How to Live as a Wandering Knight

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭 (𝟑)

It was rare to catch a troll with fire around here. Despite their reputation for being dull, this troll was a quick and cunning monster. It would either deftly avoid or try to extinguish any fire.

To land a proper hit with fire despite such evasion required special vision or skills.

“. . .No. Um. So, that’s. . .”

“What is it? Please tell us how you caught it. Don’t worry, Sir Knight. We are not fools who would insult Sir Knight for not fighting one-on-one fairly.”

At Achladda’s words, the other warriors also nodded in agreement, laughing. However, they had no idea what Johan was about to say.

‘𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐’𝘮 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵.’

Johan explained the events as convincingly as possible. The warriors, initially listening with great interest, gradually made more bizarre expressions.

“You tore off the troll’s arm and beheaded it?”

“Is that really a human?”

“This knight might have been born with the soul of an ogre. We should mention this to our tribe’s shaman.”

“Sir Knight looks normal, but the things he does are unimaginably crazy. . .? Even the craziest of our tribe’s hunters wouldn’t catch a troll like that.”

“. . .If you want to speak without being heard, why not just talk in Eastern language?”

Johan spoke with a bitter expression. Despite his efforts, these barbarians. . .

“Oops. Sir Knight. My apologies.”

“We’re not saying Sir Knight is an ogre.”

“Actually, being an ogre would be a compliment.”

“■ ■■ ■.”

“Euclyia, that might be misunderstood by Empire people, don’t you think?”

“. . .Anyway, Sir Knight! We plan to use poison.”

Achladda, trying to recover from the awkward situation, spoke up. Even for these brave Eastern warriors, Johan’s method was not an option.

“I wasn’t planning to use my method anyway. I just answered because you asked.”

“Wait. You said you caught a werewolf before. How did you do it then?”

“One was with an arrow and the others. . .”

“The others?”

“. . .I fought them with blades.”

The warriors looked at Johan with a ‘𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥’ expression. They murmured in Eastern language, a language Johan barely knew, but he could make out something like ‘𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦’.

“But don’t monsters usually resist arrows?”

There were even humans who could dodge or deflect arrows, let alone monsters.

“The archery of the Centaurs is quite special.”

Other warriors answered instead. Achladda, proudly, showed Johan their bow and arrows. The arrows were shorter than usual, equipped with an additional small arrow.

“Sir Knight. Do you know how to use this?”

“. . .Perhaps you insert the arrow in the addition and then only shoot the arrow?”

“What?”

Achladda was surprised. This archery technique, called Solenarion, was a traditional skill passed down among Centaur tribes.

A technique dating back to the ancient Empire era, so revered that the Centaurs’ enemies feared it as ‘𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦’.

But Johan knew what it was.

‘𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘣𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘪𝘵?’

A technique of archery that increases range and speed by reducing the size of the arrow. Seeing the small arrow placed on the addition, Johan was sure of it.

Achladda was amazed when Johan immediately guessed correctly. He had never seen anyone from the Empire recognize it before. . .

“Do you also know how to use it?”

“No, not that.”

“Seeing that you recognize it, you must have a talent. Why don’t you try learning it?”

“■■ ■■■■.”

“. . .you’re not good at shooting bows, remember?”

“■■ ■ ■■■!”

“No, is it my fault that you chose a spear over a bow? Keep this up, and I’ll relay exactly what you’re saying. Anyway, Sir Knight. We’ve been hunting werewolves with this.”

Seeing how confident Achladda and the other warriors were, it seemed they weren’t new to hunting.

Indeed, a smaller arrow that flies swiftly like a shot arrow would be hard to react to compared to other arrows.

“I understand the method of hunting, but shouldn’t we first find out where they are?”

“Sir Knight, do you know what ‘𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳’ means in the ancient imperial language?”

“Born hunter?”

“. . .why do you already know what I’m about to say, Sir Knight?”

Achladda said with a slightly deflated expression.

“There are hunters in our tribe, Sir Knight. Since you asked to find the werewolf pack, they should be tracking them by now. Let’s go to a nearby village and rest until we get news, then we’ll depart.”

“I-I see.”

The trial of a knight wandering the borderlands alone, seeking glory as the Duke had described, never existed. The Duke himself probably didn’t believe in it.

The warriors of the nomadic tribes and the knights of the Empire used whatever means necessary, each in their own way.

Only the gathered crowds were unaware of this and cheered.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Achladda’s predictions turned out to be accurate. The warriors who joined hands with the Empire’s knights mostly had ulterior motives.

━𝐍𝐨! 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫.

━𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞!

━𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐭. 𝐀 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐮𝐤𝐞.

━. . .𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰? 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐞. . .

The tribal warriors received a hefty sum, but they never intended to conduct a fair deal from the start. To them, Empire knights were easy targets to exploit.

A warrior who receives a knighthood from the Duke would be a member of a fairly significant tribe.

As soon as they got away, they summoned their tribal warriors and turned the tables, threatening the others.

━𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐞? 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐤𝐢𝐧. 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?

━. . . . . .