From Mercenary to King

Chapter 8: Battle of the Rakiten Plains (5)

The Holy Empire’s heavy infantry of the Imperial Army could be called an elite among regular soldiers, with dependable arms, excellent experience, and solid skill. They usually served as the guards who protected Imperial Army commanders, but…

‘What are these guys doing charging all the way out here?’

He could not know, yet what could he do?

They were already the enemy. He had fought them several times in the past before his return, so he knew their skill well.

Gripping his sword, Shatien raised his voice with as much caution as he could.

"Miles! These men are no joke. If we rush in carelessly, we are in real trouble."

"Ugh. I can see that. Where did these guys crawl out from?"

He shouted to Miles, but in truth he meant the words for the comrades around them. After a string of victories in close fights, everyone’s morale was too high. With so many rookies nearby, the risk was high that they would misread the foe and charge in. Sure enough…

"Jeez. Why are you so scared?"

"Yeah. They are just the emperor’s dogs anyway. Hahaha. Let’s go!"

Several mercenaries, full of themselves, charged ahead with a shout.

"No, stop!"

Shatien cried out in a hurry, but he was too late.

Clack, clack.

At the hundred-man unit’s charge, the Imperial heavy infantry formed a battle line in perfect order.

Boom. Crunch. Crack.

Unlike the crossbowmen from earlier, they moved with strict discipline and massacred the charging hundred-man unit.

"Arghhhh."

"N-No. Edron!"

A mercenary enraged by his comrade’s death rushed in, but he met the same fate. Against the seasoned, well-armed heavy infantry of the Imperial Army, a hundred-man unit full of green recruits was nothing but easy prey.

"Dammit!"

"What do we do, Miles!"

"What do you mean, what. We charge in too! If we leave it like this, our side will be wiped out. Cover me from behind, rookie!"

"Understood."

Miles gripped his axe and lunged. Shatien swung his sword in swift concert with that movement.

Cha-chang, chang!

Because Miles’s attacks were headlong and his axe was heavy, there were many openings. Shatien began parrying the blades flying in from all directions as he advanced. The result followed.

Bang. Craaack!

"Gugh! N-No way…"

A shield split under Miles’s blow, and a heavy infantryman coughed blood and fell. Shatien kept tight on him and cut through the gap. No matter how seasoned the Imperial heavy infantry were, they could not withstand that.

"These guys are strong!"

"Do not tangle with the riffraff. Come here!"

Startled, the heavy infantry rushed in to take down Shatien and Miles.

"Uoohhh! That is Miles and Shatien, all right! Let’s go help the two of them!"

"If we leave it like this, they’ll be in trouble!"

Mercenaries who regained their morale at the sight of that performance pushed through the broken gaps in the formation to aid them. The melee flared again. The situation dropped into a five-minutes-to-chaos mess.

‘Ughhh!’

Thanks to that, Shatien felt like dying.

Waves of sword light. The killing intent of enemies. Confusion so thick, friend and foe blurred.

Even just guarding Miles’s back was starting to overload him, and now he was the focused target of the enemy heavy infantry. With allies mixing in as well, there was too much to track.

If he let his guard slip, he would be the one rolling on the ground, not the heavy infantry. Shatien forced his newly gained power into full use.

Jiiiiiiiing.

The world seemed to slow and flow like syrup.

‘Ugh-! It feels like I’m going to explode…!’

Every movement within three meters fed into his mind in real time and was analyzed.

His head.

His brain felt like it was burning. The pounding headache and vicious drain of stamina were clear, but he could not stop.

Kkang. Kang!

"T-This one is strong!"

“Ugh!”

The effect was tremendous. Each time the moonlit sword glow rippled in the dark, an Imperial heavy infantryman dropped like a puppet with cut strings. If he could keep pressing without hindrance, the battle would end without much issue.

Ka-kak!

"??"

At that thought, for the first time his blade bounced off a shield without piercing it. Unlike before, the shield moved with exquisite timing and nullified the attack.

"You are impressive for one so young!"

With a cry of admiration, the man who showed that shield work stood before Shatien with a triumphant face.

"But that is as far as you go. Heh heh."

With good armor and a sturdy shield, he looked exactly like a senior heavy infantryman leading the Imperial troops. Shatien and Miles had broken the ranks, so he had stepped in personally to stop them.

"You bastard! Die…!"

Crack!

"Ughhh."

A mercenary who failed to sense that skill rushed in and had his head split at once.

"Hmph, where do you bugs think you are butting in. Moths to the flame."

The senior soldier grumbled as if he had swatted a single insect.

"Careful! He is strong!"

"I know, Miles."

Shatien swallowed and slowly raised his sword.

Riiiiinggg!

His transcendent sense gave a warning unlike any before.

As if red lines were being drawn through the space around him, they tapped along his body. Each time the senior soldier moved, the pattern changed. It seemed to mark paths that would lead to death.

"Your stance is quite good. Even at your age. It is a shame to kill you like this."

"Kill me? I will return those words right back at you."

"Ha! Brave, I will grant you that."

Even as he spoke, the senior soldier moved with care.

He refused to be careless.

He shifted his stance bit by bit and growled like a beast of prey.

‘Shit… Can I win this?’

He did not know. Each time he took a stance and moved slowly, that red sense of death clung to him like something sticky.

Even without the sense, the senior soldier’s firm posture alone made him feel short of breath, as if the man had learned from a knight.

This was someone properly trained in swordsmanship. By a knight, at that. He wanted to back away and avoid the fight at once.

This was the battlefield anyway. No one would point fingers if he used comrades and fought together.

Shatien himself was not a knight who cried out for honor.

The thought lingered in his mind, but he took it right back.

‘No... What am I doing? Shatien, get a grip. You already died once. What are you afraid of?’

That was right.

He had already died once.

Shatien knew very well that if he fled blindly from fear of death, he would end as a loser who achieved nothing.

Even if this uncanny sense warned him, he had to advance. He would seize victory at risk of death.

That was Shatien’s resolve for living this new life.

"Miles!"

"Uh, uh-huh?"

"Please cover my back!"

As he barked, Shatien ground his teeth and stepped forward.

At that moment…

Jiiiiiing…

As if that choice were correct, the red lines that wrapped his body gradually thinned and then began to guide him.

"What?"

Sensing the change in momentum, the senior soldier swung in haste.

Swish!

A single stroke meant to split the collarbone and torso in one.

Clang!

Shatien’s blade caught it, and sparks scattered in the air. The following flurry of blows met the same fate.

Cha-chang. Chang. Kka-ga-gang!

Each cut was razor sharp, yet he blocked them all like a ghost.

"T-This bastard. How does a whelp like you stop my attacks…!"

Do you know how I learned this sword!

Do you know how I built this experience!

He was wavering, yet he had not landed a single effective hit.

The senior soldier could only be appalled. No, beyond appalled, fear began to seep in.

Death. If this continued, the end waiting for him was only death.

Crack!

He clenched the hilt hard enough to crush it and threw away the cumbersome shield.

The all-out, kill-in-one-blow sword of a man taught by a knight. He would split this mercenary who moved like a rat.

"Dieeeee—!"

His sword lifted high.

Swoosh!

With a savage tear of air, the blade swept for Shatien’s neck like an owl snatching prey.

There was something the senior soldier had missed. The knight had not actually taught him proper swordsmanship.

‘Now!’

And the Shatien before him was not a man who missed an opening born of that fact.

Flash.

A tiny gap. The sword light slipped through that gap and flashed. The result followed.

"Kgh, K-Kughhh."

Shatien’s blade shot faster than anything and pierced the senior Imperial soldier’s throat in a straight line.

* * *

"Huff, huff..."

The battle ended.

While Shatien took the senior soldier’s life, Captain Mordo’s forces who came up behind crushed the Imperial resistance and broke them.

The Imperial soldiers collapsed without order and faded into the dark in fear.

Thanks to that, Shatien leaned his weight on the sword planted in the ground as he exhaled in ragged breaths.

‘Damn it… that was brutally hard.’

He had spent too much strength. His head throbbed like it would split, and his stamina felt nearly gone, so even breathing was hard.

A powerless fog pressed on his eyes as if he could collapse at any moment.

At the same time, his pounding heart would not let his mind go quiet. The life-and-death struggle from moments ago.

‘I did not think I would beat someone that skilled…’

That victory had Shatien excited.

If he kept working at it, he could do it. Unlike the past when he lacked talent for the sword, he could feel his skill climbing sharply.

Bwwwooooo.

A horn blared long. It signaled the end of the fight. With the heights secured, their forces had sealed their victory.

"Whoaaa! We won!"

A roar of joy burst forth. It was the moment when the fates of the living and the dead split. Many comrades had died, but the living had their own joy to enjoy.

"Ahaha! Shatien!"

Miles, who had fought long at his side, laughed heartily and thumped Shatien’s back as if he was in high spirits.

"Dammit. Thanks to you we won again without heavy losses. I knew you had skill, but I did not think you would take that guy down alone!"

"I got lucky."

"Lucky, my ass! If you lived, that is skill. Hahahaha."

Once he had been the man who only scolded him, and now he only praised him. It really seemed like you had to keep living to experience things like this.

"Centurion Jacri said he was coming when he heard the news."

"What? Centurion Jacri?"

Shatien’s face grew stiff for a moment at Miles’s words. Do not run wild, do not stand out, keep formation and fight together. He had broken everything the man had warned and stressed before the battle.

‘Hmmm. Am I going to get on his bad side again?’

Once you get marked, everything you do looks wrong.

Shatien worried because of that.

But turns out, it was a needless worry.

"Shatien. I heard our side lost fewer men thanks to your performance."

Centurion Jacri approached with a stern face and spoke curtly.

"I was doubtful when I first heard Miles’s story. But… now I have to accept your devotion to the company as sincere."

He set a hand on Shatien’s shoulder as he said it.

"Thank you. I will make sure to report your performance to the captain."

It was the moment when a bad knot came loose.

But of course…

"And…"

The strict centurion lived up to his reputation.

"The part where you disobeyed orders will be addressed clearly as well. Expect a week of docked pay."

"…"

Jeez…

He really was a consistent man.