Chapter 25
Joshua suppressed a smile when he saw the centurions’ bewildered looks. Even Cain was wide-eyed; he’d never imagined that Joshua would try to take on all the centurions at once.
“Are… Are you serious, Young Master?”
“You may get hurt. We are the elite, the centurions of Duke Agnus!”
“Right! No matter how great your blood is, this is an insult to all of us!”
Joshua smiled menacingly at the centurions. ‘They looked like they were about to run away with their tails between their legs.’
“Do you think so too?” Joshua fixed his gaze on one face.
Rols immediately had the attention of everyone around him. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead and his eyes widened in response.
“Y-young Master—”
“Oh, it seems you never told your dear colleagues about our conversation earlier.” Joshua’s words turned the air frigid. Only a cold gust of wind stirred in the deafening silence.
“That— that—” Rols wanted to make an excuse, be he couldn’t even form a proper sentence.
He had watched two of his colleagues die before his eyes. How was he supposed to tell his companions the reality—that he had been humiliated by a dung shoveler, a mere maid’s child? None of the Duke’s soldiers, certainly not the centurions, would have believed it; they would have thought that Rols and his friends were just trying to monopolize Lucia.
“I-I’ m really sor—”
“One chance is enough. Two would be too much.”
Rols trembled like a reed in the wind and collapsed onto the floor.
The centurions watching on noticed a pole protruding from behind Joshua’s back.
“... A spear?” A soldier quickly identified the object.
A spear, a common implement of foot soldiers. At the very least, it was not just some metal stuck to the end of a stick, but it was still the kind of iron spear that anyone present could have taken on a whim.
Woosh!
Joshua easily twirled the spear, sending a gust of air whistling past the centurions. The sight of a child swinging a spear that was almost his own bodyweight so easily was quite strange. Even as an adult, it was not easy to adjust to the weight of a weapon like that.
Step. Step. Step.
The centurions could only watch in silence as Joshua paced forward and slammed his spear into the ground before Rols.
Woong!
Rols’ body trembled with the residual resonance of the spear upon it striking the ground.
“You will die here. You should have died when you insulted my mother, anyway. I gave you a chance, but you squandered that chance. So now, I’ll be claiming your life… and sending you off to join your colleagues.”
The other centurions were astonished when they found out what happened from Joshua’s words. Rumors abounded about Roid and Gort’s absence; from stories about retiring to their hometowns, to secret missions, every sort of story was tossed about, but nothing was proven.
If Joshua’s words were true, then Roid and Gort had not been spared from the young master’s wrath.
“P-please. One more chance, Young Master! All I need is one more chance!” Rols desperately smashed his head against the ground.
He had barely managed to stay alive. He did not want to die like this. Rols had only just become a centurion; he didn’t want to die without enjoying the privileges of his rank.
“Please—”
“As I said before, there will be no second chance.” Joshua glared down at Rols.
“Young Master!”
“However!” Joshua spat out and hefted his spear. “I have no desire to trample on the pride of a Duke’s centurion.”
Rols nervously raised up his head to meet Joshua’s eyes.
“Take up your weapon. As a centurion of Duke Agnus, defend what little pride you have left.”
“What do you mean—”
“If you beat me…” Joshua huffed and whipped his spear around. “...then I will spare your life, so fight with all your might and do your best to kill me. You die, you lose. I die, well…imagine the fame and recognition!”
Rols fell into contemplation as he bit down hard on his lower lips. If he was to die either way, he could just as well go all out with a bang. Now that he had the chance to at least survive, regardless how slim the chance was, he felt that he should take it.
‘And wasn’t he still just a child?’
Rols thought that the feeling of fear he had felt last time was because of Cain’s overwhelming presence, but now, looking at Joshua, his nerves ran cold and his muscles were stiff as stone.
Nevertheless, he sighed and stood up. He had to fight, and he had to fight well.
The longsword he unsheathed was surprisingly sharp and well-maintained, clearly its owner's prized possession.
“That sword does not suit its master.”
Joshua pointed the tip of his spear at Rols. He wanted to use Lugia, in rod form or otherwise, but in this kind of place, using the same weapons as a soldier would maximize the intimidation factor. From his previous battles, he knew there would be no problem using his power for a time, even when he was separated from Lugia.
“Come.”
Rols bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed, staring at the boy in front of him. Was it just an illusion, or had the small boy gotten bigger?
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Rols rushed in with a mad scream; the shining tip of his sword threatened to skewer Joshua’s small body at any moment.
Joshua merely smiled and raised his spear high.
“Uh, what do you think?” the surrounding soldiers began to murmur.
“Have you ever heard of using a spear in that position?”
“Ugh, I can’t bear to see this anymore.”
Joshua fully displayed the dignity of a Duke’s son, but he had been shoveling horse shit out of the stables not long ago. Rols, on the other hand, was a powerful man who had been promoted to centurion at a relatively young age. No one doubted that the Duke's son would be run through by Rols’s sword any moment now.
Furthermore, the spear was a weapon optimized for thrusts in order to maximize the potential of its long reach; raising one's spear left one exposed, and only a fool would attempt a spear slash. Compared to the long shaft, the spearhead was only about as long as two adult fists.
Swish!
Rols was now within offensive range, and he swung his sword sharply toward Joshua. Some of the centurions shut their eyes, believing that they were about to witness the death of the Duke’s own blood.
But then, Joshua brought his spear down. It was a relatively slow movement, but it seemed to have titanic momentum.
‘The First Form, with thunder-like momentum...’
The first form of the Spear Arts only?contained two techniques, including Lightning Flash.
Just like Lightning Flash, the technique he was using now was a very simple movement, just up and down, but it brought forth the colossal weight of a mountain.
Mana gathered at the tip of the spear, resonating faintly.
“Thundering Strike.”
For a moment, the swish of the spear sounded like thunder. Time seemed to freeze.
Rols’s sword was split down its length, and fell to the floor. Astonishment appeared in the eyes of the centurions.
Dark red blood splattered forth, staining Joshua.
And with a thump, Rols fell to the ground. In two pieces.
Joshua slammed the butt of his spear back onto the floor. One could hear a pin drop in the resulting silence.
“I am the blood of Duke Agnus. I am Joshua von Agnus. If you have mastered the sword, speak with your skill, not your mouth. On the battlefield, judging your opponents by their appearance alone will cost you your life.”
The moment Joshua finished his speech, a middle-aged man, a senior centurion, knelt on the ground.
“May glory follow wherever you walk! I greet Young Master Joshua, blood of the Grand Duke!”
Was this the trigger? All of the centurions, without exception, dropped to their knees.
“We greet you!”
The greeting of the centurions echoed in the training ground. Before them stood only Joshua.
‘Indeed…’?Cain had stepped back with a faint smile. His senses had not been mistaken. With this, Young Master Joshua had cemented the honor of his mother and the trust of the soldiers in one fell swoop.
Certainly, it was merely temporary trust gained through fear, but there was no other method that could have yielded better results for a first meeting.
‘Maybe, really…’
It felt like that little boy—nay, his master?could really make his dream come true.
‘I will do my best to serve you…’ Cain’s smile deepened as he gazed upon Joshua’s proud back.
“...Master.”
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