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chapter 6
Challenge Request
The arms of the fallen trainee trembled violently on the ground. Yet, he seemed surprisingly resilient, glaring fiercely and pushing himself up.
“You!!!!”
The trainee ground his teeth and glared at Meyer. But Meyer didn’t even flinch at the angry glare directed at him.
I can see it.
The subtleties of the Nan-gong Sword swirled in his mind, and seeing Lando single-handedly holding off the Iron Bear Knights filled Meyer with an overwhelming inspiration.
Is this swordsmanship like a thousand-year-old stone, silently holding its ground even in the fiercest storm?
Lando’s blade seemed like it could never break, no matter what hardships or calamities came its way.
With Lando’s sword as a rallying point, Viktor, brimming with energy, moved in perfect unison under the command of his adjutant, Vector, clashing with the Iron Bear Knights.
Boom—!!!
If one couldn’t handle it, two would.
If two couldn’t handle it, three.
If three couldn’t handle it, five.
Viktor’s elite troops seemed to have reached a level where they could communicate almost telepathically with each other, honed from years of fighting on the frontlines.
As a result, the Iron Bear Knights could not push Viktor’s troops back.
A quasi-superhuman knight, who had awakened the new power of Aura by harmonizing with the forces of nature, was now evenly matched against ordinary soldiers.
Of course, this wasn’t a fair one-on-one duel.
At least two of Viktor’s soldiers always engaged a single knight.
Yet even so, it was astounding. Viktor’s tactics worked like a tightly woven net, allowing pairs or trios to move as one, gaining a decisive numerical advantage.
Even knights are still human, made of flesh and blood.
Merely becoming a knight already classifies them as quasi-superhuman, capable of surpassing ordinary human limits with the power of Aura.
Hence, the presence of a knight alone can alter the course of a war.
Mounted knights, becoming one with their horse in a charge, are nearly unstoppable unless faced by other knights—a principle widely recognized.
But despite it being a sparring match and no mounted charge being used, Viktor overturned that principle.
He was proving firsthand that ordinary soldiers could stand up to knights.
“Stick to them! Grab their trousers and strike at vital points! Communicate constantly! Hit like a storm so they can’t even recover!”
Vector shouted as he faced a knight alone. Viktor had prepared meticulously to take on the knights—hooks, nets, spears, thick shields, and short swords.
When Viktor’s elite troops, moving like a single body, struck like a storm, the Iron Bear Knights, flustered by their resistance, began to stagger backward.
And the key to this was Lando Bellins.
He alone was holding back the most powerful opponents’ first strikes, allowing Viktor to manage the rest.
Bang! Kwoooong—!!!!
Lando’s sword wasn’t particularly extraordinary, but each swing reverberated like thunder, forcing the knights to take several steps back.
Four, five knights attacking simultaneously couldn’t change this.
Meyer, watching Lando, felt a thrill at the Nan-gong Sword subtleties raging in his mind.
This is completely different from formal swordsmanship.
It was leagues beyond the 1-star Garden-style swordsmanship Meyer had taken from Gillot. Helplessly swallowing his saliva, Meyer watched Lando force the Iron Bear Knight Captain, Stan, seven steps back.
Then suddenly—
Whoosh!!
Something dark flew toward Meyer’s face. Instinctively, his body moved.
The Nan-gong Sword.
Absorbed in its intricacies, Meyer awkwardly swung the sword Lando had entrusted to him, deflecting the incoming object.
Swish
Smack!
The Nan-gong Sword possessed three fundamental properties:
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A heavy sword that never yields.
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A sword that can redirect even the strongest attack.
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A sword that can return a deflected attack back to the enemy.
All three required mastery beyond the basics. Meyer managed to perform these techniques clumsily.
The dark object flying toward Meyer’s face was sent back to where it came from.
Drip
“This… this…”
It was a glove. Thrown by the trainee whose head had been struck by a sword in its sheath, it hit Meyer’s cheek and slid down. The trainee gritted his teeth, glaring as if he could kill Meyer.
Meyer shrugged.
“I got startled without realizing it.”
Drip
But it wasn’t just the glove. Meyer’s nose had been struck, and blood began to flow.
“Sorry.”
Meyer’s words seemed to ignite the trainee’s fury.
“You… you! How dare you humiliate me, Esquire Morgan! I hereby challenge you to a duel!!!”
Throwing a glove was equivalent to issuing a challenge.
Meyer watched Morgan, cheeks trembling as he shouted, and smacked his lips.
“A duel? With me?”
“Yes! A duel!”
Morgan, disguised as a trainee to get this far, had now unexpectedly challenged Meyer to a duel. Meyer observed Morgan, who looked solid and well-trained, unlike himself.
“Challenged by Morgan… poor guy.”
“But I’ve never seen his face before.”
“Hey, does a trainee change overnight?”
“Too bad. And it had to be Morgan.”
“Tsk. Another half-wit might get a trainee kicked out.”
The whispers grew louder. It seemed Morgan was the leader among the trainees.
A trainee’s rank corresponded to the knight they served. Meyer narrowed his eyes at Morgan, who, thinking Meyer was intimidated, smirked.
“It’s too late to regret now. I am Morgan Rapid. Captain Stan Meyer of the Iron Bear Knights is my uncle.”
Meyer’s eyes widened. Morgan wasn’t a direct relative of Stan.
Stan’s nephew. Likely the child of Meyer’s aunt who had married elsewhere. Cousins, then.
A duel with a cousin.
Meyer scratched his cheek, realizing that even his cousin didn’t recognize him.
How far has my identity been ignored?
Not a single trainee here, not even his cousin, recognized him. The influence of being the “Exiled Prince” was greater than Meyer had anticipated.
Though the castle was large, he hadn’t expected that no one would recognize him even in the annex.
As Meyer grumbled, Morgan placed a hand on his hip and spoke fiercely.
“Don’t even think about running. If you do, I’ll personally appeal to my Captain to ensure you can never become a knight.”
Despite Morgan’s fierceness, the nosebleed running down under his nose made him less intimidating.
Before Meyer could reply—
Kwang—!!!!
Puh-gok—!!
With a tremendous explosion, Lando’s sword shattered Stan’s sword in its sheath, shoving him to the ground.
Total defeat.
As Stan trembled on the ground, Lando’s sword returned to the Iron Bear Knights evenly matched against Viktor, tipping the battle decisively toward Lando and Viktor.
Then—
Clang!!!
“I… I… lost.”
The last knight to resist dropped his sword, begrudgingly admitting defeat. Lando raised his hand.
“Our victory!”
Viktor, with ordinary soldiers, had defeated the Iron Bear Knights.
Though Lando was overwhelmingly superior compared to Stan, the mere fact that knights trained in Aura were defeated by ordinary soldiers was remarkable.
Of course, this was a sparring match, so mounted charges weren’t used.
But using that as an excuse would be shameful for a knight.
Viktor hadn’t even used his trump cards either.
“If this happened on a battlefield, Viktor would have been reduced to a handful of blood!!!”
Meyer shook his head, seeing Stan yelling in disbelief.
What an idiot.
That wasn’t something a knight should say. The other Iron Bear Knights turned their heads, sensing it too. Only Stan didn’t.
But Lando ignored him and addressed Stan:
“Then, as promised, proceed with the supply delivery. I trust you won’t go back on your word, Sir Stan.”
Meyer almost couldn’t believe his ears. The sparring match had been arranged over supplies? That meant Viktor’s unit hadn’t been properly supplied.
Supply lines.
No army can survive without proper supplies, no matter how great.
Using supplies as a game…
It seemed Stan had toyed with them, and Lando accepted his absurd proposal to counter it.
Yet the victor was Lando.
“I cannot accept this! He must have used some trickery! Otherwise, how could ordinary soldiers—”
Stan, refusing to accept reality, blamed Lando and Viktor to the end. Lando frowned.
“So, you refuse to comply?”
“I… cannot accept it! Some foul trickery… Huhk!”
Stan gasped, trying to shift the blame, as Lando’s sword hovered under his chin.
“Stan Meyer. If you continue like this, I have no choice but to challenge you to a duel for the honor of a knight.”
“E-eeeek!”
“You may be your lord’s brother, but you are still a knight. Do not dishonor your own honor further. As a knight, you represent your lord’s name.”
Though Lando held a sheathed sword, Stan felt it as if a real blade was pressing at his neck.
Lando was the type to act decisively.
Despite his skill, he had wandered outside knightly circles because of his stubbornness. Yet Erigo hadn’t cast him out because Lando’s loyalty was unquestionable.
If he thought his lord’s honor was at stake, Lando would challenge anyone.
A knight’s duel cannot be stopped, even by the knight’s own lord; if Lando killed Stan, he couldn’t be punished.
Lando stared at Stan steadily.
“Eeeek!!!”
Stan finally lost his temper but stopped dishonoring Lando. Instead, he left in a huff, with the Iron Bear Knights awkwardly bowing before following him.
“Uh, uh…?”
“What about us?”
“Should we go too?”
The trainees, unsure what to do, hesitated as the knights left.
“You! Answer me! You’ll accept the duel, won’t you!!!”
Morgan pressed Meyer, fearing he might slip away. Meyer glanced at him.
“If you refuse, your honor will be ruined! Becoming a knight will be over! Decide!”
Morgan pushed Meyer aggressively. But the other trainees hesitated and stepped back.
Thud… thud…
“Trainees.”
Lando Bellins.
After ordering Vector to reorganize Viktor’s ranks, Lando approached Meyer.
“Trainees have no right to request duels. You are not full knights yet. The duel is therefore invalid.”
Meyer realized Lando had been listening even while facing Stan.
What terrifying skill.
Even against Stan, a 2-star knight and captain, Lando had ample capacity.
“However…”
Lando addressed Morgan, who had lost his nerve.
“I will act as guarantor and mediator for this duel. Decide, trainee. Will you accept this challenge, or refuse it?”
