On the Road to the Academy (3)
“You stupid bandit bastards!! The merchant and woman you let slip away are right here!! And as a bonus, there's a noble you can snag for fat ransom if you take him alive!!”
“You mad bastard!! Shut up!! Please, just shut the hell up!!”
Boris's face flushed beet red as he bellowed back at me even louder than I had.
Hori tried to lunge from behind and clamp a hand over my mouth, but I blocked her easily.
“That's right! Scream it like that!! That's how you get those guys rushing over here fast!”
Only then did Boris seem to realize the volume of his own voice. He hurriedly slapped a hand over his mouth, as if trying to salvage the situation too late.
“Wh-what in the world are you thinking…?! Do you want us all to die?!”
“Die? Who?”
“Who?! Us! Us!! Why are you talking like it's about someone else?! We're the ones about to get killed here!!”
“Hah… unbelievable. What, you scared of a bunch of lowly bandits?”
“L-lowly?! Those aren't just bandits, they're ex-mercenaries…”
“If they were any good, would they be pulling petty bandit gigs? They're third-rate hacks with no gigs lined up, that's why they're out here robbing folks.”
Real pros never go unemployed. They hadn't been caught yet, so they had some basic skills, but nothing that threatened me.
“It's not my territory, so it's not really my problem, but no reason to just let 'em slide either.”
These past few days, I'd been barred from Battōjutsu except for short breaks to rest Silence and before bed. I was starving for a draw.
If Grandma knew, she'd come charging in with armloads of katanas—no exaggeration. This was a serious case of Battōjutsu deprivation!!
And that crescent moon up there? It had me itching for my first human-target draw even more.
“I'll wrap it up with a few swings, so just hunker down. Yell along if you want—that'd be even better.”
“A few swings?! What the hell are you—”
“Over there!!”
As Boris clutched his head in despair, Hori—who'd been quietly listening—finally spoke up.
“U-um, are you… heading to the same academy as me?”
“Huh? Oh, right—I haven't introduced myself yet. Ian Bar Tow, baronet. New student, just like you.”
The moment I revealed my status, Hori and Boris flinched, then bowed at a perfect ninety degrees.
“Pl-please take good care of me, Baronet!!”
“B-baronet…!! Forgive my ignorance, milord!”
“Yeah, yeah. I'm nobility in name only—a lowly baronet—so don't sweat it. Hey, bandit shits!! There's a fragile baronet here ripe for some sweet ransom!!”
“Baronet!! Please, just be quiet…!! What are you gonna do if they actually show up?!”
“Do? I'm calling them here.”
“No, but do you even have a plan?! There are way more of them than us!”
“A plan…?”
Me, master of the world's strongest sword art, needing a “plan” against some washed-up mercenary pack?
It was like telling a tiger to strategize because Chihuahuas were incoming.
Do they seriously think I can't do Battōjutsu?
Huh… I'd been yelling “Battōjutsu” earlier, but maybe they couldn't imagine a young guy like me wielding the ultimate sword art.
If they figured I was just bluffing, it explained why they'd been trying to stop me.
Or maybe… they don't even know Battōjutsu exists?!
People who'd never crossed paths with swords might not even know what it was.
Oh, you poor, pitiful souls… If they'd known about Battōjutsu, they never would've run from bandits in the first place.
Suppressing the urge to shed a single tear of sympathy, I told them:
“Sniff… Don't worry. I'm one of the rare few who masters the world's strongest sword art.”
“Wh-what?! What does that even mean?”
“What it means is… Huh?”
Sensing movement beyond the bushes again—just like before—I cut off mid-sentence and dropped into stance, facing them.
The two who'd hoped it was all a bad dream now trembled as nightmare became reality.
“We're done for!! We're all gonna die!!”
“Mommy!! Daddy!! I'm coming!!”
“Shut up already… If you're gonna scream, why not do it like earlier?”
As that pointless chatter flew, the bushes parted—and out burst my first enemy worth commemorating.
“Grrrrowl!!”
“A dog?”
Its fur was so pitch-black, I'd have missed it without the firelight. The spiked collar marked it no wild mutt.
“Silence!! Dinner's dog meat tonight!!”
Wait, could horses even eat meat?
Shrugging off the thought, I drew casually on the charging beast.
Shiiiing.
The katana blade gleamed coldly under the eerie crescent moon, turning even more sinister as fresh blood coated it.
The dog—no, former dog—barreled in with full-throated barks… until it was bisected head to tail in a single clean stroke, guts and gore splattering the ground.
The cut was butter-smooth, like a pro chef's work. Even I had to admit it was perfect.
“What, you guys brought hunting dogs too? Nice job escaping those.”
“Uh… uh…?”
The two gawked at the corpse in disbelief, then slowly lifted their eyes to me.
“Wh-what the hell did you just do?”
“Ah… This is Battōjutsu.”
The world's strongest sword art.
What the hell just happened?
I stared at the dog's corpse on the ground, questioning myself, but no answers came.
Magic? Some spell?
Even I, who could only cast beginner spells, would've sensed the mana flow if magic had been used right in front of me.
But there was no mana. Whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn't magic.
Then… with that sword?
Impossible, but… drawing at invisible speed, slicing the dog, and resheathing? All in a blink?
Glancing at the sword, I spotted what looked like bloodstains on the scabbard.
Come to think of it, he'd taken a similar stance toward me at first…
Realizing that, I flinched. That could've been me on the ground.
“Wh-what the hell did you just do?”
The words slipped out thoughtlessly, and Ian answered with obvious delight.
“Ah… This is Battōjutsu.”
“B-Battōjutsu?”
Was that the name of the technique he'd just shown?
I glanced at Boris, asking if he knew—but he just stared back with an indescribable expression.
“That's… Battōjutsu?”
“Oh, you know it, old man?”
“Y-yeah… It's drawing the sword super-fast from the scabbard to slash the enemy…”
“Right! Using the friction from the draw to cleave the foe in one go—that's Battōjutsu—!”
Ian cut off abruptly, spun, snatched something from the air, and grumbled:
“What… you got bows too? Dog bastards… bows now…? How the hell did you even escape these guys?”
In his hand? Not one arrow, but two.
Boris and I yelped in unison:
“Th-there weren't any like that at first…!”
Were they coming to silence us for good, figuring we'd rat them out to the lord?
Not a bad call—we absolutely would've, if we survived.
“So you've got a separate base… Fun, like a game. Mobs first, then the boss…”
Ian muttered something incomprehensible, grinning as he peered beyond the bushes where the arrows had come from.
Boris and I hunkered low, not daring to stand, bracing for more arrows or charging foes.
But nothing came from the fireless shadows. No projectiles, no footsteps.
Just silence.
Only the crackle of the campfire and insect chirps filled the forest.
But it didn't last.
Piiiieee!!
A shrill, grating whistle pierced the dark. Ian hurled himself into it without hesitation.
“B-baronet?!!”
“Some escape signal!! I'll grab 'em and Battōjutsu!! Battōjutsuuuuu!!”
He vanished into the gloom, and less than a minute later, a wretched death rattle echoed out.
“……”
Watching silently, I saw my chance and bolted upright.
The research notes from Father's carriage, stolen by those thugs during the day.
His final legacy—I had to get them back. No better time than now.
I charged into the blood-soaked darkness at full sprint.
“H-Hori?! It's dangerous!!”
Boris's warning trailed behind, but I didn't stop.
Finding Ian in the pitch black wasn't hard.
Bandit corpses littered the ground like trash, their agonized gasps marking his path.
“Hah…! Hah…!! B-baronet!!”
Running flat out, I finally caught up.
Ian was closing in on who looked like the last surviving raider, sword raised to strike.
“D-don't kill h—”
Before I could finish, a wet, tearing sound—like ripping soaked paper—filled my ears.
The bandit crumpled, cleaved crown to groin.
“Ah…”
Seeing the body hit the dirt so pointlessly, my strength drained, and I sank to the ground.
As I hung my head, thinking it was finally over, Ian tapped my shoulder.
“Hey, gotta interrogate 'em. Let's move.”
“Y-yes? I-interrogate…?”
In his hands: three unconscious men.
“Th-these guys…”
“Non-lethal Battōjutsu—flat-of-the-blade draw!! Didn't cut, just smacked 'em to capture ahead of time.”
“Battōjutsu…”
I mulled the word over silently.
What the hell is Battōjutsu?