Verification (4): The Shepherd's Contract
“I heard you just fine without you needing to clean out your ears.”
“My lord, my fist isn't made of steel.”
“Does your own fist look like steel to you?”
Sir Bedivere, the one-armed knight, approached the cliff without hesitation and extended his hand toward it.
Abnormal thick veins bulged on his left arm, but no mana flow was felt. With a light swing that didn't even produce a sound of cutting the wind—
—
BOOM!
With a deafening sound that would make one's ears fall off, the ground shook.
The bottom of the overhanging rock, which had been looked down upon, collapsed as if lying, and disappeared.
A cave large enough to fit dozens of people with a single punch appeared.
Broken stone dust settled like mist, and boulders fell overhead.
In the center of that scene, Sir Bedivere laughed heartily and turned to look at me.
“Well, since you've shown the sample, you can do it! Come on, try it!”
Is this really...?
Even seeing the traces of destruction, it didn't feel real.
Wasn't it unrealistic?
Causing such destruction with raw power without raising mana...
Even if using mana... could it be done?
Was he testing courage?
Meaning just try without thinking.
Power awakening? Inheritance of special technique? Secret mana manipulation?
After pondering, no clear answer came out.
Just stand in front of the cliff and punch strongly without surrounding it with mana.
The shock bounced back, and a tingling pain ran up the wrist.
A mark remained on the cliff and a small crack formed, but it was only enough to break a rock.
Destruction like that of Sir Bedivere is impossible.
The pain of the skin on the hand being scraped didn't give confidence.
I knew it without trying.
Like not knowing you can't fly after falling from high up.
It wasn't a matter of doing or not doing, but a point in the domain.
I can't do it.
And I thought it was Sir Bedivere's polite refusal of the proposal.
If it wasn't at this level, there wouldn't be any such proposal.
“You have to hit with full power.”
“Sir, that is...”
“Quickly.”
Sir Bedivere's answer was firm.
Unlike the earlier cheerfulness, this time it was sharp like cold.
I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but the gaze was too overwhelming.
At the moment when I couldn't hit the wall and the words of surrender didn't easily come out.
Sir Bedivere said with a smile.
“Haha! Still scared? Don't worry.”
Scared?
What?
Failure is obviously scary.
But it's not that; it's that my limit is just that.
The fear Sir Bedivere wanted to express didn't seem to be that.
“Sir, not that. I'm grateful for the opportunity you gave...”
“No, you are afraid. You haven't used your full power so far.”
“That is.”
The word "no" didn't come out from my throat.
Because that gaze pierced and looked at me, I couldn't say 'false'.
“After using strength, you won't be able to go back anymore. You've been suppressing it.”
“...”
I couldn't refute.
The training at night, the life of extreme hardship, all.
Because the daily life that would break without holding back was too scary.
“You are arrogant! Youthful spirit? Childish worry!”
“Sir Bedivere...”
“Quickly. With full power.”
Sir Bedivere looked at the cliff without a word.
The eyes were confident that even one punch wouldn't leave a mark.
As if knowing the power I couldn't draw out...
I clenched my fist.
The skin on the hand was torn, a little blood flowing, but the pain was almost none.
I knew the bones wouldn't break.
I knew the muscles would provide the power to break it.
Breath and heart awakened the power flowing through the whole body.
And only the head stopped it.
This is the power that killed my family.
The body moved forward.
Since the thoughts could no longer stop the body, the feet stomped the ground.
Crack—
With the crack on the ground, a small vibration shook the entire forest.
The ground pushed the body, and the power amplified through the joints.
Muscles stretched and amplified the power once more, and the bones supported it thickly.
The shock that rose at the fingertips tore the air several times and created a white-hot glow.
—!
The shock that shook the body made the eardrums muffled, a deafening sound with no sound heard.
A greater destruction than the traces left by Sir Bedivere was visible.
“Excellent.”
No calm congratulations or applause.
Because he was one-armed.
“Yes, Sir Bedivere. I am afraid.”
Without a scratch from the falling rocks, the glass-like world that breaks with my gesture is scary.
Scared that with this power, I won't be able to embrace my loved one.
“I curse this power several times a day.”
The power that grows stronger day by day is scary.
The daily life that will be torn apart by a breath someday is too scary.
Because I was always afraid as a coward.
“Does Sir know this answer?”
In front of the collapsed cliff, dirt and dust cleared, and wind blew.
Waiting for the method to control the hand dripping blood, the bones trembling with destruction traces, the muscles craving more liberation.
“Of course!”
The hearty laughter melted the fear.
Behind his back, it seemed like bright light was rising.
“If it overflows someday, we have to make a waterway. What remains at the end of suppressing and suppressing is only destruction!”
“I still don't quite understand.”
“You. Do you know [Geas]?”
“First time hearing it.”
“It is a chain that constrains oneself and a soul's oath declaring to the world.”
An unsolvable restraint and the source of another power.
“Make the world tear off the muscles and want to receive something else. Instead of your innate power decreasing, something will be given.”
“For example?”
“Genius intelligence, or overwhelming mana. You can obtain a technique reaching the extreme.”
“I don't need that. Just...”
Speak honestly.
Scared that I won't be able to embrace the loved one.
Scared that the precious daily life will break.
It's just that small wish.
Because today's and tomorrow's precious life is more grateful than the peak and the extreme.
“Haha! How romantic. Then... if you just want to protect the precious life, then yes. The shepherd's contract.”
“Shepherd... meaning shepherd?”
“Instead of not being able to harm the people inside the fence, you can throw your power at the target outside as you wish.”
“Isn't it without flaws?”
Sir Bedivere's expression became serious and he shook his head.
“Who can take away the body of a precious person?”
“You can't harm it...”
“Even if not, you can't harm those who have deceived and approached you for a long time.”
“You can embrace my people.”
However, there is a price of becoming vulnerable to betrayal.
“I’ll do it.”
“It's good to think it over enough, right?”
“Because the wish I've longed for is right in front of me. And... I believe.”
“Indeed. A young man with excellent friends.”
I will believe the companions in the poorhouse.
Even if a knife is stuck in the back, I will embrace and forgive.
I felt the chain constraining the body and the power being controlled.
And I could understand.
I knew this power could no longer be swung at 'my people'.
And still, the power inside the body wanted liberation.
“Sir Bedivere. Can I continue breaking the cliff... with the Geas?”
“Haha! Of course! Feel free to unleash it!”
The earthquake and the explosion of destruction shook the forest, and there were small incidents like many birds losing their nests and animals fleeing from the forest, but Eric felt the power liberation freely.
***
After the sparring with Sir Lancelot, there was no time to talk about various things.
Uncle Robert had applied for a sparring match with Sir Lancelot...
As a result, the place where it was held for the first time became a wasteland.
The forest spirits fled, making the forest look like a wasteland.
The water spirits also fled, so the lake water receded to the point where mud was visible.
And what I learned through that sparring...
When sparring, they were holding back a lot.
The sparring that didn't show on the surface continued.
Realizing anew that such movements came out without using skills or mana, as if fallen into a game.
Will I reach there someday...?
The sparring stopped at the moment when Robert and Sir Lancelot simultaneously looked at one place.
“All seem to have come.”
“The sparring should end here. Thank you for your hard work. Sir Hector.”
“It is still a wonderful sword.”
“You flatter me.”
Unlike the warm ending, many words came to the chaotic place and it quickly became noisy.
“Haha. What if I make the lake like this.”
“Yeah. Who will clean it? I don't know, I won't do it.”
Sir Myrdin with a tired expression and Mor with a refreshed expression.
“Huhu. I was a little worried that the noise might wake the baby.”
Vivianne with a smiley face and Mote sleeping in her arms.
“Eh. Is this the first place I've been to?”
“Surprisingly, yes.”
Still expressionless Tristram and Marigold about to fall.
“Haha! This place is also a battlefield!”
“You two also seemed to have had a refreshing sparring.”
Boisterous laughter of Sir Bedivere and Eric who became more muscular than before.
The party's changes are displayed.
The party's changes are displayed.
The party's changes are displayed.
The party's changes are displayed.
And I realized that changes had occurred in all four of them.