The Emperor's Command
“Please reconsider.”
The woman's voice sank onto the floor of the audience chamber.
Even while maintaining etiquette, there was a clear power hidden within it.
“Please don’t send him like this.”
“My will is already firm. Why try to stop it?”
“We need him. The Empire still needs wolves.”
A soft chuckle echoed.
“Why only wolves? There are many others.”
“Your Majesty, those others and the wolves are entirely different.”
“You are mistaken. They are all the same. Just humans who suffer and struggle.”
The bright aura disappeared from the Emperor's face and voice.
Only the majesty and coldness of an absolute ruler remained.
“…Your Majesty.”
Nevertheless, the woman did not back down.
“Who is he? The man who tore through the Demon Realm Rift alone. The one who declared death to a Grade 1 demonic beast. Even without him, the war can continue. But it will be different. It will be completely different from past wars. So, please.”
With a respectful bow to the floor of the audience chamber,
The woman presented her argument once more to the Emperor.
“Please, summon the Ulfhedinn back to Your Majesty's side.”
“…Spar?”
Sien's expression showed a hint of confusion.
She looked as if questioning what she had just heard.
“What nonsense is this?! What are you saying?!”
Brender's shout made the knights flinch.
I had anticipated this reaction to some extent.
For a knight to challenge a soldier to a spar.
There was also the issue of pride, and it might appear as harassing a commoner.
“I, but Captain. Adel accepted, but…”
“Did you not pressure him?”
“Absolutely not! Would we do something like that?!”
“Unfair!”
Brender sighed at the knights' outcries.
Suddenly saying spar, and the opponent is neither a knight nor a famous strongman.
A very young man, at best in his mid-twenties.
Whereas this side has been grinding away for over ten years in knight life.
It was natural that the picture looked strange to anyone.
Even if you win, it's a draw, and if you lose, you won't be able to face Sien.
“…Are you really going to do it?”
Sien asked Adel's opinion beside her.
‘Say no. Say no!’
Brender's inner desire was to refuse.
It was a fight with no benefit.
The young man seemed to be from a regular soldier background.
Therefore, he would know about knights well.
He said that even giving a soldier a cart wouldn't exchange for a knight.
The gap in their levels was quite large.
“Understood.”
But Adel's answer from his mouth was acceptance.
“Hah.”
Brender exhaled a sigh.
It seemed useless to try to stop it further.
“…”
Sien's gaze was also somewhat strange.
She tried to hide it, but she looked worried about Adel.
Perhaps worried that the family’s benefactor might get injured.
“Rus.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Brender secretly called the knight who was about to spar.
“Handle it appropriately. After all, the young man who saved you and received a formal thank you and invitation from Sien-nim. Handle it appropriately, appropriately.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to do even that.”
“There is the ‘if’.”
“Captain. Don’t worry for nothing…”
“I’m saying this because I’m worried. In another sense of ‘if’, if you lose.”
“…”
With a ghostly expression, Brender glared.
“I’ll make you run 100 laps around the training ground in full armor.”
“…Yes.”
After giving a warning, Brender sent the knight away.
And in front of several spectators.
The spar between Adel and knight Rus began.
“It will be fine.”
Brender, who returned to Sien's side, said so.
“Rus is no greenhorn, and he knows how to handle it appropriately. There will be no issue in treating the benefactor of Lichtenauer lightly. You can relax.”
“…Is that so?”
Although her expression and voice were nonchalant,
I could tell she was worried that the guest might get hurt.
‘Please handle it appropriately and end it, please.’
While looking at the two men facing each other,
I prayed that it would flow in the direction I wanted.
“Please take one.”
After greeting, Rus stepped back slightly.
Without any sign of complacency, he searched for the opponent.
‘…There seems to be a gap?’
The basic stance was set.
But after searching, a gap appeared.
Rus, who was pondering what to do, decided to break through.
Tatak! -
Rus quickly closed in and thrust his fist.
But that attack was easily blocked.
As if he knew this would happen, the response was perfect.
‘Was it a feint?’
This time, Adel's attack began.
The hand extending forward, the kick aiming at the side, the fist digging into the gap again.
‘He’s doing well?!’
After a few clashes, a rough estimate came out.
This man named Adel definitely had some skill in martial arts.
‘Then, let's do it more seriously…’
They were not attacks that were hard to block.
So, he tried to defend and catch a counter opportunity.
Tuk! -
Tutuk! -
‘…Eh?’
Until Adel's next attack made the guard loosen up arbitrarily.
Boom!! -
“Eh, eh?”
“What, what?”
The knights watching nearby exclaimed in surprise.
And Brender and Sien were the same.
“Cough, cuck!”
Rus, who had accurately taken a strike to the solar plexus, fell down as is.
Are knights supposed to only teach swordsmanship?
Absolutely not, they learn all martial arts systematically.
Even if it's the Lichtenauer family that is famous for swordsmanship.
Even if it's any knight belonging to the family there.
They must master not only swordsmanship but all other things.
And among them, there is definitely martial arts.
“Ah, no…”
Moreover, Rus had been a veteran for 7 years in knight life.
If he had just 3 more years, he would have the qualification of senior knight.
A slightly light guy, but definitely skilled.
Rus, who was lying on the ground groaning.
‘Damn it.’
Brender chewed his lip and moved his steps.
Not anyone else, but especially in front of Sien.
In front of the new master who will lead Lichtenauer forward!
A knight of this family was broken by a young man.
“Hey, Rus. Are you okay? Hey!”
“I, I'm fine. Captain. I'm fine.”
‘Fine? It didn't seem fine at all.’
The words were rising to the throat.
He lost right from the start, what could be fine.
Brender slightly turned his head to look at Sien's face.
If there was any displeased expression, it would be worrying.
But she was looking at Adel, not Rus.
With an extremely surprised expression.
‘Even a disgrace like this…’
The official knight of Lichtenauer fell in just a few exchanges.
To an unknown young man.
When he returns, he'll be the future lord who will take office as lord soon!
“Ca, Captain. Ha, one more time. I'll do it one more time.”
“Shut up. Is the knight refusing to accept defeat?”
“I, I think I was a bit complacent. Of course I accept the defeat. But it's a pity because it ended too quickly. So…”
Brender slapped Rus on the back as if to say not to spout nonsense.
He lost, what else would he say.
“Captain! Please! Competing with a skilled person is a good thing, isn't it!”
“Is this kid crazy? You should know your shame, why always…”
“I’m fine with it.”
Adel secretly interjected into their conversation.
Thanks to that, Brender became more troubled.
So he looked at Sien behind him.
Asking what his lord's will was.
“…”
After a moment of silence, Sien nodded her head.
She seemed to have felt curiosity towards this young man Adel.
“Hah.”
Brender sighed and finally helped Rus up.
“Rus. Stand straight. If you lose again, I'll kill you when you return.”
“…Understood. Captain.”
After giving a ghostly warning, Brender returned to his place.
When he came beside her, Sien opened her lips.
“Have you seen it just now, Captain?”
“Yes. Precisely aiming at the joints and making the guard loosen.”
“He’s amazing.”
While clicking her tongue inwardly, Brender had no choice but to nod.
The fact that the opponent was stronger than expected had been revealed.
The ability to accurately target the joints of a fast-moving opponent in one go.
This was not a fluke or a trick.
It was a realm only those with extreme real combat experience could reach.
So, doubts about his identity were set aside.
Rus wanted him to win more than anything.
Because I didn't want any more disgrace as the Captain.
‘But why am I so uneasy.’
While trying to quell the unease, Brender focused on the spar between the two.
“…Indeed, you are amazing.”
“Flattery.”
“I’ll do it properly. Prepare yourself.”
“Properly, do it properly.”
At those words, Adel slowly nodded his head.
If the opponent comes in with full power,
It was a lesson he had learned to respond in kind.
Since he said he would do it properly, he had to do it properly himself.
“Hup!”
So, when Rus took the lead again,
Adel decided not to wait or receive.
“Cough?!”
At the moment he extended his arm, Rus spewed out another groan.
He hurriedly turned his body to pull out the arm where the pain was transmitted.
It was an event that happened in the blink of an eye.
Adel's hand moved, and the joints and muscles screamed.
He had allowed an attack in the gap of a moment.
The arm was throbbing as if it would fall off.
Clenching his teeth, he tried to move his leg this time.
But Adel moved much faster than that.
Crack! -
“Cough!”
His body balance collapsed as he bent forward.
Only then did Rus realize what had happened.
He targeted only the key muscles and joints.
He took away the ability to resist with a single attack.
This was not just a level achieved through learning.
It had to be seen as the essence made through extreme real combat experience.
Tatak! -
Was it because he had a momentary thought and a gap?
Rus was startled by Adel's appearance close by.
And that shock shook his composure as a knight.
“Rus!”
At the moment Brender's shout was heard,
He discovered that he was unconsciously spinning his chakra.
‘T, this!’
Before he realized what he had done,
Rus's fist with blue light flew towards Adel.
Swoosh swoosh-.
“…Hah.”
With a deep sigh, the woman wrapped her hand around her forehead.
She had tried to bend the Emperor's will.
However, in the end, she was persuaded in return.
“All the same people…”
Recalling the words the Emperor had said, the woman wrote something again.
- 000 Adel, retirement -
“…”
While the woman was staring at the name for a moment, she turned her eyes sideways.
Retirement (injury), warrior, retirement (injury), warrior, warrior, warrior….
Words full of despair spread out.
Crack-.
Chewing her lip, she recalled the words the Emperor had said.
People who suffer and struggle the same way.
The woman who closed the document stood up and approached the window.
To soothe the frustration and regret, she put a cigarette in her mouth.
- Highest grade secret matter -
- Special military unit under the Emperor -
- Ulfhedinn -