Sword Master of a Fa Chapter 16 : Roll Them, and Roll Them Again (4)

Chapter 16: Roll Them, and Roll Them Again (4)

Although the first spot had been taken by Akun, it was not sothing unexpected.

Just as Deni was showing his enthusiasm and trying to climb the snow mountain again, a knight arrived at the training grounds.

“The next first-co slots are for two people.”

Pan, who conveyed to the knight exactly what he had said to Deni, wore a satisfied smile.

“Yes, Elder.”

“But today, it looks like the sun is rising in the west. I never thought you’d train properly.”

“Just think of it as

finding one interesting junior and feeling a bit of competitive spirit.”

The man who had briefly spoken with Pan fixed his gaze on Deni and grinned.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“I was just about to depart, Senior.”

“Junior, how about we make a bet? What do you think?”

Simply placing within the first arrivals was far too easy a task for the man.

The other knights likely hadn’t even reached the mountaintop yet.

He had already confird that while descending quickly.

At the man’s sudden proposal, Deni showed his wariness.

“……What kind of bet are you suggesting?”

“Whoever arrives at the training grounds first. If the junior wins, I’ll grant you one wish.”

“Then if you win, Senior, what is the price you desire?”

“The conditions should be the sa. If I win, the junior grants

one wish. Well? Isn’t it a rather intriguing proposal?”

Although it hadn’t been long since Deni had joined the knight order, he wasn’t unfamiliar with this man.

An outsider who didn’t mix well with the other knights and stayed on the fringes.

Soone with an unusual personality who didn’t form ties with anyone and only associated with Akun.

‘……Then why is he suddenly acting friendly toward ?’

The man’s na was Zero.

One of the upper-ranked knights of the Ragnar Knight Order, whose skills were said to be outstanding to a remarkable degree.

However, due to his personality that disliked stepping into the spotlight, his true abilities had remained shrouded in mystery.

Deni nodded, partly to see whether the rumors were true, and said,

“Very well.”

“I like how straightforward you are.”

As Zero ran forward with a faint smile, Deni also began running after him.

Behind them, Pan, who had been watching the two, let out a snort of laughter.

“That brat’s competitive spirit seems to have kicked in properly.”

“It looks like we’ll be able to get rid of one troubleso bump. Deni will probably have a hard ti, but I think it’s not a bad pairing.”

Pan nodded in agreent with Akun’s words and lifted the wooden sword again.

Then he spread his fingers and beckoned.

“We should finish what we were doing, shouldn’t we?”

---

As many knights were going up and down the snow mountain, the two of them were fiercely battling for the lead.

Sotis Zero was ahead, and sotis Deni took the lead.

The gap between them never grew large, and they maintained a distance where either could overtake the other at any ti.

Zero grinned as he looked at Deni’s back while he ran ahead.

‘He’s pretty good. A guy like that—why did he keep so quiet all this ti?’

For the first ti in a long while, Zero’s eyes shone.

Until now, there had been no juniors or seniors who caught his interest.

Even so, one of the biggest reasons Zero remained in the Ragnar Knight Order was because of Pan and Akun.

At present, those two were the only ones within the knight order who surpassed Zero in skill.

No, more precisely, now there was only Akun who stood at a higher level than him.

Because of that, life in the knight order had been gradually becoming dull, when suddenly a guy nad Deni began to reveal the strength he had been hiding.

‘Interesting. Still, for now, it feels like I have a slight edge.’

While Zero was gauging the difference between himself and Deni, Deni was also becoming certain of sothing.

Compared to himself, Zero’s level was not low.

Similar, or perhaps slightly higher.

Excluding Akun, he had thought there was no one to compete with, or that perhaps knights who would stand out later might appear.

‘But to encounter soone at a higher level than

right from the start…….’

Deni’s current level was at the very edge of Exford Beginner Level.

Within the Ragnar Knight Order, excluding Akun, there were not many knights who had reached Exford.

There were knights who possessed more aura than Deni, but this was the first ti he had encountered a senior who showed clear superiority over him in stamina like this.

Perhaps because of that, Deni’s stubbornness flared up even more, and he increased his speed.

As the two ran at full power from the early section of the snow mountain into the midsection, knights who had barely tagged the summit once and were coming back down brushed past them.

One of those knights frowned at the sight of Deni running with clenched teeth.

‘A re common knight…….’

The other knights did not openly display hostility, but they couldn’t hide their faint sense of inferiority.

As they passed them, Zero spoke in a low voice.

“Tsk, tsk. If it were , I’d be too embarrassed to even make eyes like that.”

Of course, Zero was an upper-ranked knight, but in terms of age, he was practically among the youngest.

However, in knightly life, what mattered wasn’t age or rank.

Skill.

If that was lacking, a senior would be devoured by a junior.

Even if one was older, if their skill was insufficient, they had to bow their head to a younger brat—that was knightly life.

“……Damn bastards.”

Hearing a knight mutter those words, Deni grinned as if he had caught a good opportunity.

Turning his head, Deni shouted loudly at the man.

“Senior, being pushed back by a junior isn’t exactly sothing to be proud of, is it? If I just muddle along like this and end up becoming the Vice-Commander, do you think you could handle it?”

He had already received instructions from Kyle.

To thoroughly grind down their pride.

Deni understood very well what those words ant.

“You bastard, how dare a re common knight!”

The knights who were provoked by Deni’s shout instantly revealed killing intent in their eyes.

However, they were unable to carry out any retaliation due to Zero’s sharp rebuke as he stopped running and turned around.

“As a mid-ranked knight, you’re running your mouth rudely at an upper-ranked knight, and you think that’s fine? Instead of that, shut up and run.”

The Ragnar Knight Order broadly classified its knights into three ranks.

Out of roughly a hundred knights, only about fifteen were upper-ranked knights.

The rest were filled by mid-ranked and common knights.

Reaching the rank of upper knight was proof that one stood within the top fifteen of the Ragnar Knight Order.

“Bunch of guys with no sense of sha. Right, Junior?”

Zero, who had blocked the knights’ fierce reactions aid at Deni, ran forward again, and before long, he was right beside him.

Deni looked at Zero’s face that had suddenly appeared next to him and forced out his words with difficulty.

“Huff…… huff…… Instead of talking, please run.”

“Hmm, well, we’ve got plenty of ti anyway.”

Unlike Deni’s rough breathing, Zero remained calm.

At that mont, Deni realized it.

‘This senior…… he’s deliberately matching my pace right now.’

If he had truly wanted to, it would not have been difficult for Zero to overtake Deni and leave him far behind.

Yet for so reason, Zero was adjusting his speed to Deni’s.

‘For now, focus on the training.’

Deni looked forward again and focused solely on reaching the summit.

Thus, the two of them ran in silence all the way to the top of the snow mountain.

Normally, Deni would have descended imdiately, but after looking around, he let out a small sigh.

“That’s why I told you to do so endurance training.”

Deni’s peers were sprawled out flat on their backs at the summit of the snow mountain.

The common knights were also sitting down in groups, gasping for breath as they rested.

At that mont, Zero, standing beside Deni, poked his side with his elbow and said,

“Isn’t that the natural outco? The junior seems to be the strange one here.”

“……Senior, are you doing this on purpose?”

“Doing what?”

With a playful expression, Zero shrugged slightly as if he had no idea what Deni ant.

Seeing that reaction, Deni beca convinced once again.

“Why did you co up at the sa speed as ? You were more than capable of overtaking .”

“It was fun. Watching you on the way up—man, it was sothing.”

“……Senior.”

“You’ve got a real talent for provoking people. You shouted so everyone around could hear, right? That was honestly the best, Junior.”

Zero smiled broadly and raised his thumb.

Shaking his head as if he couldn’t understand, Deni began his descent.

Zero closely followed behind him.

Although both of them arrived at the training grounds as part of the first arrivals, Deni turned around with an uneasy expression.

Originally, the winner of this bet should have been Zero.

However, as if he had never intended to win from the start, Zero had only followed behind Deni.

At his behavior of not overtaking and rely trailing behind while watching his back, Deni, clearly bristling, demanded an answer.

“……Are you toying with ? Is it amusing to watch an utterly lacking junior?”

“I didn’t expect you to take it that way.”

“Senior!”

“If it offended you, I’m sorry. Still, I can’t very well crush the montum of a growing junior, can I?”

Seeing the two bickering the mont they arrived at the training grounds, Pan shook his head.

Soon after, Pan approached the fuming Deni and grabbed his shoulder.

“Take free ti until the training ends.”

At Pan’s words, Deni quickly erased his displeased expression and bowed his head.

Even then, Zero did not stop teasing him.

“Our junior is good at social life too? You’ll go far in the future.”

Deni glared at him with raised eyes, grinding his teeth.

Sensing that the atmosphere between the two was anything but normal, Akun imdiately stepped in to stop Zero.

“Stop it. Keep that up and you’ll get hit.”

“Heh, getting hit once and letting it slide coolly would be even better.”

“……You lunatic.”

“Thank you for the complint, Commander!”

At Zero’s words, Akun let out a sigh.

Pan, who had been quietly watching, suddenly threw the wooden sword in his hand toward Deni.

Seeing Deni catch the wooden sword by reflex, Akun smacked his lips.

“You look perfectly fine. Are you already thinking of resting?”

“I’m tired. Could you consider my age for once? And can’t I give at least one lesson to a growing sprout?”

“……That’s not a growing sprout, but a tree that’s grown to so extent, isn’t it?”

“Stop grumbling and continue the sparring. It’s just that the opponent has changed, isn’t it?”

At Pan’s firm words, Akun narrowed his eyes.

What had happened at the training grounds with Kyle ca back vividly.

Deni could not be considered a growing sprout.

At such a young age, he had enough talent to reach Exford.

If more ti passed like this, he might even be overtaken.

When even being cautious was not enough, to give instruction instead—Akun looked at Deni with a displeased expression.

“Deni.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“You’re not exhausted just from going up and down the snow mountain twice, are you?”

“Of course not.”

Bending at the waist, Akun picked up the wooden sword Pan had set down and casually threw it to Deni.

“Then naturally, you’re ready to spar as well, right?”

“I will consider it an honor, Commander.”

“What honor? It’s not like I’ll be sparring with you.”

“Yes?”

Ignoring Deni’s puzzled gaze, Akun threw the wooden sword Deni was holding to Zero.

“Work it out among yourselves.”

“……Are you dumping sothing you don’t want to do onto ?”

“If you don’t like it, then beco the Commander yourself.”

Akun was usually courteous and looked after his juniors, but there was exactly one person for whom he could not do that.

The more kindly he treated him, the more the guy climbed over his head.

Even when he crushed him with skill, the strange junior clung on stubbornly.

“Be careful. At this rate, you might really lose the Commander position.”

“If you can, go ahead and try. I’ll accept the challenge anyti. Ah, for reference, no aura allowed.”

At Akun’s instruction, Zero took the wooden sword with a helpless expression and stood in front of Deni.

As the two faced each other, Akun and Pan sat down on the training grounds floor.

There was a saying that watching a fight was the most entertaining thing in the world.

As Akun watched the two with an intrigued look, Pan clicked his tongue.

“You immature fool.”

“Couldn’t you just call

sly instead?”

“That’s exactly why the knights dislike you. I keep telling you to fix that personality of yours.”

“What can I do when I was born this way? Still, I’ve toned it down a lot in how I live.”

At Akun’s words, Pan muttered inwardly.

‘Birds of a feather.’

To others, Akun and Zero’s personalities might seem completely opposite, but to Pan’s eyes, they looked quite similar.

Akun was tempering his personality now and treating the knights well, but when he had first joined the Ragnar Knight Order, he had been even worse than Zero.

Turning his gaze, Pan looked at Deni and muttered softly.

“That kid’s going to have a hard ti stuck between those nutcases.”

“I didn’t force him. He chose it himself.”

As Pan shook his head at Akun’s words, Deni charged toward Zero.

“I’ll make you pay for toying with , Senior.”

“Shall we see if the junior is strong enough to say that?”