Ch.12Prologue (12)

After decapitating a goblin wolf rider charging at me on pure instinct and intuition.

‘….Ah.’

While I was momentarily lost in the ecstatic pleasure of slicing through the goblin’s neck with my blade.

As the goblin’s body fell from the wolf’s back, the wolf seized the opportunity while my mind was elsewhere and lunged at me.

A wolf at least 2 meters long, with unusual violence not found in ordinary wolves, perhaps mixed with some demonic blood.

I sensed the beast’s surprise attack through intuition and finally came to my senses, raising my previously lowered longsword to counter its counterattack, but….

“Neeeigh!”

—THUD!

At that moment, my warhorse, understanding my intention, kicked the creature’s belly with its front legs to push it away. Then, putting its full weight of several hundred kilograms into the strike, it stomped down on the wolf’s windpipe, ending its life.

According to the stable keeper, this was just an ordinary warhorse—not of any special bloodline, nor one with which I had formed any particularly deep bond—yet it had perfectly read my intentions and stepped in on my behalf.

“Well done, Gus!”

“….Snort.”

Thanks to this, I was able to overcome what could have been a slightly dangerous situation much more easily than expected, and I immediately called out the name of this warhorse, Gus, to praise him….

At the same time, the goblin wolf riders, their eyes burning with murderous intent, were spreading out with javelin-like weapons in hand, taking aim at me.

“Young master!”

“It’s fine, Sir Basque! Just be ready to intervene!”

While stopping my bodyguard Sir Basque from interfering as he called my name, I easily discerned the tactics that the remaining nine wolf riders intended to use.

They would surround me from all directions, then attack and kill me with javelins. I would likely be safe thanks to my custom full plate armor, but Gus, wearing relatively inadequate horse armor, might not fare so well.

“Forward!”

“Neeeigh!!”

Of course, this would only work if I merely stood watching their movements.

When I tapped Gus’s belly with my foot to signal a charge, he seemed to read my mind and began galloping at full speed toward one of them.

In this situation, I grabbed a one-handed crossbow that I had attached to Gus’s saddle with my left hand (which wasn’t holding the longsword) and fired at a goblin rider in my sight.

—THWACK!

“Squeeeal!”

With a yelp, the wolf with its eye pierced tumbled to the ground, and the goblin riding on its back lost balance and fell as well.

—CRACK!

Unfortunately for the goblin, it landed headfirst on the ground, breaking its neck in an unnatural direction. Thanks to this, I signaled Gus to make a turning maneuver.

Of course, Gus faithfully followed my command and turned right.

The sudden change in direction, the sharp turn, must have put considerable strain on Gus’s ankles, but he snorted proudly as he charged toward the wolf rider approaching from the right.

“….Kehek!?”

Perhaps because I approached him too suddenly, the wolf rider on the right froze in his javelin-throwing stance and made a strange cry….

This would become the goblin’s final words.

—SLASH!

The blade of my longsword, wrapped in magical energy and precisely targeting a weak spot, cut off the goblin’s breath, and then Gus’s hooves crushed the head of the now-riderless wolf.

While trying to suppress the pleasure transmitted from the tip of my blade as it cut through flesh, I recognized there was no time to rest and immediately drove my horse toward the next enemy.

—WHOOSH!!

By this point, the goblins who had spread out and prepared their javelins threw them at me without hesitation, but I trusted in my accumulated skills and talent, maximizing my “intuition” as I swung my sword.

—THUD! CRACK!

I deflected one incoming javelin and shattered another, sending it to the ground. Then I swung my sword again to alter the trajectory of a javelin coming from behind me. After throwing away the crossbow that had already fired its bolt, I immediately grabbed the next crossbow with my left hand.

—THWIP!

This time I aimed at the rider positioned at the far left of those who had spread out. Replacing aim with intuition, I pulled the trigger based on faith, and the sound of the bolt cutting through the air was followed by something falling to the ground.

And during all this, Gus was reading my intentions and already rushing toward the next enemy.

Still, there were many enemies left to kill.

※ ※ ※

Sir Basque. A knight of the Baron Alzar’s guard, equivalent to what would be a high-ranking security team leader in modern terms, was once a wandering knight roaming battlefields.

Traveling in search of wealthy employers, depending on a single horse to traverse battlefields… it might sound romantic, but in reality, he was little different from a mere mercenary.

Through this process, after various experiences that earned him recognition for his skills, he was hired as a guard in Baron Alzar’s domain. From his perspective… Young Master Camille was extraordinary in many ways.

To evaluate objectively and without bias, Camille’s horsemanship wasn’t particularly impressive.

Considering he was only 10 years old, it could be considered remarkable, but Basque, with his enlightened thinking, didn’t factor age into his assessment of a warrior.

And by the standards that Sir Gafrang stubbornly applied, Camille’s horsemanship was just average—capable of doing his part.

Of course, being able to function as a cavalryman in one’s first real battle was certainly impressive, but Camille’s horsemanship based solely on his skill wasn’t particularly smooth.

Compared to those who moved as if in perfect harmony with their mounts, almost as one body and mind—the ordinary cavalrymen of the Frank Kingdom—Camille’s horsemanship was merely adequate.

Yet, the fact that Camille could now hold his own against ten goblin wolf riders in his first real battle was….

‘….A frightening talent.’

Objectively speaking, it stemmed from Camille’s overwhelming close combat ability.

It would be extraordinary for a 10-year-old to have learned to circulate magical energy through his body for physical enhancement, but Camille had gone a step further and mastered the technique of coating weapons with magical energy.

A warrior’s magical techniques are divided into three stages: circulation, emission, and control—corresponding to physical enhancement through magical energy, gaining propulsion through energy emission, and controlling emitted magic to coat weapons or armor.

Naturally, most people struggle just to master the first stage of circulation, but achieving the ability to coat weapons with magic at age 10 to enhance cutting power and destructive force was a testament to Camille’s talent as a warrior.

But even more than these achievements beyond his peers, what contributed most to his ability to face the goblin wolf riders was Camille’s combat technique.

The longsword is inherently a two-handed weapon and inconvenient to use from horseback in many ways, but Camille was wielding it one-handed from the saddle, slicing through wolf riders head-on.

From an objective viewpoint, these goblin wolf riders were formidable opponents.

Goblin wolf riders were essentially the privileged warrior class of primitive goblin tribes. With better nutrition than others, they had good physical condition and could use magic to strengthen their bodies, compensating for the goblin’s inherent physical limitations….

In particular, by riding wolves larger than humans, they had gained power incomparable to other goblins.

And Camille was now cutting through these goblin wolf riders one-sidedly, as if they were ordinary goblins.

In a situation that seemed inherently uncomfortable—wielding a longsword one-handed from horseback—Camille was moving with complete freedom.

To recognize an opponent’s opening and then precisely target that area with a sword to dismember them… It sounds easy, but being able to do such a thing without a significant advantage in ability was itself proof of Camille’s skill.

Additionally, he was deflecting javelins flying from behind where he couldn’t even see them, skillfully handling barrages of javelins from all directions, and even turning them back against his enemies as weapons.

He even shot a one-handed crossbow—smaller and thus less accurate and powerful—without directly looking, aiming for the enemy’s eyes.

‘Talent is truly terrifying….’

Even though he himself was an intermediate warrior and aura user, watching Camille bisect the last goblin wolf rider, Sir Basque genuinely had such thoughts.

No matter how full of contradictions and injustice this world might be, could a being with such talent really exist?

This thought, which even he dismissed as absurd shortly after having it, was somehow forgotten.