At that moment, some imperial guards appeared from the surroundings. I already knew they were here thanks to Akashic Sight, but I still showed a surprised expression to feign ignorance.

“Imperial guards?”

“Hehe, don’t worry, prince, they only came to observe the fight.”

I frowned deeply and looked at sir Raul in rage. But he just smirked and waved her wooden sword carelessly. “Are we going to start?”

I nodded and lowered my stance. I then turned briefly towards Daisy and smiled reassuringly.

Daisy smiled back, but it was obvious from her expression that she was really worried.

“I don’t want to bully the prince, so I’ll restrict my mana at your level. I think things are fair like that, right?” The captain grinned mockingly.

I showed a confident expression and nodded. Then, I circulated my fourth-layer mana through my body.

In this world, cultivation is divided into magic and martial arts, and there are twelve layers for each one. I was considered above average with my beginner fourth-layer at the age of eighteen, but it was very far from the eighth layer of the captain.

In the empire, the first prince is known as a great genius for reaching the sixth layer at twenty-one, on the other hand, my sister Dina is at the fifth layer at 19.

Because of that, my level is considered pretty average between my siblings. Although reaching the fourth layer at eighteen is considered pretty good in general, it’s a bad result for a prince.

Moreover, Lena is in the fourth layer too, and she is only fifteen.

Bryan is way worse than me, though. He is just in the first layer despite being twenty, but everybody knows that he is a trash, so nobody finds it strange.

Of course, though my magic is not so good, I’m also considered a bit of a genius. I’m called sword fanatic in the empire, and even the best sword instructor admitted that he cannot teach me swordsmanship.

Unfortunately, that is nothing compared to my siblings.

At that moment, I heard the captain speak.

“Very well, Here I go!” He shouted and thrusted his sword forward.

His body accelerated fiercely, and in seconds, his sword was already before me. I could see a smile of confidence in his face. Apparently, he planned to strike down me with the first attack.

However, he was going to be disappointed.

I waited until one second before the sword touched my chest, and sidestepped to evade the attack narrowly.

Then, I moved my sword leisurely and cut towards his arm.

The captain smirked seeing the slow movement of my sword, but when he tried to avoid it, he noticed that the sword continued following him. The tip of the sword approached slowly towards his wrist.

The captain put on a flustered expression and moved his sword to block my attack, but I moved my wrist slightly and bypassed his defenses with a small movement. Then, my sword cut towards his chest.

The captain could only open his eyes wide seeing my elegant movement.

But before the sword could touch his chest, he shouted.

“Arrgghhhg!”

Instantly, his speed doubled.

The captain stepped backward frantically and evaded the attack. He was looking at me with an ugly expression and sweating profusely, but I simply frowned.

Currently, the captain’s strength was the equivalent of someone in the fifth layer of mana.

The surroundings were completely silent. Nobody could believe that I forced the captain to retreat, moreover, he only evaded the attack because he used a greater layer of mana than me.

After all, though I was known as a sword fanatic, that title was something I acquired after my instructors of magic said that they did not have something else to teach me. But the captain was an experimented eighth layer swordsman. Even if he suppresses his strength to my level, his experience should be more than enough to beat me.

“Fuu.” Daisy sighed in relief and stepped forward to interrupt the awkward situation.

But suddenly, the captain attacked again.

“Arrrrgggggghhhh!” With an expression of rage, he wielded his sword fiercely and stabbed towards my shoulder. Furthermore, he was using strength equivalent to the fifth layer.

I showed a surprised expression purposefully and avoid the attack awkwardly, but the captain attacked again. I could hear the nervous whispers of the guards in the surroundings. It’s obvious that they knew that things were going south.

After all, the captain was clearly enraged. And though I’m out of favor with the emperor, I’m after all a prince. If something happens to me, their heads will roll.

But before they could step forward, I counterattacked.

Taking advantage of the captain’s rage, I circled towards his right and extended my foot. The captain was unable to avoid my foot and fell to the ground embarrassingly

“Stop it, sir Raul.” I said with an expression of indifference to agitate his emotions. “It’s unbecoming.”

When the captain heard those words, he completely lost his mind.

It was a humiliation. A humiliation in front of his subordinates and under the gaze of the queen!

So, instead of calming down, he was even more enraged.

His mana surged, and his speed increased drastically again. Some of the soldiers and Daisy only saw a blur and his sword was already in front of me.

I put on a pale expression and retreated frantically. My sword moved in a fluster trying to stop his attacks. It seemed that I was about to fall under the sixth layer’s attacks.

The captain grinned sadistically. He stared at my flustered expression in glee and swung his sword with suppressing his strength.

But when it seemed as though I could not endure anymore, I suddenly disappeared.

My speed did not increase, and my strength was the same as before. I simply took advantage of his speed to move towards his blind spot and disappear from his sight.

At the next instant, my sword touched his back.

The captain froze completely. Even the soldiers expecting the fight were looking at me with pale expressions and sweat in their backs.

As for me, I was panting with a smile of victory.

I was truly smiling. Not only because I humiliated the captain, but also because Akashic Sight noticed something interesting.

Smirking in my mind, I moved my lips.

“It’s my win.”

Instantly, the captain moved.

He suddenly increased his strength at the seventh layer and turned around before punching my chest. I feigned a surprised expression and put my sword in front of me to block the attack. But despite it, the attack sent me flying towards the wall.

“Your highness!” Daisy shouted in panic and ran towards me.

The captain was still enraged. He was not content with only hitting me once, but when he was about to rush towards me, someone appeared in the courtyard.

“Raul, what are you doing?!”

It looks like my next prey is here.