Roan was dumbfounded. He truly did not care who commanded the troops. In fact, he would rather Adeline take command.
There were several reasons for that.
First, Adeline knew the terrain of this region far better than Roan did. It was obvious which would be superior: a strategy devised by someone familiar with the terrain, or one devised by someone who knew nothing about it.
Second, Adeline was more skilled at commanding troops. Roan searched his memories, but he possessed no particular talent for leading an army. Adeline, on the other hand, was Dragonbane's only knight, so she was bound to have extensive command experience.
Lastly, Adeline had earned the soldiers' trust. From the territorial soldiers' perspective, it was clearly far more reassuring to follow the command of a trusted knight than the orders of an unfamiliar outsider.
If Roan took command, there was a high chance that the soldiers would not properly follow his orders. That was a serious problem that could determine victory or defeat in war.
Therefore, Roan concluded that Adeline was the most suitable person to command the troops.
“Sir Adeline, I have absolutely no objection to you commanding the troops. I mean that sincerely.”
And so Roan spoke in an earnest voice.
Adeline's reaction, however, was different from what Roan expected. She looked at him as though moved, then shook her head and said,
“Sir Roan··· I appreciate your offer, but I cannot accept it that way. I also have my pride as a knight. I cannot simply accept command authority that was yielded to me. How about we determine who should command by fairly testing our abilities against one another? Would deciding it through a duel not be more in keeping with chivalry?”
At this point, Roan could no longer refuse Adeline's proposal.
In the end, he nodded in agreement.
“Tsk, very well. Let us do as you wish, Sir Adeline.”
Since things had come to this, Roan decided to look at it positively.
In truth, he had never once fought another knight in a one-on-one duel. Because of that, a duel with Adeline would be a valuable experience for him in many ways.
‘Besides, I've also been wondering whether [Half-Ogre Strength] would be effective against a knight.’
For that reason, Roan had no intention whatsoever of deliberately losing to Adeline.
Deliberately throwing a duel would be a grave insult to the opponent, and if Roan did such a thing, there would be little for him to gain from the duel in the first place. If he wanted to gain as much as possible from his duel with Adeline, he had to fight with everything he had.
‘But if I actually win, things could become complicated···’
Roan fell into thought for a moment.
But soon, he shrugged.
It would not be too late to worry about that after he won. For now, he needed to focus on the duel.
“Thank you, Sir Roan. Then when would you like to hold the duel?”
“Is there any need to drag this out? Let us begin right now.”
He did not want to duel Adeline in front of other people.
If, by some chance, he lost to her in an embarrassing fashion, he would be utterly humiliated.
“You appeared to be training until just a moment ago··· Are you sure you are all right?”
“It does not matter. I have already recovered sufficiently.”
At Roan's words, Adeline nodded.
A short while later, the two stood facing each other in a wide clearing.
“I am Roan Brighton. It is an honor to take part in this contest.”
Roan greeted her with proper formality.
“I am Adeline. It is also a great honor for me to cross blades with you, Sir Roan. In accordance with chivalry, I shall face you fairly and honorably.”
Adeline responded courteously as well.
Duels between knights were always fought with real blades.
Perhaps because of that, even though the actual contest had not yet begun, tension already filled the space between them. Beneath the sunset sky, the shadows of the two knights stretched long across the ground.
“···Hah!”
Then, after watching each other carefully, the two shouted at the same time and charged.
At last, the duel between the two knights with real swords had begun.
* * *
“Hah!”
Adeline kicked off the ground and darted forward.
Her primary weapon was a rapier, which was lighter and more agile than an ordinary sword. Her armor was therefore much lighter than that of most knights, and her movements were correspondingly more nimble.
‘On the other hand, Sir Roan seemed to favor a heavy longsword. If I want to defeat him, I have to overwhelm him with speed!’
Thinking that, Adeline thrust her rapier toward Roan's chest.
Its speed was like a flash of light.
‘Good! At this speed···!’
Adeline was certain the attack would succeed.
Roan's longsword was still positioned below his chest. Considering the difference in weight between a longsword and a rapier, even if he raised his longsword now, it should have been difficult for him to block her attack.
CLANG—!
‘···Huh?’
But at that moment, something unexpected happened.
Contrary to her expectations, Roan raised his longsword to chest height in that brief instant and perfectly blocked her attack.
‘Could it be··· a longsword with a deeply carved fuller?’
A fuller was a groove running down the center of a blade, a technique used to reduce a sword's weight while maintaining its strength.
But when Adeline examined Roan's longsword more closely, she saw no particular groove.
If anything, his sword looked far heavier than an ordinary longsword.
Even its thickness defied common sense. It looked roughly 2.5 times thicker than a normal longsword.
‘T-Then··· that means Sir Roan's strength is far beyond what I imagined···!’
Adeline felt the tension within her spike sharply.
Cold sweat ran down her back.
A rapier's greatest advantage was its speed.
But if Roan could wield a heavy longsword at a speed comparable to a rapier, that advantage would become meaningless.
‘I need to fall back first! I need a new strategy.’
For now, she had to find a different approach.
No matter how she thought about it, she did not believe she could defeat Roan through speed alone.
THUD—!
But Roan gave her no room to do so.
The instant Adeline stepped back, Roan charged toward her with ferocious momentum.
His speed was almost unbelievable.
When Roan kicked off the ground, his force was so great that a deep gouge was left behind.
‘G-Good heavens!’
Adeline stared in shock and hurriedly raised her rapier.
She intended to block Roan's attack.
CLAAANG—!
“···!”
But the instant Roan's sword collided with Adeline's, her rapier shattered into pieces.
“Aaaah!”
Adeline screamed in shock.
But it did not end there.
At the same moment her sword broke, a tremendous shockwave slammed into Adeline.
Her body was hurled backward in an instant as though she had been fired from a ‘Magic Cannon.’
The impact was so intense that Adeline nearly lost consciousness.
CRASH—! THUD—! THUD—!
Her body, sent flying through the air, soon slammed mercilessly into the ground.
Her back struck first, and the impact knocked the breath from her lungs.
“Cough!”
“···S-Sir Adeline!”
At the sight, Roan hurriedly ran toward her.
His face was filled with bewilderment.
In truth, Roan himself was quite flustered.
After all, he had not even used half of his full strength in the duel against Adeline.
‘And I didn't even use any basic sword technique··· Wait, can a knight really be this weak? How did the match end this easily?’
Roan scratched the back of his head as he looked at Adeline.
But when he saw how battered she was, he began to think that perhaps Adeline was not weak at all.
Maybe he was simply too strong.
‘Half-Ogre Strength···! It really was an incredible skill.’
Only then did Roan truly realize just how powerful the first skill he had obtained actually was.
“Ugh···!”
At that moment, Adeline groaned and pushed herself upright.
Roan quickly helped support her.
“Sir Adeline, are you all right?”
Roan asked worriedly.
Adeline answered with difficulty.
“I-I'm all right, Sir Roan.”
“My apologies. Had I known this would happen, I should have controlled my strength better···.”
As Roan trailed off, Adeline asked in shock,
“D-Do you mean that attack just now was not your full strength?”
“Hmm? No, well, that is···.”
“Hah··· Sir Roan, you truly are an extraordinary knight. I have never met a knight this strong before.”
Adeline looked up at Roan in admiration.
She meant every word.
Adeline truly believed Roan was an exceptional knight.
“I concede defeat. Phew··· As expected, I cannot even compare to you, Sir Roan. As promised, I shall hand command authority over to you.”
Adeline spoke with a bitter smile.
But at that very moment, Roan spoke with a serious expression.
“Sir Adeline, please wait a moment. I have something to say about that.”
“Yes?”
“Although I won the duel, I still believe it would be best for you to retain command of the troops.”
“Wait, Sir Roan. That is···!”
At Roan's words, Adeline's face flushed red in an instant.
A promise between knights was sacred.
Changing his word like this was no different from insulting her, even if he was doing it out of consideration for her.
“Do not misunderstand me, Sir Adeline. I am not saying this merely out of consideration.”
But at Roan's next words, Adeline suppressed her anger.
Once she fell silent, Roan continued.
“In terms of individual martial ability, it is true that I am superior to you. But war is not fought alone. In war, you possess major advantages that I do not have. Extensive knowledge of this region's terrain, abundant command experience, and the soldiers' deep trust···! Considering all of that, you are the most suitable person to command the troops.”
“···!”
Adeline's eyes widened at Roan's words.
She had never dreamed that he held her in such high regard.
‘Sir Roan···!’
Perhaps because of that, Adeline suddenly felt her eyes grow hot.
In truth, as a female knight born a commoner, she had suffered countless instances of discrimination and prejudice throughout her life.
Because of that, she had unknowingly developed an inferiority complex and had always struggled desperately to prove her abilities.
Her duel with Roan had, in fact, also begun from her desire to have him acknowledge her through skill.
She had not wanted to obtain command authority through something like ‘consideration for a woman.’
But unexpectedly, after hearing Roan's explanation, she realized that such a thought had never crossed his mind from the very beginning.
He had been thinking only about winning the war.
After calmly analyzing the situation, he had simply concluded that allowing Adeline to command the troops would give them a higher chance of victory.
‘That's right··· Sir Roan acknowledged me as a knight from the very beginning, not as a woman···! And I didn't even realize it···!’
Adeline suddenly felt deeply ashamed.
If there had been a mouse hole nearby, she would have wanted to crawl into it and hide.
“···Sir Adeline? Are you all right?”
When Adeline remained silent with her face flushed, Roan asked with concern in his eyes.
Only then did she come back to her senses and hurriedly answer.
“Yes, I am all right, Sir Roan. And··· I am truly sorry for misunderstanding you until now. I had no idea that you thought so highly of me.”
“No. I am the one who should apologize. Had I known this would happen, I should have explained much earlier why I yielded command authority to you.”
A brief silence followed.
Then Roan cautiously asked again,
“So, what will you do? Will you continue to take command?”
Adeline nodded with a resolute expression.
“Yes, I will, Sir Roan. I will definitely repay your trust!”
Only then was Roan able to relax.
“Thank you.”
“···!”
When Roan smiled brightly, Adeline suddenly felt a powerful thrill run through her.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Her heart abruptly began pounding violently.
But Adeline could not understand why it was beating so hard.
It was the first time in her life she had ever felt anything like this.
Adeline tried to ignore the emotion, but it was not easy.
She found her gaze being drawn again and again to Roan's smile.