Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile-Chapter 291: Svenjar

"You still haven’t figured out anything?" Atrox asked.

It had been five days since the Young Master of the Akatsuki arrived.

Valtor shook his head. "No, my lord. So far, all he did was find a way to piss off anyone that came into his line of sight. And that Master Knight of his... it’s wrong."

Atrox nodded. He’d observed the Young Master secretly himself, and the man had a very foul mouth. It was surprising he managed to live that long.

And the way he dragged that woman around, the way there was no hint of a smile in her eyes. It was as if a candle had been put out.

Atrox was in the study of the Clan leader. It was a very big one. The walls were made of shimmering stones that sparked with their light, while some parts of the wall had been cut into shelves.

"So we still don’t know their motive. We have to fix that. I will meet him."

Valtor hesitated. "Are you sure?"

☆☆☆

A few hours later, Atrox was sitting on his throne. He was dressed casually, and behind him stood his three guards. Atrox tapped the chair handle. "Tiber, if you notice anything then let me know or if you have a question or suggestion to ask."

"Alright, Clan leader."

The throne room was deserted since it wasn’t an official court. Every one of his officials was in their building doing what they knew how to do best.

And then the door opened, and three people came in. Valtor, the woman, and Svenjar.

"...This is going to be interesting but also very unnecessary..."

Svenjar was a tall man with a handsome face, his skin hardened by the sun. He wore a long robe, his head covered with a scarf. When he first entered the hall, he didn’t immediately head toward Atrox.

Instead, he began to study the different paintings hung throughout the room, totally ignoring Atrox as if he were part of the decorations in the room.

Valtor looked as if he’d spit blood from the place he was standing. "...This bastard is totally ignoring my Clan leader! What a shitty one!..."

Even the woman shot a fearful look at Atrox. Bowing her head, she returned to Svenjar to whisper to him. It was only then that Svenjar turned toward the throne and raised his brows. "Oh. A Clan leader is here? I can’t tell because I didn’t feel any of his aura pressure. You’re sure it’s actually a Clan leader?"

Valtor hissed, and even Slya took a step forward from her place, only to hurry back when she saw the look Eryndor shot her.

But Atrox was collected as he only smiled and nodded along with him. "So the Akatsuki’s Clan leader has more aura than me?"

Svenjar looked at him with a sneer. "Of course! My father has been on that seat for who knows how long, and he still has enough aura to let insult and humiliation go unchecked."

"Oh? That’s impressive," Atrox said solemnly. "Akatsuki Svenjar. I heard you are here in my throne room to see me, and here I am. What do you want, Young Master?"

Svenjar smiled, and then without warning, he went to sit in one of the chairs on the left, the chairs that were placed there for the elders, ignoring the chair that was placed for him in the center of the room.

All the while, he was watching Atrox’s expression, but the Clan leader wore the same expression he’d been wearing since they met. Seeing no reaction from him, Svenjar suddenly felt foolish and childish as everyone just stared at him.

Anger rolled in his veins, and suddenly he pointed out. "You! Why are you two guards when you are weak? If I look at you long enough, I know you’ll fall over."

Slya and Tiber looked at each other, but they didn’t say anything.

When yet he didn’t get the reaction he wanted, he shook his head. "A shame. You are all so boring. You ask me what I want? Well, I’ve heard about how you have been bragging, Atrox. That you are the strongest Errant Knight. I have come to challenge you."

Atrox raised his brows. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t that. "You’re here to challenge? All the way from the Akatsuki Desert? Why don’t you just find another lie?"

Atrox frowned. "You want to fight me because of the rumors you heard? Did your father know about this?"

Svenjar stiffened. "Why are you bringing him into this? He wrote you the message personally. Of course, he didn’t know what my true intentions are, but here I am."

His eyes glowed. "I see something remarkable in you, Atrox. And your dead brother Thrain. Do you know you two are the only Errant Knights to climb the throne? Although your brother is dead, you’ve already used more than three months! You’ve broken a record that shouldn’t exist."

"An Errant Knight above everyone else. It made the rumors even more of a curious thing."

Atrox didn’t say anything for a while. He just studied him. He’d never really thought about it that way. One of the reasons the other Clans in the Hinterlands were making moves was not only because they wanted to rob the Soryu Clan. That was expected.

But because they actually saw the Soryu as a very weak thing.

So weak that a Master Knight couldn’t even take the seat. Only an Errant Knight could they produce. Atrox suddenly began to laugh. "Ah!"

Everywhere, what matters most was strength. And even in the Soryu Clan. But one thing they always did differently was that in their leadership ladder, the bloodline of the Soryu always stayed at the top.

Although the Soryu Clan hadn’t managed to produce an Errant Knight as Clan leader before until then, they did, however, have weak Master Knights as Clan leaders. Knights that were carried through their ranks, and yet there had been minimal internal war compared to the other Clans of the Hinterlands.

And it wasn’t just because people were loyal to the Clan Leaders. It was because the Soryu had been set up to be the core of the Clan. Their bloodline was needed to access a lot of things.