Chapter 195. Engagement – Deros
Morning.
“Oh, what a mess this is.”
Katrina grumbled. She lamented her foolish appearance and made one last check of her gear before departure.
Sword, checked.
Annoying ‘brown’ armor, worn.
Hair, tied up.
Spare hair tie, here.
Emergency medical supplies and the herbs Ellen gave are…
“Hey! Go get my first aid kit. In the tent—”
“Here it is.”
It was a command to a squire, but Deros, who was nearby, intervened. Already annoyed, Katrina’s eyes narrowed.
“Why do you have this? Did you rummage through my tent? Want to die?”
“I noticed you forgot to tie it to your saddle, so I kept it for you…”
“Did you now?”
Katrina took the first aid kit with some embarrassment. But only for a moment, she glared at Deros again.
“But why do you have it? You should’ve returned it earlier. I’ve been looking everywhere for this.”
“Geez, even when I try to help…”
—he thought but held his tongue, as today could have been his last. Deros bowed his head politely.
“Sorry. I forgot.”
Honestly, it was Katrina who forgot. She had obviously not thought about it until now, but arguing would only earn him a punch.
Katrina, his first master, was impatient but not so mean as to harm someone who apologized.
He had learned this after months of observation.
Deros realized that her irritation operated without passing through her brain, and in such situations, it was best to step back immediately. She was the type to react angrily to any stimulus, but after the moment passed, she would feel secretly guilty.
Indeed, Katrina cleared her throat.
“…Ahem! Be careful from now on. Keep your wits about you. Even on the battlefield, you… Don’t leave my sight. You’ll die.”
What a funny mentor.
Equipped with extra jerky and a water pouch as emergency rations, Deros followed Katrina onto the battlefield. It was his first sortie, so he was a bit nervous, but watching his reliable mentor’s back eased his worries.
Soon, they hid along the ridge and faced actual combat. It was also Katrina’s first time on the battlefield, but she was unfazed, urging her junior who was flustered at the sight of merely thirteen soldiers, and stained her sword with blood.
“We’ve taken care of this group, let’s rest for a bit. Hey, hey! Get down!”
Katrina grabbed Deros by the hair. She yanked him hard into the bushes and pointed to the sky.
“You idiot! Didn’t I tell you to watch out for clouds?”
“I’m sorry.”
A messenger had escaped from the squad they just wiped out. Having received the report of knights’ arrival, the centurion likely broke a signal flare, and now, a magician on the opposing side might be using cloud magic to scout this direction.
If our own magician has control over that cloud fragment, it would be less worrying, but since we’re not magicians, we have no way of knowing.
We can’t even tell if we’re being watched, so we cautiously stay hidden.
If caught, magicians would come riding. Against magicians, cover is futile, and fighting them doesn’t guarantee victory.
Magicians are powerful on their own, and they always have knights as their guards.
Katrina, crouched in the bushes, nagged for a long time. Only when tears welled up in Deros’ delicate eyes did she stop, feeling a bit guilty. After all, he did follow her out here…
Katrina pressed down on her junior’s shoulder, who couldn’t sit comfortably. An awkward air flowed between the two lying in the bushes, and unable to stand it, Katrina spoke. Having sufficiently nagged, she changed the subject to lighten the mood.
“Why did you follow me here?”
“…Just because.”
“What do you mean ‘just because’? It’s not an easy decision. Do you… like me or something?”
“What?”
Deros, who was feeling down, turned with a horrified expression. Though glimpses of his shocked face could be seen through the sparse leaves, Katrina, whose mood had improved, smirked.
“Sorry, but I have a boyfriend. And even if I didn’t, you’re not my type…”
“I have a girlfriend too! Who said I like you?”
“Oh really? Then why such a loud voice if it’s not true?”
“…Sorry.”
As Katrina glared, Deros shrank back. Silence fell again, but it wasn’t as awkward.
“You really have a girlfriend? Since when?”
“Um… Around last winter? No, it was late autumn.”
Katrina turned on her side, looking intrigued and pressed her junior.
“What does she do? How did you meet? I didn’t see you that way, but you’ve got it all down.”
“Hey, having a girlfriend isn’t a big deal… You’ve been living with your boyfriend.”
“Enough, talk about the girl.”
“Well… I have a friend who likes theater. He boasted about seeing a very pretty actress at some theater, so I decided to check it out. I thought actresses are just pretty because of their makeup, you know?”
Deros continued with his story.
He followed to a place called the Orange Theater but did not get to see the actress who was said to be incredibly beautiful.
The play performed that day depicted the lives of the imperial family who fled to the eastern continent during the division of the Achaean Empire.
A time of chaos.
Powerless royals of a collapsing empire.
With only noble status to their names, they arranged political marriages everywhere to attract powerful figures from the east. Among them was a princess who married into the Viscount Isadora family, and the play portrayed the era centered around her…
She had orange eyes. Not the princess, but the actress portraying her.
She was passionate. She delicately expressed the misery of the princess trying to move a husband she did not love, and the growing estrangement between the couple due to misunderstandings.
When Viscount Isadora confessed, “I have loved you since the first moment I saw you,” towards the end of the play, the tears dropped by the princess were hot.
Deros was deeply impressed by her acting. Despite his friend’s insistent claims, “She was a girl with blonde hair and golden eyes,” he often went to the theater.
One day, Deros encountered the actress at a flower shop. Her freckles spread horizontally without makeup were endearing, and her tied-up, lush orange hair tickled Deros’s heart.
“Are you a stalker? This seems dangerous.”
“No, it’s not like that! Senior, your hair color is unique too, but orange is eye-catching. It would be strange not to recognize you. Anyway, so…”
Deros chattered away. Using the excuse of distributing autumn flowers to people he knew, he frequented the shop, later buying large quantities of flowers to decorate the desolate knight’s hall.
Then, the flower shop lady smiled kindly and said,
“Then, could you show me the knight’s hall? I would like to see which flowers would suit it.”
Of course, he couldn’t take a civilian into the knight’s hall, so they strolled around the area.
“I can’t sell enough flowers to fill such a large building. I’m sorry. Instead, I could…”
“Ah, that’s enough. I get it. Moron.”
Deros recited the flower shop lady’s lines. Katrina interrupted sharply.
“So, you confessed after meeting frequently? If it wasn’t you who confessed first, seriously…”
“Of course, I confessed first.”
“Phew, well, that’s a relief. My junior isn’t an idiot. Get up now. You’ve rested enough. Go find out where the enemies are.”
“But, senior, you asked first…”
“Do you want to get up now or stay lying down forever?”
What a thug of a woman…
Muttering, Deros emerged from the bushes. “Moron!” Katrina pulled his hair, but her touch was no longer rough.
‘Yeah. Who else will take care of this idiot if not me? I should ensure he survives and send him back to his girlfriend.’
As Katrina was thinking this, Deros suddenly shouted.
“Wh-What! Senior!”
Within the hurriedly parted bushes, there was a female knight and a large knight. Both seemed formidable.
“…Oh no. I asked you to find soldiers, but you found knights instead. Deros! Move!”
Katrina drew her sword, striking first at the knight who was wide-eyed in shock.
* * *
“Leo! Watch out…!”
– Taang!
There was no need to worry. Leo blocked the sudden attack from the female knight with his scabbard, and it was Lena who was now on the defensive.
Another knight rushed in. Unable to deal with the red-haired female knight in front of him, Leo hesitated, and Lena drew her sword.
– Kaang!
Teenager? At most, early twenties?
Quite a young knight. Though older than Lena who just came of age this year, she thought she stood a reasonable chance and tried to deflect the strike.
No, she tried to.
“Ugh!”
Although Deros got beaten up by Katrina every day, he was still a knight.
Deros’s upper body swelled, and Lena’s sword was reluctantly pushed back.
“What? Not a knight?”
Confirming that the opponent was a squire, Deros’s confidence surged.
Facing squires was easier than facing many soldiers.
After Katrina’s training sessions, he often sparred with squires, which gave him a sense of familiarity and ease. From his experience, most squires were generally…
“Huh?”
With their two-handed swords locked, Deros spread his legs wide. Attempting to shake the handle to create an opening, he found the opponent’s sword smoothly following along.
Solid fundamentals.
Two-handed swords are difficult to handle.
With a variety of types, the common trait is that they are long and heavy, with handles located far below. Meanwhile, the contact point between swords is typically right in front of the eyes.
A small shake of the handle produces a variety of angles.
Choosing whether to go on the offensive, induce the foe to thrust, engage in a strength contest by clashing swords, exchange kicks while pushing the swords, or deflect and prepare for a strike.
Shaking the locked swords narrows down these numerous options. In the brief contact, one can read the other’s movements.
Typically, junior knights lack these basics. Without realizing that they need to build a foundation to move up, they often ignore advice when given. Though it’s understandable, as the process of solidifying the basics is exceptionally boring.
However, this junior knight in front of me was faithful to the basics. Following without missing even the slightest tremor, narrowing my options while widening their own.
‘Not bad, but…’
Still just a junior knight.
Deros gripped the handle with his broadly positioned legs. Tilting his sword to lift the opponent’s blade, he took a step forward and pushed his shoulder. Let’s see… The opponent indeed took a step back. Trying to block the incoming shoulder with a raised sword.
Got you, you bastard!
While lifting the handle, Deros twisted his waist and aimed a kick. To be exact, he attempted to strike the opponent’s waist with his left knee.
This is the difference in strength.
Deros realized at the moment of contact that his opponent’s power was weak and expected that raising his sword would prevent an easy reaction. And my prediction was correct…?!
– Thwack!
Their knees clashed.
Lena, sensing Deros’s trick, had prepared a countermeasure. She purposely withheld her strength for this…
“You damn…!”
Deros quickly retracted his left foot. Using the force, he spun his body about a third of the way round and lowered the handle that had been above his head to his cheek.
– Clang!
The blade in contact turned towards Lena’s head. Thinking it would be disastrous at this rate, Lena used her grounded right foot as a base to push away the incoming sword. However,
“Whoa!”
As she felt herself being pushed back, Deros’s center of gravity had shifted.
His right foot lightly lifted forward to kick Lena in the abdomen. At the moment of the kick, Lena, falling over, could see the sword plummeting fiercely.
If she pulled the sword, she could block it.
Her upper body, that is.
But if he targeted her lower body, there was no immediate way to respond. Deros’s sword was descending with the intention of splitting her legs.
Ah, this is bad…
– Clang!
But Lena was not hit by the sword.
When the fallen Lena squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, Leo’s sword was embedded next to her thigh. Embedded so forcefully that it quivered, and Deros’s sword was blocked by it.
Lena’s legs were safe under Leo’s sword.
“You need to die for a bit.”
Leo, having flung Katrina’s sword far away, approached with bare hands and looked down menacingly at Deros holding the sword.
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