Victor Mort (2)

Victor’s skill was frightening.

He had been born fast and agile, and he memorized any stance after seeing it only once. As though he could see every weakness, he cut through even thick trees with a single stroke.

Before long, he could easily defeat every apprentice knight of Mort, and he had even become capable of giving the full-fledged knights trouble. Renowned young swordsmen came to challenge him as well, but none could stand as Victor’s equal.

Victor Mort was a genius. One beyond comparison.

While people clamored about his god-given talent and swordsmanship possessed by a monster, Victor became somewhat dispirited. He was as sensitive as a cockatrice, so there was no way he could fail to notice the atmosphere around him.

People praised Victor, yet they also shied away from him. Their attitudes held only awe and fear, without any of the familiarity or affection one would show a young knight. Naturally, he grew afraid.

What if everyone else acted like this too? Father? Morteon?

What if his brother started hating him too?

Around the time he was troubled by such worries, Morteon came to his room.

“Victor.”

For some reason, his brother, who was always busy, was dressed casually. He smiled warmly at his younger brother and said,

“Come out. Let’s go train with your brother.”

Victor did not want to, but he could not bring himself to refuse and nodded.

A short while later, Victor stood facing Morteon, who held a wooden sword, in the empty training ground. His brother grinned at him as he stood there awkwardly.

“You’re strong, so I won’t go easy on you.”

Then he bowed politely, observing all the courtesies of a knight. Victor hurriedly bowed as well.

The next moment, Morteon closed the distance at once.

Morteon Mort was the heir of Mort. He was the man destined to become the master of the most famous knight order in the Empire. Naturally, he was immensely strong. For the first time in a long while, Victor fought with all his strength. Their swords clashed again and again, and chaotic footprints covered the ground.

In the end, Victor failed to deflect the final blow and lost his sword.

As he stared at the wooden sword rolling across the ground, Victor felt strangely relieved. Morteon approached with a smile and stroked his head.

“Are you disappointed that you lost?”

“No.”

“You’ve still got a long way to go before you can beat your big brother!”

Morteon laughed heartily. Victor grumbled quietly.

“I told you I’m not disappointed.”

“All right, all right. Anyway, don’t look so down. Understand? Your talent is truly extraordinary. So there’s no need to hide it or feel upset about it.”

Morteon spoke seriously.

“You’re an impressive kid, so if you show people who you truly are, everyone will like you. So go ahead and boast about it as much as you want.”

“…….”

“And someday, when you become the greatest knight on the continent.”

Morteon smiled gently.

“Become the commander of my knight order. You will, won’t you?”

Victor silently stared at Morteon.

The brown eyes looking warmly down at him were unwavering. Though he was not even twenty yet, his brother already seemed prepared to take responsibility for the people, the knights, and the family name.

And Morteon was telling him that he would prepare a place for Victor there. A place as an honorable knight who would protect his brother and their homeland.

Victor nodded, his chest swelling with emotion.

“Yeah. I will. I’ll become the commander of your knight order.”

Morteon smiled and ruffled his hair once more. Victor secretly let out a sigh of relief and beamed.

From that day onward, Victor devoted himself openly to swordsmanship. Without worrying about how the knights or vassals viewed him, he swung his sword to his heart’s content every day. The apprentice knights were already no match for him, so he openly requested spars with the senior knights.

Strangely enough, the distance they had kept from Victor gradually disappeared. The knights readily approached him to teach him swordsmanship, and sometimes they even learned from him in return.

“As a swordsman, I’m curious to see what heights the young lord will reach.”

That was what one of the knights who helped him spar said. Victor did not know exactly what it meant, but in any case, it sounded like something good. After all, just as he had promised his brother, he had to become the greatest knight on the continent.

Then one day, while he was absorbed in training, he encountered Leonard of Odo and Kaltz of Dnion.

“Encountered”? In truth, calling that confrontation an encounter was somewhat misleading. They had rudely sneaked into Victor’s private training ground. More precisely, Leonard was forcibly hauling Kaltz to his feet while Kaltz lay sprawled on the ground as though daring anyone to do something about it.

“I told you, we can’t stay here. The young lord trains here…….”

“So what! It’s this huge, and he uses the whole place alone? Does he own the training ground or something?”

As far as Victor knew, this training ground was indeed “his.” He stepped inside to assert his rightful claim.

Sensing his presence, the two recognized Victor and hurriedly sprang to their feet. The blond boy knight bent one knee with textbook perfection. Then he greeted him with utmost seriousness.

“I greet the young lord of Mort, who is my master. I am Leonard of Odo.”

Victor crossed his arms because he had no idea how to respond.

For starters, he did not know who they were. He usually trained with the senior knights and only occasionally saw the apprentice knights or trainees during group assemblies. When one of those people offered him an excessively formal greeting that no one else ever used, his mind briefly went blank.

And why isn’t the other bastard greeting me?

When Victor turned and glared at him, the bright red-haired boy, who had been brushing dirt from his clothes, tilted his head in a crooked bow.

“Good day, sir. Kaltz of Dnion, sir.”

What a pair. Victor genuinely thought so.

Surprisingly, the two were apprentice knights, not trainees.

Considering Leonard was two years older than Victor and Kaltz was the same age, they had become apprentice knights at remarkably young ages. Naturally, they were the youngest among the knights, and they said they had been unable to find a place where they could train freely without worrying about everyone else. To be honest, Victor became just a little interested, so he generously decided to share his training ground with them.

He regretted it soon afterward. The two were even noisier than he had expected.

“─I’m telling you, I almost died! How was I supposed to know it was a salamander?”

“You don’t die from touching a salamander. You’d just scorch your hand.”

“Hey, do you have any idea how hot a salamander is? Young lord, what do you think? Have you ever touched one?”

“No. Shut up and train.”

Victor irritably brought his wooden sword down.

Leonard immediately reprimanded Kaltz for his rude manner of speaking.

“Your atrocious speech has not improved even after several months.”

“What? You think you talk all sweet and lovable?”

And just like that, the two ignored Victor’s words and started arguing again.

Kaltz was the third son of Count Dnion, a great lord of the southern region. He said he had dreamed of becoming a knight after reading chivalric novels and had ended up coming all the way to Mort while searching for a famous knight order. Despite his frivolous attitude, he was quite talented and took his knight training seriously, but because he had grown up spoiled, he suffered from the fatal affliction of being incapable of speaking politely.

Leonard, on the other hand, was the second son of House Odo, a viscount family that had served Mort for generations, and he had trained in swordsmanship from an even younger age than Victor. Having grown up in a strict household, he placed far more importance on etiquette than Kaltz did.

But from Victor’s perspective, they were exactly the same. Either way, they were both noisy.

Victor closed the ears of his heart and swung his sword. The movements ingrained into his body through countless spars appeared one by one before his eyes. His wooden sword cut precisely where it needed to, without straying by even an inch.

When the fluid sequence of movements ended, applause rang out from behind him. Victor turned his head. Kaltz spoke without hiding his admiration.

“I think this every time I watch you, young lord. How are you so strong? I’ve never seen anyone use a sword like you.”

“Brother is stronger than me.”

“Lord Morteon is way bigger than you! The fact that you can even fight him evenly is incredible.”

Victor did not answer. He felt strange.

Leonard and Kaltz were purely impressed by his skill. They were not wary of him or shying away from him, but simply proud of him as though he were a talented friend. Morteon had been the only person who had ever treated him that way.

Kaltz chuckled.

“You’re going to become a truly incredible knight. And I’ll be your right-hand man. The great knight commander Victor Mort and his vice commander, Kaltz of Dnion─.”

“Why do you get to be the right hand? I want to be the right hand too.”

Leonard countered seriously. His tone was so earnest that it was impossible to tell whether he was joking. He emphasized it to Victor once more.

“I would also prefer to be the right hand.”

“Can’t you stop talking so formally? It’s awkward when you’re the only one doing it.”

“You are the one at fault for speaking casually to the young lord.”

The two started growling at each other again. Victor was sick of their endless bickering, so he said,

“I don’t care either way.”

“See! He says he doesn’t care!”

Kaltz shouted triumphantly. Leonard looked cornered, then stared at Victor with tremendous seriousness. After agonizing over it, he answered with grim determination.

“I’ll…… try.”

Victor could not help bursting into laughter.