The fourth group and the knights that joined them advanced along the steep and uneven trail. [1]
The trail gradually became steeper, and their stamina would be exhausted more quickly.
However, this was land that humans don’t set foot on.
Encountering a monster, or finding a low-level demon nest wouldn’t be strange.
When they took a short break, they had been marching for around five hours.
The students gradually became silent, as the footing became worse, and they grew fatigued, to the point that they were now looking at their feet in order to gain footing.
Wynn walked at the end of the line of students.
Since the other students were all n.o.bles, Wynn was treated like air, but since he had strength to spare, he observed the full-fledged knights walking at the very back.
As one would expect, that was the point in which the students differed from them.
To Wynn, it was meaningful, since he was so close to his ideal, the knights.
On the other hand, the knight serving as captain, who came from the capital, like the other students, seemed to be concealing his exhaustion.
Rather, the students’ gaits were not as bad.[2]
The knights a.s.signed to the capital should have been the best of the best, but—.
Wynn felt like he had seen the reality again. [3]
Their exhaustion had taken away their ability to concentrate and think, causing them to disregard any caution for their surroundings.
Due to this, Wynn was the only student who had the presence of mind to notice the shadow.
From the thicket, the shadow soundlessly and rapidly approached —
As soon as he noticed it, Wynn drew the short-sword at his waist and extended his left hand—
“… Eh?”
The jaw lined with sinisterly sharp fangs approached a student walking towards the capital, and—
It let out a hair-raising howl.
As if it were flicked away, the shadow jumped aside, rolled on the ground, and then unsteadily picked itself up.
It was the size of a wolf, and reptilian scales covered its head.
Due to the pain from the short-sword impaled in its eye, the demonic beast let out a howl while grinding its fangs.
Wynn drew the knight sword,[4] and then circled around the front of the demonic beast.
Since the other students had not yet recovered from the shock of the demonic beast’s sudden a.s.sault,Wynn was acting as a decoy in order to draw attention and let the victim[5] escape.
It took a low stance as if waiting for an opportunity, while eyeing the distance between them.
Likewise, Wynn also continued to wait for an opening in the demonic beast’s defense.
At that time —
“Calm down!”
The vice-captain’s roar resounded.
“Hold up your shields, raise your swords! Is this how you aim to become the Empire’s knights?”
The panicked students held up their shields and drew their swords, as they realized what was happening.
Kicking the ground with its thick legs, the demonic beast leapt towards Wynn.
“Ooooooooooooooo!”
Wynn raised a battle cry and met the a.s.sault.
As magic power flowed into the knight sword, the magic symbols carved into the blade gave off a pale blue glow.
Immediately after sidestepping, he looked at the demonic beast’s back exposed by the charge, and used the opening to slash at it.
Letting out a growl, the demonic beast turned to face Wynn.
“I will draw its attention. Two people should go around back, while two people should cover us using magic!”
Without looking away from the demonic beast, he gave instructions to the other students.
Though he was worried about whether or not those n.o.bles would accept instructions from a commoner like him, in this situation, no complaints were made.
Using the blind spot created by the short-sword impaled into the right eye, Wynn moved to his left while provoking the demonic beast with his sword.
While all its attention was focused on Wynn, other students attacked it from the back.
With these circ.u.mstances, the outcome of the battle was decided.
While thinking that, Wynn continued to distract the demonic beast while searching for another enemy in the surroundings.
The knights should be paying attention to the surroundings, but it was dangerous to merely rely on that.
Even in the midst of a battle, he had not lost his cool.
Thanks to that —
He was able to sense the killing intent behind him.
Taking his eyes off of the demonic beast, he looked behind him.
A blade was sticking out of the fourth group’s captain.
He was coughing out blood from his half-open mouth, and blood pooled at his feet.
His eyes were trained on Wynn.
Wynn immediately jumped at the demonic beast’s corpse, and pulled out his short-sword with his right hand and took a stance.
“Pay attention!”
“What!?”
At Wynn’s sharp warning, the students who were admiring their first defeated monster looked up.
Before their eyes, the man who was the captain fell wordlessly into the pool of blood.
“Ca- captain?”
“Huh? What? What’s happening?”
Unable to keep up with the sudden change in circ.u.mstances, the students let out confused voices.
The two students in the back who had used their magic were suddenly cut down by one person.
Towards the other two people, yet another knight drew near.
“U, Uwah!”
They panicked.
The student took the bait, and, unable to hide his agitation made a large swing, and his body also followed— and the knight’s sword cut into his undefended body.
“Ah, aah, AAAAAAAH!”
Upon seeing the the student dying as blood sprayed out,The last person threw his sword away, and turned to run away.
“What a fool.”
In his panic, he fell down, and the pursuing knight stabbed him in the heart from the back—
In the blink of an eye, Wynn was alone.
He observed the terrain of the trail that he had walked on some moments ago.
He processed the various pieces of information in his head.
“As expected, you are dangerous, Cadet Wynn.”
The vice-captain, holding his blood-soaked sword and his shield, slowly drew closer.
On the contrary, he still showed his strong intentions to overcome these circ.u.mstances.
“Were you imitating the adventurer’s form? You have excellent combat experience.”
“I was merely working desperately in order to eat, that’s all!”
As he said those words, he immediately turned around and ran at full speed.
‘He’s fast!’
The full-fledged knights reflexively stood staring.
Within the forest with poor terrain, he ran faster than even a full-fledged knight could run with body reinforcement.[8]
Wynn, who couldn’t use body reinforcement magic, wore light armor like the others in his group, but even taking that into account, his movements had become familiar with the distinct environment of the forest.
‘It can’t be helped.’
Deciding not to pursue him, the vice-captain ran while chanting offensive magic.
“I, who has understood the way of fire, Fireball!”
The magical flame flew towards the sprinting Wynn’s back.
Feeling the heat, Wynn looked over his shoulder and—
Then, an explosion sounded in the forest.
Translator notes
Recap from Wynn’s POV–fail…–as opposed to idealism.–maybe the knights get a short-sword and a longer knight sword? not sure how weapons work… Knight sword is c.u.mbersome to type…–the targeted student–luring in an attack–Describing the stab–You train (with) a cheat, and you become a cheat yourself