Chapter 33 - Joining the Game is Easier Than Planning It
Joining the Game is Easier Than Planning It
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 33. Joining the Game is Easier Than Planning It
Kwaaang―!
The floor of the training ground was gouged out with a roar. Dust clouds soared as if exploding, and two shadows were flung away amidst them.
"Kuhahaha! Is that all you got? Thought your mouth was light, turned out your sword is lighter than ever!"
Ferik's sneer resonated in the training ground. His sword was heavy. The expression 'heavy' was simply insufficient.
A pressure as if a rock mountain was compressed.
That was the power of a regular knight shown by the elite of the Helmon family, a high-level Ascendant knight.
Danel frowned, shaking his flung wrist.
'Tsk, as expected, can't ignore the difference in raw specs.'
His grip tingled.
Clearly, technically, he countered perfectly.
The technique of Flow (Ryu) sending the opponent's power away.
A technique learned from Brother Kai who was skilled in martial arts rather than swordsmanship during the mercenary days.
But Ferik's Aura was ignorantly strong enough to chew up even that technique.
Even though he flowed it, the remaining shock was transmitted through his bones.
'No chance of winning with an honest fight, this.'
Danel judged cool-headedly.
Unfortunately, this was a dueling ground for damn honest knights, completely different from a battlefield.
It was unreasonable to use mercenary methods like rolling in mud, throwing dirt in eyes, or kicking vital points.
Ferik rushed again.
"What's wrong! Giving up already? Where did that spirit go when you were acting up?"
Simple yet fast and destructive trajectory.
A confident blow as if saying 'dodge if you can.'
Vwoooom—!
The sound of the atmosphere tearing was heard. Danel gritted his teeth and twisted his sword grip.
'If I can't block with strength, have to change the trajectory.'
Minute control destroying the center of force by striking the side of the opponent's blade.
Danel's Trace made that technique close to an art possible.
Clang—!
A sharp rupture sound burst. Ferik's sword deviated minutely.
"Hmph! So you have some tricks!"
And the opportunity came.
Danel's sword tip didn't miss it and dug in aiming for Ferik's nape.
But.
"Think such obvious tricks will work!!"
Bang—!
Instead of retrieving his sword, Ferik executed a body slam as is.
Shoulder wrapped in Aura rammed Danel's chest.
"Kuh!!!"
Breath was choked.
Danel's body was pushed back smoothly.
Taking advantage of the broken balance, Ferik's sword approached again.
Slash—!
By a hair's breadth, Danel's clothes were torn.
Cool sensation of skin being cut. A blow that would have spilled intestines if a little deeper.
'Damn, this bastard. Heavy.'
If Danel was an out-fighter with many technical tricks, the guy was an in-fighter style walking his path steadfastly with heavy swordsmanship.
Danel widened the distance gasping for rough breath. Definitely strong.
The title high-level Ascendant wasn't won in a gambling house. But Danel still hadn't lost his composure.
"Phew! Admit it. You're strong."
"Ha? Still have leisure to act up? I acknowledge your guts at least."
'Hmm, intended to try a little more but can't be helped.'
Danel's eyes began to sink.
Then from the audience seats, admiration and booing burst out simultaneously.
"As expected of Helmon's knight! No way a mere mercenary could be a match!"
"Still holding out quite well for a mercenary origin?"
"Anyway, Lady Lorraine is finished now too. If that mercenary loses, she'll just be disgraced and chased out."
Lorraine was watching that duel scene calmly.
'Danel…!'
But in Julia Helmon's eyes, her trembling hands were visible.
Naturally, a smile hung on her lips.
'Figured as much. A mere thing like you…….'
In her eyes, Danel was merely a rat holding out well.
A fresh prey running here and there in front of overwhelming power, destined to be trampled to death soon.
Julia felt good as if she had never been anxious.
'Looks like I'll gain unexpected honor. Ahahahaha, the Lady of Helmon family who beat Ashuhalt!'
Despite Danel's leisure, Ferik adjusted his grip on the sword firmly as if convinced of victory.
"Held out better than expected. I'll praise you. But this is the end."
Ferik was unexpectedly rushing the match.
'Aura intensity is merely at the entrance of Ascendant. But his response ability makes no sense. No reason to drag this long.'
A chilling feeling that the opponent keeps getting stronger every time swords clash.
Ferik's instinct was shouting to end it now.
Ferik's Aura burned red.
A signal that he would deliver the finishing blow.
"Since Lady Julia mercifully told me to spare your life… be grateful. Instead, I'll take one arm so you can never hold a sword again."
The audience held their breath.
Lorraine's face turned pale white, and Arisa was being restrained by family knights trying to rush down.
A desperate crisis.
But at that moment.
"Pfft."
Out of nowhere, laughter burst from Danel's mouth.
It was a very clear mockery without screams of terror or pleading.
Ferik's eyebrow twitched.
"……Crazy with fear? Can't grasp the situation?"
"No, grasping it too well is the problem."
Danel roughly brushed off his torn clothes and shrugged.
And whispered in a very small voice, audible only to Ferik.
A technique applying the Yeon family's Aura cultivation method of gathering and shooting Aura.
"Hey, by the way… have you ever heard of 'Kelek Bandit Group'?"
"……!!!"
Ferik paused.
'This bastard……!?'
A momentary change of expression brushed past his face.
Danel didn't miss that fleeting tremor.
Persistently chasing Ferik's emotional agitation with Trace, he continued.
"Oh, better at managing expressions than I thought? You know, the guys notorious near the Northern border. Heard someone wiped them out completely a few days ago."
Ferik's pupils trembled minutely.
'Kuk kuk, no way he doesn't know. Dealing with a bandit group, would Julia have gone alone? Naturally, she would have brought guards.'
Danel's guess was accurate.
Ferik, her closest guard, couldn't not know.
Danel curled up the corners of his mouth and smiled fishily.
"Kuk kuk, good boy. It's all written on your face. Can't lie, huh, our Knight?"
Ferik's expression hardened stiffly in an instant.
He instinctively looked around. Fortunately, the distance was far so this conversation wasn't heard in the audience seats.
"……It was you."
Ferik growled.
"Well? Don't know what you mean? I just asked if you knew that bandit group?"
Ferik realized he made a mistake.
Like this, the option to feign ignorance disappeared.
Ferik's face distorted scarily.
"You, son of a bitch……!"
But Danel acted scared and scratched Ferik.
"If you make a face like you're going to eat a person like that, I get scared and might tell Lord Veron that Helmon's seal was found in such a place."
"……!!!"
Ferik's face flushed red.
Expression mixed with panic and anger.
Request document stamped with a seal where Julia Helmon entrusted a request through a bandit group.
The moment that is revealed, the Helmon family will be turned upside down, and Julia's position is finished.
Cornered, Ferik emitted killing intent and aimed his sword.
"Stupid bastard."
Danel shrugged.
"Stupid? Me?"
"To blabber yourself that you know that. Would have ended with one arm, now you look like you'll really die because of that snout. If I kill you here, that secret gets buried together."
Dead men tell no tales. Simple and ignorant solution.
Ferik intended to cut off Danel's head right now.
But Danel wasn't scared at all.
Rather clicked his tongue as if pathetic.
"Tsk tsk, as expected, knights' heads don't turn in strange places."
"What?"
"Me? Die? Shouldn't happen though? Would you look at what's in the hand of my black-haired friend up there?"
Ferik raised his gaze slightly.
There stood a black-haired beauty with a cold impression guarding Lady Lorraine's side.
Kailey was watching this battle holding a white paper between her index and middle fingers very visibly as Danel ordered.
Ferik's pupils shook as if an earthquake occurred.
'S, surely!'
White paper folded squarely.
Seeing that, there was only one thing Ferik could recall.
The bandit group request form stamped with the Helmon family seal.
"Kuk kuk kuk, not a complete idiot. Seeing your expression, seems you understood what that is?"
Danel's voice dug into Ferik's ears like a demon's whisper.
"The moment I die here, that paper will be delivered immediately to Lord Veron Ashuhalt sitting on the podium over there. My comrade is very fast on her feet, you see."
Ferik spat out curses as if screaming.
"This…… Th, this damn bastard!!"
"Whoa whoa, don't shout. People are looking, right? They'll notice, won't they?"
Danel put his index finger to his lips and gestured 'Shh.'
Ferik felt like going crazy.
His head was complicated to the point of exploding.
'What should I do? Should I kill him? No, if I kill him, that goes straight to Veron. If that is real?'
If that paper is real evidence, and if it enters Veron's hand, the entire Helmon family might shake.
The family might survive by cutting the tail, but Lady Julia is finished.
And he, Julia's vassal and guard knight, couldn't be safe either.
Situation where he might take all responsibility and be executed.
On the other hand, another thought occurred.
'Is it a trap? Could be a bluff. Maybe nothing is written on that paper…….'
Suspicion and fear weighed each other.
Judgment blurred.
It was exactly that moment.
Flash—!
Danel's sword flew in like a snake.
Clang—!
Ferik hurriedly raised his sword and blocked.
But the reaction was half a beat late.
"Kuk kuk, thoughts got deep? Movement became dull, Sir Knight."
"Do, don't bullshit!!"
Clang—!
Danel bounced off Ferik's sword and was pushed back smoothly.
Pushed in strength, but expression was relaxed.
He began to shake Ferik's mental again.
"If that goes to Veron, the Marquis family aside, Julia would be finished. That is certain."
"Shut up!"
"Naturally, you, her knight, won't have your head attached properly either? Since someone has to take responsibility in the family, and cut off a few guys as an example. Will that be Julia? Or…… you, a vassal who is dime a dozen?"
"!!!"
It hit the mark.
Cold physiology of noble society.
When a problem explodes, cut the tail. And that tail was always a vassal or a minion.
As Danel recited the worst scenario he was thinking of, Ferik fell into greater confusion.
'Damn it, this bastard… not an ordinary guy. Reading my thoughts.'
Danel rushed once again.
"Kuh!"
Stab—!
Ferik reacted but was late.
Danel's sword tip dug into the gap of Ferik's shoulder armor. Red blood splattered.
"Kuh……!"
Not a fatal wound, but humiliating.
He, who occupied overwhelming superiority in power, allowed an effective hit to merely such a mercenary bastard.
"Haha, thought you were muscle brain but seems you do a little thing called thinking? Have many worries? But if thoughts increase, sword tip dulls. Don't know even that as a knight? Tsk tsk."
Ferik shouted with veins popping.
"Cowardly……! Are you a knight doing that!"
But Danel opened his eyes round as if really dumbfounded.
"I'm not a knight though?"
"……What?"
"What's wrong with a mercenary not choosing means to win? If it's unfair, you become a mercenary too."
"Y, you…… vulgar bastard!!"
Ferik, losing reason, raised his sword high.
Simple ignorant attack intending to press down with just strength regardless of technique.
Kwaaaaang—!
Tremendous destructive power hit the floor.
But Danel was already not there.
Danel, who dodged with a step applying Snow Treading, dug into the side of Ferik stiffened with his sword stuck in the floor.
Clang—!
Danel's sword pressed down Ferik's sword.
Grind-grind-grind—!
Swords crossed in a cross shape and sparks flew.
Faces became close enough to touch right in front of noses.
Strength vs strength confrontation.
Naturally Danel was disadvantaged. Ferik's brute strength and Aura far exceeded Danel.
"Kuuugh……! Think you can beat me with strength? This insect-like bastard!"
Ferik pushed putting strength as if seizing victory.
But Danel was curling up the corners of his mouth even while struggling.
"No, can't win. Lose in strength."
"Knowing that!!"
"But… this posture is comfortable for talking."
"……What?"
The moment Ferik harbored doubt, Danel whispered very small with a voice like a snake crawling.
"The board you guys set up, let me join too."
"……What!?"
The method Danel uses Julia's letter with the most extreme efficiency.
It was not setting up a new board, but devouring the board Julia made himself.
One corner of Danel's mouth rose as if tearing.
"How about it, Ferik. Will you let me in? Or not?"