Episode 72
“Hwaap!”
With a burst of energy, a burning flame-like orange force, slightly different from the normal red force, poured from the tip of the sword to the front, creating two waves.
The range of the waves is only about 2m.
but.
Quagwagwang!
The power was so overwhelming that three training scarecrows made of iron wood were reduced to dust and scattered.
Mandible. Mandible.
However, Ronian McLane, the person who created the scene, was not satisfied.
Even though Ronian stumbled, he slowly controlled his breathing and raised his sword again.
His brother’s voice still rang vividly in his mind.
– This war will end easily. There is no need to go all the way to you. You still need to develop your skills. Times are suspicious, so don’t let down your guard and train hard.
Because of those words, I couldn’t even get my feet wet in the last war.
Even though Myeongsaek is a force user and has even mastered this amazing vision.
‘I can’t let you treat me like a child forever. I’m also Macline. It’s a sword that protects the family.’
The image of my older brother returning to the family the day before yesterday, covered in dirt and looking shabby, came to mind again.
He said he fell off his horse while dozing off, but everyone who heard that didn’t make sense.
Even though Ronian could not guess the specific reason, he also realized the fundamental reason.
‘My family is still weak…’
I could feel the faint taste of blood from my tightly bitten lip.
Although my brother said he was doing well, I could feel his impatience.
At that moment, the voice I had been repeating to myself came from right behind me.
“You’re working hard, Ronian. Take a break. I’ll introduce you to the person you’ll be training with starting today.”
“older brother?!”
When I turned around, I saw my older brother with a smiling face, and next to him stood a boy with an awkward face fumbling for knight armor with a flame pattern on it.
Red and blue odd eyes with blue hair.
It had a more unique appearance than McLane’s red eyes, so I couldn’t help but notice it.
“It hasn’t been long since I awakened, so I spent some time adjusting to the Force and adapting. Since I’m the same age as you, it will be a good stimulus for both of us.”
When my older brother pushed his back, the boy took a step forward with an awkward look on his face and lowered his head.
“New technician. This is Victor.”
The guy’s face is slightly red, as if the words he said were awkward.
He said they were the same age and had a similar build to him.
He is still a little shorter than his 16-year-old peers.
‘But you’re a force user?’
He knew very well how much outside the standard talent he had.
But since he’s the same age and a force user as me, and with that unusual appearance, he’s probably…
“Are you that guy that your brother brought you here after seeing his talent?”
“Yes, he was a slave. As promised, he was relieved of duty and even knighted, so treat him as a suitable person.”
“Of course. But if you say training with me….”
“Sparring. Is there anything else?”
Even the calm Ronian couldn’t help but be surprised by those words.
It was not for nothing that he trained alone.
There was a huge difference in the swordsmanship of the average knights of a similar level, and I was confident that even the middle-level knights strengthened by the Force could make up for the difference in output with the difference in swordsmanship and win.
Isn’t it because the knights’ swordsmanship is ruined that they train alone?
What if the guy in front of me was not just awakened because he had a talent for the Force, but also had a talent for swordsmanship that was just as good… As if
answering that question, the older brother smiled and suggested.
“Would you like to have a light competition first?”
There was no reason to refuse.
“One of the guys is tired and the other is still inexperienced, so I think this will be a perfect match. If a serious situation arises, I will stop you, so go as wild as you want. Now, let’s begin!”
The moment my brother finished speaking, the other person, who was only making an awkward expression, had a fighting spirit in his eyes.
The moment I saw the guy’s strange gray force, I naturally felt strength in my own hands as well.
thud.
The moment the opponent’s right foot strongly stepped on the ground right in front of him, a wooden sword shot out from behind his fully tilted body.
I felt that it was not at the level of weapon enhancement, which is a characteristic of a mid-level knight, but the gray-colored wooden sword was threatening enough with its momentum alone.
The slash, full of the will to crush the opponent, contained the secret spirit of swordsmanship that has now become the vision of the Macline knights.
‘Iron Blood Sword!’
They say it’s immature, but where does this mean it’s immaturity?
Sigh!
A gust of wind passed over my slightly bowed head.
and.
‘I’ll give it back to you like that.’
A similar type of slash was poured towards the opponent’s waist.
A counterattack that came after a slash with all its might missed.
I expected it to either collapse helplessly or, at best, to barely be able to block it and retreat.
‘uh?’
The opponent’s body, which jumped up, rotated in the air to avoid the attack, and then took advantage of the momentum to slash with the sword.
‘Public?!’
Jumping into the air during battle was a foolish act that exposed all the gaps in the body.
This is something that most knights would never do, but in this case, the timing was perfect.
‘urg!’
He dodged the blow with all his might and swung his sword again.
Paaang!
bang!
A single wooden sword leaped into the sky.
thud. thud.
“Okay.”
The two steps I was forced to take back due to the recoil of the collision and the tingling pain in my hand felt unfamiliar.
What’s more, the opponent who was thrown back even further used the recoil to grab his own wooden sword, which he had missed.
‘You even took that into consideration?’
I could see the guy’s slightly pale complexion, but I wasn’t very happy.
Even though it was only a few exchanges, I was able to know for sure.
“You… are a monster.”
“Hahaha. Hey man! Who’s looking at who?”
My older brother, who was watching, burst into laughter at the unexpected exclamation.
As I spoke, my face grew slightly embarrassed because it was something I often heard from knights, but I felt even more glad.
‘Let’s do it right.’
An opponent who is the same age and can fight at a similar level.
The passion for victory that I had never felt while learning swordsmanship made my heart tickle.
The same thing must have happened to the other person, as the grinning guy rushed towards him again.
I also liked that belligerent look.
At least for this moment, I felt like all the frustration and impatience was gone.
Ronian didn’t recognize it, but he was smiling as brightly as the other person.
bang!
Sgak!
thud. bang! puck!
“Hey Mr. Fist!”
“whatever!”
“…Let’s see, man!”
Ugh.
“As expected…”
Logan smiled happily as he watched the two guys sparring.
The meeting of the two geniuses seemed to have a synergistic effect from the first moment.
Viktor was changing the iron blood sword that he had been perfecting for the past few weeks into his own style.
Even within the fixed sword style, Ronian’s swordsmanship, which had been toying with the knights, was gradually breaking the mold and moving freely.
The violent and free sword and the restrained and sophisticated sword were absorbing each other’s strengths and changing little by little but by the minute.
Also, as their fighting spirit became stronger, his senses clearly noticed that their force gradually changed, albeit slightly.
‘Future Auror users may become the main force of the family faster than expected.’
Those two guys and Logan himself.
And at this very moment, there are knight trainees who are rolling around just as much as they are, and soldiers who will continue to be recruited based on more accurate discrimination standards in the future.
Assuming you don’t deviate from the history of your previous life, there are still eight years left until the Imperial War.
However, I had a good feeling that the swords of the future might be completed within 5 to 6 years.
There was only one worry for Logan right now.
‘Should I tell Victor the vision of the divine sword or not?’
Thinking about my father’s case, the vision of the new sword was something that existing knights could not master even if they tried.
However, Viktor has a talent that may equal or surpass Ronian, so it is quite possible for him to do so.
however.
‘Can I really trust this guy?…’
Logan thought and thought as he watched Viktor slowly losing ground.
And finally I made a decision.
* * *
“Is it him?”
“Yeah. That’s him…”
Victoria heard a voice whispering to her on the way to the government office in a town she was still unfamiliar with.
But now it was no big deal.
Unlike before, I knew that most of those voices were due to envy.
“My brother went from being a slave to becoming a knight…”
“But why do you keep working as a maid?”
“I don’t know. Do you want to return the favor?”
Of course, there seemed to be some misunderstanding mixed in with the envious gaze.
‘…no.’
She was overflowing with gratitude toward her grateful owner, Ani Logan, who changed her and her brother’s lives.
However, the reason Victoria decided to continue working as a maid even though her brother became a knight, gave her a house to live in, and began receiving salaries that she could not have imagined during her slave days was not simply out of gratitude.
‘I can’t be a burden to my brother anymore.’
Victoria still remembered it clearly.
When I was very young, I ran away like crazy into the mountains with my older brother carrying me.
My older brother used to hide from the scary men chasing him and get food through hunting and begging.
Even though she was young, her brother was only four years older than her.
Because of her, that older brother always shed blood and suffered scars.
How many times have I been anxious that my brother, who was suffering all night, might not wake up the next day?
Even when I couldn’t bear it and was captured by slave hunters, I felt fortunate that I would no longer have to see my injured brother.
Of course, it was my foolish mistake, but fortunately, my brother found hope after meeting Logan.
A bright future was guaranteed even if you no longer had to live tied to your weak and insignificant self.
Because that was the article Victoria knew.
‘I’m thirteen now too. I have to do what I can.’
Every time I thought about this, I felt like crying, but I held it back.
If the rumor spreads that you are crying, your idiot brother will throw everything away and come running.
You could have an accident like last time and go to jail.
My brother was no longer in a position to do that.
‘I too will become a helpful person to this castle. So, I have to show that I can survive even without my brother.’
Only then will my brother be able to do his work with peace of mind.
That’s why Victoria took a powerful step today.
however.
“I’m sorry. I can’t do it anymore. I guess the other kids feel uncomfortable because I’m the driver’s younger brother. I’m too young…”
The head maid’s words broke Victoria’s delicate heart.
‘I am… I guess I’m really a useless bitch.’
On the way home, the tears I had been holding back eventually overflowed.
Thinking that I shouldn’t let anyone see me crying, I wiped my tears with my sleeve and looked at the sky, but the tears didn’t seem to stop easily.
In addition, Victoria’s height was too short, which became a problem.
The height of the girl, who was still mistaken for being around ten years old, did not even reach the waist of the red-haired young man, who was one of the highest-ranking people in this castle.
That’s why the red-blue Odd-Eye, who was looking towards the sky with a lot of tears in her eyes, ended up encountering a pair of red eyes.
“Victoria? What’s going on?”
“Oh no, Mr. Logan. I just got dust in my eyes.”
Ssuk suk.
I quickly wiped my tears and lowered my head again.
But even if I thought about it myself, it was an excuse that wouldn’t work unless I was a fool.
“Who else bothered you?”
“no!”
“Or even if it’s uncomfortable…”
“Absolutely not! Absolutely not!”
“Hmm. Okay, I’ll tell Viktor. Just in case there’s a problem…”
“Oh no! No! Don’t tell your brother!”
That earnest voice stopped the Archduke from passing by.
‘It’s a problem I can’t solve. Well, there’s no need for that.’
After hearing Victoria’s situation, Logan smiled quietly.
The girl’s idea was brilliant, but it was also a pointless rebuke.
Human relationships, especially emotional relationships, are never established just by someone giving something unilaterally.
Victor, too, would have been able to maintain his will to continue his life despite his difficult life because of Victoria.
However, young Victoria may not be able to understand this story yet.
so.
“You are too young to judge what you can and cannot do. From now on, let’s take your time and find out. If you learn this and that, one day you will be able to find something that will be helpful to your brother and yourself.”
“Is that so…?”
“of course!”
For now, this encouragement was enough.
No, that’s what I was thinking.
“Then, can I learn how to move a clay doll with that yellow string? If I have a strong doll like that…” “
…What?”
At the location Victoria pointed to, Clayton’s best disciple, Grick, was busy working on the golem.
Even though it is said to have been completed, there are still many trial and errors and many areas for modification, so seeing things like that was common in McLane Town.
yellow string?
“You see a yellow string? Is it connected to the golem or that clay doll and that guy?”
“yes!”
…Is that what you saw?
