Chapter 45
Before the duel began, Renoa arrived at the third-floor balcony after wrapping up her so-called strategy session.
Her clan members and retainers were leaning on the railing, watching the training arena.
When they noticed Renoa, they only gave her a brief glance and looked back down. No one greeted her.
Since that treatment was exactly what she had expected, Renoa didn't mind. She took a spot in a quiet corner of the railing where no one else was standing.
Then someone approached her side.
“Hi? This is our first time meeting, right?”
A gentle voice drifted into her ear.
Blond hair and blue eyes, a dead ringer for the duchess.
It was Idela, Edelheid's eldest daughter and Renoa's half-sister.
Idela gave Renoa a soft, smiling look as if she were greeting a cute younger sister.
“I'm Idela. The one and only older sister you have. I've heard plenty about you from Mother. So you're as reckless as they said?”
“…….”
“Looks like it. You saw your sister and didn't even say hello.”
Although Idela treated Renoa like the sort of sister you'd see in any household, Renoa's view of her was different.
If she really saw her as a younger sister, she wouldn't have gone seventeen years without once visiting the mansion.
Indifference.
That was what Renoa thought Idela felt toward her.
And this kindness Idela was showing now was surely just self-satisfaction—of a superior generously treating someone beneath her.
To the legitimate daughter, Idela, and the illegitimate daughter, Renoa.
Seeing no reason to play along with that hypocritical act, Renoa turned her head beyond the railing and spoke flatly.
“Pleased to meet you.”
A greeting as cold as ice.
Yet Idela didn't seem the least bit embarrassed; instead, she burst into light laughter.
“My, your voice is lovely too.”
Idela unfolded her ornate feather fan and lightly covered her mouth, her gaze likewise turning toward the training arena.
She stared steadily at Leon as he warmed up.
“That slave knight, right? Mother praised him so much that I wondered what sort of person he was, but he really is impressive. If you kept him by your side, he'd be worth more than most jewelry.”
“…….”
“But what a pity. Of all people, it had to be Sir Kalben. He's got terrible luck. As your sister, I almost think I should cover your eyes first before that poor thing turns into a lump of meat.”
Brazen mockery disguised as affectionate concern.
But Renoa didn't turn to Idela. Her hand tightened quietly on the railing as she watched only Leon's profile.
Not only her, but everyone was watching Leon and trading remarks.
Yet as if their attention meant nothing, Leon kept his eyes fixed only on the man in front of him.
Knight Commander Kalben.
The continent's greatest magic swordsman.
As if to prove that epithet was no empty boast, merely standing off against him was enough to unleash a terrifying pressure.
The grains of sand around Kalben were trembling.
“I've heard much of your prowess. I'm honored that the Knight Commander himself will grace my knighting ceremony.”
“Was it because you ended up with the wrong master, or because your nature from rolling around in the gutter means you don't even know the weight of this occasion?”
Every word Kalben spat dripped with disgust.
Having to cross swords with nothing more than a slave was deeply displeasing to Kalben. He was only carrying out this farce because the head of the house had ordered it.
But Kalben's feelings were none of Leon's concern. If anything, Leon's mouth twisted slightly in provocation.
“Down in the gutter, I had to struggle every single day just to survive. That weight is nothing compared to a knighting ceremony.”
At that insolent answer, Kalben's facial muscles twisted viciously.
“You worm. The only thing alive and wriggling is that three-inch tongue of yours.”
-Srrk.
A black blade emerged from Kalben's scabbard. Purple mana roiled fiercely along the blade.
Leon drew his own sword as well.
He watched Kalben closely.
‘No openings.’
From the way he carried himself, it looked like he would say, ‘You’re nothing; one hand is enough,’ but there wasn't a single careless gap in him.
As expected of the Knight Commander, he didn't let his guard down even against a slave.
‘What should I do….’
He remembered what Zain had once said. Kalben was a strong opponent, several moves ahead of him.
It was uncertain whether throwing everything he had at a man like that would even work.
‘Well, what choice do I have?’
If you can't see an opening, you make one.
Leon drew a line around himself with his heel.
A 1-meter radius circle.
Along the rounded line traced by the tip of his foot, a brilliant golden band rose.
Skill [Guardian's Vow].
The swordsmanship Leon had honed over these past three years to protect his master—the culmination of that art, and a sanctuary he had carved and forged himself.
The vicious resolve to devour every enemy who trespassed into the circle to target his master had manifested as a skill.
Leon planted himself at the center of the circle and let the tip of his sword hang at an angle.
“From now on, I won't step outside this circle. So you'll have to give up the first move.”
“What did you say?”
Leon tilted his head.
It meant he could come at him whenever he wanted.
In that instant, an eerie silence settled, as if even the dust drifting through the training arena had held its breath.
A declaration that he would give a handicap to Kalben, hailed as Edelheid's strongest.
An outrageous claim, the height of arrogance, something no one would expect to come from the mouth of a mere slave.
Kalben's eyes sank into the abyss.
“To dare judge my sword with your filthy tongue….”
It took only a moment for that terrible humiliation to turn into killing intent.
The current enveloping Kalben's entire body split apart like sharp shards of glass and spread in all directions.
Then purple mana poured down like a waterfall, greedily swallowing his greatsword.
-Kraack!
The hard sandy ground caved in. The hand gripping the greatsword rose above his head.
And then.
-Slash!
With a horrifying cutting sound that seemed to tear the air apart, Kalben's greatsword drew a merciless diagonal line.
A massive crescent-shaped slash shot toward Leon, violently ripping up the sandy ground as it flew.
The earth split open left and right along its path.
A full-force strike meant to wipe out both Leon's flimsy golden line and the body standing behind it without leaving a trace.
-Boom!
The moment that devastating purple slash collided with the golden line of protection.
The shockwave that burst forth with an ear-splitting roar swept across the training arena.
Broken stone fragments and dust surged up like a tidal wave.
“Sir Kalben, you used too much force. There won't be a trace left.”
“We wanted to watch because the duchess praised him, but at this rate there's nothing to see.”
The retainers on the balcony snickered as if this were nothing unusual.
Renoa bit her lip hard. The hand gripping the railing tightened.
The dust filling her field of view slowly began to clear.
At the center of the blast.
First to appear was the golden border, shining perfectly intact without a single scratch.
And inside it, there was no one.
There wasn't a single drop of blood, let alone a shred of torn cloth.
“…What?”
“Did he get swept up by the slash? But the circle's still there….”
A troubled murmur spread through the balcony.
Kalben also narrowed his eyes and searched for Leon's trace. He widened his detection range, but nothing could be picked up anywhere.
He couldn't have fallen into the ground, and even if he looked up, all he saw was the blue sky.
At that moment.
“……!”
A creepy chill raced down Kalben's spine. His transcendent senses rang an alarm to watch what was behind him.
Kalben twisted around before he could even check behind him, but—
-Puk!
A sword burst out from behind Kalben's shoulder. His shoulder blade, along with the flesh around it, was torn away.
Before he even had time to be flustered by the surprise attack, Kalben leapt forward and widened the distance.
A figure chased tightly after him like a shadow.
“Where are you rushing off to?”
It was Leon.
With light footwork, he erased the space between them as he swung his sword.
Kalben's face, hurriedly blocking the attack, was clearly flustered.
“Since when?”
“I'm pretty good at little tricks.”
Mana sensitivity, trained intensively alongside his swordsmanship.
It was useful for widening his senses to detect an opponent's presence, but it could also suppress his own presence.
He had slipped behind Kalben the moment Kalben's gaze was drawn to the circle.
“You said you wouldn't leave the circle!”
A heated shout burst from between Kalben's viciously twisted lips.
In Kalben's eyes, Leon's circle was not some decoration drawn just for show.
It was clearly a mystery that, instead of keeping him from leaving the circle, boosted his physical abilities inside it.
In fact, his analysis was correct.
As a knight who couldn't stray far from his master, he gained tremendous power within the area at the cost of binding his own feet.
Kalben, who had mastered the logic of magic, had clearly seen through the weight of that shackle.
So he never once doubted that Leon would leap out of the barrier of his own accord.
To face him with that miserable body, Leon would have to go all out.
It may have been called a handicap, but for Leon, stepping outside the circle would actually be disadvantageous.
It was a trap meant to lure Kalben into his territory under the pretense of a handicap.
“For a slave who crawled around in the gutter, you sure believe words at face value. Knight Commander, you've got quite a naive side.”
That was Leon's scheme. Leon's little trick had stayed one step ahead of Kalben.
‘No opening?’
Then the answer was simple.
‘All I have to do is deceive him with full force until he thinks I’ve left an opening.’
Kalben ground his teeth until they threatened to shatter.
“You don't even have the slightest pride as a knight!”
“The master's safety matters more than a knight's pride. If I get my neck cut off while trying to look good, will that pride protect my master in my place?”
The whole world could curse him for all he cared. In the end, the one who survived until the very end was the one who could claim glory.
Nothing in the world could take priority over survival. Even after walking the path of a knight, Leon's way of thinking had never changed.
For his own sake, and for freedom's sake, he would throw away his pride without hesitation.
“What could be more important than life? If pride matters that much to you, then die in my place.”