Light collapsed where he stood after expending every last ounce of his strength.
The demon belatedly staunched its wound and released a furious torrent of blood.
“You wretched vermin… Let the blood swallow you whole!”
As though to mock him, blood hardened into blades and shot toward his throat.
At the same moment, Joshua kicked off the ground.
He forced his way through the blood surrounding him, enduring excruciating pain as it tore into his body.
Upon reaching Light, Joshua cut down the attack aimed at him.
“J-Joshua!”
“Even if my entire body melts away, I must raise my sword when there is someone I have to protect. Is that not so, Instructor?”
Reinforcements would arrive soon.
Until then, Joshua would stake his life upon every exchange and protect the hope of the sword.
“You are scarcely more than a child, yet your courage is admirable.”
“I have taken more than ten thousand heads from your kind.”
“What an absurd boast.”
As though inviting him to prove it—
Blood exploded in every direction.
Joshua controlled the Dark Mana with the power of the Sacred Eye and shielded Light with his own body.
“COUGH!”
He had blocked only a single attack, yet it felt as though his organs had been crushed.
“I will take those delectable eyes for myself!”
Even so, Joshua’s grip upon his sword did not waver in the slightest.
‘O you who walk the Path of the Sword, you shall become one whom death and cold fear.’
Recalling the creed engraved upon his heart, Joshua swung his sword.
“H-How are you blocking all of them?”
Aura blazing with fierce conviction and will cut through the massive walls of blood one after another.
“I-Instructor Light! Applicant No. 49!”
At last, the reinforcements they had desperately awaited arrived.
“…I leave the rest to you.”
Joshua sighed in relief at the sight of human figures filling the air.
The two blood-soaked swordsmen peacefully closed their eyes.
It was an unfamiliar ceiling.
Yet it felt incomparably warm, almost like his own bedroom.
Bathed in warm sunlight, Joshua slowly raised his stiff body. Perhaps he had not fully recovered, for pain throbbed throughout him.
He instinctively surveyed his surroundings.
Judging from the numerous traces of priestly treatment, this was probably the infirmary within the Knight Order.
Serena was sleeping soundly with her face buried in the bedcovers.
‘…Has she been nursing me? For how long?’
Joshua recalled how his younger sister constantly complained about everything he did.
In the end, blood was still blood.
Filled with gratitude, he gently stroked her disheveled hair.
“Mm… Brother? Brother!”
“It seems I woke you. I apologize.”
“Is that what matters right now? How do you feel? Are you all right?”
“I am perfectly fine.”
Joshua gave her a faint smile.
Only then did Serena release a relieved sigh and unleash a barrage of scolding.
“I told you to be careful because of those disturbing rumors! What gave you the confidence to charge into a fight with a demon? Do you have any idea how worried Mother was? For an entire week, the only sound we heard from you was your breathing!”
Seven whole days.
That was how long Joshua had remained unconscious from the aftereffects of the demon’s attack.
“What happened… to the demon?”
“The Instructors swarmed it and barely managed to kill it.”
“And Light… I mean, the Instructor who was beside me?”
“He woke up yesterday. He asked me to thank you for him. Honestly, swordsmen… Every one of you is overflowing with far too much devotion to duty.”
Serena pouted and glared at the sword statue in the corner of the hospital room.
“Well… take this.”
It was a sheet of pure white stationery bearing Galahad’s crest.
Joshua broke the seal engraved with two swords crossed in the shape of an X.
The letter read as follows.
The examination was suspended following the demonic attack. Therefore, all applicants shall be evaluated based on the records submitted by their assigned Instructors.
Applicant No. 49, Joshua.
You led your teammates without discord and rescued them from danger on several occasions.
Furthermore, we especially recognize and appreciate your courage in confronting a demon and protecting Instructor Light.
Therefore, you are hereby granted the status of a Squire in the Galahad Knight Order.
The moment Joshua finished reading the final sentence, Serena set off a succession of small Fire Magic bursts.
“Congratulations. You passed the examination.”
“…Thank you.”
With that, Joshua had once again become a member of Galahad.
The sense of accomplishment he felt for the first time in so long was remarkably exhilarating.
“By the way, you had a lot of visitors while you were asleep. One woman even left medicinal herbs for you. She was incredibly beautiful.”
“…Why are you looking at me so coldly?”
“I certainly do not think that you are a shameless scoundrel who went to take an examination and spent the entire time flirting with women.”
“Of course not.”
“You fool. Do you not understand sarcasm?”
Her fist struck his bandaged head.
Had a priest not arrived at that exact moment and stopped her, Joshua might have spent another week bedridden.
After his condition was monitored for another two days, Joshua returned home.
Five days remained before the Induction Ceremony.
PLOP-PLOP―
“…You certainly produce an impressive amount.”
An earthy scent reached his nose.
It had become the familiar fragrance of his daily life.
Joshua cleared away the manure with an iron shovel and poured feed into the trough as usual.
NEIGH―
Seeing both horses swish their tails at once filled him with a modest sense of pride.
“You little knight, go bring out a horse.”
“I am not a knight yet.”
“Tsk. Do not talk back. If I say you are a knight, then you are a knight.”
Joshua had grown rather close to the Manager who had beaten him nearly to death on the first day of his reincarnation.
“…Very well. I shall have the white horse prepared for you today.”
“Prepared for me? Do you take me for some decrepit old man?”
Of course, the man remained as difficult as ever.
After finishing his work at the stable, Joshua submerged himself in the frozen stream.
During the weeklong Galahad examination and his life-or-death struggle against the demon, Joshua’s Core had grown considerably.
‘…The cold is becoming gentler.’
The day when he could wield blue Aura without the assistance of the Sacred Eye was not far away.
After some time, Joshua climbed back onto the bank and swung his wooden sword while naked.
One thousand thrusts.
One thousand slashes.
WHOOSH―!
A satisfied smile appeared upon his face at the noticeably heavier sound of the sword cutting through the air.
He remained unaware that someone was approaching.
“Ah, Brother! Seriously!”
“…I told you not to come here without warning.”
“You could simply stop this insane training!”
Joshua quickly dried himself and put on his clothes.
“Anyway… Mother said to come and eat. She made your favorite meat stew.”
“My mouth is already watering.”
As he was still at an age of rapid growth, his appetite was voracious.
Joshua reinforced his lower body with mana and raced home at full speed.
“Hey! Brother, wait for me!”
He easily outran Serena even after she used Flight Magic.
Their mother’s cooking was every bit as excellent as he had expected.
Joshua wanted every resident of Galahad’s territory to taste it at least once.
After finishing the joyful meal, Joshua remained at home instead of helping at the brothel as he usually did.
Following the previous incident, his mother had hired a Mercenary who had once worked as an Adventurer, so her safety should no longer be a concern.
“Serena.”
“Yes?”
“Would you teach me magic?”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“Y-You are finally going to abandon the sword!”
“That is not my intention. I realized that I must understand magic if I am to defeat demons.”
“Of course. Even after suffering like that, all you can think about is fighting demons again. Your brain must be made from a solid lump of iron.”
“Demons are the eternal enemies of knights. Please, Serena. Teach me about magic.”
Joshua dropped to his knees without hesitation and earnestly pleaded with her.
Flustered, Serena kicked him without thinking.
“You are embarrassing me! I was planning to teach you anyway.”
“…I am always grateful.”
That blow hurt nearly as much as being struck by the bear’s forepaw.
However, it was a price he could endure for the teachings of a genius Mage.
“First, do you know the source of magic?”
“Just as a swordsman possesses a Core in the Energy Center, a Mage possesses a Circle within the heart.”
“Correct. We classify our realms according to the number of Circles we possess. In other words, the area around the heart where the Circles reside is a Mage’s greatest weakness. Of course, I assume you already knew that much.”
Joshua nodded lightly.
Although they had been far fewer in number, Mages had existed in his previous life as well.
“About fifty years ago, magic began to be classified into five branches: Control, Enhancement, Healing, Detection, and the Special Branch, which encompasses everything else. I belong to the Control Branch, which specializes in precise manipulation.”
“Do you also use spells such as ‘Homing’?”
“Yes, although I mastered First-Circle spells like that when I was eight.”
Serena had surpassed Heria’s current level six years ago.
How much further would she grow in the future?
“Anyway… Through this detailed classification and research, magic was able to surpass the sword and advance rapidly. Now, here is a question. What was the most direct reason the sword fell behind magic?”
It was a painful subject no matter how often he heard it.
Joshua recalled the circumstances he had faced during the past month and considered his answer.
“…Efficiency, perhaps. Even the employees at the brothel accomplish everything with magic without leaving their seats.”
“Correct. There is also versatility. Unlike a sword, which can do little more than cut and thrust, magic can accomplish a vast range of things. Historically, swordsmen have repeatedly failed to counter the increasingly sophisticated tactics of Mages in battle.”
Joshua recalled the battle in which he had struggled against Jemar and Freya.
Without the experience of his previous life, they would have taken his Armband without him being able to resist.
“Do you understand now? Magic represents the flow of the age. Your insistence upon clinging to the sword is nothing more than pointless stubbornness.”
Joshua lowered his head despondently.
Was the sword truly meaningless in the Age of Magic?
To restore Galahad, did he have to abandon the very essence of Galahad?
Countless doubts weighed heavily upon his mind.
“…Still, no one knows what might happen. If you truly become a knight like Joshua, perhaps swordsmen will once again have a place in the world, even if it is not as prominent as before.”
“Are you trying to comfort me?”
“I do not like seeing you look dejected. It is disgusting.”
The girl stuck out her tongue.
“Thank you. I will engrave today’s lesson upon my heart and consider it deeply.”
“Good. That is all for today. Tomorrow, I will teach you about Elements, so bring a notebook.”
Until the day of the Induction Ceremony, Serena taught Joshua magic night and day.
Even though he recorded only the most important points, he filled three notebooks from cover to cover.
“I am giving you homework. Analyze five Mages from the Knight Order and write a report about them. If you put little effort into it, I will make you do it again.”
“I will remember.”
“Take care, Joshua. Please do not get hurt.”
“Yes, Mother.”
The long winter was ending, and spring was approaching.
With the weather considerably warmer, Joshua left for the Knight Order while his family saw him off.
The Training Hall’s earthen yard remained buried beneath snow, and the surrounding manors had lost all their former grandeur.
As Joshua sighed at the sight of the fallen house, familiar faces approached him.
“Oh, Leader! We heard that you had awakened!”
“I am truly glad that you recovered.”
“Alvan and Heria. It appears that both of you passed.”
“It was thanks to you, Leader.”
“Even so, fighting that demon was far too reckless.”
Joshua laughed off Heria’s rebuke and bumped fists with them one after another.
“I look forward to serving with you.”
Just then, Galev entered the Training Hall.
However, the moment the boy’s eyes met Joshua’s, he turned his head and pretended not to know him.
Joshua, who had been about to greet him warmly, awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
‘…Did something happen to the elf boy?’