novelraw Vol 4. Chapter 731: Deck Mock Battle
Vol 4. Chapter 731: Deck Mock Battle
After releasing the pirates back onto the sea, the party aboard Skidbladnir continued on.
Once Abel had examined the information, he made his decision.
“This time, we will head for the Western Countries without going to the Nozu Kingdom.”
In time, the Knightley Kingdom might well establish state-to-state relations with the Nozu Kingdom as well.
But for now...
“I believe it would be best not to proceed into waters we have never sailed before with His Majesty aboard.”
Captain Paulina had said so plainly.
Hearing those words, Scotty Cobuck, company commander of the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders, nodded deeply and emphatically in agreement.
With the two of them opposing it that strongly, Abel did not force the issue.
Skidbladnir headed straight for the Western Countries, just as originally planned.
Everyone aboard Skidbladnir worked hard.
The crew devoted themselves to the ship’s work for the sake of safe navigation.
The Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders trained diligently for the task of protecting their lord from threats that might come at any time.
Their duties differed, but many of them wore bright, energetic expressions.
Among them, however, there was one knight with a troubled look on his face.
After considerable hesitation, that knight went down into the hold.
A while later, he returned to the deck with two objects in his hands, and this time, he walked straight toward his target without hesitation.
“Duke Rondo, I ask you to instruct me in one bout!”
“Huh?”
The knight Zack Cooler had challenged Ryo to a mock battle.
He held a wooden sword in his right hand and thrust it out toward Ryo.
Two people were startled by the sight.
Scotty Cobuck, a company commander of the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders like Zack.
And Abel, the king.
Because the two of them had some idea why Zack had challenged Ryo to a mock battle.
“Hey, Zack!”
“R-Ryo, I need to talk to you about work for a moment.”
Scotty called out to Zack, while Abel called out to Ryo.
To put it simply, they were trying to separate the two of them.
Incidentally, Ryo had absolutely no idea why Zack had challenged him to a mock battle.
“Don’t stop me, Scotty! I can’t move forward until I defeat that man.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! He’s a duke, even if only formally. And not just any duke, the Premier Duke. Besides, what are you doing challenging a magician to a mock battle with swords? Even if you win... it isn’t as if Sera will turn and look your way.”
“I know. I know, but...”
Scotty and Zack exchanged those words in low voices.
Zack had long carried an unrequited love for the elf Sera.
But he also knew that Sera was close to Ryo, the man before him.
He knew that fighting a mock battle with Ryo would change nothing.
He knew it in his head.
Even so, his heart ached.
“I want to throw everything I have at him once... If I don’t, I feel like I’ll never be able to move forward.”
“Zack...”
Scotty grimaced.
Scotty knew how Zack felt.
As for Ryo and Sera’s relationship... he did not know the details, but he did know that they were extremely close.
Zack must have endured it and kept those feelings suppressed until now.
But seeing yesterday’s “battle” had likely made that restraint begin to slip.
Even so, the two of them were company commanders of the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders.
Together, they led fifty knights.
To do this in front of those subordinates...
“Zack has been looking scary ever since the first time we met.”
“R-right...”
“I might have done something wrong, but I can’t remember what it was.”
“M-maybe something happened without you realizing it.”
Ryo shook his head, while Abel knew the entire situation and had decided not to tell him anything.
“So, Abel, what work did you need to talk about?”
“Huh? Ah, no, right...”
Abel had said that on impulse in order to separate the two of them.
Of course, there was no work.
But he had to keep the conversation going somehow...
“Ryo, you used to serve as an instructor for the Rune Knights, didn’t you?”
“Yes, yes. Everyone was so full of motivation that it was very rewarding for me as well.”
Remembering those days, Ryo nodded several times.
“What are you doing now?”
“In the mornings, I have mock battles with Sera. At the Elven Self-Government Office.”
“Ah...”
Abel nodded.
He felt as if he had received a report like that before...
As Ryo and Abel were talking, Zack came over.
Behind him came Scotty, his head lowered.
Seeing that, Abel understood.
Scotty had failed to persuade Zack.
“Duke Rondo, I ask you once more. Please instruct me in one bout.”
Zack held out the wooden sword.
Ryo glanced at Abel.
Then he checked in a low voice.
“Should I do it the way I did in Rune? Are there any taboos in the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders, or anything I’m not supposed to do?”
“Forbidden techniques? I don’t think there are any. Worst case, you can have him treated with
“I’ve never used a wooden sword before... but in my homeland, there’s something called a wooden katana. If it hits the wrong place, it can cause serious injury. A wooden sword should be the same.”
Ryo shook his head slightly.
To begin with, when he had served as an instructor in Rune, they had used swords with blunted edges.
Compared with that, perhaps it was true that serious injury was less likely.
“Well, doing it the way I did in Rune should be fine, right?”
“Yes. No problem.”
Ryo asked, and Abel nodded.
He nodded, but then he remembered.
“Instruction for the Rune Knights... wasn’t the basic approach to beat them down?”
Abel did know.
Ryo’s predecessor, Sera, had done it that way, so apparently Ryo had done the same.
“I said there was no problem... but perhaps there might have been a problem.”
That murmur from His Majesty the King reached no one’s ears.
And so, on Skidbladnir’s deck, Ryo and Zack’s mock battle began.
“Thank you for this.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Zack and Ryo exchanged greetings.
Ryo took his usual middle stance.
The instant he did, goose bumps rose along Zack’s arms.
What is this feeling?
It was a sensation he had very little memory of.
No, long ago, when the former captain of the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders had come on inspection, Zack had been allowed a mock battle with him... and that time, the same goose bumps had risen on his skin.
The former captain of the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders... Alexis, Marquis Heinlein. Am I supposed to believe this is the same as that legendary captain they called the “Demon”?
He would not accept it.
“RAAAAH!”
Zack shouted, putting spirit into his voice.
Because if he did not, he would be swallowed whole.
Abel noticed something as he watched Ryo.
“His feet... are different from usual?”
Abel had seen Ryo fight seriously several times.
Those had been battles against powerful enemies.
At those times, Ryo’s feet had been set forward and back... right foot forward, left foot behind.
But now, they were set sideways.
His right foot seemed to be slightly forward, but... not nearly as much as usual.
With his usual foot placement, he would kick off the ground and leap into the enemy’s range all at once.
But now... rather than moving on his own initiative, he gave the impression that he was planted firmly, ready to receive his opponent’s attack.
“RAAAAH!”
Zack shouted again and leaped in at once.
His fastest downward strike.
CLACK.
The distinctive sound of wooden swords rang out.
Ryo caught Zack’s downward strike solidly.
But that one blow must have made Zack cast off his hesitation.
Zack’s barrage began.
Its speed was astonishing.
Praise escaped from the mouths of the Knightley Kingdom knights watching in a circle around them.
He was showing the full dignity of a company commander.
However, the two people who knew the most about swords saw it differently.
“That isn’t a mock battle. Zack is striking with his real sword...”
“Zack has completely lost his composure.”
Those two were company commander Scotty Cobuck and Abel, a former A-rank swordsman.
Zack’s tremendous barrage came from his lack of composure.
Their assessment was correct.
What is this man? What is he? What in the world is he?
Zack Cooler was a company commander of the Knightley Kingdom’s knight orders.
Ordinarily, he was a strong man who led fifty members of the Kingdom’s knight orders.
Yet now, he was being overwhelmed by the sword of the robed magician before him.
I don’t feel like I can land a single blow. This defense... is he a boulder?
Zack was unleashing a ferocious barrage.
But he was doing so because he was being swallowed by the pressure he felt from the robed magician in front of him.
And despite launching that barrage with all his might, he did not feel as though he could break through.
As a result, despair gnawed at him.
For all that ironclad defense, the instant Zack’s offense broke off for even a moment, Ryo sent out a restraining sideways sweep or thrust.
Yes, Zack knew they were only restraints.
He knew, and yet he also knew that if he made one mistake, that single blow would sink him... they were that sharp as checks.
Normally, no one calls something like this a check!
Zack shouted that in his heart.
They were both using wooden swords.
And yet there should have been no such thing as a restraining blow that would drop him in one hit if he failed to dodge.
It should have been impossible, but the sword flashes were so sharp that he knew it anyway.
They looked sharp at a glance, yet at the same time, they were heavy...
That weight... it’s because he’s putting his hips into every single strike. It’s not just the weight of the sword or his arms, and it’s not just his upper body, either. His knees and hips are linked, and his center of gravity shifts perfectly, so the sword is heavy. I can’t even do that. Scotty can’t either. Abel might... yes, Abel might be able to. In other words, this man is swinging a sword on Abel’s level? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Zack’s thoughts were in disarray.
Naturally, that disarray appeared in his sword as well.
But most of those watching did not notice, because the disturbance was so slight.
That was precisely because Zack had devoted himself single-mindedly to the sword for the past four years.
The disturbance in his heart had become difficult to show in his sword.
It was proof that his trained blade was answering him.
Even so...
Those who understood could see it.
“It’s difficult to swing a sword with a calm heart.”
“If even Your Majesty Abel thinks so, then isn’t it impossible for anyone?”
Scotty, standing beside Abel as he watched the mock battle, responded to Abel’s murmur.
“I can see Zack’s disturbance.”
“Yes.”
“But the other one...”
“Duke Rondo... Sir Ryo is incredible. He’s like the surface of water without a single ripple.”
“As expected of you, Scotty. What a poetic expression.”
“Please don’t tease me.”
When the handsome Scotty used a poetic expression, it created quite an atmosphere.
Abel had been his schoolmate, and so he had long seen how such things made Scotty popular with the opposite sex.
Since Scotty himself said such things unconsciously... Abel suspected that the hearts of those who had feelings for him must have been in a state that was the exact opposite of a water surface without a single ripple.
“In any case... unfortunately, with Zack’s heart disturbed as it is now, I do not think he can beat Duke Rondo.”
“Ah, even if Zack’s heart weren’t disturbed, he wouldn’t beat Ryo, would he?”
“I feel it would be a problem to say that a knight cannot beat a magician with a sword. That is why I chose my words.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. In the first place, Ryo was the swordsmanship instructor for the Rune Knights after Sera.”
“...Pardon?”
Abel stated the fact, and Scotty wore a face that said he did not understand.
“Well, it was before the Kingdom Liberation War, so that was already five years ago...”
“By the Rune Knights, you mean the March of Rune’s knights, correct?”
“Yes.”
“The March of Rune’s knights, famous for their strength, correct?”
“Yes.”
“The March of Rune’s knights where Sera served as swordsmanship instructor, correct?”
“Yes. The swordsmanship instructor ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ who succeeded that Sera was Ryo.”
“...There is no way Zack can win.”
“Don’t say that to me...”
Scotty spoke in exasperation, and Abel shrugged.
The period during which Ryo had officially served as swordsmanship instructor for the Rune Knights was actually not that long.
However, even before that, he had repeated mock battles in front of Sera and the knights, and so the knights of Rune treated him with the highest respect...
“But even so, knowing Zack’s personality...”
“Yes. He’ll unleash a move aimed at reversal.”
“If Sir Ryo fails to receive it, he could be badly injured...”
“Hmm, I wonder. Well, let’s see what happens.”
Scotty was worried.
Abel was not worried at all.
Both of them knew Zack.
So the difference between them might be called a difference in their understanding of Ryo.
The mock battle continued.
Zack attacked.
Ryo defended.
However, Ryo’s restraining strikes were beginning to graze Zack’s body.
That was not because Ryo’s sword had grown sharper, but because Zack had shaved away his safety margin and begun judging the barest possible limits.
For what purpose?
To land a killing blow, of course.
I’ll get one chance. Yes, one is enough. I’ll draw out that diagonal restraining downward strike. That will make him lower his sword, and then I’ll go in all at once!
Though Zack’s heart was disturbed, he had been analyzing the characteristics of Ryo’s sword.
There were several types of restraining attacks, but he had determined that the easiest to counter came after the diagonal cut.
The blow would cut in from Zack’s left shoulder to his right hip.
He would dodge it and strike.
And then...
Zack swept sideways.
Ryo evaded it and struck in diagonally.
Here!
Zack evaded Ryo’s sword by the barest tip-length and swung down with all his might.
It was unquestionably a killing blow.
CLACK.
With a light sound, Zack’s sword was knocked upward.
Both his arms, still gripping the sword, sprang up as well.
Into his exposed torso...
A single blow.
A body strike that leaped in like a gale.
Zack collapsed.