I Became a Mesugaki (11)
Harne's classes were boring.
Not that I'd say she was bad at teaching. It was just that I lacked the foundational knowledge to understand a single word coming out of her mouth.
I bet this is exactly what it feels like for someone who can't do math to sit through a math lecture.
Now I finally understood why those kids slept through every class. When you can't understand a single thing being said, what else is there to do but sleep?!
Somehow, some way, I gritted my teeth and endured Harne's lessons, and in all that time, I learned exactly one thing.
Taking notes is hopeless.
All that's left for me is dungeon exploration.
After whiling away class time in a daydream disguised as a lesson, I made my way to the training grounds as usual.
Normally I'd start by warming up with a run, but today there was something I had to check first.
Finding out the identity of that deafening boom I'd heard last night!
So I started walking toward the far end of the training grounds, and along the way I naturally ran into the other soldiers and knights.
On any ordinary day, they would have given me a polite, silent bow and scurried off like they were fleeing the scene. Today was different.
"Thank you, my lady!"
"We are grateful for your mercy, my lady!"
They suddenly started shouting their thanks at the top of their lungs.
What? Why on earth are they doing this? What did I even do to deserve this?
The only thing I did yesterday was knock that pathetic knight on his backside. That's something worth thanking me for?
Just as I was standing there, utterly baffled by this incomprehensible kindness, a knight stepped in front of me.
A face riddled with small scars, and a head so smooth it looked like his hair had given up on him entirely. Sharp, piercing eyes and a frame bigger than just about any grown man I'd ever seen. "Intimidating" barely began to cover it.
He said nothing at all, simply blocking my path.
Wh-what do you want?!
"Wh-what do you want, Bald Knight!"
What now, baldy?! Stupid Mesugaki skill, can't you read the room? What are you thinking, provoking a guy like this?!
Of course, he's family retainer, so he'd never lay a hand on me — but still, there's always a "what if"!
"Lady Lucy."
Y-yes!
"What!"
"Thank you, truly, for sparing Sir Carl!"
The fearsome knight dropped to one knee with practiced precision and pressed his forehead to the ground.
"I thought I would never see Carl again! And yet, thanks to you, my lady—"
"That's right! All of it is thanks to your mercy, my lady!"
The moment that knight finished speaking, a soldier came sprinting over from beside him and slammed his head into the dirt right alongside him.
No, seriously. Why are you all doing this?
While I stood there flustered and completely unable to make sense of the situation, the number of people kneeling before me just kept growing.
Carl? By Carl, you mean that pathetic knight, right?
And by mercy, you mean when I asked Benedict to go easy on him?
Is that really such a thank-worthy deed?
Look, I get that you're grateful and all, but come on.
Everybody calm down, you idiots!
I can't get a single word in!
While I was still drowning in confusion, the man who had shielded me from Carl's fist yesterday came walking over from across the grounds.
The Knight Commander, Forsell, was it?
"You lot! You're overwhelming the young lady! Move aside!"
When Forsell bellowed, the entire training ground shook.
Whoa. How is his voice that loud? At that volume, I'm pretty sure he could kill a man with sound alone.
And I wasn't the only one cowed by that voice. The crowd surrounding me fell back at Forsell's command.
That's a Knight Commander for you! Thank you so much!
I can't actually say thanks thanks to the Mesugaki-to-English translation filter, but please know that's what my heart is saying!
"Lady Lucy. Are you alright?"
I'm fine, but why is everyone acting like this?
"You look fine. What on earth are these morons doing?"
I asked, hoping for an explanation, but Forsell didn't answer.
Instead, he dropped to one knee, just as that first knight had.
How tall is this guy, exactly? How is his eye level still above mine when he's kneeling?
"My lady! I, Forsell, too would like to offer my thanks! Thanks to your exalted mercy, the future of a knight has been saved!"
Ha. Damn it. Right.
This is the guy who leads all those knights.
Which means of course he's exactly the same breed as the rest of them.
Knight Commander.
"Forsell, you pathetic excuse for a knight."
"Yes, my lady?"
Disperse everyone here, right now. Before I take back what I said.
"Clear this commotion up immediately. Unless you all want to watch Carl get sent flying."
* * *
Only after enough time had passed for things to settle down could I finally get the full story out of Forsell.
According to him, for a knight to lay hands on the one he serves is the gravest sin imaginable.
He'd be expelled from the family and held accountable, of course — and worse, the disgrace would cling to his name like a tag, making it impossible for him to ever serve as a knight again.
Then just quit being a knight? I thought, but that's the thinking of an ordinary civilian like me. Apparently, most knights can't bear the humiliation and end up taking their own lives.
When I realized that would have been Carl's fate if I'd said nothing to Benedict, a hollow little laugh escaped me.
No, it would have been even worse than that. Benedict's eyes were positively murderous when he came looking for me.
"Carl is truly a fine man. Yesterday, for reasons I can't say I understand, he made a grave mistake, but I will personally see that he is properly trained from now on. So please, I beg you, do not change your mind."
Um, I don't actually hold anything against him, though.
"What makes you think I care about some pathetic knight? I couldn't give a damn about bottom-feeders."
I understood that what Carl did was a serious offense.
But it all happened because of me.
Seeing the Knight Commander and every knight and soldier gathered here defending him like this, Carl must genuinely be a good knight.
Which means there is exactly one reason he lost his mind — my [Mesugaki] skill.
In other words, the fault truly wasn't his, which made wanting to punish him even more pointless.
Still though, how absurdly strong is the Mesugaki skill's aggro effect? Driving an honorable knight into a rage-fueled frenzy, seriously?
I'd assumed Carl just happened to be terrible at managing his emotions.
Normally, a large level difference makes it hard for a skill to take hold, after all.
But if that's not the case... then the Mesugaki skill might be an even more broken cheat skill than I thought.
"Truly, my lady?!"
I was lost in my own thoughts when Forsell suddenly shoved his face right in front of mine.
Guhk! That startled me.
A giant washbasin of a face suddenly lunging into your field of vision is genuinely disorienting.
Why does House Arln have so many terrifying-looking people?
Did Benedict become head of the family because he looks like a troll, and that's what passes for the real deal here?
Carl really is the odd one out, though. At least his face looks normal.
Yes. I don't have any particular feelings about it, so could you get your face out of mine?
"If you don't have any particular feelings, could you get that revolting face out of my space?"
"My apologies!"
Even after being bluntly called revolting, Forsell only grinned.
Was it really that delightful to hear that his subordinate had been completely forgiven?
He looks terrifying, but he's a good-hearted old man at his core, isn't he?
Ah, Knight Commander. About yesterday...
"Idiot Forsell. Do you know anything about that explosion yesterday?"
"Ah, that? That was—"
Forsell, riding high on his good mood, let his mouth run loose, then belatedly snapped to attention and shut it — but it was already too late.
You know something, don't you? Don't you?
"My lady. My apologies. Consider this unheard."
"Carl."
"..."
"Punishment."
"..."
"You won't say it?"
"...C-could you perhaps keep it a secret that it was me who told you?"
Fine. I will.
"Good. Now talk."
"That sound was the Count swinging his fist last night."
What?
A human fist made a sound like that?
"You mocking me? A human fist making a sound like that? Come on."
"It does make sense, my lady. In the Count's case."
He didn't look like he was joking at all.
Fine, Soul Academy may be a fantasy world, but a person throwing a punch and producing the sound of a bomb going off?
I stood there dumbfounded — but thinking about it, it was entirely plausible.
By the late game, the protagonist of Soul Academy was out there pulling off all kinds of impossible nonsense.
Fists that sound like exploding bombs? That's nothing.
It's bizarre, sure.
Just HOW strong is Benedict?! At that level, he'd count as a heavyweight whose name echoes across the entire Soul Academy setting!
So that's where the flashy nickname "Iron-Blooded Count" came from — it wasn't for nothing!
Why on earth did I not know about a character like this?
I have every major NPC in Soul Academy memorized, you know.
Could it be because Benedict is a character that came into existence alongside Lucy?
But hold on a second. If that's the case, why was Lucy — daughter of a literal monster — so pathetically weak before I possessed her?
Physical ability is supposed to be hereditary.
Athletes' kids become athletes, fighters' kids become fighters, and so on.
If I'd had even one-tenth of Benedict's power, how great would that have been!
Instant munchkin from the starting line! I wouldn't have had to waste a single thought on all this dying-and-surviving nonsense!
Now that I think about it, I got seriously cheated.
While I was sulking up a storm in my head, a sudden thought struck me.
What on earth happens to the person who takes a punch from a man who can shake the earth with his fists?
Knight Commander. Is Carl alright?
"Forsell. Is the pathetic knight still alive?"
"Yes, my lady. Very much alive. Though rather battered, I'll admit."
With that, Forsell said I'd understand once I saw for myself, and led me to the prison inside the knight compound.
He called it a prison, but it wasn't nearly as grim and forbidding as I'd imagined. It was quiet, actually. Almost peaceful.
I suppose that's what happens when the place exists purely for punishing troublemakers within the knight order.
"This is the aftermath of the Count's punch."
One of the cells had a hole in it.
And not a small hole.
The entire wall had been blown clean away — to the point where it looked like the room had been built that way from the start.
And the punch's aftermath didn't stop there. Beyond the gaping wall stretched a long, scorched trail of destruction.
It looked exactly like the carnage left behind by some movie monster firing a laser.
Hmm. I will spend the rest of my life being grateful that Benedict is a hopeless daughter-doting fool. If Benedict had been the type to show no mercy even to his own child, I would have died long ago.
But wait, hold on. Could anyone actually be okay after taking a punch like that?
Where is Carl?
"Where's the pathetic knight?"
"Right next door. Shall I show you the way?"
Yes.
"Mm."
Carl was in better shape than I'd expected. He had one large bruise on his face, but that was all.
Considering what had hit him, it was fair to say he was practically unscathed.
So this guy is a genuine monster too. Taking a punch that left that kind of trail of destruction and walking away with a bruise.
Then what would have happened to me if I'd been hit by a punch he threw with full intent to kill?
One wrong move, and I would have genuinely died, wouldn't I?
"My lady! I'm so sorry! I committed a grievous sin! As a knight, I raised my hand against my own lord! It is a crime worthy of death!"
Until now I hadn't given it much thought, but now that I knew just how close I'd actually come to danger, I found the whole thing rather outrageous.
Telling Benedict about it would just make him do something weird again, so that's off the table.
Hmm. What am I supposed to do here?