A silver beam of light flashed toward my face, as though it were drawn to me. It spread across my vision like a slow-motion scene, and I could see the clean double-edged sword created by the shining light approaching me.
At first, I thought it was a straight sword, but on closer inspection, it seemed more like a thrusting sword. It was a little longer, with a sharp blade tip that looked like it would pierce deep.
Just as the tip of the sword got dangerously close to my face, a high-pitched sound rang out, and sparks flew before my eyes.
The clash of metal on metal was so sharp it hurt my ears. Reflexively, I squinted and rolled to the ground, trying to avoid the next attack.
“Tch!”
I heard a click of the tongue, and in the next moment, another high-pitched sound pierced the air.
“Lord Van, please run!”
I heard a desperate voice shout, and instinctively, I rolled sideways, sensing that the situation was critical. The mysterious enemy was likely to my right, and the sword was thrust out in that direction. So, I quickly rolled to the left to create some distance.
I didn’t have the luxury of time to think it through slowly, so I moved instinctively. And just as my instincts suggested, I heard something stab into the ground right near my right ear, the vibration clearly traveling through the air.
“Did I avoid it?!”
The voice sounded different from the one that had clicked their tongue earlier. A bit of dirt got into my mouth, but I didn’t care. It tasted bitter and gritty, but I kept my mouth shut and used my hands to push myself up from the ground.
As I quickly raised my head, I saw two men standing in front of me. To my right, Kamshin was facing off against two other men. All four of them had swords in hand, and they were advancing toward me without hesitation, aiming their blades at me.
“Yikes!”
I reflexively kicked off the ground, jumping to the left, but a strange sound escaped me. How embarrassing.
“You’re fast!”
“Go for his legs!”
“I’ll circle around!”
The four men seemed well-trained. Almost simultaneously, they spoke, adjusting their formation and surrounding me like a single coordinated entity. They were all dressed in pitch-black clothes, with no sign of armor. Perhaps they were wearing something like a chainmail beneath their clothes, but they were certainly lightly armored.
Maybe because of that, two of them moved surprisingly fast to the rear. If they surrounded me with two in front and two behind, I’d be in a situation where escape was impossible.
But then, one of them broke from the formation and turned his back to me. Just as I wondered what was happening, a sharp sound echoed from behind him.
“No way through!”
Kamshin. Still smaller than the others, Kamshin swung his blade with all his might, trying to block the man’s path. The sharpness of his blade should have been top-notch, but I wondered what kind of swords those men were wielding. Could they be made of mithril or something stronger?
For a moment, the three men hesitated, unsure whether to take down Kamshin first. Then, from behind them, a low voice, probably from a woman, rang out.
“The kid can handle himself. You, focus on the Baron.”
“Understood!”
It seemed that someone was leading them.
“…Could I run away somehow?”
I chuckled weakly, pulling out my personal weapon, two one-edged swords made of orichalcum, that I’d been carrying at my waist.
“My beloved swords are either starving for blood or not...Wait?!”
I tried to strike a pose with my swords to buy myself some time, but one of the men, seeing an opening, thrust his sword at me. I swung both swords desperately in defense, barely managing to deflect the strike with the flat side of my blade. It was a stroke of luck that I blocked it, but if I’d managed to strike with the edges, I might have been able to slice through his sword.
Before I could even think further, the men advanced on me, swords raised.
“Damn it! My popularity is at its peak!”
I thought with a sense of helplessness as I swung my swords, retreating further. The enemy swords were like a rainstorm, coming from three directions. I barely managed to dodge the first few, but the attacks were relentless.
But eventually, my limit came.
“Ugh...!”
A shock ran through my hands, and one of my swords fell from my grip. The sword coming from above struck down at me as I swung horizontally. The shock made me lose my grip, and I watched helplessly as my precious sword fell to the ground.
“It hurts! My hand’s numb!”
The pain and panic made me involuntarily curse. The three men grinned menacingly at me.
“Lord, Van...!”
Kamshin, who had been a little farther away, noticed my situation and shouted. Then, with his sword held low, he sprinted toward me. His strike was different from the ones he’d made before. The man fighting Kamshin braced himself to defend with all his strength.
And just like that, Kamshin’s sword cut through the man’s blade in a single strike. Though the man wasn’t harmed as he was running toward me, his weapon was rendered useless.
Meanwhile, my own situation was still dire. I was on the brink of being slain. How embarrassing.
Just as I was thinking that, the three men noticed Kamshin’s approach. Without a word, they shifted their focus back to me and ran toward me. It was clear that no matter the cost, they intended to finish the mission.
Even though I had been trained by Dee, I knew I wasn’t at Kamshin’s level. Still, I was confident I could hold my own against Arv or Lou. With two of them, I could at least buy some time. If one of them focused on Kamshin, I might be able to hold my ground a little. But with all three of them coming after me, I couldn’t do anything.
Kamshin wouldn’t be able to arrive in time either. It was starting to feel like it was time to make my final decision.
“…If I die, Kamshin, please protect Til and Arte.”
I muttered, watching the three men approaching without hesitation, keeping my sword up in a defensive stance. I didn’t say it in a loud voice, but I made sure Kamshin heard me.
“…Lord Van!”
Kamshin’s voice cracked with emotion as he heard my words. I kicked off the ground, aiming to move further left in the hope of increasing my chances of survival. The three were closing in from three different directions, but if I moved left, I’d be closer to the enemy on that side, but further from the ones facing Kamshin. I was hoping for even the slightest opportunity to make it a one-on-one fight, if only for a few seconds.
I desperately deflected the first enemy’s sword as I moved. As expected, I was able to deflect the second attack as well. But the third sword was coming toward me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
No, thinking about it won’t help now. My only option was to block the second sword with my life on the line. Maybe I could avoid a fatal wound from the third one.
The chances were slim, but that seemed like my best bet.
I made a quick decision and, in that split second, my body felt sharper than ever, as though every sense was heightened to its peak.
I twisted my body more accurately than I had expected, leaning my upper body at an angle to absorb the impact. I spun my waist and delivered the fastest sword strike I could manage, hitting the second man’s sword.
The high-pitched clang echoed, and the shock rang through my pinky. I couldn’t help but praise myself for that sword technique as the second sword was deflected, and I successfully blocked the attack.
But as expected, the third sword was inevitable. Since I had spun my sword to deflect the second, my balance dropped, and my weight shifted downward, making it impossible to move quickly.
This might be it. I thought, staring at the sword coming toward me at a terrifying speed.
And yet, just as the blade was about to strike, it suddenly vanished from my view.
The weapon that had been aimed at me disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The man holding the sword was still standing there, but now his posture was strange, as though he was reaching out for something else, preparing to kill me by some other means. But it didn’t seem that way. After all, the man looked shocked, frozen in place.
"W-What happened...?!"
With an expression like that of a demon, the man looked at his hand and my face in disbelief, then immediately reached toward his waist to grab something.
At that moment, Kamshin, who had been running toward me, caught up. He slashed at the man’s exposed back, and the man let out a muffled scream as he fell to the ground.
"...A-are you alright... Lord Van...?"
Kamshin panted, his sword and another blade tightly gripped in his hands as he looked at me, his face full of concern.
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