Chapter 141. Engagement – Crow
“Argh! You, you bastard…! Do you think you can get away with this…?”
“Of course. I will get away with it.”
The knight from the Bryna Baron family looked down at the sword embedded in his abdomen with disbelief. Being young, he had underestimated him, and that was his downfall.
Generally, the older a knight, the stronger they were. The years spent training in swordsmanship, along with the accumulation of mana in their bodies over time, made middle age the prime years for a knight.
In middle age, muscles had not yet weakened due to aging, and depending on talent, swordsmanship could reach the level of mastery.
Leo Dexter, who had just reached adulthood, approached the middle-aged knight. He grabbed the choking man by the scruff of his neck, whispered, and then pulled the sword from his abdomen and thrust it into his neck.
[Achievement: Knight ‘1’ – You become stronger when facing knights. min(1)]
[Quest: Duelist 973/1000 – Your {Swordsmanship} skill has increased by one level.]
“Sir Marlon!”
Everyone looked at Leo with astonished eyes. At first, they had thought he was approaching to help Lena or mediate the situation.
But Leo did not say anything. Just as he seemed to bow to apologize, he suddenly drew his sword.
It was battoujutsu (sword-drawing technique).
It was inherently difficult to perform battoujutsu with a two-handed sword. Because of the sword’s length, one had to extend it up to the shoulder to draw it all at once, and even if they managed to draw and swing it, it was a clumsy, unbalanced move, hardly worthy of being called swordsmanship.
Marlon wouldn’t have been hit by such an unweighed attack. He quickly drew his own sword to block it, but… the real problem came after.
Leo Dexter threw the sword’s hilt as soon as it clashed, immediately following up with his naturally turning waist and his left hand, which grabbed the flying hilt and stabbed him.
That was the end of it.
Despite his many years of training, Marlon was completely outmaneuvered and died unceremoniously, as Leo shook off his sword, feeling the surprised gazes of everyone.
Black blood sprayed, painting the snowy field.
‘Indeed, it’s a remarkable swordsmanship…’
Minseo, who had no talent for swordsmanship, held his breath, allowing Leo Dexter’s talent to shine. Not only did he replicate {Swordsmanship 3V: Bart’s Style}, but he could also adapt it to the situation.
Leo suddenly became curious.
How strong was I originally? Before being overshadowed by Minseo and his ‘system’ adjustments, how strong was I?
‘I was probably similar to Lena. Judging by past reactions… No, wait a second.’
Leo stopped to think deeply. Going over his memories, something felt off.
His father, Noel Dexter, hadn’t found it strange that his son’s swordsmanship skill had suddenly improved. He didn’t last time, nor the time before that.
In fact, his father looked confused only when Leo’s swordsmanship was inferior. When Minseo first acquired {Swordsmanship 3V: Bart’s Style} and sparred with him, his father had exclaimed,
–“Hahahaha! Son! You’ve realized something!”
It certainly was odd.
The skill he displayed back then wasn’t on par with Lena’s current level. Despite not utilizing Bart’s Style’s characteristics, he had been skilled enough to surpass most knights, even pushing his father momentarily.
His father, who knew his son’s skills better than anyone through daily sparring, had cried out like that… indicating that in the past, Leo had hit some kind of wall, and his father had somewhat guessed that.
But that undermines Lena’s reactions until now. She always acted as though she nearly kept up with my skills each time.
That implies…
‘Did I hide my true skills from Lena before the scenario even began?’
He reached a bizarre conclusion. With no memories of the past, it was an unanswerable question for him.
Leo looked at Lena with a confused expression. But,
“Leo! What are you doing! How could you kill a person like that! Are you crazy?!”
Her shout broke his train of thought. Leo looked around at the merchants and explained.
“It couldn’t be helped. If we had let him live, we would have been killed instead, right? Isn’t that so?”
The merchants, who had steeled themselves for death, nodded. Their expressions were hardly bright, probably worrying about repercussions.
“Still, you should have subdued him first and then—”
“Wait! That guy’s escaping!”
Lan pointed her finger.
When Leo turned his head, he saw a junior knight following the main knight, back-stepping away slowly.
“Eek!”
Now, fully turning to run towards his horse, Leo sprinted towards him.
“Please, spare me. I-I was just following orders…”
“I’m trying to survive too!”
And to fill the pit of tragedy this damn game had prepared.
Leo’s sword slashed the back of the junior knight climbing desperately onto his horse.
Hot blood flowed down the horse’s back, melting the snow a bit where it landed under the warm sunlight.
Winter was about to end.
* * *
Bubbling.
Lena, immersed in a hot spring from which white steam was curling, blew suds from her nose. The fatigue was melting away in the warm water, but she hugged her knees with a sulky expression.
“Hiya!”
– Splash!
Water splashed everywhere as Lan Avviker jumped into the hot spring.
“Ahh! This is nice. Oh!”
She quickly raised her supple bare body as if she had suddenly remembered something and threw her hair tie outside. Her long brown hair hung down, covering her curvaceous back.
Ann Avviker picked up the feathered hair tie that her sister had thrown on the floor, along with her own, and dipped her feet into the hot spring. They had stopped in a village along the way. The caravan, despite the recent commotion, continued its journey as if nothing had happened, and Lan, Ann, Lena, and Leo were heading to the capital with them.
“How is it? Nice, isn’t it? Doesn’t the warmth wash away all the fatigue?”
“…It’s nice.”
Lena replied reluctantly. With that, Lan swam over and sat beside her.
“Are you still sulking? Geez, you really are a child.”
“I am not a child.”
“Oh, come on. You’ve been sheltered all your life… You’ve never seen anyone die before, have you?”
“It’s not about that. I just think… maybe it went a bit too far. Maybe we could have persuaded him…”
“Stubborn girl. You know persuasion wouldn’t have worked. And I think Leo did the right thing. Force should be met with force. The strong have no need to tiptoe around.”
At Lan’s firm words, Lena lowered her head and bubbles started rising again. Right after Leo killed the knight and the assistant knight, the merchants explained the situation to them. Vernon, the head of the caravan who introduced himself as ‘Vernon’, recounted the story that occurred in the Bryna Barony.
He received a request from ‘Diego Bryna’, the Viscount of Bryna, while they were in Bernoulli. In return for assistance in his fief located at the southwestern edge of the Astin Kingdom, he had promised support.
And the request from the Baron’s son ‘Diuro Bryna’ was…
+ + +
“He asked us to do smuggling for him.”
“Smuggling?”
“Yes, bypassing the border gates. The Barony borders both the Holy Kingdom of Jerome and the Kingdom of Belita. Diuro emphasized that a war would soon break out, making it a great opportunity. He mentioned that arrangements had already been made with Oscar, the Count of the Holy Kingdom, and the Sauer family, a Viscounty of Belita.”
Gathered around the carriage, Vernon continued with a sigh.
“I… refused. It might have brought a lot of money, but it was the kind of job that would eventually get us abandoned for sure.”
“You did the right thing. I think you made the correct decision.”
Leo nodded in agreement, crossing his arms and falling into thought. He knew the Sauer family.
He had encountered them in the scenario involving the beggar siblings a few years ago. The head of the Sauer family, ‘Brian Sauer,’ was known for his ridiculously flamboyant attire and exaggerated manners.
With his shrewd gray eyes and oddly numerous small wrinkles, he was also the owner of all the brothels in Orville.
‘Could he be involved too? Why am I entangled with him here?’
Leo fidgeted nervously.
Everything seemed suspicious.
It might be paranoia, but even the similarity between the name ‘Brian’ and ‘Bryna,’ the Viscounty in the Astin Kingdom, seemed suspicious.
And Leo knew that ‘Viscount Brian Sauer’ was connected to ‘Marquis Benard Tatian.’
At the time, the marquis had introduced Leo to nobles he was acquainted with in an attempt to adopt him.
During one of those cordial meetings, Viscount Sauer had made a slip-up, mentioning the ‘border regions,’ only to quickly shut up after a glare from Marquis Tatian.
Border regions…
‘Is the marquis plotting something through Viscount Sauer?’
He wasn’t sure. His head throbbed as he recalled distant memories, and Vernon bowed his head courteously.
“Thank you. In the midst of everything, I didn’t even get to properly thank you. I don’t know how we can repay this favor. But… sigh. Sir, you should also escape quickly. Having killed the pursuing knights, the Baron won’t stay quiet.”
Leo shook his head lightly.
He smiled at the caravan leader who was concerned for his safety.
“Don’t worry about that. I didn’t kill him without any plan. Lan. Ann.”
“What? Why are you calling us?”
“Sorry, but I’ll need your share.”
“Our share?”
Leo raised his hand and pointed to the wagon they had pulled. The bones of the snow elk came into view at the edge of the carriage where Lena was sitting.
+ + +
“I agree with you, sister. Lena, don’t be so uptight. I’m not sure why you took up swordsmanship, but isn’t that what martial arts is? And everything turned out alright in the end. Though we did leave behind all the Snow Horned Deer bones…”
Despite Ann’s words, Lena continued to sip and spit the onsen water.
Her sisters were right.
Honestly, it would have been hard to convince that arrogant knight.
Killing him was the only way to solve the problem, and Leo had offered a solution afterward. He suggested leaving behind the Snow Horned Deer bones.
Upon hearing his plan, the merchants were delighted and killed two horses. They smeared the horse meat on the Snow Horned Deer bones and splattered the blood around.
The corpses of the knights and the junior knights were shredded by Lan’s and Ann’s axes. They also dismantled the bones of Snow Horned Bones and scattered them all around, making it look like wild animals had torn them apart. Indeed, it would appear so.
Someone might notice this trickery.
However, it was more plausible to believe that the rare knights, fewer than a thousand in the entire kingdom, had coincidentally encountered a spirit beast and met mutual destruction, rather than having been pursued and killed by a single caravan.
“Oh dear. It would have been nice to bring back just one horn… The kids would have liked that.”
“Do you have kids, sister?”
Lena, having calmed down a little, asked. Lan replied with a gentle smile.
“Of course. At my age, it wouldn’t make sense not to have kids. I have a son.”
“Wow… I didn’t know. You look so young… So, sister Ann too?”
“Yeah. I have two. A daughter and a son. Both are incredibly pretty. When we get to the capital, you should visit our home. You can stay for a few days if you like.”
“Ah! You plan to tell the kids about hunting the spirit beast, right? How sly.”
“Well, what else can I do? I can’t go back empty-handed and face the kids and my husband.”
“Oh? So both of you left your kids and husbands behind to travel? How old are your kids?”
“Hahaha. Lena, you just came of age, right? To exaggerate a bit, they’re almost your age. We got married very young. Was it at thirteen?”
“Yes, that’s right. I got married when I was twelve.”
“Twelve years old?” Lena asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
“Oh my… Why? Why did you marry so young?”
“Hmm. It’s a bit of a long story. Shall we talk about it outside? It’s too hot here. Oh my, Ann, look at this one’s firm body. Being young sure is nice.”
Lan poked Lena’s buttock.
“Ah! Don’t touch me!”
“Hahahahaha. Judging by your reaction, you haven’t slept with your boyfriend yet.”
Lan and Ann giggled as they teased Lena, who turned as red as a beet and covered herself. Thinking, ‘They’re mean,’ she hurriedly put on her clothes.
While she wasn’t looking, Lan and Ann, who had lifted their long hair to tie it, revealed large tattoos on their backs. The tattoos connected only when the sisters stood next to each other like now.
A red raven and a black raven.
One perched on a sword, and the other on a shield, both arrogantly raising their heads.
