DON'T CALL A KNIGHT A BASTARD
"Viscount Oriese, I am so lucky to catch you before you left the academy", Eugenia said to me as she rushed over to see me.
"Yes, I am about to leave the academy for Tarah city. There is nothing much that I could do here especially with the House of Nobles obstructing me in every way", I replied to her.
"I came to give you this, your new badge", Eugenia told me as she presented me with a new badge signifying my rank in the Knight Templar Court.
"I already got the badge recently", I replied to her.
"Oh, that badge is not updated. You have been promoted to the rank of Duke", Eugenia told me.
"Duke? I didn't gain any ranking on the Knight Templar ladder", I asked her.
"The rankings on the Knight Templar ladder are only an indicator. The academy assesses you independent of the results from the Knight ranking", Eugenia told me.
"Really? Why did they improve my assessment?" I asked her.
"Your fight with the forty eight was ..erm.. a little brash, but also courageous. Your final defeat of the Spirit of Arothar demonstrates your strength to the Knight Templar Court. You are entitled to the rank of Duke", Eugenia told me.
"So, it seems my fight with the knights wasn't entirely a waste of time. But why are you giving this to me, really?", I replied to her and asked.
"Dean Masker is not very agreeable to the way the House of Noble monopolizes the Knight Templar ranking. It is not conducive to fair competition, but the association has strong support from the major families. As you know, the funding of the academy comes from the contributions of the families. It is good that someone occasionally will shake the House of Noble's hold on the ranking", Eugenia explained to me.
"Alright, thank Dean Masker for me", I said to Eugenia.
Suddenly, someone rushed into our chamber, bearing some urgent news.
"What is it?" Eugenia asked the servant.
"Prince Demos is screaming in the Knight's arena for Duke Oriese to meet him", the servant replied to her.
"It seems my work is not done here", I said to Eugenia.
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"You bastard of Mithridocus, give me back my Spirit of Arothar", Prince Demos shouted to me suddenly to my surprise.
"Did I hear a dog bark?" I asked out loud without addressing the rude prince.
"I will kill you today if you don't return the Spirit of Arothar to me", Prince Demos threatened me.
I took the Spirit of Arothar with my Malevolent Slaves when I defeated the Avatar of Shining Armor. Prince Demos searched everywhere after the battle for the statue that enabled the channeling and creation of the avatar. In the end, he concluded that I must have taken the statue artifact, the Spirit of Arothar.
Prince Demos raised his hand as he cast a powerful magic. Suddenly, several knights in shining armor were conjured and they charged toward me.
"Be careful, Prince Demos' conjured knights are at the Green Legendary tier. This is not magic that should be used against graduate knights", Eugenia shouted out to warn me.
"You will die for stealing my Spirit of Arothar", Prince Demos shouted to me.
I was about to defend myself when someone came to my defense.
Suddenly, powerful curved blades appeared from nowhere to slash and cut the knights conjured by Prince Demos. These conjured blades were extremely powerful, stopping the knight's advance and even pushing them back towards Prince Demos.
"Dean Masker, how dare you interfere with the House of Noble?" Prince Demos shouted to Dean Masker.
"The last time I heard, I am still the dean of the Knight Templar Academy, and this place is the Knight Templar Academy. Nobody makes trouble in my academy under my watch, even you Prince Demos", Dean Masker told Prince Demos.
"That bastard stole my Spirit of Arothar", Prince Demos shouted back to the dean.
"Watch your words, Prince Demos. Duke Oriese is a high-ranking knight of the academy and the Knight Templar Court", Dean Masker told the prince who was taken aback by what he said.
"Duke? Since when did the Bully of Starri get promoted to become a duke?" the onlookers asked among themselves.
"The dean must be favoring the Bully", someone suggested the reason to them.
"The conferment of a Knight Templar Dukeship is a decision of the Knight Templar Court, not my decision alone", Dean Masker told the people to stop their rumor mongering.
The titles of Dukes and Princes were among the highest honors among knight templars in the kingdom and across the Ten-Kingdoms. It was also the law of the kingdom against defaming such titled knights.
"Yes, what proof do you have that I am a bastard? Show your proof now or I kill you today", I screamed and shouted to Prince Demos to his shock and surprise.
I did not ask Demos for proof that I stole the Spirit of Arothar but asked him to prove that I was a bastard. Proving the former was difficult but proving the latter was impossible for the prince.
"Prince Demos, you should not have called a titled Duke a 'bastard' without proof. That is a serious defamation not only to Duke Oriese himself but the entire Knight Templar order and also the Mithridocus family", Dean Masker told Prince Demos.
Suddenly, Prince Demos was in a quandary.
"How did I get myself into this predicament?" Prince Demos must have asked himself.
Prince Demos came to accuse me as a thief but now was faced with a serious crime of defamation against the entire Knight Order and the Mithridocus family because he uttered the "B" word.
"I take back my words. You are not a bastard", Prince Demos said to me reluctantly, to get out of the situation that was unfavorable to him due to his loudmouth.
"Let me announce that Prince Demos has taken back his words accusing Duke Oriese as a bastard and as a thief. This matter should be settled here at this", Dean Masker announced to the entire academy.