63. Sea (2)
63. Sea (2)
The sparring was just sparring.
There was no need for unnecessary bloodshed.
So Bel and Aros both picked up wooden swords.
At the viscounty's training ground, the two climbed up onto the sparring stage.
"I look forward to our match."
Aros, a twenty-five-year-old man, said.
Bel slowly nodded.
"Well then, begin."
Jjaak!
Melbron, captain of the viscounty's knight order and an upper-level Sword Expert knight acting as judge, clapped his hands sharply.
Bel stood still, her right hand gripping the wooden sword hanging slackly at her side.
It was a silent signal to Aros, telling him to come at her first.
Kwaak!
Aros kicked off the ground and closed the distance with Bel in an instant.
And immediately unleashed his family's swordsmanship.
A swift blade, stitching diagonals across the silent air.
It was a slash drawn so chillingly that it was hard to believe it was made with a 'wooden sword'.
Kang!
But it was lightly blocked by Bel's wooden sword, which had extended out at some point.
Even before the diagonal line could be completed.
Kkagagak...
Aros's eyes flew wide open. The wooden sword he had intended to lightly deflect wouldn't budge.
Brute strength.
He'd heard she was younger than him. He was shocked that he was being overpowered in physical strength.
'...A nail?'
This was a force emanating from the perfect posture Bel was maintaining, rather than mere physical strength.
Aros stared directly into Bel's serenely calm pink eyes.
'What kind of monster is this?'
Kang!
Bel lightly deflected Aros's wooden sword, then took one step back.
Bel lightly rotated the wrist of her right hand, which held the wooden sword.
Expert intermediate level at twenty-five.
Clearly a talent and realm that would be admirable from a general perspective.
But it gave Bel no particular impression.
<White Night Clan>.
For she was an existence who had grown up among those born with innate sword talent.
Aros ground his teeth and unleashed a flurry of his family's swordsmanship.
The trajectories of the wooden sword embroidered the air.
High strike.
Kwaang!
Low strike.
Jjeo-eok!
And mid strike.
Kkaang!
A three-hit slash, twisting his upper body to maximize speed.
That three-hit slash was lightly blocked.
'She didn't move.'
Aros only realized after finishing his combination that Bel had not moved a single step.
'Her upper body too.'
Bel had perfectly blocked his attacks using only the control of her right wrist.
"Introduce variation."
Bel said as she kicked off the ground.
Ssa-aaak!
A horizontal slash shot toward Aros's left shoulder. At lightning-like speed.
Aros hurriedly pulled his right arm, wooden sword and all, toward his body. He was trying to block the horizontal slash with his wooden sword.
The moment he barely managed to pull his arm in.
Swae-ae-ae-aek!
The sword path suddenly twisted like a wave.
Into a vertical ascending slash.
Hwoo-oo-oong!
Aros's blond hair swept upward from the sword wind.
Chills ran down his spine.
He couldn't even react.
If Bel hadn't controlled the distance of her wooden sword, it would have struck his face directly.
"This much is possible just by properly utilizing your upper body and feet."
Properly.
Aros could not even begin to guess what Bel meant by 'properly'.
After that, Bel continued to lightly block the techniques Aros thrust at her, and then corrected them little by little.
Like a teacher.
After a desperate thrust that Aros had put his heart into failed.
Bel's foot moved lightly.
Swae-ae-ae-aek!
And a thrust shot toward Aros.
In Aros's eyes, that thrust looked as if a yellow snake was rushing in to bite the nape of his neck.
Utteuk.
Bel's wooden sword stopped just short of Aros's neck.
"Same goes for this. It's a flexible strike you can unfold just by adding a bit of footwork."
Gulp.
Aros swallowed his saliva.
Sweat clung stickily to his hands.
Twung─
The wooden sword Aros was holding fell heavily to the floor.
Silence flowed.
Aros realized just how clear the gap between Bel and himself was.
And he thought that the gap stemmed from an innate talent that was hard to grasp, no matter how much effort he put in.
Bel's mouth slowly opened.
"Don't give up."
Bel's pink gaze met Aros's brown eyes, which were stained with despair.
"The movements, the judgment I showed you. Those are things you can sufficiently catch up to."
"...Is that so?"
Aros felt a desire for growth blossoming alongside a sense of helplessness.
"If you, the Grand Duke's own sword, are at this level, then how strong is His Excellency the Grand Duke himself?"
Bel shrugged her shoulders.
"...For me, it'd be over in one strike."
At Bel's murmured words, Aros could not help but be astonished.
Even a swordswoman of such innate talent would be finished in one strike by the Grand Duke's martial prowess.
It was a moment when his awe toward Yuma pierced the heavens and soared far away.
Bel slowly descended the sparring stage.
Viscount Amon worried about his son.
Had he perhaps fallen into despair before a wall too high? However, he didn't seem that shocked.
"I believe I just have to do my best."
A similar age.
If he had lost by a very narrow margin, he might have felt deep despair. But having lost by such an overwhelmingly superior margin, his heart was rather at peace.
The type was different.
The natural endowment was different.
By accepting that, he reached the conclusion that he simply needed to use what he had and do his best.
Amon was pleased with his son's attitude.
"Thank you. It seems to have been a good experience for my son."
Amon once again bowed his head to Yuma.
"Right, I'd like to depart soon. Do you know anything about the northern sea?"
Viscount Amon began to tell Yuma the things he thought would be useful.
"There may be pirates. There are several pirate groups that feed off the northern sea. Information has come in that they've recently begun operating again. They're likely pirates targeting the trade ships of the Resen Kingdom, which is located north of the Asthes Empire, but occasionally, imperial ships also suffer damage."
"Pirates? What's their armament like?"
"I've heard their basic armaments are spears and swords just like ordinary pirates, and they use magic arrows, arrows that can contain magical power. But I've also heard that there are occasionally groups equipped with magic cannons manufactured through magitech engineering."
Amon added.
The ship they had prepared also had one magic cannon installed.
And he said the pirates' objective wasn't destruction but plunder, so their basic modus operandi was to use hooks to latch onto their target ship, then kill with swords and spears.
"Of course, there wouldn't be any insane pirates who would attack if they knew the identity of His Excellency the Grand Duke. And since reports say they haven't been very visible lately either, the probability of encountering them seems low."
Amon's words ended there.
More time passed than originally intended, and after ultimately even having lunch at the Amon household, they left the Viscount Amon residence.
"It was an honor to meet you. Your Excellency the Grand Duke."
Led by Aros, his two younger sisters bowed their heads to Yuma.
"See you next time."
Bel, who had crossed swords with Aros, waved her hand lightly.
"We'll mooch another meal when we come back!!"
Hestia's shout rang out.
After bidding farewell to the members of the Viscount Amon household, Yuma's group walked toward the harbor at the edge of the land.
The harbor.
A blue sea formed the horizon.
Saaa-aaa-aah....
"Wow... it's the sea."
The blue sea was reflected in Bel's pink eyes. Bel was the only one here who was seeing the sea for the first time in her life.
Though it was also the first time for Yuma to see this world's sea.
Bel took in the blue sky harmonizing above the ultramarine sea with her eyes.
Hestia looked at Bel.
"Bel unni, then it's your first time riding a boat too. You might have a hard time!"
Hestia's green eyes sparkled as she looked at Bel.
Yuma's group boarded a medium-sized vessel.
Naturally, no one other than the captain and the crew boarded the ship. This was because the giant vessel and manpower were secured solely for the Grand Duke's schedule.
"It is an honor to serve you! Your Excellency the Grand Duke!"
As the captain, whose white hair mingled with brown, bowed his head, the 25 crew members subsequently bent their waists.
From Yuma's perspective, it was an excessive degree of bowing, but from theirs, it was absolutely not.
For they were taking on as a passenger a person who had become the authority next to the emperor overnight.
The captain, having lived on the sea for decades, managed to barely calm his trembling heart.
Yuma received the captain and crew's greetings with an expressionless face.
A short while later, the sails attached to the masts unfurled.
"Ohhh! We're departing!"
Hestia's energetic voice rang out.
The ship left the harbor and began to sail out to sea.
'Two things that look like magic cannons.'
The probability of pirates appearing was extremely low, but even if they did, it seemed manageable with just one or two magic cannons.
'Unless that massive pirate group said to dominate the coast is moving around in a group of three or four ships, it should be manageable.'
Yuma maintained his lofty gait even on the ship that had set sail, checking the vessel's armed status.
Yuma approached Bel.
No matter how much of a Heavenly Martial Body owner and Sword Master she was, there was no law saying she wouldn't get seasick on her first time ever riding a ship.
Contrary to his worries, Bel was standing on the deck, her blue hair fluttering, looking down at the sea.
"Are you alright?"
Bel nodded her head vigorously.
"Yeah, my lord. I felt a little dizzy at first... but after a few minutes, I'm fine now."
"That's a relief."
Bel gazed out at the sea for a long time from the deck.
Night fell.
Cloné and Hestia were lying on the heated floor prepared in the cabin, chatting softly together.
Hestia's green eyes stared at Cloné's golden eyes.
Hestia's scarlet ears twitched.
"Cloné, have you ever seen a Fishmen Tribe? I've never seen one, you know."
"No. I've never seen one either. I've heard somewhere that their skin color is sky blue."
"Ohhh, amazing."
Darkness fell.
And one night passed.
"Heu... I feel like I chugged a ton of alcohol."
Hestia staggered out of the cabin. It seemed the deep sleep she had on the ship wasn't very refreshing.
'I feel a bit queasy.'
And it was the same for Yuma.
But he didn't let it show.
Hestia pulled out a notebook that looked familiar.
"The God of War... does not waver even at sea."
...Come to think of it, he remembered seeing her scribble something like that before.
Yuma ignored Hestia and approached a crew member.
As Yuma approached him, the young man neatly dressed in a yellow sailor uniform widened his eyes.
"Has the calculation been made for how long it'll take to reach the Murren tribe?"
"Yes sir! Barring any variables, it is expected to take about 9 days to reach Atlantis!"
"Understood."
Variables.
The variable struck on the 3rd day of the voyage, just as the sun began to set.
Chwa-aa-aa-aah─
A crew member who had been observing the front with a magic telescope raised his hand.
"One ship visible ahead. Judging by the flag, it appears to be a ship from the Resen Kingdom."
There was no tension in the crew member's voice.
That was because the Resen Kingdom was an ally of the Asthes Empire.
"Uh...!"
The crew member gulped.
"It appears to be confronting another ship. The Resen ship just suddenly changed course in a hurry."
Jiiing-
The crew member urgently adjusted the distance on the telescope.
And what he saw were giant ships bearing black flags.
Not just one, but three in total.
"I-it's the Dusk!"
Dusk.
The most notorious pirate group had appeared.