Chapter 46
Leon seized the advantage from the very start of the duel with his characteristic cunning.
With a lazy sneer, he pursued Kalben. His sword traced a serpentlike, supple arc.
-KRAAANG!
The two swords collided violently. Gold and violet mana mingled, and colorful sparks flashed.
Kalben tried to widen the distance by any means, but Leon gave him no opening and kept pressing relentlessly.
How to deal with a mage.
First rule.
Never give them distance.
Second rule.
Always follow the first rule.
That held true not only when facing mages, but when facing magic swordsmen too.
At this distance, if he used magic, Kalben wouldn't escape unscathed either, so he couldn't easily cast it.
A magic swordsman who can't use magic is just an ordinary swordsman.
If it came down to sword against sword, Leon was ahead thanks to all the physical enhancement piled onto him.
"Do you really think such a cheap trick will work on me!"
But Kalben hadn't become knight order captain by drawing lots.
He still had a card to play in one-on-one combat, especially at point-blank range where their breath could almost touch.
-PAPAPAT!
In the air at Leon's upper, lower, left, and right blind spots, purple light condensed and more than a dozen small magic circles appeared.
The true power of a magic swordsman lies precisely in this merciless unpredictability.
The overwhelming difference in options—when the opponent focuses every ounce of attention on a single sword trajectory, you can create attacks from anywhere.
Having more cards is the same as being able to dominate the battlefield.
"Die!"
Kalben's furious shout was the signal. The magic circles arrayed in all directions all at once spat out spear-like projectiles of light.
A merciless rain of flashes, charging at the blind spots beyond his field of vision.
For an ordinary person, dodging these irregular strikes from the blind spots while blocking the greatsword head-on was almost impossible.
But Leon was no ordinary person. His goal was to conquer Edelhide with a single sword.
The very instant before a beam of light was about to pierce Leon.
-Whoosh!
Leon’s body blurred. He dodged the magic fired from every direction with fluid, dance-like movements.
Even the ones he couldn't avoid, he swatted away with his sword at exactly the right moment.
-KAKAKAKAKANG!
A barrage of magic that far surpassed human perception was blocked with nothing but a single sword.
Fragments of light, having lost their course, slammed into the floor and outer walls, triggering a chain of explosions.
A hellscape of stone dust erupting in all directions and pale blue embers scattering.
Without a trace of hesitation, Leon cut through the center of that chaos.
He extended the hand holding the sword.
With his left hand, he gripped the blade.
So the sword wouldn't be knocked away.
And aimed it at Kalben.
As if drawing a bowstring.
Or just before driving down a pickaxe.
A cluster of light slowly began to condense over the pinned blade.
"Kgh...!"
Sensing that unusual force, Kalben hurriedly erected a triple barrier.
"You think I don't know the weight of this trial?"
The smile was gone, and Leon's face had turned grave.
To survive.
For freedom.
For three years, he had run himself to the bone. He had never stopped once, and never once let his guard down.
"I know the weight of this trial better than anyone."
The full mass of those hellish years settled over the blade.
The air around the sword rippled and bent, and the earth warped as if being pressed down.
And then.
-Tap.
He flicked free the left hand that had been gripping the blade.
A draw-cut, with his hand taking the place of the scabbard.
The instant the shackles binding the sword were released, the condensed sword aura burst forth all at once.
The slash swallowed the distance.
The gap between the two points vanished entirely. It was not that the sword aura advanced, but that space itself seemed to fold in.
-Sshwaaak!
The sound burst out too late.
And the next instant.
It had already been cut.
A thin line appeared across the triple-layered barrier. An incision so thin, so immaculate.
-Crack.
Space's axis warped, and time arrived a beat late. Like cutting glass, the barrier quietly collapsed.
A slanted line of blood was drawn across the armor Kalben wore behind the shield.
-Cough.
Kalben spat out a mouthful of blood. His two knees crashed to the floor before a mere slave.
The greatsword rolled limply across the floor, and the mana surrounding Kalben scattered with a pop.
……
……
Leon’s strike had erased even the sound. A suffocating silence enveloped the training hall.
Edelhide's sharpest blade, Knight Captain Kalben, had been defeated by a mere former slave.
The mouths of the spectators who witnessed that unbelievable sight fell open in an utterly undignified way.
Ha.
Only Rinoa was smiling. She couldn't suppress the dry chuckle spilling from her lips, and the curve of her mouth was unmistakable.
A shiver ran through her.
From the moment she first saw him in the arena to now, he had never disappointed her once.
Watching him up close made her heart pound over and over again.
'Leon. You really...'
When Leon waved to his master, Rinoa reflexively started to wave back, then flinched and pulled her hand away.
There was still something left to do.
She quickly composed herself and headed toward the duke. The click of her heels sounded strangely light.
"My lord."
Duke Pascal turned his head at the voice. Displeasure clouded his face.
"My own slave won the duel."
……
"As promised, please knight him."
Duke Pascal's brow furrowed.
But as the head of the family, he could not go back on a promise he had made.
The duke slowly rose to his feet. His gaze, looking down from the dais, fixed on Leon.
"As the head of Edelhide, I hereby declare that from this moment on, the slave Leon is granted his freedom."
The declaration continued over the balcony, which had sunk into silence.
"At the same time, I hereby knight that man as Rinoa's personal knight."
There were no objections.
Leon’s skill was the real thing, after all.
Meanwhile, below the terrace where Rinoa stood looking down.
Leon knelt on one knee there.
He drove the sword in his hand straight into the sand and bowed his head.
"I obey."
***
"This will be the room you will stay in while you are at the main house. If you need anything, please ring the bell at any time."
"You may go."
At Rinoa's curt reply, the servant disappeared without a sound.
Only Rinoa and Leon remained in the room.
Bibi, one of the few maids who had come from the villa and was originally from the main house, had gone to greet the main-house maids.
Rinoa walked out onto the terrace. With a hand on the railing, she quietly gazed at the view.
Leon came up beside her.
"How is the view from here?"
"Not bad."
Olderin Villa was located in the forest, so wherever you looked there were tree trunks like prison bars, but this place was different.
An open sky and a garden with no end in sight.
A sky densely studded with stars.
Streetlamps lighting the road and neatly trimmed shrubs lined up at regular intervals.
For Rinoa, who had spent her whole life in the villa's cramped room, it was a novel sight.
"Still, it's only so much."
The room Rinoa had been allowed to stay in was a side room at the very edge of the main estate's east wing.
It was blatantly far from the central area where the direct heirs lived.
A location that said everything about Rinoa's position in the ducal house.
There were good points too. If she had to live facing those people every day, she'd suffocate.
Rinoa turned her head. Leaning her back against the railing, she looked at Leon.
"You worked hard today. I never thought you'd actually beat the knight captain."
I told you to win before the match started, but honestly, I didn't think you would.
I would have been satisfied if you had only passed the test.
And yet, look what happened.
"You took Kalben down with a single sword. It was a result far beyond my expectations."
"Do you know how ridiculous the vassals' faces looked when you won? That was the first time I've ever felt that exhilarated."
"If it's for the young lady, I should do at least that much. Besides, thanks to it, I became a proper knight rather than a slave."
At that, Rinoa tilted her head.
"What do you mean? Why aren't you a slave?"
"Because the head of the house said he would grant me manumission."
"And?"
"W-what do you mean, ‘and’?"
An ominous feeling swept over Leon.
"I'm your master. Do you think you'll really be free just because that person said he'd free you?"
"No, but still, it is the head of the house's word..."
"Who is your master?"
"...You, young lady."
Rinoa smiled faintly.
"Exactly. You're my slave, now and always. Whether you get released or not is for me to decide."
And Rinoa had no intention of letting Leon go. Why would she release a slave who could beat the knight captain for the sake of anyone else?
She would keep him by her side until she grew old and died, until Leon could no longer move.
Leon let out a sigh. Since this fell well within the range of expectations, he took it in stride.
"What are you going to do now?"
"Let's see."
After checking around to make sure there was no one else nearby, Leon said in a low voice.
"I'm only telling you this, young lady, but that duke doesn't give me a good feeling."
"I'm not saying that because I know the future."
The moment he faced Duke Pascal, an unpleasant aura had poured out of him.
Leon’s instincts were screaming.
"I thought so."
"You felt it too, young lady?"
"Yes."
Rinoa didn't sense anything the way Leon did. It was simply a revulsion carved into her instincts.
She didn't know the exact reason. Maybe it was hatred for the father who had abandoned her.
"For something like that, he was absurdly welcoming."
The duke, as Rinoa had heard, was similar in temperament to her.
A person who liked silence and pursued an efficient life.
But the duke Rinoa actually met was nothing like the rumors. His over-the-top fussing made him seem like nothing less than a doting father.
That left Rinoa unusually flustered as well.
"There are more than a few unsettling things here..."
Leon stroked his chin, pondering with a serious expression.
"What are you thinking about so seriously?"
After hesitating for a long time over whether to say it, Leon asked with a small glimmer of hope.
"...What if. Really, what if."
"Yes."
"What would you do if the family were researching black magic?"
"What?"
"What if the duke were secretly researching black magic, and the family was on the verge of ruin? What if everyone involved were facing execution?"
"What are you even saying..."
"If you were in such a situation, would you leave the family, young lady?"
Rinoa's brow furrowed.
She was just wondering what on earth he was suddenly going on about when a memory of Leon once asking about black magic flashed through her mind.
Why was he so obsessed with black magic?
Had he developed a delusion?
If not, did he know something?
For something he was treating as just a hypothetical, the subject was far too heavy, and Leon's expression was deadly serious.
That made Rinoa think, maybe...
The suspicion that Duke Pascal might secretly be doing something disgusting took shape.
"No."
But even if that were true.
"I won't leave."
Rinoa would not leave this place.
She looked out into the distance.
Edelhide's vast territory spread out before her. Fertile land and countless buildings too many to take in at a glance testified to the family's power.
The years spent trapped in the villa on the frontier. After enduring that wretched time, she had finally gained this view.
"I'm only at the starting point now."
If she trampled every rival and climbed to the top, everything in sight would be laid entirely beneath her feet.
She could take revenge on the people who had kept her at the fringes and used her as a target for their frustration.
Running away would mean kicking that chance away with her own feet. It wasn't even worth answering.
"But to throw all that away and live as some ordinary commoner? What value would such a life have? Would there even be any meaning in living it?"
Rinoa was certain of it.
"That would be worse than death."
So she would keep going.
Even if the end was ruin.
"Leon, you should stake everything too. Who knows? If I become head of the house, I might acknowledge your achievements and set you free."
***
Meanwhile, in the duke's laboratory.
A forbidden space no one could enter without the duke's permission.
"Where on earth did that thing suddenly come from? As far as I know, there wasn't anything like that."
A disheveled white-haired woman muttered while tearing at her hair.