Even though I got sidetracked and lost some time, fighting in the battle at the County of Bladers hadn't turned out half bad.
I'd scored an unexpected windfall and even been promoted to the rank of Centurion.
Once I get back to my hometown, my father is sure to be thrilled.
Because my father holds the rank of Centurion at the lord's castle, too.
If I try acting like his equal now that we're both Centurions, will he beat the tar out of me?
"..."
Better drop that idea.
No need to risk my life over a joke.
Even with mana built up inside my body now, I still can't picture myself beating my father.
Ten years ago... no, actually a year and a half ago, on the very day I left for the Demon Realm expedition, I still vividly remember getting beaten to a pulp in a spar with my father without even managing to put up a fight.
My father had always been freakishly strong.
Even now that I've built up knight-level strength, if I sparred with my father... who knows?
Besides, I'm not really in a position to joke around.
Since I'm carrying heavy news back home with me.
I have to inform the lord's castle that our lord, who served as the supreme commander of the Demon Realm expeditionary army, fell in battle.
It does feel a little strange, though.
Because for nearly five years in the Demon Realm, we had addressed him as 'His Excellency the Count.'
Why was that strange?
Because back here in the human world, his title was still Baron.
As the nobles from other kingdoms who had joined the expeditionary force died off one by one, our lord had been elevated to the title of Count by acclamation.
With the backing of the remaining knights and soldiers, he had been granted a title befitting the position of supreme commander.
Now that I was back in the Human Realm, it meant I had to go back to calling the commander Baron or My Lord.
Why had our lord joined the Demon Realm expedition in person in the first place?
Because our territory was dirt-poor to the point of tears, without a single proper knight to send in his stead.
Left with no other choice, Baron Silverstone, whose personal martial prowess was outstanding, had been forced to go himself.
Though there were also rumors that he'd been screwed over by dirty behind-the-scenes maneuvering from a neighboring lord.
In any case,
I decided to set complicated thoughts aside for now.
Right now, what matters most is that I'm returning home alive.
I had deliberately bought a fine horse and was riding it home.
Perhaps because Count Bladers maintained both a knightly order and mounted archers, the horse market in his territory was well developed, making the purchase easy.
Bought for the princely sum of 12 gold, this warhorse bred exclusively for knights was the absolute picture of 'dashing.'
I wore a breastplate marking my status as a soldier, and I'd packed a bow along with a close-combat lance for mounted fighting.
Because I had zero desire to get dragged into pointless trouble on the road.
Riding around in my magic armor full-time would've made avoiding trouble even easier, sure, but that came with its own inconveniences.
Since I'd have to take it off every time I ate or rested anyway.
"Hehehe..."
I still had a long way to go, yet I was in high spirits.
Just picturing myself riding back into my hometown looking this sharp kept making me bounce in the saddle.
Just then,
"?"
Off in the distance, down a sloped forest road, I spotted someone who was clearly a woman running frantically this way.
Chasing right behind her was a man dressed in beast hides, gripping a weapon in his hand.
Having spotted me on horseback, the woman ran with every last ounce of strength she had.
"Hah!"
I gave my horse's flanks a light kick.
Walking along at a leisurely trot until now, my trusty steed 'Cruder' (named after an obnoxious bastard of a knight who used to torment me in the Demon Realm) broke into a powerful gallop.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD...
"Help me! Please save me!"
Running straight toward me, the woman screamed through a face streaked with tears.
"...!"
Ah!
She was a middle-aged auntie.
Not that I'd been expecting some young, drop-dead gorgeous maiden or anything.
I galloped right past the woman without slowing down.
Seeing me charge toward him, the man dressed in beast hides raised both hands into the air as if to signal surrender.
"I am a brother of Mount Blackspine..."
Contrary to his posture of surrender, he shouted in a bold, arrogant voice.
I couldn't care less who he is.
One look at his outfit and his needlessly vicious-looking weapon made it obvious he was a bandit.
Swinging Dark Reaper as I rode past, I lopped off the head of the bandit trying to intimidate me by dropping his gang's name.
SHHK—!
And since he'd needlessly raised his hands in the air, his right arm went flying as a bonus.
"Pant, pant! Soldier, sir!"
Turning back around, the middle-aged woman who had been fleeing called out to me.
Waiting for her to catch up on foot looked like it would take forever.
"I will go ahead and help them! Do not worry!"
Shouting back to the approaching woman, I kept galloping up the hill.
This was something I'd really wanted to try.
Back in the Demon Realm, I'd listened to the knights brag about their heroic exploits until my ears were calloused.
Naturally, I had put it right on my wish list.
Showing up at a moment of desperate crisis when people are surrounded by bandits, saving them in dashing style, and basking in their cheers.
Having a knockout beauty among the people I rescued would've been even better, sure, but I was still in a state of post-indulgence clarity after working so hard on my wish list at the bathhouse.
I decided to treat this purely as crossing off another item on my wish list.
"Hyaaah!"
I kicked Cruder's flanks once more.
Remembering the face of the knight who used to torment me in the Demon Realm made me kick a little harder than necessary, though I'm sure that was just my imagination.
Every bit as strong as his massive frame suggested, Cruder tore up the hill in an instant despite carrying me and all my dangling gear.
He really earns his steep price tag.
"Whoa..."
Looks like I stepped right into deep shit.
Using six wagons as a makeshift barricade, roughly twenty mercenaries were tangled in a desperate melee with bandits.
Except the bandits easily numbered over sixty strong.
Does the advantage of being on horseback only last for a single charge here?
Fighting on horseback in the middle of a chaotic melee like that is a terrible choice.
Not that it matters in my current situation anyway.
Since I have zero intention of charging straight into the thick of them on horseback.
I gave the reins a light tug.
Sensing my intent, Cruder slowed his pace.
In the meantime, I sheathed Dark Reaper, took my bow in hand, and drew the bowstring.
Picking off bandits whose eyes were glued to the mercenaries was child's play.
TWANG—!
By the time I had loosed five arrows in rapid succession, the bandits finally noticed me and came charging over.
"Kill that son of a bitch first!"
"A soldier? Is it a subjugation force?!"
"Cut the bullshit about a subjugation force! Can't you see he's charging in all by himself?!"
"Drag him off that horse!"
Eyes bloodshot with rage, the bandits bellowed and sprinted toward me.
Acting like loyal comrades, they looked determined to avenge the bandits I'd just pincushioned with arrows.
Shooting any more arrows was pointless now.
I hefted the mounted lance I'd brought along as a souvenir from the County of Bladers.
Since it was a lance meant for close-quarters skirmishing, it wasn't all that long.
That was the exact reason I'd given up on fighting from horseback.
Made as a standard infantry sidearm, Dark Reaper was absurdly short for mounted combat, too.
I leaped lightly off my horse.
"What's with this bastard? He's dismounting on his own?"
Whether the bandits found it baffling or not, I drove the lance straight through the torso of the first bandit sprinting at me.
THUNK—!
Impaling the bandit with the lance to absorb the initial impact, I let go and drew Dark Reaper, sweeping it horizontally in the same motion.
In a single breath, I sliced open the torso and neck of two more bandits charging in with crude blades.
These bastards clearly hadn't even gone through basic combat training.
Trash who relied purely on numbers to rob travelers crossing the mountain pass.
Even right now, the northern border is gasping for every soldier it can get, and these bastards are pulling crap like this!
"Diiie!"
Even after watching three of his buddies get slaughtered without landing a scratch, the bandit running right behind them roared and thrust a spear at me.
Sorry, but getting killed isn't on my wish list.
Tilting my head aside to let the spearhead slip past, I stepped a pace closer.
SHUNK—!
I buried Dark Reaper's blade deep into my opponent's gut.
When outnumbered like this, burying your weapon deep into a body is normally a move you should never make.
Because the enemy's body essentially traps your blade in place.
Still, it's fine.
Since I have no intention of standing still to fight them anyway.
Gripping Dark Reaper with both hands, I spun my body right around.
"Gah!"
Unable to even let out a breath from the shock of Dark Reaper plunging into his belly, the bandit let out a wheezing gasp like air escaping a punctured bellows.
Because as I spun around, I ripped Dark Reaper sideways across his torso and wrenched it free at the same time.
From the sliced-open side of the bandit's waist, his intestines burst out.
Snatching the spear from the collapsing bastard's grip, I timed the end of my spin and hurled it straight ahead.
THWACK—!
Caked in rust from neglect, the spearhead punched clean through the chest of another bandit lunging at me.
He had practically impaled himself on the flying spear.
Releasing the spear shaft, I lunged at the next bastard in line.
A bandit coming at me with a dagger boasting a thirty-centimeter blade.
Twisting my upper body slightly to slip past his thrust, I clamped his weapon arm tight under my armpit.
"You son of a..."
Unlike the punks before him, this bastard had some grit.
Seeing how he didn't lose his nerve even with his arm trapped.
Keeping my right arm wrapped around his elbow joint, I wrenched my left arm straight upward against his forearm.
CRACK—!
"Kyaaaargh!"
He shrieked in agony as his elbow joint dislocated backward.
I slammed my helmeted forehead straight into his face. Because the breath blasting out of the screaming bandit's mouth smelled like something had crawled in there and died.
CRUNCH—!
The sensation of his facial bones caving in traveled right through my helmet.
He's dead for sure.
I caught the dagger he dropped in my left hand.
Then I headed straight for the main pack of bandits.
Trusting their buddies to handle me, not a single one of them was looking back.
They were completely focused on the mercenaries holding them off with shields and swords in front of the wagons.
What thoughtful bastards!
The distance between us was ten meters at most.
In three or four strides, I closed right in behind the bandits who were hanging back and only pretending to fight with their backs turned to me.
Only then did one of the bandits glance over his shoulder.
SHHK—!
As a reward for his situational awareness, I lopped his head off first.
With the dagger in my left hand, I stabbed another bandit in the back, and with Dark Reaper in my right, I split the skull of a bastard flinching backward in shock.
Then, I poured mana into the bracelet on my left wrist.
CLATTER-CLINK—!
SNAP-CLANG—!
The side buckles of the standard-issue infantry breastplate I was wearing burst apart.
Unable to withstand the outward pressure of the expanding magic armor, the hooked clasps had snapped right off.
"A k-knight! A knight is here!"
"It's magic armor!"
Seeing me summon magic armor over my body, several bandits shrieked in terror.
No surprise there.
Being able to don magic armor meant I was a genuine, mana-wielding knight.
Spinning like a top, I swept Dark Reaper in a wide arc.
SHRRRRK—!
Caught in the arc of Dark Reaper's Mana Blade, the torsos of the surrounding bandits were sheared clean in two.
Fountains of blood erupted all at once, drenching my armor in crimson.
Less than ten days had passed since I left the battlefield in the north.
The instant hot red blood splashed across my body, a fierce exhilaration surged up inside me.
My heart hammered violently, and every detail of my surroundings registered with crystal-clear speed.
Shoving the collapsing bodies aside, I plowed deeper into the pack of bandits.
To cut down the bastard who had just locked eyes with me.
Unlike the rest of these rabble,
Even though my sudden appearance in magic armor had clearly startled him, there wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes.
Which meant he was the number-one target I needed to kill first.
"Block him!"
Keeping his longsword leveled to check my advance, the bastard barked an order.
Showing that not every bandit here was an amateur, two men flanking him swung their longswords at me in unison at his command.
They were definitely on a different level from the clumsy thugs I'd cut down earlier.
One aimed for my head, while the other aimed for my waist.
What was more, a faint Mana Blade clung to the edges of both their longswords.
If I let those strikes land, it wouldn't end with a simple 'Ouch!'
Still,
My body had gone through fights far worse than this until I was sick of them just days ago.
With the dagger in my left hand and Dark Reaper in my right, I parried both bandits' strikes at once.
Almost simultaneously with the parry, I snapped the toe of my boot into one bandit's shin.
"Aaaargh!"
The bandit I'd kicked let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Because a five-centimeter spike jutted out from the toe of my magic armor's sabaton—the metal boot encasing my foot.
The shin I'd kicked had to be shattered straight through the bone.
Without missing a beat, I lopped off the screaming bandit's head and sidestepped a single pace.
WHOOSH—!
"You son of a bitch, how dare you!"
Eyes wide with fury, the other bandit lunged at me.
Give me a break.
Did a lowly bandit seriously just shout 'how dare you' at me?
'How dare you'?!
Parrying his longsword with my left-hand dagger, I slashed upward with Dark Reaper.
Raking diagonally from the bottom of his chin to the tip of his eyebrow, my blade flashed skyward.
"!"
A prickling sense of danger stabbed right between my eyebrows, and I hurled myself sideways at once.
SHHHK—!
A vicious whistle of cleaved air tore past right where I'd been standing.
Rolling once across the dirt to recover my footing, I spotted a pair of legs right in front of me.
I slashed first and asked questions later.
"Aaaargh!"
Both legs severed at the shins, a bandit clutching a battleaxe in both hands collapsed to the dirt screaming.
He must have been trying to bring that axe crashing down on me while I was dealing with the other two.
Slashing the screaming bandit's throat with my dagger, I rose and turned around.
Standing there was the leader who had caught my eye earlier, glaring at me with bitter frustration.
Just from the way he leveled the tip of a longsword coated in a fairly distinct Mana Blade at me, he was clearly no ordinary bandit.
"Don't tell me you used to be a knight?"
"Nonsense! I am the ruler of the Blackspine Mountains, the Bandit King Hamelt!"
Standing in a textbook knightly swordsmanship stance that anyone with eyes could recognize, he insisted he was a 'Bandit King.'
Well, isn't this getting interesting.
"Look behind you, bastard."
"Where do you get off trying a cheap trick like that?!"
"Still doubting me, bastard? Almost all of your men are dead, and you've barely got anyone left standing."
I flashed him a gentle smile behind my visor.
Self-proclaimed Bandit King Hamelt glanced over his shoulder.
I hurled Dark Reaper straight at his chest.
WHOOSH, FWSSH—!
Sensing the whistle of the flying blade, the bastard whipped his head back around in alarm and knocked Dark Reaper out of the air.
By then, I had already closed right into his chest, driving my dagger into his thigh and then straight into his heart in virtually the same breath.
"Cowardly..."
"Of course it was a lie, you bastard."
Isn't the idiot who falls for it the real fool here?
I dragged the dagger buried in his chest straight downward.
CRRRACK—!