Hard Carried by My Sword-Chapter 54

Chapter 54
The Storm Caravan’s campsite had been set up in the middle of an open plain, wide and flat in every direction. Above them stretched a night sky completely clear of clouds, with stars scattered across it and a moon half full casting a soft glow across the land in place of the sun.
Leon took a deep breath as he absorbed the view. He wasn’t too surprised that things had unfolded this way.
Adventurers and mercenaries were the two groups that made up the Guild. Tension between them was one of its oldest, most chronic problems.
Well, I get it,
Leon thought.
Adventurers had to handle all sorts of situations, while mercenaries mostly dealt with combat against other people. The two roles were fundamentally different.
Unlike adventurers who came from diverse backgrounds, most mercenaries were former soldiers. Their culture was far more hierarchical and vertical. Seniority meant a lot more to them than it did to adventurers, so it was no surprise that a young man like Leon earned their scorn.
Also, traveling with a beautiful A-rank woman probably didn’t help either.
Though that very beauty is currently starting up a gambling ring...
Leon thought as he looked toward one side of the clearing, his expression unimpressed.
“I’m putting my money on Hansen!”
“Three silvers on the mercenary for me!”
“Ten silvers on the kid adventurer! Go big or go home!”
“Ten? Didn’t your wife slap you last time you gambled?”
“Shut it!”
No one knew when the betting circle had started, but there was Karen at the center, beaming as merchants tossed in their plays.
“Ten seconds until betting closes! Who’ll win the pride match between a B-rank adventurer and a B-rank mercenary? Well, what about you, Mr. Arnold? Care to wager a bit?”
“Me?
Ahem
...”
Urged on, Arnold hesitated for a moment, then slipped a gold coin her way with a quiet whisper. It seemed like he didn’t want anyone to know who he was betting on.
Karen grinned knowingly and said, “Excellent eye. You picked well.”
Given the wink she shot Leon, Arnold had clearly bet on him.
Exactly ten seconds later, Karen ended the betting and called in the two fighters. One was Leon, of course, and the other was Hansen, the representative from the mercenary group Steel Claw. Leon instinctively gave the man a once-over.
Build’s average, but his limbs are thick. A natural brute. Probably not fast, but sturdy as hell.
It wasn’t just muscle; it was the man’s frame. Leon’s sharp eyes quickly returned to normal, not wanting to alert his opponent with undue wariness. If Hansen was underestimating him, he was happy to use that to his advantage.
Karen raised her fingers as she listed the rules, “As I’ve said, no direct hits with Aura Weapons. Weapons that haven’t been revealed are banned, no poison, no scrolls or consumables. You’ll obey my commands immediately. There’s no time limit, but you can’t leave the clearing. If the audience gets hurt, that’s an automatic loss. Got it?”
“Yeah,” Leon agreed.
“Understood,” Hansen did as well.
The moment both nodded, Karen spun back and leaped away a considerable distance. The clearing had a radius of about fifteen meters, giving them plenty of room to swing their weapons.
As soon as Karen was out of range, the tension shifted. Leon, sword already drawn, backed off and dropped into a ready stance, while Hansen lifted his spear and shield.
“Ready!”
Their eyes locked.
“Begin!”
The surrounding crowd immediately fell silent. The pressure from the two B-ranks, Leon and Hansen, was overwhelming.
A spear and a shield, huh.
Hansen was holding a spear just under two meters long and a round shield big enough to cover the entire upper body. Leon frowned in puzzlement at the combination.
A shield... for a B-rank?
He understood the value of a shield, of course, but for someone capable of using Aura Weapon, shields were rare. The wide surface area consumed Aura too inefficiently.
On the other hand, if you channeled less Aura into it, it wouldn’t be able to block other Aura Weapons. It was an awkward middle ground.
“That’s not just any shield, is it?” Leon asked.
Silver glinted from the scratches scored across the surface—far too bright for normal steel. Leon spotted it right away.
Hansen nodded and replied, “Yeah. It’s a mithril-alloy shield. Got it as a gift years ago after saving a dwarf.”
“Is it really okay to tell me that?”
“No point hiding it. One clash and you’d know. And I’m not petty enough to try tricks against a kid.”
It might’ve been meant as a courtesy, but Leon found the remark insulting. Mercenaries were known for their “win at any cost” mentality. This could only mean that Leon was being severely underestimated.
I’ll make you regret that.
Leon stepped toward him, abandoning any plans of drawing things out. No more measuring—he’d end this fast. It was okay to look down on Leon the B-rank adventurer, but not Leon the Hero.
Leon launched forward in silence using Rodrick’s Footwork, exploding toward Hansen. A straight, middle-line slash crashed down on the shield.
The clang of metal rang out, followed by a shockwave. Hansen’s upper body jolted back first, and then his legs gave, sliding backward and gouging two long trails into the dirt.
The raw power was absurd. Only now did Hansen’s expression change, but Leon’s mind was already on the next move.
This isn’t something I can keep using.
It was a technique copied from Karen’s signature single-point breakthrough move, but Leon’s version was too linear. Use it too often and an experienced mercenary like Hansen would counter it.
It was best reserved for surprise attacks or when you needed overwhelming power in a single blow. Now that it had failed, it was time for standard tactics.
With a
clang,
Leon deflected the returning spear thrust. It wasn’t a two-handed strike—neither powerful nor fast. It wasn’t meaningless, but not critical.
A one-handed spear style focused on counterattacks and pressure... with a mithril alloy shield. This guy is completely geared for defense.
He kept his stance tight, waiting to wear his opponent down.
Since mithril had superb Aura conductivity, he could defend at length without burning out.
The spear’s only purpose was to grind his opponent down.
If he got lucky with a counter, great. If not, just keep chipping away until he could finish the job.
“What are you, a hedgehog?” Leon muttered under his breath.
Hansen’s combat style was plain but annoying. He wasn’t as fast as Karen or as powerful as Caesare, but he was just that—annoying.
It seemed like a fighting style forged through long years of experience and training. It accurately portrayed the result-oriented mindset of mercenaries.
Leon deflected the spear again and again and hammered the shield. Hansen’s body shook with each hit from Leon’s sword, but he never went down.
As Leon had noticed earlier, his tough natural physique was the bedrock of his defense. The fact that he hadn’t managed to break through with the first strike meant that brute force wasn’t going to cut it.
I could probably slice through that shield using Sword of Eclipse, but...
He couldn’t guarantee the cut would stop at the shield. If his sword went even a little further, Hansen would die.
The dull, repetitive clash dragged on. He kept parrying the spear and striking the shield, which already bore plenty of scratches, adding even more with his blade. However, it was only surface damage. The shield wasn’t going to break anytime soon.
“
Tch
.”
Leon finally had to admit it. He wasn’t going to win this with his own swordsmanship alone.
Guess I’ve got no choice.
Letting out a slow breath, his gaze sharpened. No, not just his breath but his entire body dropped into a lower stance. Even his center of gravity shifted like he’d become someone else entirely. It was the kind of light, fluid movement that looked almost identical to Karen’s.
What the...?
Hansen flinched. His battle-hardened instincts were screaming at him. He was now facing a completely different opponent.
And before he could adjust, Leon dashed and kicked the shield. Then, he used the recoil to retreat only to rush back in low, like a beast. There wasn’t a trace of formal swordplay left and caught off guard, Hansen instinctively thrust his spear.
The spear wreathed in blue Aura sliced through the air at the perfect timing—yet Leon evaded it in a bizarre maneuver of his body. His knees were bent more than halfway, crawling almost along the ground.
He wasn’t a knight. He wasn’t a mercenary. That movement—
That’s an assassin.
Hansen realized it the moment Leon slipped under his shield. Then Leon slammed the flat of his sword against Hansen’s shin.
With a blunt
thud,
the greave dented slightly, and Hansen lost his balance. He couldn’t react in time. It must’ve been the first time he’d ever been attacked like that. Leon didn’t miss the opening.
“I’ve lost...” Hansen muttered, realizing that the tip of Leon’s sword was already at his throat.
As Hansen dropped his spear and shield and raised both hands in surrender, Karen’s voice rang out—like an announcer in an arena, “Match over! B-rank Adventurer Leon wins!”
Some cheered. Others wailed in despair. Judging by the noise, more people had bet on Hansen than Leon.
Leon let his sword fall to his side, savoring the moment. Victory was always sweet.
Karen’s technique actually worked pretty well.
By mimicking her feints and disruptive movements, he’d managed to land a clean hit on a B-rank mercenary. If El-Cid were here, he’d probably complain about him copying assassin tricks, but in Leon’s eyes, having more tools in your arsenal was a good thing. How many people could win every fight with straightforward techniques like Rodrick?
Karen, having finished collecting her bets, approached with the mercenaries in tow.
“Alright, time to settle up.”
The man who looked like the leader of Steel Claw stepped forward. He had hawk-like eyes, a head taller than Leon, and muscles twitching beneath his chainmail. He was certainly an intimidating figure.
He gave Karen a brief nod, then, without a moment of hesitation, bowed deeply to Leon and said, “My apologies!”
“
Huh
...?”
“Your skill is worthy of B-rank. We were blind, childish fools who picked a fight out of pure jealousy!”
Leon was too stunned to respond, so the mercenary leader raised his voice and continued, “Just like you said—we resented being the same rank as someone so young. And the fact that you got to ride in a carriage alone with a beautiful woman while the four of us were crammed into one? Yeah, we were jealous! Sorry we acted like petty jerks!”
“
Pfft
!
”
Karen snorted.
It was such a blunt, honest apology that even Leon had nothing left to say. He nodded silently. Not accepting it after all that would just make things worse, and honestly, as a man, he could relate a little.
“I look forward to getting along from now on,” Leon said as he awkwardly extended his hand.
“Damn right! I, Gustav, and all of Steel Claw owe you a big one. One day, we’ll make up for our disgraceful display.”
“There’s nothing to make up for...”
“A debt of honor weighs heavier than life itself. Even if you don’t want it, I’ll make up for it, so be ready!”
It was still over-the-top, but not entirely unpleasant. Gustav may have looked rough, but the fact that he could apologize so earnestly left a good impression. It felt like a very mercenary way of bonding—raw and direct.
Slapping Leon on the back, Gustav shouted, “Alright! We’re drinking tonight!”
“
Oooh
!” the mercenaries roared in unison. Fighting and drinking were essentials of a mercenary’s life. They’d already had the fight, and now it was time to drink to it.
And as for Leon, he didn’t even get a chance to decline. Dragged off by Gustav, he was half-forced into the drinking circle. And before long, he found himself chatting—topics appropriate and inappropriate—with the very people who’d picked a fight with him an hour ago.
Not that the “bonding” process wasn’t a bit... unconventional.
“
Urgh
... h-hang on a sec. I don’t feel so...”
“You fight booze with booze! Get another bottle! We won’t get to drink after we enter the forest!”
“Teach this fancy boy the taste of life!”
Unaware of his own limits, Leon ended up completely plastered. A few fresh black marks on his record, but thankfully only one person here knew who he really was. At least there was that.
“
Teehee
, I bet I’m the only one with a memoir that records the day the Hero got drunk and threw up!”
Was that really a good thing...?