The Ghost That Eats Iron (5)
Yohan is incredibly strong. Maybe the strongest opponent I’ve ever seen. After all, he beat Roban as easily as taking candy from a child! Even someone like me, born in a tiny rural village, had heard of Sir Roban. About a year ago, during the nomadic elf expedition in the western empire, he distinguished himself in battle. He marched at the head of the victory parade that passed through my village—a shining figure.
Where I grew up, entertainment was rare. So when I heard the parade was coming, I ran out barefoot and watched with awe. I may be a half-baked swordsman, but I’m still a swordsman—one who dreams of becoming a hero. If war heroes were returning, I had to etch that sight into my memory, didn’t I? Everyone praised him as “Roban of Speed” and “Flash,” chanting his name. It was magnificent. Perhaps the swordsman named Roban became an ideal in my heart.
But when I actually met him again by chance at the testing ground, the impression was… completely different. All the admiration and fantasy I’d held shattered. ‘Ugh, I really hate this. To think I looked up to someone so arrogant. I must have no eye for people.’ Still, Roban had at least grasped the ideal I admired. So when I saw his face, I desperately wanted to challenge him directly in a match and see if I could walk the hero’s path myself. If that had actually happened, I would’ve ended up just like Yohan did—humiliated and despised. I might’ve lost control from excitement and made a fool of myself.
But Yohan was different. He overcame all that mockery and crushed Roban head-on. Even when everyone jeered at him and wished for his defeat, he never wavered. “…I am not a nobody. I am Yohan Kim, the Steel Knight, who received honorifics from His Excellency Rexas.” Then he defeated Roban as easily as eating cake! I don’t know what kind of ridiculous ability it was, but he shattered Azero—which even a country bumpkin like me had heard of—and drove Roban to the edge of the cliff with his practical, if not elegant, swordsmanship for a complete victory. On top of that, Yohan turned out to be far, far, far—fifteen times more!—amazing than I’d thought.
In other words, Yohan is quite different from the heroes everyone praises as ideals, but he’s a peculiar man who carves out his own path like a true knight-errant. Honestly, he was cool. ‘Mm-hmm, cool indeed.’ He endured a situation that left him at a disadvantage and proved his worth in front of everyone. So I can’t even feel sorry for Roban. From the insults he hurled, something must have happened between them. But to mock someone like that, demand a real sword, and cause an incident only to get thoroughly beaten—who could possibly pity him? It’s all his own karma.
After watching their match, I felt tremendous inspiration. To become a hero, I’d come here with the entire village’s donations. So I resolved to roll up my sleeves, give it my all in the matches, and proudly earn my passing certificate. But then I realized something painfully: the person who admired heroes was nothing more than a foolish half-wit who lacked even the resolve to draw a sword like Yohan.
The first match after that. ‘I saw it. An opening. I-I think I can use the technique now…!!’ Thud! “Ugh-!” Puhaha-! I tried to thrust the technique in, but even though it was a training sword, I worried about hurting my opponent and tripped instead. ///“Miss Eclipse? I’ll give you another chance. Choose your next opponent.”///
The second match went the same way. “U-uh…! First form, Super—ack…!!” “W-what?” “Ah, I bit my tongue! The first form… uh, what was it again.” “Hey, are you even taking this seriously?” Smack! “Kuek!” I tried to use the technique, but bit my tongue and couldn’t focus, so I got hit. The third and fourth matches were no different—I kept making the same pathetic mistakes, only proving to everyone how half-baked I was.
I knew it. No matter how much I swung my sword at a straw dummy tied to bamboo, actually using techniques on a real person was on a completely different level. I understood I wouldn’t be able to do it well. But even so, how could I be this bad? For some reason, I was given more chances than others. If I could, I’d crawl into a mouse hole and hide. Everyone was laughing at me. “Poor thing, are the professors bullying her?” “Someone that dim should just be failed. What are they thinking…?” They even threw curses my way while evaluating me. I’d never received such contemptuous looks before. ‘U-uh. I guess I really don’t belong in the capital… I shouldn’t have come. S-sorry, everyone…’
///“Miss Eclipse, please choose your next opponent.”/// The professor urged me, but honestly, I was already at my limit. My head thought nothing would work anymore… yet my heart kept apologizing to the villagers who had supported me. I was a fool who couldn’t choose to give up or to stand back up. That was who I was. But then— “…Hey, you dimwit.”
Yohan, who had passed the first evaluation with flying colors and received an A-rank, sat there with an air of nonchalance. Stretching, he turned his gaze toward me. In that moment, the words he’d said earlier echoed in my mind. ‘If you can’t find anyone to test with later, or if you’re in trouble because you’ve fought too many, pick me. I’ll make sure you pass.’ I’m the one who can cure that chronic illness of yours. ‘N-no way… Is Yohan talking about this situation right now? How did he know this would happen?’ Those words were like a lifeline. Just like me, who was being ignored for showing an incompetent side, he was someone who had been despised simply for being from the North—yet he had shaken off all that low evaluation and soared. So I had no choice but to think: Let’s trust him. Yohan is an unbelievable swordsman. That’s why he noticed my problem just by looking at me, right? Or maybe… ‘Could Yohan be the Aligner…?’
Father had told me when teaching me the Sun-Obscuring Swordplay: when the time comes, the one who masters this swordplay will meet three great beings called the Aligners. And only then will this swordplay truly shine. It might be a delusion, but I’d wondered if such a person really existed. ‘Maybe Yohan is one of the Aligners?’ If there was even a one-in-a-thousand chance, then trusting the knight-errant’s words seemed reasonable enough. Honestly, he had driven Roban to the brink of death, so the thought of crossing swords with him was terrifying and burdensome. ‘…W-well, whatever.’ At this point, what did I have to lose? So, with a feeling of resignation, I chose Yohan as my final opponent. If he really was an Aligner, he would teach me. If not, and he was just someone who wanted to help, he’d go easy on my attacks and treat me kindly… That was what I thought. But that expectation shattered on the very first exchange.
Yohan was no ordinary person. Clang! Crumble- “U-uh…” My training sword melted away like snow. Just like he had done to Roban’s sword, when our blades met, he grabbed my sword’s body and used that terrifying ability. “My mistake, Eclipse. Why did you cross swords with me?” “H-how else am I supposed to spar, Yohan?” “You’ll have to figure that out yourself. I’m going to punish you.” Smack! “Ugyaaaak!” “Don’t think it’s unfair. I’m not even using half of half the power I could.” ‘Half of half’…? What? So I ended up getting beaten about fifteen times with “Snap out of it!” level strikes. It hurts, Yohan. At first he was just scary, but now I just hate him. If I could, I’d want to punch him with a spicy fist…!
To break through Eclipse’s blood points, I had to become someone she wanted to hit. However, I didn’t have the acting skills to play a character as annoying as Roban. So I decided on a simple method. The method was… if she failed to clear the MISSION, I would give her a PUNISHMENT. “Again, Eclipse. Again.” “U-uaaah!!” “Don’t hesitate, idiot… If you’ve drawn your sword, you should swing it with the resolve to cut a throat!” Whoosh- Grab. Clang-!! Before I knew it, it was the sixteenth sword. During all that time, I hadn’t attacked directly. But whenever she swung her sword clumsily because she didn’t want to hurt me and left an opening, I pierced through that gap so thoroughly it took my breath away. And every time, I broke the sword she held, again and again. Each time I broke one, I punished her. Thwack! “Ugh…!” The punishment wasn’t anything special. Just one or two strikes with the flat of the blade on spots that wouldn’t leave scars, giving her a spicy taste. And this again. Like the excellent student she was, she raised her charisma guard and crouched on the ground, diligently taking the hits. “Y-Yohan, you’re really…! Mean!” “You’re meaner for having no learning ability.” “You never let me have the last word. You beast! Muscle-head!” I’d braced myself, but even so, it felt a bit uncomfortable. It was the first time I’d beaten a woman this thoroughly. Still, I decided not to pity her. Because once she stood before me with a sword, she was a warrior too. If this had been real combat, she would’ve become minced meat more than sixteen times over. So why pity her? There was no need to go easy. She hadn’t even landed a single effective hit, after all.
Yet the professors didn’t stop this one-sided trampling. ///“We’ll give you another sword, Student Eclipse.”/// Even though the three-minute time limit for the match had long passed, nearly thirty minutes had gone by. Because— “I-I…!” Spit- ‘That’s it.’ I could see her fighting spirit slowly awakening. Look. Earlier she’d been crying while getting beaten, but now she was standing up, taking the sword, and even spitting. The absurdity of being beaten by someone twice her size? That would truly feel like indescribable despair. And if she only cowered and feared because of it, this situation wouldn’t end. But to keep getting hit without even resisting such an unreasonable existence, just because she “didn’t want to hurt others”—Eclipse might be dim, but she wasn’t an idiot. Someone like that wouldn’t have been able to complete the hero’s path in the game I knew. She spoke, trembling. “Yohan, wasn’t there a gentler way?” “This is the proper guidance from someone who knows your limits. I wonder if you can understand that.” When I answered nonchalantly, she said, “You’re… maybe the strongest person I’ve ever seen. And the most spiteful. To make someone this messed up.” ‘Yeah, yeah, no one’s blood wouldn’t boil.’ But the effect was outstanding. “So, Yohan.” “What is it.” “What if… really, what if I manage to land even one attack on you in this match…” Her voice was cracking and hoarse. “Please let me hit you a few times too. Okay? You promise?” I gave a dry laugh and answered. “Your spirit’s come back, dimwit.” Whoosh- There was no more hesitation in the way Eclipse extended her foot. “If sword meets sword, it breaks. So there’s only one place to aim…” Fwoosh-! She covered the area around me with a pillar of flame to block my vision. Where? Where would she come from? “Behind you!” And she spun around with speed that made her earlier clumsiness seem like a lie, aiming for my back. Boom! “Oho.” “Third form, Life Light—!!” “Well done, Eclipse.” Clang-! I had predicted her trajectory and placed my sword behind me. It was difficult, but I somehow managed to block the sword Eclipse thrust with all her might. “Y-you’re not human! Even this doesn’t reach youuu…!” No. This was the reaction speed that had chased Roban of Speed, so I barely managed it. Any other student would’ve won the match right there. But that didn’t mean Eclipse had failed. “Well, it seems like it did reach.” “Eh?” “Look at my shoulder.” She hadn’t noticed, but her sword tip had gone past the clashing blade and lightly touched my shoulder. If this had been real combat, I would’ve turned her into minced meat sixteen times over, right? In that same real combat, Eclipse would’ve taken my shoulder. For the first time now, she had properly demonstrated the opening form of the Sun-Obscuring Swordplay. “I-I did it…!” Eclipse gasped for breath. Her eyes were trembling. She was clearly having trouble even standing now. ///“Match over. Eclipse Larima, C-rank.”/// In that moment, as if it had been waiting for this, the match ended. Professor Babalk must have been certain she had used the Sun-Obscuring Swordplay. “I… did it…” Thud- Eventually, having exhausted all her strength, she only fainted, making her promise to beat me seem hollow. But for her, today would be a memorable day. This was the first time in her life she had broken out of her shell. ‘Ah, I’m damn tired.’ ///“With this, we conclude the examination. Good work, students.”/// For me too, it had been a longer day than I’d imagined. Meeting the lady had been really difficult.
Even if I’d received an A-rank in the basic entrance exam’s match evaluation, there were still written tests on academic ability and various annoying procedures ahead. But rather than preparing for those, the priority right now was meeting the lady. About a week had passed since the match exam, but because Sigmund’s capital city was so vast, I couldn’t get a grasp on where she was. Since I couldn’t meet her, I was worried sick that something might have happened. But the first clue came when I returned to Sigmund’s gate to extend my stay permit a little longer. “Pardon? The lady?” “She asked us to deliver this. It’s not really part of our duties, but she requested it so earnestly…” It was a letter.