195. Engagement – Deros

Morning.

“Ugh, what in the world is this mess?”

Katrina grumbled. She lamented her ridiculous appearance and checked her gear one last time just before departing.

Sword, check.

Annoying ‘brown’ armor, worn.

Hair, tied up.

Extra hair ties, here and accounted for.

Emergency medicine and the herbs Ellen packed are…

“Hey! Go bring my first aid kit. If you go to the tent…”

“It’s right here.”

That was supposed to be for the assistant, but Deros interjected. Katrina’s eyes narrowed further in annoyance.

“Why do you have that? Did you rummage through my tent? Want to die?”

“I just thought you might forget it since it was strapped to the horse…”

“Oh, is that so?”

Katrina awkwardly accepted the first aid kit. But then, she shot a glare at Deros again.

“Why the hell do you have it? You should’ve returned it ages ago. I spent ages looking for this!”

“No, even when I prepare it, it’s a headache.”

— If I said that, today would be the day I die. Deros politely nodded his head.

“I’m sorry. I forgot.”

To be honest, it was Katrina who forgot. It was absurd to say she just remembered now after clearly forgetting it all this time, but arguing about it would likely end with a fistfight.

Moreover, her first mentor, Katrina, was hot-headed, but she wasn’t the type to harm someone who apologized.

This was a fact learned through months of observation.

Deros realized that this woman’s irritability bypassed rational thought, and it was best to diplomatically step back in such situations. She was the type to quickly get angry at stimuli, but once that moment passed, she ended up feeling guilty.

As expected, Katrina cleared her throat.

“…Ahem! Be careful from now on. Keep your head straight. Being this careless on the battlefield… You better not step out of my sight. You’ll die.”

Anyway, what a funny senior.

Deros packed some extra jerky and a water pouch as emergency rations and followed Katrina onto the battlefield. He was a little nervous because it was his first outing, but looking at the dependable senior’s back eased his worries.

Soon, the senior and junior stealthily engaged in combat. It was also Katrina’s first time in war, but as soon as she saw the thirteen soldiers, she urged the trembling junior while staining her sword with blood.

“Had enough, eh? Let’s take a break. Huh? Hey, hey! Watch your head!”

Katrina grabbed Deros by the hair and yanked him toward the bush she was hiding in, pointing at the sky while scolding him.

“Idiot! Did I tell you to watch the clouds or not?”

“F-Forgive me.”

A messenger fled from the squad that had just been decimated. The Hundred-man Commander likely lit a flare after receiving the report of a knight’s appearance, and it was highly probable that the opposing sorcerer was keeping an eye on us with the ‘Cloud Eye’ spell.

If our sorcerer controlled that bit of cloud, there would be less to worry about, but as we weren’t sorcerers ourselves, there was no way to know if that was the case.

Who knew if they were looking at us? It was best to err on the side of caution.

If caught, a sorcerer riding a horse would come charging in. Against a sorcerer, there was no hiding or cover, and fighting them didn’t guarantee victory either.

Sorcerers were powerful on their own but often protected by knights.

Katrina, squatting in the bush, nagged for a while. Only when tears almost streamed from Deros’s delicate eyes did she finally stop, feeling a bit sorry. After all, he was just following her out of goodwill…

Katrina pressed down on the shoulders of her junior, who couldn’t sit comfortably. An awkward atmosphere flowed between the two sprawled in the bush, and unable to bear it, Katrina opened her mouth. Having nagged enough, her next question aimed to change the mood.

“Why did you follow me?”

“…Just because.”

“Just because? That’s not an easy decision to make. Do you… like me?”

“Huh?”

Deros, who had been gloomy, turned around with a horrified expression. Through the sparse leaves, he showed a shocked face, while Katrina’s mood lifted considerably.

“Sorry, but I have a boyfriend. And even if I didn’t have one, you’re not my type…”

“I have a girlfriend too! Who said I like you, senpai!”

“Oh? Whether you do or don’t, why’s your voice so loud?”

“……I’m sorry.”

As Katrina glared at him, Deros flinched and shrank back. Silence fell again, but it wasn’t awkward like before.

“By the way, you actually had a girlfriend? Since when?”

“Hmm… Around last winter? No, I think it was late autumn when we started dating.”

Katrina turned her body. With an intrigued expression, she prodded Deros.

“What kind of girl is she? How did you meet? Wow, didn’t see this coming, but you really know how to live.”

“Eh, dating a girl isn’t that big a deal… You’re living with your boyfriend, aren’t you?”

“Just stop there. Tell me more about her.”

“Well… I have a friend who loves theater. He bragged about seeing a really pretty actress at some theater. So, I thought I’d give it a shot. Honestly, aren’t actresses just pretty because of makeup?”

Deros continued his story.

He went to this place called the Orange Theater but ended up not seeing the incredibly beautiful actress.

The play performed that day was about the royal family that fled the palace during the collapse of the Acaian Empire to escape to the eastern continent.

It was a chaotic time.

The powerless royalty of a declining empire.

All they had was their noble status, and they sought to form strategic marriages to attract powerful figures from the east. Among them was a princess married to the ‘Marquis Isadora,’ and the play depicted the era through her story…

She had orange-colored eyes. Not the princess but the actress who played that role.

She was passionate. The misery of a princess struggling to move her husband, whom she did not love, and the misunderstanding that led to distance between them were delicately portrayed.

When Marquis Isadora confessed at the end of the play, “I loved you from the moment I first saw you,” the tears shed by the princess were hot.

Deros was deeply impressed by her performance. “I’m serious! She was a little girl with blond hair and golden eyes!” Despite his friend’s claims, he often found himself visiting theaters.

One day, Deros met the actress at a flower shop. Her freckles, with makeup washed off, were adorable, and her luscious orange hair tied back made his heart flutter.

“Are you a stalker? You’re a dangerous little brat.”

“I’m not! Your hair color is unique too, but orange is just eye-catching. It’s weird if you don’t recognize someone. Anyway, so…”

Deros chattered away. Using the excuse of distributing autumn flowers to those around, he later claimed he was buying flowers in bulk to decorate the rundown knights’ building.

The flower shop lady smiled gently and said, “Then can you show me the knights’ building? I’d like to see what flowers would suit it.”

Of course, they couldn’t take a regular person into the knights’ building, so the two wandered around the area.

“I can’t sell enough flowers to fill such a big building. Sorry. Instead, I…”

“Oh, stop! I can guess that much. You idiot.”

Deros recited the flower shop lady’s lines. Katrina cut in abruptly.

“So you confessed after meeting that often? Please don’t tell me you confessed first, otherwise you really are…”

“Of course, I confessed first.”

“Phew, what a relief. My junior isn’t an idiot. Now get up. You’ve rested enough. Go find out where the enemies are.”

“No, you asked first and then…”

“Are you not getting up fast enough? Do I have to keep you down here forever?”

What a thug-like woman…

Grumbling, Deros pushed through the bushes and got up. “You idiot!” Katrina yanked on his hair, but her grip wasn’t as harsh as before.

‘Right. If I don’t take care of that idiot, who will? I’ve got to get him back to his girlfriend somehow.’

Just then, Deros shouted.

“W-what! Senpai!”

Amidst the swiftly parted bushes, there was a female knight and a large knight. At a glance, they didn’t seem easy to deal with.

“…Oh dear. I said to find soldiers, and we’ve come across a knight. Deros! Get out of the way!”

Katrina drew her sword, launching an attack on the knight with wide-eyed surprise.

*

“Leo! Watch out…!”

– Bang!

No need to worry. Leo blocked the sudden attack from the female knight with his sword sheath, and it was Lena who found herself on the defensive.

Another knight next to her rushed in. Unable to handle the red-haired female knight before him, Leo hesitated for some reason, prompting Lena to draw her sword.

– Clang!

Late teens? Probably not older than her early twenties?

He was quite a young knight. Though older than Lena, who had just recently come of age, she felt this was something she could handle.

No, she was about to handle it.

“Ugh!”

Deros, who got beaten up by Katrina all the time, still held his own as a knight.

Deros’s upper body swelled, and Lena’s sword wavered unsteadily.

“What? He’s not even a knight?”

Now that Deros realized the opponent was only a squire, he became emboldened.

Facing a squire is easier than dealing with numerous soldiers.

After Katrina returned from her shifts, she often sparred with squires, and that familiarity eased Deros’s mind. The squires he had encountered were mostly…

“Huh?”

With their swords locked, Deros widened his stance. He tried to shake the hilt to create an opening, but the opponent’s sword followed smoothly.

Solid fundamentals.

Two-handed swords are difficult weapons to handle.

Depending on the type, they can vary immensely, but with long blades and weighty grips, the contact point of the blades was generally right in front of you.

In that moment, a little shake of the hilt could yield a variety of angles.

Should I initiate, or prompt the opponent to thrust? Should I push the contact point downward to seize control, respond with kicks while pushing the blades away, or strike the locked swords away and prepare for an open swing?

Shaking the locked swords is the process of narrowing down those numerous choices. The moment the blades touch, you can read the movements of both sides.

Usually, squires lacked this fundamental skill. They often didn’t understand that they needed to build a strong foundation to rise higher, and even if advised, they frequently took it lightly. It’s understandable, considering the tediousness of the foundational training.

However, the squire before him had solid fundamentals. He didn’t miss even the slightest tremor and followed suit. He narrowed down Deros’s options while expanding his own.

‘Impressive, but…’

Still a squire.

Leveraging his wide stance, Deros raised the hilt. Lifting the sword to push the opponent’s blade up, he advanced a step and shouldered in. Let’s see… the opponent, as expected, stepped back. He attempted to parry the shoulder that was raised.

Gotcha, you little punk!

As he raised the hilt while twisting his waist, Deros executed a kick. Strictly speaking, he aimed to strike the opponent’s waist with his left knee.

This was power play.

The moment Deros’s sword touched, he realized the opponent’s strength was weak, and when the sword was raised, he anticipated an easy failure to respond. And just as I expected…?!

– Wham!

The knees collided.

Lena, who noticed Deros’s trick, countered. She had intentionally reduced her strength for this moment…

“You little punk!”

Deros swiftly withdrew his left foot. Using that force, he spun his body about a quarter turn, lowering the hilt that was raised above his head.

– Clang!

The blades rang against Lena’s head. Thinking this was going to be a disaster, Lena used her right foot, which was firmly on the ground, as leverage to push away the coming blade. But,

“Whoa!”

She felt as if she were being easily pushed back by Deros’s weight.

Now standing on her forward right foot, he kicked her in the abdomen. At that moment, a sword fell fierce and heavy toward Lena, who was toppling over.

If I pull the sword back, I can block it.

My upper body can manage.

But if they target my lower half, I had no way to counter. Deros’s sword was descending to cleave her legs.

C-Crap…

– Crash!

But Lena was unscathed by the sword.

When the fallen Lena squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them, Leo’s sword was buried in the ground next to her thigh. It was thrust in so hard it was even vibrating, successfully blocking Deros’s sword.

Lena’s legs were safe beneath Leo’s sword.

“For now, you need to die.”

After pushing Katrina’s sword away, Leo approached and stared down Deros, sword in hand.