Chapter 25: What Legend Can You Be Without Money!?

Seleucus fell silent for a moment.

He stood motionless, as if making a difficult decision.

Su Ya dared not utter a sound; he dared neither deny his identity as king nor reveal to Sir Ecto that he was not a king.

The feeling, akin to humiliation, like a lamb about to be slaughtered and haggled over on a chopping board, made him extremely uncomfortable.

Su Ya couldn't help but clench his fist slightly.

Beside him, Mei Li, holding Su Ya's arm, seemed to sense his body's tremor, sharing his sense of oppression.

But she only pursed her lips slightly and gave Su Ya a slight shake of her head.

After a long while, this intolerable humiliating silence finally ended.

"I understand."

"I will report this to my king."

Seleucus coldly scrutinized Su Ya, then slowly lifted his head to look at Sir Ecto and said plainly:

"In him, I sense no aura of a ruler."

"But if this is your choice, Sir Ecto, someday I will slay this little imp reeking of lies on the battlefield, then capture you and bring you back to Macedonia to recommend you to my king."

"Your superb lance skill and admirable Knight spirit should not be wasted on such a petty nation!"

"Next time we meet, I will use the conquering king's banner to openly breach your treasure."

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After saying that, Seleucus quickly departed,

the companion cavalry who had come for the treasure were forcibly taken away by him, returning empty‑handed whether they wished it or not; a crisis that was almost certain death for Su Ya was inexplicably resolved by suddenly appearing, unbelievably powerful allies.

Seleucus seemed very wary of Sir Ecto, who wielded that flaming long spear; even though the latter had fewer than a hundred men, he was extremely reluctant to force a battle with him.

And Sir Ecto, after arriving beside Su Ya, only gave Su Ya a deep glance, then silently rode up the hill pass to reorganize his cavalry of fewer than a hundred men.

When everyone had left,

Su Ya finally let out a sigh of relief and instinctively looked at Mei Li,

but at that moment, he suddenly didn't know how to face Mei Li.

He suddenly fell into an uncontrollable state.

Logically, Su Ya should now dispel Mei Li's doubts about him—

He had previously relied on lies and acting to convince Mei Li that he was the true heir of Britannia's kingdom, so his recent claim of not recognizing Sir Ecto cast that authenticity into doubt.

Yet this could still be forced back into a circle.

For example, the Arthur left in Sir Ecto's household was merely a stand‑in, while the true heir—himself—was only sent from a secret place when danger loomed; though a bit forced, Mei Li's naïve gullibility would surely make her believe, right?

But, but—

Once a lie is told, countless lies are needed to cover it.

After deceiving Mei Li, he must deceive Sir Ecto; after deceiving Sir Ecto, he must deceive the other Round Table Knights; after the Round Table Knights, the Church, the nobles, the minor kings gathered in Britannia; after them, finally, he would have to deceive the entire realm's people who believe he is king, the enemies, even the god who let Arthur draw the sword from the stone.

Su Ya is not Arthur Pendragon,

Su Ya does not wish to become Arthur Pendragon.

Su Ya has no reason to shoulder this kingdom, nor any reason to continue bearing the danger of masquerading as a ruler.

Su Ya understands even more that this silent humiliation, being mocked face‑to‑face by the enemy and feeling like a lamb awaiting slaughter, is the gentlest punishment after spreading this lie.

But if he must keep walking this road with no sight of the future,

what will he face next?

What will he lose?

More importantly—

At this moment,

Facing Mei Li's doe‑like, bright magenta eyes that stared at him as if he were a precious treasure,

the lie Su Ya had prepared suddenly got stuck in his throat.

He fell silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke:

"Hey, Mei Li."

Mei Li tilted her head: "What's wrong?"

"Suppose, I mean, suppose I'm not a king, just an unlucky fellow who got dragged into this mess."

"What do you think?"

"I know."

Su Ya was startled: "You know?"

Mei Li looked at him, her face showing a helpless expression:

"No matter what, if you truly are the kingdom's heir, you could not fail to recognize Sir Ecto; he is the entrusted minister left by the former king for Arthur, and that does not change whether you are his foster son or not."

"You can't even recognize the most crucial person who could help you become king; you must have some problem!"

"If it's false, then let it be false!"

"But, Su Ya—"

Mei Li's tone shifted, her magenta eyes fixing on Su Ya as if re‑evaluating his worth, a flash of excitement in her gaze, she gave Su Ya a hearty pat on the shoulder and a smile tugged at her mouth:

"Isn't that more interesting?!"

"If we fail, we'll just run away, at worst surrender to that stinky woman Ya Li Ke Xi Ya III and become Greeks!"

"But as long as you stay hidden, Sir Ecto's strength can definitely escort us back to the capital."

"And once we reach the capital, combining my card skills with your eyesight, we can definitely win back everything I've lost! We'll definitely get rich!"

"With that money, whatever you want to do will be no problem!"

Su Ya froze, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

He decided to be straightforward and confessed, "I'm not good at gambling; I just want a stable place to practice martial arts, train until I'm invincible, then emerge from the mountains."

Hearing this, Mei Li seemed to have heard a joke, and looked at Su Ya with a contemptuous expression.

"Hide away to train, and still expect to become invincible?"

"Su Ya, I admit you do have a tiny bit of talent, but you don't actually think becoming stronger requires no price, do you?"

"Promotion to the attendant position, promotion materials for the profession, promotion ceremony for the title, the miracle of becoming a hero, and the paths and artifacts for promotion to legend—none of those are free, none are without risking your life, right?"

"If you can't achieve the aura of a master, can't perform heroic deeds, can't produce a legendary tale—"

"You may train until death in this life, but you'll only ever reach the level of that assassin you just killed!"

"When you faced Seleucus just now, you trembled, didn't you? You felt humiliated, didn't you?"

"But if you have no money,"

"you can't even get past a single armpit hair of his!"

"Understand?"

"In this world, the stronger you are, the richer, more powerful, and more influential you become!"

Hearing Mei Li's barrage of sarcasm, Su Ya, who now has a deeper understanding of this world's combat‑power system, can't help but feel a wave of absurdity,

"Damn, what kind of world is this?"

"No money, how can one be a legend!?"

(End of chapter)