Ch 45

Arietta pulled up her long hair and hid its color with a priest’s hat as her, Mordred and Euss walked down the street.

"How is the Round Table? Are you getting along alright?" she asked Mordred.

Mordred smiled pleasantly. "Every day is fun. The most fun thing I’ve done so far is the thirty-person continuous spar.”

Mordred recalled two days prior when the other Knights of the Round Table had checked to see if he was capable of being Arietta’s escort. He had to fight thirty of them continuously. The confrontation with knights, some of whom had even drawn on the power of the Holy tribe, gave him a new thrill that he had never experienced in his hometown. The Crows used martial arts too, but the power of the knights was more special.

"I envy you. When I ask to join the spars, they always avoid me." Arietta sighed.

Mordred shrugged. "Because, Arietta, you’re a princess."

Arietta grumbled. "You say that, but you don’t treat me like a princess."

"What? Do you want me to?" he asked playfully.

Arietta shook her head and looked serious. "No, thank you. Besides Euss, you’re the only one who treats me like a real person."

Arietta was genuinely grateful to her father for appointing Mordred as her escort. If it had been another knight, it would have been suffocating for her. She was close to all the knights, but being friendly was different from not showing any faults. Mordred knew that, so he continued to treat Arietta as if they were just friends, even when Percival scolded him for speaking informally.

"By the way, who was the most difficult knight to deal with during that continuous spar?" asked Arietta.

Mordred pondered for a moment, "The most difficult knight... Agravain's power to cause stiffness was tricky, but Gwalchavad's defense was the hardest. No matter how much I hit, I couldn't find a gap."

He guessed that in order to break Gwalchavad's defense with force from the front, it would take the power of an elder from his hometown. That's how perfect Gwalchavad's defense was.

"I heard you won against everyone. How did you end up finding a gap?”

"Well, even the most impenetrable defense is still done with a shield, so I just made it so there was no point in blocking."

During the spar, Mordred had struck the ground with his sword, making waves in the soil and sand that had buried Gwalchavad in the ground. With his body half buried, Gwalchavad was forced to surrender. Mordred had a plan to forcefully break down Gwalchavad’s defense, but if he had actually tried it, the inside of the castle might have been split in half.

Hearing Mordred’s story, Arietta was in awe. "You are amazing."

"Well, it's a method that won’t work twice. There's no way that someone as meticulous as Gwalchavad won't make a countermeasure."

Arietta nodded. “That’s also true."

The three people wandered around the capital some more, until eventually they ended up past the gate, climbing a mountain with hardly any people on it.

"I think this is good for today, since I have to go back early." Arietta said as she pulled out a great sword from her pocket space.

Mordred also pulled out his sword and smiled playfully.

"Now, shall we start practicing how to control your strength?" said Arietta.

Mordred smirked. "You just want to fight with me."

Arietta asked deftly, "So are you saying you don't want to fight?"

"No way. I wanted to fight you properly from the first time I saw you."

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Today was not the first time that Mordred and Arietta had faced each other like this. Since Mordred's appointment as an escort, the two had clashed swords together every day.

"It sounds like you just haven't had a proper fight yet.”

"Well, I won't deny it."

Arietta had trained, but had no actual experience because she had always been sheltered by others. Their fights up to this point had functioned more as battle lessons for Arietta than proper sparring sessions.

"This time, I will make you bring out your best." warned Arietta.

"Attendant, sir, step back a little more. I think the princess is more frustrated today." said Mordred, chuckling.

Euss nodded slightly with an expressionless face and stepped back. Mordred and Arietta raised their fighting spirit and rushed toward each other.

* * *

"Hmph! I'm upset." Arietta pouted.

Mordred carried Arietta on his back back through the gate. She leaned her cheek on his back with a face full of dissatisfaction. She had used up all her strength in the spar, and did not even have enough energy left to walk.

"Ahaha! Don't get too angry, you were actually really close." said Mordred encouragingly, despite not having sweat a single drop during their fierce spar.

"What am I lacking, in your eyes?" Arietta asked.

Mordred chuckled and replied, "There are so many things, I can't just pick one."

"What?! That's too much!"

"Ahahaha! I'm kidding, I'm kidding. If I had to pick something, it’s your lack of experience. Every time I see you, you get better at handling your amazing amount of mana, but you just haven't learned how to use it against someone in battle."

If the power of other knights was like an arrow, Arietta's power was a ballista. Just based on raw power, there would be very few who could deal with Arietta in this world. However, what Arietta wanted was not a massacre, but a friendly spar with the knights.

"Usually, before you build that much strength, you learn from experience..."

Mordred trailed off as he made eye contact with two other people walking the street.

"Phew~! Got a close relationship there, new recruit?"

"Phew~! Looking good, new recruit!"

Mordred and Arietta sighed.

"… We’re screwed." said Mordred.

"… Go ahead and get those two.” said Arietta.

When Mordred carefully put Arietta down, the twins Yvain and Ovain, notorious among knights for being mischievous, began to run away.

"Haha! The new recruit and the princess are a couple!"

“Haha! I’m going to tell everyone!”

If they didn't catch the twins now, it was clear that they would spread false rumors by exaggerating the truth. Mordred ran after the twins.

"Hey! You guys! I’ll kill you if you spread any strange rumors!"

If it was anyone else, it wouldn’t have mattered whether there was a rumor or not, but that wasn’t the case with Arietta. Mordred's instincts warned that if he didn't catch those twins here, he'd be bothered to death about it later.

"Hehehe! You shouldn't have been seen by us!"

"Hahaha! It's your fault for letting us catch you!"

Yvain and Ovain climbed on the walls of the building with quick movements and ran across the rooftops. Mordred chased after them but couldn't use his full speed, as he was being careful not to break the buildings.

"As expected, it's a problem to be too strong!"

"As expected, such brutish power ends up being what shackles you!"

The clever twins knew about Mordred's weakness, which wasn’t really a weakness. Mordred gritted his teeth and grinned as Yvain and Ovain stuck out their tongues and teased him.

"Okay, so that’s how it’s going to be? I have an idea, then!"

The twins panicked when Mordred boosted his martial arts to full strength.

"Hey! New recruit! Are you trying to destroy the city?!"

"Right! New recruit! If you're a knight, you have to protect the citizens' property!"

Mordred reinforced the building and the entire area with a sword aura by releasing mana through the soles of his feet. The entire building became so strong that it wouldn’t get damaged even if a Crow used all his strength against it. Only then did Mordred jump, using all of his power.

"Damn you kids! Know that you’re dead when I catch you!"

The twins panicked when Mordred narrowed the distance in an instant.

“Ah! You barbarian!” screamed Yvain.

“Let's scatter, Yvain!" cried Ovain.

The twins ran in different directions. Without hesitation, Mordred rushed toward Ovain, making him flustered. Usually, when people scattered like this, the pursuer was bound to hesitate, at least a little, but Mordred showed no signs of slowing down.

"Even if you catch me, there's still Yvain!" Ovain shouted.

Mordred snorted. "Ha! The method to catch two rabbits is simple. You just have to move fast enough to catch both fleeing rabbits!"

"You brutish bastard!"

"The brutish way is the efficient way!"

Ovain stuck out his arm to resist, but Mordred struck it away and sent his knee flying towards Ovain’s abdomen.

"Uwack!"

Ovain fainted from the blow. Then, without delay, Mordred ran off in Yvain’s direction. Seeing his twin brother faint, Yvain realized that Mordred was utilizing the power of the Holy tribe.

"Shoot!"

When Yvain stopped for a moment and looked back, he felt a chill run down his spine.

"Ackk!"

"How kind of you to stop for me so that I can catch you more easily."

With the small gap that Yvain left open, Mordred jumped out from a blind spot under the building and grabbed him by the neck.

"You idiot, you should have run away without looking back."

"New… new recruit! Uwack!"

Mordred knocked Yvain out, picked him up, recovered the unconscious Ovain, and returned to Arietta. Arietta was in awe at the sight of the unconscious twins.

"You’re quite amazing. To be able to subdue the famous twins, known as witch hunters, so easily.”

"There wasn’t anyone else worth giving that title to? What’s the world coming to?"

Mordred didn't know it, but Yvain and Ovain were geniuses among geniuses at the Round Table, having joined at the age of ten. The twins, three years younger than Mordred and Arietta, were also five-year veterans at the Round Table.

"I will keep their mouths shut. But seeing you strengthen the area by injecting mana into it, it seems you didn't use any strength when you sparred with me." said Arietta with a sullen face.

Mordred was slightly flustered. "No, that's not it! If it had been before I joined the Round Table, I would have been tired, but after I got the new name, I've been using my mana to my heart's content and it doesn’t seem to decrease."

As soon as he raised the power of the Holy tribe, it would explode, but for some reason, when he just used mana, it quickly filled back up as if it were coming from some infinite reservoir.

"Oh, that's a very strange and enviable ability. It would have been better if that was the power I received, too”

It wasn't Arietta who answered Mordred, but Merlin.

"Sir Merlin! Have you finished all your work at the Holy Land?"

It seemed that Merlin had felt the energy that Mordred had released to catch the twins and came to investigate. He smiled benevolently. "I just finished the outline, so it’s not all done, but it’s just about there. I heard this guy became your escort knight?”

"Ahaha, that's what happened." Arietta smiled awkwardly.

Merlin sighed a little as he looked at Arietta, sitting helplessly on the ground. "From the state you’re in, you must have been excitedly sparring with your new escort every day while I was away."

Mordred and Arietta avoided eye contact with Merlin. Of course, it was clear that both of them would be scolded if this became known.

Merlin smiled again. "What's already in the past can't be helped. But please refrain from sparring again tomorrow. Now on, Arietta-nim will be leading half of the Knights of the Round Table and managing the border from a stronghold in the Mount Alps."

(To be continued in the next episode)