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Chapter 34.2: Before Our Spring (4)
“Yes, My lord.”
“If Count Lamaring talks nonsense, cut off their fingers, starting with the 2nd son.”
Vanderbilt silently walked and stood between the two sons wiggling on the floor.
The two moved their bodies desperately.
However, their movements.
“If they move any further from there, you can cut off their legs because it’s annoying.”
Cain’s words froze them.
“Understood.”
Vanderbilt’s icy silver blade moved over them.
Like a sickle wielded by a grim reaper, it seemed to be measuring where to cut, making it terrifying.
“Abel.”
Cain called out to Abel with a gesture.
Abel then stood next to Cain.
Cain grabbed his shoulder and pointed to Knight Victor, who was smiling like a knight wishing for his death on the opposite side.
“There’s a real knight here. He is old, but he has been through more battlefields than you and survived as a real knight.”
Click.
Abel instinctively grabbed the hilt of his sword at Cain’s words.
Abel, who is becoming a knight faster than anyone else.
Cain, who wants him to become that way, asked.
“What were the enemies you met when you captured Brediol?”
“They were weak.”
“Why?”
“Their swords were so light. Their training lacked enthusiasm, so there were too many gaps, and they tried to run away as soon as they got a chance, so they were weak.”
Abel spoke calmly.
But the content wasn’t.
The enemies he fought and killed.
None of them were enough to make Abel’s heart race.
“That knight, Victor, will be different.”
It wasn’t a level that someone else assessed, but a comment about a true knight whose own heart stood tall.
Abel nodded as if it didn’t matter.
“Understood.”
“When we were training, I tried not to kill you, so there’s no choice but to be a bit lacking.”
Victor had not realized at first why Cain called Abel. However, he raised the corners of his lips after hearing the following words.
“I will fight with the determination to kill whoever my opponent is. I want you to end this life.”
Enemies aiming for each other’s lives.
Abel turned his head and looked at Cain, asking.
“Will you kill him?”
“I’m not sure if I can save him even if I want to.”
Clank━.
Abel gripped his sword again.
It takes more overwhelming skill to save an opponent than to kill them.
Victor, as an enemy, was someone he had to surpass.
“I will do it.”
No more words were needed.
This surprise attack was a success as they had already captured the core of Count Lamaring’s castle.
‘Making Abel stronger is the top priority.’
Cain created the fight between the two for the new spring that would come after this spring had passed.
Victor, the abandoned knight.
Abel, the new knight.
A circular space forms around them.
Lamaring’s people and Ethelred’s knights stood still and watched the two fight.
Swoosh━.
Abel turned sideways, gently circling the tip of his sword like a fishing rod.
A subtle gap appears as he does so.
The right corner of Cain’s mouth rises.
‘He learned well.’
Victor, on the other hand, waited for his opponent to come in while holding his broadsword in place.
A duel between a thin sword that thrusts in and a sword that produces the best results in close combat.
Woo woo woo━.
A cold night wind blew from the distant Sherwood Forest. The wind also carried a few leaves with it.
And.
Flutter.
A single leaf falls between the two, who are on guard, obscuring their vision for a moment.
Ardvark.
Lu Rabada.
Abel’s saber stabs out, drawing a silver line in the air like an explosion erupting.
The magical lights blend together, making his sword seem to have five colors.
Swoosh━.
Victor took a half-step back, withdrawing his left foot.
The distance that increased as much.
It was a perfect space for a broadsword that was advantageous at close range to move like a fish in water.
Fergna.
While it’s not quite time for it to become the family’s seasonal festival, it’s enough for a bard to write a song about it! Victor’s swordsmanship!
Ting━.
Victor’s appearance didn’t match at all, but ‘Fergna’ was swordsmanship close to dancing.
Ting━.
He began to deflect Abel’s sword, which was thrusting out with his feet planted as if to tear apart the earth.
Slightly pushing the thin sword with the wide surface to change its direction.
Tick, Ting, Ting!
The sparks from the clash of the two swords and the subtle rhythm that intertwined with each other made it seem like they were watching a play in a theater.
Victor’s swordsmanship, which persistently pursued and bent Ardvark’s straight trajectory.
Vanderbilt, with his arms crossed, spoke softly to Cain, who was watching.
“It seems like Young Master Abel still has a long way to go.”
“He is still too inexperienced. Victor, on the other hand, has held a sword for dozens of years.”
Sweat drips down Abel’s face.
His thrusts, which had been made with all his might, continued to miss as if they were bouncing off a steel wall, and his stamina was rapidly decreasing.
He had to break Victor’s defense by pushing with overwhelming force. However, he was at a disadvantage because of the strength of his sword, which aimed at points.
Vanderbilt grabbed the hilt of the greatsword on his back and said.
“I will jump in right away if things go wrong.”
Cain turned his head and looked up at Vanderbilt.
“I never thought I’d hear those words from Vanderbilt. You weren’t the type to break chivalry like that.”
Vanderbilt smiled wryly.
It was a bitter smile that only an adult who knew that he had to give up but also knew that there were things he shouldn’t let go of could make.
“It’s because he’s the younger brother that Young Master cares about. It’s only right that I dirty my hands.”
He never expected to hear those words.
“……Thank you.”
Cain stared blankly at him for a while and then turned his head back to Abel and Victor’s fight.
“But I told you, Abel is a guy with the best talent on the continent.”
Abel, who was being pushed in a sword fight and was also at a disadvantage in a long battle due to his failure in stamina management, stepped back little by little.
A murderous aura was wrapped around Victor’s expression, which had been overwhelming him, at the moment when he tried to finish it off.
Abel’s battle instinct awakened.
Click━.
He threw the sword he was holding into the air, grabbed them again with his left hand, and grabbed his sword sheath with his empty right hand.
He’s losing with the sword.
He needs to break the defense.
The blade flashes in front of his neck.
Someone’s image flashed through Abel’s mind.
Lo Meyer.
The slash that crushed the dragon!
Vanderbilt’s eyes widened, the owner of that strike.