Chapter 6: Chapter 6

While the knight who had tumbled hilariously onto the ground picked himself up, Shan stood still with the sword in his hand hanging loosely.

It was because he had realized that the hunk of metal before his eyes was not a particularly threatening opponent.

The heavily bearded face was overly red, even considering that it was currently catching the light of the setting sun.

When Shan raised his sword again and thrust it lightly into the air, the knight flinched and took a step back.

To think that someone who looked like a veteran warrior who had survived dozens of battlefields on the outside would tremble like this just from having a sword pointed at him.

Did this not make Shan feel like a fool for having been so tense earlier?

As Shan sighed in dumbfounded absurdity, the knight’s manly, fierce face twisted with shame and humiliation.

A moment later, the knight let out a shout and swung his flail with all his might.

“Uaaaaah-!”

The sound of cutting the wind was fierce as could be, but Shan did not feel threatened by it in the slightest.

What was there to be dangerous about when the person swinging it did not move a single step and had both eyes tightly shut?

Shan, who did not even feel the need to swing his sword, responded by lightly turning around and kicking him in the shin.

The knight lost his center of gravity and tumbled forward with a loud crash.

Seeing that pathetic sight, Shan simply could not let it pass without saying a word.

“You should open your eyes when you fight.”

“I… know…!”

Even while falling flat on his face, his momentum in answering with a growling voice was impressive.

Though considering he could not even budge once the sword was pointed at him again, it was perfectly accurate to say he was all talk.

As Shan quietly watched and returned his sword to its sheath, he felt the knight’s tightly tense body relax.

It was truly comical.

Whether a weapon was held in hand or sheathed at the waist, the dominance between the two had not changed in the slightest.

After a moment of silence, sob-like wailing began to resound.

The knight cried tears and pounded the ground with his metal gauntlets in frustration.

“Damn it, damn it! Why on earth am I terrified of something like that, you damned coward!”

Shan was flustered by the sight of a terrifyingly strong-looking warrior weeping uncontrollably with tears and snot like a child.

It was not as if Shan had severed limbs or cut off heads in front of him like the enemies he had fought a few months ago; why was he crying just from being lightly tripped and knocked over?

Not knowing how to react at all, Shan quietly watched him for a few minutes.

The knight, who had stopped sobbing, muttered softly.

“Kill me.”

“Pardon?”

“Kill me, because I can’t live with this disgrace…”

Even though he said that, Shan did not particularly feel like killing him.

Just as a feline creature usually would, Shan poked and kicked the sitting knight’s back with his foot, his face a mix of curiosity and vigilance.

“Stop it.”

“Why on earth is a knight in armor afraid of a sword?”

“…I’m not a knight.”

“I heard that people wearing iron armor are knights.”

“What knights wear is plate armor, not chainmail like this. It’s completely different.”

It was quite amusing how he kept blabbering answers even while sniffling from his unceasing tears.

Shan squatted down to match his eye level with his opponent and asked the question he was most curious about.

“But Sir Knight-“

“I told you I’m not a knight. Just call me Roden.”

“Why did Roden come to fight me when you’re afraid of swords?”

“I just thought threatening you with a fierce face would work. It usually worked on most people.”

Indeed, up until the moment he found Shan and drew his weapon, he certainly looked like a terrifyingly formidable enemy.

Even Shan himself had felt that way, so if it had been an ordinary bandit, they would have meekly submitted rather than risk their life to fight back.

He had even brought up plausible talk about protecting Shan from the villagers if he surrendered…

Perhaps having felt somewhat relieved after chatting, Roden, with a much calmer face, spoke in a defeated tone.

“It might sound ridiculous coming from someone showing such a miserable state, but stop deceiving and scaring people with Altoan magic from now on. You got off easy this time because a coward like me came, but if a proper warrior had come, it would have been dangerous. You could have died.”

He did not go so far as to bring up the story of how he had planned to scare away the poor Altoan kid before someone else came to kill him.

After all, that would look beyond ugly… it would look like begging for his life.

At Roden’s words, Shan tilted his head in confusion.

“But I haven’t really deceived or scared anyone.”

“What?”

“I’ve never deceived anyone. I just fought against enemies.”

“Then, is that story all true? You wiped out an entire mercenary band with magic?”

“Yes. Though I’m not sure if this is magic.”

Shan explained the power he possessed to Roden.

The ability to move his body more efficiently, rationally, and precisely than others.

The ability to perceive the world in slow motion, accurately discerning, predicting, and responding to an opponent’s movements.

Things like the ability to see clearly even in dark places.

Unlike the villagers who had yelled at him without even listening to his story in the past, Roden listened intently with a serious expression.

When Shan even talked about how he had used this ability to defeat the mercenary band in the dark forest, and how he had instilled respect in the Leaf Village people who had persecuted him, Roden asked softly.

“I’m not doubting your words, but could you perhaps show me that power as well?”

“Just a moment.”

When Shan tried to draw the sword at his waist, Roden flinched at the mere act of Shan putting his hand on the hilt, so Shan went inside his house and brought out a mace.

This tool was also bent from playing around with it in various ways, but since it was a blunt weapon, it was still usable enough.

Holding the mace, Shan lightly demonstrated the technique of harming people with a weapon, which he practiced every day in the forest and mountains.

Even though he had grown quite a bit, a boy who was still small and slender compared to an adult man swung the mace at invisible speed, making Roden’s mouth gape wide open.

When Shan finished by jumping higher than his own height and doing a mid-air somersault, it was to the point where one worried if Roden’s jaw might drop off.

“It’s roughly like this.”

“This is, really… Ah, Goddess. How on earth.”

Seeing Roden clasp his hands and pray with a sigh reminded Shan of Priest Ador for some reason, so Shan quietly watched him before clasping his own hands and praying alongside him.

Even though he had no idea what to pray for in his head.

After a moment, Roden stopped praying, let out a sigh, and spoke.

“Could I perhaps stay here for just one day before leaving? I swear in the name of the Goddess and my father, by the custom of hospitality, I will never harm you.”

It was a truly sudden proposal.

Shan pondered for a moment before nodding his head.

Originally, he had lived alone because he was afraid of being stabbed with a sword while sleeping, but he felt he could hear and wake up to the sound of someone of that build moving even in the middle of the night.

To be honest, it was also quite fun to talk to a person at length after such a long time.

“I can give you food, but you can’t come inside the house.”

*

Upon seeing the dinner Shan presented, Roden turned solemn and said he would prepare the food himself.

Shan, who had internally felt offended since he thought remaining meat from earlier that day, dried-up bread with cheese, and raw vegetables were a pretty decent feast, soon found his mood smoothed over.

It was because the dish Roden served was so delicious.

Using various cooking utensils, including a metal pot that had been abandoned in a corner of the hut gathering dust, Roden combined his own ingredients to boil a stew, melted cheese over the fire to pour over the meat, and seasoned and lightly blanched the vegetables.

With just such simple cooking, the food that had previously been lying around tasted several times better.

After stuffing his mouth with the feast prepared in front of the campfire lit before the hut, Shan ended up shedding tears, feeling an even greater emotion than when he had first eaten grilled meat.

“I-Is it that delicious…?”

“It’s the best! Really, I’ve never eaten anything like this since I was born!”

Roden, who was watching him with a flustered expression, soon let out a soft laugh and drank the wine he had brought.

As if what the Leaf Village people had said was no exaggeration, Shan truly devoured a tremendous amount of food.

A tasty meal and wine, a flickering campfire, and a suitably relaxed atmosphere from light conversation.

While exchanging small talk, Shan heard Roden’s words and burst into an exclamation of surprise.

“Nineteen?!”

“Yeah. You don’t have to say it, I know I look old for my age.”

Roden spoke with a self-deprecating laugh as if he were used to it.

In fact, he was also the type to actively make use of such an appearance.

Just as he had done in Leaf Village, if he lowered his voice and acted solemnly, no one would think he was a greenhorn who had barely come of age.

Shan murmured while looking at Roden with a dazed face.

“You’re not even many years older than me…”

“How old are you, then?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m over twelve and under fourteen, though.”

Not knowing one’s exact age was a characteristic of orphans who had no one to properly raise them in childhood.

With those words alone, Roden could guess to some extent how this boy named Shan must have lived.

After engaging in silly conversation for a long while after that, Roden hardened his expression and brought up the main topic.

“So, do you plan to keep living like this?”

“Living like this?”

“It was the Leaf Village people who asked me to get rid of you. Those people were suffering because you took their food. Regardless of how you view it, this is food pillaged by threatening farmers with a sword.”

“But living mixed together with others is too difficult.”

An excuse that thugs who left for the capital because they hated farming would make.

At this, Roden’s face hardened with displeasure, but at the words that followed, he let out a groan of lamentation.

A routine of having to wake up earlier than anyone else and engage in relentless hard labor until the sun set and everyone fell asleep.

In the midst of that, a life of being insulted and beaten as a pastime by everyone he interacted with, eating nothing but crumbs for food, and starving to the point where the bones all over his body protruded…

The standard of a ‘diligent life’ that this Altoan boy thought of was several times harsher and more cruel than what Roden had imagined.

To the extent that the term ‘slave’, which the Goddess’s Religion strictly forbade, could not suit anything better than this.

Under such circumstances, it was plausible to think that taking up a sword and living by taking things from others was better.

“If I wield a weapon and use demon power, people fear me. That’s better than being looked down on and ignored.”

At Shan’s words, Roden did not reply and remained silent for a long time.

What came out of his mouth after that was not a rebuttal to those words.

“My father is a merchant.”

“If he’s a merchant… he’s someone who buys and sells goods, right?”

“That’s right. He’s one of the top few in the neighboring kingdom of Pendia.”

Roden’s real name was Roden Weavers, and his father, Callion, was the head of the capital’s merchant guild and a merchant who ran the largest jewelry shop in the kingdom.

Naturally, as his late-born son, Roden had been required to grow up to become a splendid merchant like his father since childhood.

“When I was young, I thought my father was the greatest man in the world. Because everyone he met looked up to him. But… one day, I saw my father bow his head to someone.”

That someone was none other than a knight.

The sight of his father, decked out in luxurious clothes, bowing his head to a knight wearing worn armor left a very deep impression on the young Roden.

Besides that, there were many people to whom Roden’s father had to bow his head.

Attendants from the royal court, various nobles who were his main clientele…

For a merchant, what was just as important as excellent insight and the ability to read trends was bowing flattery and hospitality skills.

Even if the opponent was a poor noble or an incompetent knight, one must never act arrogant as if superior.

Because that was insubordination and a challenge against a higher class.

“To be respected by the truly powerful and reach the same rank as them, you must have good bloodline or skill. And that skill is this.”

Roden thrust his tightly clenched fist before Shan’s eyes.

The fist, which looked about twice as large as Shan’s, had veins bulging out, looking threatening.

“My father also supported my intention, so he introduced me to a retired knight. I received an evaluation that while my reflexes and techniques were average, my physique was good and I was strong, so my talent wasn’t too bad. But…”

“Were you afraid of blades?”

“That’s right.”

He did not know it when training with wooden swords or blunted feather swords, but Roden had a constitution where his body froze stiff like a mouse facing a snake whenever a blade was pointed at him.

Even when he knew that the opponent actually had no intention of harming him or lacked the capability to do so, it was the same.

As he lived with blades nearby by force to fix this, the symptoms only worsened.

Now, let alone something like a kitchen knife, Roden found it overwhelming to even hold a blade made for combat, so he could only use blunt weapons like iron maces or flails.

“My father didn’t blame me for that. No, rather, he seemed somewhat pleased. Since he had merely respected my wishes, he actually hoped I would quit knight training and succeed him as a merchant. But I didn’t want to give up.”

In the end, Roden put on custom-made armor, packed his bags, ran away from home, and headed to the neighboring country of Libert.

With the mindset of wandering at the risk of his life to completely strip away this damned blade phobia.

Despite traveling alone being dangerous, the reason Roden was able to remain safe was thanks to his terrifying appearance.

Since he was a skilled warrior wearing visibly luxurious equipment, random riff-raff did not pick fights out of fear for their lives, and monsters that lacked the ability to judge such things rarely used blades, allowing him to display his true capabilities.

Roden, who had been pouring out his story like that, looked at Shan with deep eyes and asked.

“Do you know why I suddenly brought up this story?”

“No.”

“It’s because I’m so envious and jealous of you that I can’t stand it.”

Jealousy: it was a word Shan had never even imagined.

Who on earth in this world would be jealous of a lowly, evil Altoan orphan?

At Shan’s flustered expression, Roden gave a chuckle and spoke.

“I’ve met Altoans several times. What you were born with isn’t something like demon power. Sure, seeing well at night is thanks to those eyes… but the rest is just talent. A talent that could probably make you a knight superior to anyone else in this world.”

His voice, murmuring as if lamenting how could he not seek God when a guy born with what he so desperately craved was letting such talent rot away, contained deep sorrow.

Shan, who was quietly listening to this, asked back in disbelief.

“But I’m an Altoan. How could I become a knight?”

“It’s difficult here in Libert because Old Faith faith is dominant. But it’s possible in another country.”

“Old Faith faith?”

“You don’t know? Ah, I suppose they intentionally don’t teach you in a countryside like this.”

Roden assumed his opponent was a young child who knew nothing and calmly began his explanation.

A long time ago, in this western region where they lived, there was a powerful nation called the Arman Empire.

When that nation fell five hundred years ago and split into five countries, the Goddess’s Religion also split into the Old Faith and the New Faith. Unlike the Old Faith, which maintained strict old doctrines, the New Faith defined Altoans not as descendants of demons, but as ordinary humans who merely originated from an ancient magic empire.

“Besides that, there are several other differences. Things like whether priests can marry or restrictions on magic… Anyway, what’s important is that my hometown, Pendia, is a place where Old Faith believers and New Faith believers live mixed together, so discrimination is less severe than here in Libert, which is an Old Faith believers country. I can’t say it’s nonexistent, but even so, there are endless paths for an Altoan to rise in the world through swordsmanship there. Someone of your level might even be able to accomplish great deeds and become the first Altoan lord.”

Roden’s story felt beyond sweet to the point of being unrealistic.

An Altoan lord? Was that not a combination of words as unfitting as a flying pig or a swimming bird…?

For Shan, who had classified himself as a descendant of demons and a completely different species from humans, he could not help but be stunned.

Seeing that expression, Roden stepped over the campfire and tightly grabbed both of Shan’s shoulders.

Even though Shan knew it would be dangerous if his opponent suddenly choked his neck, he could not respond right away.

“Come with me to Pendia, Shan. Is living off leeching from farmers here for the rest of your life really what you want? With this talent, you can gain far more than that. Wealth and fame that everyone will look up to, and maybe even something beyond that.”

Even if he mentioned wealth and fame, neither was a value that resonated strongly with Shan.

Since he had never engaged in proper trade, nor received praise from others.

However, Shan saw a ‘future’ for the first time in Roden’s words.

Not a life of barely surviving, scrambling to secure food and a place to sleep right now, but a life looking beyond that…

The desire to become a better version of oneself than now, craving a change in a positive direction, was precisely the boundary separating humans from beasts.

The boy who had relished his freedom and happiness as a beast pondered for a long time at the proposal to go beyond that and become a human.

When Shan finally opened his mouth, it was around the time the campfire in front of them had nearly burned out.

“Will I be able to eat food even more delicious than what I ate today?”

At the unexpected question, Roden, who had been wearing a dazed expression, burst into loud laughter.

“Of course! Compared to the skilled chefs in Pendia’s capital, a guy like me is nothing!”