Ch 8

Chapter 8

A Good Lord? Who? (3)

The Jaden Mountains are across the northern part of the Yu Steel Kingdom from east to west. This rough land, infested with all sorts of demons, also acted as the boundary between the human kingdom and the chaotic north, the realm of monsters.

Since those monsters invaded human territory occasionally, Viscount Deventer and Baron Zestrad were in charge of the advance guard protecting the northern part of the kingdom.

It was until about 20 years ago. After the fall of the Zestrad family, only the Deventer family properly fulfilled the kingdom’s defense mission. As much as that, a group of knights was determined to train today in the North Deventer Fortress.

“Hyat!”

With a spirit full of valor, the sturdy knights shared their battle experiences with each other. They were swinging their swords, pushing with their shields, and sweating in the rising dust.

“Haa!”

“Aah!”

A middle-aged knight shouted as he watched the scene, “Don’t ever neglect training! We are the only true guardians of this land!”

It was Lord Bright, the commanding officer here.

“We can’t expect anything from those worthless Zestrad scums!”

Baron Zestrad, the more they thought about him, the more disgusting their expressions became. How dare they betray Deventer and try to fulfill their own greed when they couldn’t even properly do their assigned duty and be the sole owner of that unearned fortune in the copper mine?

“That too will be resolved soon.”

After observing the knights’ condition, Bright declared a break.

“This is it! Let’s take a break and start again!”

Each of the knights, who were out of breath, gasped for breath. In the midst of all that, there was one huge knight who looked like he wasn’t tired at all.

Bright asked as he approached him, “Are the preparations for the dueling trial going well, Lord Randolph?”

“I don’t neglect any training in particular, but…” Laughing, the knight swept his brown hair.

“What the hell do you mean I have to prepare for? I’m only going against Mr. Golden Goose.”

“Of course not.”

Bright smiled and tapped Randolph on the shoulder.

“But I’m saying this just in case you don’t know. You don’t really understand it, do you? Unless you believe in something like…”

Zestrad’s new lord, Karnak, proposing a dueling trial was too obvious.

“No matter how stupid he is, why would he give up his own life so easily?”

“Of course, I don’t intend to be cautious either, but…”

Randolph shrugged.

“I heard that the new lord of Zestrad was not even a proper heir. Can’t it be that he has no idea of the strength of a true knight?”

After all, knights were a little stronger than normal soldiers.

“Isn’t it common for nobles to be ignorant of worldly matters to do stupid things?”

Bright laughed.

“It’s definitely not common.”

In life, people would always experience a few cases where someone would act so stupid that it would make them wonder if there was really a hidden plot behind it.

Although most of them conclude in the end that the person was just really stupid.

“Of course, one should never neglect his training.”

Now that the break was over, it was time to start training again.

“Not for the dueling trial, but to defend this land and its people!”

The other knights began to take their positions one by one.

The sound of cheers resonated loudly throughout the fortress’s gymnasium.

“Huap!”

“Hyat!”

Bright’s eyes looked satisfied as he looked at Randolph doing his training. Exciting sword attacks continued one after the other. Even if his opponent could block it with a shield and hold on with his armor, he just couldn’t hold on and was pushed back and finally gave up.

‘As expected, he’s strong.’

If he continued to grow up like that, he might learn the battle aura that every knight dreams of and become a true first-class knight.

‘The only thing I’m worried about is his short temper and the habit of belittling his enemies…’

Even then, he wouldn’t ever lose to a 20-year-old kid who hadn’t received proper training even once.

‘Well, I don’t know what was on my mind when I agreed to fight a duel against a subject who is neither a knight nor a wizard.’

It was then. Suddenly, Bright looked across the gymnasium.

‘Hmm?’

It was because he felt like someone was watching them. Out of curiosity, he looked closely and saw a peddler selling miscellaneous goods to the women on the other side of the fence in the front yard of the castle.

It wasn’t a particularly strange situation. Originally, peddlers like that came often. He couldn’t tell if the main house was the reason, but the northern fortress was quite small. The front yard sometimes becomes a gymnasium, a laundry area, and a place where merchants sell their goods.

It was a common sight to see knights training on one side and women drying blankets on the other side. However, that young peddler’s gaze at him was to the point where he thought it to be a bit too excessive.

‘Is that guy?’

For a moment, he wondered if it was a spy sent by Zestrad to spy on our forces. However, Bright soon shook his head.

‘Nonsense.’

After all, it was training time. It wasn’t yet time to practice unique or secret techniques or tactics that would make it difficult for them if known by others. No matter how small the size of the fort was, the most important training would always be done separately and away from people’s eyes.

Of course, it wasn’t like there hadn’t been cases where one could assess the opponent’s strength by only relying on a trivial move or habit…

‘That’s only possible for a master who has dedicated himself to fighting for decades.’

There was no reason for such an enormously strong person to be just peddling and spying on this side. Wouldn’t it be better if he just stepped forward as the victor of the dueling trial?

Moreover, it wasn’t surprising that the common people looked at the knight with wishful eyes. Bright turned his gaze back to the gymnasium after clearing his mind. Loud shouts echoed over the heads of the sweaty knights.

“Keep moving! Your sweat will become the fertilizer that protects this land!”

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All sorts of miscellaneous items were lined up on mats and spread out on the floor. A group of women was huddled together and eagerly looking at things. All of them were family members of knights and soldiers stationed in the northern fortress.

A middle-aged woman touched a handkerchief and made an ecstatic expression, “Oh my, it’s so soft. What kind of fabric did you use?”

“How much for this?”

“Just give me 30 coins for a single piece!”

Translator: Anom

Proofreader: Orange

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“My God, is it that cheap? Oh, then me too…”

Barros was selling things disguised as a peddler and continued to bargain hard with the women while laughing on the inside.

‘Business is good. It feels natural and…’

Those sundries were specially prepared for rare occasions and were products from the central part of the kingdom. It was rare for anyone to have such a luxurious item in this barren fortress. Moreover, they were being sold at the same price they were purchased and without earning a single margin.

‘Everyone has no choice but to be impatient to try it right now. Whoops…’

The plan was a great success because he could easily watch the knights training leisurely from the tent within the crowd—especially Randolph’s fighting style.

‘I get it roughly.’

No matter how basic you are at physical strength training, your usual habits will always stand out. And Barros, the second-in-command of Necropia and once hailed as the strongest warrior in the world, had a focus level worlds apart from that of ordinary knights.

With just a little glance, he had wholly evaluated Randolph’s strengths. What kind of personality he had, the fighting style he possessed, and the exact timing and speed of his attacks.

‘At that level, it wouldn’t take half a year to prepare?”

Randolph was a typical heavy swordsman type of knight. His pros would be intense, efficient, and plain swordsmanship, but the cons would be that he was just simply ignorant.

He was an opponent whose movements were easily predicted in so many ways. It seemed like there would be a good chance of winning even if he could train his body for three to four months.

‘No matter what, if I stick to it starting now, I can cut his throat soon.’

But for now, the best choice was to carry out Karnak’s plan. While snooping on Randolph, one of the women gathered talked to Barros.

“Do you know our older brother?”

“Ah! You’re Sir Randolph’s family.” Barros spoke in a pleasing tone after quickly managing his expression.

“Who doesn’t know Sir Randolph, the strongest knight in the North? Since I’m a country boy, I keep staring at him with great curiosity.”

Actually, he was only the strongest knight in Deventer, but it was Barros who subtly raised his standard.

“Sorry for the rudeness. As an apology, I’ll give you another pair of underwear. This is all I have.”

No one would ever refuse to receive something more for free. The woman smiled and grabbed the underwear.

“Oh, thank you. Hohoho.”

Barros started to look at Randolph again after treating it as a normal situation.

‘Did I do everything the young master told me to do with this?’

An evil smile appeared on his lips.

‘I suddenly thought of a brilliant idea about how to bait that man to come out, huhuhuhu.’

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

A private training hall was secretly built on one side of the Zestrad Mansion. It was kind of a facility prepared by the Zestrad family and many other aristocratic families, and each family could take a big hit just by leaking this secret.

Karnak was puzzled after entering the gymnasium.

“Honestly, isn’t our family’s swordsmanship good enough that we need to hide it from others? Why did they build a facility like this?”

Barros shook his hand, implying that it wasn’t necessarily the case.

“When fighting with third-rate families, that much is disadvantageous enough. Of course, we have to go beyond that.”

The thunder swordsmanship of the Zestrad family wasn’t that insignificant to be called third-rate. However, since the water both of them used to play in was different, the standard for third-rate was also high for them right now.

Karnak trembled after locking the gymnasium door.

“Thanks to you, we’re at ease.”

Upon Barros’ return, Karnak immediately declared that he would enter special training to prepare for the duel. And, he even bluffed that no one should come near the gymnasium except Barros.

No one doubted his words that the fate of the whole estate was at stake, so it had to be kept secret. And since Barros was originally Karnak’s attendant, it was only natural that they moved together.

“With this, Barros, you won’t be suspicious even if you suddenly become stronger, right?”

At this point, Barros was just an attendant. It would be too suspicious that he was to transform into a first-class knight without proper reasoning. In this way, a scenario in which ‘his hidden talent awakened while assisting Karnak while learning martial arts over his shoulder!’ was necessary.

“For now, let’s focus on what’s in front of us.”

Muttering, Barros put down a pair of plate armor in front of Karnak.

“Put it on.”

Raising the chest part of the armor, Karnak tilted his head.

“How am I supposed to wear this?”

It was because he had never worn armor in his entire life. When he was a necromancer, he had nothing to wear because the armor was just a hindrance, and after becoming Astra Schnapp, his body was much stronger than armor, so he further lost the reasoning to use it.

“Let me help you.”

Putting on the gauntlet and tightening the straps, Barros dressed Karnak in the armor with his familiar hand movements. He took a step back and nodded after that.

“You look truly majestic.”

“…Are you kidding me?”

“Of course, I’m joking. Did you think I was serious?”

With all that armor on the skinny Karnak, he looked no different from a heavily armed scarecrow. There was so much space between the armor gaps that a rattling sound could be heard whenever he moved.

Karnak rolled his eyes.

“As expected, I should have just turned you into an undead or a wraith.”

“Would you like to try it? Who will you hang out with you if not me, Young Master?”

“Sheesh.”

Anyway, Karnak walked back and forth in his armor. He raised his arms and lifted his legs. He also pulled out the sword from his waist and swung it lightly.

“What? Isn’t it heavier than my expectation?”

The knights he always met were very proud of themselves and moved swiftly despite wearing such heavy armor.

“Those guys, were they all bluffing?”

Barros nodded his head and replied.

“Now’s the time.”

No matter how heavy the iron armor was, it wasn’t so much that you couldn’t move just by putting it on. But was it really something made for people to wear?

“Run in that outfit for just five minutes without stopping. It’ll definitely change your mind.”

Karnak’s complexion turned pale.

“Do I have to run for 5 minutes? I can’t even run that long naked!”

Barros’ complexion also hardened.

“Huh? Isn’t it only 5 minutes? A 20-year-old boy with all his limbs can’t even run for 5 minutes without stopping?”

The gap between a guy who wore his armor for over 100 years and a guy who only wore the armor for the first time was bigger than he imagined.

“Is it strange? I think you ran well when you ran away in the past, right?”

“At that time, I borrowed some power from necromancy.”

“Did you use a necromancer’s skills while running on a mountain road?”

“Instead of being called necromancer, wasn’t I just at the level of strengthening the body with necromancy?”

“…….” Barros was speechless and sighed as he touched his forehead.

“Hey there, we still have a long way to go…….”

But since they had come this far, there were no other options. He had to try doing something.

“Now then, let’s begin the knight training!”

“Say it right. It’s not a knight’s training.”

Karnak changed his words to a serious tone.

“It’s all about pretending to be a knight.”

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