Embrace the Magic (111)
The Marquess of Richmond had a law that prohibited anyone from carrying a real sword until they were 18. The punishment for breaking this law was also quite severe, so even those who were quite reckless tended to use a bladeless sword before they turned 18. Or they would hold a dagger.
Larry had only recently turned 14, so of course his sword was unedged. Four of the men who confronted Larry were also not yet 18, so their swords were unedged.
But only one. Dorian was holding a real sword, sharp as a blade. It was a sword that had been sharpened in the blacksmith’s shop as soon as he turned 18 this year.
Larry pulled his shield from his back as he watched Dorian with his sharp sword. He still had not drawn his sword.
“Oh, Larry the Fugitive. You’re not even drawing your sword anymore?”
“You were a guy who didn’t even have the courage to swing a sword?”
“Our fugitive Mr. Larry is not a swordsman. Of course he can’t swing a sword.”
They call Larry a fugitive, but they were no different. No, they were worse.
Five people, including Dorian, were recently expelled from the Kardos Inspectorate for severely injuring one of the trainees.
The inspector will rarely intervene in the quarrels of the trainees, as he believes that it is also a virtue of a knight to solve problems on his own.
But a serious problem occurred. A child who was hit by Dorian and his group lost both eyes.
Naturally, the victim’s family was in an uproar. They even came to the coroner’s office and shouted for the perpetrators to be brought in, causing a huge mess. Eventually, they even went so far as to request a ruling from the Marquess of Richmond.
The Marquis of Richmond investigated the events of the time in detail and ordered an enormous amount of compensation to be paid.
The problem is that the prosecutors were also held responsible for negligence in management and were made to bear 30% of the compensation.
The Cardos censor had no choice but to hold back tears and pay a huge amount of compensation. Furthermore, he expelled all those who committed this act from the censorship.
If Larry was a fugitive, then the five people in front of him were all outcasts.
WHEEEEEE! Boom!
Dorian swung his sword by surprise. It was an attack with the malicious intent of inflicting injury somewhere.
But Larry blocked Dorian’s attack with a simple motion of lifting his shield. It was so natural, it was as if he had swung his sword where the shield would have moved.
“Oh! You’re a fugitive, so why are you using a shield?”
“Hmm.”
Larry didn’t answer, just focused on the shield. He didn’t have time to respond, as he was busy reconsidering his own reflexive blocking action.
‘I stopped it?’
After learning swordsmanship from Rodin, I swung my sword every single day until I collapsed from exhaustion. I never had a single day of rest.
Since I didn’t have a teacher, I had no way of knowing if I was doing it right. So I was anxious, and to appease my anxious mind, I worked myself to death even harder.
‘It works. My defense works.’
I learned swordsmanship and achieved my first success. But it wasn’t enough.
I wanted Dorian to attack harder, so I could see if I could block it properly.
“Hey, runaway. Have you forgotten how to speak?”
“Come at it.”
“This kid. How can he be so arrogant just because I stopped him once.”
WHHH! Boom!
Dorian swung his sword again this time, this time with the intention of cutting off an arm.
But this time too, it was blocked too easily. Dorian felt that his skills had regressed.
“Cheekily.”
Whee!
The sword flew again. Larry instinctively read the direction the sword was swinging and tilted his shield slightly. At the same time, he pulled back, disrupting the opponent’s strike.
Scrub!
The sword struck the shield with a strange sound, and the sword path shook violently due to the shield being slightly moved back.
“Uh uh uh.”
Dorian stumbled violently, having lost his balance for a moment. He barely managed to keep his balance, but he almost fell over.
“This… this guy.”
“Hey, Dorian. What are you doing? Can I help you?”
“Get out, you little shit.”
Whee!
Dorian swung his sword again, this time with more force than before, cutting and striking without stopping.
TEE! TEETING! TOOONG! GUGUGUGUG!
But Larry blocked all of Dorian’s attacks, and with great ease.
During the process, Dorian loses his balance and almost falls several times. He doesn’t fall precariously, but there are many times when he staggers enough for the onlookers to feel it.
‘through.’
Larry was concentrating only on defense, not on offense.
If he had held a sword in his right hand, and swung it when Dorian was staggering, there were many times when Dorian would have been seriously injured.
‘Don’t wear black.’
Larry turned his gaze away from the sword and glared at Dorian.
If you use your sword here, it becomes a real fight. Then, it would be considered a crime that the police should intervene in, not a fight between children, and you would have to be investigated.
“Come at me!”
“This kid.”
At that moment, he felt someone approaching from behind. As soon as he felt the presence, Larry reflexively swung his shield.
Thud!
Kati, who had sneaked up and swung her sword, was hit by the shield instead and fell down. She was hit in the face, and blood flowed from her nose.
“You, you…, Mr. Lee.”
“Katie!”
“Hey, get out of here!”
“Hit.”
As the fight dragged on, five people eventually came out at once. Since they had some experience in teamwork, their teamwork was quite good.
Larry repeatedly stepped back and blocked the attacks with his shield. Boom! Ting! Thump! Larry’s body was pushed back every time he heard the sound.
However, it was not a retreat without a plan. It was one of the defensive techniques of always keeping the opponent in front while taking a step back.
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Thump! Thump!
“Eet!”
“Hey, what’s this kid doing?”
I was only holding one shield, but I couldn’t get through it. Even when five people attacked together, I couldn’t get even a small scratch on my body. I felt like I was possessed by a ghost.
Dorian studied only in the Kardos swordsmanship for ten years. He eventually caused an accident and was kicked out, but among the swordsmanship trainees, his experience was second to none.
During that time, I met many talented people and had many sparring matches, but this was my first experience.
I felt suffocated and lost. I thought this was the moment to swing my sword at an opening, but it was blocked by a shield. The opening I had just seen had already moved to another place.
Pushing with force was no use. Whenever I tried to push, it would bounce back for a long time before I knew it.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you.”
“That’s a bit difficult.”
A brief lull. Everyone’s heads turned as a voice broke the quiet silence.
“Who are you!”
“Hey, hyung! He’s younger than you. What do you think? You want to pounce on me too?”
“Ma, wizard?”
Dorian and his party also knew that Larry’s older brother was a wizard. He was quite skilled, and there were rumors that he was famous in the mercenary world.
It was a rumor that had been circulating for a while after the potion delivery, but Dorian and his party had simply overestimated it. Whether it was a rumor or not, they also felt uncomfortable fighting Larry’s brother.
“Larry, what do you think? Can you wait a little longer?”
“Brother, when did you come?”
“You came just now. I waited because you seemed excited. What do you think? Should I wait a little longer?”
“No. They’re too weak. I can’t even use them as practice opponents.”
The swordsmanship taught by Proval Welcome was not limited to simply blocking.
The key was to block and read the opponent’s attack patterns. That’s why the longer the battle went on, the more free time I had and the more advantageous it became.
Larry also fought quite nervously at first. He couldn’t take his eyes off his opponent for even a moment.
But after I had read the pattern to some extent, I was able to defend more and more easily. The moment I had some free time, the training effect was no longer there.
“Really? Then let’s go.”
“Oh, where.”
Rodin and Larry moved towards the house. Then, Dorian and five others blocked their way.
“plaguy.”
Rodin created five magic hands without even chanting the runes. Using the magic hands, he caught five people at the same time.
“Huh?”
“Hey, what is this?”
“Don’t let go of this!”
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
He threw the five men he had lifted to the ground. He was especially careful with Dorian, and threw him into a place with sharp rocks.
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
“This is the last time. If you get in my way one more time, you die.”
Rodin’s voice was small, and it was a flat voice that conveyed no emotion.
That’s why it was even scarier. The fear that they would really kill each other if they met again consumed Dorian and his group.
“Yes, yes. I was wrong.”
“Dragon, forgive me……”
“Let’s go, Larry.”
“Let’s go, hyung.”
Rodin walked home alongside Larry, not even glancing at the five fallen men.
* * *
The morning of departure arrived.
Bianca looked very excited, as if she was going on a picnic. Larry shook his head at her appearance.
“Why are you so excited?”
“It’s a trip, a trip. Hehe. I’m looking forward to it.”
“It hasn’t even been two years since we came here from the Western Continent.”
Larry left home every morning even when he was working as a Cardos inspector. Even after he left the Cardos inspectorate, he went to the market with Margaret or Matthew several times.
However, after settling down at the Marquis of Richmond, Bianca hardly ever went out. It was partly because she was busy with her magical training, but more importantly because she was afraid of people.
Inside the house, I could meet people as much as I wanted, but I was afraid to go outside. Even when Larry, Margaret, and Matthew asked me to go out with them, I couldn’t move my feet.
The only time Bianca didn’t feel afraid was when she was with Rodin.
But Rodin was always busy. He was always doing something, so I couldn’t ask him to go out and play.
“Huh! Larry, you’ve lost your sense of humor too. You’re starting to resemble Rodin.”
“Hey! I’m not that good.”
“Hey, what are you doing in front of the person concerned? And what do you mean by ‘that much’? What exactly is that much?”
“There is. Someone like Brother Rodin.”
It was a bit absurd, but Rodin just let it go. He wondered what the point of arguing with Bianca was.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah. Let’s go quickly. Quickly.”
“You don’t have to pack your bed.”
“Brother, come out and get it. I’ll go to the carriage.”
The items I used today haven’t been put into the subspace bracelet yet.
The bed, dishes, and clothes that Larry and Bianca had used until morning had to be put away now. There was also still the cooking utensils that Matthew had used for breakfast.
“Well then… Ah! Go out and don’t be so surprised.”
“huh.”
Bianca ran out. Larry had no choice but to follow her.
Rodin was left alone to pack up what little luggage he had left. He put everything in Larry and Bianca’s room and took everything else out of the kitchen.
Finally, we went to the annex where Matthew lived. There were some things that Matthew used and some things that belonged to the dead Margaret.
“ha.”
Thinking of Margaret still made my heart ache.
Rodin unconsciously stroked his bracelet. It was a bracelet engraved with the subspace where Margaret was sleeping.
While Rodin was packing up Margaret and Matthew’s things.
Larry and Bianca were locked in a war of nerves with two strangers. Larry was gripping his shield tightly with a tense expression on his face, while Bianca was crossing her arms and glaring at her opponent.
“Sister! Who the hell are you? Who are you and why are you here?”
“Oh my, look at her. Charis, that cheeky little girl says she’s my sister. How can she be so cute?”
“These are Confucius’ younger brothers. Be polite.”
Larry and Bianca’s opponents in the war of nerves were Charis and Jenna, battle dolls who had become Rodin’s allies.
Rodin summoned Karis and Jenna, and spent several hours a day learning the language of the Magic Empire. The two were excellent teachers, able to teach pronunciation as well as letters.
But it was Charis and Jenna who were better equipped to learn the language.
Rodin could learn the language of the Magic Empire only by summoning and asking, but the two did not need to do so. Even inside the storage, Rodin shared all the time he spoke, listened, and saw.
That time was almost a year.
Thanks to that, the two quickly learned the common language of the continent. Although they were not yet at the level of perfect communication, they did not feel awkward in most conversations.
“Confucius would not want to be polite.”
“I haven’t heard anything from the Master. Be careful.”
The two called Rodin “Confucius” in front of Larry and Bianca. It was a title Rodin had given them in the past, and they had never been ordered to change it before.
So, when he was alone, he used the title ‘Master’, and when he was with others, he used the title ‘Confucius’.
“Anyway, Charis, you’re not fun.”
“Reveal your identity!”
Bianca stepped forward without fear. Jenna just laughed, and Charis pretended not to notice.
“Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Jenna. The blunt man here is Charis. We both serve Prince Rodin.”
“Are you bringing Brother Rodin?”
“Yes. We are Prince Rodin’s escort.”
