Volume 1 - CH 24

Act 1-24: The Youth They Call Incompetent(Side: Rosemary Loto Amelia)

TN: Recommended to Play this bgm while reading this chapter

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「Amazing…」

The one expressing my admiration was me, Rosemary Loto Amelia.

As one of the candidates to take the throne, I had received training in both magic and martial arts. The reason behind this was to make me capable of protecting the kingdom’s citizens. In times of war, I would have to stand on the battlefield with both my cane and my sword for the citizens of the kingdom. That was the instructions of the first king of the Amelia kingdom, the tradition that had been carried out ever since the founding of the kingdom.

Therefore, my eyes had seen all kinds of martial arts out there. I could see that the two swordsmen fighting in front of us right now had mastered their crafts to the extreme.

No matter how sharp Arnold’s slash was, Signiel could always dodge it by a paper-thin margin. And no matter how fast Signiel’s dual-slash was, Arnold’s greatsword always kept him at bay.

Signiel made full use of his long and nimble body to move faster on the ground, jumping high in the air as his attack rained down upon Arnold. However, Arnold blocked all the incoming attacks with his greatsword.

The turbulent dance of the greatsword and the longsword under the moonlight created an extremely beautiful spectacle.

「So this is a battle between the Sword Emperor and the Lion King, huh」

Anna, who stood beside me, exclaimed, completely flabbergasted at the sight of the incredible fight in front of us.

「Yes, this is my first time seeing a battle to the death between two geniuses, too.」

You could say that both of them were masters who had reached the peak of humanity. Moreover, it was clear that their skills were equal. Despite wielding the heavier weapon, Arnold could block all Signiel’s fast sword strikes. In short―

「Can our knight captain win?」

Anna asked me in an extremely anxious voice.

「The Sword Emperor can’t beat Arnold.」

「Eh? But, no matter how you look at it, they’re equally skilled, right?」

「That’s why the Sword Emperor can’t defeat Arnold.」

「Uhm, eeh….」

Anna tilted her head as a puzzled look appeared on her face.

「Arnold blocked all of the Sword Emperor’s swift slashes with his greatsword. In terms of raw power and weight, a greatsword is far more powerful than a longsword. That’s why, the Sword Emperor, whose weapon is lighter, has no other choice than to keep pressuring Arnold with swift slashes.」

The gap between the Sword Emperor’s slashes became more and more obvious as the fight went on.

Arnold’s greatsword swung toward Signiel’s trunk at explosive speed. Signiel tried to dodge that slash by jumping upward, but he was a step behind Arnold.

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「UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!」

Arnold changed the direction of his slash mid-way toward the mid-air Signiel, letting out a bestial roar that shook the air.

The greatsword scored a clean hit, Signiel could barely block Arnold’s attack with his longsword and got blown back. Although he managed to regain his posture upon landing, Arnold was one step ahead again. Arnold had already sprinted toward Siegniel with his greatsword raised overhead.

Signiel couldn’t block this strike; he had lost his momentum. The victor of this battle was Arnold.

Arnold was uninjured. So I guessed we could escape as long as he defeated the Sword Emperor.

And yet, my naive expectations lasted less than a second—

「GUH!」

Arnold’s victory was crushed by a snake who bit his right foot. Signiel’s sword slashed Arnold, who had unnaturally stopped, and Arnold fell face first.

For a while after that, Signiel looked at Arnold, who was lying face down in front of him. When he saw the snake that bit into Arnold’s right foot, his expression transformed into that of an enraged demon.

「ENZUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! Why did you disturb our sacred duel?」

He shouted at the grey-haired man with an enraged expression.

「We received an imperial order by His Majesty, the Emperor, himself to work together. The princess might escape if you lose her. Well, the possibility of that happening is quite low, but just in case. Your foolish pride is a trivial matter compared to the success of this operation.」

「TRIVIAL? You bastard, how dare you mock my pride as a swordsmaaaaaaaaaaan!」

Signiel’s gaze didn’t move from Enzu, the grey-haired man with a crew cut, as he pointed his sword toward him.

「I have no intention to mock your pride, but don’t think I will stay still without retaliating if you attack me.」

Enzu cracked the fingers joints of his hands as he took a stance.

The black-robed men’s attention shifted from us to the two of them. This seemed my only chance to bring Arnold into the forest and use healing magic on him.

（NOW!）

However, when I was about to run toward Arnold, someone pinned me down from behind.

「You can’t esca~pe.」

When I turned around, I saw one of Fracton’s subordinates looking down at me with a sadistic smile.

「L-LET GO OFF ME!!」

Anna’s angry roar shook my eardrums. When I turned around to see her, I saw an old, fat knight with an unshaved beard on top of her.

「Can we play around with this woman?」

When Enzu heard the extremely disgusting question of the old, fat knight with an unshaven beard, he replied without even looking at the knight.

「Doesn’t matter. Do as you like.」

「Ooi, he says it’s okay. C’mon! It’s first come first serve!」

「S-STOP IT!」

No matter how much I screamed, no one listened to me.

「Princess, please enjoy the moment when Anna becomes a woman.」

One of the fat knight’s comrades seized Anna’s arms as she struggled. Then, the old, fat knight started to tear off Anna’s armour.

「NO! STOP! LET GO OF ME!!!」

Anna was on the verge of crying.

「GET AWAY FROM ANNA! DON’T YOU KNOW SHAME!」

「Of course, we know. But you see, the loser must abide by the winner. That’s the rule of the war.」

The old, fat knight tore Anna’s tunic, exposing her huge, proud twin hills in the night sky.

「NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!」

Anna’s scream resounded in the vicinity.

Signiel sent a sidelong glance the moment Anna was about to get raped. Then, he smacked his lips as he inserted his sword back into its sheath. He walked toward the forest as if the old, fat knight and co’s act disgusted him. Seeing this, Enzu also relaxed his posture and signaled the black-robed people with his eyes.

Several of the black-robed people walked in my direction.

This is too much! Even though Gilbert and I were supposed to share the same blood of our parents, he went as far as selling me over to the empire. As if that wasn’t cruel enough, his subordinates wanted to rape the girl I regarded as my little sister. Once I’m sent to the empire, I’m sure that these lowlifes would continue their daily lives like nothing. No, they might even get promotions to important posts from Gilbert due to this folly.

Even though they are about to rape Anna!

Even though they are about to sell me to the empire!

These lowlifes have turned into dangerous cancer for the Amelia kingdom.

UNFORGIVABLE! All of them are unforgivable! These shameless lowlifes, all of them should just die!　

Oh god— no, even the devil is fine! Please protect Anna from these lowlifes!!

「SOMEONE, PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE!!」

I screamed as loud as I could until my throat felt like it was about to burst.

Suddenly, the old, fat knight who was busy playing with Anna’s glorious twin hills rose in the air. No, to be exact, a figure clad in exotic black clothes had grabbed the fat knight’s head from behind and lifted him with one arm. All I could see from my current position was this newcomer’s back and that this figure clad in exotic clothes was a black-haired man.

「GIH!! AAAARGH! GIGAGAGAGAGA!」

The fat knight’s scream transformed into an anguished scream, then into an indescribable scream. The next moment, I heard a loud popping sound, and the skull of the fat knight got crushed like a fruit. Then, the headless corpse lifelessly fell on the ground.

「Oh my! So fragile. As I expected, his toughness can’t even be compared to the weakest monster in the weakest dungeon. Well, I guess there’s a great difference between the strong and the weak in this world.」

Even though he had just killed a human, I couldn’t feel any semblance of repulsion coming from the black-haired man in exotic clothing, who had just killed a human. It was as if what he crushed was just a mere fruit instead of a human skull. Indifference toward killing, that was the only thing I felt from him.

「H-HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

The other knight who was holding onto Anna’s arms screamed upon seeing such a shocking scene,

「Shut up.」

The black-haired man swung his hand to get rid of the blood and flesh sticking to his hand as he kicked the screaming knight right on his head.

And as expected, due to the kick, the knight’s head exploded, sending a spray of blood and white matter in the surrounding area.

Honestly, my train of thought couldn’t catch up to this situation. Two knights actually died from those seemingly simple attacks.

Moreover, even though they were rotten, those two knights, who had just been killed like lowly insects, were quite skilled. If one spoke about national power, the Amelia kingdom was undoubtedly one of the major powerhouses. Our senior knights were one of the best in the world. Yet, two of those knights died so easily like that…

The black-haired man looked around once. The moment I caught a glimpse of his face, I felt like my chest was about to burst. Because, this black-haired man was none other than the very person despised by many as incompetent, Kai Heineman.