“Yes. I accept.”
Liam answered with a look of disbelief.
“If the Young Master wins, I will no longer interfere. But if you lose—”
He paused for effect, drawing the attention of those around him.
“You will come under my tutelage and, together with the other recruits, start carving down wooden posts again. With a wooden sword, of course.”
“Alright. That doesn’t seem like a bad condition.”
Last time it took about three days, but this time I thought I could finish it within two.
I wonder what expression Liam will make when he sees that.
“Young Master!”
Sir Dande glared at me as if he wanted to eat me.
“But even at a glance, this condition is far too unfavorable for me.”
“Eh?”
“If you lose, nothing changes for you. But if I lose, I will have to give up far too much.” Liam frowned.
“You’ll be separated from Sir Dande, who has been your proper mentor all this time, and knowing your temper you’ll probably have to return the sword and armor you were given. You’ll have to carve down that blasted wooden post again, too. And yet, what do I gain even if I do manage to beat you? Isn’t that terribly unfair?”
Some of the knights who had followed Liam nodded in agreement.
Seizing the moment, Sir Dande nodded vigorously.
“Well, are you asking for some sort of recompense?”
Liam asked as if resigned.
“I’m not asking for money. I only want, after the match, for you to acknowledge my skill in front of the other knights.”
“Really… is that enough for you?”
Liam asked with a suspicious look.
“If I truly have the skill to beat you, is there any reason I wouldn’t acknowledge it?”
Liam fell silent.
“Or did you always assume you’d win? If so, there’d be no reason for me not to accept your condition.”
I narrowed my brow and added, “Or could it be… that you think you might lose to me?”
Liam gave a loud, careless laugh.
“Do as you please!”
That was the most rational choice.
There wasn’t much I could extract from Liam financially in the first place.
The one outfit I wore three years ago would be worth more than half a year’s wages for Sir Liam.
In high society, reputation was worth more than immediate money.
What Liam could give me that held any true value was the prestige of being acknowledged as “Anplus, an excellent knight” by two knights.
***
“Why on earth did you challenge Sir Liam to a duel?”
Sir Dande asked, unusually sighing deeply.
“Is he that strong?”
“He is. He’s never ranked outside the top ten even once. I can’t promise you’ll definitely win. He’s strong, has long limbs, and he thrusts well.”
His words carried a faint reproach, as if questioning why I would pick a fight I couldn’t help but stir.
“Do you happen to know any secret weakness of Sir Liam? Or have you thought of a way to fight him?”
“That, you’ll have to teach me from now on.”
“You have a good sense of humor. Even if I taught you well, no matter how much you’re the Young Master, you can’t possibly beat Sir Liam in just two days.”
Sir Dande muttered desolately.
I said nonchalantly, “Then there’s no choice. I’ll go to Sir Liam and beg him for a duel.”
A twitch moved across Sir Dande’s face.
“……!”
His eyes flared with competitive fire.
“That cannot be!”
“You mean there is a method.”
He pinched the back of his neck as if coming close to losing his mind.
“It’s too late to argue about what’s already decided. Two days… if we cut to the chase and teach intensively, there might at least be a chance.”
“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear. Let’s find a way to solve the problem.”
The milk, so to speak, was already spilled.
If time could not be reversed, then the right thing was to think about how to wipe it clean.
Sir Dande straightened and began to explain.
“The swords of duelists and the swords of knights are different. Do you know what’s different?”
He handed me a blunted practice steel sword.
Although it wasn’t sharp, metal was still metal; getting hit by it would hurt.
“Their perspectives on victory are different.”
“Could you explain that a bit more?”
“A duelist views victory as the result of sharpening the sword; for a knight, victory is an objective to be obtained.”
“Yes. That’s right. We must win. Results matter more than process. Moreover, our victory isn’t taken by simply knocking down the opposing knight.”
Even if we knocked him down, if the opposing mage noticed during the flashy exchange, that wouldn’t count as a win.
“So we don’t have the luxury of striking down each of the opponent’s blows one by one.”
Sir Dande said this and straightened his chest.
“First. If possible, do not block a knight’s attack with your blade.”
“Th-then how do you stop it? Dodging or blocking with a gauntlet has its limits.”
I tilted my head, a little taken aback.
I had expected to learn some guaranteed counter technique that could always block an attack, but I hadn’t expected to practice not using the sword to block.
“You stop it like this. Now, try to stab me.”
Sir Dande spread his arms wide.
“Are you joking?”
“I’m serious. Stab me with all your strength.”
Sir Dande took a calm step forward.
Bewildered but resolute, I planted my foot.
I recalled the things I had learned from Sir Dande over the past weeks.
Whether the wooden sword or the iron one, use the whole torso rather than the wrist; draw strength from the upper body, not the arm.
The weight must be applied the moment the blade meets its target, and your exhalation should be timed to thrust cleanly.
I aimed for the breastplate over the chest and thrust.
clang, and a loud metallic sound rang.
The blade lodged into the iron plate and wobbled from side to side.
“W-what on earth did you just do?!”
Sir Dande stared at me with eyes as wide as lamps.
“Sorry! Are you all right?”
I kept bowing my head in apology.
Perhaps I’d split Sir Dande open.
He had much paler blood than I, and thus weaker resilience.
If I had made a mistake, he could have bled out or become infected.
I pulled the sword free with effort.
Fortunately, there was enough space inside the cuirass that Sir Dande didn’t seem wounded.
“It’s fine. No, rather—what did you just do? That was a blunt practice sword, wasn’t it?”
Sir Dande stammered his words.
“You told me to stab, so I did. Was something wrong?”
“Y-yes. Wrong, wrong. No, no. Well, since you didn’t fully penetrate, continue the explanation…”
“The practice sword is dull and the material soft; if it had been a real blade it might have pierced, for sure.”
“……I-is your wrist okay?”
I rotated my wrist this way and that.
“It seems fine. Just a little twinge.”
Sir Dande fell silent.
He glanced back and forth between the punctured real cuirass and my practice sword.
“Try again. It must have been a fluke. This can’t be possible……”
By the time a cup of tea had been drunk, there were five or six more holes in Sir Dande’s armor.
He finally called a recruit over and, in front of me, let a blade slide off the cuirass and counterattack to demonstrate.
A blade hitting the curved breastplate slid off as expected.
Sir Dande, after failing to land an attack, would ram his shoulder into the opponent’s chest, then thrust with his sword, or trap the opponent’s blade under his armpit and twist to pry it away.
“So originally, because a sword can’t pierce the armor, you deflect it along the armor and then counterattack?”
“Yes. Our breastplates have been thickened to withstand an opposing knight’s thrusts; they’ve become so thick that a person simply cannot pierce them.”
Then what was I?
Seeing my expression, Sir Dande averted his gaze a little.
I cleared my throat and mumbled.
“Ahem, understood. I’ll remember well. As you said, stamina could fall.”
“Do so.”
Sir Dande nodded with lingering embarrassment.
“Now, put what you just learned into practice.”
Fortunately, he soon regained his composure.
“Must it be taken on the breastplate? Can’t I dodge instead?”
“Young Master. Are you underestimating me?”
Sir Dande gave a wry smile.
“This Dande has lived being called a genius. Even if you are the Young Master, saying you’d dodge my blade hurts my pride.”
He stepped forward briskly and thrust.
It was a concise thrust without any flourish or feint.
Plain, but complete.
I inhaled and read the story Sir Dande’s body told.
He would launch the blade with his right foot, his gaze fixed precisely on the center of my cuirass.
The sword would extend as much as the length of his arm and the sword would take one more step forward.
Given such a long distance, I couldn’t simply step back to avoid it.
Spinning away would have been better.
Now.
I pivoted on my right foot and evaded Sir Dande’s blade.
He grazed me narrowly and stumbled to the floor.
“Goodness! Are you all right?”
“W-what trick did you just use now?”
“That was a full-force, single decisive strike. I didn’t expect it to bend mid-way. I watched your movement and judged when the blade would come out, so I avoided it.”
“That speed wasn’t something a person could have dodged.”
He muttered as if he couldn’t believe it.
I hesitated, then spoke.
“Do you remember the day I was exhausted?”
“Yes.”
“Back then I somehow avoided magic without understanding anything. Now, I’ve learned how to use my body more. If I could avoid magic then, surely I can avoid a sword now, can’t I?”
I recalled the moment I ran across the thorn field Temeratia had made.
I gritted my teeth and took a single step forward with eyes wide.
“Whether blocking or dodging, you must drop your fear and move. Now get up.”
“Why that expression?”
“May I try one more time?”
“Do so.”
Sir Dande charged like he intended to pierce my thigh.
This time I’d do as I’d been taught.
At the moment the blade was about to touch my thigh, I dipped my body slightly and stepped forward, receiving the blow on my cuirass.
Sir Dande’s arm had not fully extended when his blade struck my cuirass.
clang, and I understood the point.
Close the distance to the cuirass so there is as little chance as possible for thigh or arm to be targeted, and receive a blade that hasn’t fully accelerated with minimal impact.
There.
With a scrape, the blade slid along the iron plate and came down toward the hip; I trapped it in my armpit.
Twisting my body just so, I pried the blade from Sir Dande’s grip.
Everything clicked into place and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Was that the right way to do what you showed me earlier?”
Sir Dande nodded.
His face was a complex mixture of shame, surprise, and the knightly urge to be challenged.
“One more time, please.”
He fell to the floor three more times and lost his sword twice before he caught his breath and we moved on.
“Ahem, now that we’ve practiced with a shield, I’ll have you train against a spear.”
He had neither shield nor spear, but the exchange was compared to shield-and-spear combat.
“I’ll say this again and again. Do not drag it out. If you can’t finish within ten exchanges, you’ll be struck by magic flying in from afar and die.”
Sir Dande said this and took his stance.
Knees bent, hips dropped back, chin almost touching knees—a posture that looked as if he might topple forward at any moment.
“Your torso is protected by the cuirass. Young Master, you might be able to pierce a cuirass, but ordinarily you should target the thigh. The metallic crack is louder and travels further than you think. Watch Liam closely; it’s a move he’s especially good at.”
Sir Dande lunged like a serpent.
The knight’s blade stabbed accurately at thigh height.
It was a terrifyingly concise thrust.
“Both defensive and offensive stances will get lower and lower.”
“Yes. Correct. If you thrust and block and both tire, you may end up falling forward.”
“Like you did just now?”
“Yes. Well, yes.”
He coughed awkwardly.
Sir Dande changed the subject.
“As I said, it’s a move Sir Liam is good at. He has arms as long as other men’s legs. No matter how much other knights lower their torsos, he can still thrust into the thigh. He was dependable in charges, but when it comes to figuring out a strategy, it’s daunting.”
“Still, he doesn’t seem much faster than you. I should be able to dodge him, right?”
Sir Dande pursed his lips.
He looked frustrated as if he wanted to say a lot but didn’t know how; then he stammered out words.
“Somehow the techniques I planned to teach you today have gone all to ruin. Even so, please do your utmost to win.”
“I really did my best in the fight earlier. When I stabbed your cuirass, I was prepared to risk my wrist breaking.”
No. I really did my best.
I protested, feeling wronged.
“Ordinarily a knight trains in a way that doesn’t require risking a broken wrist!”
“Very well. Practice all night. Pierce a cuirass without breaking a finger. Of course, leave Sir Liam completely unharmed.”
“Young Master! Even with blue blood, there’s such a thing as common sense. If you win too outrageously, voices will only grow suspicious of your skill. Please, only use the techniques you were taught!”
“Then you should teach me how to pierce a cuirass.”
“There’s no such ridiculous technique in any manual.”
“Why not?”
Sir Dande grabbed the back of his neck.
If I weren’t of direct pureblood, he would have let loose a string of curses.
“Correction. I meant, within what I can teach, do your best to win!”