Chapter 8
Though I had successfully rescued Young Master Delphion,
that didn’t mean his education was over.
No, if anything, it would be more accurate to say it was only beginning now.
Keeping back the magical beasts surging up from below the wall was no easy task, but things were different atop the wall.
There was a reason they had chosen to bring down the Great Wall of the North first.
Of course, that was still proceeding steadily even now.
‘Well.’
Setting aside what couldn’t be dealt with right away, let’s solve what can be resolved right now.
I let out a deep breath and wiped away the beads of sweat running down my forehead.
It wasn’t because I had been running around and swinging my sword, but because I had used aura recklessly earlier.
Of course, that didn’t mean I was completely exhausted.
It was merely like I’d gotten a bit of exercise.
Accordingly, I had enough stamina to give the spoiled brat a proper lesson.
“……Huff, huff.”
Letting out short breaths, I began walking, passing the soldiers slumped on top of the wall.
No matter how much easier defending a wall was than stopping enemies on open ground,
that absolutely didn’t mean it came without any fatigue.
After passing the exhausted soldiers and descending from the wall, I saw Young Master Delphion sitting on the ground with his greatsword stabbed into it.
“You.”
“…….”
“Name?”
“Ascal, Ascal Delphion.”
Ascal Delphion.
I only learned his name now, but I knew him very well.
Ascal was someone who had volunteered for service in the North before me.
In House Delphion, which wielded greatswords larger than their wielders, he had been pushed out of the succession race because of his small stature and slender build.
After not even being treated as a person, he had ultimately volunteered for service in the fiercest region, the North, to prove himself—a true maverick.
At the same time,
he had been moved by Asilie and the North’s resolve and defended the North to the very end, but when it eventually fell, he met his death alongside it—a tragic figure.
Therefore, I…
“Ascal Delphion.”
decided to put him to good use.
Perhaps it was because of the aura I had shown earlier.
If not that, perhaps it was because death had been right before his eyes.
Or perhaps it was because he had experienced a war against magical beasts for the first time.
Calmly gazing into his shock-shaken eyes, I continued.
“Get up. I’ll show you the path you’re going to walk.”
Of course, I had not the slightest intention of becoming a kind and friendly teacher.
I might have been well versed in swordsmanship, but I knew nothing about greatswords.
Thus, there was only one thing I could do.
“…….”
Looking into eyes that seemed to ask what I could do, I curled up the corner of my mouth and said,
“I’ll make sure you can pull your weight without dying.”
At the very least, I could help him survive and fully demonstrate the skills he possessed.
@
The North was never a place where one could let down one’s guard.
Magical beasts attacked while people were eating, bathing, sleeping, and even taking a dump.
That was why the North was a place where one absolutely could not let down one’s guard, since one could be deployed to the battlefield at any moment.
Of course, thanks to that, gaining practical combat experience was quite easy.
With long battles continuing even twice a day, one could build battlefield experience faster here than anywhere else.
Well.
‘Though that all assumes you survive every battle.’
Surviving without dying meant you were strong.
Put another way, it also meant this was an environment where the weak had no choice but to die.
Thus, whether they liked it or not, the only thing those who came to the battlefield could do was train endlessly.
But the wastrels dragged here didn’t know that.
They didn’t understand the environment they were in, merely wasting each day as they did nothing but pour out complaints and grievances.
“Let’s go.”
Early morning.
Before dawn had even fully broken, I said as I firmly tightened my shoelaces.
Beside me stood Ascal, who hadn’t even fully opened his eyes yet and was looking at me with a dissatisfied expression.
“Is this really going to help?”
“……Hah.”
At the sight of Ascal, whose mind had yet to be properly educated, I let out a small sigh and shook my head.
“A knight’s foundation is stamina. That goes doubly for knights who wield greatswords like yours. Do I really have to explain something this simple to you?”
“I’m saying my stamina isn’t the kind that can be improved through this sort of basic training.”
At Ascal, whose lips were sticking out in a pout, I frowned and slowly stared at him.
As expected.
I must have been too complacent, thinking that being a little cowed yesterday had changed him.
Maybe I was the fool for thinking someone who had always been horrendously bad at listening would change in an instant.
“This won’t do.”
“…….”
“I’ll show you.”
The only reason I was being patient was that I knew what kind of person Ascal Delphion was; if he had been some other wastrel with no potential for growth, I would not have been this patient.
“Follow me.”
I led Ascal toward the parade ground.
Ascal, who followed behind me while carrying his heavy greatsword with ease, frowned when he entered the parade ground.
Some people were already running there.
Asilie was among them.
“Take hold of your sword.”
Ignoring them, I stood in the middle of the parade ground with Ascal and faced him.
“You there.”
“……What is it?”
“Could I borrow that greatsword you’re carrying?”
I spoke to a nearby knight, ignoring Ascal as he stared at me with a cockeyed attitude.
The knight was holding a rather worn standard-issue greatsword, and apparently guessed what I intended to do after seeing Ascal and me.
“This is standard-issue. Are you sure it’s all right?”
“That will be enough. It might even be too much for educating a clueless fledgling.”
Ever since he had seen my aura yesterday,
the knights’ gazes when they looked at me had become somewhat more respectful.
Perhaps because this was a place where skill alone proved everything, they had also grown more cautious in how they treated me.
As I accepted the standard-issue greatsword from the knight and swung it this way and that to get a feel for it,
Ascal’s face twisted into an even more menacing scowl.
He might have heard what I said to the knight, or perhaps he found what I intended to do offensive.
After swinging the sword several times and getting a rough feel for it, I let out a short breath and pointed the greatsword at Ascal.
“I won’t use aura. That makes it fair, right?”
“……You won’t regret this.”
I could hear his teeth grinding from here.
But there was no reason to concern myself with such a trivial thing.
Once we crossed swords and he took a few good hits, he wouldn’t be able to show his teeth at me anymore anyway.
“There’s something my teacher once said.”
Looking at Ascal as he began taking up Delphion’s swordsmanship stance, I continued in a low voice.
“Regret is for losers.”
Crack!!
As soon as I finished speaking, Ascal kicked off the ground and charged at me.
I watched him calmly and slowly swung the greatsword.
Clang!!
Lightly blocking Ascal’s strike, I put force into the crossed greatswords and easily pushed him back.
Forced back purely by my strength, Ascal clenched his lower lip and swung his sword.
Without moving from my spot, I blocked all those strikes and slowly opened my mouth.
“Why stamina is important to a knight.”
“Kugh!!”
“Swinging a sword itself consumes an incredible amount of stamina. When you run low, the tip of your sword wavers and your stance collapses. It’s the most basic thing there is.”
Whoosh……!
Though he had only swung his sword a few times, Ascal was already breathing heavily as he swung, and I continued while meeting his eyes.
“Being able to swing a sword dozens or hundreds of times is possible only when your stamina supports it.”
“……Who doesn’t know that?!”
Boom!!
Ascal’s sword struck mine with tremendous force, but I held my ground without wavering an inch.
I answered without the slightest tremor as Ascal shouted as though desperately resisting.
“Stamina is even more important here in the North, where thousands—or tens of thousands—of magical beasts may descend upon us.”
“…….”
Perhaps he didn’t feel it was worth answering.
Or perhaps he couldn’t find anything to say.
Or perhaps he lacked the energy to answer.
Ascal simply kept his mouth shut and focused on swinging his sword.
Since I hadn’t expected an answer in the first place, I swung my sword and pushed him back.
“I—and even the knights who have been here longer than you—never skip morning training. What on earth makes a fledgling like you think this won’t help you?”
When I first sought to learn swordsmanship,
the thing I did for the longest and most often was run in the mornings.
The old man had said that running was more important than swinging a sword or even learning swordsmanship perfectly.
It was like making someone jump rope endlessly before teaching them boxing.
As Ascal’s eyes began to shake violently again, his logic thoroughly dismantled, I slowly blinked and continued.
“Well, I already expected you wouldn’t understand if I explained it with words.”
He probably understood what I was saying after hearing me, but his pride would not let him accept my words completely.
Even so.
“Don’t worry.”
“Kugh!!”
Abandoning his purely defensive stance, I slowly took a step forward.
“You’ll understand naturally once you’ve taken enough hits.”
How do I know?
Because I learned that way too.