Episode 12.
I made simple preparations and left the room.
“for now… .”
I needed to go to develop my swordsmanship, so I moved to the gymnasium. And I found Moredt at the gymnasium when I arrived.
It was nice to see Moredt wielding a sword at the gym early in the morning on the weekend.
“Moredt, why are you training in the morning?”
“Originally, I do morning training on weekends, right?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Come to think of it, I was busy with mercenary activities or resting on the weekends.
That’s why I’ve never been to the gymnasium on the weekend. It was natural that he didn’t know that Moredt was practicing in the morning.
“by the way… .”
Moredt’s family, the Faust family, was not a military family. It was a family centered on politics rather than nothing.
But the sword Moredt is wielding right now… .
“Good.”
It wasn’t that the sword was a master sword, but the swordsmanship was good. It was obvious that it was a fairly good swordsmanship.
“Duke Faust’s swordsmanship is superior to that of other families.”
“It seems that way.”
A good idea came to my mind.
“Hey, Moredt.”
“why?”
“Would you like to fight with me?”
After thinking for a while, Moredt nodded and accepted the sparring. I chose one of the wooden swords placed in one corner of the gymnasium and stood in front of Moredt.
“Without mana.”
I don’t know about Moredt’s level, but all I wanted was to see Moredt’s swordsmanship. Then it was clear that it would be better to fight without mana.
“good!”
“Then, let’s go.”
He swung his sword at Moredt. Moredt deflected my attack by obliquely blocking his sword.
Then Moredt’s attack continued. I jumped backwards and quickly gained distance.
“hmm… .”
Even with a single bump, it was found that Moredt’s swordsmanship was focused on technique. I rushed at Moredt and swung my sword with the intention of checking again.
Moredt lightly let go of my sword again. Then, I opened the distance again to Moredt’s subsequent attack.
“Is it the right way?”
“You are great too.”
Certainly, Moredt was great. Apart from good swordsmanship, it was because he had to know how to handle it. For now, I decided to deal with Moredt according to the rules.
“Swordsmanship that focuses on technique is weak against speed.”
Power beats speed, and speed beats skill. And technology was a tail-to-tail relationship over power.
I focused on swinging my sword as quickly as possible. Moredt’s spirit seemed to be gone at the speed of my sword.
And at that moment, Moredt’s gap was revealed. I thrust my sword towards it.
“Find the gap!”
But my sword was helplessly blocked.
“Everybody knows that technology is weak against speed. That’s why there are swordsmanship!”
It must have been an intentional gap. Pushing the sword pointed at my neck with my hand, I admitted defeat.
“Moredt, you are strong.”
“Suhar, you say it quite a bit too.”
Moredt’s sparring was defeated, but he was able to understand more about swordsmanship than he thought.
“Let’s do it one more time.”
Even if I lost a little more, I wanted to refine my swordsmanship.
Thanks to Moredt’s willing consent, I was able to fully refine my swordsmanship.
***
[Explore the suspicious cave.]
It was a request from a village near the capital.
“Doesn’t it look particularly suspicious?”
It was quiet inside the cave. As I entered the cave, a faint light shone in my eyes. It was a luminous plant.
“Oh yea!”
My prediction was correct. Now, if only goblins appeared, the situation would be icing on the cake.
I dug up twenty glow-in-the-dark plants and put them in my pocket.
“By the way, goblins… .”
The quiet inside of the cave didn’t seem like a separate creature living there. The moment I turned to go back, I felt a presence inside. Clearly there is something.
Taking a combat stance, he spoke in the direction of the crowd.
“Who is there?”
At my question, a man appeared shyly scratching his head. The man hadn’t washed for several days, so he was speechless.
The man was wary of me.
“What did you come here for?”
“The guild received a request because there was a cave that looked suspicious.”
As if reassured by my words, the man let go of his guard.
“sorry. During the trip, I was resting because there was a good cave.”
The man was talking leisurely, but the more he looked at it, the more strange it seemed. It was a person I had seen somewhere. The man passed me and tried to leave the cave.
“Wait!”
“yes?”
“May I know your name… ?”
Asking for the man’s name was an excuse. I needed to remember more. I felt like I couldn’t miss that guy.
“This is Hans. But why is the name… .”
Hans. It’s a common name. It’s a name that would come out if asked to give a pseudonym in a hurry.
I stared at the man in silence, and the man said with a frown, as if he was in a bad mood.
“What the hell is it?”
Slowly, the man put his hand on his waist. It looked like he was trying to grab a sword.
I couldn’t remember anything about the man, but I recklessly drew my sword and rushed at him.
I decided to trust my intuition.
“sh*t!”
The man spat out curse words and hurriedly drew his sword and blocked mine. Since the man had already moved his hand to the sword, he was able to easily block my sword.
“Did you know me too?”
I do not know. But I decided to give it a try.
“of course!”
“Tch, but are you alone?”
“Uh, I’m single.”
The man let out a fishy laugh.
“Funny! To come alone to get this body.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“To call Jack, the serial killer of the topic, apart, as expected, you are an interesting guy!”
As expected, I knew how to introduce myself. The more suspicious a guy was, the more his name came out first. And hearing Jack’s name brought back memories of him.
Jack is a former knight who tortured innocent citizens for his hobby. Jack’s hobby was caught by a fellow knight, so he murdered his fellow knight and ran away.
And Jack, who ran away, was a guy who went about hiding and committing murder in secret.
“This body is a sword expert beginner level master! A mediocre mercenary is no match for me.”
Seeing Jack’s fishy grin, I tried to laugh without even realizing it.
I was an Intermediate Sword Expert.
There were two reasons why Jack could be confident in front of me.
First, I am fifteen. For my age, I still look young.
Second, I revealed that I am a mercenary. There was a perception that ordinary mercenaries were gathered with idiots who could not become knights.
“You were frightened.”
Jack must have been mistaken because he had stopped to think for a moment.
“no.”
“It’s cute that you’re lying.”
From nob le mt l. co m
Not really. Even if you’re not scared, Jack is a beginner sword expert. Carelessness was forbidden.
‘Because I could die if I get stabbed wrong.’
I looked at Jack’s posture. It was as if he was taking the posture of a tall knight.
One hand is holding a sword behind his back and looking at me. It was a posture full of bravado.
“This body will teach you a lesson.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Jack stabbed me near my heart with a sword.
I turned and dodged lightly, then struck Jack’s sword down with all my might. Then Jack’s sword broke in two.
Jack was puzzled, and so was I.
“What!”
“what?”
I just tried to hit the sword to get Jack to release it. However, I did not expect that it would break in two at once.
Jack looked at the sword in two pieces for a moment, then put it in the scabbard. And Jack started looking at me.
“Huh, that’s quite right.”
Having said that, Jack acted strangely. He moved only his feet and kept his distance from me.
As Jack turned and tried to run away, he kicked a stone near his foot at Jack.
“Where are you going to run away!”
The stone hit Jack right in the back of the head. Hit by a stone, Jack fell forward.
“Jack, I will take you to the guild!”
It was a line I wanted to try at least once. Jack continued lying there, unresponsive.
“no way… ?”
As soon as I thought I might have been hit wrong and went to the goal, I went straight to Jack. I called Jack’s name and shook him, but there was no response.
I turned the jack over. And at that moment, Jack aimed his dagger at my throat.
“Search!”
I distanced myself from Jack. I barely avoided Jack’s dagger, but the skin around my neck was cut and blood came out.
“If the number of the spleen does not work, I will surrender.”
Jack dropped his dagger and raised his arms. Anger welled up in the depths. If I couldn’t dodge that dagger, I would die.
My heart was still beating.
“hmm… Are you done talking?”
He clenched his fist and approached Jack. Jack was perplexed.
“My, even if I am a sinner, I want to be treated as a human being!”
Jack hurriedly tried to pick up the discarded dagger, but I tripped and fell backwards.
“shut up!”
From nob le mt l. co m
Naturally I landed on top of Jack.
Grabbing the mount, I hit Jack just enough to keep him from dying. Then he took Jack to the guild.
However, Jack’s face was swollen beyond recognition, so it took a considerable amount of time to identify him.
And when Jack’s identity was confirmed, one approached me.
“Here is the bounty.”
The amount was larger than expected. I collected the bounty and went to get the mission confirmation. And I realized
“That’s right, goblins!”
I forgot that I had to kill five goblins.
Still, since I had finished exploring the cave and gathering luminous plants, I went to the receptionist and said.
“Congratulations, you’ve been promoted to silverweight.”
“yes… ?”
“You’ve completed three things: exploring the cave, gathering luminous grass, and capturing the Bronze-level wanted bounty.”
“Wanted Bronze level bounty?”
Jack must have been a wanted Bronze level bounty.
“The Jack you just captured was a gold-level wanted bounty. You caught a gold-level wanted bounty, but it’s even bigger than a bronze-level one.”
“Finally, that’s just fine.”
I was lucky. There was no need to go hunting for goblins again.
I went straight back to the dormitory. And he recalled the battle with Jack.
“I was careless.”
Even though I promised not to be careless, I was caught off guard. I tried to think that I was just unlucky to meet a messy person.
but… .
“I almost died.”
There is a possibility of meeting a messy person like Jack again. This has been a great lesson for me.
“I will never let my guard down in any situation from now on.”
***
Weekdays came again, and the day of being beaten by the swordsman under the pretext of training continued.
And I found one person while touring the academy during the time when there was no training.
“Professor Azar!”
It was Professor Azar, a professor of physical training to wield a sword.
“Uh, that’s Suhar.”
“It’s your sabbatical, but you didn’t go back to your hometown, did you?”
“yes.”
“Aren’t you going to join the mercenaries?”
Professor Azar, a former mercenary, often told students about his experiences as a mercenary. All the students listened attentively because the experience was realistic and fun.
“The mercenaries… .”