11. I'll Let It Slide Up to Twice
11. I'll Let It Slide Up to Twice
Even on the way to the clearing, I'd quickly noticed the vermin swarming by the roadside.
Charles, having lost the duel, surely had nothing in his eyes but the thought of stabbing me in the back at any moment, but with so many eyes watching, he hadn't been able to.
Even without a major investigation, it was easy to tell Charles was plotting something. He hadn't exactly been subtle, running his mouth all over the place, after all.
"Simore went the other way. They won't be coming this direction."
Riber Simore, flustered by the sparring match, had descended the opposite way.
It might take a bit more time, but at Riber's pace, he'd have reached the dormitory quickly. There was no longer any reason for him to circle back this way.
"Eek..! What the, it's a halfling? There are halflings at the academy too?"
"All manner of life forms live in the Deep Forest, you know... Or maybe he works at the academy?"
Tuduk
When those trashy bastards pointed fingers at me and mentioned my height, the blood rushed to my head.
Halfling?
Now they don't even see me as a person?
'Once.'
It was extremely unpleasant, but I could endure up to this much.
A stack was engraved in my mind: 1.
"Hey, you sons of bitches worse than beasts, did you all just swarm here because you got butthurt about losing a 1-on-1? Aren't you ashamed?"
"Ha..!! If we had fought with real skill, I would never have lost.. That bitch cheated! Therefore, the duel is invalid. I am demanding a legitimate re-duel."
"What cheating? Is it cheating to move faster than you and attack more sharply than you? If you lost, you should have the decency to be embarrassed and just practice your swordsmanship more."
"What does a halfling who can't even hold a longsword properly know about a duel between knights, to run his mouth like that!"
'Twice.'
Fine, I could still cut them some slack.
But one more time, and I'd kill them.
Still, since they were scions of noble families, I figured I could just beat them up enough so they'd never dream of bothering Riber again.
Something of this level probably wouldn't blow up into a huge incident.
But Charles turned out to be a man who valued his life even less than I thought.
"Look here, halfling, do you know who I—"
'Three times.'
-Ppajiik
By the time I came to my senses, my fist was buried in Charles's face.
"Kuaaaack!!!"
Charles, his face crushed by my fist like a cannonball, toppled backward.
"Wha.. What is the meaning of this!!!"
His face, which had been somewhat presentable, was now an unsightly mess with a broken nose bridge gushing blood.
"That's it, you guys..."
A sound like something snapping echoed in my head.
I thought I had been holding back pretty well, but now it was too much.
"Just die."
——————————————-
A cleanup like this was something the Atlas of that moment would handle on his own.
First, let's educate these insolent bastards.
That single thought was all that filled my head at the time.
"A cowardly sneak attack...!"
Charles didn't even think about straightening his shattered, gushing nose; he just scrambled to his feet and drew the longsword from his waist.
"All of you, catch that bastard first!!"
"Ugh, fuck, I hate men."
"Is this the time to say that!!"
Eddie, the ruffian who had been standing slouched next to Charles, also a freshman admitted on a letter of recommendation, drew his sword, and a subtle light swirled around the blade.
A technique to coat the blade with mana to strengthen the sword... Aura Blade.
He also possessed the skill of an early-stage Sword Expert, having received an A+ in the practical exam.
He maintained a close relationship with Charles's family and had considered this request nothing more than a fun diversion.
"It's not a technique I learned to use on a mere halfling, but..."
He displayed his Aura Blade, slicing through a nearby tree—a thick oak was cleanly cut down in an instant.
"I'll finish this with just one arm..!"
The Aura Blade, with enough power to slice through the log as smoothly as cutting butter, was swung toward Atlas.
Even if he tried to defend, unless it was with another Aura Blade, he'd be cut right along with his guard. If he didn't defend, he'd be split into two clean pieces just like that oak.
Even with such an attack coming at him, Atlas simply pointed his longsword toward the ground, just like during sparring, and waited for the enemy to enter his range.
The sight of him waiting, holding the longsword lowered, was like a snake eyeing its prey.
And the moment the hand holding the Aura Blade invaded his 'territory,' Atlas swiftly raised his longsword.
Seogeok
Something soared into the air.
The onlookers didn't know whether it was a chunk of Atlas's flesh or the ruffian's.
Only when the piece of flesh that briefly hovered in the air tumbled onto the leaf-covered ground with a thud did its owner become clear.
"Ugh... Uwaaack!! My.. my wrist!!!"
"Yeah, I'll finish this with just one arm, too."
The chunk of flesh that took flight was Eddie's wrist—the one holding the sword.
Eddie's severed wrist, which had been tightly gripping the sword, rolled across the fallen leaves.
The subtly glowing blade of the ownerless Aura Blade no longer shone.
Eddie knew how to produce an Aura Blade, but his technique was practically beginner level.
Atlas didn't use anything like an Aura Blade.
What he just performed was an exceedingly simple technique.
A psychological tactic any proper knight could use... They never imagined that someone capable of an Aura Blade could fall for such a cheap trick.
His family must have pumped him full of all sorts of good stuff to force him to use it.
"Why are bastards like you so arrogant and rude with that kind of skill? Is it because you're tall?"
"Surround him!! Stab from all sides..!!"
As Eddie lost his wrist and writhed on the ground, Charles shouted urgently.
In a one-against-many situation, the most important thing for the many is to attack from all directions to prevent a series of 1-on-1 fights.
Perhaps because they had already bullied people as a group many times, the speed at which they surrounded him was exceptional.
But it didn't work out.
Atlas was faster than they could close their encirclement and attack.
He dashed forward and swung his longsword once, and a ruffian with a sliced thigh collapsed.
Behind Atlas, another ruffian who tried to bring an axe down on him had several fingers sent scattering into the air with a single swing of the longsword.
Subsequently, a ruffian charged in with a small fireball and a shortsword.
The fireball was as slow as a sling stone thrown by a child, so Atlas simply tilted his head to dodge it. He blocked the ruffian's sword path with his crossguard and slashed his shoulder in the same motion.
The ruffian who had cast the spell launched another fireball, but at point-blank range, that wasn't going to work. A wide swing of the longsword chopped the bastard's right hand, which had been casting magic, into two pieces.
When Atlas came to his senses, he was the only one standing.
"Wha.. what... Do you think you'll get away with this!!!"
Charles, in an awkward crouched position, crawled backward and shouted at Atlas.
There were six of them, including an early-stage Sword Expert.
It was a number that could easily bury a student who had received an A-grade or higher at the academy.
So why did it turn out like this?
"What, it's already over?"
"Ugh... Uwuuh..."
"My.. my hand... my hand..."
"The blood... won't stop..."
One hit per person.
After just six precise beatdowns, they were all reduced to grubs, crawling on the ground.
They were all clutching their wounds and trying to stop the bleeding, but none of them were dead or dying.
Whatever else he was, Atlas had entered the realm of mastery when it came to beating people just short of killing them.
If he wrote a thesis on those techniques, he could probably earn a doctorate.
"Well then, I should do what I always do."
As if notifying the fallen ruffians, Atlas muttered to himself, then got to work with his longsword.
By that point, the six grubs crawling on the ground could see Atlas's eyes, which held an eerie focus.
The Atlas they had first encountered carried a distinctly different atmosphere than the one standing before them now.
"Wouldn't you all understand this feeling if you were my height? That's why I had this longsword made to match my height exactly..."
The tip of the sword touched Charles's ankle.
As if measuring construction material, Atlas used the longsword to measure Charles's "length."
Placing the hilt at Charles's crown and the tip toward his ankle, Atlas measured Charles's length and used the longsword to make a small nick around the ankle area where the tip pointed.
Just like marking a piece of lumber before cutting it.
And then he raised the longsword.
"Right here. Everybody remember this. From now on, your feet start here."
"What??"
-Seogeok
"Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Charles's scream echoed through the foothills.
Something rolled before the eyes of the five remaining grubs.
-Degureureu
What they saw was a shoe.
But above the shoe, they could see an ankle.
It was Charles's severed ankle.
"Hiiiiik?!!"
"You little bastards, making a racket over something like this."
"Please.. please stop!! Today.. nothing happened, so please..!! Let me live!!"
As if their screams were annoying, Atlas spoke flatly.
His face was splattered with the blood that had sprayed from Charles's ankle.
"People don't die from something like this.
Don't worry, I'm so kind that even if you die, I'll bring you back to life.
Even though the defeated have no human rights to begin with."
The color drained from the ruffians' faces.
They were terrified.
When they first saw him, he could still be reasoned with, but the halfling before them now was beyond talking to.
They watched the bloodied longsword approach them, but they couldn't run away.
Five more screams rang out across the foothills under the setting sun.
——————————————
Because the academy was located on an island, everyone—faculty and students alike—kept their lodgings within the school grounds.
Students lived in dormitories, but faculty sometimes stayed in individual housing scattered across the academy grounds, aside from the communal residences. Andy, by good fortune, had been able to secure an individual lodging.
He had slipped into the vacancy left by the retiring professor, so he could use the lodging that professor had used.
The previous professor must have been a fairly skilled knight as well, as traces of him handling various weapons could be found all over the lodging.
"Hoo... Somehow, I got through today..."
Andy, winding down his day in comfortable clothes, looked utterly pale.
He had talked big that morning, but no matter how he thought about it, the training of the Imperial Knights wasn't something a student could handle.
He had to push ahead with the curriculum starting next week, but how was he supposed to do it... It was just as he sat down, mulling it over.
-Kungkungkung
Someone knocked on the door.
Who could it be in the middle of the night? Hopefully, it wasn't anything troublesome.
He opened the door with that thought, but no one was there.
"Sunbae, if you don't want to die, first lower your neck... and don't panic, just listen carefully."
When he lowered his head a bit more, he saw Atlas, drenched in blood from head to toe, waving his hand.
"Uwaaaaaack!!!! Wha..what is it, what is it!!! Why did you show up covered in blood like that!!!"