Ch.373Who’s my right-hand man?

Following Nigel’s advice, I assigned one of the knights from the Landenburg household as Minea’s instructor, which made her beam with delight.

Apparently, my teaching methods were too advanced for her to follow.

Indeed, the knight Nigel brought did teach better than I did.

After a brief sparring session to assess Minea’s skills, the knight immediately established a month-long training regimen.

Mornings would be spent learning basic Imperial swordsmanship techniques while correcting bad habits ingrained during her adventurer days, and afternoons would be dedicated to building the strength and endurance befitting a knight by pushing every muscle to its limits. Minea’s face turned pale as she listened.

And so, Minea ended up spending more than twelve hours a day swinging her sword.

Good. Grow stronger so you don’t die on foreign soil.

—-

In the afternoon, I headed back to the training grounds.

Nigel and Jahan were planning to spar with each other, and I wanted to watch.

I told them to get along, but I’m not sure why they’re fighting.

Did watching my sparring matches with the three masters ignite their warrior blood?

“If training is your goal, wouldn’t it be better if you both attacked me together?”

I casually asked Jahan as he warmed up with light swings of his crescent blade.

Rather than two evenly matched fighters scuffling with each other, facing a stronger opponent—namely me—would be more beneficial.

Jahan paused his blade and spoke quietly.

“…Training is secondary. The purpose of this duel is to determine which of us deserves to be Haschal’s right hand.”

Apparently, while discussing me, they somehow got into an argument about who was better suited to be my closest aide… and decided to settle it with a duel.

That was unexpected.

“My right hand? What a strange thing to fight over.”

Technically, neither of you fits that role.

If I had to choose a right hand, it would be Leonore.

Nigel is closer to being a knight of Landenburg than my knight, and Jahan’s loyalty is directed toward Hersella.

“Well, I won’t stop you. Fight as hard as you want. Just don’t be foolish enough to seriously injure yourselves.”

[Like you used to do?]

Hersella chimed in with a light joke.

I did indeed once duel here until I became critically injured…

‘…That was because of Nigel’s misunderstanding, not my fault.’

It was back when she genuinely believed the nonsense that Ka’har duels were always fights to the death.

“Well then… shall we begin?”

Having completed their preparations, Nigel and Jahan moved to the center of the training ground and pointed their weapons at each other.

“The tenth sword of Landenburg, Nigel.”

Nigel introduced herself while covering half her face with her blade, just as before.

She did the same when fighting me. It brings back memories.

“The first subordinate of my lord Aishan-Gioro Haschal and the leading warrior of the Thousand Swords, Jahan. I’ll show you the pride of the East.”

Jahan responded with an equally solemn yet aggressive introduction.

The Thousand Swords, the leading warrior of Épée de Ciel…

Well, that’s not wrong.

He is the only warrior among them, after all.

Demian and Millia are knights, not warriors, right? So he is indeed the leading warrior.

“Here I come!”

“Come on!”

Having finished their introductions, the two clashed, targeting each other.

The crescent blade and spear crossed, emitting a screeching metallic sound.

—-

Since their skills were evenly matched, the duel went on for quite some time.

Nigel had the advantage in terms of Karma depth, but Jahan proved his muscular frame over 180cm tall was no mere decoration, compensating for the Karma difference with his formidable physical abilities.

“This is more than I expected…!”

Nigel frowned and muttered as she perfectly blocked the crescent blade but had to step back due to the weight difference.

“Not bad! Let’s see if you can handle this!”

Jahan also had the upper hand in person-to-person combat experience.

He could precisely distinguish between attacks that could be blocked and those that needed to be dodged, and even counterattack with perfect timing.

He seemed quite accustomed to fighting opponents who wielded Karma.

[Yes, that’s it! That’s how you do it! All that training I beat into you is paying off!]

So she’s the cause.

She said he was like a brother, but it seems she’s been using him as a punching bag instead.

Using an acquaintance as your personal punching bag—she really is a barbaric woman.

—-

“Haa… haa… I’ve won. Do you concede?”

After dozens of minutes of evenly matched combat, Nigel emerged victorious.

She pointed her longsword at Jahan’s neck while catching her breath.

“…Yes. I acknowledge it.”

Though Jahan looked reluctant, he admitted defeat without argument.

His crescent blade was broken, and a sword blade was at his throat.

In a real battle, continuing to fight would have led to mutual destruction at best.

“Well fought. Your generous martial arts befitting a Ka’har Champion were impressive.”

Nigel sheathed her sword and bowed slightly in greeting.

Her spear was also broken and lying on the ground.

The tactic Nigel employed against the physically superior Jahan was to target his weapon rather than the man himself.

Jahan probably noticed this intention as well.

He swung his crescent blade as if determined to break Nigel’s spear first.

As a result, both the crescent blade and spear were destroyed almost simultaneously.

“The sword of Landenburg, you said? Indeed, you were stronger than I expected. I never thought you’d draw a sword at the very end…”

The one thing Jahan overlooked was that Nigel had a longsword hanging at her waist.

Since she had only shown him her spear techniques, he probably hadn’t paid attention to the sword, which proved to be his fatal mistake.

As her spear broke, Nigel drew both her dagger and longsword with lightning speed, creating a decisive opening.

No matter how superior Jahan’s physical abilities were, bare hands couldn’t defeat a sword.

“Thank you. With this, it’s confirmed that I, Nigel, am Haschal’s right hand. It was a fair duel, so I trust there will be no objections.”

Having no counterargument, Jahan remained silent.

[To lose focus at the end, such disgrace for a Ka’har warrior! You must have grown complacent since becoming a Champion. This won’t do. I’ll have to retrain you from the beginning…!]

Listening to Hersella’s threats, I could clearly see Jahan’s future.

Is this what it feels like to see the future? For some reason, I saw Demian’s face overlapping with Jahan’s.

Just as I have Demian as my punching bag, Hersella has Jahan.

“Did you see, Lord Haschal! I won! From now on, please call me your right hand, Nigel!”

Nigel approached me with a bright smile.

“Well… Nigel, I’m glad you’re excited about winning after so long, but… if anyone were to be called my right hand, wouldn’t it be Leonore? Strictly speaking, you’re not my knight since you belong to Landenburg.”

I feel bad throwing cold water on her smiling face, but I can’t ignore the truth.

Whenever Ludwig calls, you always leave me behind and run straight to the Margrave.

A right hand that detaches at will—don’t you think that’s a bit strange?

“What…? Oh. Right, of course…! Now that I think about it, there is Sir Leonore…!”

Nigel became a little dejected.

—-

‘Still, this is unexpected. I thought Jahan would win.’

I knew he had just become a Champion, but I thought he would be stronger than this.

The Champion Jahan I saw in the game was a hero-level warrior who wrote heroic tales despite merely holding the title of Champion.

I remember underestimating him once, thinking ‘Champion? That’s nothing special,’ and getting crushed when I tried to fight him with only master-level characters.

[Our strength lies in mounted combat. On foot, there isn’t much difference between us and the Empire’s masters.]

Hersella defended Jahan with a reluctant voice.

Does she mean he would have definitely won if they were both on horseback?

Upon further inquiry, it seems Jahan can also use the horse-rider unity technique that Hersella had developed. Though he hasn’t reached Havar’s level yet.

…I can’t do that.

‘Can’t you teach me too? It seems like it would be very useful on the battlefield.’

[Don’t even dream of it. This technique is only possible when horse and rider trust each other enough to share the same mind. How could you, who treats horses worse than dogs, ever master this art?]

Hersella flatly refused.

Worse than dogs? That’s harsh. It’s not quite that bad.

—-

After Nigel and Jahan’s duel ended, I went to check on Minea again.

She was already done with her physical training and was lying on the floor, half-delirious.

She said she would return to her quarters once she regained some strength.

I asked if she wanted to stay at the mansion since commuting would be inconvenient, but she waved her hands, saying it would be too burdensome.

“I’m dying from exhaustion…”

She lamented with a haggard look upon seeing me, but I didn’t have much to say.

“That’s how it always is. Becoming a knight isn’t supposed to be easy, is it?”

You chose this sword training.

So you’ll just have to endure it with grit and determination, right?

Minea hung her head.