Chapter 3
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 3: I Became the Youngest Son of a Count (3)
'I'll put this damn Master on a Goryeojang carrier someday.'
The Hobgoblin screamed and brought a weapon that looked like a club down on my head.
"Kuhuk....!"
I blocked his attack with the shaft of my spear, but due to the fatigue from consecutive battles and the difference in physical specs, I was forced to take a loss.
Kang! Kang! Kang!
The Hobgoblin struck down with his weapon in succession.
I moved the spear this way and that, maintaining a defensive stance, but the damage was steadily accumulating.
If it went on like this, even the small chance of victory that remained would disappear.
However, the Hobgoblin, whose eyes had rolled back in rage, seemed annoyed that his attacks were repeatedly blocked; he stopped striking down and swung his weapon horizontally with a wide swing of his arm.
"Heup...!"
The Hobgoblin's weapon flew in, aiming for my upper body.
I leaned my upper body back, barely dodging his attack, then swung my spear for a counterattack.
But perhaps because it hit the spear shaft instead of the blade part, rather than taking damage, he seemed even angrier.
Screaming once again, the Hobgoblin began to swing his weapon wildly.
Every time our weapons clashed, I turned the spear to deflect his attacks, but I was gradually pushed back by the intense momentum of the guy who had lost his mind to rage.
'I have to come up with a strategy. At this rate, I'll lose.'
While defending, I put in checks whenever an opportunity arose, but the Hobgoblin, who was pumping out adrenaline, didn't even flinch.
I needed a method to change the situation.
Just then, I recalled Master's advice.
'My advantage is my field of view and observation skills. To do anything, I need to buy time.'
I put strength into both eyes and observed his movements.
Perhaps his stamina was starting to bottom out from the continuous attacks; the Hobgoblin raised his weapon high above his head as if intending to make a big attack.
Aiming for the precise timing, I struck the descending sword to the side.
"Keup...."
Even so, blocking a strike made with full power was too much; my hands tingled.
His stance also collapsed due to the unexpected counterattack, but my condition wasn't good enough to launch an attack.
However, taking advantage of this opportunity, I widened the distance from the Hobgoblin.
While the staggering guy fixed his stance, I observed the Hobgoblin and started racking my tired brain again.
'The enemy is a humanoid monster with a larger build and stronger muscular strength than me.'
His physical structure is similar to a human's, and currently, he has lost his reason and is rampaging due to losing his kin.
He is in a state of launching reckless attacks while emitting killing intent toward me.
His armament is a club.
I need to figure out how to fight while exchanging offense and defense, but I have a slight advantage in range.
No, wait.... It's not a club?
Since he was swinging it like a blunt weapon, I naturally thought it was a club, but observing closely, that wasn't a blunt weapon.
".....A sword?"
It was rusted and chipped, completely failing to function as a cutting weapon, but that was clearly a sword.
Even looking at it again, it was the same.
The Hobgoblin was holding a rusted sword.
The moment I realized that fact, the calculator in my head began to move.
'Physically, he is a cut above me. But since he lost his reason, he won't be able to exert his full power. Due to unreasonable continuous attacks, his stamina should be similar to mine.'
If you add +1 and -1, it's 0. In other words, he and I are of similar skill.
That means this fight is between a swordsman and a spearman of similar skill, so naturally...
'It was a fight I couldn't help but win!'
Did gaining confidence bring composure? The body of the Hobgoblin rushing toward me looked clearer than usual.
The hand filled with excessive power due to rage and his gaze looking at my neck.
I can clearly see where he is aiming.
I extended the spear and gently deflected the sword flying in to decapitate me.
The saying that softness overcomes hardness is famous.
Even though I merely changed the direction of his excessive power slightly, it proceeded in the direction I deflected it all too easily.
A slash relying on strength is bound to ruin one's posture.
Before my eyes, I saw the Hobgoblin's body full of openings.
Now there was only one thing for me to do.
A thrust with all my might.
I put the rotational force of my waist directly into the spear and thrust it toward his chest.
The spear accurately aimed for the Hobgoblin's chest, but his tough hide attempted a final resistance.
Furthermore, aiming for mutual destruction, the guy tried to swing his sword at me somehow.
I had no intention of dying here, so I squeezed out all my remaining strength and pushed the spear in.
Puk-!
The sensation of piercing through hide and penetrating flesh was transmitted through the spear.
"Uwaaaaaaaah!"
"Kiaaaaaaaack!!"
I screamed with malice and squeezed my muscles, and that sensation finally informed me of the fact that I had pierced his heart.
"Keeeek...."
".......Huu."
His breathing gradually grew quieter.
A moment later, his life was cut off.
"....I won."
Realizing that this battle had finally ended, the tension released all at once, and a sense of exhaustion poured over my whole body.
Since I didn't even have the strength to support my body, my limp body couldn't withstand the Hobgoblin's weight and was about to collapse just like that.
At that moment, someone caught me.
"Good work. I didn't know you would actually pull this off."
"....Didn't you send me because you thought I could win?"
"I intended to give you a chance to think about how to deal with someone stronger than you when you meet them."
"......."
While I was cursing my master inwardly, he, who was carrying me, asked me as if he really didn't know.
"But how did you win?"
"The Hobgoblin was stronger than me, but he had lost his mind, right?"
"Right?"
"Then we can say the skill level is similar, right?"
"Hmm... That could be said."
"But since he held a sword and I held a spear, it turned out I had no choice but to win."
Hearing my words, Master thought for a moment, then spoke with an expression wondering what kind of nonsense this was.
"What kind of nonsense is that."
"It's a simple syllogism."
The swordsman Hobgoblin had skills equivalent to me, a spearman.
A spear beats a sword.
Therefore, I can beat the Hobgoblin.
I even explained it in detail to make it easy to understand for Master, but his expression looking at something bizarre remained the same.
"Don't go anywhere and say you're my disciple."
"Yes? Why?"
"If I say don't, then don't."
"But anyway, among the knights capable of teaching me, you're the only one who uses a spear, Master."
"Ha, damn... That's true."
Seeing Master clutching his head somehow made me feel better.
Like that, I returned to the mansion on Master's back.
"Kyaaaak! Ethan!"
"Calm down, Lady Ibres. It is not Ethan's blood."
There was a happening where Mother was shocked seeing my blood-covered appearance, but eventually, I was able to lay my body in a warm bath just as I wanted.
My crazy master seemed to have felt something after seeing me catch the Hobgoblin.
After the goblin village subjugation, with a vibe of 'let's see how far this kid can go,' he made me fight all sorts of monsters.
He says it's to let me gain diverse experiences to develop my advantage, which is observation...
Every time I caught a monster, he didn't hide his expression of 'This kid caught this too?', so only the 'Goryeojang Stack' in my heart increased.
What makes me angry is that I can actually feel my skills improving due to these experiences.
Is it rapid growth created by the absence of practical experience?
I, who only knew how to handle a very small amount of mana, reached the level where I could strengthen my body with mana.
In other words, I succeeded in entering the ranks of Aura Users, the starting line of superhumans.
At this level, it's safe to see me as an apprentice knight already.
Of course, considering that real knights—every Tom, Dick, and Harry—know how to wrap Aura around their weapons, I had only just stood at the starting line.
I was spending peaceful days.
Although there wasn't a day that wasn't hard because Master's abuse—no, training—became more difficult day by day, my skills were gradually increasing.
If I just walked this well-paved flower path like this, my life would surely face a happy ending.
Then one day. Father called me.
"Father, for what matter did you call me?"
"Ethan, it's a letter for you. Read it once."
"This is...?"
Father abruptly gave me a letter as soon as I entered the office.
The moment I received the letter, I had an ominous feeling.
Because the royal seal was stamped clearly on the letter paper.
Our family is one of the families closely related to the royal family.
The title of Founding Contributor and a power scale that falls within the top five in the kingdom.
Due to the nature of a feudal state where one cannot rule the entire kingdom alone, it was natural for the royal family to be close with nobles to solidify their power.
In my generation, this was realized as my older sister got engaged to a member of the royal family.
But I had considered it a matter largely unrelated to me.
My brother is scheduled to inherit the family, and my sister is tied by engagement, so they would naturally become close to the royal family, but as the youngest, I didn't have many occasions to be involved with the royal family.
Since I have a sister, the possibility of a political marriage partner being royalty is low, and since I hope to be the family's knight rather than an administrator, I had no business leaving the territory in the first place.
But suddenly a letter like this comes?
It's not a special day like a birthday, nor did I do something worthy of being congratulated?
I didn't think there would be good news.
I took out the letter with trembling hands.
A letter decorated with all sorts of flowery language, as expected of something sent from the royal family.
I decided to quickly look at only the core points before getting tired.
To summarize the content of the letter in three lines, it was like this:
"......Father?"
"Kuhum..."
Suddenly, it looked like I had to go study abroad.