Chapter 25
The apprentice knights' boycott, refusing to train in the same space as a slave, continued.
Leon and Helena continued training under Zain's guidance, just the two of them.
Like last time, Leon defended within the circle, while Helena took the role of breaking through.
Coincidentally, the two were the perfect sparring partners for each other.
Helena, who had only ever done orthodox sparring, was vulnerable to sudden variables.
In that sense, sparring with Leon, who would do anything to survive, was a good chance to respond to irregularities and build experience.
Conversely, Leon.
Leon had only ever sparred with gladiators. Since each of them had some flaw or another, it was enough to pick at the obvious weaknesses.
But when fighting a well-balanced knight, he had to use his techniques more precisely, engage in mind games, and force open gaps that weren't there.
His swordsmanship, which had felt raw, was gradually refined with greater delicacy.
-Clang!
Once again, the swords intertwined.
Helena handled Leon's unpredictable irregularities, while Leon handled Helena's airtight fundamentals.
Filling in each other's shortcomings, their swords grew at a terrifying pace.
“Phew, want to take a short break?”
“Sure?”
Leon readily accepted Helena's suggestion.
Today, Zain had left to handle other work, so this was self-directed training. The two of them could decide their own rest timing.
Instead of the blazing training yard, the two moved beneath the shade of a nearby tree.
The mansion was deep in the forest.
The cool breeze and the scent of the forest washed away the fatigue of training. It was truly a resting place made by nature.
“Helena, take this.”
“What is it?”
“A snack the maids made. They told me to eat it after training, so I had them make some for you too.”
“Really? Thanks. I'll enjoy them. Tell the maids thank you for me too.”
They started enjoying the delicious snacks to fill their hungry stomachs.
“You don't look tired at all, even after training.”
“Compared to before, this is like playing.”
“What kind of life have you lived...?”
It wasn't something to be proud of, but Helena had her own confidence that she'd lived a hard life—yet in front of Leon, she couldn't even begin to compare.
Nobles and slaves.
Trying to compare them at all was delusional.
While they were resting, eating snacks and chatting, Leon spotted one of the candidates passing by in the distance.
Seeing him, Leon suddenly became curious about something.
“Training, I mean. Can you just skip it if you don't want to do it? Is there any disadvantage?”
“No one dragged them here; they came of their own free will. Whether they do it or not is up to them.”
“But if they don't train, aren't they the ones who lose out?”
“That's why I say they're idiots. If they can't become knights, it'll only hurt themselves in the end, yet they're being stubborn over something stupid.”
Helena sighed as if they were pathetic. Leon could understand their attitude.
“They're still young. Must be going through puberty.”
“Who's calling who young? You're the youngest one here.”
“There are things like that.”
“But you just casually started speaking informally, huh? I'm two years older than you.”
“Yeah.”
***
A knight doesn't become one by just waiting around. You have to hone yourself through training that grinds away at your flesh and bones.
If you nurse petty grievances and stubbornly refuse to train, only you end up losing.
Even Leon, who still lacked common sense about this world, knew that much, so there was no way the noble-born apprentice knights didn't know it.
“How long are we supposed to keep this up? The young lady isn't even reacting, and even now that slave bastard is training.”
Among the candidates holed up in the dormitory, voices of concern slowly began to emerge.
“At this rate, won't the slave become a knight faster than us?”
“Exactly. When I saw him spar with Gerard, his skill was no joke.”
“Honestly, I think I'd lose if I fought him... ”
“If Gerard hadn't used mana then...”
-BANG!
The sudden boom made the candidates jump in surprise.
Gerard slammed his fist down on the table. He glared at the candidates with ferocious eyes.
“Hadn't used it?”
“Huh?”
“So what if I hadn't used mana? Go on, keep talking.”
“If Gerard hadn't used mana, he might have lost...”
-BANG!
Gerard slammed the table again and sprang to his feet. The table cracked and broke apart.
“Which bastard said that? I was just startled for a second—making that slave a half-cripple with swordsmanship alone is easy! Why should I follow some outdated rule about not using mana during sparring? It's a power I've honed myself, isn't it? A convenient means of making a lowly servant realize the difference in our status!”
“R-right. Gerard's right. There's no way some slave could beat Gerard. He could win even with his feet. Of course. That's right.”
With Gerard ranting and spewing his words in a frenzy, the apprentice knights gauged his mood and gave him half-hearted agreement.
“But it's true that this situation is going in a weird direction. Otherwise, would even Sir Zain have stepped in to train them?”
“Right. I have to become a knight. If I don't, I'll be cast out of my family.”
“Me too.”
“Me too...”
They weren't playing at being knights as a hobby. They were staking their lives on it.
They hated training alongside a slave, but becoming a knight was even worse to them.
Most of the candidates were already burning with the desire to train.
“If you want to do it, go ahead.”
Gerard glared at them with a chilling expression.
Gerard Rubelius.
The third son of Count Rubelius's house.
If Edelheid was famous as a mage family, Rubelius was famous as a knightly house. Gerard's skill was also quite excellent.
The reason Gerard, of all people, became an apprentice knight of Edelheid rather than of his own family was simply that he was badly lacking in character.
Simply put, he was a spoiled young master who'd been kicked out of his family for constantly causing trouble.
While the other candidates dreamed of returning home in glory, Gerard was after revenge against the family that had cast him aside.
Gerard's goal was to use Edelheid as his backing, defeat his brothers, and seize the position of head of the house.
Anyway.
In terms of family prestige or personal skill, Gerard was superior to any other apprentice knight.
His personality was foul to boot, so nobody dared openly oppose him for fear of retaliation.
“If you're that confident, why don't you just settle it?”
It was Helena who boldly spoke up then. She had just finished training and walked over, shaking out her wet hair.
“What?”
“If you're so confident, then fight him and see. Stop gathering together and whining like that.”
“You've been hanging around that slave so much you've lost your mind?”
As if it wasn't even worth answering, Helena shrugged and left.
“Th-tha-t!”
One of the candidates made a move as if to go after her, then cautiously checked Gerard's reaction.
His face was twisted into a savage glare. His eyes looked as if they could kill a person.
“Hey.”
“H-huh?”
“All of you, come with me. We'll settle this in one match.”
***
“How is he when you teach him yourself?”
“His learning speed is unnaturally fast. He has more talent than anyone I've seen so far.”
Over the past few days, Zain, who had been in charge of Leon's instruction, was reporting to Renoa.
When he saw Leon's match with Garner, Zain had been certain Leon was hiding his true skill.
That was because the person there was completely different from the Leon he had seen at first.
“To be honest, he's so capable that he's actually fun to teach.”
But that wasn't the case.
He wasn't hiding his ability; he was a case of talent blooming late.
You couldn't teach him one thing and expect him to grasp ten, but if you taught him something once, he'd master that much for sure.
So it was possible to push his progress beyond what teaching ten things would normally achieve.
“That much?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Renoa let out a light snort at Zain's praise. Though her expression didn't change, she seemed quite pleased.
-Knock, knock.
There was a knock at the door.
“Young lady, the apprentice knights have come to see you.”
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“...Let them in.”
The door opened and the apprentice knights swarmed in together. Every one of them wore a disgruntled expression.
Just looking at them was exhausting.
“What business could a group of candidates who don't even train have?”
“We had something to ask of you, young lady, so we came despite the discourtesy.”
“Speak.”
Gerard spoke as the representative of the candidates.
“Do you have no intention of revoking your appointment of that slave as an apprentice knight?”
“No.”
“May I ask why?”
“Because he's outstanding.”
As if there were no other reason, Renoa answered plainly.
“Then if we show you that we're better than that bastard, will you revoke it?”
“Haah...”
Renoa let out a tired sigh.
She had wondered why they had come in a group like this, but it was just as she expected—an absurdly trivial reason.
As much as she wanted to throw them all out of the villa, that wasn't within Renoa's authority.
Since they were all brought here by Florencia, compromise was the best option here, unfortunately.
“Fine. I'll allow it. However, if Leon wins, don't ever come to me again with such a pathetic reason. It's tiring.”
Gerard curled up one corner of his mouth.
“Understood. Thank you for your generosity.”
***
At the apprentice knights' request, a spar with Leon was arranged.
Leon's opponent was, of course, Gerard.
The weapon was the same training wooden sword as before, but this time he could use everything he had, not just swordsmanship. That meant mana.
Mana was more influenced by bloodline and wealth than by personal effort, so it was forbidden in sparring.
Relying on mana prevented one's skill from improving.
In that sense, this sparring match was deeply unfair. Gerard was a wealthy noble, while Leon was a slave.
It was only natural that Gerard, the other candidates, and even the knights all predicted Gerard's victory.
“Both of you, forward.”
Leon and Gerard stood facing each other at a short distance.
Gerard grinned with the corners of his mouth pulled high.
His outward goal was to win the spar and drive Leon out, but in his heart it was different.
‘I'll make him a cripple who can never hold a sword again.’
He'd make him regret having the audacity to become an apprentice knight without knowing his place. Only then would he feel satisfied.
Meanwhile, Leon.
‘What is this...?’
He couldn't understand the situation. It wasn't the spar with Gerard he meant.
His eyes were fixed on the notification window floating before him.
======
『The Master's Order』
For Renoa, isolated from her family, to survive, she needs a knight of her own, a sword of her own.
Win the spar with overwhelming skill that no one can object to, and keep your apprentice-knight position.
Reward: Random A-rank reward
======
A quest had appeared.
This wasn't the first quest Renoa had given him. There had just been one not long ago telling him to do nothing and simply stay put.
The problem was the content of the quest.
‘Renoa, isolated from her family?’
For her to need her own knight to survive—what in the world did that mean?
It almost sounded like someone was targeting her life.
Of course, there'd be plenty of people trying to eliminate her later on, but it wasn't time for that yet.
Leon looked over at Renoa, who had come to watch the spar. Sitting in her chair, she wore her usual expressionless face.
‘There must be something I don't know.’
It seemed necessary to find out in detail. To do that, he had to win this spar.
Besides, it matched Leon's direction anyway, and the reward was good, so there was no reason to refuse.
“Ready?”
“Of course.”
“Yeah, I guess...”
“Let me say this again: mana use is permitted. However, attacks that threaten a life are forbidden. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Yeah, I guess...”
“Then we'll begin.”
At the start of the spar, Gerard drew up his mana. Red mana, the same color as his eyes, surged violently.
He rushed forward without hesitation, as if intending to finish it quickly and decisively.
The floor thudded under each footstep. His mana-enhanced body swallowed the distance in a single breath.
A thrust that carried that speed in full.
If it hit cleanly, it could lead not merely to crippling but even death, and that was exactly what Gerard wanted.
He wasn't new to disguising an accident and crippling someone; he'd done it more than once or twice.
And his opponent was only a slave?
Who would say anything?
He was a noble, after all.
-Whoosh!
But instead of a grand clash, there was only the modest sound of air being split.
With only a slight twist of his body, Leon cleanly slipped out of the attack's path.
At the same time, he tapped Gerard's ankle from below.
“Huh?”
Unable to overcome his own momentum, Gerard's body shot forward and then crashed down with a loud thud.
The onlookers were flustered. Leon, the one who had created this situation, looked even more flustered.
“No, if you're going to come at me that straightforwardly...”
Is this really the strongest of the apprentice knights?