Glen had first met Erdin in his Previous Life shortly after House Repent fell.
Repen City had been surrounded by Orcs, and most of his family had been slaughtered. He had barely escaped, only to lose his younger sibling along the way.
Sharn Castle was where he had arrived after somehow managing to stay alive, and it was there that he had first met her.
Their first encounter had not been particularly pleasant.
No, in truth, it had been the worst possible encounter.
“The Eldest Young Master of House Repent?”
“That is correct.”
“How do you still have the gall to remain alive?”
“…What?”
At the time, she had lost both of her brothers and her father in the defensive battle.
Thus, the gaze she directed at Glen was filled with regret, anger, sorrow, and countless other emotions.
However, Glen had been in much the same situation.
“The entire duchy is burning because of your family. Yet it seems you still wish to live? Apparently, you do not possess even the slightest sense of shame.”
“You lowborn wench! How dare you speak that way before me!”
They had been like two hedgehogs with every quill raised.
The slightest pretext would have been enough to make either of them explode, and they continued to clash frequently afterward.
Absurdly enough, despite having the Orcs as a clear common enemy, the two of them even fought duels within the castle.
Erdin won twice, while Glen won once.
Fortunately, they became considerably less hostile after that.
Not long afterward, the Orcs stormed the castle, and they were plunged into one life-or-death battle after another.
The two of them survived by sheer luck and eventually became comrades-in-arms.
That had only been possible because their anger had been little more than an outlet.
Their grief over losing their families, their contempt for their own helplessness, and their rage had simply found a target in each other.
However, as the situation continued to deteriorate, Glen decided to escape and urged Erdin to come with him.
She steadfastly refused, no matter how many times he tried to persuade her.
“Do you truly intend to die here?”
“Of course. This is my home and my family’s seat. Where else would I go?”
“If you wished to die so badly, why did you fight so desperately to survive?”
“Because I want to do my utmost with the life I have.”
What a stubborn fool.
Was this how Father felt whenever he looked at me?
“…Haa.”
“And who exactly is worrying about whom right now? You should focus on escaping alive yourself. You are weaker than I am, after all.”
“Why are you bringing that up now?”
“Why are you going so far to persuade me, Young Master? …Do you perhaps have feelings for me?”
“…Have you been drinking in the middle of the day?”
Glen frowned at the abrupt question.
However, Erdin raised one corner of her mouth as though she found his reaction ridiculous.
“Did you truly believe I would not notice? You stare at me so openly at every opportunity.”
“I-I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Let me make myself perfectly clear. You are not my type, Young Master. Your appearance might be acceptable, but… I have little interest in men who do nothing but wag their tongues.”
“Are you trying to pick a fight? Tsk. It seems I only brought trouble upon myself by worrying about you.”
“…Then do not harbor any foolish attachment to me.”
“Hmph. I have no intention of doing so.”
Glen irritably turned his back and began walking away.
A quiet voice followed him.
“Farewell, Young Master Glen.”
“…I hope we meet again, Dame Erdin.”
That was the last time they saw each other.
Afterward, all news of Erdin ceased, and Glen crossed into the Empire and became the Scourge of the Empire.
***
Glen briefly recalled the memories of his Previous Life.
Come to think of it, the look in Erdin’s eyes now was similar to the one she had worn when they first met.
“Are you ready?”
After all those long years, he was about to spar with her in this place once again.
For some reason, he could not suppress a smile.
“Of course. I am always ready.”
“…You seem remarkably confident. I sincerely hope you do not regret it.”
Nedain served as the Referee.
He was the most skilled knight present.
Once the simple rules had been explained, the sparring match finally began.
“…Hup!”
As though she had no need for a probing exchange, Erdin immediately charged at Glen.
She was certainly fast, but not so fast that he could not respond.
CLANG—! CLASH!
Their blunt swords collided as they exchanged several attacks and defenses.
When every strike of Erdin’s decisive opening assault was blocked, she became inwardly flustered.
Her opponent was nowhere near as weak as she had expected.
Glen, too, was admiring her skill.
‘I knew she was talented, but I never imagined she would already be this skilled at her age.’
He had intended to recruit her from the beginning.
After all, he had known since his Previous Life that she possessed remarkable talent.
Now that he had seen her again, however, he realized that “remarkable” did not begin to describe her.
She was simply a genius.
Given sufficient time and proper training, she might well become another Sword Master of the North.
Of course, that did not make her a match for Glen, who had crossed swords with the Empire’s Sword Masters in his Previous Life.
The moment their blades collided again, Glen caught Erdin’s blade against his crossguard and forced it upward. At the same time, he lightly hooked her foot and broke her stance.
“Ugh!”
Erdin swiftly regained her balance, but Glen’s blade had already stopped beside her neck.
“Will you continue?
“…Ugh, I lost.”
She bit her lip, unwilling to admit defeat.
Just as Glen withdrew his sword and turned toward Nedain, she spoke again.
“Let us do it once more.”
“Hm?”
Glen looked back at her.
“…Shall we make it the best of three?”
“Well… very well.”
She looked as though she would draw her sword and charge at him immediately if he refused.
Glen smiled faintly at the fire blazing in her eyes, and they began another match.
Naturally, Glen won again.
This time, he overwhelmed her with sheer brute force from the very beginning before subduing her in a grapple.
He intended to break her fighting spirit completely.
“Again.”
“…Ha ha!”
Erdin rose from the ground and requested another match without the slightest change in her expression. Glen accepted once more.
They continued to spar several more times, and Erdin lost every match.
Intending to put an end to it, Glen finished the final bout by disarming her.
“Hmm, Dame Erdin? I believe this is enough.”
“…No, not yet… More.”
She looked utterly devastated and was about to mutter something else when a stern-faced knight approached.
He was a member of the Northshine Knights.
“Dame Erdin. The Count says that you have done enough and should stop now. He still has matters to discuss with Young Master Glen…”
Erdin bit her lip again.
She deliberately raised her face toward the sky to stop the tears gathering in her eyes before looking back at Glen.
“…I lost.”
“It was a good match.”
Barely acknowledging his answer, Erdin walked away with a hollow expression.
The sight reminded Glen of something.
‘She was fiercely competitive, wasn’t she?”
Erdin’s competitive spirit was every bit as exceptional as her talent with the sword.
In fact, it was extraordinary.
***
After resting briefly, Glen returned to the Count’s office.
“Ha ha, my apologies. My daughter has always been fiercely competitive….”
“It is quite all right. It was a good match for me as well.”
“For something you call a good match… it was remarkably one-sided.”
“I was simply fortunate.”
As the head of a knightly house, the Count was also well versed in swordsmanship.
Although he did not possess talent as exceptional as his daughter’s, he had a discerning eye.
From what he had seen, the match had certainly not been decided by luck.
One side had controlled the flow of the battle from the very beginning and maintained that control until the end.
“In any case, I had no idea that you possessed such skill, Young Master. I believe you are a year younger than Erdin. This is truly astonishing.”
“You flatter me. And I do not say this sarcastically, but Dame Erdin is truly an exceptionally talented individual. I can personally vouch for that.”
The Count experienced a complicated mixture of emotions.
Was Glen simply boasting about himself indirectly?
Or was he genuinely praising Erdin?
The seriousness of his expression made it even harder to tell.
“…I appreciate you saying so.”
“Is Dame Erdin all right? I did not see her on my way here.”
“As I mentioned, she is an extremely competitive child. We will probably have to leave her alone for a while. It has been a long time since I last saw her like that.”
As he watched Glen speak about his daughter with such a serious expression, a certain suspicion crossed the Count’s mind.
However, he soon chuckled and dismissed the thought.
“Then shall we discuss the operation against the Red Hood that you mentioned earlier?”
“Ah, could you summon Sir Nedain as well? I believe he should hear this with us.”
“Very well.”
They might have been nothing more than a group of bandits, but they were not opponents to be taken lightly.
The Red Hood had earned their infamy for good reason.
A short while later, Nedain arrived at the office.
The discussion of the operation continued even after the sun had set.
***
It was infuriating.
It was unbearably infuriating.
WHOOSH—! WHOOSH—!
“Haa… Haa….”
Erdin swung her sword with all her strength.
At the same time, she replayed the day’s sparring matches in her mind.
GRIND.
Her teeth ground together involuntarily.
It had been a defeat—a complete and absolute defeat that left no room for doubt.
At first, she had refused to accept it.
She had thought she had lost simply because of bad luck.
However, after losing seven times in a row, even she had no choice but to acknowledge the truth.
Her opponent was superior to her.
‘Why?’
They were both Full Knights.
Moreover, he had less experience than she did and was younger than her.
He was even a man burdened with countless scandals, someone everyone had called a Good-for-Nothing Son.
He was someone she had secretly looked down upon, someone in whom she had never possessed the slightest interest.
Yet she had lost.
Worse still, she had been utterly and completely crushed.
She had never met another knight her age who surpassed her.
Thus, this was the first time she had ever experienced such a feeling.
The gulf between them had been so vast that she could not even imagine reaching him.
‘Damn it.’
Why did I lose? Why in the world? Is that bastard truly more talented than I am?
That man who was once called a damned Good-for-Nothing Son?
…Or is it because I am a woman after all?
She did not know.
Questions with no answers began to fill her mind.
Her body continued swinging the sword.
She felt something trickling down her cheeks, but it did not matter.
No one else would be here at such an early hour before dawn.
“Greetings.”
“Who…!”
The quietly spoken voice startled her so badly that she nearly jumped.
She hurriedly wiped her eyes and looked around.
It was him.
Ron Glen Repent.
Erdin’s expression gradually hardened.
“….”
“You are certainly diligent, training so early in the morning.”
The man continued making pointless conversation with an awkward expression.
Erdin bit her lip before finally speaking.
“…Have you come to mock me?”
“No. I have no such hobby. I merely… wished to speak with you.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Hmm. Then would you listen to what I have to say?”
“No.”
Why was he being so persistent?
The occasional smiles he gave her were irritating as well.
…Had he perhaps come to make advances toward her?
Just as that suspicion crossed her mind, he spoke.
“No, simply listen. I won, and you are the loser.”
“Ugh….”
Her frustration surged once more.
However, she was more furious with herself than with him.
In truth, that was still the case.
She had been the one who had dismissed and looked down upon him based solely on rumors.
Then she had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the very person she had scorned.
She simply could not accept that fact.
Shame, resentment, bewilderment, and countless other emotions surged within her.
Whether he knew what she was feeling or not, the man before her merely smiled.
…He is insufferable.
“You seem very frustrated. Am I right? Those are not the eyes of someone who has accepted defeat.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Her irritation flared.
She did not know precisely why, and that only made her angrier.
“I did not come here because I wished to torment you. I came to offer advice as someone who crossed swords with you. However, if you maintain that attitude, my advice will sound like nothing more than irritating mockery. Am I wrong?”
“….”
She felt as though he had struck directly at the heart of the matter.
Why did she hate this man so much in the first place?
No, did she truly hate him?
Was it simply because he had defeated her?
Was she truly so petty?
Erdin released a long sigh.
Once she had calmed herself somewhat, she spoke again.
“Please continue.”
“Good. Dame Erdin—a knight.”
…After mocking me all day for being a woman, why is he deliberately saying that now?
“…Are you making fun of me?”
“No. Hmm… Yes, I should apologize for that first. I apologize for the things I said to you earlier today. I did not mean them. They were merely a means of provoking you.”
“….”
“You look as though you cannot believe me at all. I saw for myself how sincerely you devote yourself to the sword, so I understand it perfectly well. What significance could gender possibly hold to one who walks the Path of the Sword?”
She still found him difficult to trust.
However, he did not appear to be lying….
He was a man whose true intentions she could not discern at all.
What was he planning?
“Will you accept my apology?”
“Very well.”
She nodded reluctantly.
“Good. Then, although I would hardly call this compensation…”
The man slowly walked toward the center of the training grounds.
He then drew the sword hanging at his waist.
It was a Steel Sword, its sharpened blade gleaming—not one of the blunt practice swords used for sparring.
“Let us spar once more. This time, with our lives at stake.”
The man looked at her with a quiet smile.
His red hair shimmered beneath the moonlight before dawn.
For some reason, Erdin felt as though this were a demon’s temptation.
As though bewitched, she drew her own Steel Sword without realizing it and stepped forward.