A Wish to Grab Happiness

Volume 8, Chapter 209: The former Master and Student

A magical whirlwind created by Filaret tore the sky and swallowed the arrowheads. It was as if the space itself opened its mouth and swallowed the arrows that flew in the sky. The murder weapons to suck up human blood turned into mere sticks and fell into the ground.

Apparently, it worked. While exhaling lightly from the lips, I lowered my hardened shoulders. It was an unmistakable breath of relief.

Caria and Filaret, who were hidden in the back, were aware of the consequences of such meeting. They said that if bad things happened, I’d want to borrow their hands. Somehow, I thought that those words did not suit me. Even so, they sounded great. I never felt this good in a while.

After all, the other party was that old man Richard. Would the old man summon me for a random talk without any hidden plans? No way, he was the captain of the enemy’s army. It was no mere skepticism. He would’ve set a trap for me. The random talk was kind of a set up. Of course, I didn’t know whether the ambush would be arrowheads or an attack with a sword.

Whatever the story, decapitating the hero of the enemy was of the utmost value. If successful, the morale of the enemy’s army would collapse like a wave, and that alone would reduce the options available on the battlefield. If you did poorly, the chance itself could disappear.

Assassinate the hero of the enemy, which acted like a commander, and aim for victory without reducing the number of troops. The old man seemed to like that type of strategy. Words such as fair and dignity must be an object of cynicism for the old man.

If it was for the old man, then it was the same for me.

A magical whirlwind roared in the surroundings, destroying all the fired arrows to the ground. I was looking straight ahead at the road leading to captain of the enemy’s army, Richard. I pulled the reins of my horse quite strongly.

「Caria, I’m sorry, but I’ll leave the ambushing soldiers to you. 」

I spoke those words in haste to the silver light that blinked at the edge of my field of vision, and made my horse run.

The space between me and old man Richard was just a few horses away. Even if the ambushers, who sensed that they had failed the assassination, pulled out their swords and slashed them at me, they would not be in time.

Above all, there was nobody who could surpass Caria’s deadly silver flash.

I held the treasure sword hanging on my waist, and ran through the space as it was. With the momentum of horse running, I tried to reach the neck of the enemy’s captain Richard with a single line.

The moment the blade was pointed at the nape of his neck, I noticed that the old man had a distorted smile on his face.

*metallic sound*

The purple hue drew a line in the space, and the black sword clashed with it. Sparks of iron originated from the clash were scattered in the air.

The treasure sword bounced with momentum after being received by the thick black sword, as if the old man had expected my attack. Although he may be old, the power to support the black sword had to be strong enough, which meant the old man was not that fragile yet.

「Old man, you’ve already reached a good age. Why don’t you have fun in retirement? 」

I engaged swords with him again, broke apart and reached out again. I attacked him for several times without stopping. I did it one more time, then a second time, and then, a third time. Still, the black sword shook off my attack without losing its momentum.

The face of the old man looked terribly strange as if he was having fun.

「And who will write the script from behind the scenes? I can’t think about retirement when I have something as amusing as that.」

And then, I went for the fourth time.

The swing that would’ve crushed the old man’s heart was bounced off by the black sword. However, I put more power in this swing, and along with the trajectory, I cut the old man’s shoulder. The red color of blood mixed with the green of the plain’s vegetation.

Indeed, if no blood flowed at all, then the old man would not be a human being. If that were true it would be impossible to kill him.

I felt a strange sensation. In an unfamiliar horse-riding battle, the opponent was undoubtedly superior in skill, and if I made a bad move, my neck would fly without a doubt. To put it simply, the ongoing battle was a fight between the commanders that waved their swords on behalf of the campaign.

However, my chest was strangely full. Was it because of the exhilaration to compete for the power of the sword with the teacher who I was unable to surpass? Or was it something entirely different coming out from the depths of this chest?

Strange, it felt really strange. I was not even in a bad mood. Rather, I felt a joy that I had never felt before.

I kept doing the offensive stance.

I drew a trajectory towards the old man Richard’s flank with the purple hue that seemed like electricity, but the black sword naturally intercepted it. Until now, the scene had not changed at all. I kept doing my best to change the scene, even if a little. Therefore, I continued to attack without stopping. Then, the black sword, which did not shake until a while ago, swayed slightly. My eyes blinked.

It seemed unlikely that I could push it in as it was. Even so, I had a certain intuition that told me to tilt this rigid offense and defense to either side by stacking swords one more time.

If my intuition was right, then my deadly strike would come true. It would be quite pleasant if I accomplished that strike. However, it was hard. There was a possibility that this fight was even calculated by that old man Richard.

My earlobes were struck by a voice that shook the plain.

「…Help the Captain. Don’t use the bow! Those who hold swords, slash, and those who hold spears, pierce! 」

Enemy escorts were just around the corner. If the old man Richard earned more time, I would be surrounded by all of his escort soldiers, and if that happened, my meat would be brutally slaughtered.

I released the swords that were still meshing each other and shook my lips while taking deep breaths. At that moment, I felt an excruciating pain in my right arm. When I glanced at it, I noticed there was a single laceration. It seemed that I was slashed by the old man before I knew it. I thought he only focused on interception to save time, but he was still good at sneaky attacks.

「Is that your woman, old man? I never thought you’d get a good-looking young woman. 」

Only a few minutes before the escort soldiers arrived. While removing the iron pieces that were bouncing in front of my face, I pointed to the woman who seemed to be an adjutant leading the escort corps.

「What a foolish thing to say. She’s old enough to be my granddaughter. Moreover, who are you to talk about such things? Just look at your side. 」

The old man moved up his shoulders while speaking with a light tone. Then he said, with his black sword swaying in one hand, “Your woman looks better than mine”.

I raised my eyebrows naturally and blinked my eyelids. My woman. Who the hell was he talking about? When I distorted my eyes in bewilderment, the old man’s line of sight was pointing to the person that stood right next to me.

「…Lugis, the ambushers’ have decreased. No one will stand anymore. But we must retreat since a new wave of soldiers is coming. Let me ride with you on your horse.」

Caria spoke aloud, mixing the color of blood with her silver hair. She wiped the blood in her mouth with the hand, and despite being rough, it had a mysterious charm.

The old man titled his neck upon hearing Caria’s words.

It took a lot of money and time to raise ambushes out of soldiers, especially archers. Those were not just soldiers who repeated assaults as ordered, but trained soldiers that had to think with their own heads and use strategic movements to pull a proper attack, especially in bow and arrow where accuracy was crucial.

To be honest, unfortunately, we had just a few archers in the Heraldic religion strong enough to be used as ambush soldiers. At best, the reinforcements from Ghazalia included a few trained archers. Still, there were many difficult aspects when it came to operate as a unit. I was sure the old man Richard had enough resources to pull such a scheme.

I grabbed Caria’s hand and put her on the front side of the horse, while lightly holding the reins. This little chat was fun, but it seemed that it was already over. The sound of the horses’ hooves was deafening.

I thought this brief encounter between me and the old man Richard was something that would never come to be. My field of vision was slightly blurred.

「Well then, old man. I’m leaving now. I don’t know if we’re going to meet on the battlefield, but please soak your neck with good ale.」

The old man Richard moved his cheeks upon hearing my last words. The deep wrinkles and large scratches on his face were greatly distorted.

「Lugis, we shall see again. And rest assured, because at the end…I’ll behead your head in the name of justice and heroes.」

The old man professed words that did not suit him at all, such as justice and heroes. Caria leaked some words after hearing the old man’s ultimatum.

「Richard Permilis, huh. I had some questions to ask you, but oh well; who cares. 」

The words she muttered were not exactly aimed at the old man, but rather at me. At the same time, the old man’s expression became like a cat that often arrived with mischief.

「It seems that this girl’s bad habit was inherited from her teacher, what a nuisance.」

The old man laughed at Caria by stretching his lips to the fullest. What an amusing, straight laugh.

I ignored his laugh and turned my back on him. However, right when I turned my back, I heard the old man say something to me.

But his words were so small that, after hitting my ears slightly, were swayed by the wind and disappeared entirely.