chapter_0009

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
9

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
9

I staggered to my feet after
being knocked down to the ground.

The Sloppy Knight hasn’t made
a decent attack once, yet this is how many times I’ve fallen because
I couldn’t control my body?

It’s definitely been more than
ten times. I was counting until then. After that, I stopped because
it was too bothersome.

I took a deep breath, brushed
the dirt off my face, and looked up.

The knight standing opposite
me couldn’t hide his grimace.

Despite being furious,
shouldn’t he at least try to control his expression in front of his
lady?

What a Sloppy Knight. Could he
really marry into nobility with poor acting like that?

“Just give up, my lady.”

“Try and make me, Sloppy
Knight.”

“You might get hurt like
this.”

“Is it so hard to subdue
a girl without leaving a mark? You’re definitely a pathetic
weakling♡”

The knight bit his lip hard at
my provocation.

Hahaha. At this rate, he’s
going to really hit me for real, huh?

A noble knight? No way. A
fitting title for him would be the Eunuch (cowardly) Knight.

I laughed and calmed my heavy
breathing.

Quite a bit of time has passed
since I started sparring with this Sloppy Knight.

I don’t know exactly how long,
but it’s definitely not been a short time considering the increasing
number of spectators, including knights, soldiers, and maids.

“Shouldn’t we stop this?”

“I’d like to, but the
young lady ordered us not to interfere.”

“But still.”

“Just wait. The knight
commander is coming…”

I’ve never been more grateful
for Lucy’s notoriety.

Because of her rampant
behaviour, those who should stop their master from getting hurt are
hesitating.

If Lucy had been just an
ordinary girl, others would have intervened before the situation
escalated.

If that had happened, I
wouldn’t have been able to achieve my goal of giving this Sloppy
Knight a taste of his own medicine.

My breathing calmed down to
some extent.

Although my body still felt
heavy, thanks to the physical training I’d been doing recently, I
wasn’t completely immobile.

Even now, I could still swing
my mace as much as I wanted.

Gritting my teeth, I charged
forward.

The knight might have been
pathetic in many ways, but in the end, he was still a knight.

Despite being enraged by my
provocation, he tried to teach me the methods of combat, as if
fulfilling his duty.

Never stop moving your feet.

Always think about what your
opponent might do next.

Watch not your opponent’s
hands, but their arms and body movements.

Never miss your opponent’s
movements. Keep watching them. And so on.

He taught me several essential
rules that I absolutely needed to follow, given that I knew nothing
about real combat.

His methods were far from
gentle, but thanks to him, my skills improved considerably.

If you compared me now to the
person swinging the mace aimlessly this morning, you’d barely think
we were the same person.

But even then, I still
couldn’t gain the upper hand against this damn Sloppy Knight.

The Sloppy Knight was strong.

Without giving me any time to
attack, he relentlessly pushed forward. Even when I swung my mace
desperately, he would effortlessly counter as if he had anticipated
it.

As much as I hated to admit
it, the Sloppy Knight was an overwhelmingly unbeatable opponent for
me at the moment.

Despite continuously provoking
him during our sparring sessions to massively boost my stats, it was
still the same.

If only this were a game
played on a PC.

Then, I could have defeated
this Sloppy Knight using the specialised techniques of experienced
players*. (*Good enough mechanics to win against any enemy)

Even when I got right in front
of the Sloppy Knight, he didn’t move his sword.

It has been like this for a
while now. The Sloppy Knight was deliberately restraining himself
from attacking.

Maybe he was worried he might
make a mistake by failing to control his emotions.

Thus, unlike before, I could
swing my mace as much as I wanted.

The Sloppy Knight silently
received my attacks.

Whether evading or parrying,
his movements were so refined that he completely neutralised my
attacks.

If this continued, I would
eventually exhaust myself just as before by attacking continuously
and then collapsing. So, I needed to create an opening.

And I had a plan for how to
create that opening.

“What’s this! Sloppy
Knight. Are you just going to block?!”

“Yes. That’s what I’m
going to do.”

“Ha♡ You’re so
preoccupied with blocking? How weak♡”

The Sloppy Knight’s eyebrows
furrowed slightly, and the speed of his wooden sword increased.

Even though the [Mesugaki]
skill includes provocation, isn’t he falling for it too easily?!

The knight’s offensive began.

With my stats significantly
boosted, I could barely withstand the relentless blows hitting my
shield.

He’s really not holding
back, is he?!

The centre of my shield is all
dented!

How much strength are you
using?!

As I blocked the knight’s
attacks using the [Iron Wall] skill as instructed, I spotted an
opportunity.

When the furious knight swung
his sword with even more force than usual,

At the moment he assumed I
would block and moved his sword,

I was certain he wouldn’t be
able to stop the sword easily, so I lowered the shield that was
protecting me.

I could see the knight’s
bewildered face.

He had swung his sword, fully
expecting me to block it.

No matter the adjustment in
power, it was a blow strong enough to make me struggle blocking it.

In such a situation, I
suddenly dropped my guard.

He’s someone who, throughout
his offensive, has never let his sword touch me even once.

He’s someone who holds back
his attacks for fear of making a mistake.

So when I’m in a position to
get hit, he’ll somehow stop his sword.

It was clear.

This was a gamble.

It was a bet based on trusting
the knight’s skill and believing he could still control his emotions.

If I failed, I would
undoubtedly get hurt by his wooden sword.

I heard people around me gasp,
but I wasn’t afraid.

Look, just as you wanted, I’m
not closing my eyes even with the sword right in front of me.

This is your achievement. You
should be proud, Sloppy Knight.

As the knight tried to halt
his swing, I raised my mace.

Skull Crusher.

The move I’ve practised
thousands of times over the past few days.

The move I even repeated in my
dreams last night.

The knight, focused on
stopping his sword, couldn’t avoid my mace even though he saw me
swinging it.

Thwack!

I felt the impact.

The knight, hit by the mace,
furrowed his brows and staggered backward.

I did it. I finally
succeeded.I succeeded in landing a hit!

Seeing the Sloppy Knight’s
deeply furrowed face, I hid my mouth behind my shield hand and
declared a sort of victory.

‘Did you feel that?’

“You trash♡, getting
toyed with by a little girl♡.”

As soon as he heard that
mocking remark, the Sloppy Knight suddenly lunged at me.

I couldn’t track him with my
eyes.

The moment his foot left the
ground, I had already lost sight of his figure.

What?

While I was feeling
bewildered, the [Iron Wall] skill warned of danger.

Raise your shield!

My instincts, sharpened from
the recent fight, followed the [Iron Wall] skill’s command.

Boom!

The knight’s fist collided
with where my shield was positioned.

My body was lifted into the
air.

It was beyond a matter of
blocking or not.

The power behind the knight’s
punch was something I couldn’t withstand with my weight.

As I was being flung backward,
I saw the knight’s eyes.

They were filled with
uncontrollable rage.

Dangerous.

Rolling on the ground a few
times after being flung, I felt excruciating pain in my arm that
blocked the attack, but I quickly got up.

My instincts screamed that I
would die if I didn’t move.

Instincts were never wrong.
The moment I lifted my head, the knight was already right in front of
me.

Having lost his temper, he
clenched his fist and raised it.

What would happen if I got hit
by that? I don’t know.

But it would definitely hurt.

It would probably hurt like
hell.

Maybe even more than when I
drank the elixir.

Those thoughts ran through my
mind as the [Overcoming Fear] skill stole away my fear.

…Hah. The skill really does
its job well.

Alright. I’ll take one hit for
the team. After all, I’m the one who provoked him into this mess with
my stubbornness to land a strike.

Ugh. In the end, the result of
a Mesugaki’s provocation is proper punishment, huh?

As I kept my eyes open and
waited for the knight’s punch, someone suddenly intervened between
us.

A middle-aged man, whose large
stature was comparable to Benedict’s, blocked the knight’s fist
with one hand.

“Karl, why did you do
that?”

Karl, looking at the handcuffs
on his wrist, raised his head at Possell’s question. Possell, the
captain of the Allen Family’s knights, had a deep frown and his
lips tightly pressed together.

Anyone could tell from his
atmosphere just how angry he was—it was almost violent.

“If I hadn’t intervened,
it would have been a serious incident. Miss Lucy could have been
severely injured.”

“That’s correct.”

“So, I’m asking you, why
did you do it? It’s not the first time she’s said harsh words.”

Karl lowered his head instead
of answering.

“Karl.”

“…I really don’t know.”

At this nonsensical answer,
Possell bit his lip hard and punched the iron bars separating him
from Karl.

The bars, which wouldn’t have
budged even if dozens of knights had attacked them, bent with his
punch.

“You did this, so if you
don’t know why, who would?”

“I’m sorry. But I really
don’t know.”

Despite Possell’s menacing
tone, Karl couldn’t bring himself to answer.

He himself couldn’t understand
why he had acted that way.

Karl was born and raised in a
family of knights.

From a young age, he’d
listened to his father talk about what it meant to be an excellent
knight, and he had resolved to become a splendid knight like his
father.

For that reason, he trained
without missing a day, competing with high-ranking nobles at the
Academy and graduating from Soul Academy with excellent results.

Thanks to those achievements,
he was able to become a knight of the esteemed Allen Family, a
position many knights coveted.

Even after becoming a knight,
Karl never forgot the words his father had told him when he was
young.

He worked hard to become the
ideal knight he dreamed of.

His initial approach to Lucy
was also to become that noble knight.

Even though he knew about all
the terrible things Lucy had done before.

Even though his colleagues
warned him that people don’t change easily. Despite being hurt by
Lucy’s sarcastic remarks…

He approached Lucy because he
believed that if someone in the family he served was trying to become
a better person, as a knight under them, he had to support them.

However, what started as an
act of goodwill led to today’s disaster.

Striking the person he was
supposed to protect! No matter how many harsh words Miss Lucy had
said, losing control of his emotions was inexcusable!

Many were angry at Karl and
asked why he had done it, but he couldn’t answer. More than anyone,
Karl himself couldn’t understand his actions.

“Captain. You might not
believe me, but I’m not someone who loses his temper easily.”

“I know.”

“I endured countless
insults from various nobles during my time at the Academy. Even on
the battlefield, facing other mercenaries and knights, I never made
mistakes out of emotion.”

“I said I know.”

“But I couldn’t endure
Miss Lucy’s sarcasm.”

Lucy’s sarcasm wasn’t even
that harsh. Compared to the curses he’d heard on the battlefield, her
remarks were mild.

They were also not as
malicious as the criticisms from the nobles at the Academy.

Yet, Lucy’s sarcasm so easily
drove Karl to the brink of losing his reason.

He couldn’t figure out why. No
matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand what had
caused this reaction.

And that was why he was
writhing in self-reproach.

Please support the series on
NovelUpdates

Read Here
for premium chapters