Ch.84Chapter 84 – Tired Faces and Tiresome Work (4)

I should have hit her harder.

Looking at Beatrice gently rubbing her head, I felt a surge of irritation.

When I heard her say it was “bothersome,” I nearly lost my temper, but at the last moment, I exercised self-control and punished her with a knock on the head instead of a punch.

After taking that hit and rubbing her head, Beatrice finally explained why she couldn’t undo the spell.

“It’s the catalyst.”

She meant she needed to use a catalyst to activate the magic to release me.

Something about it being too consuming and slow to do with just her power alone.

Whatever the case, there hadn’t been time to prepare any catalyst until now, so it made sense that Beatrice couldn’t undo it right away.

‘Still, saying it’s “bothersome” as an excuse is too much.’

After getting hit, she also explained why she had said it was “bothersome.”

Simply because she found it bothersome to do it herself, bothersome to explain.

Hearing that actually cooled my head down.

It was so absurd that my mind did a complete turn and I came back to my senses.

‘Really, I’ve gotten tangled up with such a bothersome person.’

That’s what I thought as I watched Beatrice smiling at me from a distance.

Well, that smile was probably because she thought she could win money from this bet.

The nerve of her, acting like this when she’s been no help at all.

After arriving at the finals venue, I pushed thoughts of Beatrice out of my mind.

Among my final opponents, there was one familiar face.

“Lord Rudger seems to have had good reason for his strong insistence. I didn’t expect Max to fall so easily.”

Quite a polite way of speaking.

It was definitely the man called Karl.

I didn’t know the other one. He was just enormously big and carrying a halberd.

“I dedicate this battle to the great God of Etiquette, Zeoley…”

The referee prepared the match with the same words as during Max’s fight.

Soon the time for the believers’ prayers ended, and the match began.

For now, we stood in a 1:1:1 formation, keeping a certain distance from each other.

‘As expected, they’re planning to team up against me.’

I had slightly hoped that one of them might be stupid enough to come at me one by one, but they weren’t that foolish.

It made sense, really. From their perspective, whoever went second would have too much of an advantage.

Rather than fighting over who goes first, it’s normal to agree to fight together.

We faced off for a moment.

Karl was the first to move.

“Haaah!!”

He charged at me with his spear, shouting a battle cry.

He was definitely better than Max from earlier.

But still too slow.

I dodged slightly, stepped on the spear shaft, spun around once, and swung my sword.

I could see Karl panicking, letting go of his spear and deliberately falling backward to avoid my sword.

Then Michael, the other man, swung his halberd as if trying to help Karl.

‘I’ll have to let this one pass.’

I bent my body to avoid the halberd.

But I felt my left arm being pulled slightly.

‘That was really close.’

I heard what sounded like Beatrice coughing behind me.

Even with that minimal movement, the pull on my neck was annoying.

Having no choice but to give up the pursuit, Karl and Michael looked at each other in confusion.

But they soon charged at me again.

‘This seems a bit unfair.’

I was basically stuck in place, unable to move one arm.

My armament was also disadvantageous.

Since their weapons had a longer range than my sword, it was hard to counterattack unless they came in deep.

Despite being in that state, I dodged their attacks several times and occasionally blocked them.

Even fighting in place with one hand, I could handle them.

As Beatrice had said, their skills weren’t as threatening as I’d thought.

Considering that they were only able to fight me because I could only move one arm and couldn’t approach them further, the skill gap was much larger than I had imagined.

‘If I could just move my other arm.’

Or even if I could charge at them, it would be much easier.

It was a bit frustrating.

‘But why is there such a difference?’

Even if I might have superior basic specs due to the experiments I underwent, they should have trained extensively as well.

It was a bit puzzling.

By now, Karl had picked up his fallen spear and started swinging it again.

As I dodged the spear blade that brushed past my head, I assessed their skills.

‘…Karl seems slightly stronger.’

His movements, the way he looked at me, and his spirit seemed better than Max or Michael over there.

Perhaps noticing that I was evaluating him, Karl paused for a moment.

Breathing a little heavily, he spoke.

“I cannot just… hand it over like this…”

“What are you talking about?”

I asked while dodging his spear.

“The holy relic.”

Karl rotated his spear once and tried to stab me.

Again, I dodged without much difficulty.

“It’s an heirloom of the Zeoley Order passed down for generations. I simply cannot give it to an outsider!”

With renewed vigor, Karl swung and thrust his spear fiercely.

I dodged by barely moving from my spot, just shifting my legs slightly or deflecting with my sword.

As I did so, I mentioned something that came to mind.

“If you put it that way, old man Rudger didn’t seem like a devout believer either.”

“His wife and daughter were members of the order. And when he received the position of Paladin, he became part of the order.”

Eventually, Karl, tired from attacking, moved a bit away from me.

“But I heard you’ve been refusing until the end.”

“That’s right.”

“…If you were at least affiliated with the order, I could have accepted it.”

Karl lowered his head as if frustrated.

“Why did he…”

After that, Karl continued to mutter as if upset about something.

That dissatisfaction seemed to be spreading to the other knight standing beside him.

“…No matter what, to give a holy relic to an outsider… even though there are many knights who respect him, why…”

So there are knights who respect that old man.

Given that he’s saying such things in this situation, Karl might be one of them.

Seeing his state, I understood a bit more about the attitude he showed me in Rudger’s office.

‘Was it jealousy?’

He was probably upset and frustrated that I was chosen instead of him.

Eventually, as if unable to control his jealousy, Karl started pouring out various words.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop now.”

Karl looked up, seemingly not expecting me to interrupt him.

“What do you mean?”

“This isn’t a place to fight with words.”

Karl stared at me blankly.

“I don’t think that old man would tell you to fight with your mouth.”

It’s fine to express dissatisfaction, but there’s a time and place.

Hearing my words, Karl seemed to come to his senses, and his face turned red.

Blushing, Karl and Michael charged at me again.

I handled them without much difficulty.

After several more exchanges, I dodged Karl’s spear thrust to the side, stepped on the shaft to break it, and he moved away from me.

Then, as if he finally noticed something, Karl paused and pointed at me.

“…Like with Max earlier. Could it be that you…”

Karl was pointing at my arm.

My left arm, which was connected to Beatrice and couldn’t move.

‘As expected, he noticed.’

It was bound to be noticed since I barely moved from my spot and only used one arm during the intense exchanges.

Now, how do I explain this?

Karl’s expression darkened.

“…Are you mocking us, thinking that you can handle us with just one arm while standing in place?!”

Oh.

That’s not it.

“No, wait…”

“Damn it! Don’t make me laugh!”

Karl shouted, picking up a mace.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

As if he had finally exploded, Karl charged at me.

He swung the mace wildly as he rushed towards me.

Due to his sudden outburst, even the big guy named Michael was frozen in surprise.

“I won’t lose, never, never, never!”

Karl swung the mace randomly as if he had lost his mind.

It was a movement full of openings that could no longer be called technique.

“Why wasn’t it me, why, why!”

I easily dodged the wildly swinging mace.

“I’m really sorry to say this.”

I blocked the opponent’s descending mace not with my sword but with my right arm.

More precisely, I inserted my right arm into the opponent’s swinging hand to prevent it from coming down further.

Karl’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t expected me to block with my arm instead of a weapon.

“It seems the old man was right about you lacking the capacity.”

Considering that his skills were a bit better than Max, whom I first faced, I could tell he hadn’t been lazy or idle.

If the opponent had been of equal level, he might have fought better and won.

But opponents aren’t always at your level.

“At the very least, you shouldn’t charge in after losing your composure.”

The frustration that had been building up exploded and became poison for Karl.

I made him drop the mace by swinging my arm.

“Cool your head.”

I struck his head with the handle of my sword.

With a loud noise from the helmet, Karl’s body collapsed.

‘Ah, this leaves a bitter aftertaste.’

For some reason, I felt like I had taken a seat that I shouldn’t have.

Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

That’s how sincere Karl’s voice had sounded.

I let out a small sigh and looked at Michael.

He seemed confused, probably because even Karl, whom he had trusted, had fallen so easily.

“What are you going to do?”

“W-Aaaaaaah!!”

First time hearing his voice.

Michael charged at me with his halberd.

Without much difficulty, I struck his halberd upward and placed my sword against his neck, ending the match.

+

After the finals ended, we gathered in Rudger’s office.

Rudger welcomed us warmly.

“Thanks to you, most things seem to be working out well. I feel quite relieved.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, indeed.”

He said with a face that seemed quite pleased.

“But when I watched you fight, your condition seemed quite strange. Why was that?”

“Strange in what way?”

“You couldn’t use one arm and moved as if you couldn’t go beyond a certain point. Something seemed to be hindering you.”

He’s quite observant.

I showed my left arm with a bitter smile.

“Because of some magic called a master-servant contract, my left arm is connected to her neck by some invisible string.”

“Her” of course refers to Beatrice.

Hearing my explanation, Rudger nodded in understanding.

“In other words, you fought with a significant handicap.”

“That’s right.”

I was a bit worried he might not believe me, but Rudger just nodded slowly.

Soon, he sighed and said:

“With that level of handicap, it would be stranger if they had won.”

“Well, their skills didn’t seem bad.”

Feeling like I should defend them a bit, I said so, but Rudger shook his head and held out his hand.

“You don’t need to defend them. Compared to the knights of the Emiris Order, the knights here are too weak.”

“Is that so?”

“Despite appearances, the Emiris guys frequently go on monster subjugation missions and such. They’re much stronger overall.”

Rudger said, pointing at me.

“The knights here have too little practical experience. So the skill gap between you and them would be even wider.”

“I don’t have that much practical experience either.”

“Is that so? But haven’t you faced death several times?”

Death crises.

I have overcome a few.

Is that why the difference between these knights and me was much larger than I thought?

As I was convincing myself of this, Rudger quietly spoke.

“Considering that a Paladin symbolizes the military might of the order, at least someone as strong as the top fighters of other orders should sit in that position. Regardless of the holy relic issue.”

Rudger spoke with a tired face.

“Considering that, the position of Paladin is indeed too big for them.”

“But it would also be a problem if I took over later. I’m not even a member of the order.”

“Well, the high-ranking officials who support me at least think it would be better if you just listened to us. After making the contract, if we treat you well, you might change your mind later and join the order.”

Rudger’s face looked older as he said this.

It must have been difficult to convince them.

Soon, Rudger clicked his tongue regretfully and said:

“Karl, that guy at least had potential.”

“I felt a bit sorry for him. He seemed sincere.”

Hearing my words, Rudger’s eyes widened a bit.

Then he nodded with a smile.

“I thought you would just crush him, saying ‘what can you do about it.'”

“No matter who I am, I’m not that bad of a person.”

“If you were, you wouldn’t have caught my eye.”

Rudger looked at me with a tired face.

“Don’t worry too much about it.”

Rudger said with a smile.

“Life is already tough enough just living for oneself. There’s no room to care for the dreams of those who are practically strangers.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Besides, aren’t you accepting this because of people who want to protect my position?”

Our eyes met.

How does he make eye contact so well even with me wearing a helmet?

Is this what experience is?

“Let’s go with that.”

“You’re not being honest.”

Rudger laughed.

“Don’t regret moving for yourself and for the people you want to protect.”

I didn’t answer.

Rudger didn’t say more either and handed me a bag of silver coins.

“Take it. It’s what I promised.”

“Then I won’t refuse.”

That wasn’t me.

It was Beatrice who answered like that and reached out her hand.

I quickly lifted the bag of silver coins and passed it to Sarah.

Then I saw Beatrice trying to snatch the bag from Sarah.

“No, wait. Let me see how much is in there.”

“This is Mr. Kay’s money, isn’t it? Ask him later.”

“Just once!”

“Give us our share from what you won earlier, then we’ll talk.”

Beatrice had already collected all the betting money before coming here.

I wonder how much those two silver coins have grown.

After watching Beatrice and Sarah bicker for a while with Rudger, I turned my gaze away.

If I leave it to Sarah, there won’t be any problems.

“Wait, why is my arm—Aaaagh! Wait, what arm strength, let go, my arm is breaking…!”

She resolved it instantly.

Although Beatrice’s pain-filled voice echoed, I ignored it.

I was in the middle of a conversation with Rudger.

Rudger also spoke, ignoring Beatrice’s screams.

“If there’s nothing else, you’ll be the next Paladin.”

Rudger said with a smile.

His face was a bit brighter, perhaps thinking he could rest now.

“Even if I inherit it, it seems like I’m in for a tough time.”

Of course, I sighed as I said this.

I was a bit worried that I might have made unnecessary enemies with this fight.

And the answer came from an unexpected place.

“It’s okay. Despite appearances, they are people who can separate public and private matters.”

Jamie, who had entered without notice, said with a smile.

“Oh, Jamie. How’s Karl?”

“He’s feeling down. He’s frustrated that he couldn’t succeed his father.”

Rudger nodded at Jamie’s words.

“I’ll have to comfort him later.”

“Please do.”

The father and daughter smiled at each other.

…Wait. I think Rudger mentioned before that his daughter was getting married soon.

“By the way, you mentioned your daughter is getting married soon. Could the partner be…”

“Ah, it’s Karl.”

…Is this okay?

I understand Rudger, but I’m not sure about Jamie.

Would she look favorably upon someone who crushed her future husband when he charged at them, pouring out his frustrations?

Jamie looked at me.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll explain it well to him.”

“No, that’s…”

“He was just caught up in the moment. Once he calms down, he’ll understand. Maybe you could have a drink with him then?”

“Uh, that’s…”

I can’t drink alcohol.

While I was wondering how to respond, Jamie nodded with a smile, seemingly understanding.

It seemed she had come to her own conclusion.

“Anyway, thank you for accepting this difficult task.”

Rudger closed his eyes quietly.

“I might start thinking about what to do while resting.”

“That’s good for you.”

Rudger just laughed weakly at my words.

“Well, you still have a long way to go. I’ll train you hard for the time being, understand?”

“…Please go easy on me.”

Anyway, to take his position, I needed to at least be able to fight him properly.

I should prepare to be able to fight and win against him more seriously.

“That’s great, Father.”

“Yes, no more tiring matters now.”

I could see the father and daughter smiling weakly.

Given the atmosphere, I thought it was time to leave.

“Hey!”

“Aaaagh?! She’s gotten stronger… Hey, can someone get her off me! Hey!”

It’s amusing, but I should calm Sarah down first.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

“Excuse me, Paladin.”

The door opened, and a priest entered.

“What is it?”

“Ah, a nun from the Evgenia Church suddenly requested a visit and has come in.”

“Evgenia?”

Rudger thought for a moment and then looked at me.

“…Christina should still be in the hospital.”

“She was badly injured then. Then who could it be?”

Hearing the conversation between me and Rudger, the priest’s expression became a bit confused.

“Why do you look like that? Your expression seems a bit strange.”

Jamie noticed the priest’s expression and asked.

“The… the name of the visiting nun was Christina.”

“What?”

What on earth is happening?

I quickly headed towards the door where Christina was said to be waiting, along with the priest.