KR Translators:
・StarrySkySailor
・KawaiiKage
・ImmortalInk
・KingPotato
・SugoiSenpai
Chapter 11: What Do You Expect Me to Do When You Ask Me That? (1)
Imperial Year 372, June 25th.
“Chaaat!”
Ttaak!
With a cheerful resonance, a knight wearing the same armor as me flips backward. He got hit right in the center of his forehead with a wooden sword……Is he okay?
As if unconcerned, the flag went up.
“Arisein wins!”
With the rule that the match ends when the knees, back, or buttocks touch the ground, ‘me’ and the ‘Empire’s 7th Knight Order’ were engaged in a sparring match.
At first glance, it’s an unjust situation where a majority is persecuting a minority, but even amidst that, I’m in the middle of achieving the feat of having ‘defeated’ 13 people already.
“Waah! Risel is the best!”
“Well done!”
Hearing Aila and Levidian’s cheers and praise makes me feel incredibly good. Those two are beautiful women—or girls with a high probability of becoming so—and as a man, it’s natural to be happy to receive applause from such individuals.
“You go and bury your head too! Next, come out!”
Ronen Trigger, the Knight Commander, kicked the buttocks of the thirteenth knight who had fallen. Thus, the knights who ‘buried their heads’ were lined up on one side of the open space like an exhibit, a dozen of them. And one more was added.
I caught my breath and held my wooden sword up in front of me. The fourteenth opponent was walking out.
“Storm’s Brizel!”
“Brizel! Brizel!”
The knight named Brizel was a giant with long arms and thick muscles. His physique was 2 meters tall. I wonder if he’s perhaps a descendant of orangutans or mountain gorillas?
“Heh heh, you were pretty good, but you’ll have to stop here.”
At the giant’s voice coming from above, my body stiffened for a moment. My height is barely 160 centimeters right now. Oh my goodness. That person’s sternum is at my eye level!
“Isn’t this unfair?”
Turbo cautiously asked Ronen.
That’s right. In the name of common sense and decency, this is definitely unfair.
However, if we were to consider such things, Ronen wouldn’t have requested the match in the first place.
“It’s fair.”
Look at that. The eyes of Knight Commander Ronen, burning with pride. He’s determined to defeat me somehow.
“Risel, good luck! Just 7 more!”
“If you beat them all, I’ll fall for you! Waah!”
Suddenly, I find those cheers incredibly annoying. For whom am I even engaging in this sparring match in the first place! Kwaaak!
The start of the incident was like this.
While I was diligently undergoing training that I couldn’t distinguish between getting hit or rolling around, Aila came up to me, seemingly bored, and started chatting with Levidian.
A reasonably trivial conversation began. Then, for some reason, they started dissecting the person doing pull-ups with a vest full of sand.
The results of training, skills, whatnot, and so on.
Strangely, Levidian, who is perfectly armed with pretense except when she’s alone with me, easily revealed her true personality in front of Aila. And the two women blossomed a very lively chat culture.
Since they were so engrossed in the conversation that they wouldn’t have noticed even if lightning struck, they didn’t notice Knight Commander Ronen Trigger, who happened to be passing by. And they brought up this story in front of the Knight Commander.
‘No matter what, it would be difficult to face the knights, right?’
‘That’s not necessarily true. Risel has good potential. If the condition is to literally knock them down, he could probably handle about twenty.’
‘Not knocking them unconscious, but just making them fall over?’
‘Yes. Think of it as wrestling with swords. Probably, Risel at his current level would be fine even if he faced twenty knights escorting us.’
Naturally, our proud Knight Commander couldn’t just listen to those words and pass by.
Thus, the 1 vs. 20 duel unfolded.
The first five were possible because they were caught off guard, but from then on, it was a truly nerve-wracking battle of wits.
Levidian didn’t directly teach me, but just thinking about what I’ve endured from her so far, I’ve probably fallen more times than when I was learning to walk.
Techniques learned through hardship.
They’ve become ingrained in my body now.
It was a time when I could have fallen into agony, wondering whether I should be happy or sad every time I knocked someone down, as past nightmares resurfaced one by one.
But that’s over now.
The knight named Brizel, perhaps due to his physique, held a wooden sword that looked like a dagger and puffed out his lips, laughing as if exhaling.
“Uho oho oho……”
Knights, of all people, preparing a primate! How sneaky!
At least make it a human! Not a mountain gorilla!
“Damn it. I didn’t prepare any bananas……Oops.”
I was so desperate that the words slipped out unintentionally.
At that moment, all the noisy knights froze.
“Ba, Bananas you say?”
Brizel completely changed his smiling expression. Baring his clenched teeth, he breathed heavily through the gaps.
Huu Hee Huu Hee
“My goodness. How bold of you.”
“This is the end for you this time.”
“But who’s going to stop Brizel? You wanna do it?”
“Are you crazy? Last time, a guy from the 4th Knight Order tried to stop him and got his nose broken.”
Behind the enraged mountain gorilla, the knights whispered ‘loudly’ amongst themselves. It’s nothing new, but the knights who have gone through military life have truly terrible personalities.
Brizel bared his teeth in anger and pounded his chest, shouting.
“I’ll pound you into the ground today!”
But why are you hitting your chest! Why! You’re not a gorilla!
“Uwaaaak!”
Thump thump thump!
The approaching sound itself is already not human. How am I supposed to fight someone who’s 50 centimeters taller and probably twice as heavy as me!
Whooong!
Seeing the wooden sword flying towards my head, I realized it wasn’t something I could block. Since I can’t roll on the ground according to the rules, let’s dodge for now!
Kwaaarrrk!
The gravel floor hit by the wooden sword made a crumbling sound.
It’s clear. Some of those gravel pieces must have turned into sand.
The wooden sword, which had achieved the rapid progression of natural weathering by turning gravel into sand in an instant, attempted the sudden generation of strong winds.
A wooden sword that causes natural phenomena, is it a legendary weapon?!
Kwaaak!
If that hits me, my bones will surely fly away! Uwaa! Somebody help me!
I was running around frantically, dodging Brizel’s wooden sword. However, every swing of the wooden sword was literally creating a storm. Now I understand why he’s called Storm’s Brizel. Damn it!
With a pitiful expression, I looked at Levidian. With all the desperation in my heart.
Beautiful Sword King-nim, your disciple is going to die!
“You remembered well what I said about provoking an opponent to make them lose their composure when facing a formidable foe. I’m proud as your teacher.”
She smiled brightly and praised me.
Kwaaah! You’re a devil!
“Wow. Risel is a great swordsman too. He even uses such advanced techniques.”
Aila, who spoke as if she was impressed, smiled brightly.
Hey! You! You’re pretending not to know on purpose, right!
“Indeed. It would be easier to knock them down if you disrupt their composure.”
Turbo, who genuinely accepted their words and nodded.
Hey! Don’t be impressed by such things!
“Kkuuu! You’re all not on my side?!”
I cried out, as if venting the pent-up frustration that had welled up in my chest, and those words seemed to have shaken people’s hearts a little.
Levidian and Aila simultaneously said with pitiful expressions.
“Of course not.”
“Are you stupid?”
Tuk.
At that moment, I heard something snap inside me.
This pent-up frustration with nowhere to go.
Let’s just take it out on the gorilla! Kwaaah!
★⭐★⭐★⭐★
“If you’re bored, you should have just played cards like this.”
“What’s wrong with it? It’s good for practical sparring. And it seems like no one will underestimate you after this incident, so it’s killing two birds with one stone.”
Aila checked the cards that came to her and made a contemplative face for a moment. She seemed to be thinking about whether to keep betting or call.
While she was stalling for time, lost in thought, I spoke to Levidian.
“You too, teacher. No matter what, you provoked the Knight Commander?”
“It’s the heart of a teacher who wants to see how much her disciple has grown. As I expected, Risel has grown splendidly. Above all, that mental attitude is truly……”
I politely declined the teacher’s praise. It’s not because I’m embarrassed that I even managed to defeat the gorilla in that sparring match and succeeded in ‘knocking down’ 18 people, but for a different reason.
“I’m not returning the money I won, even if you say that.”
“You’re truly hopeless. Running away from someone who’s only 50 centimeters taller. How are you going to face large monsters like that?”
“I have no intention of becoming a hunter.”
“If you’re going to be like that, I have an idea. I’ll catch one soon and make you fight it.”
Everyone, please remember this well. The Sword King is a person who tries to make her disciple fight a large monster because she lost money in a card game.
Still, playing cards seems to be better for my survival than the sparring match a few hours ago. I’d rather just lose money, wouldn’t you?
It’s been 10 days since the delegation set off.
It’s only been 10 days, but people were getting tired. This is because we were faced with an enormous hardship that we couldn’t endure no matter what we did.
You could call this a disaster, or a natural calamity. This chain of natural punishment, given to humans by the heavens, finally bound itself tightly to the delegation on the 10th day of dispatch.
This delegation is……
“Ah, I’m bored.”
“I know, right?”
The listless voices of Levidian and Aila echoed emptily inside the carriage.
That’s right.
This delegation was getting tired of boredom.
First of all, this delegation is made up of various people. As mentioned before, it’s a delegation for cultural exchange, gathering those who excel in arts and knowledge.
Actually, with 200 people gathered, there shouldn’t be much reason to be bored. With so many people gathered like this, it’s as natural as the sun rising and setting for minor troubles to occur. For example, the 20-person knock-down challenge I did a few hours ago.
The boredom I’m talking about isn’t about such trivial matters, but rather the overall atmosphere.
If 200 people rush in a group, naturally no bandits or monsters would dare to approach. Wild animals would avoid the area altogether. As a result, nothing special happens during the journey.
To explain it simply, you leave a town or city, travel, eat on the way, sleep, and then arrive at another town or city, and that’s it.
While there might be no boredom in the small details, there’s an overall sense of boredom.
Especially for people like me and Aila who travel in carriages, we have to spend boring time without anyone to talk to. It would definitely be the best time for Turbo to immerse himself in reading and contemplation, though.
Even if I try to find someone to talk to, it’s difficult to mingle with the lower classes as a nobleman. Of course, since I’ve been in the military and my aristocratic consciousness has already diminished, I can easily talk to anyone, but the problem is the person I’m talking to.
No matter how casually I act, I’m the second son of a Duke. If I grow up properly and go through the coming-of-age ceremony, I’m in a position where at least the title of Viscount is reserved. I’m someone who’s difficult for those unrelated to the nobility to approach.
It’s the same for Aila. Even if she’s a Baron’s daughter, a noble is still a noble. Moreover, there’s a terrifying premise that a normal conversation might be impossible with her. Perhaps the latter part holds more weight.
The downfall of this delegation is that there are only three nobles. While there are many artists sponsored by noble families, the nobles themselves didn’t participate.
Our noble family (?), burdened with both overall and partial boredom, ended up in a depressing situation where we had to play cards in the largest carriage.
After a few rounds, it was proven that Levidian could never be a gambler, and we realized that for some reason, Aila, who didn’t seem to have won much, had the most money. Around that time, Marlin cautiously asked.
“Where’s the next stop?”
“We’ll arrive at a city called ‘Berhints’ by tomorrow.”
“Is it a big place?”
“So-so. Around 5,000 residents live there.”
Berhints is the last city before reaching the border city. If you go southwest from Berhints for five days, you’ll finally reach the border between the Azot Kingdom and the Empire.
The fact that it takes 15 days at a slow pace from the capital to reach the border doesn’t mean the Empire is that small, but rather that the distance to the Azot Kingdom is close.
Well, for now, we’re taking it for granted that nothing has happened yet……But if nothing happens like this, it’ll be a bit boring.
As I stretched, Aila, who was looking out the window, suddenly muttered softly.
“The calm before the storm. The boredom before the tension……”
Suddenly, what she muttered at the Monok mayor’s mansion came to mind.
She gazed out the window for a moment, then noticed my gaze and smiled faintly. Her ash-gray hair rippled slightly.
Aila looked at me with her golden eyes and said.
“Maybe there will be a mishap or two soon. Don’t you think?”
“I wonder.”
I don’t know why she suddenly said that, but a sudden chill ran down my spine.
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