Crackle— crackle—
A campfire burning amid the silence. Most of the training ground had already fled this uncomfortable scene, but Julie and a few of her peers still remained.
“……”
Gwen watched Julie, whose head hung low. Raphael and Sirio moved only their eyes, as if conversing in silence.
“……Maybe he cheated with magic, no, didn’t he, no, maybe not? No, in the first place, what kind of guy throws a kick in a duel between knights…… Ah, right. That guy isn’t a knight.”
Gwen was the first to speak. Then she glared at Raphael and Sirio. It meant, back me up.
“Magic…… I don’t know. No, I mean, we watched how Deculein used the sword, didn’t we? But that guy. He looked full of openings, and yet he wasn’t at all. Even I probably would’ve been caught once. It was swordsmanship I’d never seen before.”
“Hey, you bastard. Is that supposed to mean anything?”
Gwen’s twisted brow stabbed into Sirio.
“It’s just an expression. He was like the wind. Of course, not more than me. Ahaha.”
Deculein’s swordsmanship was better called “movement.” It was elegant like a waltz and never lost the dignity of a noble. He had broken Julie’s sword as though dancing.
“That is correct.”
Raphael said.
“Furthermore, Deculein’s frame is strong at a glance. Even for you, Julie, without mana it was a physical difference difficult to overcome.”
No matter how much of a knight one was, without mana it was difficult to overcome a reach of nearly twenty centimeters. She had not been holding some absurdly long spear, and in trying to force her way in, she had instead allowed a fatal blow.
“……I’m fine.”
Julie said, in a voice that was not fine at all.
“I acknowledge it. I lost the duel. The professor did indeed analyze my forms completely.”
Julie closed her eyes for a moment and reviewed it. She recalled the scene of the duel.
Each of his movements, the trembling of his blade tip and fingertips, had all been natural. Her sword path had been predicted, and her forms had been broken.
“……Hoo.”
Gwen only let out a sigh. Sirio and Raphael also closed their mouths.
Julie rustled around inside her coat and took something out.
It was a paper filled with Deculein’s criticisms.
“She is obsessed with orthodoxy. At a glance she appears to mix in variations, but even those, upon closer inspection, are regular. For example, after a horizontal slash, her only options are the upper left or the upper right.”
Julie recited one of the passages. Gwen, Sirio, and Raphael flinched.
“In addition, she has not abandoned the heavily physical disposition of the Freyden, especially that of Zeit. Thus, charges, rushes, assaults, and the like……”
“Ah~ that one’s really true. So Deculein knew that in advance and rammed her with his shoulder. No wonder his response seemed too fast. That shoulder check hurt a lot, didn’t it? Haha.”
Sirio clapped as he chimed in. Julie silently bit her lower lip, and Gwen glared at him.
“Be quiet. You.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry.”
Just then, Julie sprang to her feet. Then she turned her back and began walking off somewhere.
Gwen, too, smacked Sirio’s back—thwack—and rose to follow.
“Julie. Where are you going?”
Without turning back, Julie said,
“……I have something to say to Professor Deculein, briefly. Nothing will happen, so please do not follow me.”
* * *
Crunch, crunch.
The back garden of the mansion, where heavy snow settled. There, I was swinging a broadsword.
There was not the slightest trace of swordsmanship or forms. I merely moved my body and the sword in the most efficient way.
Swaaaaa……
As if joining the trajectory that could not be called either a vertical slash or a horizontal slash, the woodsteel fluttered. Nineteen pieces of metal drifted along the sword path like petals.
It was not a bad application. If I combined this with 「Iron Man」 and 「Strong Bones」, it would be useful not only for sword dances or duels, but even in actual combat.
……To be honest, I still found it strange. How had Julie endured these shoulders and legs, sturdier than most titanium, without mana or the defense of armor?
“Not bad.”
In any case, this training of sword and body itself was decent. It would be useful enough in real combat.
The problem was, as expected, the absolute quantity of my mana and my flaws in temperament.
With a magician’s talent, it was difficult to manifest aura or sword energy, and although that point could soon be supplemented once I completed 「Metal Reinforcement」, I found even the thought of sweat splashing or bodies rubbing together hard to endure.
For reference, 「Metal Reinforcement」 was stuck at a damned 99% proficiency. Whether it was a bottleneck or what……?
At some point, I stopped my sword.
It was because of the presence that had approached.
“……Is it Deia?”
I looked that way. Julie was there in the darkness.
Julie bowed her head slightly.
“Yes.”
“Your reason for coming.”
I asked as I threw the broadsword into the snow. Julie hesitated, then answered.
“Because for a healthier review, the opponent’s opinion is also necessary.”
I nodded.
“That is correct, but is there a need to review it? All of your forms were in my head, and your movements were predictable.”
“……”
“From the wavering of your blade alone, I could tell what would come next. It is a habit that must be fixed. No, there is a problem with your swordsmanship as a whole right now.”
Julie clenched both fists, but she did not refute me. She simply voiced the question she held.
“……Professor, how can you be so certain? That I am wrong.”
“As you said, I am not a knight. However, pure learning has no category or professional limit. I willingly acknowledged my ignorance, learned because I acknowledged it, and understood through learning.”
Julie repeated my words to herself. Then she let out a small breath, as if conceding.
She was not the type to insist stubbornly in the first place, and she must have felt it better than anyone.
“Then—”
“I will compile and send you all of your habits and my analyses. There are many knights besides you who require analysis, but they will not be willing to admit that I know better than they do.”
“……Yes.”
Julie answered in a small voice.
“However, before that.”
I looked Julie up and down.
I already knew her height. 173 cm.
However, the creatures known as knights were nothing less than “lumps of muscle,” so only their weight could not be estimated by appearance.
“Do you weigh about 65 kg?”
“……”
In that instant, Julie’s mouth clamped shut. As if shocked by the question, she opened her eyes wide and looked at me.
I waited for her to answer.
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
The silence grew long, and my brow furrowed on its own.
“Answer me.”
Then Julie fumbled with her lips.
“Six…… seven…… six……”
“Say it. Accurately.”
“……”
A number she spat out in an extremely stammering, very tiny voice.
I did hear it.
“You weigh far more than I expected. Well, that is what a knight is. Go now.”
“……”
Julie glared at me, cast her eyes down to the ground, glared at me again, cast them down again…… After repeating that, she turned and trudged away.
Thinking over elements such as her height and weight, the ratio of her arms and legs, and the muscular strength I had grasped through the duel, I entered the mansion.
However.
“Oh, you’re here.”
“Ah, Professor’s here.”
“You’re back?”
“……”
Each greeting came from Ihelm, Epherene, and Louina. The three of them were sitting at the living room table, drinking with snacks.
Ihelm said,
“The Red Moon has risen. I figured this would be the last time for drinking or chatting.”
Epherene, receiving the wine that poured glug-glug-glug, grinned.
“Ah~ drinking this makes me feel a little waaaarm.”
“Your tongue is already twisted.”
“I’m perfeckly fine?”
Epherene forced her eyes round. I shook my head and asked,
“Where did you put the merchants?”
“They’re in the lodging. They all seem quite uneasy.”
Louina answered.
“……I see.”
“What’s wrong?”
I quietly looked out the window.
I recalled the appearance of the merchant company I had met today.
The nearly forty mercenaries and merchants. I replayed their conversation.
“Tch.”
A sneer suddenly leaked out. The corners of my mouth twisted naturally.
“……How foolish.”
At this point, it did not even anger me. Rather, I was dumbfounded, and their wretched brains left me speechless.
Were they looking down on me? Or were they provoking me?
“What are you talking about? What are you doing by yourself?”
Ihelm asked. Instead of answering him, I spoke to Louina.
“Louina.”
“Hm? What is it?”
Why, of all things, had only this merchant company arrived at Reccordak? If they wanted to cut off a supply caravan, they could have done so easily enough.
Was it simply a miracle? Or had they departed earlier by luck? Were the mercenaries skilled?
There was no way.
Therefore, the question ought to change from “How did the merchant company reach Reccordak?” to “Why did the Jeokgwe send only this merchant company to Reccordak?”
“……Have the lodging where the merchant company is staying watched. Quietly, and absolutely without being discovered.”
The only problem was “who” among the forty it was.
Whether it was the head of the merchant company, a mercenary, a suitable mixture, or otherwise.
Whether all forty of them were Jeokgwe—or the Altar.
“……Yes.”
Having recognized that something was unusual, Louina set down the wine she had been drinking. Ihelm seemed to have caught on to some extent as well, but Epherene, whose cheeks had become like steamed buns, was savoring wine alone.
“Mmm…… Tastes like grapes……”
* * *
“……!”
Meanwhile, Yeriel opened her eyes in some unknown place.
“……”
A bead of sweat on her forehead flowed between her brows. Her body was bound, her mana did not move, and a woman with red eyes was looking at her.
“……Mmph!”
She tried to speak, but her mouth would not open. It was because of the tape.
“Mmph—! Mmmmmph——!”
The woman watching Yeriel resist wrote a sentence in a notebook.
—Don’t worry. We won’t harm you.
“……”
Yeriel silently moved her tongue. She intended to lick the tape off.
The woman shook her head, then rip—! tore off the tape first.
“Mmee!”
It felt as though her lips had been torn off. Yeriel glared at the woman with tearful eyes.
“Ptoo! What are you! Do you know who I am?!”
The woman answered in writing.
—You are Yeriel. I am Elesol.
“You know and you’re doing this? You are seriously in trouble. Do you know that?!”
—We have been in trouble for a very long time already. But we will not kill you.
“……What?”
We have been in trouble for a very long time already. Yeriel felt something strange from that sentence.
For a moment, calmly, suppressing her temper, she spoke in a low voice.
“That’s because killing me would put you in even bigger trouble. Fine. Since it seems like we can communicate, I’ll say it in words. Let me go. If you let me go, I’ll overlook it. My territory needs me right now, you know? If you release me quickly, I won’t hold you guilty. I promise.”
—Don’t worry. Your doll is taking your place. There will be no confusion in Yukline.
“……What? No, then why did you kidnap—no, cut the bullshit and let me go.”
Yeriel furrowed her brow. Seeing their attitude made it even harder to understand.
If this was how they were going to act, why had they kidnapped her, and why had she been kidnapped?
The woman called Elesol wrote a sentence.
—There is something about you that you do not know.
“Oh, for…… Fine. Say it. What is it? Let’s hear it. If I hear it, will you let me go?”
—I cannot tell you that yet. But we need you.
“Why.”
—Negotiation.
“Negotiation?”
—We will use you as a bargaining chip with Deculein.
Yeriel silently bit her lip.
She knew nothing else, but she could tell this bitch’s race for certain.
“……You’re Jeokgwe. But what are you going to do? Don’t you know? Deculein hates me.”
It was precisely in preparation for times like this that she had deliberately not pretended to be close to him. To lower her value as a hostage as much as possible.
—Of course, I know Deculein hates you. But……
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Elesol merely tapped her ballpoint pen against the notebook, then let out a sigh.
“Hoo……”
“……No, you fucking—hey!”
Suddenly, Yeriel unleashed a lion’s roar. Elesol flinched in surprise and stepped back. She had not heard the sound, but the pressure disheveled her hair.
“Now that I think about it, this is ridiculous. Compared to others, we’re decent! These bastards really are ungrateful pieces of shit. Our camp didn’t even install gas chambers, you know? We didn’t agree to it either! Go to Betan instead!”
“……”
Elesol shook her head with a somewhat bitter expression. Then she wrote a sentence.
—I know. That is why I am still agonizing over it, so rest. Until we arrive at Deculein.
“What…… Huh, wait. Arrive?”
Only then did Yeriel focus her attention on this space.
Clatter……. Clatter…….
There was a very faint swaying.
A carriage, or perhaps a train—at the very least, it meant she was inside some “means of transportation.”
* * *
The next day, at the training ground where the morning sun was rising.
In the middle of training, Yulie received a report from Epherene.
“The professor told me to deliver this to you.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Yes…… haaaahm…….”
Assistant Epherene, looking especially disheveled today, dipped her head. Yulie watched her with an affectionate gaze, as though finding her cute, then picked up the report.
“……Hm?”
She had thought there would not be much content, since it was only two sheets, but it was magic paper. Each sheet contained one hundred pages, for a total of two hundred pages.
“…….”
Yulie began reading slowly from the first page.
[Knight Deia has arms and legs that are long in proportion to her height, and though her solid musculature makes her weight considerable, her explosiveness is exceedingly outstanding. It would be appropriate to evaluate her strength as above average, but the elastic qualities of her body, including agility and flexibility, are extraordinarily exceptional compared to other knights. Therefore, it is proper to make full use of those advantages…….]
“No, I’m not really heavy—”
“Ah~ Now who might this be? Isn’t it Knight Deia?”
As she was reading seriously, a mocking voice drifted in. It was Delric, a knight of the Imperial Palace, and his group.
“A knight who lost a duel to a mage…… Hahahaha. Goodness, can one really trust such a person with one’s back?”
“““Hahahahaha—”””
The laughter of the Imperial Knights rang out.
Yulie endured it calmly. Her defeat was an undeniable fact.
“Well, from what I hear, you let your guard down to an incredible degree…… But at this rate, you’ll tarnish even the honor of the knights. Ah, or have you already tarnished it? Hahaha.”
Yulie stared quietly at Delric, then spoke.
“Sir Delric. Would you duel me once later?”
“Hm? So suddenly? When the Red Moon has risen?”
“It does not have to be now. We will win here anyway, will we not? Just once before we return will do. We are tied, after all.”
Two wins and two losses. That was the record between Delric and Yulie. Delric was as strong a knight as he was loose-tongued, and his name was often brought up as a candidate for the next vice-captain of the knights.
“Hahaha. Good grief. I told you, I went easy on you those two times I lost……. Well, fine. After we win, we’ll face each other then. I’ll teach you a thing or two. At the very least, so you won’t lose to a mage again.”
“Yes. Let us make certain to win.”
“Good. Very good.”
Yulie bowed her head.
Delric, who had been about to pass by, suddenly noticed the paper in Yulie’s hand.
“And what is that?”
“……It is something Professor Deculein gave me—”
“Huh? That, what, document where a professor points things out to a knight and teaches her? You actually accepted that?”
Delric let out a dumbfounded laugh. Yulie answered honestly.
“Yes.”
“Wow~ Goodness. Just how far is the honor of knights going to fall…… Tsk, tsk, tsk. No, more than that, what exactly is the relationship between you two? Didn’t you break off your engagement?”
At that very moment, as Delric clicked his tongue with a face full of genuine contempt.
─────!
A mass of stones began pouring down from the sky.
Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!
Even as the cluster of rocks crashed down without warning, the knights did not panic and looked up at the sky.
Delric clenched his teeth.
“……It’s an air raid! Flying monsters! Everyone, prepare for battle!”
“““Yes! In the name of Gipreine!”””
Following the knights who shouted so, Yulie also gripped her sword.
Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!
Graaaaaaah──!
Monstrous birds blanketed the vast sky. Footfalls shook the road surface, and grotesque cries spread eerily.
They were the vanguard of the southward advance announcing the full outbreak of war: trolls and gargoyles.