Chapter 277.
It was well into the evening when I returned to my boarding house with new and extra uniforms.
"I wonder if everyone already had dinner.”
When I said this, Gwalchavad appeared smiling from his hiding spot somewhere around the room and asked, "Then shall I make you something?"
"I’d appreciate it.”
Gwalchavad’s cooking skills were comparable to that of a top chef.
Gwalchavad said with a gentle smile as usual, "Come to think of it, Master said that the Head Commander was your relative, yes?"
"Oh, you mean Uncle Bloody?”
Gwalchavad nodded. "Yes, he’s not ordinary. Of course, he spotted me, but he also noticed Tristan, the person who’s the best at stealth."
They were always standing guard around me. Even when I was in the imperial army headquarters building, they were protecting me from a distance.
"It’s not impossible for Uncle. The reason why he didn’t do anything was likely because he recognized your presence from when he came to the boarding house with the prime minister."
Gwalchavad laughed freely, "Uhuhu, I’d like to try having a match with that knight. If it were the battle maniacs Gwalchmai or Bors, they would’ve probably stirred up a fuss, saying they wanted to fight right then and there."
"That’s going to make things difficult." This was especially true because my uncle seemed like he would actually agree and have a match.
Arriving in front of the boarding house, Gwalchavad concealed himself again and said, "I will withdraw once more. I have put your meal in the pocket space just in case."
"Yes, thank you. Oh, tell Caradoc to help me come up with a strategy later.”
Gwalchavad was completely hidden at this point, and he replied with a thought.
- Yes, sir.
I went into the boarding house, listening to his reply, as I announced, "I’m back."
"Welcome! I heard you won against the Black Water Buffalo knights today!" When I entered the boarding house, Alphonso asked with sparkling eyes. However, thanks to his mental and physical growth over the past two years, he didn’t rush at me suddenly. Although, he still acted remarkably childish.
“Yeah, did you hear from Lisbon?”
“Yes!” Alphonso nodded and talked about the rumors surrounding me.
Certainly, I knew my name would spread throughout the headquarters, but it proliferated faster than expected, extending to the low-rank knight school in less than a day.
"What’s Lisbon doing?"
"He’s training in the garden. The entrance examination is two days away."
I nodded at Alphonso’s reply. Lisbon’s goal to join the Black Water Buffalo knights had existed since he entered the knight school, so he’s been working hard.
"You’re going up to the middle-rank knight school next year, right?”
"That’s right. I personally wanted to volunteer under my uncle, but he scolded me, saying that war was not easy,” Alphonso said sullenly with disappointment.
Although it was not known to the public yet, among the knight school, Adventurer’s Guild, and Mercenary Alliance, the upcoming war seemed to be common knowledge.
“Well, he’s not wrong.”
“But you said you were going to war,” Alphonso said, puffing his cheeks.
I gave Alphonso a flick. "Ouch!"
I spoke as Alphonso clutched his forehead. "My participation in the war is not of my own volition. And don’t fantasize about war. You won’t be the only one to die with those complacent beliefs.”
I didn’t want to get caught up in such a nuisance like war if possible.
I sighed and went to the garden where Lisbon was, remarking, “You’re working hard.”
“Huh? Oh, Den, you’re here?” Lisbon smiled, wiping his sweaty face with a towel.
"Don’t push yourself too hard. I heard that with the coin you received today, you’re basically already accepted."
As he listened to me, Lisbon scratched the back of his head and laughed, "Ahaha, but my role doesn’t end when I join because there’s a war soon."
Perhaps it was because he fought two years ago during the great demon’s southward movement, but his face was full of tension rather than ambition.
I grinned and threw the pills and medicine that I gave to the Black Water Buffalo knights earlier to Lisbon. "I know you won’t listen even if I tell you to rest, so eat this.”
This medicine would fetch a steep price if you sold it.
"Thanks. But hey, can I ask you a favor?”
"Favor? That’s out of the norm for you to ask for a favor."
Lisbon replied with a shy smile, "Hahaha, I thought it would be good to try fighting with a ‘battle race’ after seeing you clash against the Black Water Buffalo knights today.”
Lisbon had always been combatting members of a battle race. He was constantly training with Alphonso, a Butterfly, and I often helped him train. Yet, I could tell that wasn’t what Lisbon meant. What Lisbon wanted was to try sparring against someone who was excessively stronger than him, someone so powerful that he wouldn’t be able to handle them alone.
“It’s not a poor idea, but I don’t recommend it.”
“Why?”
I sighed a little at Lisbon’s question and said, "It’s not such a pleasant experience to face someone with an overwhelming difference between your skills. If it goes well, it can be a goal to overcome, but if it goes wrong, you could feel doubt about yourself and lose your motivation to grow.”
What I realized from my father’s training was that I could never beat him with martial skills or martial arts. Of course, since I was a magician and also not warlike, it didn’t matter if I couldn’t win, but it was not the same for my older brothers. My older brothers tried arduously to beat our father after getting a taste of despair.
"I understand what you mean, but if it’s something I’ll come across eventually, I’d rather experience it now,” said Lisbon.
Once again, I tried to dissuade Lisbon, "Compared to the Black Water Buffalo knights, you’re like a chick who just hatched from your egg. In my opinion, I recommend that you take it step-by-step under Guild Director Glont."
Although I believed that Lisbon had greater potential than the Black Water Buffalo knights, I couldn’t say that his skills were that high right now.
Despite my dissuasion, Lisbon’s willingness seemed firm, so I said, "If you’re that set on it, that’s fine. I’ll be your opponent."
I picked up Lisbon’s spare sword lying on one side of the garden. It was for training, so it didn’t have a sharp edge. And because it had been used for an extended time, there were scratches everywhere, but he must have taken suitable care of it since the sword was sturdy.
Lisbon pointed his training sword at me nervously. I took a deep breath, then pointed my sword at Lisbon and let out martial aura at full power.
"Ooook!" Lisbon threw up, trembling under the weight of the martial aura pressing on his body.
"What are you doing? Did you ask me to be your opponent because you just wanted to throw up?”
"No, no." Lisbon wiped his mouth with trembling hands and pointed his sword at me again. Then, he began to fight back against my martial aura by emitting his own martial aura.
The guards of the boarding house came over, surprised by my martial aura. However, Lisbon was overwhelmed from just trying to overcome my martial aura and couldn’t see his surroundings.
"Uaaahp!" Lisbon ran to me, shouting. He put a defined sword aura around his sword and sliced downwards, aiming for my head.
Kang!
I gently deflected Lisbon’s sword and hit his stomach with my palm as if pushing him away.
"Ook!" Pushed far away, Lisbon got up, clutching his abdomen.
"Your sword has become dull. Where’s your usual sophisticated swordsmanship?!"
At my scolding, Lisbon clenched his teeth and rushed back at me. I dodged Lisbon’s sword swings and occasionally hit the areas where his posture had collapsed.
"Keuk!"
Now his legs were shaking, not from my martial aura, but because of the accumulating damage from being hit. As he kept swinging his sword nervously, he ran out of stamina faster than usual. The waving sword that sought to cut me stopped at some point, and Lisbon collapsed, breathing heavily.
"Aigoo." I supported the falling Lisbon while withdrawing my martial aura and asked, "Are you satisfied?"
Lisbon shook his head. “No, it was a mess.”
“So you’re aware.”
At my sigh, Lisbon laughed as if he was content about something, “Hahaha, but that was good training.”
“Is getting beat up considered training? Are you a masochist?”
Lisbon denied my joke seriously. "No! It’s just that, should I say the sense of alienation I’ve felt while you’ve been helping train me has been resolved?"
Saying this mysterious sentence, Lisbon asked, "Do you think I can become stronger?"
I answered the question truthfully, "Yes, I don’t know how many years it’ll take, but you’ll be able to fight one-on-one against a decent member of the battle races."
"If you say so, then I’ll believe it...” Lisbon smiled contentedly and fainted.
The unconscious Lisbon struggled quite a bit the next day. Fortunately, he was able to pass and enter the Black Water Buffalo knights the next day after receiving my treatment and restoring his condition.
* * *
About a month has passed since I was assigned to the staff office. Many things have happened in the meantime. The busy days were passed by training the recently-formed musketeers, clearing the staff office’s inner circle of spies, and filling in new vacancies.
As I initially expected, the enemy countries eventually began moving large-scale forces, and since last night’s declaration of war, they have invaded the border extensively. Thanks to the prime minister preparing for a long time, the border was firmly guarded, but it would become a dangerous situation when the enemys’ main forces reached the border.
Uncle Bloody went up to the podium in front of the training camp, where tens of thousands of soldiers stood.
"Everyone, attent-!"
"We don’t have time! We’ll skip unnecessary procedures!” Uncle Bloody cut off the major general as he tried to make the soldiers get in attention to salute my uncle. Before the imperial flag was pulled up and the military band could start playing the national anthem, an unconventional military departure ceremony began at Uncle Bloody’s shout.
I frowned with a headache.
Uncle Bloody pulled out a sword from its sheathe on his waist and stabbed it into the podium, speaking forcefully while infusing mana into his words, "I’ll be brief because there’s no time. Imperial soldiers! We’re at war!"
The soldiers’ atmosphere changed sharply by the one word, ‘war.’
"I hate war! I like fighting, but I hate war! War is a dirty and ugly act that afflicts the weak!"
There was a heavy silence among the soldiers at my uncle’s words.
"We’re going to the battlefield as the vanguard starting now, but we are not going there to make war!"
Uncle Bloody pulled out the sword he had stabbed into the podium and shouted, "We’re going there to end the war! Without a need for the main force! With just our vanguard!"
Everyone was surprised by my uncle’s declaration. The reason why the vanguard was made up of 50,000 soldiers was simple. This was the amount that the enemy had mobilized.
Yet, Uncle Bloody carelessly shouted with confidence, "Only those who’ll come with me to end the war should follow!"
Everyone shouted in response as Uncle Bloody roared, "We’re going to Dresden!"
It was a reckless and messy departure ceremony, but it wasn’t bad. Just like Uncle Bloody, it was a simple and concise statement that contained justification for the troops. Sometimes it was fortuitous to be simple and ignorant.
"Let’s go! We’re moving out!"
After Uncle Bloody’s speech, the military band played a magnificent trumpet in a timely manner, as if to signal the beginning of the war.
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