Chapter 107
Sword Perito.
It meant a knight was ready to handle aura, reaching 4th-rank.
After reaching this level, depending on their skill, the color of their aura would change.
Blue for 4th-rank.
Red for 5th-rank.
Close to purple starting from 6th-rank.
And past that point, the color wasn’t so limited.
The color of the aura surrounding Hansen’s wooden sword was a deep blue, meaning…
Hansen
4th-rank knight – Apprentice Sword Perito
Potential: Very high
It was proof that Hansen had become a 4th-rank knight.
“……H-Hansen can control aura?”
And this was enough to surprise the 40ish trainee knights watching the spar.
“N-no way……”
“How did a weakling like Hansen…… Even I can’t control aura yet.”
The average trainee knight was 3rd-rank, meaning that even a lot of proper knights who had taken the knight oath were still not yet 4th-rank.
As such, Hansen’s performance was…
“It’s a miracle. It’s impossible……”
“……”
Yeah.
It was close to a miracle, like they were saying.
But I knew that this ‘miracle’ didn’t find him one day by coincidence. It was the result of Hansen building up the courage to take it for himself.
“Don’t you ever lose, Hansen.”
And that Hansen would write another miracle for himself.
Clang……!
Just as the words left my mouth, Maltive’s and Hansen’s wooden swords clashed in the air.
Although they were just wooden swords, the clash still created such a sound because of the auras wielded by the two.
Just like Hansen’s blue aura, Maltive’s wooden sword also extruded a dense aura.
Maltive was also surprised by this situation.
“Cough cough! This… This commoner bastard! What trickery is this?”
“……Euk. Trickery?”
“You, wielding aura? Impossible. Is this a spell cast by Ruin?”
“N-no, it’s not!”
“You’re a real sword perito? A weakling punk like you is on the same level as me?”
“……Euk!”
Even though Hansen’s potential was higher, and he was showing a great increase in skill, Maltive was already a 4th-rank knight, and he was at a point where he could wield his aura quite proficiently.
On top of that, his muscle mass was much greater than Hansen’s.
“You commoner bastard…… You should know your place. Who do you think you’re daring to swing your sword at?!”
Clang!
The balance crumbled between the two swords locked in battle.
Maltive was able to recover his sword faster and knocked away Hansen’s strength as Hansen charged at him, bringing Hansen off balance.
Maltive didn’t let that opportunity go and spun around, striking with his wooden sword.
Crack!
“And stay down!”
“……Euk!”
Even if they were just wooden swords, aura was currently being used.
That meant that each blow could be fatal.
As the aura skimmed over Hansen’s shoulder, a real injury was formed.
However, the inspiring part was that, even though Hansen had suffered a real sword wound, the light in his eyes only got brighter.
“What? What is that look in your eyes?”
“……”
Years of violence and fear perpetuated by the continued bullying.
The pressure of being in a situation where he was facing his bully.
And the small amount of doubt that would shake his heart.
“Fuu……”
Hansen let this all go with a deep breath.
As he let go of his last doubt, the look in his eyes instantly changed, a ferocity appearing within.
This ferocity would create another miracle.
“Ruin is different from you.”
“……What?”
“Ruin is a noble, just like you, but he’s a completely different person. A person as egotistical as you is a noble? The son of the greatest knight of the kingdom? Don’t make me laugh. You were just lucky to be born into a good family. You’re only a defective child who only cares about himself!”
He started to face him head on.
“Wh-what? Did this bastard really go insane after getting hurt……?”
“I wanted to say it the first time we came to the academy. Ruin doesn’t have any roots after being friendly with commoners? No. From what I see, the person who keeps acting up while relying on their father’s powers is the one without roots.”
To me, Hansen said,
“Ruin, sorry for only stepping up now. I…… I was so scared. But I’m not scared anymore. You were right. I am ashamed that I was afraid of someone like him. Thank you, Ruin.”
Hansen had defeated his own constricting feelings.
I gave Hansen a thumbs up.
‘Nice! That’s right!’
But maybe he took too much time…
“Where are you looking?”
“L-look out!”
Maltive didn’t seem to have any intent to wait for Hansen to finish.
His eyes were filled with wrath.
He pulled forth all aura he could muster and charged at Hansen.
“Die, you bitch!”
“……!”
The wooden sword was aimed at Hansen’s neck.
He really was thinking of killing him.
……This was dangerous.
The scene of Maltive’s wooden sword being aimed at Hansen’s neck looked like it had been slowed in time.
Nnnnnnnoooooooo!
I hurriedly reached out with my hand to stop Maltive, and Sir Coulter simultaneously lept out to block Maltive’s sword.
However…
“This is the end.”
He was too slow.
Schwing! Crrrrrack!
Sir Coulter and I couldn’t even respond as a great sword wind erupted from between them.
The wind instantly whipped up all the sand and dust in the surrounding area, forming a cloud.
“H-Hansen!”
Schwaaaaa!
I could only see one silhouette standing in the dust cloud.
I ran through the dust, but what I saw was so shocking that I was forced to freeze.
“Hansen……”
Translator – Jreaming
Proofreader – Artethrax
“……”
I was surprised.
The Hansen I was worrying about was standing fine.
Yeah.
The thing I feared didn’t come to be.
“……Cough cough!”
Rather, the one who ran at Hansen with intent to kill, Maltive, was sprawled across the ground, a grave injury on his stomach.
I asked,
“…Hansen. Did you do this?”
Hansen just nodded.
The one who created the sword wind that shook the entire Arena Hall wasn’t Maltive, but Hansen.
……He was strong.
In that instant, his sword was so fast that even I missed it.
Compared to the Hansen who killed the leader of the thugs before, he had grown severalfold.
The speed of his growth was immeasurably fast.
“End the spar!”
Sir Coulter Pirante hurriedly stopped the spar, and the medical magicians on standby moved into the sparring grounds.
With that, the quiet sparring grounds became noisy.
“Wh-what was that?”
“Hansen…… beat Maltive? Commoner Hansen?”
“That guy…… Is he really the Hansen we know……?”
“……”
But Hansen kept looking back and forth between Maltive groaning on the floor and his wooden sword, in disbelief.
I walked up to Hansen.
“Are you ok?”
Then, Hansen replied,
“Ruin.”
“Yeah?”
“Look at this.”
Hansen pointed to the wooden sword in his hand.
“……”
Even if it was for just a moment, I could see a reddish aura flicker into existance before disappearing.
Jakil Galehill, the first-born son of the House of Magic, House Galehill.
Maltive Kegen, the one and only son of Bengrass Kegen, the captain of the knight order protecting the king.
The news of these two’s shocking loss didn’t simply stay within the academy walls, spreading out into the ears of the nobles in the capital. It was enough to make them panic.
This was all simply because of politics.
“……N-no. Then what will happen to us? Were we just wasting all our time?”
“That’s obvious! We’re doomed! Do you know how much I sent to Sir Bengrass for him to be favorable to my son? The trainee knight who stabbed Maltive in the stomach was a commoner. He lost to a commoner!”
“It’s the same with the Galehills! That eldest son of theirs, Jakil, lost to Ruin Ardell…… This is the end of the Galehill era!”
The reason that House Galehill was famed as the House of Magic and that Bengrass Kegen was hailed as the strongest knight of the kingdom was because the medium-sized nobles under them all lifted them up, hoping for a bit of power to trickle down.
However, the situation right now wasn’t good.
Although the Galehills were said to be the best, when the children of nobles went out into the world in 10 years’ time, or even in 5 years’ time, there would be no guarantee that the Galehills would still be on top.
The honor of magicians had already started to go over to Ardell, and as for swordsmanship, Maltive Kegen, who was called their last hope after Coulter Pirante, had gone and lost to a commoner, so his authority so low it scraped across the ground.
In the midst of this, the news that the commoner was part of Ruin Ardell’s group was spread.
So the answer had already been decided.
“……We need to jump ship right now. To Ardell.”
They would all give up on Galehill and Kegen.
Turning to Ardell’s side as fast as possible would be the only way to guarantee their future.
However, there was a fatal flaw to this plan.
“Ardell? Wait. The family head of Ardell, Dellin Ardell, doesn’t take money. Then how do we jump ship?”
The family head of Ardell was a fully upright man.
“Who could hate money? It’s just that the countryside province of Ardell can’t get any. Let’s just keep giving him so much money that he can’t return it all.”
“There are people… that hate money. And from what I heard, the financial situation of Ardell got pretty good recently…”
“Uhhuh! Why do you talk so much? Just shut up. Use thieves to put money into his vault, or just send carts of food every few years and force them into Ardell. Do whatever you can to make a strong impression! The twin princes also are taking Ruin’s side now…… The Galehills no longer have a future, alright!”
“……Are you talking about me right now?”
“Eh? What in the world do you mean by ‘talking about you’? We’re talking about the important matter of the fall of the Galehills— H-hiek! S-S-S-Senator Josh!”
“……”
With the sudden appearance of the Galehill family head, Josh Galehill, the other gathered nobles all froze in their seats.
“The fall of Galehill…… That’s quite interesting. Keep going. I’ll listen.”
“Ah, ha, ha…… Th-that’s…… I-I didn’t realize you were listening, Senator, so I accidentally—”
“Didn’t know I was listening? Then, if I wasn’t here, you would’ve talked about Galehill’s destruction till the break of dawn?”
“……”
“Everyone, listen carefully. After the Radian Kingdom was born in this land, was there ever a time the Galehills weren’t its owners?”
“N-never.”
“The glory of the Galehills had continued for centuries!”
“That’s right. And history doesn’t lie. This is the same now. The things you are worrying about won’t ever come to fruition, so don’t talk about useless things and go to sleep. Understood?”
“Y-yes!”
As the nobles tried to lower their heads and turn their backs, Josh Galehill opened his mouth.
“If I hear you talking about things like this again, then it won’t simply end like how it did today. Understood?”
“……”
Although this was an obvious threat, none of the nobles gathered here could retort him.
The things the Galehills wanted, they would always get, and the ones that got in their way were always removed.
Everyone knew this well.
If they told you to crawl, you crawled. If they told you to jump, you asked how high.
“I-I’ll keep it in mind.”
“……”
Josh clenched his fists from the wave of humiliation he felt.
Ruin Ardell.
He wanted to make him a sacrifice to increase Jakil’s and Michael’s reputation, but he ended up just digging himself a hole.
He needed to make a move, now, even if that meant digging even deeper.
Ruin must die.
——
