Chapter 68

Just before the sunset disappeared completely,
Serpens slowly opened his eyes.
The feel of a soft blanket. The damp smell of wood tickling the tip of his nose.
An inn room. A space that felt familiar, yet new.

“Damn…….”

Serpens frowned.
Waking up with his memory cut off meant that he had lost the spar.
The boy looked back through his memories with a sullen face.

Lionel’s red Aura.
It had been an overwhelming force, far more threatening than his own.
But it hadn’t been Aura that decided victory and defeat.
Of course, it couldn’t be ignored, but there had been a more fundamental difference.

Even setting aside the physical ability that came with age,
the pure gap in skill was far too great.

In truth, depending on how one looked at it, it was only natural.
He was a novice who had held a sword for only a little over a year.
Lionel, on the other hand, was one of the Knight Commanders of the imperial knight order.

“…….”

Serpens swallowed his regret.

If he fought again now, he felt he could fight a little better.

Especially that final clash.
Had his decision to rush forward then really been correct?
At the time, he had believed it was the best choice, but in the end, he had lost.
Could there have been a better option?
What if he had tried to block it defensively?
Or what if he had dodged to the side?
Countless simulations repeated in his head.

“Why is this so difficult…….”

Serpens squeezed his eyes shut and scratched his head hard.

No matter how much he thought about it, breaking through head-on had been the best choice.
He couldn’t have blocked the opponent’s attack, and there likely hadn’t even been enough time to dodge.

It wasn’t a problem he could answer by worrying over it alone.
Then it would be right to ask someone who knew the answer.

“Lucas would know the answer, I guess.”

Serpens kicked off the blanket and got up.
His gaze, which had been heading toward the door, stopped on the desk.

“……Huh?”

On a small plate was a golden bead, no, a single golden seed.
A Golden Mandragora seed.
It was obvious who had left it there.
Beside it was a small note written in neat handwriting that said, ‘Eat it.’

‘His handwriting is prettier than I expected.’

Serpens looked at the note, then picked up the seed.
After staring at the seed for a moment, he eventually put it deep inside his pocket instead of into his mouth.
There was no particular reason to eat it now.
Nothing hurt, and his stomach did not feel bad.
Thanks to being knocked out, he even had zero fatigue.
He judged that it would be better to use it later rather than now.

The boy left the room.

“……Damn it.”

His mood was the worst.
No matter how much he searched the room, he couldn’t see his sword.
Had Lucas taken it? There was no reason for him to.
Or had he forgotten to bring it from the sparring ground?
That possibility was also low.
Lucas was someone far removed from the word ‘forget.’

When he searched through his faint memories, he recalled hearing something break before he lost consciousness.

There were no fractures in his body.
In that case, the thing that had broken was most likely his sword.
After all, there was no way Lionel’s arm had broken.

“Sniff…….”

As he went down the stairs, Serpens clutched at his hair.
His sword had broken. What kind of situation was this?
It was the rightful reward he had earned after helping Rail Navigatou.
A companion that had gone through a year of training with him.
It was a sword he couldn’t help but be attached to.

The boy looked around the first floor of the inn with a tearful face.
It was an ordinary inn, but the atmosphere somehow looked refined.
Serpens’s gaze naturally turned toward the food price board.
As expected, it was more expensive than other places.
The difference ranged from as little as two copper coins to as much as one silver coin.

‘Like hell I’m ordering food here. Tch.’

The boy crossed the inn and went outside.
A street where darkness had settled.
People were heading to their residences one by one.
The boy leaned his back against the wall beside the inn door.

He figured that if he waited here, Lucas would come.
Scenes from the spar kept coming to mind.
It wasn’t the final clash.
It was the few exchanges of attack and defense they had traded before that.
Even in those few exchanges, there were parts he regretted.

‘What should I have done…….’

Not long after he fell into thought,
a familiar presence approached.

“You woke earlier than I expected.”

It was Lucas.

Serpens hesitated.
Normally, he would have waved happily,
but his words were blocked by a sudden, inexplicable feeling of guilt.
In the end, he raised his hand to an awkward height and greeted him stiffly.

“Did you eat the seed?”
“Ah…… no. I didn’t.”
“I see. Take this.”

Tuk-

Lucas handed Serpens a sword.
A pure white sheath engraved with a red sun pattern.
In the middle of its smooth surface, a small sun pattern was set with striking clarity.

Serpens drew the sword in confusion.

Moonlight spread faintly over the blade made of dark metal,
and a red cord was tied to the end of the hilt wrapped in white cloth.

Swish—

The moment he swung the sword, Serpens’s eyes widened.
Its weight and balance were perfect.
It was a sword that seemed to have been made for him.
Before he knew it, the boy swung the sword a few more times.

“What…… is this?”
“A sword.”
“No…… I know that too.”

He cautiously raised his head.
Was it really all right for him to accept this?
No matter how he thought about it, he was not in any position to receive a reward.
A reward after losing a spar.
Was that not strange?

Besides, he might’ve caused trouble for Lucas with that spar earlier.
Because that spar had been one he faced not as Serpens, but as Lucas’s disciple.

“Is it all right for me to accept this?”
“Is there any reason you cannot?”
“I…… didn’t do anything well.”

Lucas quietly looked down at him.
As the silence lengthened, Serpens grew more awkward.

“Lionel is one of the empire’s Knight Commanders. You blocked the sword of someone like that, and even launched attacks of your own.”
“But in the end-”
“It was the best a thirteen-year-old boy who had held a sword for only one year could show. Doing your best was something you did well.”

Serpens lowered his head.
It was strange.
Hearing those words from Lucas, of all people, made something rise in his chest for no reason.

“Well, if you do not want it, this sword can go back to the storage-”
“No!”

He hurriedly fastened the sheath at his waist.
Even while fastening it, and even after he had finished, he couldn’t take his eyes off the sword.

“This…… looks expensive. How much did you pay for it?”
“I did not buy it.”
“Then?”
“It is one of the swords I own. I have never used it because I use a greatsword.”
“Oho…….”

Lucas walked past the inn door.

“Where are you going?”
“There is no problem with your body, so we are resuming training.”

The two walked through the streets of Oratio, where night had settled.
They headed toward a vacant lot on the outskirts of the capital that only Lucas knew.

On the way, Serpens learned several pieces of information.
This sword was a weapon bestowed on Lucas by the emperor.
He said it also had magic imbued in it that changed its weight to suit the user.

‘So that’s why it feels so perfect.’

He still had doubts about whether it was all right to accept it,
but the corners of his mouth had long since risen.

After arriving at the vacant lot, Serpens asked Lucas.

“Lucas. During the spar earlier. My final decision…… was that right?”
“Are you talking about rushing at Lionel?”
“Yes, I thought that was the best choice. The result was bad, though…….”

Lucas jerked his chin, signaling him to draw his sword.

Serpens gripped his new sword.
An unfamiliar feeling. But it was not unpleasant.

“It was indeed the best choice.”
“Really?”

Lucas shouldered his greatsword and walked to the center of the vacant lot.
Serpens followed behind him.
The sand and dirt mixed through the vacant lot made a faint gritty sound.

“The moment Lionel used Aura, your chances of victory were effectively gone. Your defense would have been broken through, and dodging would have been impossible. Attacking was the most appropriate response.”
“I see…….”

Serpens nodded.
The worry that had been troubling him grew a little lighter.

“It was a spar you could not win in the first place.”

Lucas’s next words weighed on the boy’s heart.
He knew that.
But hearing it directly…… was a different matter.
The words ‘you could not win in the first place’ sounded far too cold.
After all, he had also spent a year doing his best, coughing blood and shaving down his bones.

“There is no need to feel wronged. The time you spent coughing blood, your opponent spent dozens of times longer.”

Lucas spoke as if he had seen through Serpens’s thoughts.

“You may lose. You may feel sad about that, but there is no need to be discouraged. You only have to do your best again for next time.”
“……That’s how it is, right? Someday, I’ll be able to make not just the best choice available, but the finest judgment, right?”
“……You will.”

Serpens smiled.
Then he stepped back a few paces and pointed his sword at Lucas.

The black blade holding the moonlight shone quietly.
At that sight, Lucas also lifted his greatsword with both hands.

Another thing Serpens had learned on the way to the vacant lot.
Obvious as it sounded, knights also had ranks.
Ordinary knights, elite knights, and so on. Their treatment differed according to skill and years of service.
Those who stood as leaders of such knights. Knight Commanders.
He was told that the battalion commanders who led each battalion were called Knight Commanders.

And the position that served as the leader of those Knight Commanders.
The Great Knight Commander of the imperial court.

‘Great Knight Commander……!’

Just hearing the name made his chest feel full.
The leader of the strongest people.
At first, he could not imagine how strong such a person would be, but…….

Looking at the man before him, Lucas Liberator, made him nod.
He had learned that Lucas had been a candidate for Great Knight Commander.
It was information he had only managed to obtain after some fairly persistent questioning and one hit to the back of the head.

A person who could split the sky without Aura and cut down thousands of monsters alone.
A person who, no matter what monster stood before him, would simply cut it down as if nothing were different.
After learning that Lucas had been a candidate for Great Knight Commander, Serpens could no longer think of anyone else suited to that position.

He didn’t know why Lucas had never risen to that position, but……
he thought there must have been a reason.

“Then shall I set my sights on our master, who was apparently a candidate for Great Knight Commander, and catch up to him?”
“You are spouting nonsense.”

Clang!

Serpens made the first attack.
It was a sword he had swung himself, but he was the most surprised.
Only the sword had changed, yet his power was transmitted properly.
The following chain of strikes also connected more smoothly than he had expected.

‘Is this what they call gear advantage? I can understand a little why people cover their whole bodies in expensive gear and walk around-’

Kthoom!

Lucas’s attack cut off his idle thoughts.
The massive greatsword aimed for the boy’s neck at high speed.

Serpens bent his body back and dodged.
The blade missed by a hair, and a few strands of Serpens’s light brown hair flew through the air.

Tat.

He boldly widened his stance.

Swoosh-!

He drew his sword toward Lucas’s side.

Clang!

However, the sword was blocked far too easily.
Serpens clicked his tongue and opened some distance.

“Use Aura, Serpens.”

Patzzt!

Black Aura bloomed on the boy’s blade.
At the same time, white sparks crackled around it.

“For the next month, we will focus on handling the power of Aura.”
“Yes!”

Seeing his fully focused face, Lucas adjusted his stance.
He lowered his sword until the tip touched the ground,
then bent his wrist back and took a stance from which he could slash upward.

“……!”

Serpens recognized that stance.
It was Lionel’s stance, the one that had flustered him.

It did not have the same pressure he had felt from Lionel’s red Aura,
but the thought that he had to be careful because his opponent was Lucas-

Ruuuuumble.

Serpens’s eyes shook.
He desperately endured the trembling of both hands gripping the sword.

‘……Killing intent.’

He took back the thought that there was no pressure.
This felt twice as dangerous as Lionel’s Aura.

It felt as if invisible pressure was tightening around his entire body.
He almost felt as if he needed permission just to breathe.

“Phew…….”

Tat!

Even so, Serpens rushed forward.
He poured the pounding of his heart, beating as if it would burst, directly into his Aura.

Lucas’s figure was reflected in the boy’s eyes.
A flawless stance without a single opening to be found.
Even by the time he arrived right in front of him, his two hands held no certainty.

“Huuup!”

Even so, Serpens swung his sword with all his strength.
Lucas had said this was the best choice.
Then he only had to believe that.

He trusted Lucas.
That was all.