Ch.7:Rabbits
Kaang!
Royce's longsword draws a smooth curve from left to right downward, soon meeting Calix's sword and emitting a sharp paang sound.
'His sense is pretty decent.'
Even in that brief moment, the mercenary captain's evaluation accumulates steadily.
Calix felt the difference in strength the instant their swords clashed and instinctively stepped back, showing no signs of attempting a half-hearted counterattack.
'His judgment is definitely good. He knows not only his own abilities but also the limits of his tools.'
Those who live by the sword must equip themselves with higher-quality tools as the output of their neural accelerators increases.
Royce's longsword was sturdy enough for that purpose, but in Calix's case... Having picked it up from an enemy, the blade was damaged after just one collision.
Swish.
Calix then released his stance from the clash of strength and stepped back several paces.
"You misjudged, didn't you? If you were going to fight defensively, you should have avoided crossing swords as much as possible. That wasn't even a particularly deadly attack."
"......"
"Feeling wronged? But individual skill includes the quality of one's weapons."
"......"
"So what will you do now?"
Enough time is given for thought.
'He's incredibly strong, but... He has no intention of killing me. Rather, this might be an opportunity.'
Prove your worth, and you survive.
'I'll go with a defensive approach. At most, I'll get one chance to counterattack.'
Given the atmosphere, hoping for help from others was a luxury. In a situation where even the enemy soldiers didn't bother to rush in as if the fight was over, no one would charge at an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.
Swoosh.
As he raised his damaged sword, a fierce assault poured down as if it had been waiting.
Taang!
A diagonal downward strike from the left in the blink of an eye.
Swish-
Before he could even correct the disruption to his body's center caused by the second collision, the opponent's sword rotated at the opposite angle around the point where sword met sword, piercing through the opening.
Kaang!
"Kup!"
Calix barely managed to block by extending the upper part of his sword handle, but as sparks flew from the intense impact, he unconsciously stepped back three or four paces.
The mercenary captain simply watched him hastily readjust his defensive stance.
A series of one-sided attacks.
'I can't just keep blocking. I need to counterattack, but...'
But there are no openings.
Instead of despairing, Calix returned to a more primitive mindset. After all, he hadn't shown everything he had yet.
'Right. To counterattack, I need to block well. The opponent even told me the answer. Go with avoiding crossing swords as much as possible.'
Thump, thump.
Soon, as if enough time had been given, the mercenary captain closed the distance. Calix raised his concentration to its peak at the cost of what little stamina remained.
[Bloodline Trait 'Avatar of the Battlefield' Activating]
And first, through the ability inherited from his ancestors, he read ahead the 'unrealized movements'.
Chizik!
The beam of light that came down along the mercenary captain's nape instantly spread throughout his entire body, with the largest chunks extending to his left foot and right arm.
A preliminary signal announcing the third attack.
'Quite a lot of light beams extended to his lower body. The next attack will be middle or low section. But both physically and in terms of experience, the gap is too large. I've confirmed it several times while sparring with Volga, but... I shouldn't trust it blindly.'
Additionally, he doesn't rely completely on just one ability.
[Reality Acceleration Enhancement, 1.7x]
[1.9x]
[2.1x]
......
[2.6x]
......
[3.2x reached]
[Warning: Maintaining excessive output for extended periods may cause fatal injury to the body]
[Please be cautious]
Calix momentarily increased the output of his neural accelerator, entering a time zone where he 'could observe but not enjoy'.
Seureureu-reuk.
The pressure applied to his entire body gnawed at his stamina in real time, but thanks to this, the world became terribly slow, and the mercenary captain's movements entered his vision for the first time.
The man, who continued clean connecting movements like a knight from a storybook, soon swept his sword upward, aiming for the lower section.
From here on, it was entirely up to him.
From '3.2' to 2, then from '1.9' to... '1.7'. As soon as the neural accelerator returned to its proper speed, Calix instinctively responded in the most familiar way.
'That's not a sword.'
Right.
That's... a lump of mud.
It contains something vicious like rock inside, a falling mass that would surely knock him unconscious if he got hit while diving.
So first, he bends his waist like a bow to dodge.
Upright.
Whiiiiik!
The blade that shot up into the air and fell back down is like a bamboo tube for breathing... No, he deflects it to the side with the sword in his hand.
'I did it! I succeeded!'
Instead of forcibly maintaining his body's center, he moves according to his own will. If you know which direction to turn, how much, and what stance to take, there isn't much difference between diving and sword fighting.
The truth in the mud pit was surprisingly aligned with reality.
'Now I can counterattack...'
But at the same time, that was exactly where it ended.
"Eup, euuk, uuek!"
[Combat enhancement suspended due to physical abnormality]
[Output declining, '1.6', '1.5', '1.4'......'1.1']
[Pain control due to muscle rupture in progress]
[Combat incapacity determined]
[Immediately withdraw from the battlefield]
The time he could withstand '1.7' output was at most 5 seconds.
Overuse beyond that limit presented Calix with side effects he had never experienced before.
The sensation in his fingertips became dull, his skin felt numb and cold, yet sometimes felt burning hot as if placed in fire.
On top of this, his entire muscles even convulsed. As if the muscles themselves were exhausted from serious fatigue, they trembled bareu-, making his legs lose strength and threatening to collapse. Difficulty breathing, a headache that felt like his head would explode, and symptoms like the edges of his vision shaking were bonuses.
"......That's enough. Catch your breath. If you breathe finely and shortly in repetition, the feeling of chest pressure will gradually improve. It's just the price for overexertion, so there's no need to fear."
"Heoeok, heoeok."
Fortunately, mercenary captain Royce had no intention of attacking further-
"St-stay back. If you come any closer, I won't stay still!"
"......You seem to have gained quite some popularity."
"This guy saved my life today, so I should return the favor at least once."
Volga, with whom he had developed a non-friendship friendship, displayed what could be either courage or recklessness by standing in front of Calix.
Unable to completely erase his fear, his speech became strange, drawing a chuckle from Royce, but it was an action with no loss.
"Enough. The fight is over."
"......How can I trust those words?"
While continuing to retch, Calix looks down at the place the opponent indicated with his chin.
In front of the castle gate.
A man in light armor was emitting golden light from his nape, while in front of him, a heavily armed knight knelt with a purple neural accelerator blinking.
Blink, blink...... Pusik.
What followed was the complete extinction of the purple light.
Waaaaaaaa-!
Soon the knight's head fell, and Viscount Yenton's soldiers cheered in unison, while Count Johan Graham's defenders showed complicated expressions.
It was the end of the brief but intense slaughter.
***
Destruction follows war.
However, the territorial war that took place within the Astria Kingdom did not leave as great a scar as an inter-state war.
Because the territorial people were one step away from the battlefield.
"Oh my, they've broken everything. When will we get it all fixed?"
"......The land rent will go up this year."
"Sigh, the corvée labor will increase, too, obviously. When territorial wars break out, only lowly people like us suffer."
"That's right. They should go out and fight bang and finish it in one go. What kind of hideous business is this? A territorial war fought holed up in a castle is the first I've seen in my life."
Befitting the expression 'noble dispute of the high and mighty', the dead were only combat personnel. In reality, even that damage was increased because one side stubbornly persisted.
But anyway, the victorious side waits for the defeated side's surrender declaration while busy distributing the spoils of war.
"Excluding knight rank, there are 293 personnel from whom we can claim ownership. Of these, 39 are critically wounded-"
"Kill them all. We'll just take the neural accelerators. We don't have the luxury of keeping them alive one by one."
"Yes. Then the actual headcount is 254."
Inside the barracks.
Viscount Yenton divides life and death with a few words.
Plunder is strictly forbidden by royal decree, so the only things that can be taken are humans and territorial interests. Especially humans with 'neural accelerators' were important.
"Aren't there places to set aside separately? The House of Duke Saitz sent a top-class knight."
"Hmm, it's true that we must pay Duke Saitz House an appropriate price, but this should be sufficient by transferring Count Graham House's interests. There happens to be a large vineyard. And other than that...... There would be those mercenary bastards. When large mercenary groups are involved, it's customary to supplement part of the lost forces."
"To such lowly bastards?"
"It's for the future. When the Niboria Empire invades, we'll have to forcibly mobilize them, and wouldn't it be better to have them grouped together then?"
"......Tsk."
Appeasing arrogant nobles is the administrator's job.
"I'll set aside about 50."
"Too much. Make it 40."
"As you wish."
He smoothly handles his original intention of giving 40 as a subordinate.
And so. The mercenary group 'Mountain Rabbits' was given a choice, and mercenary captain Royce left the castle as soon as he was assigned forty new members.
Puk, puuk!
"Keureuruk......"
He didn't want to watch the process of dealing with the wounded.
***
The mercenary group arrived at the camp outside the territory that same day, late evening.
The number that had exceeded 100 just before the battle was reduced to 40 during the process of capturing the outer castle, then increased back to 80.
"Give me one more drink!"
"We're all out?"
"You son of a bitch! Then you should share yours!"
"Just go buy some, idiot!"
"Hahahaha!"
As if trying to shake off the afterimage of the deadly battle, the area near the bonfire is full of artificial commotion. Including merchants who had attached themselves during the war and personnel who usually handle odd jobs.
Over 200 people in total drank low-quality alcohol, then disappeared into the bushes one by one with women at their sides.
It was around then that Calix regained consciousness.
Tadak, tadadak.
Amid the sound of burning firewood, Calix looked around as soon as he regained consciousness. His last memory was the scene of some unknown knight's head flying off.
Having completely removed the neural accelerator, the vivid purple light had since slept forever.
'But I survived.'
In the middle of the mercenary camp.
It wasn't difficult to guess who had brought his unconscious self here.
"So that guy went spear! spear! like this, jorokorom! He was sword fighting with the captain and then swoosh just, huh? He bent his waist back like......
Volga.
A conscript— no, a volunteer with a large build but courage too great for his abilities to handle was spitting saliva in front of the campfire.
The topic was the confrontation between Captain Royce and Calix.
The reactions of the existing mercenary members were unanimous.
"Isn't this complete bragging?"
"It's not bragging, I tell you! Everyone should have seen it directly!"
"Well, I acknowledge he has talent. How long has it been since the captain personally tested someone's skills? But damn, saying he bit the blade with his teeth is too exaggerated. How is that even possible?"
"Uh...... No, what I mean is, he deflected it? With his teeth like taak- like this?"
"Uhahaha, look at this crazy bastard!"
Though he wondered what nonsense was being spouted, anyway, the reaction wasn't bad, so that should be enough.
Then suddenly, Calix's gaze met with someone sitting nearby.
"You're awake?"
"......Where is this?"
A man with short stature, solid and swarthy skin, wearing rough linen upper clothing with light leather armor and a belt, seemed too much to be considered a combatant.
Most of all, his nape wasn't glowing, clearly not wearing a neural accelerator, so his wariness eased considerably.
"Temporary camp. When we receive territorial war commissions, we gather supply materials at a distant location. See those wagons propped up on the outside? Those all belong to merchants. They flocked here smelling money, but as a result, it's mutually beneficial."
"No wonder there are more people than I thought."
"Ah, even excluding merchants, half are attendants. They clean, do laundry, cook, and take on all sorts of troublesome tasks while following the mercenary group to make money. They also do prostitution on the side. Well, you'll soon learn but...... The neural accelerators that mercenaries use eventually drive people crazy. Anyway, counting only combatants, there are about 80 now?"
"I see. The territorial war is over, right?"
"Right, friend. You survived. Feel free to rejoice."
For Calix, it couldn't be better that the other person was talkative.
"Are you also a combatant by any chance?"
"Hmm, half and half."
"Half and half?"
"I'm from the west. Not the western part of the Kingdom of Astria, but beyond that."
"Beyond that means...... Kalahim?"
"Oh my? You know Kalahim?"
"I heard it's a kingdom founded by nomadic people."
Adding the knowledge he had seen in old books long ago would be more than enough to gain favor.
"You're pretty smart, aren't you? Right. I'm from there. Thanks to that, instead of having a neural accelerator, I have sharp eyes. Whether it's sand, mountains, or plains, it doesn't matter. I'm always the first to step where the Mountain Rabbits will go."
"I see. But Mountain Rabbits means......"
"Look at me, introductions are late. That's our mercenary group's name. In the central part of the Kingdom of Astria, we're in the top three, and in the entire kingdom, we're in the top five. Yes, that's right. We are the 'Mountain Rabbits'. There's a flag over there, too."
Following where his finger pointed, indeed, a flag with a mountain rabbit drawn on a mountain range fluttered on a pole. Below the emblem was written 'Leap with faith'.
And only then does he feel the realization that he has truly seized an opportunity.
Half relief, half achievement.
Calix was immensely pleased by the fact that he had been chosen by that incredibly powerful mercenary captain. Because he now had a new goal of someday surpassing him.
"So I'm a mercenary now, too."
"That's right."
"Nice to meet you. Please take care of me from now on. Come to think of it...... I didn't even ask your name."
"Hadiya. You can call me Hadi for short."
"I'm Calix."
Soon, as they exchanged a hearty handshake.
The corners of his eyes curved mischievously.
"Calix, nice to meet you. So to commemorate our first meeting, can I ask you just one thing?"
"Anything."
"How many moves did you last against the captain?"
"How many moves?"
"The number of times, sword met sword. When the captain tests newcomers, he may match the neural accelerator output, but he never goes easy. If you couldn't last even once, that's normal; if you succeeded even once, that's beyond expectations, and if twice, you're the promising talent of the next generation."
"......"
"It's more certain to hear directly from the person involved rather than a braggart. Right? How many times did you last?"
To this, Calix smiled awkwardly, then spoke with modesty, cutting it in half.
"......Twice."
"Twice? You lasted twice? My goodness, that's the same number as when the vice-captain first joined!"
"......Haha."
Such a fuss he made.
He should have reduced the count by one more.