Chapter 49: Reunion
49
All schedules at the wall had come to an end, and the final day of Klein’s exile arrived.
Kaaang-!
Dozens of weapons were embedded in the training grounds.
Ignoring the shattered and broken arms without a care, Klein and Ian, standing in the drill hall, continued to exchange swords.
“Good, good! Come in a bit more, I said!”
Kagagak-!
At the same time Klein twisted the sword that stabbed in, Ian’s kick came flying.
If he had been an ordinary knight, he would have widened the distance here and prepared the next strike.
But he was different.
Kwak!
He raised the short spear hidden in his left hand upward, twisting Ian’s kick aside.
And without missing that opening, he dug inward and slashed straight across Ian’s front.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
It was a startling off-beat combination, but his opponent was none other than Ian Leinrant.
He snatched the short spear that was tangled around his foot and spun it in place, blocking Klein’s charge.
It was a bizarre sight, as if the spear were spinning on its own in midair.
“How is this swordsmanship at all?! You’re not some acrobat!”
“To hold prejudice against martial arts— you’re still far from understanding!”
With those words, the short spear floating in the air flew toward me.
A straight trajectory aimed at my head.
If I twisted my body to dodge, I wouldn’t be able to link into the next move.
“Seriously, how is that blind in any way?!”
Yet instead of avoiding it, Duke Klein reached his hand out toward empty space.
Kwa-jik-!
A rupturing sound as something solid was pierced.
The arm of a Skeleton floating in the air blocked the incoming short spear.
“Uh—!? Using necromancy in a spar, how shameless!”
“You told me not to have prejudice, didn’t you? Then you shouldn’t have prejudice against techniques either!”
“What kind of nonsense argument is that?!”
Kaaang-!
A duel between two swordsmen that had already continued for two full hours.
The gazes of the knights who were in the midst of training, and the Watchers who had finished their shifts and were resting, naturally gathered there.
“I’d only heard rumors about Sir Ian’s skill….”
“It’s beyond imagination.”
What Ian used against Klein wasn’t just the sword.
A greatsword, a short spear, a long spear.
A hammer, a flail, even the flag planted in the corner of the drill hall.
Right now, he was pressuring Klein while using everything he could get his hands on as a weapon.
“This…!”
But what captured the knights’ attention wasn’t Ian’s martial prowess.
Kaaang-!
Against the short spear Ian wielded, Klein used the same short spear.
Now, wielding exactly the same weapon Ian had just taken up, Klein was perfectly reproducing Ian’s swordsmanship.
“How old is the Duke, again?”
“Fifteen. I can’t believe it even after seeing it.”
Even mastering a single weapon required nearly a lifetime.
Yet Duke Klein, at the young age of fifteen, was reproducing all of Ian Leinrant’s swordsmanship.
“If he’d received the cycle at the proper time….”
“The successor might have changed.”
Amid the knights’ lamentations, how much longer did the spar continue?
“Hyaaah-!”
Mana began to load onto Ian’s sword, and a heavy strike incomparable to before surged toward Klein.
“You said you wouldn’t use mana?!”
“You used necromancy too! Be grateful I’m letting it slide at this level!”
As he spoke, Ian’s sword had already closed in to right before Klein.
Yet seeing that, Klein’s eyes shone instead.
Kaaang-!
A knight in black armor blocked Ian’s mana-laden sword.
And at the same time, a shadow that appeared behind Ian swung its sword at him.
“What, did you get one more of those birds?!”
For the first time, confusion appeared in Ian’s eyes.
Ian twisted his body, dodging the sword strikes pouring down from behind.
“The front is open, Uncle!”
But Klein didn’t miss that brief opening.
Pa-ak!
He immediately kicked Ian’s body upward, sending him floating into the air.
‘Ian detects his opponent through ground vibrations and sound. In other words, if he’s lifted into the air, half his means of detection disappear.’
On top of that, without a foothold, dodging would be impossible.
If the two Death Knights’ swords went in like this, it would be Klein’s victory.
“Hector, Raven!”
The two Death Knights took their stances toward Ian floating in the air.
As if reflected in a mirror, identical postures.
They resonated their mana arrays and wavelengths, drawing their power to the maximum.
But—
“You little punk. Of course I opened it on purpose!”
Bwoong-!
Along with Ian’s cheerful voice, sword strikes poured down toward Klein.
The combination strike of two Death Knights standing against Ian’s mighty mana.
Kiiiiiing-!
Two different techniques collided, letting out a metallic screech.
And the moment it reached its limit—
Ku-kwaaang-!
With a thunderous roar, a dazzling light engulfed the entire drill hall.
“Ugh?!”
“Are you insane? Are you trying to blow the whole drill hall apart?!”
The wind pressure spreading out from the center of the drill hall instantly swept away the snow piled around it.
“…Tch, failed again this time.”
As the dust cleared along with that sulky voice, the result of the spar became clear at a glance.
The upper body of one Death Knight had been completely blown away, and the other knight had lost both arms.
The caster, Klein, was also utterly exhausted.
Yet Ian, looking on with a satisfied expression, didn’t have so much as a single scratch.
“Haa….”
To be unable to leave even a scratch despite giving it everything.
With a hollow expression, Klein let out a sigh, sheathed the sword he’d been holding, and slumped down on the spot.
“I lost!”
With those words, the fifteenth spar— the final spar— came to an end.
The record was 15 to 0.
Ian’s complete victory.
“You’re cleaning the drill hall again this time.”
“I know. No, how did I not win even once?”
My breathing recovered far faster than last time, but I had no leisure to be happy about it.
If the swords touched even once, it was my victory; if I declared defeat, it was my loss.
Even with that handicap and using necromancy, I still couldn’t beat him to the very end.
‘And the mana synchronization I threw out at the end failed too. Is it really because of the output difference….’
I dismissed Hector’s tattered summon and sank into thought.
Unlike Raven, whose mana amount rivaled a captain-class knight, Hector was at the level of an ordinary knight.
Forcing two mana outputs of different levels into synchronization— overload was only natural.
And from the backlash, even Raven’s two arms had burst apart….
It was then.
“Hey, Klein.”
“What is it.”
“Do something about this!”
Pulled from my thoughts by Ian’s words, I looked at him.
The Death Knight, Raven, was flailing its legs about, trying to keep kicking Ian.
A suit of knight armor with no arms swinging its legs around— what a sight.
-This wasn’t even comedy….
“Why aren’t you going back? What are you doing? It’s over, I said?”
-No, it’s not yet.
As Raven said that and tried to approach Ian again, I activated the imprint and stopped his movement.
-Are you obstructing my battle?
“Battle my ass, both your arms are blown off right now, you know?”
-…?
Only then did Raven seem to grasp his condition, alternately looking at his empty shoulders.
…….
After a brief silence, what Raven finally said was….
-I didn’t have arms to begin with.
“Bullshit!”
Kang-!
I smashed Raven’s helmet with the sword I was holding and dismissed the summon.
Watching Raven, speaking utter nonsense in such a serious voice, made the back of my neck tense up on its own.
“How is there not a single normal one, not a single one….”
As I was grumbling like that, Ian pulled out one of the swords stuck in the drill hall and shouted to the knights.
“I’m taking this sword!”
“There are plenty of better swords in the armory, why would you take that one?”
One of the knights asked while looking at the sword full of nicks.
“I tried most of what was in the armory over the past half month, and this one felt the best.”
As he said that, I looked at the sword hanging at his waist.
The sword that hadn’t broken even once while sparring with me for fifteen days.
Ian seemed quite pleased with it, and approached me with a satisfied expression.
“I taught you, but I never expected you to reproduce everything.”
“It’s thanks to my talent. Well, it wasn’t that difficult.”
I’d put in effort, and I’d been desperate too, but those were secondary.
The biggest reason I was able to learn the dozens, even hundreds, of sword techniques Ian spewed out—
It was the ability I possessed.
“Anyway, arrogant to the very end.”
“It’s better than being lazy like you, Uncle.”
After exchanging insults like that once, Ian and I soon smiled at each other.
“Technically, there’s nothing more I can teach you. Learn the rest in real combat.”
“That’s how it should be.”
A remarkably irresponsible line for someone who’d claimed to be my teacher.
But I nodded, gladly accepting it.
To begin with, Ian only protected me while we were at the wall.
Now, it was time for each of us to go our separate ways.
“Where are you heading, Uncle?”
“Plysian.”
A trading nation located in the eastern part of the continent, and the homeland of all the continent’s mages.
It was also the only country, along with the Empire, that possessed magical research institutions and mage towers.
“That’s far.”
“I need to run as far as possible while the Empire’s lackeys aren’t looking. And….”
“And?”
At my question, Ian’s smile deepened.
“There’s a bit of a stench starting to rise from that side.”
A face like a mischievous brat filled with competitiveness.
‘Something’s going to blow up over in Plysian before long.’
As I was thinking that, Ian held out his fist toward me.
“…What is it? You want to fight again?”
“Don’t you know how to greet someone?! I’m saying let’s meet again next time! Are you really that clueless to the end?!”
“Puhahahat-!”
When I deliberately played dumb and joked around, Ian immediately barked at me.
“If the chance comes, let’s meet again.”
Saying that, I bumped my fist against his.
“Don’t die.”
“You neither, Uncle.”
At that, Ian chuckled and turned his back.
The direction he headed was east.
That brief period of rest was over, and he would return to being the wandering blind man once more.
“Well then, I should get going too.”
Saying that, I picked up the pack I’d left at one side of the drill hall.
The backpack was filled with dried rations and camping gear.
…And ‘that thing’ I’d brought from the Ice Castle as well.
It was far heavier than when I’d first come, but my body lifting it felt much lighter.
“You’re leaving without any send-off. Both of you.”
The voice that stopped me as I was about to sling the pack over my shoulder belonged to Korax.
“I caused all kinds of trouble coming in, so I should leave quietly.”
“It’s already too late.”
At Korax’s words, I looked around, and all of the Big Raven Knights were looking at me.
“What, do I need to stay longer?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then why are you all gathered?”
As I said that without understanding what was going on, Korax approached and held out his hand.
In it was a black cloak adorned with long fur.
It was what the Big Raven Knights who guarded the wall wore.
“It’s a gift. They say the road ahead is cold, so please wear it.”
As he said that, before I could say anything, Korax spread it out and draped it over my shoulders.
Black fur flowing down beneath thick feathers.
The cold I’d felt just moments ago was gone.
“Isn’t this something valuable? Is it really okay to just give it away?”
“We get supplies anyway.”
Saying that, Korax looked at me wearing the cloak and nodded with satisfaction.
“As expected, it suits you well.”
…Why do these guys’ looks seem weird?
As I thought that while looking around at them—
Chwaang-!
The knights who had been watching me all drew their swords at once and pressed them to their chests.
Dozens of swords thrust up toward the sky.
It looked like they were paying respect, or perhaps making some kind of vow.
“…What are you guys doing?”
“Hahaha.”
When I asked that with a bewildered expression, Korax laughed quietly.
That wooden block laughing.
It was the first time I’d seen such a sight since coming to the wall.
“It’s our own way of saying goodbye. Please don’t mind it.”
“That’s quite grand for a greeting…. Fine, I won’t say anything.”
If I said more, it would just drag on.
With the pack in one hand, I slung it over my shoulder and raised my hand toward them.
“I’m going! Don’t go dying somewhere!”
Words far too flippant to come from a ducal heir.
But rather than taking offense, they seemed to find it more comfortable, seeing me off with smiles as I turned away.
“If you ever need anything, please call for us anytime!”
“The Big Ravens will always stand with you, Young Duke—!”
A hollow laugh escaped me at the voices coming from the receding wall.
“…Didn’t they say the Big Ravens were only loyal to the Duke and his successor?”
I muttered that, recalling our first meeting, then soon shrugged.
‘Who knows, maybe the rookie knight just didn’t know what he was talking about.’
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