Chapter 13
Chapter 13
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: A Knight's Vow
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
In the place where the knights of the ducal house trained every dawn, Dale drew a single blade. It was a stiletto, a favored sidearm of the knights.
He twirled the hilt, adjusted his grip, and tested its feel.
‘Just right.’
It was a real sword, its edge gleaming blue.
Facing Dale, the girl named Charlotte Orharhart held a menacing rapier in her hand.
A duel with live blades. But by Dale’s standards, it would be no different from indulging a child’s whim. He wouldn’t use magic, let alone his true weapon, the Shadow Cloak.
‘Duel me.’
The moment the girl had uttered that man’s name, Dale had known. He was not ignorant of the Holy Sword Master’s wicked tastes.
He knew what had happened to the two women of House Orharhart and why they had come all the way to the Duchy of Sachsen. And he knew why the girl before him was being so absurdly stubborn.
She would defeat the genius of House Sachsen and prove she could protect her family with her own strength.
It was crude for Dale to say it, but it was ultimately the notion of a child who didn't know the reality of the world.
“Come at me with everything you’ve got.”
“You don’t have to tell me!”
That was why he had a duty to teach her. To show this young, blonde girl, Charlotte, just how harsh and cold her reality was. As the one who had brought an endless winter into her life.
*Thwip!*
Charlotte kicked off the ground and surged forward. She had purged all emotion, channeling a sharply honed killing intent into the tip of her blade.
‘…!’
She was fast. A speed unbelievable for a child’s body.
‘She’s using aura, however faint.’
Dale, whose senses for combat had been naturally honed, could tell without difficulty.
Just as a mage generates mana through the circles in their heart and uses that power to overwrite the laws of the world, knights who accumulate aura in their bodies can also use that power to transcend their physical limits.
──The name and pride of being the Divine Sword’s daughter were by no means an empty boast.
*Clang!*
The very way she moved as she gripped her sword and charged was extraordinary.
No sooner had Dale deflected the rapier’s thrust than Charlotte twisted her wrist, altering the path of her blade. She precisely grasped the entire ‘flow’ of the exchange—swords clashing, rebounding, and clashing once more.
Like a fish understanding the currents of the water.
It was a movement possible only because she understood the unique characteristics of the rapier. A sense for combat that could only be called innate.
‘I’m overwhelming him!’
Her relentless assault rained down, and each time he deflected it, she would snap her wrist again, the rapier’s thrusts digging in persistently.
For an instant, a confident smile, certain of victory, graced Charlotte’s lips.
“……”
And yet, when it came to being a prodigy blessed by the heavens, Dale was in no position to talk.
Besides, Dale’s greatest strength was by no means something ‘given by the heavens.’
It was the experience and wisdom honed over a lifetime spent on the battlefield. It was not a realm a mere fledgling, not even ten years of age, could reach overnight.
The sword images that scattered endlessly from Charlotte’s rapier never once reached Dale.
At first, she thought he was struggling just to block her ceaseless attacks. She was wrong.
There wasn’t a hint of distress on Dale’s face as he met her strikes. Moreover, she had begun to vaguely realize it for a while now.
‘He’s not counterattacking…?’
He was only defending against her attacks, taking no further action.
He radiated an air of ease. The ease of a swordsman who was utterly dominating her.
‘Why can’t I reach him!’
The sharp killing intent at the tip of her blade began to dull. The composure that should have been cold began to waver and crumble.
‘Your father was the greatest knight on this continent.’
When Charlotte was born, her father was already gone from this world. But every night when she went to bed, her mother would tell her stories about him.
The heroic tales of the Greatest Sword on the Continent, the Divine Sword, Lord Badel.
When Charlotte heard the gossips chattering about the eldest son of House Sachsen, she had scoffed.
A prodigy of sword and magic, unparalleled by any other?
‘I am the daughter of the Divine Sword.’
So she had thought there was no way she could lose with a sword. It should have been that way.
But here she was, being overwhelmed with a sword by a ‘mage’ who wasn't even using aura, who had circles etched in his heart.
After the knightly kingdom fell, the ‘Imperial Faction nobles’ who had abandoned their homeland did not look kindly upon House Orharhart.
The family’s fortunes declined so rapidly that even the young Charlotte could understand. Day after day, the number of servants dwindled, and the household’s treasures vanished.
In those moments, Charlotte would recall the stories her mother told her of her father. Her father, whose face she didn't even know.
The Divine Sword, Badel Orharhart.
She believed that she had to protect ‘House Orharhart’ in her absent father's stead. As the proud and honorable daughter of the Divine Sword.
Her composure rapidly fell apart.
*Clang!*
Suddenly, the rapier in Charlotte’s hand was spinning through the air. After twirling in the sky, the rapier plunged vertically into the ground at her feet.
“Ah…”
On the hand that had held the hilt, a thin line of blood had now been drawn.
It was the first strike Dale had landed.
“Why…”
That single blow had decided the victor.
“Why can’t I win…?”
She stared at her rapier, planted upright at her feet, and sank weakly to her knees.
“Long ago, it was said that Lord Badel, the Divine Sword…”
Dale began to speak quietly, recalling the memory of a white and dark winter night.
“...fought the Hero from Another World to a standstill, and they both drew their last breath together.”
It was a lie. In his past life, Dale, the Hero from Another World, had defeated the Divine Sword, Lord Badel, with his own hands. The story that followed had simply been twisted to suit the Empire’s tastes.
“To have fought that so-called monster of a Hero to a draw, he must have been the greatest knight on the continent.”
“……”
At those words, Charlotte drew a quiet breath.
In this world, opinions on Dale’s past self—the ‘Hero from Another World’—varied wildly.
Hero of the Empire, attack dog, patriot, butcher.
But if there was one thing they all agreed on, it was the fact that he was monstrously strong.
The Divine Sword, Lord Badel, had been the strongest of those who faced that monster.
A knight so strong and proud that the likes of the Holy Sword Master couldn't even compare, a man of true nobility. That was why Dale spoke the ‘fifty percent truth.’
“Your pride as the daughter of the Divine Sword is not misplaced.”
He calmly affirmed her.
“But as you are now, you can never protect House Orharhart from ‘that man’.”
After affirming her, he told her of the cruel winter he himself had brought.
“You are not the Divine Sword, and the Holy Sword Master’s blade is dozens of times stronger than mine is now.”
“Dozens of times…?”
It was not a lie. At the very least, that the man was stronger than ‘the current Dale’ was a fact beyond doubt.
“Ah, ahh…”
She remembered the man’s face from that day, his smile as foul as a beast's. She hadn't even been able to think of drawing her sword; all she could do was tremble in fear.
What had protected her was nothing more than her mother’s sorrowfully pitiful pleas.
She couldn't protect a single thing. Such was the fate of a powerless, fallen noble house.
“Then what am I supposed to do…?”
Charlotte’s slender shoulders shook as she sobbed.
“I know I can’t protect my house as I am…”
A girl’s form, unable to hold back the sorrow bursting forth.
“Because I’m a girl, and I’m weak, and I’m not strong…”
A fragility that showed no trace of the cold, sharp swordsman from moments before.
“What in the world am I supposed to do…?”
Dale quietly bit his lip.
“The sword of the future ‘Lady Charlotte’…”
After biting his lip, Dale spoke.
“...can become far stronger than you can possibly imagine now.”
It wasn't a lie. No matter how much he had the Shadow Cloak, Dale’s potential as a swordsman was clearly limited without the ability to use aura.
But this girl was different.
“You want revenge, don’t you?”
“…!”
“Then take my hand.”
And so, Dale extended his hand.
It wasn't out of some petty sense of debt towards Lord Badel.
──He simply remembered the sneer of the Holy Sword Master who had thrust a blade into his back that day.
He remembered the darkness of the Empire that man served.
“Why…”
“Because it’s worth it.”
At the unexpected answer, Charlotte blinked as if she couldn't understand.
“Let’s make a promise.”
“A promise…?”
“I, Dale of Sachsen, on my family’s name, will become the protector of House Orharhart.”
Charlotte had a ‘talent for the sword.’ Even if their duel had ended in Dale’s overwhelming victory.
“Until the day you become strong enough to defeat that man.”
Dale said.
“I and House Sachsen will be the shield that protects you with all our might.”
“…And what is the price?”
But at Dale’s words, Charlotte asked back with a cold expression. There is no such thing as goodwill without a price in this world. And so, Dale answered.
“The sword in your hand.”
“…!”
When her talent for the sword blossoms in the future, and she truly becomes the ‘daughter of the Divine Sword.’
“Swear here and now that your sword will one day be wielded for me and for House Sachsen.”
Through a ‘vow of fealty,’ her sword would be wielded for Dale.
“This is our promise.”
An investment in the future. At his words, Charlotte remained silent.
But the silence was not long.
“…I swear on my honor as a knight.”
Dale reached out, and Charlotte extended her hand in response. Even if it was nothing more than a promise between children.
They clasped hands, quietly hardening their resolve.
Sword Queen Charlotte.
The hand of the girl who would follow in her father’s footsteps to become another of the continent’s greatest, another ‘Divine Sword.’
The hand of the knight who would one day assist the new ‘Duke of Sachsen,’ becoming his most loyal sword.
* * *
After the duel, Dale brought Charlotte back to the ducal castle’s hall. He needed to tell his father of his decision and persuade him.
By then, the discussion between Charlotte’s mother, Dale’s father, and Lord Helmut had more or less concluded.
“Charlotte.”
The young widow of the Divine Sword, Vanessa Orharhart, spoke. As a mother, she had made the best possible decision for her daughter.
‘Lady Charlotte Orharhart will be protected under the name of our House Sachsen.’
The Duke of Sachsen had nodded in agreement to her request. Now, it was time to tell her daughter of the decision.
Her thoughtless daughter would probably cry and throw a tantrum, insisting she couldn't stay here.
But it couldn't be helped. Dressed all in black, the veiled Vanessa began to speak to Charlotte.
Charlotte listened to her mother’s words in silence.
“I understand, Mother.”
After listening, she quietly nodded.
“Charlotte…?”
Her daughter, who she had been so sure would weep and wail, refusing to be separated from her mother.
Her daughter, who she had expected to stubbornly insist that she didn't need protection from some great noble of the Empire.
“I’m going to become strong.”
She simply nodded with a smile, as if she understood everything.
What in the world had happened in that short time? The Duke of Sachsen and Lord Helmut were speechless, and Vanessa, too, turned her head in surprise. She looked toward Dale, who was watching her daughter’s resolve.
“Until my sword can protect you and House Orharhart in my father’s place.”
But Dale said nothing, merely watching Charlotte’s determination in silence.
“Because I am the proud daughter of the Divine Sword.”
Vanessa couldn't hold back any longer; she embraced her daughter and began to sob.