I Obtained Sword God Level Talent

5 – 005. The Knight’s Song (2)

“Come out, you mercenary who mocks the Knights Order! My sword will not forgive you!”

He was sitting on the bed, slowly loosening his shoulders when, for some reason, it got noisy outside.

“Come out this instant! Can you not hear my words!”

It was a shout loud enough to make your brow furrow, like he wanted to boast about his vocal chords.

*Swish*

Peeking outside, he saw a plump middle-aged man glaring at his tent.

“What’s that now?”

The main offender of the booming voice was a pig with a goatee. Only his clothes and the sword in his hand revealed that he was a knight.

He grabbed the sword he’d placed by the bed. Stepping out of the tent, he spoke to the huffing man with his reddened face.

“Are you talking to me.”

“Ho, so it is you? Are you the one from those rumors?”

“Rumors?”

“Yes! The ridiculous rumors that you killed hundreds of orcs single-handedly!”

“……Do I have a reason to answer?”

He felt annoyed at the sudden display of hostility.

No, why was this boar questioning him? Besides, it wasn’t a rumor, it was the truth? Thinking that, he glanced around.

As Lancelot had said, it was the heart of the Knights Order encampment. And thanks to the middle-aged man’s voice, onlookers had quickly gathered.

‘Knights everywhere I look. The rumors must have spread among them.’

The ＜Knight＞ class was rare. It was his first time seeing so many knights with his own eyes, so he couldn’t help but be interested.

Power naturally creates authority.

Unlike medieval Europe, knights here were tactical weapons in themselves. That meant that most of them were also of ‘noble’ status.

“Hey! He’s still got the face of a boy!”

“Ha, not flinching even when we’re watching, he’s the real deal.”

They were watching his confrontation with the middle-aged man with faces full of curiosity. Now and then, they would hum, “Hooh,” or “Huh,” in admiration.

“Haa.”

He let out a sigh, full of the unpleasant feeling of being an animal in a zoo. The middle-aged man clearly had something he wanted with him. Otherwise, why put on a show like this in front of so many eyes?

“Y-yes! I, myself, shall spread far and wide the honor of the Knightly Order, and the Emperor’s majesty!”

The middle-aged man, speaking as if growling, fumbled around inside his robes.

And what he pulled out was.

Whiff!

“A duel! Gler von DuPont, 8th squad leader of the Golden Lion Knights, challenges you to a duel!”

It was a pristine white handkerchief.

“A duel? Are you serious? A sullied honor can’t be washed away by such a pathetic act!”

“He’s gone mad! Is he aware he’ll be relieved of duty after returning?”

The surrounding knights, gathered by the actions of the middle-aged man, Gler the Boar, gaped.

That’s how much his current actions deviated from common sense. Even just the barrage of jeers showed what kind of existence he was within the Order.

“Heh heh! If you fear the duel now, crawl between my legs. You know? A lot of people die during duels.”

“…A duel.”

Leaving Gler’s jeers behind, I slowly surveyed the surrounding scenery and closed my eyes.

It felt as if numerous blessings were whispering to me. That guy isn’t your match. He will eventually kneel beneath your sword… or so they seemed to say.

“Very well.”

*Shing!*

I opened my eyes, which I had closed. At the same time, I drew my sword.

From the start, I’m not a knight, and I don’t properly know the duel rules of this world. What I learned briefly after returning from the jaws of death… was only that my life would be spent in war.

So I cut. Those who challenge are cut down. That was the way of survival I chose.

“W-what madness is this!”

“Everyone back! It’s a duel!”

“Good heavens! Is that guy serious?”

“Kuhaha! This is some fresh sensibility!”

The surrounding knights scattered like a tide.

Had they not expected things to turn out like this?

“T-this b*stard?”

The flustered Gler opened his mouth to speak.

*Whoosh!*

As I shifted my position, the same lines were not uttered. I simply became a streak of light and charged at him. Immediately, a series of flexible, slashing attacks poured down, pressuring Gler’s lines of defense.

“Guoook!”

A ludicrous figure, with fat bulging, yet Gler was a knight. He, too, raised the sword in his hand, urgently responding.

Clang! Clang-clash!

‘I see it.’

Sword and sword sparked.

I glimpsed the gap that existed between them. Gler’s swordsmanship was much more refined than an orc’s. But compared to the limits I possess, it was as pathetic as a firefly before the sun.

Whoosh!

In an instant, I retracted the sword that had been driving toward Gler.

At first glance, it seemed a defensive move, worried about a counterattack. But the intention was not defense, but offense. There was no thought of missing the ‘gap’ already visible in my eyes.

“Y-yeagh! Damn it!”

Gler, with a pale face, cried out as if he was frustrated.

I did not respond with words but with action.

Swish!

My hand guided the obsidian blade along a sword path no ordinary human could wield.

But then.

Crack!

“……?”

The sword, which had been moving forward with the momentum to cut down everything in this world, stopped its advance at that very moment.

“Mana!”

“Dodge it! Young mercenary!”

“Gler, you crazy b*stard!”

The knights watching the duel cried out, filled with dismay.

‘…Mana?’

Even before their voices reached my ears, I was already engulfed in a strong sense of incongruity.

‘He used mana to create a defensive barrier. How rudimentary.’

I didn’t twist the sword path. For some reason, I was confident in piercing through his mana and succeeding in my attack.

I add power to power.

Power and skill. Heaviness and smoothness. There is no shield that cannot be pierced in front of the sword style created by the simple but splendid [ Sword Body ] attribute. Realizing that, there was nothing more to fear.

“That… that’s a mercenary?”

“There isn’t even a ‘Ki’, let alone a ‘Form’. Yet strangely, his sword seems complete.”

“Oh! My god! The rumor is true! That man is the one who took down hundreds of orcs!”

The knights’ horrified screams rang clearly in my ears.

Of course, I didn’t lose focus amidst all that. The sword’s edge penetrated the dense wall of mana. The mana, stretched like a balloon for an instant, shattered like glass immediately after.

*Fshshshsh!* *Clang!*

“Ma-mana… He ‘cut’ mana.”

A stunned voice echoed in the suddenly silent arena.

*Thud!*

“H-how… How could this happen?”

Gler collapsed onto the dirt floor, mouth agape.

His once-gathered mana had lost its flow and scattered. Simultaneously, his cherished sword lay in pieces, strewn across the ground.

*Click!*

But, I had absolutely no intention of stopping here. He’d already lost his will, but it couldn’t be denied that Gler had used the duel as an excuse to target me.

“Frey! Stop!”

Lancelot let out a near-shriek, as I slowly, deliberately, raised my sword.

*Stiff!*

I stopped moving and turned to face the source of the voice.

“……”

Lancelot pushed his way through the crowd, looking urgent. I stared at him, my gaze questioning.

His face, uncharacteristically, was etched with distress as he spoke.

“Hold back. He is a noble. Gler is the direct heir of the DuPont Count family.”

This guy, who looked down on me and even tried to take my life. And now, because he’s a noble, I should tolerate this humiliation?

*Sssh.*

I looked down at the pathetic Gler. His face was pale with terror, and the area between his legs was damp with urine. He’d challenged me to a duel and then pissed himself.

“…Hold back?”

Seeing that, I felt certain. I didn’t need to weigh the options. The path ahead of me was clear.

“Why should I?”

*Shhhick!*

* * *

The duel was over.

The sun was already setting, and the knights were gathering in small groups to begin their dinner. Call it luck? The knight order also provided a meal for me.

*Clink.*

“……Delicious.”

The moment I put the food they’d given me in my mouth, I almost teared up.

It was apparently food for knights, not just ordinary soldiers, because the menu was quite luxurious.

First, the potatoes. The steaming, pure white things weren’t ordinary potatoes. They’d been boiled, revealing their milky white insides, topped with cheese, and baked—the taste was exquisite.

And what about the meat? Even for someone like me, with a pretty particular palate among modern people, the quality was overwhelmingly obvious. The thick meat’s juices burst in my mouth, like I was drinking a beverage.

‘It’s heavenly compared to the rice balls the orcs threw at us.’

Of course, the lavish meal wasn’t just for me. Lancelot, who had his own tent, was sitting across from me.

“……”

He didn’t seem to have an appetite. Seeing him picking at his food, even in front of this feast, made me want to nag him.

“……Aren’t you afraid?”

Lancelot, who had been rolling a potato on his plate for ages, opened his mouth when I was almost done eating.

“Afraid?”

It was a random, out-of-the-blue question. But, I could tell what he was getting at.

“Well, is there anything to be afraid of? Accidents during a duel are a given, aren’t they?”

“I suppose. It could be.”

Lancelot answered briefly with a bitter smile. It was an unfamiliar expression on the always-honorable ‘Sword Master Lancelot’ that I knew.

“They won’t go after you just for cutting off an arm, but they might resort to some dirty tricks. The DuPont family is that kind of place.”

“Is that so?”

I shrugged and replied, despite Lancelot’s less-than-worried worry.

I had cut off Gler’s left arm at the end of our duel.

The medicine of the ＜Silver Ring＞ world is primitive, but considering the ‘holy water’ and ‘recovery magic’ that can reattach severed limbs, it really was a generous penalty.

“Frey.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m just asking, but do you remember my name?”

“Of course, I do. Lancelot du Arman. The leader of the Golden Lion Knights.”

“Haha.”

“……?”

What’s up with him again?

Lancelot’s lips curved into a smile. It was the second time I’d seen him smile today. Considering his usual personality, it was a rare sight.

“That’s amusing.”

What’s so damn funny?

I looked at Lancelot with an expression that seemed to demand an answer. He took a large bite of potato, then matter-of-factly stated,

“I never said my name was Lancelot du Arman. Lancelot du Armans. That’s the name I gave.”

“……?”

…Shit. Did I fall into some trap without realizing?

Lancelot’s detached, dry gaze settled on me.

“I think I might have an idea of what you are.”

*Crack! Thump!*

Inside the quiet tent, the sound of wood burning in the stove echoed like thunder.

“You are…”

Lancelot’s voice continued. My eyes couldn’t help but widen as I listened.