Chapter 10 - A Famous Hot Spot (4)

BOOM!

With the explosion, the prince's body flew through the air.

Unable even to think of landing, the prince was sent sprawling pitifully and rolled across the ground several times.

"Your Highness!"

Half of the Royal Knights called out to the prince in urgent voices.

"Count Ballorhard! What in the world have you done!"

The other half drew their swords and surrounded Count Vale Ballorhard.

Instead of answering, the count looked at his nephew.

Watching his nephew twitch intermittently, he recalled the conversation they had shared not long ago.

["You want me to observe?"]

["If the Commander of the Northern 3rd Legion and a Quad Chain knight is observing, they won't be able to get any foolish ideas, will they?"]

His nephew, who had been running his mouth so shamelessly, belatedly added one more thing.

["And if, by any chance. Just by any chance."]

["By any chance?"]

["If it looks like I'm going to kill my opponent, stop me. You should be more than capable of it, Uncle."]

It had been only three months since he began training, and not even half that since he had begun properly learning the sword.

Even that had only amounted to learning some paltry Training Sword.

How absurd his nephew's babbling had sounded.

What had I answered?

Vale Ballorhard thought.

And at last, he was able to remember.

["Just don't cry after you get beaten senseless."]

Like a pup that knew no fear of tigers, he had simply laughed it off.

And yet that thing had actually happened.

"Hmm."

At first, he had intended to settle the matter by simply deflecting the force in moderation.

But instead of sliding away, his nephew's sword strike crawled up along the blade.

With a vicious killing intent in it.

The sword strike was far too tenacious to block half-heartedly, and if he did not want to repeat the same thing a second and third time, he had to cut off his nephew's offensive, even if it was somewhat forceful.

Vale Ballorhard looked at the sword in his hand.

The treasured sword bestowed upon him by His Majesty the King was ringing faintly.

"Two, is it."

It was the resonance unique to the Mana Chain that occurred when more than one ring was activated.

SQUEEZE.

He gripped the sword hard.

Only then did the sword's vibration stop.

"Count Ballorhard! Answer me! Depending on your response, you may be charged with the crime of murdering a royal!"

Before he knew it, the number of Royal Knights surrounding him had increased further.

Mana was clearly imbued in the swords they had drawn.

"I was asked."

"What kind of nonsense is that! What request could His Highness possibly have..."

"He asked me to stop him."

At the short answer, the Royal Knights frowned.

They probably could not understand.

Because he himself had not understood either.

"Stand down."

Into the razor-sharp atmosphere, a pale voice cut in.

"I really did ask him."

With his chest entrusted to the royal physician, his nephew was looking this way.

"I did ask him, but..."

His nephew abruptly coughed up blood.

Black blood soaked the front of his clothes.

The prince's face twisted as he looked down at his own chest.

"I told him to stop me. When did I tell him to beat me flat..."

Before he could finish speaking, his nephew's eyes rolled back white.

And then he fainted just like that.

"Y-Your Highness!"

"His mana nearly went into Mana Backflow, but thanks to His Excellency the Count's intervention, he narrowly avoided it. He has only fainted for a moment, so once he awakens, he will soon shake it off and be back on his feet."

At the Royal Knights' fuss, the royal physician answered while sweating profusely.

"Is that enough now?"

Vale Ballorhard said in a low voice.

The Royal Knights hesitated, then sheathed their swords.

"Um..."

In the atmosphere that had softened somewhat, someone cautiously spoke up.

"Th-Then what happens to me?"

Vale Ballorhard turned around.

The second son of the Tailheim family stood there, his face as white as a sheet of paper.

* * *

The first thing I did when I woke up was check my Mana Heart.

The mana that had shown signs of backflow had completely calmed down, and the artificial heart was sleeping quietly, as if it had never gone wild at all.

That took ten years off my life.

"Ha. I really thought my Mana Heart was going to split."

Uncle's sword, which had clashed with mine at the final moment, had been fierce and powerful.

It would not have been strange if my paltry Mana Heart had split in an instant.

Now that I think about it, that pisses me off.

It was true that I had asked Uncle to stop me.

The essence of Dragon Slayer was the will itself to slay even a mighty dragon, and as I was now, I could not perfectly rein in that killing intent.

That was why I had asked Uncle.

Of course, that did not mean I had asked him to beat me down without mercy.

In any case, I had prevented unnecessary killing, and no aftereffects remained, so it could be said that I had accomplished everything I set out to do.

Besides.

"I won."

I recalled the face of my opponent, staring blankly at me with his sword shattered.

As if he had never imagined he would lose, even with my sword approaching right before his nose, he still had a face that could not grasp the situation.

How satisfying it had been.

"What are you so pleased about that you're laughing like that?"

As I was snickering to myself over my meager victory, I heard a heavy voice.

"What brings you all the way here?"

Did he come because he felt sorry for using too much strength?

Uncle did not answer.

"What in the world did you do?"

He simply glared at me with deep eyes that seemed to see through my insides and asked.

"What are you talking about?"

I played dumb.

"A man who has never experienced real combat was scattering around such a killing sword."

As expected of someone around Quad Chain, his eye was on the level of a Sword Master.

Uncle had somehow grasped the essence of Dragon Slayer in that brief moment.

"I never taught you such a sword."

"Did you ever teach me anything in the first place?"

Even at my useless joke, Uncle did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.

"What in the world was that unrighteous sword?"

"Unrighteous is going a bit far. I was simply being faithful to the essence of the sword."

"The essence of the sword, as you think of it, is killing intent."

With those words, Uncle closed his mouth.

I had thought he would launch into a whole sermon about what a sword was and so on, so it was unexpected.

So when I asked,

"Though it is blatant and unpleasant, that too is one of the truths."

Instead, he acknowledged the essence of the sword.

It was a completely different, clean attitude from those old-fashioned people who would prattle on at length about how the sword was the path to perfection or something else.

"There may be those who think that way. But that is not me."

I am a soldier, not a knight, one who walks the path of victory rather than the righteous path.

At Uncle's words, I was a little impressed.

"However, your sword goes too far."

Uncle expressed deep concern, saying that when killing intent in a sword was excessive, one could no longer distinguish friend from foe.

"Isn't that why I'm making this whole fuss, to fix that?"

For once, it was the truth without a single lie mixed in.

I had to seize the reins of the raging Dragon Slayer.

Because power that could not be controlled would only ruin its wielder in the end.

There was only one method.

Going through trial and error until it worked.

Even after living for hundreds of years, the conclusion I had reached was such an ignorant method, and I found it ridiculous myself.

But what could I do?

My mind was that of a Sword Master, but my body was still just some fat Swordlearner scrub.

"I will watch. To see whether you are devoured by your Inner Demon or not."

After throwing out that one curt remark, Uncle rose from his seat.

"I will go now, so rest."

"Did you perhaps come for something like a sick visit?"

"Your mother is deeply worried."

Instead of answering, Uncle said something irrelevant.

"I am coming from seeing your mother even now."

He went on, unasked, saying how much of a fuss she had made because he had hurt her nephew, and that it seemed he had lost all his gentle disposition while staying at the castle.

Judging by him, it seemed he had come because he felt sorry for using too heavy a hand.

"You know, you could just honestly say you're sor..."

BANG.

The door closed.

Whether he was embarrassed or simply had too much pride, Uncle's attitude was impossible to know.

"Well, Uncle isn't what's important."

What use would it be to understand the thoughts of that pitch-black old man?

I erased everything about Uncle from my mind.

Starting tomorrow, I had to begin training again.

I still had a long way to go before I could make that foul-tempered colt called Dragon Slayer completely mine.

If there was at least one consolation,

"Let's see. Who was the next one again?"

It was that I had opponents in abundance.

* * *

"What the hell. I thought you left, but you're still here?"

When I shook it off and got up, then headed to the training ground, the second son of the Tailheim family whom I had seen the day before was there.

"Since Your Highness had given no particular instruction..."

Apparently, because I had fainted without a word, the Royal Knights had detained him as they pleased.

"If we misinterpreted Your Highness's will, please punish us."

"No. You did well."

The second son of the Tailheim family flinched.

"Thanks to you, I can make good use of the time until the next person arrives."

Looking at that man, I grinned.

* * *

"Was it Taylor?"

After being tormented by me for two more days after that day, the second son of the Tailheim family had become a completely different person from when he first entered the palace.

The hostility and resentment he had failed to hide were nowhere to be found, and the spirit of avenging his grudge and making his name known by defeating me no longer remained either.

All that remained was the pitifulness of a frog before a snake.

"You worked hard for three days."

As if he did not even have the strength to answer, Taylor bowed his head.

Watching him, I felt a slight prick of conscience.

Even after the first day, I continued to unleash Dragon Slayer.

The sword thick with killing intent charged at my opponent's life every time, and each time, Taylor had to stop me with all his might.

And when even that was not enough, Uncle stepped in.

Thanks to Uncle's consideration(?) in easing off appropriately, I did not end up fainting disgracefully like on the first day.

It was luck for me, and misfortune for Taylor.

"But you know. What a shame, right?"

"What is?"

"You should have at least kicked my ass once. But you couldn't."

"Well, that's..."

Taylor, who had answered me in spite of himself, turned pale.

Maybe because he was a country bumpkin, he was a man who had no idea how to hide his emotions.

Watching him, I raised my hand.

"Hup!"

It seemed the experience of the past three days had turned Taylor into a coward.

Looking at him reacting excessively to my hand gesture, I spoke to the maid.

"Give it to me."

The maid handed me a box.

I received the box and held it out to Taylor as it was.

"Y-Your Highness?"

"I hear I did something awful to you before?"

I had already heard through the maid about the petty atrocities that scoundrel had committed in the past.

"I don't know if this will ease your feelings, but go and deliver it to Baron Tailheim."

I had no obligation to clean up the mess that scoundrel had made.

But still, when a person made someone do work, it was only right to pay the price.

The price I paid Taylor for his three days of hard work was a little money and valuables, and 「justification」.

So that even if he could not kick the prince's ass and relieve his family's resentment, he could console himself that the trip had not been in vain.

"There is a letter in there too, so deliver it."

"You even wrote a letter yourself..."

The second son of that simple country noble family looked at me with a moved expression.

In truth, the maids had written it.

I did not bother telling him that fact.

"Go on. You worked hard all this time. Be careful on your way."

After saying that, I waved him away.

The moved Taylor shouted several times that it had been an honor to meet me, and that he looked forward to the day we would meet again.

"Really?"

Of course, when I acted as if I might call him back, he ran away.

"So today ends here, then."

Taylor had left, and the next person would arrive tomorrow.

I ended the training just like that.

"Then I will see you again tomorrow."

I gave Uncle my farewell.

But Uncle simply stared at me quietly, as if thinking about something.

That old man is looking at me like that again.

Leaving Uncle's greasy gaze behind me, I left the training ground.

* * *

After that, several more sparring opponents came to find me.

Every single one of those who came showed a determination to kick my ass no matter what.

Unfortunately, however, they could not achieve what they wanted.

"How..."

The man looked at me with a face of utter despair.

Was this person the seventh?

The emotions on his face were disbelief at himself for having lost to an idiot, and shock at the sword he had just seen.

"You came running, thinking a whole meal had been laid out for you, didn't you? But you know."

The man did not answer.

He merely glared at me with a resentful face.

"As they say, there is never anything to eat at a famous restaurant."

Even in the midst of his anger, the man objected to my words.

"It's a famous feast, not a famous restaurant..."

"Shut up. If I say that's how it is, then that's how it is."

The will of the Dragon Slayer rose within me.

"Get up."

KIIIIIIR.

That will spoke.

"You need to get hit a little more."