Master and Slaves

Now then... shall we begin?

I stood a little distance away from Giacomo.

"Ooh, so you’ll hold that sword and use yet another one."

Giacomo let out a voice of admiration.

"Ah— is that not allowed?"

"No, no. Mastering them is also a matter of strength and technique. I don’t mind."

When Giacomo said that, he lifted a greatsword taller than his own height with both hands and brought it down.

Then he stopped the tip dead just before it touched the ground.

That greatsword should have been considerably heavy.

To stop it at the last moment...

What brute strength.

Muriel and Sara, who could handle swords, opened their eyes wide in surprise.

"Now then, let us begin."

At Giacomo’s single word, I took my stance.

The one-handed sword I held in my right hand was what was called a broadsword.

Compared to the katana Shiranui I had held before, it was quite hard to use, but there was no point demanding something I didn’t have.

I held it in a middle stance.

In my left hand I held the greatsword Destroyer in a reverse grip like a shield.

Then I lowered my hips and took a half-body stance with my left side forward.

I made it easy to defend so I could watch how my opponent would move.

"Ooh, then I shall go first!"

Apparently understanding my intention, Giacomo called out, lowered his stance, and charged at me.

Fast!

Faster than I had expected from that build.

I had intended to dodge, but thinking I couldn’t fully dodge I lowered my body even further and prepared for Giacomo’s blow.

Giacomo ran with his body ahead, dragging the greatsword, and with that momentum pulled the greatsword up from lower right to upper left.

Giacomo’s greatsword struck the blade of my Destroyer and scattered sparks.

At the same time I was blown backward about two meters.

I braced with both feet and maintained my stance.

As if following up, Giacomo took one step forward with his right foot and brought it down from above.

If I received it with the broadsword in my right hand it would break.

I bent my body back and dodged the greatsword.

However, when the tip came to the front Giacomo stopped the sword, changed its trajectory, and swept it sideways.

I stopped that with Destroyer again.

"You can do it."

"You as well."

While our swords were locked, Giacomo spoke to me.

I answered him as well.

Then we pushed each other’s swords back and took distance.

...This might actually be fun.

This time it was my turn.

I stabbed Destroyer into the ground and dashed toward Giacomo while still holding the broadsword.

That distance closed in an instant.

"What!"

Hearing Giacomo’s surprised voice, I thrust the tip of the broadsword toward his throat.

Of course I had killed the speed so I could stop it at the last moment.

However, Giacomo dodged it by tilting his body slightly.

I closed in just like that and pressed the broadsword sideways against his neck.

In that state both Giacomo and I stopped moving for an instant.

Then I pulled the broadsword back.

Giacomo stood there in a daze.

The Dules were also silent.

Only Tiria wore an expression that said of course.

At that moment I heard clapping.

"As expected of Hiroyuki-sama."

Looking toward the mansion, Helene and Julius were standing in front of the door.

The one who had clapped was Helene.

Julius was in a daze like everyone else.

"If my body were still free, I would have wanted to cross swords with Hiroyuki-sama once more."

Helene walked toward Giacomo and me while leaning on her cane.

"Helene." "Lady Helene."

My voice and that of Giacomo, who had come back to himself, overlapped.

"Ufufu, Hiroyuki-sama is strong, isn’t he?"

Helene said that toward Giacomo as if boasting about herself.

"Indeed. Unquestionably strong. No, no, I lost. A complete defeat."

Giacomo answered by stabbing his sword into the ground and literally raising both hands.

"Lord Hiroyuki, would you give me training... no, just being my opponent is enough. Would you do that for me?"

Giacomo pleaded with me.

"Haa. If I will do..."

Well, it had been pretty fun.

I thought this much would be fine and answered.

"Thank you. Then immediately..."

Giacomo took his greatsword in hand and took his stance.

"Eh? Right now?"

"They say to do good things quickly."

Giacomo shook the tip of his greatsword as if telling me to hurry.

"Haa. Understood."

I sighed and returned to my original position.

I took Destroyer in hand and took the same stance as before.

"Then I shall go!"

...

"Haa, haa, haa, ngu, haa, haa, haa, to think that even doing this much I still cannot match you, haa, haa, haa..."

Giacomo was out of breath, standing with the greatsword he had planted in the ground as a substitute for a cane.

"No, no, Giacomo-san is quite something as well."

I held the broadsword in my right hand in a reverse grip, slung Destroyer in my left over my shoulder, and walked toward Giacomo.

This was the thirty-fourth time.

The sun had risen all the way to directly overhead.

Since then we had crossed swords over and over without rest.

What we were using was unmistakably live steel.

If we let our guard down we could lose our lives, so I had been tense the whole time.

As expected, I was tired.

However, Giacomo’s fatigue was not only that.

It clearly looked as if his stamina had not held.

As if he had reached his limit, Giacomo sat down on the spot and lay spread-eagled.

"Haa, haa, as expected of the Demon King slayer. Even so, I was praised as the strongest in the kingdom, you know. Haa, haa."

By kingdom, did he mean the Cardilia Kingdom?

"Master, here."

Cathy brought me a cloth for wiping sweat and a ceramic cup filled with water.

"Oh, thank you."

"Lord Giacomo as well, here."

"Ooh, thank you. Ooooh."

Cathy also handed a cloth and cup to Giacomo.

Giacomo sat up and received them.

Though his eyes were glued to Cathy’s swaying breasts.

Looking toward the mansion, Helene and Julius were sitting in chairs that had been prepared at some point and watching us.

The Dules were also standing and watching.

The only exception was Rine, who was leaning against the trunk of a tree growing in the corner of the garden and nodding off.

Come to think of it, she had been chasing butterflies partway through.

"Master, that was amazing. I always thought you were amazing, but today’s was especially amazing."

Cathy said her impression to me with a red face.

It was rare for Cathy, who had no interest in fighting, to say something like that.

"What’s wrong? You’re that excited. I thought you weren’t interested in this kind of thing?"

"I’m not, but if my Master is outrageously strong I still get excited. After all, he’s a Master I can be proud of. Right?"

Cathy looked around behind her and smiled brightly.

The Dules who had gathered at my side all nodded vigorously.

"Um, Master, would you please cross swords with me as well?"

Then Sara timidly stepped in front of the Dules and asked me.

"You mustn’t. Master is surely tired. He needs to rest."

Muriel admonished Sara.

"That’s right. It’s almost noon, so wouldn’t it be fine after you’ve had lunch?"

Helene, who had stood up from her chair, proposed that to us.

Indeed, I was hungry.

"I-I don’t mind anytime."

"Of course. Match yourself to Master."

Muriel jabbed at Sara’s words.

...

Helene and we had lunch separately from the knights.

That was so the knights could discuss while having lunch with their subordinates.

Of course, Marcel’s complaints had probably also been taken into consideration.

"There are other principal figures besides those who came this morning."

While eating lunch, Helene told us about the main members of the Anti-Tres Kingdom Alliance Army.

Of course they were all people I didn’t know, but there were some who piqued my interest.

For example, Hein Fried, Mateus’s disciple in magic.

Among Mateus’s disciples his talent for magic was the poorest, but his mind apparently worked the fastest.

He would command the magic unit.

However, when the enemy general was Mateus, was it all right to place people close to Mateus as officers?

Well, our general was also Mateus’s son, so maybe it was not a problem.

Then the one commanding the treatment unit was a priestess serving the god Anirofe, Rosina Broich.

This woman was actually the person who had revived Cathy, Tiria, and me from stone.

I would have to thank her when I met her.

I was also surprised that something like a treatment unit existed in this era.

Well, since magic could close wounds immediately, preparing one would multiply fighting strength several times over.

After that there were an infantry unit, an archer unit, and so on, but there was nothing in particular to be concerned about.

Though I would have to remember them.

"Lord Baldo will oversee all infantry units, and Lord Bernfried will oversee all knight units. Lord Marcel will command the archer unit, and Lord Giacomo will command the assault unit. I intend to have Hiroyuki-sama command a detached force."

There were three infantry units of 1,200 men and three knight units of 120.

Besides that, 40 archers, 14 in the magic unit, 6 in the treatment unit, and 300 in the assault unit.

And they planned 120 for the detached force.

It seemed they would hire mercenaries for the detached force and leave that to me.

However, according to Helene, these numbers were quite small for waging war against a nation.

The Tres Kingdom’s main force was 80,000 infantry alone.

The full number apparently became a great army of 350,000.

"And you’re going to face that with these numbers?"

"Of course not. They are probably aiming for the next one."

"The next one?"

"Yes. Next is..."