Wortenia Senki Volume 4 Chapter 17

Editor:Starbuck11, Kev

Silence dominated the training ground.

Only his own faint breath entered Kevin's ears.

The training ground’s s.p.a.ce was around 100 meters. And n.o.bles and military officers surrounded the place.

There was nothing such as spectator seats like the ancient Roman stadium had. There was only an open ground with stones surrounding it for the people to sit on it.

(This is huge... It would be disadvantageous if we face them head on....)

Such thought appeared inside Kevin's mind while he looked at the figure of knights standing 50 meters away from him.

The battle to see through each other fighting potential had begun.

The infamous sentence from the book of the art of war 'Understand the enemy and yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be in peril', it was never an exaggeration to call that sentence as true.

Since it was important for a person to make a proper preparation before heading toward a battle.

And such att.i.tude was the first thing Ryouma and the others taught the children.

As usual, Kevin observed the five knights in front of him for information.

Apart from his height that was almost 170 cm, his body muscles were only half  of the opposing knights.

From the viewpoint of simple muscular strength, the outcome was already obvious.

Even with a weapon in hand.

The knights had heavy steel armors covering their whole body, even their face. The weapons they held were 3 meters long spears.

On the other hand, Kevin and the others were only being protected by leather armors and wooden shields that had been reinforced with steel.

Of course, the leather armors made by using the monsters material they obtained from inside the peninsula was not inferior compared to the steel armor, but as a result of emphasizing on maneuverability, the overall defensive power was lower compared to the whole body steel armors.

It was a good choice if they thought that they were about to fight within the Zalda Kingdom which was famous for its mountainous land, but it was obviously disadvantageous to use such armor in a straightforward match.

Because of the tension, Kevin's lips felt dry.

His heart beated fast, and he felt chill on his skin.

Such feeling was known as fear.

It was a feeling that people usually felt and tried to suppress when they were about to fight.

After moistening his dry lips with his tongue, Kevin grasped his favorite iron sword while turning his eyes toward the comrades around him who also showed the same expressions as him.

(Everyone feels the same huh? I guess that is understandable. This is only our second time after all...)

Fear when facing an actual battle where people risked their life.

The fear that they might lose their own life and the fear of taking other people lives, such feelings invaded Kevin and the others' hearts.

It was the fear that he even felt when they performed the subjugation of the pirates, despite the mission also being for their revenge.

However, Kevin understood that he could change his fear into power if he didn't try to deny it.

Fear was not weakness, if one were able to understand the fear inside one's heart, such fear can become power.

Several months had pa.s.sed since the time of the pirate subjugation.

Kevin also had survived the fights against monsters within the wortenia peninsula.

For him, the feeling of fear he was familiar with was a friend, and a weapon to survive.

(Don't think anything useless. We're the ones in a weaker position, if we hesitate, we will die...)

Although formally it was just a friendly match, the truth was this battle was a dangerous battle where the partic.i.p.ants bet their lives.

The term of victory or defeat was decided when the opponents died, loses consciousness or the referee judged that the battle was over.

There was no point system or round system. There were only two choices in this match, getting knocked out or knocking out the enemy.

If one were to compare the knights and Kevin’s strength in numerical value, the knights would be 100 while Kevin and the others would be around 70.

Kevin was definitely disadvantaged.

However, winning or losing was not being determined by strength alone.

(We just have to do the same as usual. Just like the instructors said, we just have to fight. To survive together with my comrades.)

Living on the wortenia peninsula had forged Kevin's and his comrades' body into a beast.

What Kevin needed to do was to use that body efficiently.

"Just like usual..."

Kevin muttered those words in a small voice, and the comrades around him nodded their head silently.

The fear he had and the urge to kill started to spread inside his heart.

The Prana inside of their body began to circulate  extra power.

Along with that, their fighting spirit also began to increase...

"Start!"

The old man referee broke the silence.

"Leon and Rina you guys attack from the right. Annet and I will go from the left. Melissa! Look out for the timing!"

After being recognized as soldiers, the children had been a.s.signed into a five men unit.

Several months had pa.s.sed since then. They had performed many strategies together and repeated it many times over.

The moment Kevin gave the signal, the four people charged from the right and left at full speed.

Although they moved fast, the speed they used was still in the category of human ability.

With four people charging from the left and right.

Melissa alone was standing in the center facing the knights.

"What's this? I guess they are just brats huh? Dispersing like this, are they trying to throw away the match?"

One man muttered those words while snorting his nose.

The Knights thought that even if they charged immediately, in the end, their opponents were still children.

Besides, they were all wearing leather armors.

From the start, the knights thought the winner and loser had already been decided.

Or at least, most of the knights thought like that.

With such situation, the knights thought the children will gather up in one place and performed a defensive battle.

"Oi, the leader said we should not go easy on them... Let's just go and finish this as fast as possible."

Following the platoon leader’s words, the other Knights nodded their head.

Since it was an order, they did not have to mind killing their opponents.

Although they never thought of murder as something fun.

(At least, I should not make all of you suffer...)

It might sound like a hypocrite, but that was all of the knights true feelings.

The knights grasped their spear while observing the children moving closer to them.

They have no intention of using the military magic arts.

However, such thought proved to be a mistake...

"Do it, Melissa!"

[Breath of the fierce wind spirit, now is the time to respond to my prayers, -]

The moment Kevin shouted, the distance between the four children and the knights which were around 20 meters was shortened in a blink of an eye.

And subsequently the Knights heard the small muttering from Melissa's lips.

"Wha?! Magic Arts?!"

"This is bad!"

Looking at Melissa’s behavior the knights immediately tried to activate their Prana, but looking at the speed Melissa chanted, they would not make it in time.

Realizing that, the knights simultaneously readied their shields.

Under normal circ.u.mstance, they would usually performed defense magic arts and fortified their shield, but because they looked down on their opponents too much, they didn't do that.

Nevertheless, even with body reinforcement alone, it should be enough to defend themselves.

That was of course if it was a normal one...

Melissa who finished the magic art chant raised her hands.

"[Wind Wave!]"

The moment Melissa swung her hand, at the next moment, a strong gale of wind raised above the ground.

It was a beginner magic art.

Which could not be said as to have a strong killing power, it was a technique that only caused a wave of strong wind.

Because it was easy to use, it also had low power.

The wave of wind was also only up to the extent of people wanting to say "ah the wind is strong today."

The knights who also knew what magic art Melissa had used showed mocking smiles.

However, what they didn't realize was Melissa’s other intention.

As the gale of wind hit the ground, it pushed forward toward the Knights. Rolling the dust and dry sand together with it.

Causing everything to become blurry...

"d.a.m.n it! My view!"

The Knights' field of view was getting considerably reduced due to the dry sand carried by the wind.

In the first place, the full-face helmets the knights wore were already causing their view to be limited.

And now with their view completely being disturbed, Kevin's and his comrades swords came attacking.

They abandoned their camouflage provided by the wind and by using the strengthening magic, they revealed their body.

"It can't be! These children as well, they can use magic arts!"

"These guys, just what are they?!"

Due to the panic of Kevin and his comrades closing in, the Knights began attacking using their spears.

However, the attack they performed didn't have the sharpness they usually had during practice.

For Kevin and the others who had experienced fighting against monsters, the opponent's attack speed was close to standing still.

Kevin avoided the protruded spear's head by tilting his body to the side slightly while also aiming his sword at the opponent’s hand, especially the fingers that held the spear.

Although the knights wore full body iron armors, the joint part was relatively low in defense. -

"Gaaah! d.a.m.n it! My fingers!"

Kevin's sword attack cut off his opponent fingers with high precision.

Usually, Knights won't be screaming unsightly like that, but due to all of the sudden development, the knight was caught off guard.

"What's going on here? I thought they were just mere children!"

Looking at his comrade’s figure losing his fingers, one of the knights felt into confusion. Despite still in battle, he was letting himself defenseless.

And his enemy did not overlook such opening.

Kevin then delivered a strong blow to the knight's foot that was standing still in shock. Kevin aimed at the joint part of the armor once again, it was around the knight's knee.

When Kevin's sword struck  his opponent, it felt like he was breaking a tree branch.  

But that was not the end.

The moment the knight crouched down, Annet's sword came attacking.

It was a side sweep aimed at the Knight's neck.

Had Ryouma didn't tell them not to kill if it was possible beforehand. Annet's attack would've surely cut off the Knight's head.

However, Annet only used strength enough to cause the knight to fall unconscious.

The fallen knight fell into the ground as if he was a marionette whose strings had been cut off.

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"I see, so that's why... Now I understand why that child showed me such confidence..."

A sigh of admiration leaked from Elena who was watching the match together with Julia.n.u.s the First and Grahart.

Looking at the speed the battle had proceeded, it was clear that the quality of soldiers Mikoshiba Ryouma had brought was high.

"I can't believe it... Such young children using magic arts? Furthermore, such commoner children? Unbelievable..."

"Grahart, since this is reality, accept it as a fact. Or else people might question the status you have as the General of the Royal Guards."

Due to Elena sharp words, Grahart's face was dyed in red due to embarra.s.sment.  

After all, a person should never become a commander if they could not accept the reality presented before their very own eyes.

"P-Pardon my rudeness. To show you this kind of unsightly appearance."

Grahart immediately lowered his head.

"I see, if all of the soldiers he led have the same quality as those who are currently fighting, then indeed he has a lot of war potential."

Julia.n.u.s the First muttered such words while stroking his beard calmly.

"Your majesty... For all the 300 men? It can't be, right?"

Grahart shook his head feeling disbelief.

Of course, such disbelief was reasonable.

With how this world common sense worked, the war power Ryouma had was hard to maintain.

Grahart himself to be honest thought that Earl Schwarzheim remarks were right.

Remembering where Ryouma had come from which was the Wortenia peninsula.

A territory where there was almost no tax revenue. -

And without high tax revenue, it would have been hard to maintain this kind of army.

"We can't be sure that only those handful of people are capable of performing such prowess, no? Setting aside the method he had used to make commoners acquire magic arts, if he actually managed to teach the five of them then why not also do the same with the others as well. That is why, we can safely a.s.sume that the 300 men Mikoshiba-dono led are capable of performing magic arts, am I wrong? Of course, there's also the possibility he had chosen them on purpose to make us think like this as well..."

The gentle expression had already disappeared from Julia.n.u.s' face, what was left was his sharp eyes that were looking at a new prey.

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