The Northern Hero (2)
'Everyone will begin to think of the Young Master as the Hartwald Ducal House’s... no, the North's future.'
Volkrik nodded as he watched the scene unfold. He had guessed why Kyle had sent Leina away. A lone powerhouse looked like a monster. One who commanded strong subordinates was seen as a ruler. Volkrik knew this fact better than anyone.
'Just like the late Grand Duke said.'
'Just like the late Grand Duke Valgrim said.'
"Will you receive treatment?"
Volkrik walked toward the Orc Great Warrior and asked.
The Orc Great Warrior had managed to raise his upper body only with the help of two subordinates. His two broken arms hung limply. Nevertheless, he kept his gaze fixed on the duel between Leina and the last Orc warrior.
At Volkrik's question, the Orc Great Warrior exhaled a breath mixed with blood.
"So you're offering treatment to an enemy commander who has been defeated?"
Volkrik's gaze was ice-cold.
"Do not misunderstand."
Volkrik spoke in the same icy tone.
"If you die, the one who controls these orcs will disappear. We need information on the unknown enemy you know about. You agreed to cooperate with us."
Volkrik drove the point home firmly.
"This is not out of kindness. It is a necessity."
The Orc Great Warrior looked up at Volkrik for a moment. Then he laughed.
"Kuhahaha... You speak the same words as that human warrior."
The Orc Great Warrior nodded.
"Fine. If it is treatment based on necessity, there is no reason to refuse. After all, I need to stay alive so I won't let my tribe starve."
Volkrik gave a slight nod.
"Healer."
"Yes, Commander."
"Connect the arms only enough so they can move. For the rest, stop the bleeding. Saving the life is enough."
The healers who received his instruction approached the Orc Great Warrior.
Of course, they had no intention of healing him completely.
"You won't heal him completely?"
"Of course not."
Whe the Orc Great Warrior asked, Volkrik answered immediately.
"I personally believe you are a warrior who keeps his promises. But I am the overall commander. Without ironclad safeguards, my personal judgment comes last."
No matter how much the Orc Great Warrior swore loyalty with honor, showing that they still didn't fully trust him.
"To earn trust, you must work for it. Krook."
"You understand well."
The Orc Great Warrior showed no discontent. As a leader, he understood the commander's judgment. Even if he personally disliked it, he had abandoned external orcs to his followers to protect his own.
"You should rest for two days."
Even considering the Orc's tough recovery ability, he would need at least two days lying down to hold a weapon again.
Meanwhile, at Karon Hartvalt.
His current feeling could be summed up in one word: hell.
'No way... Kyle, that bastard, defeated the Orc Great Warrior?'
The tips of his fingers trembled faintly inside his gauntlet.
It was no luck. He knew that much himself.
"Damn it."
The situation was strange...
Even his knights following him felt the same.
If Kyle had won with some weird illusion or weird sword technique that deflected attacks, they would have accepted it easily.
They would have thought it was a despicable method.
But Kyle had crushed the Orc Great Warrior head-on.
He had shown the raw strength that the Northerners loved most.
Grand Duke!
Grand Duke!
Duke Kyle!
On the fortress wall, soldiers were already shouting Kyle's name.
"Duke Kyle!"
"The great Hartvalt!"
"The hero who defeated the Orc Great Warrior!"
The Grand Duke who defeated the Orc Great Warrior and proved his martial prowess.
The morale of the soldiers soared to the heavens under his presence.
The young knights who had followed Karon stood frozen, mouths shut as if they had become mute.
No one dared to belittle Kyle's martial prowess.
'The Northern Hero?'
Karon's pupils cooled.
He himself had been the one to target that position first.
The intermediate step and support base for climbing to the Grand Duke position to save Elena.
That hero's position had now been taken by Kyle.
The flow was now completely Kyle's.
'Damn it.'
Karon forcibly suppressed the rising rage.
He clenched his teeth and swallowed his anger.
A mysterious power that even broke the Orc Great Warrior.
With his current self, he could see no way to break Kyle head-on.
'Not yet.'
Karon gripped his fist until it bled.
'It is not over yet.'
Opportunity will come.
If you wait, a gap will surely appear.
'That arrogance will one day strangle his neck.'
Karon consoled himself in that way.
Without that self-rationalization, he couldn't endure it.
***
In the center of the snowfield, Leina Garyen faced the last Orc warrior.
Since Kyle had voluntarily declared surrender, according to the rules Kyle was declared defeated.
And as the next warrior for the human side, Leina stepped forward.
The last Orc warrior looked at the knight standing before him and frowned his face in disgust.
"Kroo. What a disgusting feeling."
The Orc warrior said while carrying a huge greatsword on his shoulder.
"I didn't get the chance to fight that great human warrior. What a pity."
From the Orc warrior's perspective, he felt he had been looked down upon.
It was one human girl standing in front of him, not that monster-like human warrior.
That fact seemed displeasing to him.
But Leina showed no hint of wavering.
She slowly drew her sword.
A faint crimson glow quietly appeared inside her brown eyes.
"If you are a warrior too,"
Leina's voice was cold.
"Concentrate on the opponent in front of you."
Her sword tip pointed toward the Orc warrior.
"Otherwise, you will regret it bitterly."
The cool killing intent finally changed the Orc warrior's gaze a little.
"Kroo. Understood."
The Orc warrior bared his teeth.
"I'll quench my thirst with your blood!"
After receiving the healer's treatment, Kyle watched the scene leisurely with his recovered body.
He had two reasons for sending Leina away.
First, as his lord, to give his subordinates a chance to taste battlefield blood.
Second, to prove Leina's value across the entire front line and raise his own reputation even higher.
'To lead a group, you can't be the strongest alone.'
A person who is strong alone can be a target of fear.
But the strong one who commands strong subordinates was different.
He would be seen as a lord and a trustworthy leader.
That was why the three elite followers of the late Grand Duke Valgrim were still talked about even now.
In Valgrim's time, there wasn't just Valgrim.
Graham Berk, one of the three swords, and the other two elite followers.
Thanks to those strong subordinates, Valgrim's legend could lead to the birth of the Hartvalt family.
Kyle was the same.
Not only himself, but his subordinates were strong too.
He wanted to engrave that fact into the Northerners' minds.
"Kwaaaaa!"
Finally, Leina's fight began.
The initial flow was clearly the Orc warrior's advantage.
The Orc warrior, as a peak-class warrior, surpassed Leina, a newly promoted upper-class knight, in both physique and cultivation.
His greatsword carried a rough and ferocious momentum.
But it was not simple.
Kwaaang-!
Every time his huge greatsword fell, the snowfield cracked and ice fragments flew.
Every time Leina blocked the warrior's slash with her small black ice iron shield and sword, her body was pushed back by the shock.
"Hahaha! You lack power, girl!"
The Orc warrior laughed loudly and unleashed successive strikes.
'I am at a disadvantage in a direct fight.'
But Leina did not stubbornly resist head-on.
She had decided to use her strengths.
Her sword was fast and precise.
In the moment just before the Orc warrior's greatsword fully unleashed its power.
Or in the gap when he recovered his weapon after finishing the sword strike.
She targeted only those fleeting moments.
Avoiding the long power clash of sword against sword.
She lightly brushed and repeatedly retreated.
She maximized the advantages of speed and precision.
The Orc warrior with a wound on his left arm staggered after Leina's clean slash.
Puwhak!
"Kroo!"
The Orc warrior no longer underestimated Leina.
Instead, he fought with caution.
"Kwaaaaa!"
Every time the Orc warrior swung once hard, Leina moved twice.
When the Orc warrior attacked, Leina quickly dodged.
"I won't miss!"
But the Orc warrior was also a peak-class warrior.
He was not a simple beast.
He began to slowly adapt to Leina's speed and evasion—the so-called feint-and-dash technique.
Whoong-!
The Orc warrior feinted a huge swing with his greatsword.
Then he stopped midway, cutting off the power.
The moment Leina tried to exploit the opening and charged in.
"Caught!"
Instead of the sword strike, he slammed his massive body forward.
He intended to use his physical bulk to knock Leina away with his shoulder.
It was a variant technique that a real-experience Orc warrior would show.
Peorok-!
"Kroo!"
Leina tried to dodge the attack quickly but wasn't fully successful.
Her shoulder was slightly grazed in the push, and her body staggered from the shock of the warrior's size and strength.
"Leina-nim!"
Alarmed cries and sighs of concern burst from the fortress wall.
But at that moment.
The crimson glow in Leina's brown eyes suddenly exploded.
Swish-
A blood-red mist aura rose like steam over Leina's body.
It was the influence of the Blood Mist Shadow Heart Method.
Leina's momentum shot up abruptly.
Her body, which had only recently reached the upper-class knight level, finally crossed the threshold of the peak-class knight.
'Finally.'
Finally, she had become a peak-class knight.
Leina felt her surging power like a dam breaking after meeting Kyle.
"You've grown strong, girl!"
The Orc warrior sensed Leina's growth and unleashed a fierce strike.
This time, Leina did not dodge backward.
Instead, she charged forward in reverse.
"Wh-what!"
In the moment of the Orc warrior's confusion.
The sword wrapped in blood mist accurately cut the Orc warrior's wrist.
Puwha-aaak-!
"Kuaaaak!"
The greatsword of the Orc warrior whose wrist was cut fell to the ground.
The heavy greatsword was buried in the snow as is.
At that moment, Leina pressed her sword tip firmly against the back of the Orc warrior's neck.
With just a little more force, his neck would be cut off.
But Leina did not push the sword further.
Just as Kyle had not killed the Orc Great Warrior.
She sheathed her killing intent.
"Let's end it here. My victory. Now accept defeat."
Leina said coldly.
Even so, as a fellow warrior, she showed courtesy with polite language unlike before.
The Orc warrior ground his teeth.
But he cleanly accepted the result of the match.
"Kroo... I accept it. I have been defeated."
After watching Leina grow stronger, Karon ground his teeth.
'Impossible. Peak-class knight? That girl is catching up to my power right now?'
Keanwhile, cheers poured from the soldiers on the fortress wall.
"Leina! Leina!"
"Leina-nim!"
Leina Garyen, famous only as the Northern's most beautiful.
She had splendidly proven her value as Kyle's subordinate.
It was an intolerable provocation for Karon, who had done nothing.