episode_0014

“The visible wounds are almost completely healed. I can soon take off the bandages except for the shoulders and legs.”

The middle-aged priestess who was checking the condition of my leg smiled and nodded as if to reassure me.

Maybe it was because of the tired, dark eyes and the vertical scar across his lip, but he didn’t give a very reassuring impression.

The neat white priest’s uniform had dark red stains here and there, as if it hadn’t even had time to be washed.

The sacred sign hanging from the end of the white cloth wrapped around the priest’s forehead swayed gently and sparkled scarlet.

A golden decoration with two semicircles of different sizes facing each other above and below.

It was the sign of Shaulithe, one of the 11 main gods and the goddess of the sun and life.

I nodded, grateful for my improved physical condition.

It’s already been two days since I laid down in the hospital bed, looking like a torn piece of rag.

Two healing blessings had somehow restored my appearance.

Incredible recovery speed.

It was far beyond the ability of ordinary blessings.

Did you say he was a military chaplain?

No matter how you look at him, he looks like he is at the level of a bishop, not an ordinary priest.

Well, it would have been difficult for an ordinary priest to quickly heal an injury like this.

Perhaps he is the highest among the Margrave’s servant priests, or something like that?

“However, such behavior is prohibited.”

The priestess pointed to the bed across from me and shook her head.

Nigel was standing on his head and doing push-ups with one arm.

Beads of sweat ran down her chin and formed on her forehead, dripping onto the floor every time she bent her arms, forming a small puddle.

The swollen arm muscles were trembling as if spewing curses at their owner.

The heated body slowly releases white vapor.

The warm, humid heat spread all the way to me.

It was a sight that could not have been imagined as that of a person who had had difficulty even moving until the day before yesterday.

Are all knights of the empire such monsters?

The bandage came off in just one day and has been like that since yesterday.

As the effect of the potion was added to the priest’s blessing, unlike me, he recovered to the level of being able to do such things in just one day.

Marquis Ludwig, who also visited briefly yesterday, was shocked to see that.

It was quite funny to see him trying to say something, but sighing and closing his mouth as if he had given up.

The deep wrinkles between the Marquis’s eyebrows probably have a lot of Nigel in them.

“The wound hasn’t completely healed yet… Well, Sir Nigel hasn’t been like that for a day or two, so it’s no use trying to stop him.”

As if he didn’t even notice that the priestess was looking at her pitifully, Nigel continued doing push-ups in silence.

Should I call that a soldier’s steadfast attitude, or should I call it tactless and stubborn?

Actually, there are many people in the military who have that kind of personality.

They are not bad people and have outstanding personal abilities, but they are too serious in everything and stubbornly stick to their principles.

When I deal with him as a superior, my body gets tired, and when I deal with him as a subordinate, my brain gets tired. To be honest, I am the type of person who is extremely frustrated.

Nigel was exactly like that.

So I guess my head will get tired from now on.

I let out a long sigh in my heart.

The road ahead was difficult. Just like the military life of a new soldier.

…Should I consider it fortunate that I at least follow orders from my superiors?

—-

I took off the bandage and moved my sore jaw around. good. It moves well.

The cut ear had sprouted new flesh and looked fine on the outside, but when I pressed it with my finger to see if it had filled all the way inside, I was surprised to see a dent in it.

Then, the torn left shoulder and the torn right leg would be in the same condition.

After completing the diagnosis, I recalled the advice the priestess gave in turns.

Unlike cuts or cracks that only need to be reconnected at the cross-section, it takes some time to regenerate the area that has been completely separated and lost.

It might still be too much to walk around like this.

“Are you feeling well, Mr. Hashal?”

Nigel, who had just finished exercising, spoke to me while wiping his sweaty body with a towel.

“Better than yesterday. It’s much better than the day before yesterday when I was practically a corpse. What a relief. Isn’t that right?”

I was still supposed to be lying in bed, but seeing Nigel calmly working out was a little disgusting.

I sarcastically asked, “Isn’t it fortunate for you that the person who almost died because of your misunderstanding is somehow recovering?”

“That’s right. Because of the injury, there would have been quite a delay even after receiving the royal family’s answer.”

You don’t understand.

Nigel shook his head as if relieved.

He’s a very sincere person, but…I don’t know what to say…

“In that case, I think you can start studying the imperial language right away. I almost couldn’t keep my promise to Hashal, but as you said, I’m very fortunate.”

Oh yeah. Now that I think about it, I had to do something like that.

do not want to do it……

In this condition, I have to study a foreign language that I have never heard before.

I already felt like my head was hurting.

Still, I guess I should do it.

This is necessary if you don’t want to live your life being called a barbarian who can’t even speak properly.

“Okay, bring the textbook…”

He answered as if muttering in a weak voice.

The burden of civilization is too heavy…!

—-

The two days of class were quite harsh.

I had no choice but to pay the full price for neglecting foreign language classes as a child.

—-

On the morning of the fourth day, my physical condition finally recovered.

When I took off the bandage and turned my shoulder, it was a little stiff, but I was able to move it without any problems.

At this level, even if combat is difficult, I don’t think there will be any problems in daily life.

Nigel must have fully recovered, having already changed into new clothes and was standing next to me.

Basically, he was wearing a crimson coat with pauldrons and breastplates like before, but there were some additional pieces of armor added.

Long iron plates were padded from the upper wrists to the elbows, and two sheet metal skirts wrapped below the waist, lightly pressing down on the hem of the coat.

The breastplate was also modified to have plates on the top and bottom to protect the abdomen and lower neck.

…It seems like they only focused on strengthening the areas that were hit by me. Maybe it’s my mood?

I was looking at him with some uneasy feeling, and Nigel tilted his head.

“Hashalar? Do you have something to order?”

“What is that armor? It’s a little different from last time.”

“Ah, the armor I wore then was light armor for sparring. It was badly damaged so I destroyed it. This is the armor I originally used.”

“That was for sparring. For some reason, it seemed like there wasn’t much of a protected area.”

Because only the shoulders and chest were made of metal.

“…It’s about work at that time. Can I ask you one thing?”

“There is no need to appear so low-key. To begin with, you spoke very informally back then, right?”

And that too in a pretty brutal tone. As if the person suddenly changed.

“I apologize if you were offended.”

Nigel bowed his head and explained.

“Now I am a member of Lord Hashal’s entourage, but at the time, I was in a situation where I was facing the enemy as a knight, so I did that.”

“Not only is he sincere, but he has a strange personality. What’s good? Did you ask.”

I don’t know what you’re asking, but if it’s something I know, there’s no reason I can’t answer.

“Where did you learn imperial swordsmanship?”

“Imperial swordsmanship?”

“That’s the swordsmanship he used to counter my stab when his sword broke. The defensive method of using the long blade to block the opponent’s attack was a bit clumsy, but it was definitely the Imperial Knights’ standard sword technique.”

He definitely did something like that in the middle of a battle. But I don’t know how I wrote it either.

I thought it was a problem I couldn’t figure out no matter how much I thought about it, but I never thought I’d ask that.

“I heard that he carries a long sword, so I gave him a long sword for sparring, but I heard that originally, Kahar mainly uses a curved sword with a short blade. This means that he does not often use swordsmanship that utilizes the blade… That sword is the same, I heard that your mother was an imperial citizen, but were you a knight?”

well…?

Should I ask Orhan about that?

I couldn’t answer hastily.

Did you say Hashal’s mother, Aimela?

You may have answered that the article was correct, but in fact it was not an article, or vice versa.

Which one is it?

As Nigel said, the movements were a bit clumsy to say he learned it because his mother was a knight.

However, it is difficult to say for sure that he is not a knight, and I am concerned about the fact that Hashall used an imperial-style long sword as a weapon instead of Ka’har’s sword.

It’s difficult to give a wrong answer either way.

Nigel might bring up today’s conversation to Marquis Ludwig later.

And if that information is incorrect, there will be some problems.

They spoke in Imperial so that I wouldn’t hear it, but Marquis Ludwig and Shane seemed to know Aimella.

Since the time after that was so eventful, I don’t even remember what the two people said at that time.

Marquis Ludwig would think I lied, as there is no way in the world that would give a wrong answer to a question about his mother’s occupation.

After that, I will continue to doubt why I bothered to lie.

However, since the premise that it is a lie is a false suspicion in the first place, no matter how much you think about it, there is no way you will come up with a proper answer.

In the end, these and other suspicions only grow like a snowball.

…As expected, it would be better to remain ignorant here.

Rather than answering as if you know, only to find out that the answer is wrong and arousing suspicion, what will they do if you insist that you don’t know from the beginning?

“I don’t know if my mother was a knight. You have never swung a sword in front of me.”

“Is that so? Then what about imperial swordsmanship-”

“I just watched you swing and followed along.”

That’s not a complete lie.

Every night, I remembered Nigel’s sword swing from his hospital bed and replayed it in my head.

It’s probably possible now to follow one or two movements.

So, anyway, it is correct that I learned Nigel’s swordsmanship by watching it.

“It’s not a technique that’s simple enough to be used after seeing it once… It seems that Hashal is also very talented in imperial swordsmanship.”

“Really? Maybe I should try learning it later. Although it seems unlikely that there will be an Imperial Knight to teach the Ka`har to use the sword.”

I tried my luck.

If Nigel’s personality is the same, he’ll give me the answer I want, right?

“If you wish, I will let you know from time to time. First of all, I have to get permission from the Marquis, but I don’t think he will be particularly opposed to it.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

I knew it.

Our Nigel is so kind.

Once again, I remembered Nigel swinging his sword.

If you learn it, it will definitely be helpful.

It was too risky to rely entirely on Hashall’s instincts.

A ferocious impulse that burns away all reason and runs rampant until it turns to ashes without even sparing the body.

It was no different from giving orders to a fierce wolf by putting a thin leash on it and whipping it.

Even one slight mistake would cost me my life.

Although there was nothing I could do in a dangerous situation, I wanted to avoid such a thing as much as possible.

In fact, even though I was injured to the point of death, he encouraged me by saying he could fight more.

In that sense, Nigel’s swordsmanship was ideal.

A sophisticated technique that prioritizes defending one’s own body and uses the long sword to its full potential to block enemy attacks and counterattack.

In the end, my attack broke through, but that was only the result of relying on Hashall’s instincts.

Since I myself don’t know the basics of swordsmanship, I was completely fooled.

“Then would you like to go back to the separate room? If it is today, you will receive a reply from the imperial family, so it would be a good idea to prepare to leave for the islands.”

” Even though I was preparing, I didn’t bring anything other than weapons and a few items that could be used for money.”

Now that I think about it, what should I bring to the academy?

Since Marquis Ludwig said he would provide support, he would probably prepare that on his own, right?