Chapter 32: Klarm

“Hey, hey!! You vagrants over there, stop.”

“If you want to live, just leave your words and get lost. Looking at your state, you look like defeated soldiers who have rolled in from somewhere.”

“Ah, you young one over there. You leave that limb armor behind too.”

A group that suddenly appeared on a quiet road.

Klarm's face contorted as he saw the group of a dozen or so bandits, all equipped with sharp weapons and decent armor.

“Even though we took a detour off the main road, to think there are bandits in our Trian?”

“Their equipment is quite organized.

I've heard that mercenaries who used to hunt monsters sometimes turn into bandits.

Could this be the case?”

As the two of them showed no fear and calmly conversed, the leader of the bandits who had stepped forward flinched for a moment.

‘Are they skilled? No way…….’

The leader's gaze scanned the targets up and down again.

The middle-aged man in the back, wearing tattered pieces of metal that could be armor or rags, had a pale complexion and his limbs were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.

The young one, wearing some strangely shaped equipment on his limbs, also had his torso armor shattered and his clothes were stained with blood here and there.

And crucially, they were walking on the road, leading two horses instead of riding them.

‘There's no way that guys who can't even ride horses are knights…….’

That's why he was convinced that the spear the middle-aged man carried on his back and the young one's greatsword were just for show.

His judgment was that they were remnants of a mercenary group that had failed to subjugate a monster somewhere and had barely survived.

However.

“Mercenaries? If any witnesses were left, they would be wanted for life…….

Then that means they've killed all the witnesses so far without leaving any, or this is their first attempt……”

The moment the pale-faced middle-aged man scanned him up and down, the leader felt an inexplicable chill.

And.

“Well, is there a need to find out?

They're just trash anyway, so we can just clean them all up here.”

The moment the young one smiled eerily and took a step forward, he unconsciously tried to step back.

‘He looks like he’s not even twenty years old…….’

He belatedly realized his own pathetic behavior and ground his teeth.

And it seemed the others around him felt the same.

“Get them both!”

“You defeated soldier bastards, how dare you……!”

“Kill them!!”

“Make sure not to hurt the horses!”

The moment the fifteen or so mercenaries, no, bandits, raised their weapons and charged, shouting.

A sigh came from the blue-haired middle-aged man, Klarm.

“To think I'd live to see this in Trian……”

“Our condition isn't very good. Especially you, Klarm.

You can't even ride a horse.”

“Tsk. It must be nice to be young.

No, your healing ability can't be explained by youth.”

“That’s……”

Muno, who smiled, drew his greatsword.

“……special.”

Thump.

Paaaaak.

Leaving only a deep footprint in the ground, he disappeared from that spot like the wind.

‘Certainly…….’

The rapidly closing distance.

Muno smiled grimly as he saw the bandits' eyes widen.

‘……It's different.’

He hadn't been able to feel it right after the battle with the magicians because of his injuries.

But now that the wounds on his back, where he had been pierced, had almost healed, he could fully feel the power of his changed body.

So much so that the greatsword in his tight grip trembled, unable to contain its overflowing power.

‘It's too much for these guys, but…….’

He felt he had to properly test his changed abilities at least once, and now seemed to be the chance.

First of all.

‘Acceleration.’

Thump.

The technique that was the core of his family's secret arts, which he had used once during his spar with Karina and then collapsed.

The technique, which should have originally explosively consumed the fat and protein in his body, was fully manifested, using a small amount of calories and a vast amount of magical power as fuel.

“Corporeal Aaaarts……!”

As the bandits' words, shouted with astonished eyes, came very slowly.

Muno's body was already passing by their front, swinging his greatsword.

Sgagagak.

Paaaaaaaang.

The one who was trying to swing his weapon, the one who was turning to run away, the one who was frozen in an awkward position, unable to do either.

The greatsword was swung once at all of them, equally.

As a result.

Kwad-d-d-duk.

“……user. Damn it…….”

“Guk……”

Thud.

Thump.

Only a few, including the leader, managed to leave a scream behind.

The majority were split in two and rolled on the ground.

The end of the bandits, who had been aiming for the windfall of two horses in broad daylight, was so futile.

“Tsk……”

To think they would fall without even being able to resist like this.

‘I still had a few things to test.’

W-w-w-woong.

After wiping out the group of bandits in an instant, Muno licked his lips as he felt the vibration of the greatsword and the faint resistance in his hand.

‘Should I have just cut through their armor instead of aiming for their vitals?

No, if I had, the greatsword would have shattered.

It was already damaged from the last battle…….’

As he was trying to think of the best move by reviewing the battle that was no different from a one-sided slaughter.

As if reading his thoughts, Klarm chuckled and spoke to him.

“Too weak, so it's strange?”

“Yes, well, a little. How were these guys managing to be bandits with such skills?”

“It's because they only have such skills that they're bandits.

It's the way that rotten-hearted people make a living with their swords.

And they're fools who can't think that they'll end up dying a miserable death like this someday, anyway.”

At those words, Muno unconsciously nodded his head.

Unless there were special circumstances, the punishment for violent crimes such as robbery, murder, and rape in this world was unconditionally death.

It was a world where the soft sentimentality of imprisoning and rehabilitating criminals did not exist.

‘In the first place, there are hardly any countries with the economic leeway to do that.’

Well, in a world that divides people by class, who would think about the human rights of prisoners.

Except for the possibility that an innocent person might receive an irreversible and harsh punishment, Muno actually preferred the punishment system of this era over his previous life.

At least, a person who had raped a child and left them with an irreversible disability would not be released after spending just a dozen or so years in prison.

‘Or is it? In this world, if such a person is a high-ranking noble or royalty, they might not even go to prison at all…….’

If I meet such a person, how will I act?

‘Just kill them and deal with the aftermath somehow? Or secretly……?’

Knowing his own personality, he didn't even consider the option of just turning a blind eye.

But in this world of a class system, if he messed with a noble or royalty, it wouldn't end with just being kicked out of the company like when he had blindly confronted his boss in his past life.

He didn't want to ruin his life by rashly picking a fight just because he didn't like them.

‘Then what should I do……?’

What is a way to protect my life even if I have to confront them?

As the thoughts that had started from recalling his past life began to connect to his view of life in his current life.

“Anyway, that was quite impressive, Muno.

That was ‘Acceleration’, right?”

Klarm's ensuing words pulled his mind back to reality.

“Pardon? Ah, you know it well.”

“Of course. I've seen Ryan, that fellow, use it several times. But he only started using Acceleration after he became 3-Star?”

“Uh, that is……”

“And why don't you get skinny?

When Ryan used Acceleration once, his body would become half its size, and he would eat a whole pig…….”

Muno looked at Klarm with a bewildered expression at the barrage of words.

“Uh……. umm……”

It felt so awkward that the person who had been using honorifics to him as a guest of the Count was suddenly speaking to him informally.

Naturally, his inner thoughts popped out again.

“……You speak informally quite well. You should have done so earlier.”

“You punk! After I saved your life once, the guest treatment has been more than enough. From now on, you're just a junior's son!”

“B-but I asked you to treat me like that from the beginning.”

“Shut up.

I have my own principles. Anyway, what did you do?

You were almost at the level of that gale, Karina.

You're still only 2-Star, even if you used Acceleration, right?

And it doesn't seem like you're consuming much energy.”

……Was he this kind of person?

He was reminded of what he had said before.

- Everyone lives a complicated life.

It didn't seem wrong.

‘Just as I can't fully reveal the secrets I have.’

Seeing Klarm's eyes, which were dying of curiosity, Muno chuckled and answered.

“……It's not obvious, but I use a lot of energy.

It's just a little different from my father, and I can't maintain it for long.”

“Is that so?

I thought you had completely overcome the weakness of the Drasen Greatswordmanship……”

Those words made his father's face come to mind.

- The Drasen Greatswordmanship is certainly powerful, but it has two weaknesses.

- The amount of energy consumed at once is too large, and because of that extreme physical change, the movements are easily read by masters.

- I have been constantly trying to solve it, but I still can't see the answer.

As the weaknesses are also connected to the strengths, I can't touch the fundamental principles.

“……I wish I could too.”

As he answered with a smile, Muno thought that he might be on the path to that completion.

Magical power. An ominous power that disrupts the proper providence of this world.

Even though he was by no means a magician or a demon, that power was properly restored just by resting and taking in nutrients.

Moreover, the magical power he harbored did not show on the outside at all.

Compared to when his father used his secret arts, the changes of his whole body dramatically swelling up or his muscles expanding or contracting were also relatively small.

If he used this well, wouldn't it be possible to complete the Drasen swordsmanship someday?

And if he even found out the knack of using it without magical power.

‘Maybe I can repay the family's favor…….’

The face of his father, who was overjoyed just by imagining it, was drawn.

The moment he saw a clue to a problem he had been pondering for a long time in the ensuing thoughts.

Muno smiled brightly without realizing it, with a sense of accomplishment from having discovered a new path.

“But it's not right to smile like that after killing someone.

Doesn't it seem like you enjoy killing?”

Until Klarm chuckled and rained on his parade.

“……Not funny.”

“Is that so……. It was a joke I put my heart into.”

“Why don't you rest and recover from your injuries in the time you're thinking about that?

According to the original plan, we should have arrived by tomorrow, right?”

“It's an injury I got while saving you……”

Cough.

R-right.

“……I'm sorry. Shall I carry you on my back?”

“No need. Just clean up those corpses.

We went out of our way to take a detour so they wouldn't notice, but those trash might get us discovered.”

“Yes.”

“If possible, it would be best to strip them of their armor, cremate them nicely, and scatter their ashes.”

“Pardon?”

“……This is also a joke.”

“……”

Does this person not know when to joke and when not to?

‘No, before that, why is he making such unfunny jokes in the first place…….’

Muno just looked at Klarm with a dumbfounded expression.

“Ahem. What are you looking at?

It'll probably take about 3 days to get to Kannel, and by then, I should have recovered enough to fight.”

“……Yes.”

“No, I'm telling you, you're the abnormal one!

I've even seen a guy who specialized in regeneration, and even he wasn't as good as you when he was 2-Star!”

“……Yes.”

“I'm telling you the truth!”

“……Yes.”

“You've been answering without any sincerity since a while ago……”

“……Yes”

“I wasn't asking!”

“……Yes.”

“Hah, seriously……. Are you going to keep this up?”

“……Yes.”

“Hey!?”

The two knights, who had become drastically closer through various troubles, big and small.

They arrived at the Kannel County under Trian exactly 3 days after that.

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