Soudouki Vol 2 Chapter 1 (Patreon)

 Soudouki Vol 2 Illustrations  

Chapter 1 – Knight Academy

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Part 1

Baldr who was enrolled into the royal knight academy was heading straight toward the capital together with his maid Seyruun by horse carriage.

When they got out of the forest at the territory of Count Cornelius, the Great Plain Marlborough(マールバラ) spread out there as far as the eyes could see. This plain with its very fertile soil was famous as a plentiful grain-producing region even throughout the continent.

It was the reason why the neighboring Haurelia Kingdom wished to break through Cornelius territory and took possession of this area.

The four rotation system (Norfolk four-course system) still hadn’t been popularized in this country. However using shell and leaf mold as fertilizer was already a common method.

Also, breeding horse was encouraged because of the long war before, but in regard to livestock like cow or pig, only the wealthy had them and only to moderate amount by relying on their abundant riches.

Norfolk system that produced the fodder for the livestock and securing the livestock themselves were inseparable from each other. It could be said that popularizing the practice of keeping livestock was one of the task for the future. Although Baldr was already starting to practice the system in small scale for now at Cornelius’s farm by shouldering the expense himself.

Although the Warring States general who was sleeping inside Baldr, Oka Sanai was a miser in regard of money, he had the principle of using money without hesitation when it was needed, and obtained even more money than the amount he spent.

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After they passed the plain, Aleister Lake entered the eyes of Baldr and Seyruun. It was so big that they couldn’t see the opposite shore.

「Amazing-! Young master, there are waves even though it’s just a lake!」

「The lake at Cornelius is more like a marsh rather than a lake after all……」

The Inawashiro Lake in Sanai’s memory was also as big as this, so Baldr wasn’t feeling that moved. However this sight was extremely novel and shocking for Seyruun who had never left her birthplace.

Normally she would act like a big sister and wouldn’t show this kind of excitement. Baldr thought that she looked adorable right now and stared at her fondly.

Perhaps male would always be weak against gap moe no matter the world.

This lake had never gone dry since the founding of the country. Amrita River that was extending from this lake was moistening the plain abundantly as the water source.

Mauricia Kingdom could become a fertile country exactly because of the existence of this water source.

At the same time this Aleister Lake and Amrita River were the last defensive line that protected the capital. There would be no more obstacle if this place was broken through.

In that sense, there was no doubt that Cornelius territory would continue to become a strategic military position even at the future.

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The two of them continued to be jolted inside the carriage for ten days before they finally could see a gigantic rampart starting to become visible at the horizon.

The distance could be traveled in three days if one rode a fast horse without any caring of preserving its health, but as expected it would take this long no matter how much they hurried when using a carriage with two horses like this.

Baldr practically had no chance of leaving the mansion at the past due to his impairment from his past lives memories. This would be his first experience visiting the capital.

The large structure that couldn’t possibly be found at Cornelius stimulated Baldr’s chuuni heart.

「Amazing-! So this is the royal capital Cameron(キャメロン)……!」

The gigantic rampart that fully enclosed the castle town. In addition there was the water that was drawn from O’Neill Riverto fill the moat that protected its outer wall.

This kind of water castle that had water surrounding it could also be seen at Japan in Warring States era like the Hitachiota Castle or Tsuchiura Castle.

However the size of the castle here was in a scale that Baldr had never seen before. Even Sanai who knew about Osaka Castle and Aizu Kurokawa Castle had never seen anything like this.

And then in this Aurelia Continent, there was only this Cameron that could be said as the only capital floating on water in the whole world.

Since the founding of the country, Mauricia Kingdom had allowed enemy to invade until their capital three times, but all those times the enemy would be completely helpless before this impregnable defense of Cameron and forced to retreat.

The invulnerable city above water──Baldr only knew about this place from book, but right now it was right in front of his eyes.

Even with all the memories of past lives in his head, Baldr was still a twelve years old boy.

Baldr unconsciously stood still with sparkling eyes because of his excitement. Seyruun didn’t say anything to him and only chuckled while thinking,

That vixenSelina──she must have never seen young master looking like this.

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The royal knight academy was originally managed by the military minister in order to train the knights of the royal knight order. It was an educational institution that was founded by the king two generations before.

However, before they knew it the ideal of the academy’s establishment came apart at its seam. A bipolarization appeared among its students, the noble children who enrolled just to obtain prestige and would return to their territory after graduation, and those who really aimed to become knight.

There were even fools among them who wielded their authority as noble to neglect their study in the academy. But as expected the regulation of the knight academy wasn’t that lenient that such people would be allowed to continue with their act.

The king who founded the academy left a dying will that even royalty would be expulsed from the academy if their strength and mind were lacking.

That was why the knight academy continued to be a target of longing and respect for those who aimed to be knight.

Baldr and Seyruun arrived at that academy when it was almost evening.

The carriage stopped in front of the gate that was made from stone. When they informed the gate guard of their arrival, they were guided toward the headmaster office politely as though their arrival had been expected.

(Hmm, I wonder why are they looking somewhat scared?)

Baldr was thinking such thing while a woman who seemed to be a secretary showed them the way. Then before he realized it they had arrived at the top floor of the five-storey building.

They could see the huge door of the headmaster office that was engraved with the kingdom’s flag to show that this was a royal establishment.

「Excuse us.」

「Oo! I’ve been waiting, Baldr-kun.」

Headmaster Ramillies spread open his arms widely with a smile like a good natured grandfather. It made him wanted to doubt whether this person was really like a demon god in the battlefield.

However Ramillies right now had withdrawn from the frontline. For him being able to train a youth with bright future like Baldr was his purpose in life that he enjoyed more than anything else.

This boy had made him fallen to his knee a year ago when he was still only eleven years old. How much stronger he had become now, and how much stronger he would become in this academy, Ramillies wanted to ascertain it as soon as possible.

Or rather he wanted to try fighting Baldr right at this moment. Such impulse was running through him, but he somehow kept his outer appearance to look dignified as a headmaster and stopped with just shaking Baldr’s hand.

「It’s great that you come here. I’ve been waiting impatiently for the day you enroll.」

「I’m sorry that my father had asked for something so unreasonable.」

Originally he should enroll at fourteen years old, and yet he was pushed here when he was still twelve and a half years old. Baldr knew just how selfish Ignis’s request had been.

Ramillies’s face twisted into a troubled look at Baldr’s words. The reason of that completely betrayed Baldr’s expectation.

「There isn’t any problem at all with your age. It’s not that rare for talented youth to enroll before they turn fourteen after all. Rather it’s Maggot’s request that’s more troublesome.」

Seyruun’s body twitched.

Because from what she knew, Maggot’s request to Ramillies was to allow Seyruun to work in the academy as a maid.

Baldr glanced at Seyruun who showed such reaction while asking.

「……What did mother ask for?」

「Ah, there is no problem with you working here young miss. Though as expected I can’t allow you to be Baldr-kun’s exclusive maid. But what troubled me is Maggot’s request to forbid Baldr-kun from going out of the academy freely. She asked me to send a chaperone to accompany you no matter what when you’re going out.」

(──Okaa-sama, just what are you doing?)

「It really pains me to do this but, honestly speaking, in case Maggot become serious and come attacking, that will be the last day of the knight academy’s existence. Forgive me, but I have to ask you Baldr-kun to endure it.」

「──You won’t be able to stop mother even with everyone here headmaster?」

Baldr thought whether it was really alright for the knight academy to be like that, but Ramillies brushed aside Baldr’s question handily.

「Then let me ask you, do you think it’s possible to win against that Maggot with fifty instructors who has retired from the frontline and students who are still wet behind the ears no matter how many they are?」

「That’s completely impossible I guess……」

He could only imagine his mother laughing loudly while trampling the academy like a demon.

That mother was a monster who could finally be held back only after a battalion of active elite troops was dispatched.

「And so you have to ask me for permission or have Seyruun accompany you when going out. Please.」

If asked why Maggot was making such demand, it was because at the end of his severe beating, her husband Ignis confessed that actually losing virginity was the custom of the students at the royal knight academy when they turned sixteen. But Seyruun wisely didn’t say anything about it here.

After all it was also just what Seyruun wished for to protect Baldr from evil temptation.

「Anyway, you must be tired from the long travel. You can use the empty room for teacher today to rest. I’ll show you to the school dormitory and to Seyruun-kun’s workplace tomorrow.」

「Then please allow me to accept your kind offer.」

Baldr left the room with a dejected expression after learning about the unexpected parting gift from his mother. From Ramillies’s eyes, his back invited a lot of sympathy.

There was no doubt that even in this whole continent, Baldr was the only one who could accept the heavy love of that Maggot.

If he was a normal child, he would have broke a long time ago. Or rather, thinking normally he wouldn’t even still be alive in the first place.

Even the knight order of Haurelia Kingdom that was known to have strict training would run away with their tail between their legs if they saw Maggot’s training.

That was why Ramillies evaluated Baldr’s strength highly and held high hope for him.

「How will my academy change from tomorrow after obtaining this prodigy, I’m looking forward to it.」

More than ten years had passed since the fierce battle against Haurelia──the so called Antrim(アントリム) War. The number of people who didn’t know war even among the instructors and people who were unable to wipe out obsolete fixed idea from their mind was increasing.

Perhaps Baldr wouldn’t affect only the students, but even the way of thinking of such instructors.

Just like the application of magic that scooped the ground under Ramillies’s foot when they faced each other last year──perhaps Baldr was able to see something fundamental, something that they were unable to see.

Ramillies couldn’t stop himself from holding such expectation.

「……As I thought, perhaps I should ask him for a match once more.」

Although he had withdrawn from the frontline, the headmaster’s battle instinct still hadn’t weakened. Baldr didn’t realize how a stifled laugh 「Gufufu……」 slipped out from Ramillies’s mouth with his shoulders shaking.

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Part 2

Around that time──.

「Nice timing. Zirco, keep me company for a bit.」

Zirco who had just gotten severely beaten until a step before death’s door the other day was called by Maggot for such demand. She swung her head fiercely to left and right with a pale face.

「No no no, I’ll respectfully decline. Or rather, I’m coming here to say farewell to big sis today.」

She had finished the job from Baldr.

She had also received her pay in full, so she thought to head to the next battlefield soon──while she still had her life.

It couldn’t be helped at all for Zirco to make such decision, or rather it was only natural.

To be honest, after she had touched Maggot’s anger like the other day, she wanted to leave this place even for a second faster before even more disaster arrived. Not a single day passed without her thinking that.

「What are you saying? I’m going to have you patrol the city while being my to……my opponent until Baldr return home.」

「Y-you almost said toy just now weren’t you big sis!?」

Zirco’s eyes moistened with unshed tears. She was half-crying like a girl while protesting.

This wasn’t a joke at all. If she was made to be Maggot’s opponent for several years until Baldr returned, she would die without a doubt whether from accident or from stress.

(Chief……it’s a miracle you can survive and grow to be that splendid, I respect you.)

「──Come to think of it, the one who told Baldr about the camel cricket was you wasn’t it, Zirco?」

*Twitch.*

(Damn it! There was that thing too──!)

Baldr once challenged Maggot to a fight using insect that could be said as Maggot’s only weakness. He got beaten up so atrociously because of that.

Zirco looked at Maggot with an expression that invited sympathy, like a defendant who received the verdict of death penalty.

There was no more comrade who could save her anywhere here. Zirco had no way to escape from the demon before her.

「Now, try asking your cute little head over there. Will you stay and work here or leave?」

「Uuu……please allow me to work here with my whole heart……」

「A wise decision. First let’s start with a (death)match.」

「There is an ominous word hidden behind the match there!! I oppose violence-!」

This was the moment when the mercenary who had wandered the battlefield from job to job until now became tied to Cornelius.

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「Come on, come on, I won’t care how you’ll end up if you let your guard down you know?」

「Chief! She is an S just like you said! This person is undoubtedly an S!!」

Zirco bawled toward the ideal boss who was far away right now while her big body was tormented by Maggot.

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Part 3

The next morning, Baldr put his hand through the sleeve of the knight academy uniform that had black as it base color.

Strictly speaking, since the moment he woke up Seyruun took care of all his necessities, combed his hair, and dressed him into the uniform.

This was even though they were going to be in separate room since today. The thought whether this was okay crossed his mind, but it seemed Seyruun had no intention of yielding the role of taking care Baldr to anyone.

A knight was also a noble although a low ranked one. Although the uniform was simple, some parts of it were made to be similar with a noble’s ceremonial dress.

On the other hand, Seyruun was also wearing an apron dress of different design from Cornelius mansion. It had a lot of frills. That adorable appearance was fresh for Baldr too.

Seyruun fixed Baldr’s collar and looked up at his face, then she showed a bright smile at her master’s gallant appearance.

「You look good young master.」

「Thank you Sey-nee.」

For Baldr this was also his first experience leaving his home for this long.

Because his mother Maggot was too strong and there were too few target of comparison back home, he wasn’t really clear of just how strong he actually was. There was a desire inside himself to test himself in this academy. He was feeling excited just like a child.

「Then I’m going now, Sey-nee.」

「I’ll also go to greet the other staffs at my workplace.」

The two of them started walking to their respective new environment with hope in their chest.

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The classroom of the knight academy was noisy due to a certain rumor.

Curiously there would be a new student today.

It was unknown from where the rumor came from, but it said that the new student was still twelve and half years old.

Anyone knew that the age to enroll into the academy was fourteen years old. Normally a boy who still hadn’t reached fourteen years old by April would enroll at the April next year.

Of course there were exceptions. There were more than ten new students in the academy who enrolled when they still hadn’t reached fourteen years old, but most of them were people who only needed several more months to become fourteen. They only enrolled just a bit earlier.

Someone who enrolled with age of twelve and half years old like this had updated the record of the youngest person enrolling by a great margin.

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「What do you think Silk?」

The name of the young man who asked his classmate at the seat beside him was Brooks Irvine(ブルックス・アーバイン).

He was a martial art practitioner who contested for the first or second rank among the first year students, but he was a little, or rather very weak with classroom learning. Because of that his evaluation as high rank commander that had to take command of many lower ranked knights or ordinary soldiers was poor.

In addition, he also often disobeyed the order from instructor or upperclassman if he disagreed with them. He was a famous problem child in the academy.

「──I’m not interested.」

The one who answered like that with an expressionless face was Silk Randolph(シルク・ランドルフ). She was from a great noble house with inheritance right of the throne and also a girl. It was extremely unusual for someone with such background to be in this knight academy.

The reason why this girl was enrolled into Mauricia Kingdom knight academy even though she was a female was complicated.

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The native land of her mother was Trystovy Dukedom that was located to southwest of Mauricia Kingdom.

Currently that country was enveloped in a civil war that had been continuing for a long time. Its glory for being widely known as a great mercantile nation was something of the past.

The conflict was started as the result of an archduke rising in revolt against the king and usurped the country. The surrounding countries were also reluctant to send aid into the conflict.

Silk descended from the bloodline of the royal family that was usurped. In other words, Mauricia Kingdom was also considering her as a strong political card.

Even so she was wishing for the peace and unification of her mother’s native land. She wished to enroll into the knight academy in order to polish her strength.

The most important thing for Silk was how strong she could become for the sake of her native land. It was only natural that she held no interest toward the arrival of a transfer student.

She had an extremely beautiful face with well-ordered feature, so it was unknown when she would be sacrificed for a political marriage. Because of that, she imposed the duty of becoming stronger as fast as possible to herself and had the tendency of refusing to interact with her classmates.

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──It’s a waste even though she is such a beauty.

Brooks couldn’t help but wish that an outrageous transfer student would come so that the impudent mask of this steel faced girl could be torn down.

Even like this Brooks was wishing for Silk who had better skill than him in body strengthening to be able to act like girl her age.

「Well, I think that the transfer student won’t be anyone ordinary for sure though……」

Just when he muttered that, the classroom door opened and an instructor with a large build entered inside with large stride.

The gazes of everyone inside the classroom were drawn there toward the student who was following behind the instructor.

That transfer student was a boy with adorable look and an appearance that was even more delicate than they thought.

If he was dressed with female clothing then most likely no one would think of him as a male.

His silver hair that was unusual in Mauricia Kingdom and intellectual marine blue eyes really left an impression.

「Looks like you guys have sniffed it our already but……this is Baldr Cornelius who are enrolling here starting today.」

「I am Baldr Cornelius. Please take care of me.」

Baldr bowed quickly. Someone let out a sigh of disappointment.

Baldr had an immature body with short height. Forget being twelve, the students would believe it if they were told that he was still ten years old with how small he was. He completely didn’t look like a tough guy that rewrote the record of youngest student enrolled.

While the students were aware that this knight academy wasn’t that lenient of a place, they couldn’t help but doubt that perhaps Baldr enrolled by making use of his connection.

「Oi oi, is he gonna be okay studying here with a body that thin?」

Brooks said that not as insult but because he was really worried for Baldr.

There were also people who enrolled just for prestige and withdrew after only three days because they couldn’t endure it.

No matter the era, an army was always an unrefined place where serious amount of basic training was necessary.

There was no malice that could be felt from Brooks’s words, so he must be saying that from his heart. Besides Baldr also felt that he couldn’t hate this Brooks guy at all.

「Please don’t worry.」

He said that and lightly nodded at Brooks.

「Cadet Baldr, it doesn’t matter that you enroll here from the middle, know that you won’t receive any special treatment at all. After all the enemy won’t pick their opponent at the battlefield.」

「I understand.」

「Now then, this guy is your comrade in arms. Look after him properly! After all he’s going to become a comrade who you will entrust your back to from now on.」

The instructor Lombard who was originally a knight at the frontline didn’t forget to glare fiercely and barked his order.

「Yes!」

The students replied in unison.

──A knight must never forsake their comrade in arms. All for one. One for all.

To forsake one’s comrade for any other reason than duty was considered as the greatest shame for the knight order.

The students were living with such discipline.

「……Having said that, you also won’t be able to entrust your back to him fully without knowing his capability. And so our class today will be practical training!」

Lombard smirked.

Perhaps it should be said that, like headmaster like teacher.

Lombard himself had the desire to ascertain just how far Baldr could go seeing that he was the son of that famous Silver Light Maggot.

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They went out of the classroom and went down the stair at the east side. There was a large arena there that was equipped with various kinds of weapon and training equipments.

As expected from a royal institution, it had abundant equipments. Baldr’s gaze was wandering around in amusement in front of a beautiful knight spear for training that would be hard to obtain at Cornelius.

「Cadet Baldr, can you use body strengthening?」

Lombard asked from behind.

「There’s no problem.」

「I see.」

Even in the knight academy, it was rare for someone to have mastered body strengthening before they enrolled.

When a child failed their body strengthening and ran wild, it could invite a tragedy that couldn’t be taken back. A capable supervisor was necessary to prevent such thing.

Balrd was the heir of Cornelius House, furthermore his parents were heroes from the last war, so it looked like there would be no need for any worry in regard to that.

If Baldr realized that Lombard was thinking such thing, he would surely object like this while crying.

「There isn’t any supervision or anything like that. It was a place where I wouldn’t survive if I couldn’t control it!」

In fact, after Maggot succeeded to make Baldr perform strengthening for the first time, she thoroughly trained Baldr in it through actual battle.

Maggot’s style was making someone learned with their body rather than teaching by mouth.

「Then that save me the time. I’ll be your opponent.」

「……I’m honored.」

As expected, it seemed this person also preferred Spartan training method just like his mother.

He never even imagined that at his first day of enrollment, furthermore right after his self-introduction he would end up fighting his instructor. Baldr almost let out a sigh.

It was clear that it would bring a negative influence to his school life if he exposed a poor performance here.

For some reason the students were also focusing on him. There were also sympathetic gazes from some of them.

Perhaps this instructor was a really dangerous guy.

──Baldr’s guess was right on the money.

Lombard Wesley(ロンバルド・ウェイスリー) would be 34 years old this year. He was a survivor of Antrim War.

He served as a platoon captain for a long time. Although nothing of him stood out, he was a reliable knight who belonged to Red Flame Knight Order.

Unfortunately his knee got busted from an accident in the middle of training when he was 28 years old. He retired as knight and got invited to be instructor in this academy.

He was undoubtedly a veteran who was at the top five even among the many instructors here.

That was why.

Lombard was sensitively sensing the fierce aura of a fighter lurking inside Baldr.

Anyone would laugh hearing that because no way a kid with this kind of appearance could hide something like that inside.

The students were also pitying the small and slender Baldr because the instructor was going to personally work him hard.

However Baldr himself who in a glance looked weak was relaxed even now. He showed no sign of fearing Lombard at all.

Even though he was forced to face the instructor out of nowhere at his first day of enrollment, he was calmly accepting the situation. Such composure itself was already strange from the start.

(This might be……interesting.)

Lombard felt his whole body filled with the exaltation of fighting after so long. His lips twisted into a grin.

It was a refreshing feeling that he had never felt for so long since he retired.

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「No need to hold back. Come at me, cadet Baldr.」

Lombard’s tall body was around 180 cm. His weight was more than 90 kg.

Both of them were unarmed with the reason of wanting to ascertain Baldr’s body strengthening.

The onlooker was thinking at least give Baldr a weapon in their heart, but they didn’t say it out loud.

「The unworthy Baldr Cornelius──here I come.」

In contrast to the onlookers’ expectation, Baldr stepped toward Lombard without any fear. He accepted Lombard’s words that told him to not hold back and used his body strengthening fully.

The speed of his step caused everyone watching, including the normally expressionless Silk to change their expression.

(Hou, it’s sharper than I expected……!)

As expected from the instructor Lombard. He noticed that Baldr wasn’t just simply fast.

Someone who couldn’t control the strength of their body strengthening, their mind wouldn’t be able to catch up with the overwhelming speed and their next motion would be delayed. There were even careless people who would slam straight into their opponent.

However although Baldr was advancing with a surprising speed, he still kept a spare leeway to be able to change direction to left or right anytime.

It was this flexibility that surprised Lombard the most.

Because that was the proof that Baldr was using body strengthening in extremely high level.

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Among the watching students, only Silk and Brooks reached the same conclusion like Lombard.

Silk’s almond-shaped golden eyes opened wide and stared fixatedly at Baldr.

She was the most skilled student in body strengthening among the first years, but she thought that it was most likely impossible for her to imitate What Baldr was doing right now.

(──That child, who is he?)

She had no time to get involved with other people. The first thing she had to do was to obtain a strong power no matter what if she wanted to cut open her path toward her dearest wish──Silk was living under such impression, but for some reason she couldn’t help but held an interest toward Baldr.

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Baldr intentionally didn’t use any feint and let out a palm strike from the front at first.

But the power and speed that were put into it weren’t normal.

Lombard planned to lightly brush it away, but he had to seriously harden his guard to block the strike.

(The hell with this heaviness even though his body is so small!)

The numb feeling at his left arm that blocked the attack felt like a blunt weapon had just hit there.

Even so he managed to block that attack with enough leeway, so he then played it by the book and used his free right hand to punch as a counter.

At that time the action that Baldr took while dodging the fist was something that surpassed Lombard’s expectation.

「Whaat-?」

When Lombard realized, his big body was already floating high in the air.

He remembered that his right first was dodged by Baldr with a slightly margin.

However after that he couldn’t comprehend at all how he ended up floating in the air.

At the very least Lombard hadn’t comprehended that he had been “thrown” by Baldr.

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(──Is grappling technique not that popular in this country?)

Baldr had such thought seeing Lombard got thrown without any resistance.

Baldr’s previous life, Oka Masaharu remembered that before judo got popular at the modern time, soft type martial art was nonexistent at the western countries.

Most likely it was due to the difference in battle style and physical capability.

Grappling technique──the martial art that was categorized as old style jujitsu was developed with the objective of holding down the opponent at the Warring States era in order to take their head.

In order to prevail against the opponent and took their head in hand-to-hand combat, simply speaking one just needed to throw down the opponent.

It was an era where both enemies and allies were wearing armor and helmet while firearms were still few in number.

The effect of throwing down the enemy was bigger than what the modern people thought. Many people learned the method to do just that.

It was because of that it wasn’t striking martial art like karate but instead jujitsu that had long history that could be traced to the Warring States era. The techniques of jujitsu were originally intended to throw down enemy to the ground so their head could be taken.

*Zushin*, Lombard’s large body slammed on the ground from his back with a large sound.

The damage to his body that was magically strengthened wasn’t that much, but the impact made him caught his breath and he couldn’t prevent his body from getting paralyzed.

Just what had happened? When he tried to stand up reflexively with his mind still in a chaotic state, Baldr’s right hand was already placed on his neck.

「──Match over!」

A very loud voice that made everyone wanted to block their ears resounded piercingly.

The headmaster Ramillies had appeared at the arena without anyone noticing and announced the end of the match.

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「You got me. Just what kind of technique was that?」

Lombard scratched his head in shame, but there wasn’t any sign of hostility from him. It seemed he was genuinely impressed by Baldr’s technique.

Actually the palm strike that Baldr executed was a bait.

Lombard’s body weight tilted to the left at the moment of impact. Baldr didn’t overlook that and used his right hand that was performing palm strike to pull down Lombard’s left cuff, at the same time his left hand scooped up Lombard’s right foot.

To put it simply, it was a simple pull and throw.

It went that well because jujitsu that made use of the opponent’s strength and body strengthening with shaky balance had extremely bad compatibility.

It could be said that Lombard was digging his own grave with his body strengthening’s power.

「Fumu……making use of the opponent’s power instead……is it」

Because the effect of body strengthening was too overwhelming, this concept was something that had never been considered until now.

There was no proverb of “soft and fair goes far” at Aurelia continent.

But Lombard honestly accepted the fact that he was lightly thrown down just now.

「This is an extremely useful technique when facing someone with better physical strengthening than yourself. Cadet Baldr, teach it to me when you have time.」

「If instructor is fine with an amateur like me.」

After they both exchanged a bow, the students who had stayed silent until now as though time had stopped let out loud cheers.

「Amazing! How did that happen just now?」

「That wasn’t magic!?」

「I can’t believe it! It was like the teacher flew on his own……」

Even among them, Brooks was the one desperately suppressing his desire to want to fight right away due to the possibility of new martial art that Baldr showed.

(Cool! That was nothing but cool!)

Actually, Brooks had been worried lately about the growth of his skill in magic like with body strengthening and the like.

For now he could compensate for it with his martial art sense and experience, but he was feeling a serious worry that one day he might be plunged into the weakling category.

Baldr’s technique gave him hope that even if he fell into disadvantage in magic, he would be able to overcome it with his martial art.

(Even I can do it! I’m not a man if I’m not burning up with this!)

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「Now then, Cadet Baldr.」

「What is it, headmaster……」

Ramillies was making a wide smile of unbearable happiness. Baldr felt a bad premonition seeing that.

After all a certain battle maniac back home also often showed this kind of innocent smile.

「Have a match with me this time.」

「I thought that’s the case! Dammit!」

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Part 4

There was a company with a conspicuously large store at the main street that went through the center of the capital.

The name of that shop was Dowding(ダウディング) Company.

Perhaps it would be easier to understand if it was called as a general trading company. It was a company with long history that was handling every kind of product within Mauricia Kingdom. It was a large business that also influenced circulation of product with other countries to some degree.

Selina was smiling sweetly on a sofa inside a room of that Dowding Company.

「──Then, you have no intention of selling your company at all?」

Selina answered the question of the man at his prime──Clan without any change in her expression.

「Though small it’s a company that I inherited from my father, I have a lot of memories in this company.」

「Fumu……but a company name is nothing more than a guarantee for the product’s reputation. A merchant’s greatest desire should be to deliver an even better product to a lot more people in a safer way. I believe that the wise choice here is to enter under our company’s umbrella in order to realize all of those.」

「The who, the identity, it’s also a very important factor for a merchant. Especially when handling a product that other business cannot imitate. That’s why, I can’t possibly hand over our humble company to your store.」

Clan bit his lip in frustration at Selina’s clear-cut reply.

It seemed he was understanding her too much as a mere 19 years old girl who was managing a small company at the sticks.

Savaran Company was monopolizing the sales of the mysterious sugar and gold works of Gothe Collection. Then just the other day he heard that the company would set up shop at the capital.

Thinking that an easy mark had arrived on their own initiative, he brought a business talk to them with the offer of selling their product under the umbrella of Dowding Company. It went well until that point, however the girl before his eyes didn’t even glance at the large amount of money he offered and she also wouldn’t snap at the sweet trap he prepared no matter what.

If only she would join hand with the organization of Dowding Company, there would be a lot of method that he could use after that.

If he was able to just expose the secret of their products that even the intelligence network of Dowding Company couldn’t grasp, he would be able to cut them loose after that anytime.

But that scheme of Clan crumbled easily.

「──The capital is not that soft of a place as you imagined you know?」

Selina replied with a composed smile at Clan’s parting threat.

「Thank you very much for your consideration, Clan-sama. Though I might not look like it, I intend to know my place here.」

Clan’s expression twisted into irritation. His mask as an elite of a big company was torn down and he showed a depraved face like that of a beast.

「I hope you really understand what you’re getting into.」

「Savaran Company will welcome it anytime if you have any order. Then please excuse me for now.」

Selina didn’t even pay any attention to that threat and bowed politely before she left Dowding Company.

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「So how was it going, pres?」

The giant who was waiting in front of the store──the mercenary Glymur that Baldr introduced to her and she hired, sent an appraising gaze at Selina.

「Hahn! It’s a takeover talk just as I though. Looks like they were lookin’ down at me.」

Selina was finally freed from the tension after getting away from the enemy camp. Her tone immediately returned to her usual tone.

She understood what Dowding Company’s aim was.

They planned to extract the techniques of sugar production and gold plating that were currently monopolized by Savaran Company and exploited them for all their worth before casting them away.

Of course there was also an option for Selina to rise in rank within Dowding Company, but she wouldn’t allow the company that her father left her to be treated as mere prey.

And then, what was more important than that right now was──!

「Fufufu……Seyruun! I won’t let ya have a good time by yerself! I’ll be the one standing at Baldr’s side!」

Selina was setting up a branch store at the capital with the same scale like the main store was exactly for this reason. Even if Baldr was at the knight academy, it didn’t change the fact that he was her business partner.

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「What is pres doing over there?」

Another mercenary, Miranda who was snacking on a meat skewer she bought from a stand asked Glymur.

「Leave her alone, it’s her usual seizure.」

Selina was a really shrewd and capable merchant, but when it came to Baldr, she would lose all restraint.

Miranda, Glymur, and Cell had cruelley left behind their comrade Zirco at Maggot’s place and came to the capital as Selina’s employees.

Jamqa had departed to a new battlefield, while Mistol was remaining behind at Cornelius territory in order to accompany Zirco who was too pitiful to be left alone.

Surely Zirco must be resenting them for quickly running away while abandoning her.

Well, they felt bad but they could offer her their condolences.

They didn’t even want to imagine living there in fear of Maggot.

「Just wait for me! Baldrrrrrrr!」

The beautiful girl yelled heroically. It was a waste of her beauty. The mercenaries could only tiredly look at each other with a wry smile.

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Meanwhile, Clan whose expectation was dashed thought that he mustn’t let Savaran Company to keep operating freely in the capital. It would mean the worsening of his position inside Dowding Company that was filled with intense rivalry. He was pressed with the need of taking some action.

「Hmph. She wouldn’t roll over because of money or status, but I wonder how will she fare against threat?」

As to be expected from one of the top ranked company within the kingdom, it had some pull with the mercenaries and the underworld.

Even in the capital with its good public order, a case of a beautiful girl getting kidnapped and roughened up wasn’t something impossible.

In the end she was just a young girl. The secret would be lost if she was killed, so he would just have her tormented until she lost all desire to continue her business.

That was Clan’s plan, but his plan had stumbled right from the beginning.

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「Don’t ask for something stupid! By Savaran Company, you mean that underling of Silver Light isn’t it!? Do you want to kill us huh!?」

「Mister Clan……even we won’t just stay quiet if you only think of us like a disposable pawn you know?」

It was completely outside of his expectation. What was waiting for Clan was an endless storm of swearing and refusal.

Anyone with the slightest bit of experience of taking part in Antrim War would know that making the Silver Light Maggot into enemy meant death.

Clan didn’t understand that because he had no experience in war. He was unable to comprehend why they were refusing his request that strongly.

「──I’m not going to ask you anything. Just don’t try anything with them. Taking on that monster is even nastier than facing a battalion of the kingdom’s knights.」

The criminal organizations that Clan had spent a fortune to build a good relationship with until now curtly refused him despite his desperate plea. There were even one of them that told him 「Don’t ask us to do anything anymore」 that it was Clan instead who had to bow his head to them to apologize.

Why was a top executive of Dowding Company like him had to go through this kind of hardship just because of that trivial company.

Clan’s anger clouded his mind that he didn’t notice that it was a one way road to ruin.

Clan was unable to believe that the legend of Silver Light Maggot the people of the underworld were speaking in fear wasn’t a lie or exaggeration at all, but rather a downplayed fact instead.

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Part 5

Repulse was the guild master who managed the mercenary guild at the royal capital Cameron.

Although his age had gone past middle-aged, his hair was still youthfully black. His trained steely body was still displaying that he was still in active service although not as much as when he was at his prime.

Right now he was on a post like guild master, but there was a time when those in the mercenary business would race to be the first one to bow their head when the name “Twin Swords Repulse” was mentioned.

Repulse narrowed his eyes in nostalgia at his glorious days.

It had been ten years since he retired from the frontline. With the help of his fame from back then, he had climbed up until this position of responsibility that he himself never planned for.

However, he had never forgotten for even a day of the event that made him realized his limit as a mercenary.

When he looked up through the window, there was a white flash that was accompanied with the distant sound of thunder.

The chilling memory was awoken within that dazzling flash. It made Repulse to shiver unseen by other people.

「That night……it was also stormy like this.」

Even now he would see that night scenery with thunder and heavy rain blowing fiercely in his dream sometimes.

Together with the figure of the demon in human shape and fluttering silver hair.

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Part 6

It was really a horrible situation.

Repulse walked through a corridor that was reeking of blood and  crowded with the wounded. He turned his fed up gaze toward the  surrounding of the rampart that was jammed with Hauleria Kingdom army.

In the battle the other day, Mauricia Kingdom army tasted a total  defeat by the enemy’s famous general Soyuz(ソユーズ). Some time would be  necessary in order to recover form that damage.

Conversely Hauleria army that was centered around Marquis Selvi army  had to take down Cornelius territory before Mauricia army could recover  from its damage and obtained the grain-producing region, Great Plains  Marlborough no matter what.

Ignis Cornelius was forced to endure enemy’s attack on his own until  the ally’s reinforcement arrived. He intercepted the enemy by using  Cornelius Fortress that was known to have solid defense and succeeded to  tie down the enemy’s large army in place with his strenuous effort.

However Mauricia army was definitely exhausted after going through  the battle with their overwhelmingly fewer number. In Repulse’s opinion,  with this pace it wouldn’t take half a month until they were  annihilated.

(──It will be the time soon I guess.)

Mauricia Kingdom army’s fighting spirit was high because this was a  battle to defend their country. Ignis was also a capable and reliable  field commander.

Even so there was no way that the rate of loss of the mercenaries was less than the regular army because of that.

Because of their poor upbringing, they weren’t fully armored like a  knight, and there were even those who were all but unable to use body  strengthening.

And then naturally no matter the era, the mercenaries who were entrusted with the dangerous role had the highest rate of death.

Therefore mercenary would also be the one who ran away first when the battle became a losing one.

Ignis courteously provided them with enough food and medical support,  so the mercenaries’ fighting spirit could be maintained somehow, but if  the disadvantage continued like this, it wouldn’t take long before  runaway started appearing from among the mercenaries.

It was while Repulse was thinking such thing that a man dressed in black that blended into the darkness talked to him.

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「Am I right that you are the Twin Swords Repulse-dono……」

「……I never saw your face before……what’s your business with me?」

Repulse had noticed the presence of this man who was secretly following him since some time ago.

Unfortunately there wasn’t that much trust between fellow mercenary. They were always constantly on guard.

No one knew when other mercenary would kill them on their sleep and took all of their possession away.

「I believe you can already guess what I’m going to propose……」

「Even mercenary has their own moral code. I refuse if you’re asking me to turn traitor.」

Recently people who followed a moral code had become fewer in number,  but it didn’t change the fact that a mercenary would lose any trust  once they turned traitor.

Repulse planned to continue make a living as a mercenary even in the future. He had no motivation to brave such risk.

Besides emotionally speaking, he wished to get through this without  betraying that soft-hearted Ignis if possible. That was his honest  feeling.

「How very admirable……however what if it’s just a conflict between  mercenaries? I believe that bloodshed between comrades is like everyday  occurrence between mercenaries……」

「Oi, what do you want to say?」

The man whose black outfit made him blended fully into the darkness chuckled in amusement.

It was a disgusting laugh as though he had seen through his heart and scorned him for it.

「The Silver Flash Maggot. My lord offer to pay a hundred gold coins  for the head of that vixen. If you nod to this offer, then I shall hand  20 gold coins here as the advance payment.」

「A hundred gold-!?」

It was a ridiculous amount.

It might be a different matter if that was the bounty for Ignis’s  head, but to prepare that much money just for a single mercenary was  something that even Repulse had never heard before during his many years  as mercenary.

But at the same time, Repulse also evaluated Maggot’s strength highly as a mercenary.

At the very least he was uncertain whether he would be able to win against that woman by himself.

「Interesting offer, but it’s impossible. Certainly that’s a lot of money, but it’s too cheap to compensate for my life.」

Survival was the most important thing for a mercenary.

Although they could tolerate a risk to some degree, they couldn’t gamble their life to all or nothing risk.

The man opened his eyes wide in surprise hearing his reply, but then  he immediately grin widely as though he had gotten a better opinion of  Repulse.

「Repulse-dono is truly wise in your judgment. I am in admiration.  After all the other mercenaries who heard this offer all accepted  without any hesitation.」

The man said something that Repulse couldn’t ignore just now.

Just how many mercenaries had gotten taken in by this man’s honeyed words?

「……Who? Just how many people has agreed to lend you a hand?」

「About that, I can only say it after Repulse-dono agree to lend us  your help. Let me just say that the force I have gathered are quite  imposing.」

Repulse groaned in hesitation.

Regardless of what he said, a hundred gold coins was an amount that was too much to be overlooked.

If this man could gather around five first class mercenaries, he  couldn’t imagine that even the Silver Light Maggot would be able to get  the better of them.

It would become even more of a sure thing if he was also among them.

「So how about it? Of course I won’t ask you to share your reward with  the others. I will prepare a hundred gold coins for each one of you.」

He felt vexed to get taken in by the man’s honeyed words, but Repulse’s heart was already leaning toward accepting.

Maggot was well known as someone who hated man and acted coldly  toward them. He could pick a fight with her using that kind of excuse,  took her head, and then ran away.

Of course doing that was the same like fleeing in the presence of  enemy, so his reputation might take some hit. However the hit to his  reputation would still within the acceptable limits compared to an open  betrayal.

Rather it might even be possible for Repulse’s reputation to improve by defeating Maggot.

When he considered that, the reward of a hundred gold coins was really attractive.

「Let’s hear the detail……」

In the end Repulse chose to take this deal with the devil.

At the very least Repulse didn’t doubt the correctness of his decision at this point of time.

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「Iron Arm Robard, even you……」

「Hehe……it’s reassuring to have you with us Twin Swords.」

Repulse shrugged in exasperation when he recognized the famous mercenaries among lineup that would participate in the attack.

All of them were tough guys who had gone through many battlefields. Most of them even had their own nickname.

With this there was no chance of Maggot getting away at all.

「It’s not just us. It seems those guys even mobilized the assassins from the underground guild.」

「Good grief, they really put their all just for a single mercenary.」

Seeing all this thoroughness just for targeting Maggot alone made him felt jealous even as a mercenary.

After all if he was the one targeted, the enemy wouldn’t prepare this much force with this kind of thoroughness no matter what.

「Well, even the Silver Light will die happy with this much firework to see her off.」

The one who said that was Wize the Hawk Eye, someone who was known as  a lady-killer even among the mercenaries──he was the one burdened with  the role of leading Maggot into the ambush.

By nature Maggot hated to form a pack and preferred to be alone.

Furthermore when night came, she would always take a walk inside the  castle by herself. Everybody knew about that habit of hers well.

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「──Yo, Silver Light. You should have fun with me in bed sometimes as a fellow mercenary.」

It would be a waste to kill this kind of beauty, but let’s just give up here because it was her bad luck.

Wize spoke brusquely from the start to pick a fight with her. Then he casually reached at Maggot’s shoulder.

「──Answer me this before I kill you. Who sent you?」

Maggot showed a threatening air that was already prepared to fight.  Wize hesitated for a moment whether he should continue his act to  deceive her.

However, he stopped his acting because it would be no use with her on guard like this.

「You’ll be the one who die! General Soyuz wish for your head no matter what’s the price!」

With those words as the signal, assassins attacked Maggot from every direction.

There were five first class mercenaries including Repulse, and then  several assassins in black clothes that had approached unnoticed. They  leaped down from the rampart with their swords flashing.

The encirclement didn’t come just from the back, front, left, and  right, but even from the air. Everyone there believed that Maggot’s luck  had run out here. But, her magnificent silver hair fluttered and her  bewitching beautiful face simply smiled in enjoyment.

「Sheesh, you guys really don’t know how to invite a woman. At least prove that you all are men who know how to dance!」

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Repulse wouldn’t forget the scene of that time for his whole life. No, there was no way he could forget it even if he wanted to.

It was a flash of godspeed──literally like her nickname of Silver Flash.

When he noticed, Robard had been pierced from his throat until his  spinal cord with a spear. He crashed on the rampart with his limbs  convulsing like a broken doll.

The assassins who should be blocking the air also fell on the ground as lifeless corpses without even any twitching.

Repulse couldn’t comprehend just when and how she had attacked them. He who had luckily survived could only stiffen like stone.

「Are you planning to make the woman dance alone? I can’t do tango by myself you know?」

The teasing voice of the death god from behind Repulse made him returned to his senses. Terror flooded his whole body.

This level of speed was clearly different from what he witnessed at the battlefield.

Guessing the opponent’s strength wrongly was a mistake that a mercenary must never commit.

Repulse realized that he had committed such fatal mistake.

「Have you been……holding back all this time?」

「Hm? Well, there simply wasn’t any need to get serious. Let me have fun okay?」

In the next instant, Repulse reflexively leaned back. It was completely instinctual.

His instinct that he had been cultivating from his long experience in battle saved his life.

A flash of death that almost reaped his neck passed right before his eyes. Repulse clearly saw it.

「Die Silver Light.」

Maggot killed another mercenary, the Rabbit Foot Exeder. A dozen  people in black attire sprang out from the darkness at that timing and  leaped at Maggot simultaneously.

It was a charge that wouldn’t hesitate even if they wounded each  other in their attempt. A saturation attack with the preparedness to die  as long as they could take her down with them. However, Repulse’s hope  that Maggot would die this time for sure was betrayed in vain.

「Come again yesterday. I hate an inelegant masquerade ball.」

How? How did she survive without even a scratch?

Wize and the White Wolf Tony chose to run away, but maggot wasn’t so merciful to let them get away.

The two of them who exposed their defenseless back died without even a  pip from a pierced heart that they themselves didn’t feel.

A primitive fear that human would feel when encountering something beyond human understanding was ruling over Repulse.

He already had no more willpower to resist. He also held no more shame or honor.

Repulse began to kowtow and beg for his life like a pitiful baby bird.

「P-please at least spare my life! If it’s money I’ll give you  everything I have! I’ll listen to anything you ask! That’s why please at  least spare my life!」

「Twin Swords……I thought that you’re a man with a bit more guts……」

Maggot lowered her spear as though the wind had taken out of her sail.

However humiliation or losing all his money didn’t compare at all then losing his life.

Repulse didn’t have the slightest intention of going against the Silver Light no matter what anyone said.

「Come to think of it, that guy said that you all were requested by  General Soyuz. What are you going to do after taking my head?」

「W-we were told to go to Hauerelia army’s camp with your head. It looks like they had told the sentry to expect us.」

「Hee……their camp huh.」

Maggot grinned childishly like an innocent girl who had found something interesting.

An innocent child could become crueler than anything else. Repulse felt a chill.

「──Then let’s bring them my head just like they want.」

Right after Maggot said that, she slashed her silver hair that  reached until her waist in one stroke. Now her hair only reached her  shoulder.

Even though he was in so much terror it felt like his testicles had  shriveled up, Repulse couldn’t help but feel a divine beauty from that  scene for some reason.

「If we put this hair on one of the heads here, they won’t question it that closely.」

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When Maggot and Repulse slipped out from Cornelius Castle, thunder was starting to roar at the distant east.

The humid air gave them a hunch that storm would soon arrive. Repulse  couldn’t help but feel that it was like the hint of the future for him  or perhaps for the Haurelia army.

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Part 7

「……We brought the Silver Light’s head.」

「Hou……I’ve been notified about it. Pass through.」

The soldier that was at the appointed spot gestured with his chin for Repulse to get into the camp.

Repulse had the worry that he would be discreetly driven away so that  other could snatch away his achievement, but it seemed that was just  his needless worry.

Repulse and Maggot were allowed inside the camp without any significant supervision.

There was perception among all the countries that assassination would  be a shame to the country that employed such method in a war between  nations.

Haurelia Kingdom army needed the excuse that Maggot’s murder was done  by other mercenaries in the end and that it was the result of an  accident.

But Repulse was unable to even think about such circumstance at this point of time.

「Oh, what happened with the others?」

The one who called at Repulse when he arrived at the camp’s entrance  was the man in black who brought the offer of assassinating Maggot.

His voice didn’t have the composure to sound superficially polite like yesterday night.

It seemed that he was horrified that only two people arrived in the  camp like this even after he arranged such excessive fighting strength.

However the true terror only arrived right after that.

「By the way, who is the person beside you? I don’t remember making the request to someone like him……」

「That’s cold……even though I expressly came here because you’re looking for me.」

「Don’t tell me──!?」

The man in black attire was speechless.

Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible!

He had requested the underground guild to send all their elite  assassins, on top of that he had selected mercenaries whose skill he had  ascertained by himself.

If such trap had been overcome, than the one who did it couldn’t be called human anymore. It was the work of a monster.

The man got the scare of his life. The guards guessed the situation from how the man looked and raised their voice.

「Hurry! Take the general to a safe place!」

「Too late already.」

Maggot had been searching for General Soyus’s figure since she  entered the camp. She discovered the old general trying to retreat  behind a tent under the protection of many soldiers and she turned into a  streak of light.

A guard immediately moved to cover the general and blocked Maggot’s  spear. It was unclear whether it was the work of fate or a deed that was  accomplished by the guard’s devotion.

Either way Maggot’s deadly attack took away the life of a single  soldier and only managed to deal a light injury to the old general’s  stomach.

「Tsk!」

An opening was created from Maggot pulling out her spear that was  stabbed deeper than she expected into the soldier’s body. Soyu’s figure  blended into the crowd at that timing.

Maggot clicked her tongue for missing the chance of the lifetime while several hundred soldiers swarmed her to take her down.

But the scene that unfolded there was an atrocious slaughter.

「Oops, really sorry. How about you all dance with the death god for now!」

Maggot moved around with a speed that couldn’t be seen. No one was able to catch sight of her.

A mountain of corpses was immediately created inside the camp by her spear that was murdering the enemies one-sidedly.

It was said that the strength of the Silver Light Maggot rivaled a  battalion──they thought that it was just the usual exaggeration that  tended to happen in the battlefield.

But the fact was different.

Even Maggot couldn’t possibly maintain her speed for eternity.

Most likely the time that Maggot needed to annihilate a single  battalion was the time limit of how long she could display her full  strength.

To put it another way, that monster was invisible as long as she could display her strength as the Silver Light!

Even so number was power. If the whole army of Hauleria continued to  surround Maggot like this without letting up, even she should run out of  strength sooner or later.

However Ignis wasn’t a fool of a commander that he would overlook the chaos in Haurelia army’s camp.

His animal instinct convinced him that this was a chance that he  should stake everything he had into. He shifted his whole army into  counterattack.

If General Soyus was still present in good health, he might consider this as a rare opportunity to take down Ignis instead.

However the general in question had been wounded and in the middle of  receiving medical treatment right now. The headquarter of Haurelia army  itself was in uproar anywhere even though they should take action to  bring the chaos under control.

In the end Haurelia army wasn’t given the chance to rally themselves  until the very end. The wounded Soyuz ended up getting taken down by  Ignis in the middle of the chaos.

The expedition army of Haurelia Kingdom that boasted overwhelming  number of six times the enemy retreated with a great damage of losing  more than a third their number.

On the other hand, the victory of Ignis who possessed luck and  decisiveness and strength spread throughout the whole Mauricia Kingdom  like wildfire as a young hero.

But Repulse alone knew the truth.

That miraculous victory was actually accomplished by a single monster.

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Part 8

「Guild master. There is a request from Director Clan of Dowding Company to sabotage Savaran Company……what should we do?」

Repulse who was reading the document in his office felt a bad premonition and lifted up his face.

「Savaran Company? ……I think I have heard that name before.」

「It’s a mid-level company that set up shop at Cornelius. I believe  that there was a circulating letter from the underground guild about  it.」

The terror of that night suddenly flashed vividly in the back of Repulse’s mind.

When he hit on the relation there, Repulse became aware of the danger that was lurking there from the bottom of his heart.

The letter from the underground guild mentioned this.

『It’s the company that is guarded by the Silver Light’s pawn. Caution needed.』

This wasn’t funny.

If they took this lightly, the mercenary guild might be turned into  an empty lot where the former site of the mercenary guild was standing  tomorrow.

In this world there existed thing that mustn’t be touched, something that was inviolable.

Sometimes there would be ambitious youth who played with fire  carelessly without being able to see the god of death waiting at the  other side.

Repulse waved his hand toward his secretary and spoke with a whisper.

「──Tell this to that youngster Clan. If he mention about this case  anymore, the mercenary guild will sever all relationships with Dowding  Company in the future.」

That ambitious Clan surely wouldn’t restrain himself with just this much. Repulse was convinced of that.

But it would be the end of that man when he roused Maggot’s anger.

Repulse wasn’t so softhearted that he would suit the convenience of a man who would be ruined in the near future.

No matter the world, only fool or suicidal person would still approach someone even knowing that they were a jinx.

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Part 9

「Ouch ouch ouch-!」

Baldr grimaced from the dull pain running throughout his body.

That damned old man. He really didn’t hold back at all…….

The fight against Headmaster Ramillies who intruded after the fight against Instructor Lombard ended with Baldr’s defeat.

On top of the difference of their physique, Ramillies’s body  strengthening was also one or two level above him. Baldr’s grappling  technique didn’t really work against him.

It was obvious just from looking at the judo’s Olympic athletes of  the modern era. In the end the soft winning against the hard was just an  ideal. In reality the soft would yield against overwhelming hard power  in most cases.

A martial artist who could be ever-victorious by using the opponent’s  own strength against themselves regardless of the handicaps of small  body and weaker strength at most would be Shioda Gouzou, an expert in  Masaharu’s world.

Unfortunately Baldr’s martial art hadn’t arrived at such domain.

Even so Baldr’s reputation hadn’t been going down at all from the  facts that he managed to make a veteran general like Ramillies to  stumble and fell on his knee several times despite all his  disadvantages.

「Good grief……it’s meaningless if the enemy can still punch even though his balance is crumbling!」

「Ha-ha-ha! Your skill is really something, but you’re still lacking  the power for inflicting the decisive blow. You should train your basics  for now!」

Ramillies laughed loudly.

(Although I won’t be able to guess the result if he use magic freely like when we first fought though……)

Ramillies could still remember vividly Baldr’s fighting style that changed the ground into sand to create a momentary opening.

Ramillies believed that Baldr’s true dreadfulness was his out of the world idea that nobody ever thought until now.

It was another matter if it was training, but even Ramillies didn’t want to fight Baldr in life and death battle.

After all he didn’t know what kind of trump card this boy was hiding.

「As expected from the headmaster!」

On the other hand, although he had honestly accepted his defeat,  Lombard was happy as a knight that Ramillies was victorious against  Baldr. He turned a gaze of respect with sparkling eyes toward Ramillies.

Such expectation was heavy for Ramillies.

(Now then, I wonder how long I will be able to keep handling Baldr like this……)

He too had become even stronger in order to continue showing the way to the new knights who were still in their infancy.

Ramillies determined himself to retrain his body that was starting to turn round.

He was still so energetic even at this age.

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Part 10

The cafeteria of the royal knight academy was big.

Fundamentally the students who belonged to the military ate a lot  more than ordinary people. Food was also the greatest entertainment  available in military.

Complying with that, the cafeteria boasted first class quality and quantity that was beyond dispute.

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「See? It’s just as I said isn’t it?」

「Certainly, looks like I can get my hopes up.」

Brooks offered to show Baldr to the cafeteria at the same time of the end of the class.

There were also other students who looked like they wanted to talk to  Baldr, but it was first come first served for something like this.

For Brooks who put strength as an important factor in his appraisal  standard, Baldr was someone who he wanted to be friend with no matter  what.

This too could be said as a godsend for Baldr who had only just enrolled.

Baldr could catch the glimpses of Brooks’s broadminded and  self-confident personality from his words. He didn’t hate someone with  this kind of personality.

Baldr had no interest in getting along with fellow nobles where they had to probe each other discreetly.

「I’ll go with set A I think? What about you Baldr?」

「Do you have any recommendation?」

「It’s set A if you want a big serving. But it’s set C if you want popular ingredients. We always picked set A.」

「I see, then I’ll go with set C.」

Baldr gave up choosing set A the moment he saw the thick steak and the mountain of mash potato.

Baldr was in the category of voracious eater among the children at  Cornelius, but as expected he didn’t have the confidence to eat as much  as Brooks and his other classmates.

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「Eh……?」

Suddenly an astonished voice slipped out from Brooks’s mouth.

The moment he sat down on a chair and about to stuff his mouth with  the rib steak that was full of meat juice, he discovered a pretty  existence that didn’t exist until yesterday in the cafeteria. And then  he blinked repeatedly as though unable to believe what he was seeing.

「……Ma……id?」

「Hm? Looks like it.」

Baldr guessed what was it that surprised Brooks.

Ahead of Brooks eyes that were opened wide and fixed to a single  point was the figure of Seyruun who was running around working hard.

The characteristic frilly hairband of a maid, black and white apron  dress. The frill that was arranged along the collarbone line was dyed  pink to form an adorable accent.

In addition of the outfit’s destructive power was the wearer who would be recognized as a beauty by ten people out of ten.

The academy was fundamentally a tough place that reeked of male even  thought there was exception like Silk. Seyruun’s maid figure served a  function as a breath of fresh air.

It wasn’t just Brooks, Seyruun monopolized the gazes of all of the  boys in the cafeteria. Such situation spoke of the truth more eloquently  than anything.

Baldr secretly waved his hand toward Seyruun without anyone noticing.

Seyruun who noticed that broke into a bright and happy smile.

However, that gesture of Seyruun was more than enough to destroy the  hearts of the males who were in the middle of staring hard at her.

*Plop*

The steak that was forgotten on Brooks’s fork fell back on his plate and splattered the sauce.

「Are you alright?」

Here Seyruun came with a dish cloth in hand while acting casual. She wiped clean the sauce that dirtied the table.

For Seyruun this was a great chance to get near to Baldr.

Brooks completely turned to stone from seeing Seyruun’s figure from this close.

「Uh……ah……thank you……」

Each time the brown blonde hair that was tied into ponytail behind  her shook, the sweet smell that was the characteristic of a girl in her  puberty tickled Brooks’s nose.

「Damn it! That bastard is real sly!」

「I wonder if she’ll also come here if I spill something……」

The onlookers made some selfish lines seeing Brooks who was acting flustered with red face.

The sight was a bit too stimulating for the youths who weren’t immune to this.

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「How about a refill of the water?」

「Thank you. I’ll have it.」

Even so, this scene was nothing but an everyday occurrence for Baldr.

Baldr handed his cup very naturally and Seyruun happily poured water into it.

The onlookers turned completely speechless seeing their interaction that was too natural.

(Looks like Sey-nee is doing well.)

(Young master yourself, I’m glad that you have made a friend already.)

The fact that Seyruun was a maid of Cornelius House was being kept a secret.

It would be troubling if this inspired the students with noble background to bring their own servant to the academy.

In the worst case that the two’s relationship was exposed, they would  claim that they were old friend from the same territory who reunited  here by chance.

Even like this the two intended to refrain from excessive interaction  so they wouldn’t get found out, but the way they secretly brought their  face close to whisper to each other only looked like the act of close  friends or lovers from the outsider’s perspective.

「O……..oi, Baldr……are you acquainted with that miss maid?」

「There’s no way that’s the case. What’s the matter?」

「No no, because you two are too close no matter how you cut it!」

All the boys in the cafeteria were nodding in agreement at Brooks’s flustered words. It was really a bizarre scene.

There were even some people who were biting their handkerchief while shedding tears. Baldr resolutely decided to ignore that.

「……Actually, I also came from Cornelius. I had the chance to meet  with the young master there. Because of that, I tried asking him just  now if he perhaps remember me.」

「If it’s me there’s no way I’d be able to forget you!」

Brooks immediately declared. His comrades nodded in agreement once more. They were making a really good combination.

「Thank you for your kind words. Please take care of me from here on.  Forgive me for the late introduction, but my name is Seyruun.」

「I’m Brooks! Brooks Irvine!」

Baldr wasn’t so callous that he couldn’t noticed Brooks feeling with  how he was breathing hard and continuing to appeal desperately. Or  rather, he completely noticed how everyone was looking for the timing to  introduce themselves too since some time ago.

(Well, Sey-nee is cute after all……)

Her height that was relatively short for her age, the roundness of  her breasts that were starting to grow, her large round eyes that were  like puppy, and her distinctly well-ordered face. She had the appearance  that fiercely stimulated a male’s desire to protect.

To be honest even Baldr who had been together with her since his  childhood would have his reasoning shaken if she approached him while  his guard was down.

Furthermore it was even nastier because recently he got the feeling that the amount of physical contactapproachfrom her to destroy his reasoning was increasing.

「S-s-Seyruun-san, how old are you?」

「I’ll be fifteen soon.」

「Then you’re about the same age like me!」

A certain person approached Baldr from behind while he was distracted by that conversation between Brooks and Seyruun.

Even baldr didn’t notice the approach at all because he was too focused on the two.

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「Say……is it alright for me to sit here too?」

「Eh? You’re──Silk-san?」

「So you remember. Can I……call you Baldr-kun too?」

Silk said that with a happy smile. Her classmates who were used to  her usual expressionless face were questioning themselves if they were  currently dreaming.

「No……way?」

Brooks even forgot his conversation with Seyruun due to his astonishment.

(This girl, who in the world is she? At the very least the Silk who I know isn’t this kind of admirable girl.)

When speaking of Silk, she was a girl who was the very picture of  reticence and unsociability. She had no other interest than getting  stronger. She should be a girl who seemed like she should be born as a  male instead.

She shouldn’t be a girl who would ask 「Can I sit beside you?」 with a blushing cheek even if hell froze over.

Silk ignored that bewilderment of Brooks and sat on the chair opposite of Baldr.

「I saw your match. Those were amazing techniques.」

「Thank you. But, I’m still nothing at all compared to my mother.」

「Eh? Your……mother? I’m sorry. It’s embarrassing, but I’m not really knowledgeable about this country’s state of affairs.」

Baldr tilted his head slightly.

「Silk-san isn’t from Mauricia Kingdom?」

「No, I was born and raised in Mauricia but……my mother was a princess  of Trystovy. I and my mother were visiting Trystovy together in that day  when the rebellion took place.」

「That’s, I don’t know what to say……」

Even Baldr knew that Trystovy Dukedom was in the middle of civil war.

It seemed that Zirco had also participated in the civil war before.  She spoke about it with an unpleasant expression which was rare for  someone with jovial disposition like her.

──That place was hell.

There was the royalist faction that tried to take back the  monarchical system like in the past, and the archduke faction that had  obtained the authority. And then the independent merchants were also  involved in the conflict with their faction. It seemed it was difficult  to distinguish who was enemy and who was ally there.

For the mass who had to live in such situation, that place was nothing short of hell.

「You don’t need to worry about it. I’m safe and sound as you can see. My father is also taking a good care of me.」

There was no human who could seriously feel unconcerned about it even  if they said that, but Baldr accepted Silk’s words for the time being.

「I understand.」

「But you know? One day I want to make the fighting in my mother’s  homeland stop. I have to become strong in order to do that. Please,  Baldr-kun──」

Silk quietly leaned forward while looking like she was going to grab  Baldr’s hands. But a clattering sound rang as though to cut off Silk’s  voice.

Seyruun was placing a cup filled with cold water in front of Silk slightly strongly.

「Here is your water. Please make your order.」

「Eh? ……Then, I’ll take a fresh cheese sandwich and salad.」

Silk replied without even hiding the dissatisfaction in her face  because of the interruption that came just when she was getting into the  climax.

(Who is this maid who can’t read the mood? Even though I have no time for this.)

「This is the sacred place of learning. How about you give a little bit of thought about that and act with modesty, Ojou-sama?」

When Seyruun said that without even trying to hide her cold gaze,  Silk realized for the first time how she was leaning toward Baldr.

Silk’s small hands that were wandering in the air would have grabbed Baldr’s hands without the maid’s words.

Silk couldn’t help but feeling furious toward the maid along with the  shame that made her cheeks blushed. In the first place it wasn’t the  maid’s place to reprimand her like this.

Silk glared at Seyruun with anger filling her eyes.

「What are you doing over here I have told you my order.」

「Please excuse me. It’s because your dear classmate seem to look troubled.」

「Eeh!? You’re throwing this to me?」

Baldr’s face convulsed in surprise.

He was bewildered by the bloodbath that started so suddenly, and most of all Seyruun’s drastic change was too scary.

Silk realized that she had been a bit too hasty when she noticed Baldr’s slightly creeped look.

However a different reason from that made Silk to glare back with a  deep-seated grudge at the little devil maid before her who was hiding  her true nature with her cute look.

It didn’t matter what this maid’s reasoning was, it was clear that she was displeased by her approach toward Baldr.

Gazes of absolute zero clashed in the air. It was so cold that Baldr and Brooks got cold sweat unintentionally.

Both Silk and Seyruun reached a conclusion not by their reasoning, but by the instinct that they possessed as a maiden.

──This woman was their sworn enemy.

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Part 11

「You mustn’t be too focused on strengthening your muscles. Rather it  will useless if you don’t split half your strength into your cognition  transmission system.」

Silk was receiving Baldr’s instruction at the training area. She  tilted her head in confusion, not at the theory explanation, but in  practicing it.

「It’s difficult……」

Silk had the best body strengthening skill among the first years, and  yet she found it difficult to imitate Baldr’s body strengthening.

Compared to basic body strengthening that improved the base specs of  the whole body, partial strengthening was difficult to handle and also  very dangerous.

Actually Baldr himself had experienced broken bone many times. At  that time he was put under a crazy training where he had to strengthen  different part of his body in order to cover the broken place.

Balrd’s teacher, Maggot was a master of this partial strengthening  who had gone beyond the norm. She achieved a speed where it was  impossible to even see properly unless she strengthened her vision with  body strengthening.

Naturally in order to make use of that speed, she needed to  strengthen the transmission processing of her brain nerves to work in  high speed. Maggot was able to execute this kind of strengthening almost  reflexively.

Different from strengthening muscle or bone structure, understanding  the structure of human body and having a clear image of it were  necessary in order to strengthen nerve’s transmission system. This was a  difficult skill that only few people could use well even among the  knights in active duty.

「Don’t think, feel!」

「Yeah. That’s impossible.」

Silk refused Baldr’s slightly hot-blooded instruction swiftly.

Luckily or unluckily, the blood of musclebrain didn’t flow in her like Baldr.

The two continued to have fun with their practice. The classmates’ gazes that were coming from the side felt really cold.

Even if this scene wasn’t taken into consideration, it was clear that  the beautiful maid, Seyruun took a liking to Baldr for some reason.

In addition Silk who should be an unsociable cool beauty would smile  at the presence of Baldr while looking like she was having fun. It would  be stranger if this didn’t gather attention of the others.

In reality even Silk herself couldn’t explain why she was acting like  this. She was feeling an unexplainable movement in her heart.

At first she was only thinking to ask Baldr to teach her the secret  of his abnormal strength. But when she talked with him, she would feel  exhilarated and a desire to monopolize even his private time rushed  through her.

Her impossible dream to liberate her motherland now seemed like it  would be possible to realize. Baldr had an unexplainable cohesive power  that made her held such hope.

Silk still didn’t know what this feeling in heart should be called──.

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Now then, Baldr wasn’t put under the baptism of mob violence even in  this situation was simply because he was friend with Silk and Brooks who  were the strongest in the class, and also because he himself possessed a  martial skill that rivaled even the instructor.

(If only my hatred can kill!)

Baldr shuddered in discomfort in front of the resentment of his  classmates who looked like they were going to cry tears of blood.

「Recently I often feel this chills……」

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At the same time, Seyruun could be found polishing the mountain of  plates that was piled in the cafeteria while muttering to herself.

「Uuu……my status of maid is really vexing……I can do nothing except overlooking a vixen running rampant right before my eyes……」

Baldr still didn’t know that the source of the chill that made him shivered actually was extremely near to him.

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Part 12

「──Then let’s begin the class.」

The one in charge of history class of Baldr’s classroom was a young male teacher with lanky figure.

He was originally working as a secretary in the palace, but his  extensive knowledge was highly evaluated and Ramillies scouted him to  teach here.

「I had explained from the era of the unified dynasty until the founding of Mauricia Kingdom until the last class, but……」

The teacher flipped his book while continuing from the podium at the front.

「As someone who will be knights, all of you cannot stay indifferent  of the fetters of the kingdom currently. Today I will explain about the  situation that is surrounding the kingdom.」

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The current king, Welkin(ウェルキン) V was the seventh king of the  kingdom. He was an experienced king who was 46 years old right now. He  rebuilt the kingdom’s finance that was exhausted because of Antrim War.  In addition he seized the chance after a lot of nobles died in battle to  expand the royal authority successfully.

The territories of nobles whose lineage went extinct were  incorporated under the direct control of the royal family. In addition  the current king’s cousin, Duke Conrad who possessed strong influence  over the royal family also died in battle. It reduced the number of the  heir to the throne and was a great help to the king’s effort.

After that Welkin V were blessed with four sons and three daughters. His rule looked like it was a smooth sailing.

The nobles whose number was temporarily reduced were continuing to  maneuver behind the scene in order to take back their influence like in  the past by doing things like asking for the revival of the houses that  went extinct and the like.

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Externally, the kingdom was allied with Sanjuan(サンファン) Kingdom that  was located south to their bitter enemy Haurelia Kingdom, while the  first princess successfully married into Nordland Empire, the “Lion of  the North”.

Haurelia Kingdom prioritized expanding their military rather than  developing their economy. The livelihood of their people had noticeably  worsened compared to ten years ago.

However if they only looked at the military strength, Haurelia  Kingdom had managed to maintain an army that was twice the number of  Mauricia Kingdom army and they were also better trained.

It would be difficult to continue maintaining such large army for  long. One day Haurelia Kingdom would have to start a war in order to  regain their investment into their army. All the higher-ups of Mauricia  Kingdom agreed with that prediction.

But here their opinions were split into two.

It was the duty of the military department to protect against enemy  invasion and dealt a blow against them. Therefore they suggested to  launch a preemptive attack against the superior enemy.

But the bureaucrat palace nobles that were led by the prime minister flatly opposed this suggestion.

Vast amount of expense and bloodshed would be necessary to carry out a  war, while the compensation that could be expected from it was too  little to counterbalance the expense.

In case the country was forced to exhaust their manpower and  shouldered financial damage like in the previous war, there was a  possibility that the ruling class of nobles along with the king would be  ousted in the worst case with the commoners taking over the management  of the country.

Even if that worst case was avoided, the advancement of commoners to  the position of low class bureaucrat was remarkable recently. There were  even some of them who succeeded to climb up to the position of high  class bureaucrat and became a noble for a single generation. The concern  of the bureaucrat nobles wasn’t without reason by all means.

Of course Welkin V himself didn’t wish to personally start a war. The  damage in case a war began with Haurelia Kingdom was expected to be  immense, while conversely they wouldn’t obtain anything if the worst  case happened.

And yet despite that, as politicians they couldn’t just do nothing  against the invasion that they expected to happen. They wished to  quickly fortify the border, but doing that carelessly would only provoke  Haurelia Kingdom. Because of such reason, the plan kept getting  delayed. In the end the feudal lords at the countryside had to maintain  the border with their own money. That was the real condition right now.

Because of that a complicated friction was forming between the nobles  at the frontier region and the military department against the  bureaucrat nobles.

Welkin V was maintaining his silence eerily, but he was a determined  king. There was no doubt that he was intending to make use of this  friction in order to strengthen his own royal authority.

「The size of the knight order too still hasn’t recovered until the  level of before the war. The military authorities including the knight  order aren’t warhawk by any means. It’s really regrettable that the  bureaucrats can’t understand that peace time is exactly the time where  we need to prepare for when push comes to shove.」

Even this teacher who was formerly a bureaucrat understood the danger that Mauricia Kingdom was put into at present.

This country’s current military strength was the only minimum  required to focus into defense. There wasn’t any reserve force at all to  do more than that.

In case the army suffered a great defeat, this country would perish  without even being able to obtain the chance to get back on their feet.

If only Trystovy Kingdom where the king’s little sister married into  was still going strong right now, they could at least hope for  reinforcement, but…….

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The civil war in Trystovy Kingdom broke out around eight years ago.

At that time, there were a lot of emergency demands because Antrim  War broke out. At Trystovy Kingdom, the merchant class’s strength  increased drastically from the profit they made from the war. The  increase was so great that the king had to recognize huge merchant areas  as a kind of self-governing dominion.

The king’s national policy was to protect the merchants’ economic  activity and used the tax from there to enrich the country. He didn’t  keep the merchants’ growth in check and encouraged it instead. Even  after Antrim War was over, the king carried out policy for accomplishing  even more economic growth.

But, the king’s younger brother, Archduke Antonio(アントニオ) opposed this policy head-on.

The expansion of merchan’ts right of self-government and the  abolishment migration tax was synonymous to a violation of noble’s  right. It messed up their livelihood as noble and the case where  merchant essentially took over a noble’s financial affairs cropped up  one after another.

And then the archduke turned the kingdom’s knight order into his ally  because many of its members were from nobility. He launched a coup and  executed the king, then he took up the position of the archduke of  Trystovy Dukedom.

Queen Catalina(カタリナ) who was also the little sister of Welkin V  barely managed to cross the border back to her homeland. When she heard  about her husband’s execution, she fell into despair and died from  sickness several months later.

Originally Mauricia Kingdom should send a reinforcement for Trystovy  Kingdom, but the kingdom was in a shortage of manpower and finance after  the long war. It wasn’t in a state that could send expedition to other  country.

Perhaps Archduke Antonio also carried out his coup exactly because Mauricia Kingdom was in such state.

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Trystovy’s misfortune had only just started from there.

The nobles finally recovered their authority with the inauguration of  the archduke, but their financial state was already so dire that they  needed the merchants’ cooperation to keep going.

There were also nobles who tried to act illogically by attempting to  exploit the merchants with unreasonable tax, but some of the influential  merchants ran away to other country one after another, while others  were starting to oppose the dukedom from the harbor city  Mulberry(マルベリー). The dukedom immediately turned destitute. One after  another people demanded for betterment of the situation.

The next year, the archduke rallied an army from the nobles and  attacked Mulberry, but the merchant organization hired a lot of  mercenary using their abundant fund. They resisted tenaciously whether  at the land or at the sea and repelled the archduke’s army.

After failing to make the merchants yielded at the early stage, the  archduke faction split into two this time between a side that wanted to  compromise by fulfilling the merchants’ demands to some degree and a  side that claimed they should exploit the merchants dry to the end.

Of course the merchant organization also didn’t keep quiet. They  financially supported the royalist faction that wanted to put a heir to  the throne to the rightful position once more. Trystovy Dukedom was  turned into a chaotic hell where it was uncertain who was who’s ally in  it.

Recently even the merchant organization wasn’t fully unified anymore.  It was in a state of chaos with the merchants debating of which faction  to support.

In addition there was also a rumor that the merchants who sought  asylum to Sanjuan Kingdom would be troubled if the country was revived  to be mercantile nation Trystovy like in the past, so they were giving  financial support to every faction in order to prolong the civil war…….

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「Unfortunately, the possibility of Trystovy Dukedom’s civil war  getting resolved quickly is low. If we considered the influx of refugee  and the victim from the bandit infestation at the border, it’s desirable  for us if that country is stable, but our country too don’t have the  leeway to dispatch troops to there. Unfortunately the royalist faction  that our country is supporting is also the weakest faction among all the  factions there……」

Silk was continuing to listen to the lecture with a pained face.  Baldr got the feeling that this was the first time she was showing him a  face that was appropriate for her age. His chest felt pained.

The wound that the war dealt to Cornelius territory also wasn’t  shallow by any means, but here too there was also an unreasonable  reality that was beyond any help existing.

After her training as knight was over, would Silk threw herself into this battlefield without any end in sight?

Was she trying to become strong that desperately for that?

In the end, could that choice be said as the right one for her well-being?

Baldr had never felt troubled about what he should do for the sake of his own homelandCornelius.

However no matter how hard he thought, Baldr couldn’t find the answer of what was the best choice that Silk should take.