episode_0022

Episode 22

“Hehehe, show me the sword that killed the Sword Master.”

“…”

This time, the guy who came up opposite me started to taunt me, unlike Amir.

He was arrogant and nagging at me, a third-ranking person, as if he, a fourth-ranking person, had no qualms about getting on my nerves.

-Clang!

He took up his stance with his sword in hand.

“Hehehe, if you get injured, don’t blame me too much. There are many cases where you get hurt because you don’t control your strength well while sparring.”

“That’s right.”

“Hehehe… Don’t worry too much, I’ll take it easy for you.”

Looking at that guy’s attitude, it’s actually funny. In a duel where you can’t use your Sword Aura, he’s bragging without even being able to gauge his opponent’s skills.

Even the basic skills were better built by Amir, who had just fought.

If he didn’t use Sword Aura like he is now, wouldn’t Amir be able to beat that Pablo?

“Ahem! I’ll give the lead to you who can’t even use a sword aura.”

“…”

I concentrated the mana that was circulating evenly on my legs and calmed my mind.

The target is the hand holding the sword.

It is a huge shame for an inspector to lose his sword during a duel.

There is nothing more humiliating than losing by losing to someone of a lower rank than yourself.

-Bang!

It flew like an explosion and rushed towards the opponent.

“Crash!”

Pablo quickly took a defensive stance, perhaps taken aback by my faster-than-expected speed.

-Kaaaang!

But since he had already hastily taken a stance and was unable to get into a proper stance, he awkwardly blocked my attack and staggered.

Immediately, I planted my left foot firmly on the ground, put strength into my right thigh, and kicked his right hand with all my might.

-Pfft!

“Kwak!”

-Tae-aeng! Charuk!

The sword fell from Pablo’s hand and slid far away onto the floor.

-Clang!

My sword was aimed at Pablo’s neck, who was caught off guard and holding his right hand.

“I can’t use the Sword Aura, so it’s no big deal?”

“This kid! Are you cowardly making a surprise attack?”

“…What?”

“You suddenly came in while I was preparing! This is invalid!”

“What kind of idiot is that….”

It was Pablo who went on a rampage, claiming that the match was invalid and claiming that he had won by surprise and cowardly.

It’s so unfair that I lost because I was careless, even though I’m not some brat, and he’s higher up than me.

As I looked at Marceau and Diego with dumbfounded expressions, Diego spoke with an embarrassed expression.

“…Let’s have a rematch. Pablo was too careless and couldn’t properly test his skills. ”

“Ha! This time, I will absolutely not let my guard down!”

“…”

As if he had known this would happen, Pablo confidently walked over to his sword, which was far away, and picked it up.

Captain Marceau looked at me and Pablo without changing his expression and nodded slightly.

Pablo picked up his sword and straightened his posture, then shouted confidently.

“This time, I’ll go first! You went first before!”

“…I see.”

-Clang!

He is truly an amazing guy in so many ways.

-Bang!

Even before the starting signal was given, Pablo ran towards me without saying a word as soon as I got into position.

It just seems like a determination to win at all costs.

‘Is the left shoulder what you’re aiming for?’

Pablo’s attack, accelerating while consuming mana like crazy, was directed at my left shoulder.

-Kaang!

“Cheer!”

The moment I turned my sword and tried to block the opponent’s attack upwards, then changed the direction of my sword and stabbed the opponent’s shoulder.

-Zzz…!

A blue sword aura rose from Pablo’s raised sword.

‘This crazy kid.’

Pablo’s sword, surrounded by a blue aura, began to swing down as if to split my head apart.

“Die!”

If you try to block or deflect a sword with Sword Aura without Sword Aura, you will be cut along with the sword and die.

Any famous sword, except those made of special materials, will be cut like tofu when touched by Sword Aura.

To deal with Sword Auror, you must either block it with Sword Auror itself, or use the Auror Blade, a higher-level skill used by Sword Masters.

That’s why the use of techniques higher than Sword Aura is strictly prohibited in Dalian, but this crazy guy just used Sword Aura to defeat me.

‘It’s too late to avoid it, and there’s only one way…’

I turned the direction of my sword, which was connected to the stab, upward and precisely stabbed it toward Pablo’s wrist instead of his sword.

-Phew!

“Kkaaaak!”

-Bang!

Both of Pablo’s wrists that held the sword were pierced by the sword like skewers.

His sword was stopped by my sword piercing his wrist, and soon Pablo let out a scream of pain as his wrist was pierced, and the sword fell from his hand.

“My hand! My hand!!”

-Pfft!

He pushed Pablo’s stomach away and brushed the blood off his sword.

He lay face down, clutching his hands together, writhing in pain.

“It was self-defense, surely no one would insist that they didn’t see this crazy guy use the Sword Aura? ”

I looked up at Captain Marceau and Vice Captain Diego with a cold expression and said.

Captain Marceau nodded expressionlessly, and Vice Captain Diego looked dissatisfied, but since there was solid evidence, he nodded silently and opened his mouth.

“Send the injured to the treatment center, Pablo’s punishment will be done after the treatment is finished.”

Captain Marceau slowly approached me with a blank expression on his face.

“Good job. It seems like you don’t need any separate basic training, so you can focus on mana training to awaken Sword Aura.”

“Okay.”

-Knock knock!

Captain Marceau tapped my shoulder twice lightly for the last time and said:

“Welcome to the Knights of Baston.”

.

.

.

After the morning training, it was time for lunch.

All the other knights who were training headed to the dining hall, but I couldn’t follow them.

‘I’m hungry… Okay, let’s train some more.’

Since there was no food for me to eat even if I followed them anyway, I decided to do more mana training.

I stood in the corner of the training ground, closed my eyes, held the sword, and began practicing flowing the mana inside my body along the sword’s body.

While I was concentrating, I felt a presence behind me.

“Aren’t you eating?”

Amir, who had sparred with me, came to see me.

“…I can’t eat it.”

“I see…”

He had gray hair and was mumbling as if he had something to say to me.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“Ahem! That… what is it? Thank you.”

“Why?”

“You took care of me during sparring, allowing me to show my best skills. Thanks to that, I was able to gain recognition from my seniors.”

“…Yeah.”

“Anyway, I’ve said everything I wanted to say, so I’m going!”

-Knock knock knock!

I saw Amir’s back as he ran into the restaurant with his ears red, perhaps embarrassed at having said thank you to me.

“You little shit… I’m jealous, I want to eat that too.”

The delicious smell of beef soup wafting from afar made my mouth water, but since I couldn’t eat anything that wasn’t served by Rose de Baston, I just smacked my lips and closed my eyes.

After some time, I heard a noise nearby again.

I don’t think it would be right to practice separately during lunch today.

“Hi Leon, are you hungry?”

I turned around and saw Rose de Baston approaching me with a bright smile, holding a picnic basket in her hand.

“Are you getting good training? Are you being harassed by other knights?”

“…”

When I look at her silvery hair and blue eyes, I am reminded of the Duke of Clement de Baston and my heart runs cold.

“Umm… This time, I brought a sandwich that I made myself. You don’t want to eat it?”

“I don’t need it, so I wish you would disappear from my sight, you’re interfering with my training, Master.”

“Are you trying to starve to death? Are you doing this just for your pride?”

Pride… That’s honestly true.

‘I’m also being childish…’

But the grief of losing his father and the wounds from the misunderstandings with his family are still so vivid, so how could he possibly be kind to his enemy’s daughter?

Of course, I have no intention of starving to death because of my pride.

I must survive to protect the Duchy of Normandy and kill Duke Clement de Baston.

“…”

“Eat.”

She smiled brightly and took a sandwich out of her basket and handed it to me.

I didn’t sense any malice from her, as if she really just wanted to feed me.

But… I’m not sure how to react to her showing me this kind of behavior.

I am afraid that Rose’s actions are slowly making my desire for revenge and anger towards the Duke of Baston subside.

-widely!

-Thud…

Rose de Baston knocked the sandwich she had handed him away with her hand, letting it fall to the floor.

“Ah…”

Soiled bread and its fillings were scattered messily on the dirt floor.

A terrible feeling of guilt runs down my spine.

“…I won’t do what you want, Master, of my own free will, so if you want something, you’d better write that disgusting contract.”

This is something I say to her, but it’s also something I say to myself.

I am afraid that if I receive such a pure favor from Rose de Baston, an unknown emotion will bloom in a corner of my cold, frozen heart.

It’s painful enough that Rose is forcing me to write a contract and order me to do it, just like Clément de Baston did to me, but I’m more afraid of losing my reason for living.

I wish you would stop showing me a warm side, for all I have left is revenge and hatred for the Duke of Baston.

-Crack!

Ignoring the rising guilt, not wanting her to see my complicated feelings and fears, I stomped on the sandwich that was lying on the dirt floor right in front of Rose de Baston’s eyes.

I feel uneasy.

“I don’t need this kind of stuff that might be inside, so leave me alone, Master.”

“Well… Well, then I guess there’s nothing I can do. I guess you still haven’t accepted your situation, but there’s still plenty of time left… I’ll wait for you to open up to me soon?”

“…That won’t happen, Master.”

“Still, it’s getting dangerous if they don’t eat anything now, so we have to force them to eat. [Eat all of these and don’t leave any behind.]”

-clattering!

She dumped all the sandwiches in the basket onto the dirt floor and gave me an order with the contract.

Because of the power of the contract, I was forced to lie down on the floor and started eating the food that had fallen with my dirty hands.

“Our Leon eats well~ Was the sandwich I made him that delicious?”

“…”

I didn’t want to admit it, but the dirt-covered sandwich I ate two days ago was really tasty.