Chapter 75 : Reconnaissance Mission (3)

Chapter 75: Reconnaissance Mission (3)

'Damn it! This is truly not easy.'

Shatien thought as he blocked the persistent attacks aimed at his neck.

The attacks from Baron Ludwig, especially in the darkness, were truly terrifying.

-Splat!

-Clang!

Shatien had to concentrate his entire being to even perceive Baron Ludwig's sword.

In the pitch-black darkness, the blade repeatedly flashed like lightning and disappeared. Everything came in as disjointed scenes.

Longswordmanship was supposed to be integrated offense and defense.

However, Shatien was currently desperately focused on defense. It would not be strange if this lucky defense were to break at any moment.

-Ha!

Baron Ludwig created distance and let out a hearty laugh. It was a laugh filled with such glee that it made the listener uncomfortable.

"Hahahaha. You are preoccupied with blocking me. It is strange. You seem to know how to use Will, but why can you not sense the space and are submerged in the darkness?"

He muttered, as if bewildered. Knowing how to channel Will meant knowing how to read the space.

But Shatien was subtly different.

"Well, I guess I will find out eventually. Hyah!"

Baron Ludwig's sword, like a streak of light, attacked Shatien again.

The sword, which Shatien barely managed to block, then moved in a strange manner and cut Shatien.

'Damn it!'

A stream of blood flowed down his neck. If he had not twisted his body at the last moment, he would have departed this world.

"You are pathetic."

"Huff... huff... You are the same, Baron. You and I are both still alive, aren't we?"

"Tsk tsk. You are all talk. Anyone can see you are about to die, can't they? And it is truly strange. Were you not channeling your Will? Why are you moving like an ignorant tin-can knight?"

Baron Ludwig tilted his head. Since he felt certain of victory, the desire to resolve his curiosity arose.

'......?!'

But those words returned to Shatien as a massive shock.

Right.

He could read the space.

With the power of his inherited bloodline.

But look now.

What had he been doing until now? Hadn't he been foolishly chasing Baron Ludwig's sword with his eyes?

How foolish of him.

His master had told him long ago.

Feel it. Feel the space. Overcoming the wall by realizing Will meant that.

But Shatien had already skipped that stage with the mystery of his bloodline, so he only needed to trust it and feel it.

"He, hehehehe. I was truly foolish."

"Oh, have you finally gone mad? Well, I suppose I would give up too if there seemed to be no answer. If you stop resisting, I will grant you a specially less painful death. I promise you this in my honor."

Baron Ludwig said, pointing the tip of his sword at Shatien.

But Shatien was grateful to Baron Ludwig.

Because he had awakened his foolish self thanks to him. Therefore, Shatien admitted the overwhelming skill of his enemy and spoke.

"Baron Ludwig. You are the best I have ever met."

"Hmm? Even if you flatter me now, your future will not change. It is death."

"Ah. Yes. But I am not flattering you, and I will create my future... myself!"

Saying that, Shatien immediately began to run backward.

Into the heart of the wild forest, where the brush was thick and the trees were dense enough to swallow even the moonlight.

"??!? That lunatic!"

Baron Ludwig was startled and shouted. That bastard was running away into that place. It was truly a choice as base and despicable as one would expect from a mercenary by birth, even to the very end.

"Chase him! Quickly!!"

Baron Ludwig shouted and chased after him into the dark brush.

* * *

"Huff, huff."

Shatien was breathing heavily. Dead knights, hunting dogs, and soldiers of the Emperor's army lay scattered around him.

Feel the space. That's right.

Shatien was controlling the space itself through the mystery of his bloodline.

In that incredibly complex space, where even sight was blocked, he was moving like a nocturnal predator, avoiding countless brush and tree roots.

And this was the result.

'Is only Ludwig left now?'

A dense killing intent was felt from the opposite side. Anyone could tell it was Baron Ludwig.

"......"

Baron Ludwig scanned the surroundings and lamented the devastating situation.

"How much money and time were poured into raising these knights...!"

His voice was mixed with deep regret and fury. Baron Ludwig scattered fierce killing intent towards Shatien.

"You worm of a mercenary who knows no honor. Do you think you can prolong that wretched life by doing this? Was the only thing you could think of to drag me into this dark world? You might have tried to create a variable by blocking my sight, but to a knight who channels Will, there is no more futile delusion than that."

"...Hehehehehe."

"Huh? You’re laughing?"

"Hehehe. Kehehehe. Yes. I am laughing."

Shatien let out a self-deprecating laugh at the statement.

"...Have you gone mad, now that you are about to die?"

"I just find it funny. To think of money and time when looking at dead knights. Doesn't it seem like you are looking at consumables? They must have sincerely followed and served you."

"......"

Baron Ludwig maintained silence for a moment due to the scathing criticism. Then he spoke.

"Do you know how much effort and time it takes to raise one knight? I regret that I invested so much money and time to make them knights, only for them to die so dishonorably without even gaining a name."

Honor again.

Shatien frowned.

"That damned honor. I am completely fed up with it. Why do nobles cling to honor so much? Do you truly think that tiny thing is more precious than life?"

"Do you really not know?"

Baron Ludwig stepped forward and continued speaking calmly. The sense of coercion was remarkable, simply from that action.

"Knowing that value is the standard that divides us from you, who do not share blue blood."

"......!"

Shatien showed his discomfort. However, Baron Ludwig continued without caring.

"Whether you are a mercenary or a soldier. Whether you are a serf tilling that field. To govern and lead you, we naturally must possess a different value. Only then will they trust and follow us. Honor is everything to a noble, it is synonymous with the pride that defines a noble himself."

"That argument is forced. You simply need to earn people's recognition, don't you?"

"Hehehe. You sound like a priest. But the world is not that easy. Their recognition does not matter. We are not those who receive recognition, but those who grant it. Those who receive our recognition become nobles, and people simply accept that as appropriate. Are you pretending not to know that you, too, became a noble because you received Count Bellua's recognition?"

Shatien was speechless due to the matter-of-fact tone.

"...I see no value in speaking further. Baron Ludwig."

"Listen well, Shatien. Although I am only a Baron, I rule a quite large fiefdom. Count Bellua, whom you serve, governs a vast populace of at least over 200,000. Do you truly think those people recognize and follow Count Bellua? Look at the Emperor now. Is he not fighting wars all over the country because he cannot gain the recognition of a few thousand nobles?"

"That would be a story the Emperor would love to hear, wouldn't it? Don't you think?"

"Heh heh. Do not mock and understand the essence. Nobles are not beings who receive recognition from commoners. We are beings who rule. That is why our honor is even more important. It must shine brightly for everyone to look up to and follow as appropriate."

Shatien raised his sword.

Baron Ludwig was only ten steps away.

"So, are you done talking? I wonder how long you intend to fight with your mouth."

"Huhu. Indeed, a mercenary by birth like you would not know the heavy destiny of a born bloodline. One who has never governed can never know what is needed for one who rules."

Baron Ludwig said that and raised his sword.

"But you will never know what that is in your entire life. Because you will die here."

-Shh.

Shatien glared at Baron Ludwig. Baron Ludwig might have thought the darkness would favor him, but no. Shatien was the one optimized for the darkness.

Following his master's words, Shatien was not simply feeling the space but perceiving it.

-Zzzzzzzzzzing!

Shatien entered the dense darkness, intentionally moving into a very complex brush.

Arms, legs, and the trajectory of his swings.

Nothing failed to be caught by the brush and tree roots.

"You bastard! More cheap tricks again-!"

Baron Ludwig grew furious and heightened his senses.

The information from the complex space was disorienting his head, but it would be better than that clueless fool.

But he soon realized that this was Baron Ludwig's misconception.

-Clang!

-Clang!

-K-k-k-k-k-k-k-clang!

In the darkness.

In this complex forest, Shatien was swinging his sword even more naturally.

'How?!?!? Hooooowww!!!'

Baron Ludwig inwardly screamed, realizing he was being pushed back with every parry.

All this cumbersome interference was surely an equal condition, yet Shatien was far too natural.

Those damnable continuous sword strikes too.

-Clang Clang!

-Clang!

-K-k-k-clang!

And the thrusts that deceived even his shockingly sharp senses.

-Flash!

All were enough to fluster Baron Ludwig.

It would have been different in a normal open space, but this place was suppressing Baron Ludwig.

"You bastard! What the hell are you!"

The enraged Baron Ludwig shouted.

He could not believe it.

While he was being suppressed like this, why was that bastard thriving like a fish in water?

"What am I? Just as you said, I am reading the space!"

Shatien shouted heartily and swung his sword repeatedly.

It would be difficult to fluster Baron Ludwig if not now.

However, Shatien knew well.

'The difference in skill is immense. Just going head-to-head is the limit.'

The knight who had overcome the wall was indeed formidable. Shatien was only fighting equally, even with all means and methods mobilized. Furthermore, time was not on Shatien's side.

"Huff, huff."

His stamina was beginning to deplete. The mystery of his bloodline was immensely powerful, but the faster he concentrated, the quicker his stamina drained.

This advantage would soon end.

-Clang!

-Clang!

Shatien quickly scanned the surroundings while unleashing continuous attacks on Baron Ludwig. A way. He needed to find a path to escape.

And after a moment.

'I found it!'

Shatien followed the guidance of his senses and found the opening.

Behind Baron Ludwig.

He could not see it in the darkness, but he could feel it. That there was a very flat, small path there.

"Prepare yourself, Baron Ludwig!"

Shatien intentionally shouted very loudly. As if advertising that he was about to launch a powerful attack.

"Hmph!"

Baron Ludwig tensed up, putting force into his body due to the momentum. He resolved to block whatever attack came his way and plunge his sword into Shatien's body.

However,

-Swoooosh!

As he tried to block the sword that came up with a chilling sound.

-Whoosh.

Shatien's sword suddenly pulled back, as if it had never been there, and Baron Ludwig's sword cut through empty air.

"???"

Only then did he feel that something was wrong. But due to the displaced force, Baron Ludwig's body tilted forward.

And,

-Ha!

Shatien left Baron Ludwig behind and quickly disappeared into the darkness behind him.

"You bastard-!"

The enraged Baron Ludwig turned around and shouted.

He was about to chase immediately.

But Baron Ludwig could only look disappointed.

"Ha, you truly run like a rat in the darkness."

In that brief moment.

Shatien had already vanished into the dark brush.