Chapter 57

“Sir Phillion... I thought I’d told you to make sure Urich doesn’t get himself into trouble...”

Pahell, who had come out to the gate entrance after hearing the commotion, said to Phillion. He gasped after seeing what Urich had done and shook his head.

‘Urich, what the hell have you done?’

There were two men hanging by a pole. The men were crumpled up as if they had no joints in their bodies, and their blood and fecal matter dripped down the pole to create a pool underneath them.

“I am sorry, Your Highness.”

Phillion had no words for himself. He felt responsible for not being able to stop Urich.

“It’s fine, it is what it is. Sigh,” Pahell took in a few deep breaths to suppress the increasing nausea.

“It’s definitely not a pretty sight to see,” Phillion said as he frowned.

Pahell and Phillion joined the rest of the mercenary squad and waited for the duel trial to begin. The crowd grew even larger after the word of the trial spread.

“Back off, and stay there!”

The soldiers kept pushing back the crowd, and those who were pushed away found taller structures to watch the duel from, like climbing the trees.

“Why are they fighting?”

“Apparently, the gate captain hired some people for an assassination.”

The speculation spread from mouth to mouth throughout the big crowd. The nervous Auber gritted his teeth anxiously.

‘Dammit, look what that idiot Greeman brought on me.’

Auber stared at Greeman who was hanging by the pole. His face was pale, and it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be alive for much longer, not even until the end of the day. It was almost miraculous how he was still breathing with his entire body crumpled up like paper.

“It indeed is cruel, but it’s an amazing skill, wow.”

Quite a few people from the crowd were expressing their awe at the spectacle. The more they looked at it, the more it became intriguing rather than cruel.

“Go on, Urich.”

“Slit his throat.”

“That full plate armor is nothing for him, right?”

“Well, it is something, but not for our leader Urich. Aren’t I right?”

The mercenaries gathered around Urich and cheered him on. They knew why Urich did what he did.

‘Even though he wasn’t paid to do it, Urich avenged Donovan.’

The bond between mercenaries was formed on the basis of money. Although they called themselves brothers, it wasn’t a bond like that of an army or a tribe. Urich was the only man in the squad who acted out of integrity in his brotherhood, and every single man in the mercenary squad was inspired by him.

‘Even if I’m the one getting attacked, Urich will always avenge me.’

The thought was comforting. Urich never let his mercenaries die unjustly. Even when a few of the mercenaries were killed as a result of Phillion’s trickery, he honored their deaths by cutting off the fingers of the liar as punishment.

“Urich, full plate armors are tricky to deal with.”

Sven said as he looked across the area. Auber’s representative was geared up with his full plate armor. Even though it was from a previous generation, its defensive ability was incomparable to that of regular armor. It was the peak of the modern armory.

“I’ve fought a man wearing that steel thing before,” Urich said briefly as he recalled the knight that he met in the Sky Mountains.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

‘Fordgal Arten.’

Urich hadn’t forgotten his name.

“Your usual attacks won’t work on him.”

Sven knew the power of the full plate armor. The charges of knights who were fully armed with them were a nightmare as the curvature and elasticity of the armor rendered any kind of spears and swords useless.

“It’s not like he doesn’t have any gaps, right? There’s no need to worry. People die with a single stab,” Urich said as he looked ahead. He saw his opponent in full plate armor.

Noon, it was the time when the sun was above the heads and shadows were the shortest. The sun god opened his eyes wide and looked down on the world. Those who were afraid of the sun god hid themselves in the shortened shadows.

The crowd had grown as much as it could at the news of the duel, and some were even selling concessional snacks with signs.

“Let the holy duel in the name of Lou commence!”

Harvald the Sun Warrior exclaimed.

“Raymond!!!!”

The soldiers on the gate side shouted as Raymond, armed in full plate armor, marched out. His every step was accompanied by the clashing sound of this metal armor.

‘Full plate armor is indeed amazing.’

The feeling of the metal plates surrounding your body. It narrowed your vision and blunted your senses.

‘But once you understand the ability of the armor, the suffocation begins to feel like comfort.’

The feeling of the thick, secure metal protecting your entire body. The sensation of the armor and skin becoming one. It was enough to make any fear of swords disappear. It almost made him feel stronger. The feeling of the steel was exhilarating.

Raymond had worn full plate armor as practice back in his squire days. Helping his master put on and take off the armor was one of his duties as a squire. Because of that, Raymond was quite familiar with the structure of the armor.

‘If my master hadn’t died, I may have become a knight myself. Maybe I could have earned my way into the Order of Imperial Steel or be awarded my very own full plate armor.’

Though he was just a soldier of the garrison, he once dreamed of becoming a mighty knight. He grew up hearing the battle tales of the Sword Demon Ferzen and even pretended to be him with his wooden sword playing with his friends in the alleyways.

‘But right now, at this moment, I, too, am a knight in full plate armor.’

Raymond marched on proudly like a knight. He received the cheers of his fellow soldiers with a solemn silence.

“Huff, huff.”

The breath that left his mouth returned with the smell of the steel. Raymond looked around the crowd through his narrowed vision.

‘Perhaps some of them are nobles or highborn. They might see what I am capable of and take me on as a liege.’

Raymond began to dream again. This duel was an opportunity for him.

‘I am going to show them everything I have.’

Back in his squire days, Raymond trained without skipping a day. He was very strict on himself. It was his golden days when he had the dream of becoming a knight. That effort earned him his place as one of the strongest soldiers in the gate garrison.

‘You can’t become a knight by killing barbarians anymore. Those days are long gone.’

The Subjugation of the Remaining Barbarians a decade ago was the last chance for fighters to make a name for themselves. Now, it was difficult to earn a knighthood through battles because there were simply no more battlefields for soldiers to make an impression on. All that was left were small land disputes among nobles.

‘But today, I will kill that barbarian and make myself seen in front of all these nobles.’

Raymond was determined.

Urich the barbarian also stepped forward with his sword drawn. He was a barbarian who wore a fur coat instead of armor. His exposed body was all bare skin and scarred muscle. He was clearly a highly experienced warrior.

‘This is the swordsmanship of a knight.’

Raymond grabbed his sword with both his hands and raised it high. A majestic power radiated through his armor.

“Ah, the Owl Stance. That is a fine stance. No one would question him if he called himself a knight.”

The crowd was impressed by Raymond’s stance which was called the Owl Stance, because it resembled an owl snatching a mouse.

‘His sword is raised, but it’s hard to find a gap to aim for in his armor.’

Urich narrowed his eyes.

Step.

The two men faced each other. They shuffled sideways as they maintained their distance.

Raymond took a step forward and lowered his arm. He aimed his blade at Urich’s shoulder.

Clank!

The two men clashed with a clear ringing of metal. Urich raised his sword to parry Raymond’s blade. The two men who had switched places after their first offence and defence darted off the ground and toward each other.

“Hmph.”

After taking a deep breath in, Urich unleashed a series of blows. It was an explosive attack using both his hands, and Raymond was busy blocking his blows by twisting his sword.

‘What a frightening attack speed.’

Raymond backed off. If he wasn’t wearing the full plate armor, he would have certainly been slain somewhere by the consecutive double-handed attack.

“Hah, that armor is still as strong as ever. My sword is sliding off its surface.”

Urich said as he shook the sweat off his face. He had landed a decent blow a few times, but the blade of his sword slipped off the surface of the full plate armor. If his opponent had been wearing a chainmail instead, Urich would have either broken the chainmail or their bone. His eyes were burning with desire.

‘Armor.’

Urich, too, was well aware of the importance of armor. The physically superior northerners didn’t wear one for nothing. No matter how strong a person was, they were not immune to the shredding of their flesh and bleeding out.

‘If I’m going to wear armor, it better be the best one.’

A mere chainmail didn’t fill his appetite.

“Hmph!”

Urich launched an axe for a surprise attack. He tried to knock Raymond’s helmet off as he did when he defeated the knight back in the Sky Mountains.

Clank!

“What a feeble trick!”

Raymond straightened his sword in front of him and parried the flying axe away. His concentration was at its peak. He could see even the smallest movement in Urich’s fingertips through his narrowed vision.

‘This isn’t going the way I thought it would.’

Urich laughed as he shrugged his shoulders. His ferocious teeth were born wide.

‘Stupid barbarian.’

Raymond mockingly laughed at Urich. Their armory was on different levels. Normally, to fight against full plate armor, a dagger was needed as a secondary weapon to stab the enemy through the armor. It was difficult to crack it down with a long and thick sword.

‘My turn.’

Raymond flamboyantly unleashed the skills that he had been honing for more than a decade.

“Woahhh!”

The crowd erupted. Raymond’s swordsmanship was quite a bit above average. In fact, he shined over even some of the knights.

‘He’s quite skilled. He would make a useful soldier.’

The nobles had their eyes on Raymond, just as Raymond had hoped for.

“Eh?”

Urich’s eyes widened. Raymond had caught Urich’s blade with his hand.

“Keugh.”

Raymond did the same as he tried to lock Urich out by grabbing his sword.

‘Why is he so strong?’

Raymond had persistence. It felt like his fingers were about to shatter, but he didn’t let go of the sword. But that resulted in him being dragged around by Urich. As his balance broke down, a gap was created.

‘You tried to grab my sword, but you dug your own grave, instead.’

Crush!

Urich slammed down the back end of his axe onto Raymond’s head. The blade of his axe flung out as the hilt shattered.

‘Dammit, the hilt couldn’t handle my power.’

Urich knew that his blow wasn’t enough to finish Raymond off.

“Ugh.”

Raymond groaned. The impact of Urich’s axe reverberated through the steel plate of the helmet down to his head. However, the helmet managed to impact most of the force to protect him from passing out.

‘I won. His axe is broken and I’m holding his sword. He has no way of attacking me now.’

Raymond laughed amidst his pain. He was certain of his victory. He was holding Urich’s blade with his left hand with his own sword in his right.

‘Be the sacrifice for my rise, barbarian!’

Raymond, who was stumbling from the blow on his head, looked up with a single desire in his mind. Then, he noticed that his left hand felt quite a bit lighter. Urich had let go of his sword.

‘Let go of your sword? Your only weapon?’

Urich ditched the sword that was caught by Raymond. He grabbed Raymond’s neck with both hands without a moment of hesitation. He had faith in his physical prowess.

“Woahhhh!”

Urich roared as he pulled Raymond’s head down and kicked his knee up.

Crush.

The last thing that Raymond saw was Urich’s knee. It struck his brain as the relatively thin surface of the face of the helmet caved in.

“Huh?”

The crowd was dumbfounded. The duel was decided by a single knee kick. Blood trickled out of the helmet of the fallen Raymond. He was clearly dead.

Urich collapsed on the ground, letting out a deep breath. His rough breath rose like smoke as he grabbed his bruised knee and stood up.

“That metal armor really is sturdy, though not as sturdy as my body.”

Urich remarked as the crowd broke their silence and roared. The noise was enough to shake the entire gate.

“Who is that man?”

“His name is Urich? Where did that barbarian come from?”

The nobles who were keen on Raymond chattered with shock.

“The sun god Lou has proven the innocence of Greeman. Auber, who has lied to Lou, will receive the appropriate punishment.”

Harvald, after confirming the death of Raymond, solemnly stated.