Chapter 6 – Reunion or Disaster
It’s already been a week since I was appointed as the leader of the Black Lion Knights.
Right after the inauguration ceremony.
Thanks to the neat handover data prepared by the vice-captain, I was able to roughly grasp the circumstances and cause of the collapse of the Black Lion Knights.
Also, the result of diagnosing the current condition. When comprehensively judged, the current Black Lion Knights came to the heartbreaking conclusion that they were nothing more than a ragtag group that should never be called knights.
In any case, I was assigned as the leader of the knights here according to the judgment of the imperial family, so I decided to do my best to fulfill my duties as much as possible rather than being dissatisfied.
In fact, I didn’t even expect that the unit I would lead would be flawless and perfect from the beginning.
‘At least it’s much better than then.’
When the war was fierce, the commanders above and below were all assassinated overnight, and when they woke up, they experienced the experience of their unit being shattered.
The Knights of the Black Lion, at least as long as the number of personnel, was completely organized without vacancies and could continuously receive supplies thanks to the garrison located in the institutional sphere.
There are numerous defects right now, but I think the unit has enough room for improvement.
‘Rather, it’s an abandoned unit, so it has a better side.’
Above all, the taste of changing the unit to my will by improving various problems one by one seemed to be very special.
As the first step, he first blew the corrupt administrator’s head off.
‘It’s unfair! I just do as the former leader tells me… ‘
Come to think of it, it seems that he talked to me a lot right before he was taken away by the inspectors.
The excuses he wanted to give me would have been given heartily by the Imperial Ministry of Justice instead. Perhaps by now, he would be quietly sitting behind bars with his resentment fully resolved.
‘Ahahaha!’
Actually, the only thing I can remember for sure now is the clear and innocent laughter of the vice-captain as he watched the former administrative officer being dragged away.
It was so nice to see you smiling.
The fact that the subordinate in the lower rank, whom I inevitably encounter frequently, is a competent beauty has a very positive effect on my job satisfaction.
The administrator hasn’t even come in yet, and so far the paperwork hasn’t been bothered at all. It was all thanks to Vice-captain Agnes.
For me, her presence was the element I liked the most in the Knights of the Black Lion. At least so far.
I was going to introduce you to a custom tailor for the vice-captain’s health and work efficiency, but if he continued to work satisfactorily like he is now, I thought I could give him a bigger present.
Competent subordinates need treatment commensurate with their abilities.
And, the second step is now steadily moving forward.
“Then let’s begin. Let’s show each other courtesy first.”
The central training ground where all the troops of the Knights are assembled.
In the middle of it, two fully armed knights, including real swords, were glaring at each other.
“The 3rd Centurion’s Tenth Captain. I’m Raul.”
“The 2nd Centurion. It’s Pascal.”
In this place now. The public sparring, which has gradually become a culture unique to the Black Lion Knights and an event to end the day, is about to unfold.
Throughout the history of mankind, the eyes of the members were very bright, befitting a fight spectacle that is considered one of the most interesting spectacles along with fire and water spectacles.
“Raoul! Win!”
“Captain Pascal! Just trample it down!”
Even, from the subordinates, there was a certain heat overflowing that made it impossible to believe that they were the ones who all showed off their dull eyes like rotten fish during the inauguration ceremony.
… Surely it’s not like something scandalous like a gambling table is going on?
It’s kind of suspicious. I’ll have to look into this separately later.
“From now on, I will count backwards to three. Three, two…”
Well, if you think about it, everyone did something like that. This is because today’s Dalian has good reason to create a bigger topic than usual.
It was not a sparring between ordinary knights, but a battle between commanders. It is also said that the captain of the tens and the captain of the centurion face each other.
Isn’t it worth making the blood of young warriors with a strong blood boil? I am also very excited to see where this fight will go.
“One!”
—Paat!
With a noise cutting through the wind, the brown-haired commander of the Decenade, Raul’s new model, rushed toward the nervous-looking centurion, Pascal.
Like both superhumans, the distance between the two quickly converged to zero. Raul’s swordplay is stabbed at Pascal’s pit in an instant. It was a clean, effortless movement.
‘Ten Commander Raul. It’s quite usable.’
However, the other party did not take it easy like a centurion. Pascal, who kept his eyes on the opponent’s movements until the end, twisted his body with minimal movement to avoid the stab.
‘Pascal’s side isn’t bad either. Well, he’s supposed to be a centurion.’
Stabbing inevitably leaves a large gap right after the attack.
That’s why Pascal immediately grabbed Raul’s right arm, which was outstretched into the air, and tried to break it. However, Raul’s side showed an irregular movement as if he had predicted it in advance.
—Woe!
Raul crouches down even more in the position he was in before being captured. Conversely, it was an attempt to break the opponent’s movement. It looked like he was trying to get into a very close fight or a joint fight.
A way that has no basis. But bold and menacing.
In a battle between superhumans and superhumans who can make uncommon moves, they seemed to instinctively realize how to shake the other person’s psychology to gain the upper hand.
Pascal, with a puzzled look on his face, hurriedly backflipped to widen the distance. As long as you didn’t know what the other person was going to do, you had no choice but to do so.
“Waaaaa!”
“Raoul! Raoul! Raoul!”
When the couple reached a lull for a while, the cheers of the members resonated as if they were going to pierce the sky.
However, I had no intention of restraining myself. In the first place, it was purposely created to watch colleagues’ sparring and indirectly improve their skills, as well as to relieve fatigue and annoyance from work.
At that time. From the seat next to her head of state, she heard a low woman’s voice addressing her.
“…Captain Raul’s Tenth Division will win.”
It was the vice-captain. She was watching this fight with interest, to the point where she wondered if she was the person who was worried that an accident might happen because the atmosphere in Dalian was overheated a moment ago.
It’s so cute to see them pretending not to be and enjoying themselves properly.
“Why do you think so, vice-captain?”
“Centurion Pascal has already been involved in psychological warfare on the other side. Also, to counter such an anomalous method, you need to have some overwhelming advantage, whether it’s strength or speed, but Pascal doesn’t have that.”
“That’s a reasonable analysis.”
“Right now, this situation is sparring.”
The vice-captain left her with a meaningful word before crossing her arms and concentrating on fighting.
But, of course, because she crossed her arms, the bulging uniform top stood out, and I had to strictly control her gaze, which kept trying to turn in an rude direction due to her manly instinct.
The more I looked at it, the more likely it was that it would cause a lot of trouble in the knights, where the proportion of men was much higher. It’s a little bit serious that it affects not only yourself but also others.
“Chit, is this a bit lacking? Surely in that book…”
But for some reason, it seemed like she was missing something about her and kicked her tongue, but she decided not to attach meaning to it and focus on the ensuing sparring again.
When each other seldom allowed distance to each other, eventually Raul’s mouth opened first.
“Hey, this one also responds somehow when it becomes a centurion. I don’t think it will work next time.”
“…Hmph. Of course. It would be better to fix that ungodly way of fighting.”
When I heard that, I couldn’t help but laugh. Didn’t it just explode with rave reviews?
When you fight, saying that you are ugly, that you are not dignified, or that you are fighting together means that you are praising the other person’s excellent skills.
In the end, Pascal, who felt cramped in the long confrontation, deliberately revealed a gap. Raul tried to attack again with a similar composition as before, as if he would not hesitate.
—Chaeeng!
This time, Pascal responded more appropriately. The metal sound created by clashing sword blades.
Poking blocking. Wield cut. In an instant, several sharp sword strikes were exchanged between the two knights. In terms of swordsmanship, Pascal definitely had the upper hand.
Raul seemed to gradually give the initiative to the opponent when he was no match for him in swordsmanship.
Raul’s crumbling posture. It was Pascal who tried to quickly finish the loophole, which seemed to be greatly revealed at the moment.
—Kwaaak!
“… Got it!”
“What?!”
Holding onto the blade of the sword embedded in his shoulder. Raoul tries to kick the groin of Pascal, who has limited movement in his spread-legged position.
Feeling seriously threatened by that merciless attack, Pascal, forgetting that they were fighting now, tried to raise an aura in order to cut off his opponent’s arm.
“Stop.”
I quickly stepped in between the two and stopped the sparring.
“Sheesh!”
“You crazy bastard!”
The atmosphere between the two of them was threatening as if sparks were flying, but I really liked the current situation.
This is thanks to both of them showing more than expected. Fighting spirit was one of the virtues of an excellent warrior.
But apart from that, as a commander, I couldn’t help but pay attention to Raoul.
“Dalian is a draw. And, Captain Raoul.”
“…Yes, Captain.”
“Since I’ve seen your fighting style for the first time, I won’t punish you today. But next time, if you cause or try to cause an accident in Dalian, then I can’t let you go. Got it?”
I intentionally lost some momentum and applied pressure. It’s because the kind of crazy like that needs to be treated a little rough.
“Oh, I see!”
“You did a good job too, Centurion Pascal. It was a very impressive battle.”
“Thank you, Captain!”
So, at first glance, it seemed like the Dalian ended awkwardly with no winners and losers decided.
In the end, it was decided who would laugh.
Haha! Did you see it? Did everyone see it?”
“Damn it!”
There was a stark contrast between Raul, who was laughing excitedly while holding on to his bleeding shoulder with a hole in it, and Pascal, who had no scars but was frowning.
A sparring between the captain of the Ten and the captain of the centurion.
Although the absolute variable, Aura, is limited, considering various factors such as experience and swordsmanship, it is a fight that the centurion must overwhelm.
However, Pascal was unable to overwhelm Raul, and instead kept being dragged by the opponent’s target, and at the end his balls almost exploded.
If it had been a real battle, of course, Raoul would have been cut to pieces by Pascal’s aura in an instant without even making use of his strengths.
Paradoxically, Raul’s skills as a life-or-death fighter were far superior.
If both of them could handle the aura, it would have been a sure win for Raul.
If he had become a mercenary, he would have made a name for himself. I don’t know why he joined the Knights, but he was worth watching anyway.
It’s a rough rough stone, but if you polish it somehow, it could be reborn as a great gemstone.
Pascal’s side was also very good.
I thought he was a chaff because he couldn’t hold his momentum during his inauguration ceremony and fell out, but if he improved his excessively standard appearance, it seemed that he could continue to be in the position of centurion.
‘There is a lot of harvest.’
Most of the average knights were not even basic, so it was frustrating to watch them sparring.
However, it was interesting to see the commanders fighting each other, and they had already discovered two useful talents.
If so, it would be more appropriate to recommend the direction of open sparring in the direction of inducing competition between commanders as much as possible.
Sparring between rank and file knights is included in work hours anyway.
Of course, if a commendable rank knight appears to challenge the commander, he is willing to gladly accept the request for open sparring.
He seemed to have found just the right way to put some tension on his loose commanders.
‘It was a satisfying day. Gradually, I’m getting attached to the Black Lion Knights.’
* * *
Like that, the scene I faced when I returned to the mansion after work feeling satisfied in many ways.
“Master. What the hell did you do outside…”
It was the appearance of the old butler, who was usually blunt enough to suspect that he had no emotions, and he blurted out his words in a cold sweat.
Sensing that something unusual had happened, I quietly followed the butler to the drawing room.
Then, the man who was staring at the empty cookie box and the teacup, and the two knights standing on either side of him in an immobile position turned their heads toward me at the same time.
Each knight’s skill is higher than that of a centurion. In addition, the patterns embroidered with pure gold thread on the uniforms of those three are definitely…
“The commander of the Knights of the Black Lion, Wolfgang von Schwartz, accept the royal family’s personal letter.”
I hurriedly knelt down on one knee and paid my respects to the herald holding the seal engraved with the imperial family’s emblem, between the two imperial bodyguards who surrounded me as if besieging me.
“Eternal glory to the Imperial Family! Eternal loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor!”
Then, as I waited with both hands out, a paper bag that was so light and soft that it was too light for my palm was placed on my palm.
“With this, the will of the imperial family has been conveyed, and you should serve it with all your glory as the duty of a subject.”
After the burdensome procedure, which felt new every time, the guests from the imperial family left without looking back.
‘A message from the imperial family, what the hell is going on…’
The war is already over. Could it be that the remnants of the northern immigrants are on the move again?
-Gulp
Full of tension, I broke the seal and immediately rolled my eyes to check the title and sender.
Shortly after, I personally experienced the mysterious fact that people can feel dizzy because of letters.
[Notice of Visit and Inspection of the Black Lion Knights]
[Princess, Alicia von Diana Solaris]
“Ah.”
Fucked.
