Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Cheryn Gizel Aste Hasra was the possessor of an appearance that no one could ever forget once they laid eyes on her.

Dark blue hair that sometimes looked like the night sky, and at other times like the rolling sea.

Her provocative eyes, long and slender with slightly upturned outer corners, were somewhat far from the traditional standard of beauty, but they gave off an arrogant and mysteriously snake-like impression.

Her enemies often decried her appearance as that of a man-eating enchantress despite her young age.

Claiming that compared to her half-sister, Princess Cassia, who was delicate like a single blossom, Cheryn was merely fierce and vulgar, lacking any dignity.

However, what made Cheryn special here at the Magic Society was neither her status as the second daughter of the King of Pendia nor her enchanting appearance.

The mages worshipped the creative ideas originating from her brain and her sharp intuition that pierced through the essence of things.

A genius who could point out the direction and even provide clues for tasks that would otherwise take years or decades of contemplation, just by having a quiet conversation of a few words?

Was she not truly a mythical existence that every researcher could only wish for in their dreams!

“Princess, mana stone fusion research is the very path our Pendia must take forward. If we can only create the ultimate giant super-golem……”

“It is inefficient. I would rather recommend researching splitting mana stones into smaller pieces instead.”

“Doing that would make the duration far too short to have any practical use!”

“There has already been meaningful progress in that research lately, so consult with Professor Guyton……”

As she walked while talking to the accompanying mage, Cheryn’s gaze met that of a certain boy.

In truth, making eye contact with someone while going about outside the royal palace was not a particularly special event.

After all, she was someone who drew everyone’s gaze wherever she went.

The unusual thing was that what the boy was staring at so passionately was not Cheryn.

Sensing the gazes of others keenly, she realized that what the boy was staring at as if half-entranced was not herself, but the escort knights around her.

Their eyes had merely brushed past each other briefly in that process.

Curiosity welled up in Cheryn’s reddish-brown eyes at this situation she had never experienced before.

‘What’s with him?’

The boy with wide, round green eyes was about half a hand shorter than her and had a slender build.

At a glance, he was far from a knightly family, and judging by his luxurious clothes, he was perhaps the child of some administrator or merchant.

However, contrary to his gentle impression, the gaze scanning the knights was greedy like a burning flame.

Eyes that were shamelessly explicit and persistent, without a shred of pretense, like a man coveting a scantily clad beauty……

Even though she was not the recipient of that gaze, a primal desire so intense could be felt that it made her embarrassed for no reason.

“Is something the matter, Princess?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

As the escort knight wore a puzzled expression at her halted steps, she shook her head and moved forward.

She was far too noble and busy a person to spare her attention for a peculiar boy who was simply unconcerned with her.

Today, as always, she had a mountain of people to meet and research materials to examine.

*

“Is that Princess Cheryn?”

At Roden’s mutter that it was his first time seeing her up close, Shan finally turned his gaze away from the princess’s party, which had disappeared beyond the automatic door.

“Roden, did you see that just now?”

“You mean the princess?”

“No, the knights beside her! I don’t know how it was made, but even though it was full plate armor, there was hardly any sound as they walked!”

“Ah, that’s what you were looking at.”

To think he had been paying attention to the equipment of the escort knights while the princess herself was passing by!

Roden formed a bitter smile at the completely unexpected answer.

“It’s probably enchanted armor. Maybe the princess came here to buy it for her escort knights.”

“If you become a princess’s escort knight, you can buy enchanted items as you like.”

Shan recalled in his mind what he had seen moments ago.

Armor like a work of art that completely sealed every part except for the joints without causing the slightest discomfort in movement, perfectly fitted so that even the sound of metal friction did not occur.

A sword hilt finished with luxurious leather of unknown material that felt like it would fit snugly in the hand, and a pommel crafted with sharp angles like a gem.

Thanks to the luxury he had enjoyed over the past week, Shan had now gained the eye to estimate how good a high-end item was when he saw it.

Before, he would have likely just brushed it off, thinking they were simply carrying swords at their waists.

The appearance of the princess standing between them did not remain in his memory at all.

Was her hair blue? He felt like it might have been yellow as well.

“Someday that time might come, but for now, let’s look into what we can buy with our own money.”

“Yeah!”

Shortly after nodding energetically, Shan’s face darkened as he looked at the display case.

“Roden?”

“What is it?”

“Read this one here for me.”

“I told you to at least learn how to read.”

Even while grumbling, Roden read out the descriptions and prices of the items from beside him.

The aspects of the items laid out were varied.

A kettle that automatically filled with water, a torch that shone without fire, a staff that amplified one’s voice several times over……

Every single one was a subtle item that seemed like it might be miscellaneously useful, yet might not be.

As he listened to the explanation, Shan looked at Roden with an incredulous expression.

“Why are they so expensive? On top of that, these are all things that become useless after using them a few times!”

“Small magic tools like these don’t contain mana stones, so it can’t be helped, young friend.”

The mage standing across from the magic tool display case explained with a chuckle.

A magic artifact containing a mana stone naturally recharged its mana and could be used again, but magic tools lacking such a medium were strictly single-use.

Despite that, the prices were terribly expensive.

Even if he poured in all the money he had earned from hunting the troll last time, it would end after buying just a couple of water kettles.

Roden shrugged his shoulders, indicating that the mage’s words were not wrong.

“Why do you think our household doesn’t use magic tools? If stuff like this were cheap and convenient to use, the servants would have lost their jobs long ago.”

Hearing that, it indeed was not a wrong statement.

Only now could he understand the statement that magic mostly focused on novelty, while its utility fell short compared to a priest’s miracles.

Afterward, he also consulted with a mage who enchanted weapons and armor, but it was the same case here in that the effects were only temporary.

Permanent enchantment magic was something that existed only in relics of the ancient Altoan Empire, that is, in a few items excavated from within that Demonic Realm.

“Then the armor of those knights earlier was……”

“The court mages cast it continuously whenever it wears off.”

Despairing over the terrible reality, Shan ended his shopping with a sullen face by purchasing a few medicines listed under the alchemy section.

One of them was an external medicine made by brewing troll bones, which Roden had applied to his chest in the past.

“I’ll apply it if I get hurt again next time.”

“That also has an expiration date, so check carefully before buying.”

“What’s an expiration date?”

“It means that like food, it goes bad over time.”

“Ah.”

Truly, every single one of those enchanted things was terribly picky.

Fortunately, in the capital Hasra, there were many fine tourist attractions besides the Magic Society.

Starting from the historic gladiatorial arena and library built during the ancient Arman Empire, to the Great Temple (a holy site for pilgrims of the Goddess Religion) and clothing shops into which the latest trends from the neighboring country of Libert flowed directly.

Of course, Shan, who had no great interest in history or religion, enjoyed watching the blacksmith street situated on one side of the city far more than those.

With the sound of iron being hammered ringing from all directions and well-crafted weapons and armor displayed beyond glass windows at every turn, his eyes were practically spinning.

Regrettably, high-grade items like the equipment of the royal guards he had seen earlier were not present, but this too had its own fun to observe.

After wandering about for a long time, Shan emptied out all the remaining money after buying the medicines to purchase a fairly decent longsword and a small shield, and commissioned the crafting of chainmail tailored to his body.

Spending all the money he had earned for the first time brought a wave of emptiness along with the sense of pride from obtaining fine items.

“I’m penniless again……”

“Well, you can work hard to earn after your training is finished. Still, isn’t it great enough that you don’t have to worry about food and sleep?”

“That’s true, but……”

What Callion Weavers had agreed to provide was strictly the costs for training as a knight and basic living necessities.

Shan could not demand sponsorship for collectible arms and armor that were not immediately needed.

On that point, both Shan and the father and son of the Weavers family held the same view.

From the day he brought back the weapon, Shan swung the longsword by himself whenever he had free time every day.

The practice area was the garden in the mansion’s courtyard, and his teaching materials were, of course, the two knights who had fought against the troll.

‘Was it this stance? Why raise the sword like this? The movement seems somehow inefficient……’

Every time he retraced each of the stances they had taken, various questions arose, but unfortunately, there was no one to resolve them.

Most of the people in this mansion were far from proper martial arts, and even Roden, who had dabbled in it, had merely stopped at the level of a knight trainee.

The person who would finally provide the answers arrived three days later.

*

“You remember, right? What you’re supposed to say when you first meet.”

“What was it…… ‘As one who walks the path of a warrior, I wish to serve the one who went ahead’?”

“’The one who walks ahead.’”

On the day Sir Darkal was scheduled to visit, Roden rechecked the greeting etiquette with Shan once more.

Although there was still some lack in it, this level was much better than before.

Right on cue, a thunderous shout resonated in front of the Weavers mansion.

“Open the gates! I, have, arrived!”

“His voice is super loud……”

He could have simply knocked on the door and asked to open it, so why did he yell like that?

Wondering in confusion, Shan went out to the main gate and saw Callion already out ahead, greeting him.

“You are as hearty as ever, Sir Darkal. It seems time alone passes you by.”

“Hmph, what’s all this over something like this.”

Sir Darkal was an old man with an impressive wrinkled face and a crown left desolate by hair loss.

His build was relatively average, but perhaps because his body was well-trained despite his age, he gave off a strangely large impression.

The surprising thing was Callion’s attitude toward him.

As if his behavior in front of Shan and Roden like a terrifying big shot was a lie, he smiled foolishly in front of Sir Darkal, rubbing his hands together and bowing his head.

Seeing that servile appearance, Shan felt he could understand why Roden had been shocked upon witnessing it.

Sir Darkal’s gaze, enjoying Callion’s flattery while shrugging his shoulders, turned toward Roden and Shan.

“That foolish former disciple of mine is over there.”

“Yes sir.”

As the foolish disciple Roden chuckled softly and raised his hand, Sir Darkal snorted with a ‘Hmph’ and stared at Shan intently to the point of being rude.

It was a look mixed with doubt and interest.

“Are you that Altoan brat who caught the troll!”

“Yes. That is…… as one who walks the path of a warrior, I wish to serve the one who walks ahead.”

It would have been better without the ‘That is,’ but even so, that level was worthy of being given a passing grade.

While Roden was secretly satisfied and praising himself for teaching well, Sir Darkal glared with wide open eyes and walked toward Shan.

“Just as I heard, seeing you in broad daylight, you don’t look like an Altoan at all!”

Gazing quietly at the green eyes that looked gentle with their outer corners drooping, he surprisingly delivered a headbutt out of nowhere.

As Shan, who had no reason to take the hit, lightly dodged, the bald head that had lost its target wandered through the air.

“Why are you headbutting me all of a sudden?”

“Impudent brat! How dare you dodge an elder’s headbutt!”

Was he a crazy person? Shan looked to the side in dumbfoundedness.

Judging by the baffled expressions of the others, including Roden and Callion, thrusting one’s head forward upon first meeting did not seem to be standard etiquette.

“It hurts.”

“Right, if you get hit, it hurts…… Hmph, it seems it wasn’t a total lie. An ordinary fellow wouldn’t have been able to cope with such an unexpected attack at all.”

As if his roaring from a moment ago was a lie, a satisfied smile appeared on Sir Darkal’s face.

He had thought that if even half of all the flowery rhetoric written in Callion’s letter was true, it would be worth coming, and seeing this, it didn’t seem to be completely false.

He also liked that the boy did not act servile even when an old knight suddenly shouted out loud.

“Guildmaster Callion. You called me because you want me to teach this brat?”

“I merely wish to request that you take a look at him! It would be an honor if he takes your fancy and you accept him as a squire, but……”

“No need for long talk. The condition will be the exact same as when I taught that fellow Roden last time. As for recommending knighthood, I will decide after seeing the results.”

At the smooth response, Callion bowed deeply.

Although his manner of speech and behavior seemed frivolous, this old knight was not an ordinary retired knight who accepted anyone as a disciple for a few coins.

“Thank you, Sir Darkal!”

“Then there’s no need to waste any more time. Kid over there! Follow me!”

Sir Darkal beckoned to Shan while shouting, then abruptly went inside.

Standing blankly at this, Shan turned back to Roden and asked.

“Is he normally like that?”

“Yeah. There’s no choice but to get used to it…… He’s not a bad person. Really.”

“If Roden says so, then I guess he is.”

The place Sir Darkal brought Shan to was the very courtyard garden where he had been swinging his sword alone.

He seemed intent on diving straight into training without even taking off his clothes dirtied from travel.

Sitting astride a large rock placed on one side of the garden, the very first instruction he gave to Shan was bizarre to the extreme.

“Then first, I’ll have to check your body. Strip!”

“My clothes?”

“You can’t strip off your own hide, can you! Both those terribly extravagant velvet pants and upper garment you’re wearing right now! Undergarments won’t be necessary!”

After tilting his head for a moment, Shan immediately shed his clothes.

Back when he lived in Willow Village, he had been forcibly washed naked several times, so he had no particular resistance to exposing his naked body.

Sir Darkal did not change his expression at all while scanning the body covered in all sorts of scars.

He merely let out a groan carrying satisfaction, a sound of “Hmm.”

“Not bad, not bad! One who would become a knight must know how to endure pain! Kids these days are raised too delicately, that’s the problem. Whining even when it hurts just a little……”

The old knight, murmuring like that, soon reached out his hands and began groping every inch of Shan’s body.

The neck and chest, shoulders, back, abdomen and waist, from thighs down to the legs.

If someone had witnessed this sight, it was a scene worthy of immediately losing all the honor accumulated as a knight and being referred to trial.

“The bones aren’t twisted in particular, and unexpectedly, the muscle form is quite ideal. Though the firmness is lacking. To think you haven’t undergone proper training is hard to believe…… But why is your body strangely light?”

“I’m originally on the lighter side.”

“There is no such thing as being originally light! If the height is the same and the amount of muscle and flesh is equal, but the body is light, there must be a reason for it. Like bones not being sturdy, or missing a few internal organs. I’ll have to perform an examination on this later.”

The examination continued even after that.

Leaping lightly in place a few times, running a lap around the garden, and jumping left and right from where he stood.

Sir Darkal, who had instructed him to push against his hands with all his strength, burst into admiration at the transmitted force.

“I felt it while watching you move, but you are definitely strong…… No, is it not just strength, but knowing how to exert it properly?”

“That’s right!”

Since this was the first person to recognize it, interest sparkled in the eyes of Shan, who had been somewhat indifferent.

Sir Darkal shouted to Roden, who was standing nearby.

“Roden! Bring my sword!”

“Here it is, Master!”

Having prepared it in advance, Roden immediately handed over the sword he had taken out from the baggage Sir Darkal brought.

The moment the old knight took his stance while grasping it with both hands, Shan felt a sensation as if the surrounding air had changed.

Gone was the old geezer who did nothing but shout at the top of his lungs, and in his place stood a warrior forged in blood and steel over a long period of time.

“Watch my movements.”

After saying so, Sir Darkal slowly began demonstrating the swordsmanship techniques one by one.

Spreading both legs wide and slashing diagonally, lifting the sword horizontally to block a downward strike, lowering it to the lower right before slashing upward diagonally……

Having performed over twenty movements, he let out a long breath, “Phew,” and then asked Shan.

“How is it?”

“Um…… I think you’re the best at wielding a sword among the people I’ve seen.”

Since there was no opponent, he could not be certain, but at least the degree of mastery appeared higher than the swordsmanship of the two knights he had seen before.

That standard was how smoothly force flowed without being lost during the movement.

The sword of this old knight was supplementing the muscular strength lost to the passage of time with sophisticated technique.

However, that did not mean he felt particularly amazed or filled with respect.

Because if Shan were to enter that old man’s body right now and imitate the movements, he could execute the techniques faster and stronger.

He did not know how it had been during the man’s prime, but now that he was old, Shan was confident he could kill him within ten seconds if they fought each other with longswords.

On the premise that he would not clash swords at all, taking into consideration the presence of spirit.

Even though Sir Darkal read Shan’s inner thoughts, instead of becoming angry, he smirked.

“Right, to your eyes it must seem like just about that much. Then watch this last one.”

With those words, the smile vanished from the old knight’s face as he looked at Shan.

A gaze filled with venomous malice, as if looking at his parents’ enemy.

Sir Darkal, who had been glaring at Shan with eyes that conveyed even physical pressure, soon raised his sword slowly and then thrust it with a quick twist.

Despite brandishing it in empty air where no one was present, one could tell that it was a movement countering the opponent at the same time as parrying a downward strike.

“Woah……”

That single movement alone lacked even the slightest waste of force.

Just like the thrust of Black Spear Feonil in the past, an utterly ideal flow of power.

He could tell that the old man before his eyes was a master who had reached a realm comparable to that.

Sir Darkal, whose entire body was now drenched in sweat, wiped his glistening bald head with the back of his hand.

“How is it?”

“……It was perfect.”

“It is a movement I have trained without missing a day for over forty years since learning it from my master. It would be embarrassing if it weren’t even that much!”

Smiling with satisfaction at Shan’s answer, Sir Darkal drew a conclusion.

“At any rate, in terms of movement, I’m actually in a position where I ought to receive instruction. A human whose every movement follows the principles of the ideal… living long truly lets one see all sorts of things!”

Although he did not understand well, it seemed to be praise, so Shan offered an awkward smile.

A subtle emotion, whether joy or regret, resided on Sir Darkal’s face.

“What you need right now is merely a few knacks and a stronger, tougher body!”

“And spirit too.”

“Spirit is something that comes naturally as you push yourself to the limit, so don’t worry about it! Speaking of which, have you eaten?”

“Yes.”

“That’s fortunate!”

Why was he suddenly asking whether he had eaten?

As if answering Shan’s puzzled gaze, Sir Darkal lightly kicked the rock he had been sitting on moments ago.

Both of his eyes, which had felt slightly lonely until a moment ago, now took on a sadism bordering on cruelty.

“Lift it!”

“Pardon?”

“With both hands, high above your head! Until I tell you to put it down!”