「It turned out exactly as I predicted, young descendant.」
“……”
「You didn’t become a complete Sword Walker, but you succeeded in brushing against the vague realm of the superhuman. You could say you are barely hanging onto the edge of it.」
The special ‘Path’ unique to the Caravans.
The power of the Line was astonishingly potent.
The strike just now hadn’t possessed the mere force of a dagger; it carried the weight of a magical tool or a siege weapon. It had pulverized bone and destroyed flesh entirely. All too easily.
“……I have no strength left in my body.”
「That is because you exerted too much power. Do not worry. I have prepared ample training sessions to ensure you become a complete Sword Walker.」
I didn’t know whether to be happy about that or not.
From what I had experienced so far, Liam’s training never got easier; the difficulty only ramped up. I was reaching a point where I dreaded what would come next.
Well, I suppose I just have to do as I’m told.
As always.
“I’m dying under this weight.”
Rather than worrying about training that hadn’t even started, I was more concerned about my current predicament. The leader of the 「Red Wolf」 bandits, who had died with a blade through his throat, hadn’t died gracefully. He had collapsed right on top of me, crushing me with his filthy, massive, heavy corpse.
“I might actually get crushed to death here.”
「Considering your pathetic physique, that is not an impossibility.」
I sighed and wiped the blood from my face. Then, somewhat pathetically, I struggled to push the leader’s corpse aside and crawled out from under him. My hair was matted with mud and blood, but who cared? There was no one around to see me anyway…
「Hmm.」
However, as I emerged from beneath the corpse in such a wretched state, I realized I was wrong.
「You truly are a disgrace to the Caravan name.」
There were two familiar faces standing there.
“…Small Gladiator?”
“Young Master Arhan?”
Knight Petel and Seol-yoon stood there, holding blazing torches. My beggar-like appearance must have been vividly clear to them. Painfully clear.
* * *
“Thank you.”
I used the towel Seol-yoon handed me to wipe the blood and mud off my body. While I was finally starting to look human again, Petel stood silently, staring at the corpse of the leader I had killed.
“……Did you truly kill this man, Young Master? Alone, without anyone’s help?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes. I got lucky.”
“Luck…… Luck, you say.”
For some reason, Petel’s expression looked grim.
“Young Master, a mere Sword Beginner cannot kill a Sword Walker through sheer luck or a fluke.”
“……”
“The Arhan Caravan I remember was a swordsman with extraordinary talent but who was still immature—someone with high potential but many shortcomings. But this…”
Petel’s eyes darted around the scene.
As a veteran knight and someone who had reached the mature realm of a 「Sword Walker」, Petel could likely read exactly what kind of battle had unfolded just by looking at the traces left behind.
After a long silence, Petel finally spoke with difficulty.
“Young Master Arhan’s talent is far more magnificent than I imagined.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Perhaps your claim that you won because of luck is actually true.”
Petel gave a bitter smile.
“Because being chosen by heaven is also a form of luck.”
“……”
“And the fact that I was not chosen…… is also luck, in the end.”
Petel seemed particularly weary today. I couldn’t tell if it was because his illness had worsened while climbing the mountain at night, or if depression was setting in as death approached.
“Let’s head down. It’s dangerous here.”
Petel said, letting out a sigh.
Watching the hurried Petel, I asked, “Dangerous? What’s out here?”
“A knight order is currently roaming this mountain.”
A knight order.
They were a group of violence far too powerful to appear in a backwater countryside like this. I stood dazed for a moment before asking in a stunned voice.
“A knight order? Has Sir Petel’s order come to visit? To see you?”
“No. I wish that were the case, but unfortunately, they have likely forgotten me entirely.”
Petel shook his head as he answered.
“The knight order here has come to execute the runaway knight…… the leader of the 「Red Wolf」 bandits you killed.”
“Ah.”
“And if they see the runaway knight already dead, their reaction will not be pleasant.”
A knight order coming to execute the bandit leader. Petel had warned me about this earlier, but I hadn’t expected it to actually happen.
Well, since the bandit leader had styled himself after the way of knights and was a ‘runaway knight,’ it might have been inevitable. He was a man who checked two boxes that knight orders absolutely loathed.
But at this moment, I focused on something other than the fact that a knight order had arrived.
Petel’s words about their reaction not being pleasant.
I couldn’t wrap my head around that part.
“I took revenge on their behalf, so shouldn’t they be saying thank you?”
“Common sense would say so, but that is not how knights think. They came to strip the traitor of his honor and execute him according to legal and righteous procedures. The knight order will feel as though their opportunity for judgment and condemnation has been stolen by a stranger.”
Stolen.
The moment I heard that expression, I felt a wave of dizziness.
No, if there’s a bad guy who committed a crime, shouldn’t anyone be allowed to take him down? Why does judgment or condemnation or any of that crap matter……?
That was when Liam spoke.
「That is why I told you. Those things called knights are far removed from justice.」
“……”
「It seems a tiresome situation is brewing.」
Liam glanced around the dark mountain path and said, 「Those knights you speak of seem to have arrived right in front of us already.」
As if on cue with Liam’s words, the sound of galloping hooves echoed from all directions. Simultaneously, dazzling light poured in from every side.
“Who did this?”
Light descended upon the midnight mountain, illuminating the surroundings, and soon, countless knights clad in heavy armor and magnificent silver helmets came into view.
“Speak. Before my patience vanishes entirely.”
The knight order.
The iron-clad judges were pointing their blades in our direction. The light was so blinding that it was hard to even keep my eyes open.
“Speak! Who took it upon themselves to kill the runaway dog we were meant to condemn!”
The knight at the very front of the order roared like a wild beast.
The moment his voice poured out, a headache hit me as if I’d been struck by a hammer. My stomach churned, and I felt as if my entire body was being crushed.
‘Am I too exhausted?’
I felt like I was about to lose my breath. As my heart pounded wildly, I looked to my side and saw Seol-yoon’s face had turned pale. She, too, seemed to be buckling under this terrifying pressure.
In the midst of the heavy atmosphere, only Petel remained calm.
He faced the shouting knight and opened his mouth with a look of resolve. Because of his constant coughing, a cracked and weak voice spilled from his lips.
“I killed him.”
A brave, majestic, and powerful knight.
The eyes of the old, sick, and abandoned knight standing before him shone.
“What did you say?”
“Did you not hear me? I am 「Loyal Petel」, formerly of the 「Green Deer」 Knights, victor of seventeen honor duels, and a man who has always upheld his honor. I am the one who killed your runaway knight.”
Petel, who had been vomiting blood repeatedly, spoke with clear pronunciation this time without a single cough. His voice echoed through the silent mountain.
“Is there a problem?”
The knight remained silent at Petel’s words.
Then, he squeezed his eyes shut, let out a deep sigh, and spoke.
“Loyal Petel.”
“Yes.”
“You have defiled your honor as a knight. You knew we had declared we would execute the runaway dog, you knew we were pursuing him, and you knew we were enraged—yet you ruined our sacred judgment and condemnation. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Petel answered readily.
After hearing the response, the knight spoke.
“Petel.”
“Yes.”
“I challenge you to an honor duel.”
The short sentence fell, followed by a terrible silence.
Piercing through the silence, wings sprouted from the knight’s back.
The proof of a 「Sword Runner」.
The evidence of a true strongman.
While everyone else was struck with horror, Petel remained indifferent once again.
“Yes.”
Why?
The sick knight gave the same answer once more.
* * *
An honor duel.
A tradition passed down among knights who receive their knighthood after swearing an oath to uphold honor and discipline no matter what.
It is a duel fought with lives and honor on the line, under the pretext of condemning one who has defiled honor or broken the rules. The victor regains their honor among knights, while the loser loses all honor, and their corpse is displayed in the square.
Therefore, an 「Honor Duel」 was not something easily agreed upon. Especially if there was a significant gap in skill between the two.
Knights believed it was better to be beheaded on a guillotine than to carry dishonor after death and suffer all kinds of insults. To them, honor was more precious than life.
“Why did you do it?”
That was why, at this moment, Petel was asked that question by Arhan.
“I saw that the back of that knight’s armor was open. Unless that knight is some perverted exhibitionist, isn’t that proof he’s a 「Sword Runner」? He even proudly spread his wings before challenging you! How can you possibly defeat a Sword Runner, Sir Petel!”
“……I cannot.”
“And you aren’t even in good health. You said you wanted to die lonely while watching the sunset. Then do that. Even if you die eventually as your illness worsens, I will treat you with respect and honor your soul. So, even now, say you won’t do it.”
The boy, Arhan, spoke with a face full of agitation. Seeing Arhan speak in such an aggressive tone, Petel smiled for some reason. He wasn’t angry.
Petel said, “Young Master, thank you for caring for me so much.”
“……”
“You are a good person, Young Master Arhan. We haven’t known each other long, yet you get this angry so that I don’t die a meaningless death. This truly makes me feel good.”
At Petel’s words, Arhan spoke with a heated voice.
“Defeat is certain. But if you lose, you don’t just lose your life; your honor is defiled as well? Aren’t you a knight who values honor above all else? At least among the knights I’ve seen, you are the most honorable—”
“It is alright.”
Petel cut Arhan off.
Then he answered.
“Sometimes, there are things more important than honor.”
Petel muttered with lonely eyes.
“Just once…… I wanted to be the protagonist.”
Petel spoke while looking at his trembling hands.
“A man like the protagonist of a chivalric novel, who does not yield to any fear and can stand tall against a terrifying enemy.”
There was no miraculous recovery from illness before the duel.
Reality is not a novel.
Petel felt time slowly eating away at him. Perhaps he would lose even if he fought the boy or girl before him, let alone that knight who had reached the realm of a 「Sword Runner」. The power he had gained through bone-aching effort was an illusion.
An illusion that crumbles and shatters in an instant before death.
Like the mirages the nomadic gypsies spoke of.
But.
“That has been my dream for a very long time.”
Petel wanted to know if it truly was nothing more than an illusion.
Even if it meant losing both his life and his honor.
“……You will regret this, Sir Petel.”
The boy gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran off somewhere. Petel sat still, letting out a hollow laugh as he placed his hand on his sword.
Then he watched the sun rising as dawn broke.
It was a scene similar to the sunsets Petel loved.
It resembled the twilight before night falls after the day ends, but its nature was the entirely different dawn. Petel stared at the rising sun for a long time. As if he were lost in it.
* * *
「He will die.」
Liam stated flatly.
「A mature Sword Walker? A veteran knight with much duel experience? None of that means anything.」
「If it were a duel between a Sword Beginner and a Sword Walker, perhaps. But in a duel between a Sword Walker and a Sword Runner, there is no possibility of the Sword Walker winning.」
Liam did not lie when it came to the sword.
And he had never been wrong so far.
「The higher you go in the realms of the sword, the more the gap widens astronomically.」
「This is an execution. The Sword Runner will brutally destroy that sick knight like a lion trampling an ant, and he will crush his honor and desecrate his corpse. Just like the knights I used to know.」
I panted as I watched the sun rising over the mountain.
The sun was maddeningly bright.
「Why do you care so much for this knight named Petel anyway? Even if he dies, his blade will remain, and you will get what you wanted. He is just some knight you barely met.」
Even hearing Liam’s cold words, my heart would not settle.
The reason was simple.
“……He reminds me of my father.”
My father, who lost his mind after being defeated by Swordmaster Carlos, said the most bizarre things, and stood against the strongest man on the continent with a pathetic blade.
In Petel, who chose to face an enemy he could never defeat and whispered that he could not avoid it, I saw the phantom of my father.
“That’s why I can’t stand this situation.”
「…….」
“I absolutely loathe it when arrogant, rude strongmen with power trample over noble and honorable weaklings just because they are stronger. If I turn my eyes away from this, it feels like my revenge will lose all meaning.”
Liam listened silently to the words I spat out.
Then, he casually tossed out a sentence.
「Even if it means losing the chance to obtain the sword of a veteran Sword Walker?」
“I don’t care about that. There’s something else that’s truly important!”
Despite my harsh retort, Liam remained composed.
Floating in the air, Liam smirked.
「A good look. The sword is important, but one must not be consumed by armaments that are mere blades. I like your attitude, young descendant.」
Liam slowly approached me.
Then he whispered into my ear.
「There is a way. A way where everyone can be happy.」
“What is it?”
The answer came a moment later.
「You fight in his stead.」
“……?”
「Become the Proxy Warrior for the honor duel, young descendant. That is the only way.」
