Rise of the Eromancer-Chapter 348: Run Ransack

"He requests a duel, Your Highness…

…if you refuse, the gods will smite us."

It wasn't supposed to be this way—this siege was supposed to be incredibly easy. Calydon was just a small city. They were insignificant, and the only reason he was here in the first place was so that he could retrieve the treasure that their king was holding for himself.

When he found out that his father betrothed him to a princess in a backwater city, Ducetios was completely devastated. Fortunately for him, his father immediately told him that it was only a ruse—and that he had been tasked to secretly get close to the princess so that he would be able to get their treasure.

But of course, Ducetios was not actually going through all of that. He was not one for scheming, he preferred to get what he wanted with brute force. He wasn't going to play along at all. And when he found out that the Princess of Calydon was gone, that was all the reason he needed to ransack Calydon in the pretense of breaking the engagement and disrespecting Thebes.

Everything was going well. His generals said that Calydon was at its last breath and that they just needed to pierce through the castle and it would be over.

Everything was going well… until it wasn't.

All of a sudden, he heard his men screaming, panicking. He initially thought that Calydon might have called for reinforcements at the last minute—but their scouts did not really see anything at all. If there was an army flanking them from behind, they would have surely noticed it…

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…it turns out, however, that it was only one man.

One man, turning the tide of an entire battle in just minutes. He had heard the stories of heroes before—people who are gifted by the gods—and to think that one of them would be here now. But why… why did he have to be on the side of the enemies?

"I… I am Prince Ducetios!" And as his soldiers looked at him with expectant eyes, Ducetios had no choice at all but to respond to the warrior's challenge, or else the soldiers would lose all the respect they had for him. But of course, he wasn't actually stupid enough to think that he would be able to defeat a man kissed by the gods—in times like this, sometimes, scheming is necessary.

"Who are you, gallant warrior?" Prince Ducetios got off of his horse, snapping his cape to his back as he made himself as large as possible—but even with his bulky armor and waving cape, he did not even need to approach Rhys at all to know that he would tower over him. And of course, he was not actually going to approach him just yet, "I have not seen you here—are you fighting for Calydon…? Or are you perhaps just traveling through our lands in search of glory?"

"..." Rhys did not really answer and just started looking around, slightly confused with what Ducetios was doing.

"If you are in search of glory, then you will not get it from fighting for Calydon!" Prince Ducetios's voice was as loud as it could be, "Fight for me, for Thebes—and I will let you experience wars, make you stand atop the bodies of thousands!"

"I'm not fighting for Calydon," Rhys started walking around while lightly swinging the sword, "I am fighting for her."

"Hm?" Prince Ducetios and his soldiers quickly turned to look where Rhys pointed his sword, only to see a beautiful woman approaching from the castle, "That's…"

In truth, Prince Ducetios had never seen the princess of Calydon—but since it was a small city near the mountains, he thought she would look like someone from the countryside; short, lanky, and like a man… but not at all.

"Are you… Princess Clio?" Prince Ducetios's eyes widened. His soldiers did say that Princess Clio was a beauty—but his soldiers' perception of beauty would surely be lower than his, or so he thought. If he knew that Princess Clio was this beautiful, then he would have definitely just gone along with the scheme and married her, "Wait… you are fighting for Princess Clio?"

"Yes," Rhys then raised his sword at the same level as his shoulder, slightly folding his arm as he pointed the blade at Ducetios; almost replicating Achilles's stance, "Draw your blade, Your Highness—we shall we which one is sharper."

"I…" Prince Ducetios looked back and forth between Clio and Rhys, "If… if you are asking a duel for her hand, then you are mistaken—I…I have no interest in the Princess of Calydon at all, this duel does not make sense."

Prince Ducetios then turned to look at his men, only to see all of them squinting their eyes; looking at him with expressions of disappointment.

"This duel is not—!!!" Prince Ducetios's eyes widened as he saw Rhys's figure blur, only for him to appear right in front of him; the sharp edge of his sword, slightly cutting his cheek, "What—!?"

Prince Ducetios quickly backed away, almost tumbling back and falling on his butt if it was not for his men catching him. He wanted to leave, but his soldiers pushed him back to the imaginary circle that was now created as their arena.

"Draw your sword, Your Highness," Rhys let out a small but very deep sigh, "I do not want to kill an unarmed man."

"You—I will not draw my sword!" Prince Ducetios raised his voice, "I am a Prince of Thebes! I will not lower myself to dueling with an unknown warrior! My blood is superior!"

"Huh…" Rhys blinked a couple of times as he slowly lowered his sword. And as soon as Ducetios saw this, a sigh of relief escaped his lips—he might just come out of this alive, he thought.

"Then, I supposed it is fine if the one fighting you is of royal blood?" Rhys then said as he started walking to Clio… before just casually handing him the sword,

"Then you will fight with the Princess of Calydon—that should be enough for someone like you, no?"

"W…what?" Prince Ducetios let out a small chuckle. He then turned to look at his men again, only to see them just shaking their heads, "I… Why would I fight with a woman!?"

"...You do not want to fight a warrior, you don't want to fight a woman," Rhys slightly raised his voice so that everyone could hear it, "Then tell me, Prince of Thebes—what are you only allowed to fight? Perhaps newborns!?"

"You—"

"I, Clio, Princess of Calydon…" And before Prince Ducetios could say anything, Clio stepped forward with the sword stretched to her side, "...Accept this duel."

"W… what!?" Prince Ducetios's eyes quickly turned to find the King of Calydon, "You… you are seriously not allowing this, King of Calydon!?"

"This…" Of course, he was not allowing it. He wanted to talk and pull his daughter away from this madness. But for some reason, as he saw her back that was filled with confidence, the only thing he could do was stay put.

"This is madness!" Prince Ducetios gritted his teeth as he looked at Rhys, "Do you think I do not know what you are trying to do here!? Once the Princess of Calydon is near defeat, I know you would step in!"

"No, not at all," Rhys shook his head before just sitting on the ground, "Whatever the results are of this match, I will not intervene—but I will, however, still kill you. But that wouldn't be necessary since I know you would be defeated."

"You… you mock me!?" And finally Prince Ducetios pulled out his sword, "You think that I will be defeated by this skinny princess who looked like she has not even held a sword before this day!?"

"Enough talk, Prince of Thebes!" Clio placed her sword in front of her, "Let your sword express your might—I will do the same! Come!"

"You dare!?" Prince Ducetios lunged toward Clio, swinging his sword down with all of his might. And as soon as he saw Clio trying to block her attack; a smirk crawled on his face—did she really think she would be able to parry his sword?

"Die!"

"No!" Clio then swung her sword upward to meet Ducetios's attack—and as soon as their blades met, Ducetios felt both his arms tremble; his hands, almost shattering, no. If he did not let go when he did, his hands would have surely shattered.

"What!?" The only thing Ducetios could really do was watch as his sword flew up into the air—perhaps a grave mistake. Because as soon as he focused on Clio, her sword was already swinging toward his neck. Ducetios instinctively covered his head when he saw that—but alas, the only thing he was able to do was involve his arms from the eventual decapitation.

"!?"

Prince Ducetios's soldiers could not help but widen their eyes as they saw the Princess of Calydon cut down their prince just like that.

Just… what exactly is happening with this small city? Did… they make a mistake and accidentally ransack a city filled with gods?