment is that you did not seriously injure that Leho!"

"Why?" Rody frowned.

Seth shook his head and said, "You all have been wondering whether the Senior Prime Minister and the Crown Prince were collaborating. However, have you ever considered the possibility that they might also be enemies to each other?" He then sneered and asked, "Won’t you feel happy if you see your opponent lose a competent commander?"

Before Rody could speak, Seth’s eyes flashed as he continued, "In my opinion, this Senior Prime Minister must definitely be with the Temple."

Rody thought for a moment and then shook his head, "I have also thought of this possibility, but I think it does not make sense! Just think about it. He participated in the peace negotiations. He has also contributed a lot towards the peace negotiations. At first, I thought he was loyal to the King. There was one thing that can prove this...When I met Mouse in the Northwest, the Temple and the Sauron Kingdom were already at odds with each other! When Mouse was betrayed by his subordinates, that Royal Knight who plotted against her said that he was ordered by the King and the Senior Prime Minister."

Seth sighed and smiled, "What is it that you cannot understand? The Senior Prime Minister is, after all, just a Senior Prime Minister. He is not a King! If the King wants to deal with the Temple and Mouse, how could the Senior Prime Minister object? Even if he is with the Temple, he could only accept and carry out the King’s orders. Otherwise, he would expose himself."

Seth seemed to sneer and said, "Rody, your thinking is still too simple when it comes to politics! What kind of position do you think the Sauron Kingdom has on the Roland Continent? It is the strongest nation on the Roland Continent. The land area covers nearly half the continent. They have a large and formidable army and a strong national strength. If the Temple wants to maintain their prestige in the Roland Continent, then they must find a way to control the Sauron Kingdom by getting to the core of the sovereignty of the Sauron Kingdom.

He then closed his eyes and lightly said, "I know that in order to control the various kingdoms, the Temple's usual method was to station the Holy Knights at various places then dispatch a Saint from the Temple. However, this method is workable on the small kingdoms and not workable when used on a strong and large kingdom like the Sauron Kingdom."

Rody was lost for words and was deep in thought.

Seth smiled. His tone was filled with a praise as he said, "This Senior Prime Minister is old and presumably, his power has been at the core of the kingdom for many years. His position as a Senior Prime Minister is an extremely high position. It could be said that he is subordinate only to the king. He has a say in all the large and small policy matters in the Kingdom. If the Temple can control this position, then they can easily control the rest of the Kingdom. It could be said that there are no better choices."

Rody heaved a sigh and said, "If your assumption is correct, then the Senior Prime Minister would not be easy to deal with. Looks like the peace negotiations may not be successful."

Seth smiled and listlessly leaned on the cushion as he said, "That’s good! The more formidable the opponent, the happier I will be!"

Rody glanced at Seth and suddenly asked, "We turned you into this appearance to punish you, aren’t you angry with us?"

Unexpectedly, Seth did not show any anger on his face. He stayed silent for a moment before he looked at Rody. He had a strange expression as he said, " Rody, let me tell you a secret."

"What is it?"

Seth smiled and whispered, "I do not have human emotions."

Looking at Rody’s blank expression, he continued, "It doesn’t matter whether it is anger, happiness, fear or admiration. All of these human emotions that I should have, I do not have any at all."

"I... don’t understand."

Seth shook his head and said, "Of course, you will not understand. Nobody can understand this kind of feeling if they have never experienced this before."

Seth smiled calmly and said, "Ever since I started to understand things as a child, I have never felt any emotion at all...Not even towards my father, my sister, my family, my lover nor my friends. My heart does not have any emotion! I was born an unfeeling person!

"I have caused all sorts of trouble since childhood. My father would scold me, my sister would become angry at me, and our family guards would be disgusted with me. That was because I wanted to test out how I would feel when they treated me this way. The result was, I never felt anything. Whether I was confronted with my father’s scolding, my sister’s anger, or the guards' contempt, my heart remained calm. All the external factors could not affect my mood."

At that juncture, Seth put his hands behind his head and leaned back in a comfortable posture against the back of the cushion. He gave a long sigh and smiled, "After that, I started to try out the so-called love. As you know I have many lovers in the Empire. Many, many lovers! I tried to see if my heart could show love for others but after trying so many times, no matter what kind of woman, I could not feel love!

"It is true. Perhaps I may smile to others and usually may also have different expressions on my face. Depending on the situation, I can respond with different emotions and reactions...I laugh, I cry, I get angry or sad. I can show affection to lovers and contempt to enemies. Even when you dressed me up as a woman in the past two days, I could also show helplessness and anger. Haha..."

Seth laughed loudly but his eyes were not laughing at all. "But do you know? Right here…" He pointed at his own heart and said, "It is empty, here!"

"You…" Rody was a little surprised.

Seth shook his head. "I just do not want to be seen as a monster by others! I am always calculating in my mind. I am always thinking about what kind of response I should give during different scenarios. After that, I would act out these emotions during the actual situations. However, my heart only calculates and does not have any real emotions!

"I do not even have the so-called self-esteem! I react this way so that I am not seen as a monster by others. This is also not because I will be unhappy if I am seen as a monster. I don't even know what anger was. My common sense simply tells me that if I were to be seen as a monster, I would encounter a lot of troubles and inconveniences."

Rody looked at Seth in surprise. He was shocked when he continued listening to Seth’s words.

No human emotions? Rody could faintly feel that this was a misfortune...

Seth gently smiled and said, "You see, I can see from your eyes that you pity me. Someone like me should feel sad, am I right?"

His voice gradually became softer as he said, "Unfortunately, I do not even know what sadness is."