n

n

nCh. 108: Thinking after Warning

nAs Dia continued looking at her with a smile, after telling them what they needed to know, Sierra disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.

nSince the one who had given the test, and because it was troublesome if the interferers found out that information about them had been leaked and set up new plans, she believed she should keep contact to a minimum.

nLoren thought Sierra could’ve assisted them, but it seemed that there was a line she wouldn’t cross, so the only thing she gave Dia was information.

n“The information itself is helpful enough, no?”

nDia told Loren, who had a complaining look on his face, as she started walking again.

nDia was satisfied knowing the identity of their enemy, but to Loren, it was another Elder, and the only thing they found out was that she had many pawns and didn’t feel like the information helped at all.

n“Dia you must like your master a lot.”

nAs Loren went silent, since he couldn’t tell his client what he was thinking exactly, Lapis spoke out, and Dia said happily as a wide grin spread across her face.

n

n

n“Of course. Master looked after me for a long time, and she’s very kind.”

n“She came to give us information on the interferer, after all.”

nLapis smiled as well.

nDia’s smile widened even further, as if she was happy that good things were said about her master.

nAlthough Loren was concerned about the lack of vigilance, but when he thought about it, although Dia was an Elder who had lived around five hundred years, she wasn’t of age and had learned many things from Sierra, so it could be considered that Sierra was her whole world.

nIn that case, it wasn’t surprising that Dia trusted Sierra so much, so Loren kept silent, thinking it would be insensitive to interrupt her, as she was telling Lapis more about Sierra with a smile.

n‘Onii-san, are you wary of her?’

nThe one who said to him was Shayna.

nThe girl that almost became a no life king, who was within Loren’s astral body, was currently the being that was closest to him, and seemed to be able to sense his emotions.

n“Doubt anyone other than yourself and your companions during a job, that’s the mercenary style.”

nIt would be troublesome if Dia heard him.

nSo Loren muttered in a small voice that no one else could hear.

n“Speaking of master, Loren. About the teacher who taught you swordsmanship.”

nTaking no notice of Loren’s thoughts, Dia said to Loren in a good mood.

nAlthough confused at the sudden change in subject, Loren decided that even if he continued thinking about Sierra he wouldn’t conclude, so he went with it.

n“What about my teacher?”

n“Who in the world is he?”

nWhen Dia asked her, the image of a single man popped up in the back of hisi mind.

nThe man who had picked him up before he could even remember anything and raised him as a mercenary.

nAlthough it hadn’t been long since he last saw him, when he thought about him, it seemed like a long time had passed, and Loren let out a troubled laugh.

nNow that the group had disbanded, Loren didn’t know where he was or what he was doing, or if he was even alive, but he felt that the man who had raised him was still alive.

n“I was a mercenary before an adventurer, and he was the leader of the group that I was a part of. I learned it from him. Although he said I don’t have the talent, so I only learned a bit.”

nIt was also because of him that Loren had started using the great sword as his weapon of choice.

nBecause the leader had told him that since he didn’t have the talent for skill he should train his strength, Loren had devoted to training his body, and was able to use large weapons that normal people couldn’t use.

n“He wasn’t that famous of a mercenary. He didn’t have a title either. He was caring person, but as a mercenary he was normal.”

nIt was Loren’s evaluation of him as an individual.

nAs a leader, he had brought the whole group together quite well, and his commands in battle were very clever and experienced, as there were a few times they had turned the tables on a losing battle because of them.

nBut in the end, with the fact that the group had been destroyed, it couldn’t be said that his command wasn’t something divine.

n“Was he a human?”

nThe question that Dia had asked Loren after his evaluation was strange, so Loren looked at her with a blank expression.

nIf she was being silly, Loren would’ve noticed it from her expression, but Dia’s face was serious, so he knew in an instant that she wasn’t joking, so after recalling his memories of the leader, he concluded.

n“I believe he was human. There wasn’t anything strange about him.”

n“I see. That’s strange.”

nAt Loren’s response, Dia said with an unsatisfied expression.

nAs Loren waited for her to continue, not sure what she was so concerned about, Dia told him what it was.

n“You remember when you were fighting that cocky child at the training ground in Kauffa?”

n“I’m not that old to forget something that recent.”

nIt was in the middle of Loren’s rank up exam from copper to iron, and it wasn’t that long ago.

n“That time, you were using a normal two-handed sword instead of a great sword.”

nAmong the training weapons, there wasn’t a great sword like the one Loren usually used, so Loren had fought the one who Dia had called a cocky child, Klaus, with a weapon he didn’t normally use.

nWith an unfamiliar weapon, he couldn’t close in on him, and on top of that, Dia had interrupted them so the fight hadn’t gone to the end.

nRemembering that far, Loren remembered that Dia had said something about the gesture he did being interesting.

n“First, the one who taught you the sword knows how to fight like a knight. The moves you made were tracing the basic fighting style of a knight.”

nWhy would the leader of a mercenary group know the fighting style of a knight?

nThat was indeed an interesting point, but Loren thought that it wasn’t something uncommon.

nThere was the possibility that the leader’s fighting style was coincidently similar to one of a knight, and it wasn’t uncommon for knights who lost their nation or had been dismissed to become mercenaries.

nIf one had fought with or been taught their skills, it wasn’t strange for a mercenary to learn how to fight like a knight.

nEven if it wasn’t, there was always a chance to fight enemy knights in the battlefield, so there was the possibility it had come naturally.

n“With that amount of experience and mastered swordsmanship to the point where he could teach others, I would think that he is quite the genius though.”

nDia seemed to think it was strange that such a genius wouldn’t make a name for himself, but Loren hadn’t heard anything about him being well known.

nEven Loren, who wasn’t interested in such things, had heard of well-known mercenaries such as ‘Sword Demon’, ‘Slaying Wind’, and ‘Hellfire blades’.

nIf his leader was someone like them, there was no way he wouldn’t have heard about it, so Loren thought that he wasn’t well known at all.

n“Well, even so, that’s not what caught my interest.”

n“There’s something else?”

n“Resalute. A knight’s resalute.”

nIt was the salute that knights made to each other in a duel.

nIt meant that they would fight fairly within the bounds of knightly order, and of course, it wasn’t something a mercenary would do.

nLoren used to think that it was a strange thing to be taught.

nIt wasn’t something you would do during battle, and unless it was against knights that followed some sets of rules, it was unnecessary.

nBut for some reason, the leader had taught Loren the resalute.

nHe had stopped being so persistent about it after Loren changed his weapon to the great sword, but he had told him to do it when he used a normal sword, especially in a duel, and Loren kept it even now.

nLoren thought it as showing respect to his leader, who taught him how to fight, but Dia was interested in that resalute.

n“I know it’s strange for a mercenary to do it.”

n“That’s not it. Not whether you do it or not, but how you do it is strange.”

nLoren cocked his head at Dia’s words.

nHer being interested in how he was doing it, not whether he was doing it or not, was unexpected, so he wasn’t sure how to respond.

n“Usually a knight’s sword is devoted to his master, so it is pointed upwards.”

nAs she walked, she reached out to a short tree and easily pulled it out with her childish arm, held it with both hands, and held it at her chest.

nThe tips of the branches were pointed up towards the sky, and Dia said that this was a normal knight’s resalute.

n“But Loren’s resalute pointed his sword downwards. This isn’t normal.”

n“Maybe some nations do it differently. I’m not sure what nation Leader saw it in, though.”

nThere were numerous nations in the world, and there was that many knights as well.

nLoren thought that there would be knights that resaluted as he did, but Dia disagreed.

n“There are different styles of sword techniques, but for resalutes, this stance is almost universal. No matter where the knight is from, it would be strange if he didn’t take this stance. Of course, this is what I learned from my master, but it’s the knowledge of a long living Elder.”

n“You said almost just now, right? So that means there’s nations that are different.”

nLoren thought there were exceptions to everything, but Dia threw away the tree and shook her head once more.

n“There is indeed exceptions. I only know one exception…but that’s why I can’t help but be interested. After all, the exception is something no one in the current world knows about.”

n“Don’t tell me it’s some vampire knight.”

nLoren didn’t want the think that Leader was an undead, but when Loren asked Dia about the possibility, Dia shook her head again.

n“There are no knights among vampires. There aren’t any nations in the first place either.”

n

n

n“Then…”

nLoren’s question was silenced by Dia’s gaze.

nAs his words were caught in his throat, Dia said to him in a somewhat uncertain tone.

n“I can’t talk about this so easily. There’s the possibility that your leader arranged it in a weird way. So I want more information on him. What’s his name?”

nLoren recalled his leader’s name.

nThe name of the person who raised him and taught him all the knowledge and skill he possessed.

n“Juli Muthschild. That’s his name. He used to brag that he had a family name even though he’s a mercenary.”

n“I see. Let me think for a bit. I’ll tell you when I find something out.”

nAfter saying so, Dia ended the conversation and started walking towards their destination again.

nFollowing her, Loren started thinking about his leader’s identity, even though he knew he wouldn’t find out anything.

n