Chapter 26
Confrontation
At a time when radios and telephones were already in common use, calling something a crystal ball might sound absurd, but the fact that it was “untraceable” still made these kinds of magical tools useful.
The crystal ball called the “Clairvoyant,” which the Prince and the Chief Administrator were peering into, was exactly for that purpose.
“What do you intend to do, Your Highness?”
Rad spoke up while munching on some nuts he had brought from somewhere.
The very fact that this man was watching Deathwish getting lynched by several knights in this manner probably said a lot about his character.
Inside the crystal ball, the image of Aiden stepping forward with Katya standing behind him was reflected.
“I didn’t expect the Lionhearted’s husband to interfere as well. The situation has gotten rather troublesome.”
For someone claiming the situation was troublesome, his tone was dripping with leisure.
The Prince, propping his chin up as he watched, looked at him with a crooked gaze.
“You sound as if you expected this.”
“No. The situation itself was beyond my expectations.”
He leaned back in his chair leisurely as he replied.
“At the very least, I thought about half the men I dispatched would be killed by Deathwish. Their resistance is far milder than I anticipated.”
“……”
“If there were at least some justification, I could attack politically, but like this, it’s all for nothing. This, I truly didn’t expect.”
The Prince’s eyes narrowed.
The “casualties” he was referring to were the group of knights who had charged Katya.
Despite having dispatched them himself, he sounded terribly regretful that there weren’t any deaths, as if he had planned for it from the beginning.
“You’re closer to a viper than a strategist, Rad.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but no matter how capable a strategist may be, they don’t hold the authority to decide.”
Rad smiled faintly as he continued.
“The decision is yours, Your Highness. I merely offer you the options.”
“……”
“So, tell me. What will you do about the Lionhearted’s husband?”
“Let’s hear your recommendation first.”
“Attack him.”
The Prince looked at him, speechless.
“If that really is the Lionhearted’s husband himself, we won’t be able to deal with the aftermath if this goes wrong.”
“Is that so?”
“You analyzed him yourself. That man’s skill in wielding supernatural powers is absurdly excellent, but his combat technique doesn’t even reach a novice’s level. You called it atrocious.”
And when you pit several knights against such a person, even as a jest, it was far too excessive a force to deploy against someone you must never harm.
“As long as he doesn’t get too badly injured, wouldn’t it be fine? He doesn’t look like someone who’d fall so easily.”
“On what grounds?”
“This was a plan we put together using something as hard to obtain as a Subjugation Pillars , but that man has completely ruined it.”
I couldn’t be certain, but still.
Deathwish having become this moderate, judging by the atmosphere, was also because of that man.
He had even gone so far as to use a rare supernatural power called a curse just to avoid sending a pursuit squad, yet that man had come alone to chase them down again.
The two reasons Rad’s plan had been twisted from its foundation had both originated from that man.
Certainly.
He was a human hiding something far beyond what he appeared to be.
“…Are you saying we should be wary because he could get in the way? To the point of jeopardizing the great undertaking?”
“It’s not at that stage yet.”
His voice fell flatly, drawing a firm conclusion.
“In my personal opinion, that man is a swindler.”
That was all Rad’s analysis of Aiden Kellermain amounted to.
Ordinary. Someone striving to remain ordinary. Someone who had never done anything rough. Someone who had scarcely ever been caught up in a fight.
A fortunate mediocrity, who happened to be sitting there by coincidence.
“Then it doesn’t add up. Why are you so concerned with just a swindler?”
“Because there’s a high chance we’ll have to pay attention to him in the future.”
As he said that, Rad’s gleaming blue gaze remained fixed on Aiden inside the crystal ball.
“…For a man who has lived an ordinary life his entire life, he seems to wield a rather ‘excessive’ power.”
Within those irises, the strange blue light thoroughly scanned Aiden’s face.
“If there are several knights… he could never win. But he might at least show us something interesting.”
▣
“-You want me to fight him?”
Sir Levant confirmed the order that had come through the transmission with a look of bewilderment.
He, too, understood perfectly well how immense the risk was in striking not just anyone near that man, but directly attacking the Lionhearted and her husband.
He already knew the information. He had heard the details of the enemy’s capabilities.
“Indeed-”
A multi-ability user who could wield several supernatural powers. A dangerous, formidable trait.
At this very moment, the powers flowing around his body were overwhelmingly strong.
However.
“His combat experience is negligible.”
He had already heard, as leaked information, about the fighting that man had shown during the exchange event with the Tribal Alliance some time ago.
He commanded mysterious powers, but the skill with which he wielded them was crude beyond measure. Anyone who had trained in combat even a little would agree.
In that regard.
“-I have no intention of killing you. So don’t bother resisting pointlessly.”
Sir Levant took out a bead-shaped magical tool from his bosom as he spoke, and shattered it without hesitation.
Translucent ripples spread in every direction. And all the supernatural powers within that range were visibly suppressed, their force sharply diminishing.
The knights’ prayers, the Holy Flame dwelling within Katya’s body, and every type of supernatural power Aiden was emanating—all of it.
“-”
Aiden’s eyes narrowed.
His fighting style fundamentally relied on high-output supernatural powers. Even if they hadn’t disappeared entirely, just having their strength diminished imposed a tremendous penalty on him.
In contrast, even if the knights’ Qi was somewhat weakened, the combat techniques they had honed over their entire lives remained intact.
Originally, that tool had probably been prepared to target Katya, but its effects applied to Aiden all the same.
“Even if we fought, neither side would walk away looking good. So behave yourself.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. As I said before, I have no intention of killing you.”
He only meant to injure him moderately, beat him thoroughly, and drive him away.
If the man had any sense, he wouldn’t throw himself at this many knights after having his greatest advantage suppressed.
“Better set aside any idea that your status as the Lionhearted’s husband will guarantee your safety. Officially, we don’t exist. And whatever happens here is ‘nothing that ever occurred.’”
“For people swinging swords in a gang against someone offering no resistance, you do have an awfully long tongue.”
“…It is a necessity.”
“I’m sure you think so.”
The moment Aiden heard those words, he calmly drew his sword and answered.
“Then by necessity, you can do exactly the same to me.”
As soon as he spoke, Katya, who had been quietly sitting behind him, opened her eyes wide.
“–Wait, if you do that–!”
“It’s fine.”
Beneath that sentence, there was not even a fingernail’s worth of his usual easygoing gentleness.
It would be more accurate to call it absolute determination filled with anger.
Anger brimming with the will that at least here and now, he would crush these bastards’ skulls.
“What do you think I’ve been training, tempering myself, suffering like hell to gather power for?”
If he thought about it, it was obvious.
Sure, gathering power for the main quest, growing stronger, copying skills—that was all well and good.
But fundamentally, what was the reason he accumulated strength?
“To beat the crap out of bastards like you.”
Whoever the opponent was, whatever lay behind them, whatever purpose they had.
Family, friends, loved ones…
It was to protect the people within Aiden’s own fence.
“What good is having friends if you never let them help?”
“…What?”
“Sometimes, you ought to leave it to someone else.”
While Katya’s eyes widened again.
Sir Levant let out a scoffing laugh, a look on his face as though he found it ridiculous, convinced there was no way this man could stand against them.
He jerked his chin at the knight standing closest to him.
“You know what to do. Don’t kill him.”
A human who was practically a corpse without his supernatural powers. There was no need to feel tense. It would all end once they subdued him.
“Yes.”
The men nearby lifted their swords with listless expressions.
It was clear they all shared the same awareness that pouring this much force onto such a man was blatant overkill.
Before long, the knights’ bodies all sprang forward at once. A barrage of blows surged from every direction with the momentum of a mountain crashing down.
And then.
“…?”
That was about the moment they began to feel a sense of unease.
Anyone would have felt it. The sight of Aiden standing utterly motionless, taking no action whatsoever, was a scene beyond comprehension.
He stood there, nailed in place as if rooted to the spot.
As though he was saying, this was fine.
Even if his supernatural powers were suppressed, the movements of knights who had devoted their entire lives to honing combat technique easily surpassed human limits.
From all directions, attacks flew in that no ordinary person’s eyesight could ever hope to follow.
Yet.
Aiden’s gaze.
The eyes of a man known to have no combat experience whatsoever.
Were tracking every tangled trajectory of those swords, like a skein of thread unraveling.
“…!”
A shiver crawled down Sir Levant’s spine.
And then.
“You said everything that happens here is something that ‘never happened.’ So in other words—”
Along with those words.
“—it doesn’t matter what happens to you either, does it?”
In an instant, the bodies of all the knights rushing at him were hurled in every direction.
The men charging him scattered like sheets of cardboard, collapsing to the ground.
“……”
“……”
In the silence that swallowed everything, Sir Levant blinked blankly where he lay sprawled on the floor.
His body had certainly been struck, but more than that, the shock to his mind was far greater.
‘…What just happened?’
This many knights.
Had been subdued in a single instant by one man.
It was a phenomenon that could not be explained without a gap in ability so vast it bordered on absurdity.
‘Don’t be ridiculous…!’
He ground his teeth and forced himself upright.
Even as an apprentice knight, he had never suffered this kind of humiliation.
This must have happened because they underestimated him. If they coordinated properly again, there was no way the opponent could withstand it. That had to be true.
And yet.
Strangely.
“You said earlier, didn’t you? That you wouldn’t kill me.”
Seeing that man standing there with those calm, sunken eyes.
For some reason, that conviction drained out of him all at once.
“You were considerate, so I’ll return the favor. I won’t kill you either.”
“…You’d better watch your—”
“But you know,”
Aiden murmured, his gaze unfocused.
As he dredged up some terrible memory in his mind, his reason grew faint, and that expression naturally rose to the surface.
“—I’ve learned firsthand that there are far more situations than you’d ever imagine… where you end up hurt so badly you’d rather be dead.”
Mostly because of Meyer. Mostly in my dreams.
If you get beaten to the brink of death over and over, you’re bound to experience at least once the kind of injury that makes you beg to be killed instead.
At the very least, in that field, Aiden could have been called a first-rate instructor…
“So, I’ll teach each of you one lesson. Honestly, it’s just that I’d feel too wronged if I didn’t.”
The moment he said that, the knights flinched and stepped back.
It was enough to feel like even the air had changed in an instant.
Seeing it, Sir Levant knew instinctively.
Every assessment they had heard, had seen, had believed about this man—right now, it all had to be thrown out.
What, no combat experience? His technique was crude?
‘What utter bullshit…!’
The thing standing before them now radiated a dreadful pressure that only a veteran who had crossed the threshold of death countless times could ever exude.
A suffocating force so convincing that you could believe he had “personally” experienced dying over and over…!
“Kh…!”
Unable to endure that pressure, the moment someone burst forward again, the battle resumed.
The Imperial Knights’ group tactics prioritized moving as a single body with flawless coordination.
It wasn’t simply about attacking at the same time—they formed an airtight net, sealing off every angle to hunt their target without fail.
But this time, too—
-!
-!!
With a single sweep of his sword through the air, the bodies of the knights forming the encirclement all crumpled at once.
“Wh-what was that?”
“How the hell did he do that?!”
Even in the middle of the fight, they couldn’t help blurting out those words at the uncanny technique. Yet the man who had unleashed such feats moved on to his next motion as if nothing had happened.
“Seriously… I’d feel cheated if I didn’t get to show off at least once…”
Grinding his teeth, he muttered in a dull voice, swinging his sword.
In a situation that demanded this kind of “combat skill,” it was all too clear what emotion he was clinging to so desperately.
How much he had suffered to be ready for this.
How many terrible things he had endured under Meyer’s hand.
The helplessness, the pain, the despair, the resignation that no matter what you did, you could never escape the agony…!
So…!
“You all should get a taste of it too…!”
“……”
“It’s not fair if I’m the only one who has to go through it…!”
“……”
It was a grudge pointed in a strangely misaligned direction.
▣
While the knights caught up in his directionless rage screamed and were smashed apart,
the Prince and Rad stared at the crystal ball, simultaneously speechless.
“…Let me be honest.”
Rarely, Rad’s face had lost all hint of a smile as he tapped the crystal ball in a sunken voice.
The image of Aiden swinging his sword with unfocused eyes played within it.
But despite that anticlimactic look,
the outcome unfolding was more than enough to drain the blood from their faces.
“This is something only a veteran who’s spent at least ten years on the battlefield would ever attempt, isn’t it? Overwhelming multiple knights alone?”
“…A veteran overflowing with talent and experience an obscene amount of both.”
The Prince added, pressing a hand to his forehead.
Frankly, even if he truly were a veteran blessed with such gifts, he doubted whether something like this could be done.
He himself was a swordsman called a “genius” within the Imperial Capital, and precisely because of that, he could clearly analyze the spectacle before them.
More precisely—
Just how preposterous it was.
“…He’s copying everything wholesale.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Aiden is copying every single movement of everyone there.”
Rad fell silent for a moment.
Because he couldn’t fully grasp the meaning of the Prince’s words.
“What exactly are you talking about?”
“The techniques he’s using keep shifting constantly, so it’s hard to pin them down precisely, but…”
The Prince spoke in a tone of bafflement.
At that moment, the knights who had once more tried to coordinate and bring Aiden down were being scattered like autumn leaves.
“The footwork is Wind Talker, the sword form created by the Storm Knight…”
Footfalls as light as a spring breeze.
The way his body twisted freely disrupted the trajectory of every attack rushing toward him.
“For the lower body, it’s Floating Grass, often used by the Wanderer of Spring…”
The soft shift of balance, like a swaying blade of grass, combined with the spring breeze to produce dazzling motion.
“The arc of his sword is Crescent Moon, made by the Twilight Assassin…”
Simple and direct, yet because of that, quick to recover and heavy in its straight path.
“…He’s using all of them at once.”
“I get that those techniques exist, but what do you mean by ‘copying’ them—”
“They’re the techniques those knights are using.”
“…What?”
“For Imperial Knights, it’s nothing surprising that each of them has learned different sword systems. They each develop their own theories, hone them in real battles, and forge their own styles.”
And in the end—
Even if it’s technically the same technique, how it’s used diverges endlessly from person to person. So even if you learn the same sword style, everyone inevitably leaves their own fingerprint on it.
Movements you could call their “secret techniques,” containing their lives as swordsmen, their combat experience, their theory and know-how.
“—All of it is being stolen. Instantly.”
Yet.
The techniques Aiden was using right now.
Every last one was the very movements the knights had been using against him.
Without hesitation.
He was “analyzing” and “copying” the accomplishments they had built up over a lifetime.
…It defied explanation.
No matter what technique you learned, how could something like that be possible?
And on top of that…
The most absurd part was actually elsewhere.
Even displaying such uncanny combat technique, that alone didn’t fully explain why that man was showing this miracle against the knights.
Was Aiden’s physical ability vastly superior to theirs? Was he faster? Remarkable in some other way?
No. While his supernatural powers did help support his body, even factoring that in, he was so lacking you could almost call him weak.
If it came down purely to physical condition, any one of those knights could have easily handled a truckload of men like Aiden.
So then, why were these knights unable to so much as graze a hair on him, getting smashed apart one-sidedly?
‘…How.’
The Prince’s eyes traced Aiden’s movements, looking as though his soul were about to flee.
‘Every choice is correct, isn’t it?’
In the instant of battle, in those decisive crossroads where a fraction of a second—less than the span of a single comma—determined life or death, every judgment that man made was “correct.”
He preemptively dodged in the path where the sword would extend. He deflected attacks that would have hit. He twisted away, shifted, countered, subdued—
At each moment, in every instant, he chose the most efficient motion without the slightest hesitation, always claiming the shortest path toward “victory.”
‘—No.’
Watching Aiden’s movements carefully, the Prince immediately revised his impression.
There was no proactive drive toward victory in them.
Instead—
Something far more desperate.
‘Not victory, but survival.’
Aiden Kellermain—
He wasn’t fighting to win. He was fighting in a way that avoided every possible choice that led to “death.”
As if he had already experienced it.
As if his entire body had learned, inescapably, that if he didn’t do this, he would die.
A fear of “pain,” remembered by his nerves, carved into his muscles, etched into his soul that fear was what made him choose these motions instinctively.
“-”
What on earth…
What had that man experienced in his past that made him approach battle like this?
The Prince fell silent for a moment and shut his eyes.
“……”
At last, he closed his eyes and pressed firmly on his temple.
“…Rad.”
“Yes.”
“When we investigated that man before, nothing came up, right?”
“…That’s correct.”
“Investigate him again.”
“……”
“He can’t be an ordinary swindler. Absolutely not. There’s a high chance he was trained from childhood at a level that tears flesh and grinds bone.”
“…My information gathering has never been wrong.”
“Then this will be your first time. That’s an order. Go back and dig up everything from start to finish.”
This time, it was Rad’s turn to fall silent.
While he tapped his chin in rare seriousness, lost in thought, the Prince watched the inside of the crystal ball with heavy eyes.
‘…Where did this man crawl out from?’
The emotion in that gaze was too tangled even for him to name.