Chapter 25

A short while later. Dawn’s twilight peeked over the eastern horizon.

At the ducal castle’s training grounds, where the Saxon House’s vassal knights diligently trained.

Clang!

The pouring light of the sun was scattered as it struck the steel blades.

The tips of the stiletto and rapier barely tangled before the distance between them widened once more.

To close that gap, the Duke’s prodigy ‘Dale’ lunged forward, and the daughter of the Divine Sword, ‘Charlotte’, counterattacked, targeting Dale’s narrowing movement.

Clang!

The shadow of a blade, brimming with killing intent, swept through the air.

Clang!

Once more, their blades crossed in a flash.

Swish.

Suddenly, the cold steel tip of the rapier touched the nape of Dale’s neck.

But the stiletto in Dale’s hand was also pressed against Charlotte’s chest.

It was a draw.

“Your skills have improved quite a bit, haven’t they?”

At the end of the duel, Dale smiled.

“Hmph, you make it sound like it’s none of your business.”

Seeing that, Charlotte replied in a deliberately curt tone.

“You’re the one who’s already in the third circle and passed the 20th layer of the Tower’s trial, aren’t you?”

Charlotte continued.

“Ugh, you have no idea how much people talk about ‘Young Master Dale’ all day long!”

Not to mention leading his own knights to exterminate monsters within his domain.

Even if the pure sword-to-sword duel was starting to lean toward a draw, Dale was never a swordsman. Moreover, in his duel with Charlotte, he wasn’t using the power of his treasured ‘Shadow Cloak’, which was suited for fighting against knights.

It’s far too dangerous.

Dale’s sword technique is a killing sword, designed solely to slay his opponent. Add his shadow cloak to that, and when he fights at full strength, even in a mock battle, it’s hard to spare his opponent’s life.

That’s why what Dale showed in this match was likely no more than thirty percent of his full strength.

Charlotte surely knows this fact as well.

An insurmountable gap in talent.

Yet considering her young age of ten, Charlotte’s achievements were also far from ordinary.

The daughter of the Divine Sword—her swordsmanship talent and growth rate truly deserve the word “genius.”

Even before reaching maturity, Charlotte’s true strength lay in effortlessly overwhelming ‘Seoim Knights’ who had devoted decades to swordsmanship.

And yet, even such a prodigy feels dwarfed by the boy standing before her.

Dale of Saxony, the empire’s foremost prodigy.

“Don’t worry too much.”

Yet Dale spoke up.

“Charlotte will only grow stronger.”

He twirled the stiletto’s hilt and sheathed it.

“Strong enough to protect me.”

“What, what is this! Treating me like a child again…”

Charlotte puffed out her cheeks, looking sulky at Dale’s words.

“You are a kid.”

“You’re a kid too!”

“Me?”

At that, Dale chuckled mischievously and tilted his head.

After tilting his head, Dale answered triumphantly.

“I’m all grown up already.”

It was the most childish thing anyone could say.

“When cavalry forces are deployed on either wing or one wing of a unit in battle to serve as the ‘hammer’…”

Chess-piece-like models were lined up on the large wooden table.

Lord Helmut advanced the cavalry-shaped chess pieces positioned at both flanks of his formation.

“The ideal strategy would be to break through the enemy’s flanks and encircle them through a flanking maneuver.”

A formation where the concentrated cavalry forces on both flanks of the unit break the enemy’s wings and encircle them.

To put it crudely, it’s like sandwiching them.

“In other words, cavalry forces with superior mobility and firepower break through the enemy’s flanks to execute a successful encirclement maneuver──.”

“The key, then, is for the infantry-based blocking force to halt the breakthrough of the enemy cavalry (the hammer) during that time.”

“That is correct, Prince Dale.”

At Dale’s reply, Helmut smiled with apparent satisfaction.

This tactic was only possible with a guaranteed superiority in cavalry strength. And in that regard, the Saxon ducal house’s pride, the ‘Black Cavalry’, was undoubtedly the finest piece on the chessboard.

“Based on this tactic, the ancient commander Barca completely annihilated a large Roman Empire force that had nearly double the number of troops.”

The dynamics of warfare remain largely unchanged across any world.

The hammer and anvil tactic, and the Lanchester Law.

After that, Sir Helmut added several explanations by moving chess piece models.

Decisions that must be made based on the terrain, the numerical difference between forces, the capabilities of the soldiers, and the ratio of troop types.

Because the decisions that must be made always change with the time and situation.

“…Oh, come to think of it.”

Just as Lord Helmut’s lesson was finally drawing to a close, Dale spoke up, as if the words had slipped out unintentionally.

“How is Charlotte’s performance?”

Recalling his duel with Charlotte this afternoon.

“Though not comparable to Confucius, it is truly nothing short of marvelous.”

Lord Helmut answered, unable to hide his pride as a teacher.

“The framework of his sword technique is already established. Though it may seem premature, we plan to formally transmit the Saxon family’s aura cultivation method and swordsmanship to him soon.”

Dale nodded as if he had expected as much.

“If he properly harnesses the power of aura through the heart technique, he’ll likely become dozens of times stronger than he is now in no time.”

Not just dozens of times. Hundreds of times.

Charlotte’s growth rate surpasses even her own imagination. She’s simply been overshadowed by Dale and hasn’t realized it yet.

“……But there is one thing that troubles me.”

Just then, Lord Helmut trailed off uncharacteristically. Dale asked back, as if he’d expected it.

“Charlotte and the compatibility of our swordsmanship, right?”

Lord Helmut swallowed, feigning surprise.

It hit the nail on the head.

Dale had kept that fact in mind as well, which was why he had assessed Charlotte’s skill and discussed it with Lord Helmut.

Just as a mage processes mana into magical power through the heart’s circle, a knight can also process and accumulate mana into the form of ‘aura’ through their heart technique.

And just as magicians build schools of thought in the form of ‘magic towers,’ knights likewise inherit their swords through the form of ‘knightly orders.’

Knights serving lesser nobles fail to master proper martial arts techniques, and at best, the knights’ standards are raised only because those lesser nobles submit to the power of the great nobles.

Moreover, those very great nobles… among them, a great prince like the Duke of Saxony builds the tradition of his knightly order by inheriting his own school, led by Seven-Sword-level masters.

Even if the great noble himself walks a path unrelated to the sword.

The Knights of the Night Raven from the House of Saxony in the North, the Knights of St. Magdalene from the House of Brandenburg, the Knights of the Iron Cross directly under the Imperial Court…

And as the epithet of the Mad Sword, Sir Helmut, suggests, the doctrine of the Northern Knights is a hard sword, thoroughly grounded in strength.

The ‘Black Cavalry’ that charges like tanks, shattering the battlefield.

In terms of sheer caliber, they rank among the top five elite orders across the entire continent.

The problem lies in the fact that the sword Charlotte has pursued is a swift sword that prioritizes speed, a flowing sword.

The principles of the sword and the way of the heart are inseparable; to embrace the Saxon family’s way of the heart is to inherit the tradition of the Northern Knights.

Of course, even so, it doesn’t impose restrictions to the point of demanding a massive greatsword instead of a rapier. For that reason, one might initially consider it insignificant.

However, as Charlotte’s skill gradually improves, this subtle difference will increasingly hold her back.

‘Considering Charlotte’s talent, she might somehow reach the lowest rank of the Seven Swords.’

But that’s as far as she’ll go. She will never reach the ‘First Sword’.

The pinnacle of the Seven Swords, a position once held by her father.

The expectations Dale held for Charlotte were beyond anything she could even imagine as she was now.

“Sword of Blossom……”

After thinking that far, Dale murmured absentmindedly. At those words, Sir Helmut’s expression stiffened.

The continent’s strongest swordsmanship, once wielded by Charlotte’s father, the Divine Sword, Lord Bader. Its name came from the aura refined through inner strength, which bloomed like plum blossoms, radiating a lavender hue.

“…It is a sword technique that vanished completely with the fall of the Knight Kingdom.”

Lord Helmut said, sounding truly regretful.

Dale nodded silently. After nodding, he looked at the chess pieces resting on the wooden table.

He thought of the very man he had struck down with his own hands—Charlotte’s father.

The knight piece, mounted on a horse.

Knight.

Could Sir Bader, the Divine Sword, truly not have foreseen the destruction of his homeland and the disappearance of every last one of his swords?

‘Has his swordsmanship truly vanished from this world?’

As a swordsman, could the most noble knight in this world truly accept without a second thought that his swords would vanish entirely from this world…?

The time to prove the fruits of learning arrived sooner than expected.

Learning swordsmanship, learning magic, learning magic again, learning military strategy.

A schedule so packed it felt like ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.

Amidst all this, while simultaneously hunting monsters within the duke’s domain, it was around the time Dale was steadily raising his own stock.

One of the minor lords under the Saxon House requested aid from the duke’s house.

“──The neighboring Baroncy of Pucker has filed a claim for your copper mine, demanding a feudal dispute?”

But at that absurd claim, the Duke of Saxony repeated the question, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Yes, that’s right.”

In this world, the ‘boundaries’ between nations or fiefdoms are less clear-cut than one might think. Consequently, it’s not uncommon for people to exploit that ambiguity to make unreasonable demands.

But daring to bully a lower noble bound as a vassal to a Grand Noble is a different matter entirely.

It is tantamount to directly challenging the great noble himself.

Especially when the opponent is none other than the foremost great feudal lord of the North, the Duke of Saxony, Gada.

‘Even if Baron Perker is a robber knight who seized his barony by sheer luck…’

He’s not the kind of fool who can’t take care of himself.

“Yes, and if I refuse to hand over the mine and instead challenge you to a fief battle…”

Just as expected. After a moment of silence, the young lord hesitantly continued.

“The Grand Duke of Brandenburg has sided with the claims of the House of Pucker…”

He pulled a parchment letter bearing the ‘Holy Knight’s own signature’ from his robes.

“A letter has arrived stating that in exchange for a certain share of the copper mine, the ‘Order of Saint Magdalena’ will be dispatched.”

The Knights of Saint Magdalena. The empire’s war heroes and the pride of the Holy Sword, the strongest knights.

That name again. For a moment, the air around them froze.

‘Of course.’

Dale gave a wry smile, as if he’d known it would come to this.

‘This is how it’s going to play out, huh?’

The Holy Knight, too, surely never forgot the humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Black Knight here that day.

But he couldn’t possibly dare wage a territorial war against the House of Saxony. That’s why he’s resorting to such a petty method to exact his revenge.

Moreover, the border region where the territories of both combatants lie is where the northern and central regions of the empire interlock. At the northernmost edge, even the influence the Duke of Saxony can exert is not absolute.

Moreover, above all else, a territorial war is not an all-out war seeking the complete annihilation of the opposing force.

Under the constraint that the power of the Black Magic Tower cannot be recklessly abused, they must be confident of victory in a fair fight fought with spear and sword.

“Father.”

After assessing the situation, Dale spoke up.

“Allow me to personally command this battle alongside the knights of House Saxony.”

“……Dale.”

“As Lord Helmut said, it seems the time has finally come to wage the war of succession.”

There’s no need to even say that crisis is opportunity.

That day presented the perfect opportunity to inflict humiliation beyond what his father had endured.

It was a battle he could fight, and a battle he could win.