“I’ll be leaving, then.”
As Cain turned around to leave, Daim grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Sir Cain, the day is still young. How about participating in today’s training session? You can just watch for today.”
Daim stopped Cain before he himself realized what he was doing. He wanted to know whether Cain truly had the ability to defeat all these monsters himself. Cain, seeing how serious Daim was, gave in and followed him to the training grounds.
At present, Cain was standing in the middle of the Royal Guard’s training grounds with a wooden sword in hand. Roughly thirty stout Royal Guard members had Cain surrounded as they pointed their wooden swords at him.
Before we get to that, though, let’s go back in time a moment.
“Hero Baron Cain. I’m sure you’ve heard the story about how he exterminated that horde of orcs.”
Daim introduced Cain to the Royal Guard at the training grounds. Several of the knights began to question whether or not a young child like this was really capable of defeating thirty orcs, including orc generals. A few of the knights present were there at the scene, and they immediately straightened once they saw Cain.
“Baron Cain will be participating in our training session today.” Daim explained to the knights in the middle of their training. Cain wasn’t short for his age, but being a little under five feet tall, there was more than a head’s difference in height between him and the knights.
One of the knights unaware of Cain’s abilities asked Daim, “Are you sure about this? He looks like a kid—he’s only ten, right? Is it really appropriate for the Royal Guard to spar with a ten-year-old?”
“If you have doubts, then you can go first. Sir Cain, please.”
The knight who questioned Daim wielded his wooden sword and stepped forwards.
“Sir Cain, I’ll allow you to have the first move. Come at me.”
The Royal Guard were the highest ranked knights in the kingdom and were treated as elites. Cain could sense the confidence that came from belonging to that elite group. With his well-trained body, the knight took a stance and held up his wooden sword.
Cain circulated mana throughout his body. He quietly whispered, “Boost,” and charged at the knight. Although Cain’s speed surprised him, the knight still raised his sword and matched Cain’s.
Snap!
Cain’s mana had circulated into his sword as well, and there was no way the knight’s uninfused sword could withstand it. It instantly snapped, and before the knight recovered from his surprise, Cain was gone.
“Huh?”
Before the knight could realize what happened, he felt something poking into his back.
“It’s over.”
Cain had circled around behind the knight and now had his wooden sword pressing against his back. The knight was completely stunned.
“It’s my loss.” The knight lowered his broken sword and bowed to Cain. “I can’t believe it. I didn’t think he was that strong… I didn’t even see his movements.”
The spectating knights were equally stunned.
“Did you see what he did?”
“I could barely keep up with him.”
“If someone in front of you pulled off a move that fast, I bet it would feel like they suddenly vanished. He then attacked from behind. How are you supposed to beat that?”
The knights who had seen Cain’s movements were chatting with each other.
“I expected nothing less from Hero Baron Cain…is what I’d like to say. You still exceeded my expectations. One-on-one matches will pose no challenge to you. How about facing off with all thirty knights here at once?”
“What?! That’s a little too much, isn’t it?”
Cain was surprised by Daim’s radical suggestion. The same situation that occurred in Lamesta was once more repeating here, but this time he was facing off with the supposedly strongest knights in the kingdom.
Stats-wise, Cain was indeed capable of defeating all of them instantly, but if he were to do that, it would hurt their pride—and the king would definitely summon him afterwards.
“Okay, let’s begin. Everyone, charge!”
“We’re really doing this?!”
At Daim’s signal, the thirty Royal Guard members who now knew how strong Cain was raised their wooden swords and surrounded him.
That’s how the current situation had come about.
The knights kept up their guards and continually circulated mana throughout their bodies, maintaining Boost. The tense situation was shattered by a sudden shout.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
The knights immediately froze. The owner of that voice pushed aside the surrounding knights and entered the circle. She was a pretty lady with light green hair and seemed to be in her twenties. Her knight’s uniform was more decorated than that of the Royal Guard, and her light green hair was pulled up behind her to keep it out of the way. Her long ears made it clear she was an elf.
Cain couldn’t hide his surprise at how the graceful elf knight’s words were enough to bring every imperial knight to a halt. The knights lowered their swords and fixed their posture.
“Have you no pride as the Royal Guard? Why have you ganged up on this child and pointed your swords at him? What are all of you doing here, anyway?!”
After yelling at the knights, she turned to Cain. She was roughly half a head taller than him.
“Hey, are you all right?” Her harsh expression softened as she patted Cain’s head. That was probably the normal way to treat a ten-year-old.
The elf knight suddenly hugged Cain. “You must’ve been frightened, surrounded by all these scary knights. You don’t have anything more to fear now that I’m here. You got lost and ended up here, right? Where are your parents?”
Daim apologetically called out to the elf knight hugging Cain. “Captain, that’s—”
Cain was surprised to learn that the graceful elf lady was their captain.
“Daim! If you were here, why didn’t you stop them?” The elf lady glared at Daim while still holding onto Cain.
“That child is Baron Cain… The Hero that I mentioned previously,” Daim answered apologetically.
“What?! This child?!”
The captain was surprised to learn the child she was hugging onto was actually Cain, the so-called Hero.
The captain stared at Cain for a while. Then, her lips relaxed once more.
“I see… So that’s the case? You’re that Hero? Hee hee. In that case, how about you duel with me instead?”
Cain began to panic. Although the captain definitely had to have said “spar,” Cain felt as if he had just heard her say “duel” instead. The captain pulled out her sparring sword and raised it.
“Captain, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?” Daim asked.
“Swordsmen should greet each other by crossing swords. We’ll know each other afterwards.”
The surrounding knights sighed and moved away to give them space. The captain of the knights raised her sparring sword.
“The captain’s bad habit is acting up again… Whenever she runs into someone strong, she immediately challenges them to a duel. The captain has the Sword Saint title, right? Although Baron Cain is strong, facing off against the captain is still unrealistic, isn’t it?”
Um…I can hear you guys. Sword Saint? What the heck is that?
“Baron Cain. Here I come!”
“Hang on! Our weapons!”
Cain was wielding a wooden sword, while the knight captain had a sparring sword. The difference in durability between the two wasn’t even close. Cain tried to stop her, but she ignored his cry and lunged at him.
The knight captain moved at inhuman speeds. She must have activated Boost. Once she was in range of Cain, she raised her sword and slashed downwards.
Cain moved back half a step and dodged the slash. He then swung horizontally with his sword.
The knight captain’s eyes widened upon seeing Cain evade her strike so easily. She raised her sword and blocked Cain’s horizontal swing. Cain took the opportunity to jump backwards and gain distance.
“Baron Cain! I underestimated you since I thought you were a mere child. I understand now that I’ll actually be able to enjoy myself.”
With a flushed face and a sly grin, the captain muttered something, and wind wrapped around her.
“Here I come!”
She slashed her sword at a speed one level higher than previously. Cain could no longer dodge her attacks as easily as he had before. He activated Boost as well and began to parry the captain’s sword.
The two of them continued to clash swords at inhuman speeds.
“Hey, is it just me, or is Baron Cain matching the captain? They’re moving even faster than before. I can’t believe it…”
The surroundings knights were muttering to each other. Their eyes could barely keep up with the speed the two were moving at.
At this rate, the fight would never end, so Cain decided to increase the level of his Boost.
“Clock Up.”
Cain’s mental processing speed and movements accelerated even further, and the world seemed to move in slow motion to him. He knocked away the captain’s sword and then placed his against her neck.
“That’s that,” Cain said as he lowered his sword. The captain opened her eyes wide in shock, and then her face flushed red. She then said something completely unexpected.
“…I’ve decided. I’m going to marry you.”
“Huh?”
“Ah—”
“Huh?!” The royal guards surrounding them gaped in stunned silence, their mouths hanging open as if their jaws were about to fall off. Naturally, the one most confused by the situation was Cain himself. At the same time, Daim suddenly let out an unintelligible scream.
While everyone remained frozen, the captain, her cheeks flushed, began to explain.
“The reason I came to the capital is because I wanted to find someone stronger than me. And now, I’ve finally found them.” Face still flushed, she hugged Cain. Still processing the unbelievable turn of events, the wheels in his brain finally began to turn again.
“You can’t just bring up marriage like that! I’m still ten years old, you know? I also don’t know anything about you.”
“That’s true. My name is Tifana von Liebert. I’m the captain of the Royal Guard here in the Esfort Kingdom. I’m an honorary viscount. I’m the daughter of the duke who manages the forest to the north, and there’s no need to be concerned about age. As an elf, I’ll live for three hundred years. My looks won’t change much over time, either. I’m quite confident in my appearance.”
There was no way the daughter of a duke had the authority to decide her marriage on her own. It hadn’t yet been made public, but Cain already had two fiancées. Cain believed that the situation was heading in a bad direction.
“The daughter of a duke can’t decide on her marriage by herself. I’m still ten years old, I think it would be best if we consulted with our families first.”
“When I left home, I told them I wouldn’t return until I found who I wanted to marry, so that’s not a problem.” Tifana said as she confidently puffed out her chest. Her cheeks were still bright red.