From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 30
From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 30
Boom!
The axe and the greatsword danced.
A raw dance, like running barefoot across a field however one pleased.
Since he was unused to wielding both at once, swinging hard was the best he could do, but even so, there was an unexpected gain.
「Body Proficiency + 1」
Berak deliberately made his movements bigger. Rougher, stronger.
Even fairly heavy debris shot into the air before crashing back down.
The soldiers scrambled this way and that to avoid it.
Berak moved with deliberate menace.
The display was meant to cow the soldiers into hesitating long enough for the captain, who had gone inside, to secure the time he needed.
Berak had no taste for volunteering for extra work, but the "captain" was someone he considered worth helping.
At the very least, he wasn't the sort to accept help and then ignore the person who gave it.
Iron fittings and splintered wood lay scattered in a mess. Without sheathing his weapons, Berak stared steadily at the soldiers.
"Ugh......"
Even at a distance, the soldiers could not bring themselves to speak. The fact that none of them had turned their backs and fled only proved that at least a minimum of discipline remained.
The standoff continued for a while. Berak stood firm and held his ground.
Thunder of hooves—
After some time, several mounted men emerged from inside. They were knights wearing the Hellvern crest, likely the ones in charge.
Flushed faces. Clothes untouched by blood or dust.
'There was no battle. Like at the gate village, they must have driven them off with the authority of the marquis house.'
When they entered the courtyard, a heavy silence hung in the air. The mercenaries' bewildered gazes were fixed on one person: Kyle.
'Right. Kyle's identity must have been revealed openly.'
Kyle slowly surveyed the ranks and spoke.
"How long are you going to stand there dazed? Straighten up the area and get the situation under control."
Kyle added, addressing the mercenaries who were still hesitating.
"Whatever anyone says, before I am a son of Kronval, I am the captain of the Silver Hawk. That has not changed once in the past thirteen years, and it has not changed now."
That declaration became the spark.
"Waaaaah!"
The cheer broke the tension, and the mercenaries immediately erupted into noisy chatter.
"I knew it from the start! Honestly, of course our captain would be this handsome!"
"Bullshit. If you had that kind of sense, would Enblin have shot you down three times?"
"Shut up! Why are you bringing that up here!"
Leaving the boisterous commotion behind, Kyle gave instructions to Calvern, one of the officers.
"You stay here and keep an eye on the others. If any unexpected variables come up, report immediately."
Calvern nodded silently, and Kyle shifted his gaze.
"The rest of the officers, inside. Let's sort out the situation."
Then he lightly clapped Berak on the shoulder.
"You come too. You've earned the right to hear about this matter as well."
* * *
Excluding Fourth Wing, who could not take part, four officers gathered in the operations room. Other than the vice-captain, whom Berak already knew, the faces around the table were all new to him.
The woman with a muscular build that overwhelmed most male mercenaries was Second Wing Gunna, and the short man only slightly taller than the boy Berak was Third Wing Nikos.
"So, what exactly was the situation?"
Kyle got straight to the point as soon as he took the head seat. Vice-Captain Varkan answered with a stiff expression.
"They spouted nonsense about investigating the spoils. They said they would seal the area until the investigation was finished because of concerns about concealment or removal."
"Fuck, do they think the Silver Hawk is some Rogue Company? I was about to cramp up from holding myself back from charging those knights or whatever they were."
Second Wing Gunna snorted and fumed.
"You held back well. If you had answered the provocation, they would have used it as a pretext to pin even greater charges on us."
Gunna immediately shot back at Kyle's cool assessment.
"I know that much. But why the hell are those bastards so desperate to sink their teeth into us?"
"They must have taken us for Lady Vivian's collaborators or her private force, so they tried to damage the Silver Hawk's reputation however they could. They probably also wanted to tie us down so we couldn't support her return."
The vice-captain shook his head.
"We expected some interference when we took the job, but I never thought they'd go so far as to use the authorities......."
"The opposing faction in the castle must have seen the young lady as that serious a threat."
Third Wing Nikos wore a sneer at the corner of his mouth.
"So what? In the end, those bastards picked a fight without even knowing who the captain was and made a spectacular mistake."
The officers nodded as if it were only natural. But Kyle did not relax his expression.
"Now that my identity has been revealed, there won't be any more threats as blatant as before, but we can't let our guard down completely."
"Don't worry. We'll stay on maximum alert for the time being."
Varkan gave a short, firm answer.
Kyle turned his head toward Berak.
"Berak. I want you to stay here while I'm gone. You are the young lady's sole benefactor, so your presence alone should encourage her to act more proactively. I'm asking you."
"Understood."
At those words, the two officers other than the vice-captain looked at Berak simultaneously.
After that, they discussed the headquarters' defenses. Kyle was the first to leave.
"So. Assault-captain-level combat power. The benefactor of a count's daughter. And the Silver Hawk's new officer candidate is this little rookie?"
"I have no idea what in the world happened while we were out on dispatch."
Gunna and Nikos immediately offered a comment each.
'Officer candidate......?'
Before Berak could dwell on the odd title, Varkan spoke first.
"Current matters first. Have either of you heard anything more about the marquis's condition?"
The two officers looked at each other, then answered in turn.
"No. We said it was coincidence that we arrived around the same time as the messenger."
"Information about the important people inside the castle is not easy to obtain quickly."
Berak, who had been listening to the conversation, raised a question.
"Was the place you two were dispatched to the Marquis of Kronval's territory?"
If so, it would not make sense for so many mercenaries to be unaware of the captain's identity. Sending people openly into his home territory would have given it away. Gunna laced her fingers and answered.
"Steinhoff? Yes, but that posting had nothing to do with the captain's origins. It is a frontline territory bordering the Western Demonlands."
"The Western Demonlands......?"
"Never heard of them? There are four such regions on the continent, home to the most dangerous magic beasts and the harshest terrain. Valken's Western Demonlands are one of them."
Berak pictured somewhere filled with packs of countless "black wolves." His imagination could not reach much farther than that yet, though even the thought sent a slight chill through him.
"Then we should hear your story too, Berak. What happened during this mission?"
At Varkan's request, Berak explained everything he had experienced without embellishment. The officers focused on his words, sometimes nodding and sometimes asking questions.
"......Ah, and there was an Oculus mark on the magic beast's corpse."
The instant the name was mentioned, the mood changed sharply.
"What?"
"Those bastards......"
The officers' faces hardened into something almost menacing. This time, Berak asked the question.
"So, what exactly is Oculus?"
A brief silence. Varkan spoke first.
"An enemy. An enemy of all humanity."
"All humanity......"
Gunna added,
"That's no exaggeration. They're lunatics whose sole purpose is to sow chaos and destruction in the world. It's a secret society whose base is unknown, and because of that, they've spread across the continent like poisonous mushrooms."
"Can a group that wants to destroy the world...... spread and sustain itself like that?"
Berak immediately pressed the question.
"It seems their goals are divided even among themselves. Some want to break the world and start over. Some serve an evil god and only care about gaining power. And mixed in are the dregs of humanity who simply take pleasure in killing people."
That was Nikos's explanation. Varkan added with a grave expression,
"The Oculus symbol has appeared twice recently....... We should stay alert for their activity for a while."
In the heavy atmosphere, Gunna stretched.
"So? Can we get to know the rookie a bit more now?"
* * *
Gunna, who wielded a double-bladed axe, showed open interest in Berak. Leaving behind a promise to have a proper bout once the situation was settled, Berak returned to his small room in the barracks for the first time in a while.
He lay down on the hard bed and stared at the ceiling. Through the old wood grain, memories of the last battle seeped in.
The knight Terian, whose blade he had crossed without ever feeling certain he could win. And the helplessness he had felt when, unlike the knights, his own attacks barely harmed the giant wolf.
The ability to alter phenomena in ways superior physical strength alone could not touch.
'Anima.'
It had once been only a vague goal. Now something hot burned in Berak's chest: a yearning for greater strength, almost like thirst.
He had once thought he should postpone gambles dangerous enough to threaten his life.
But now he understood. Growth that failed to break through the wall would eventually lead to death.
If he had chosen the mercenary's path to gain a complete Anima, then he would have to willingly face the "line of death" that came with it.
Berak resolved to seek out more difficult and dangerous commissions from then on.
'I can't move right away, but......'
Because there might still be threats remaining against the mercenary company.
But as if to make that concern moot, not a single person from the count's house came looking over the following days.
It might have been that Kyle's identity placed considerable pressure on them, or perhaps it was thanks to Vivian, who had entered the castle boldly and quickly solidified her position.
The detailed inside story came days later through the mouth of Melphis, who visited the mercenary company.
"The big factor was that Oculus marks were discovered here as well, following the neighboring territories. The count is pouring all his efforts into searching for and responding to those bastards."
As a result, the successors had also lost the leeway to openly keep one another in check.
"On top of that, the young lady has the credit of personally discovering the traces, and she's even gained the support of the territory's people through the Lion's Rite...... If she can just buy time as she is now, she'll be able to block the pressure being applied to the mercenary company well enough."
Then, as before, he delivered Vivian's gift.
A brooch from Vivian proving authority greater than the seal he currently possessed.
And, separate from the entire mercenary company's pay, thirty gold coins delivered only to Berak.
"That's the limit of what the young lady can personally arrange. She even emptied out the funds she'll need for her activities in the castle for the time being, so don't take that weight lightly."
Berak accepted it respectfully. He had no idea yet how he would use such a large sum, but he expected it would become useful capital someday.
Kyle returned a few weeks later after his father's funeral, keeping his declaration that he was a mercenary captain first and a son of his house second.
The only change was that he was no longer the son of the Marquis of Kronval, but the elder brother of the current marquis. His younger brother had inherited the title.
Kyle sincerely thanked Berak for opening the way to the main building. When asked whether he wanted any separate reward, Berak requested the right to use the captain's library whenever he wanted without reporting each visit.
He had recently realized something. Even when reading books alone, without anyone's instruction, the Record Sheet recorded a clear effect.
An increase in Intelligence and the registration of new fields.
But simply reading indiscriminately was not enough. The Record Sheet only acknowledged study backed by sufficient volume and depth of understanding.
Berak usually read after finishing his personal training. With his overflowing stamina, however, reaching the point where training was truly "finished" took a long time.
Berak completed two more commissions and, between them, resumed swordsmanship lessons with the vice-captain.
The cool breeze had now turned into a biting wind.
Berak was now twelve years old.
>> Attribute Details
[Stamina: 251][Strength: 252]
[Intelligence: 23][Charm: 50]
[Magic Resistance: 5][Dignity: 0][Sensitivity: 0]
[Insight: 8/100][Stealth: 16/100]
[Senses: 17/100][Regeneration: 12/100]
[Body Proficiency: 28/100][Unarmed Combat Proficiency: 8/100]
[Swordsmanship Proficiency: 25/100][Axe Proficiency: 27/100]
[Dagger Proficiency: 11/100][Throwing Proficiency: 15/100]
[Riding: 15/100]
◎ Education
- Western Language (Branvalt·Valken): Intermediate
- Arithmetic: Intermediate
- Military Studies: Intermediate
- Natural Science: Beginner
◎ Labor
- Farming - Woodcutter
◎ Training
- Strength Control Training - Axe Training
- Swordsmanship Training - Sense Expansion Training
- Fixed Target Throwing
......
- Combat Adaptation and Application >> View Items