Chapter 25: The Tin Knight and the Lion's Bloodline (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 25: The Tin Knight and the Lion's Bloodline (8)
The girl named Adelaide von Lennart had almost no real combat experience.
As a member of the Lion Duke's bloodline, she had received basic training, but she never took it seriously, and no one around her reprimanded her for it.
Her older brother was the heir to the family, and since she was destined to marry into another family anyway, there was no need for her personal martial prowess to be exceptional.
Therefore, Adelaide was ignorant about combat.
She had some knowledge gleaned from occasionally watching others train, but it was only skin-deep. It couldn't be called professional, not even as a compliment.
And into this pure white canvas, the potent poison known as the Tin Knight was introduced.
The Tin Knight's method of teaching Adelaide was divided into just two parts:
Physical conditioning and one-on-one sparring.
Through this sparring, Adelaide was able to learn the various 'common senses of combat' she had never been taught before.
【Common Sense of Combat: Number One】
【It is natural for attacks to be continuous, and a counterattack is not something you do after the opponent's attack ends, but something you cram into the gaps between their attacks.】
Swish! Whoosh! Shing!
After successively dodging attacks aimed at her right forearm, left thigh, and upper body, Adelaide, who was wary of the next attack, tilted her head in confusion as her opponent suddenly stopped attacking.
‘Why do they keep stopping their attacks midway?’
Her first opponent, Paulo, had been the same.
After a fine thrust, he should have naturally followed up, but he just threw out one measly attack and that was it.
She had managed to win by following the Tin Knight's advice to counterattack immediately after dodging, but it was a truly unsatisfying victory.
It was the same in this second match.
He was delivering a combo of sorts, but just as she began observing the gaps and wondering where to strike, the attacks would abruptly stop.
It was truly baffling.
She didn't understand why, but—
‘—Sir Knight said I should strike now!’
Thwack!!
The opponent's nose was spectacularly crushed by Adelaide's mercilessly swung wooden sword, and he collapsed to the floor.
The other disciples gulped at her merciless strike, but Adelaide didn't notice.
【Common Sense of Combat: Number Two】
【When you strike, it's best to hit where it hurts the most and is most dangerous.】
When sparring with Adelaide, the Tin Knight had aimed for her vital spots without a shred of hesitation and encouraged her to do the same.
And he did so while wielding an iron sword that, though its edge was dulled, could easily kill a person if used properly.
This was why Adelaide, who hadn't even mastered the basic stances of swordsmanship, had her evasion ability honed to its absolute limit. If she failed to dodge, she would genuinely be on the verge of death.
As a side effect, Adelaide had no hesitation in hitting others.
This was the result of continuously swinging her weapon at the Tin Knight while exhausted and dazed, only managing to scratch him, or sometimes not even that.
She did have the sense to distinguish between a normal person's body and the Tin Knight's, but that was meaningless now.
Because the weapon in her hand was a wooden sword.
Unlike the dulled iron sword that could still kill if it hit wrong, she figured she could swing the wooden training sword as much as she wanted without killing anyone.
That was a grave misunderstanding. A wooden sword can also be lethal if it hits wrong.
No, even setting aside the possibility of death, the fact that her standard for violence was 'will they die or not?' rather than 'how much will they get hurt?' was already a serious problem, but the tense Adelaide failed to realize it.
Clang!
During her sixth match, the wooden sword in Adelaide's hand flew into the air.
Her opponent, who had been carefully observing Adelaide's tactic of 'striking an opening right after dodging,' had deliberately shown an opening to bait an attack and then landed a counter.
It was also proof that Adelaide still lacked the discernment to distinguish between a real opening and a feigned one.
The opponent launched a fierce assault on the now-disarmed Adelaide.
【Common Sense of Combat: Number Three】
【A weapon is just one of many tools. If you lose it, just use something else. Like your body.】
Tilting only her head to dodge a thrust aimed at her face—as if to pay her back for what she did to his comrades—Adelaide dove into her opponent's guard.
The opponent, flustered by her unexpectedly high speed, tried to push her away, but Adelaide's hands were faster, grabbing his head.
Adelaide gripped his head firmly with both hands, then leaped and delivered a knee kick to his face.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
Even though Adelaide was small, the power of a knee kick that used her entire body like a spring was not to be underestimated.
Especially when delivered in a rapid combo.
Crack! Crack! Thwack!
Scattering bright red blood and a couple of white teeth onto the floor, another opponent collapsed.
Casually picking up her fallen wooden sword, Adelaide let out a deep breath and said,
“Next, please!”
*
“…Hah.”
A sigh escaped Ruben's lips.
What? That it was cruel to judge a girl who'd never had proper training in her life by the same standards as disciples who had trained for years?
This wasn't someone else's assessment.
It was a thought Ruben himself had had just a few dozen minutes ago.
Nevertheless, Ruben had no choice but to dismiss that thought as nonsense.
The girl's actions, her movements, were absolutely not those of someone who didn't know how to fight.
‘Did Giselle give me false information?’
The question arose for a moment, but he quickly shook his head. Giselle had nothing to gain from such a deception.
‘Then was Giselle deceived? Was she hiding her skills from the start?’
This seemed a bit more plausible, but the possibility wasn't high.
If she had possessed such skills, she never would have been captured by bandits or sold into slavery in the first place.
‘No, that's not it. The letter doesn't matter. The important thing is that even after seeing her with my own eyes, I judged her to be a sheltered flower. Why?’
It wasn't because Adelaide was more skilled than Ruben himself.
She was certainly putting up an unexpectedly good fight, but compared to Ruben, Adelaide's skills were still those of a novice.
Then why, despite her being clearly inferior, had Ruben failed to grasp her skill level?
Ruben soon found the answer.
‘She's unbalanced. She has no fundamentals. She doesn't even know how to properly hold a sword. Her physical abilities are passable, but that's only in comparison to her build and gender; it's not enough to overwhelm those who've had professional training.’
While there was little evidence to judge her as strong, the evidence to judge her as weak, a beginner, was overwhelming.
That's why he had judged Adelaide's skills to be poor.
However.
‘The ability to read and avoid attacks. The boldness to neither hesitate in inflicting nor receiving wounds. The adaptability to not cling to a single method. Only these three elements are abnormally high.’
Ruben's gaze shifted to the Tin Knight.
He couldn't even begin to guess what kind of training had produced such a lopsided result, but it seemed clear that the Tin Knight was the cause.
And at the same time, he realized something terrifying.
‘Judging from Giselle's letter, Adelaide has only been traveling with that knight in earnest for about a fortnight. …This is the result of just a fortnight? That?’
If those two continue to travel together, how high will she climb?
At that thought, Ruben let out a hollow laugh.
He couldn't easily distinguish whether the emotion swirling in his chest was fear or anticipation.
Thwack!
Another disciple fell, and silence descended upon the dojo.
Ruben looked at Adelaide.
“Hah, hah.”
Although Adelaide boasted a phenomenal record of seven consecutive wins, it was clear she was physically pushed to her limit.
Her breathing was ragged, and her limbs were trembling slightly.
Normally, a warrior should avoid revealing their exhaustion, but the girl either lacked the skill to hide it or seemed unaware that she should.
If they pressed on, it seemed highly likely that the dojo would be the final victor.
Ruben asked his disciples.
“Is there anyone who will volunteer to step up?”
No answer came.
Ruben scanned his disciples' faces. Every one of them looked intimidated.
There were plenty of uninjured disciples, and not a few who were technically more skilled than Adelaide, but all of them had already been crushed by her momentum.
“Hah, honestly.”
Ruben felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
Of course, his truly capable disciples were already out wandering the continent for their tests or had finished and started their careers in the Empire. The ones left here were a sort of second string, so it was inevitable that their quality was somewhat lower... but it was still a bitter pill to swallow.
‘I'll have to train them harder.’
Of course, he could have forced them into a match by calling out their names, but Ruben didn't want to do that.
That was an action unbefitting the Lennart name.
“I'll ask one more time. Is there no one who will fight?”
“...”
“Fine. Since there are no more opponents, the remaining matches will be a win by default. As the instructor of the Lennart dojo's Lowefelt branch, I believe that Adelaide von Lennart is skilled enough to receive our dojo's recognition! If there are any objections, speak now!”
“None, sir!!”
After confirming the disciples' response, Ruben approached Adelaide and stood before her.
Adelaide, seemingly unable to process the turn of events, still looked bewildered.
The thought that she could launch such cold-hearted attacks with such an innocent face made him want to laugh hollowly again, but he suppressed it and spoke.
“Congratulations on passing the test.”
“Oh, th-th, thank you! Thank you to the other disciples for sparring with me, too!”
As Adelaide bowed a full 90 degrees and offered her thanks to everyone, the somewhat tense atmosphere began to slowly melt away.
Even the disciples who had been looking at Adelaide with some apprehension began to acknowledge her, thinking, ‘Well, a match is a match.’
And so, Adelaide safely passed the first trial.
*
On the way out of the dojo.
[The 'Tin Knight' says he congratulates you on passing the test!]
[The 'Tin Knight' says your medal is cool!]
“It is! I think it's cool, too!”
In Adelaide's hand was a disc-shaped locket. One of the five grooves carved inside it was now filled with a fan-shaped piece.
A brilliant picture was drawn on the fan-shaped piece; it seemed to be a structure where collecting all the pieces would complete a picture, like a puzzle.
“Hee, heehee…!”
Adelaide looked incredibly excited.
Despite the wounds all over her body from the successive matches, she showed no sign of pain and was even humming.
[The 'Tin Knight' asks if you're that happy!]
“Of course I am!”
Adelaide replied instantly.
“It's the first proof that I'm not inadequate as an heir! And I earned it by fighting myself! Not given to me by someone else, but by myself!”
Adelaide placed particular emphasis on the words 'by myself'.
It was proof of just how much the assessment of her as 'an incompetent who can do nothing on her own' had bothered her.
[The 'Tin Knight' suggests you do your best to collect the remaining four!]
“Right. Hmm, though I don't know if our path will luckily overlap with the cities where the other dojos are, like it did this time.”
[The 'Tin Knight' says that if they don't overlap, you can just perform other tasks!]
[The 'Tin Knight' says he'll devise a fiery training menu!]
“…No, I just passed a test, so I'd like to rest for at least a few days.”
[The 'Tin Knight' slumps his shoulders!]
Just as the two were laughing and chatting about such trivial things.
The miniature skull hanging like an accessory from the Tin Knight's neck suddenly rattled and opened its mouth.
<<Guard! Come! Guard! Come! The witch calls for you! The witch is under attack! Guard! Come! Guard! Come!>>
Their laughter stopped.
Without a word, both of them began to sprint down the street.