Chapter 39: Preparations
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39: Preparations
Having accepted my trip to Quaran, Aenya came at me with a desperate hunger. Even as she panted with exhaustion, she clung to me, as if trying to make up for all the time we would soon miss.
If I didn't have such exceptional stamina, wouldn't her tenacity have been a little frightening? As it turned out, I only held out a little longer than usual; Aenya was the one who was knocked out first.
I left the exhausted Aenya in Mari's care and headed straight for Quaran. The moment I stepped into the swordsmanship guild, the sharp whistle of a blade greeted me, followed by a sword with no edge.
Clang—
As if I'd been waiting for it, I drew my sword and parried in the same motion. Beyond the brilliant shower of sparks, I saw Piole with a scowl on her face.
“You're late! You must think you're something special! Don't get ahead of yourself! You're still just a beginner!”
“Don't make such a fuss over me being a little late.”
“Hmph! That kind of complacent attitude is what gets your head chopped off! What, are you going to ask your enemies to thrust their swords a little slower for you?”
Piole was even more irritable than usual. It seemed she hadn't recovered from the shock of our last duel. I glanced down slightly. The message that had appeared when our swords clashed was significant.
[You have gained experience points.]
The line saying the opponent's level was high was missing. That meant the level gap between Piole and me had narrowed. It must have been thanks to killing the goblins, the troll, and Roland.
Of course, if we dueled properly, I would still lose by a wide margin. The gap the system couldn't perceive would still be enormous.
Even so, I couldn't stop the corners of my mouth from twitching. That seemed to provoke Piole even more.
“How dare you… smile?!”
“Stop nagging. Why? Are you trying to become my wife for real?”
“W-What kind of bullshit is that!”
“Didn't we make a bet about you changing your last name? To Tobalts. I thought you were nagging me as if you'd already become my wife.”
“Aargh!!!”
Piole’s shriek drowned out my voice. Leaving her to her tantrum, I entered the swordsmanship guild. Andrei was nowhere to be seen. Piole, who followed me in a moment later, grinned slyly.
“Father said he'll be back in the evening. Which means I'm in charge of your training until then! Hehehe, you'd better get ready, hadn't you?”
Her intention to torment me under the guise of training was obvious. Still, I couldn't refuse. Fighting for my life against Roland had made me realize the importance of training more than ever.
Besides, while Piole was too by-the-book to be strong in a real fight, she was, conversely, the perfect instructor for training.
“Actually, I came to see you today.”
“W-What? M-Me? Why?”
“Let's train first.”
Piole’s face crumpled into a frown.
“You're teasing me again, aren't you? Hmph, it won't work this time!”
It seemed she'd realized that her sensitive reactions only made me want to tease her more.
Thanks to that, the training proceeded in a dry, businesslike manner.
“A sword is a weapon with excellent versatility. It can handle most situations adequately. However, there are exceptions in certain situations. What do you think that specific situation is?”
“When the opponent is heavily armored.”
The answer was easy if I thought back to my first duel with Piole. Despite how much she had battered me, very few spots had actually drawn blood. Just wearing a thick cloth armor layered with chainmail provided significant protection.
Piole, who had been twirling her sword, didn't hide her disappointed expression. If I'd said I didn't know, she probably would have given a demonstration. With my body as the teaching aid, of course.
“Ugh. Correct. That's why many people use blunt weapons as their primary. But in that case, they always carry a sword as a sidearm.”
Piole sheathed her sword and showed me the dagger at her waist. Its awl-like pointed blade drew my eye.
“First, you partially disable them with a blunt weapon, then you aim for the gaps in their armor with a piercing blade like this.”
“I doubt an opponent would just let that happen.”
“That's when you need wrestling! Go on, try to stab me with your sword.”
Piole, holding her bladeless sword in a half-sword grip, created some distance between us. Her sly smile suggested she was up to something.
I tensed my body and thrust my sword. It seemed my level wasn't the only thing that had grown. Even to my own eyes, the clean, efficient thrust aimed for Piole's neck.
“…Annoying.”
The smile vanished from Piole's face. She deflected my thrust outward with the flat of her blade between her hands, then immediately lowered her stance and hooked the tip of her sword behind my knee, pulling.
The series of movements was as smooth as flowing water. It wasn't something I could have blocked just by being tense. I only realized that after I lost my balance and fell. And that wasn't all.
Piole immediately mounted me. She pinned my sword with one foot and pressed her other knee into my abdomen, restricting my movement. The tip of her sword was now aimed at my throat.
“The sword's versatility means you can use it in a half-sword grip to serve the same purpose as that dagger.”
Piole looked magnificent, smiling down at me. The midwinter air made the fine hairs on my skin stand on end, but her flushed, bronze skin was so vibrant it was as if she were in a summer of her own.
With the sun at her back, my gaze was drawn to her face, which had a raw, untamed feel to it. Her lively, light brown eyes, in particular, scattered a radiance more beautiful than any jewel.
“Seems like you're putting a little too much emotion into this training.”
The impact from falling on my back was significant. Her knee pressing on my abdomen had her full weight behind it, enough to knock the wind out of me.
“What are you talking about? Haven't you heard of training like it's a real fight?”
That was the beginning. Piole proceeded to drill me relentlessly, teaching me various attacks and defenses that combined wrestling and half-swording.
“A fight against a fully armored opponent often turns into a mud fight, you know? So it's good to learn wrestling properly. Now, it's your turn. Get ready.”
After putting me through the wringer for a while, she seemed satisfied and finally ended the demonstration, giving me a chance to practice myself.
She created a reasonable distance between us, the tip of her sword aimed at me, ready to strike at any moment. The instant I took my stance, she thrust her sword as if she'd been waiting.
“Die—!”
The battle cry, filled with personal feelings, was a bonus.
I raised my half-sworded blade horizontally, deflecting Piole's sword, which was aimed at my head, upward. As her upper body rose with her sword, I led with my shoulder and dove into her guard. It was a move similar to the tackles I'd often seen on martial arts channels.
“You, son of a—!”
Piole immediately tried to raise her knee to strike my face, but her reaction was a fraction too slow. It seemed she hadn't expected me to know how to tackle, something she hadn't taught me. That small difference was huge.
My shoulder made contact first. From there, I put my weight into the push. Piole was an incomparably skilled fighter, but in terms of raw strength, I had a slight edge. And since I weighed nearly twice as much as her, she had no choice but to fall.
This time, I was the one who mounted the fallen Piole. I pressed the blade between my hands to her neck. Piole's face crumpled like a piece of paper. I wore the smile of a victor.
“Looks like I win again.”
“Are you spouting nonsense? Can't you see this?”
Piole gestured downward with her eyes. Only then did I spot the sword aimed at my own neck. As she fell, she had recovered her sword and countered with a half-sword grip.
“Hah. Hah.”
“Hoo.”
We stared into each other's eyes, close enough to feel each other's breath, with our swords at each other's throats. It was true that she didn't dress up, but Piole was a beauty, overflowing with a healthy charm.
And a beauty is something you never get tired of looking at. How long had I been staring? Piole slowly averted her gaze. Her flushed cheeks seemed to have turned an even deeper shade of red, for a different reason.
“I-Isn't this position a little… strange?” Piole asked, her voice an uncharacteristic mumble.
Just as she said, if it weren't for the swords at our throats and the armor we wore, it would have looked like I was forcing myself on her.
“I don't see it. Isn't this a common position during training?”
I feigned ignorance, not moving an inch. I even deliberately moved my face into the direction she had turned her head, forcing her to meet my eyes.
“W-Wait. Everyone's watching…”
Piole's eyes darted around aimlessly.
“Piole. I think you're the one having strange thoughts.”
Finally realizing she was being teased again, Piole's face turned so red it looked like it might explode. She pushed at me frantically, making excuses.
“I-It's because it hurts! It hurts! What the hell are you carrying in there? It keeps poking me, and it hurts!”
The problem was that the thing she had grabbed was my thing. She even squeezed it as if it were a toy. Her boldness left me speechless.
“Uh, uh…?”
As I froze, Piole finally realized something was wrong. Her eyes, looking down at what she was holding, trembled as if in an earthquake. She curled her fingers again.
Squeeze.
Startled, she finally let go. Then she scrambled away from me like a grub. Leaping to her feet, she pointed a finger at me and shouted, even though I was the one who should have been angry.
“I-I thought it was a dagger or something!”
“Well, they're similar in that they're both meant for piercing something.”
“W-What!?”
Piole's face turned beet red. I leisurely got to my feet and approached her.
“D-Don't come any closer!”
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, she backed away as I advanced. Then her back hit the stone wall. She squeezed her eyes shut and aimed her sword at me.
Wouldn't a stranger think I was trying to force myself on a helpless lady? Even though Piole was the stronger one.
I clicked my tongue.
“What sort of lewd things are you imagining now, Piole?”
“Uh, uh…?”
I pressed on, not giving her a moment to collect herself.
“Could it be you're hoping I'll ravish you? I suppose if you weren't interested at all, you would have overpowered me long ago.”
“W-What nonsense is this!”
Finally coming to her senses, Piole swung her sword. It was a clumsy swing, nothing like her usual form.
I easily dodged it, grabbed her sword hand, and pulled. Unable to control her own momentum, Piole ended up burying her face in my chest. Her flustered expression was quite cute.
Before she could recover, I slipped my hand inside her chainmail. Her breast was soft, too large to fit in one hand.
“I never knew since you're always in armor, but you're quite impressive.”
“Youyouyouyouyou!!!”
Piole, having regained her senses, swung her sword again. It was a full-power swing. But a swing that was all sound and fury was no reason to fail to dodge. I had been ready for it, and I quickly pulled my hand back and jumped away. Piole seethed.
“You scoundrel! You lecher! You piece of trash!”
“I was just paying you back. Haven't you heard of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?”
“Still, this is different! How can you compare yourself to me!”
“What's the difference?”
Piole, who had been pointing accusingly, was at a loss for words at my question. The way her eyes darted around suggested she couldn't think of anything to say. A haze seemed to rise from her overloaded brain.
“I-I'm a virgin!!”
For all her deliberation, it was a pathetic result.
“Hmm, are you trying to appeal to me?”
“Die!!”
Piole only calmed down after she had completely exhausted her stamina. I sat down next to her as she leaned against the stone wall, glaring. I was tired too from dealing with her rampage.
Silence fell between us, as neither of us had the energy to speak. In that time, the sky had turned red. The many trainees who had been there began to leave one by one, until not a single one remained.
“I'm going to become a Grand Lord.”
“What's with the sudden nonsense?” Piole retorted with a sullen expression. Our gazes were still fixed on the empty training ground.
“Help me. And I will make you a knight.”
With the baron's man possibly arriving at any moment, I had come to the swordsmanship guild to recruit Piole.
Piole possessed martial skill on par with a knight, and as a fixture of the swordsmanship guild, she knew many mercenaries. Her lack of real combat experience was a flaw, but that could be quickly remedied by working with me.
The most important thing was that I could trust her. Piole pretended otherwise, but she had feelings for me. I was sure of it after seeing that there was no killing intent in her sword, even when I touched her breast.
“Make you a knight~? Ha, did you think I'd just jump at the offer? You should have said your goal was to be a count, no, a baron! Then I might have at least pretended to be fooled!”
“We're both challenging the impossible, aren't we?”
I was talking about her dream of becoming a knight as a woman. Piole's brow furrowed fiercely.
“This and that are different! It's uncommon for a woman to become a knight, but it's not unheard of! But there's not a single precedent for the son of a mere knight becoming a Grand Lord! Especially a notorious scoundrel like you? Ha, not a snowball's chance in hell!”
“So, you're telling me to give up just because it's a little harder?”
“It's not a little!”
Piole pounded her chest with her fist. I, on the other hand, looked at her with an expression of incomprehension.
“To an ordinary person, your dream is no small challenge either.”
Someone with a seemingly impossible dream couldn't urge another with a seemingly impossible dream to give up. I continued speaking to the trembling Piole.
“If I achieve my dream, you'll achieve yours. In other words, we'll share a common destiny.”
“Don't try to subtly tie us together, okay? I'm going to become a knight with my own strength.”
“Don't be stubborn. Knighting someone is a political act. The investiture ceremony is held for those who can be of use. There's nothing immoral about accepting my offer.”
Piole snorted.
“Hmph, I doubt people would see it that way. The moment any factor other than skill is involved, all my efforts to become a knight will be devalued. If I don't become a knight by my own strength, it's meaningless.”
Piole was trying to take the hard road and make it even harder. It was frustrating, but at the same time, I thought it was just like her.
“Then you can just act like you have no connection to me.”
“What…?”
I brought over a helmet and put it on Piole's head.
“When I first saw you in full armor, I didn't even know you were a woman.”
Piole was tall for a woman of this era. Moreover, she was broad-boned, so in full armor, she looked like a slender man. If she looked that way even to me, who knew her, then strangers would be completely fooled.
“Why should I go to such lengths to follow you?”
“Imagine it. After you've performed deeds worthy of a knight and achieved great renown. The moment everyone is praising you, you take off your helmet. All those bastards who said a woman couldn't do it will be forced to shut their mouths. Aren't you excited for that moment?”
“W-Well, I guess…”
Piole's eyes glazed over as if she were imagining that moment. She was a simple woman.
But it was only for a moment. She came to her senses and shook her head.
“Even if I wanted to, my father would never allow it. He was against it even when I said I wanted to work as a mercenary.”
Just as I was about to reply, someone else spoke before I could.
“This time is different. Because I was the one who asked him first.”
I instinctively turned to see Andrei standing there.