Volume 4 Chapter 17 (1/2)
Chapter 4 Episode 17
Editor:Starbuck11, Kev
Silence dominated the training ground.
Only his own faint breath entered Kevin's ears.
The training ground’s s.p.a.ce was around 100 meters. And n.o.bles and military officers surrounded the place.
There was nothing such as spectator seats like the ancient Roman stadium had. There was only an open ground with stones surrounding it for the people to sit on it.
(This is huge... It would be disadvantageous if we face them head on....)
Such thought appeared inside Kevin's mind while he looked at the figure of knights standing 50 meters away from him.
The battle to see through each other fighting potential had begun.
The infamous sentence from the book of the art of war 'Understand the enemy and yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be in peril', it was never an exaggeration to call that sentence as true.
Since it was important for a person to make a proper preparation before heading toward a battle.
And such att.i.tude was the first thing Ryouma and the others taught the children.
As usual, Kevin observed the five knights in front of him for information.
Apart from his height that was almost 170 cm, his body muscles were only half of the opposing knights.
From the viewpoint of simple muscular strength, the outcome was already obvious.
Even with a weapon in hand.
The knights had heavy steel armors covering their whole body, even their face. The weapons they held were 3 meters long spears.
On the other hand, Kevin and the others were only being protected by leather armors and wooden s.h.i.+elds that had been reinforced with steel.
Of course, the leather armors made by using the monsters material they obtained from inside the peninsula was not inferior compared to the steel armor, but as a result of emphasizing on maneuverability, the overall defensive power was lower compared to the whole body steel armors.
It was a good choice if they thought that they were about to fight within the Zalda Kingdom which was famous for its mountainous land, but it was obviously disadvantageous to use such armor in a straightforward match.
Because of the tension, Kevin's lips felt dry.
His heart beated fast, and he felt chill on his skin.
Such feeling was known as fear.
It was a feeling that people usually felt and tried to suppress when they were about to fight.
After moistening his dry lips with his tongue, Kevin grasped his favorite iron sword while turning his eyes toward the comrades around him who also showed the same expressions as him.
(Everyone feels the same huh? I guess that is understandable. This is only our second time after all...)
Fear when facing an actual battle where people risked their life.
The fear that they might lose their own life and the fear of taking other people lives, such feelings invaded Kevin and the others' hearts.
It was the fear that he even felt when they performed the subjugation of the pirates, despite the mission also being for their revenge.
However, Kevin understood that he could change his fear into power if he didn't try to deny it.
Fear was not weakness, if one were able to understand the fear inside one's heart, such fear can become power.
Several months had pa.s.sed since the time of the pirate subjugation.
Kevin also had survived the fights against monsters within the wortenia peninsula.
For him, the feeling of fear he was familiar with was a friend, and a weapon to survive.
(Don't think anything useless. We're the ones in a weaker position, if we hesitate, we will die...)
Although formally it was just a friendly match, the truth was this battle was a dangerous battle where the partic.i.p.ants bet their lives.
The term of victory or defeat was decided when the opponents died, loses consciousness or the referee judged that the battle was over.
There was no point system or round system. There were only two choices in this match, getting knocked out or knocking out the enemy.
If one were to compare the knights and Kevin’s strength in numerical value, the knights would be 100 while Kevin and the others would be around 70.
Kevin was definitely disadvantaged.
However, winning or losing was not being determined by strength alone.
(We just have to do the same as usual. Just like the instructors said, we just have to fight. To survive together with my comrades.)
Living on the wortenia peninsula had forged Kevin's and his comrades' body into a beast.
What Kevin needed to do was to use that body efficiently.
”Just like usual...”
Kevin muttered those words in a small voice, and the comrades around him nodded their head silently.
The fear he had and the urge to kill started to spread inside his heart.
The Prana inside of their body began to circulate extra power.
Along with that, their fighting spirit also began to increase...
”Start!”
The old man referee broke the silence.
”Leon and Rina you guys attack from the right. Annet and I will go from the left. Melissa! Look out for the timing!”
After being recognized as soldiers, the children had been a.s.signed into a five men unit.
Several months had pa.s.sed since then. They had performed many strategies together and repeated it many times over.
The moment Kevin gave the signal, the four people charged from the right and left at full speed.
Although they moved fast, the speed they used was still in the category of human ability.
With four people charging from the left and right.
Melissa alone was standing in the center facing the knights.
”What's this? I guess they are just brats huh? Dispersing like this, are they trying to throw away the match?”
One man muttered those words while snorting his nose.
The Knights thought that even if they charged immediately, in the end, their opponents were still children.
Besides, they were all wearing leather armors.
From the start, the knights thought the winner and loser had already been decided.
Or at least, most of the knights thought like that.
With such situation, the knights thought the children will gather up in one place and performed a defensive battle.
”Oi, the leader said we should not go easy on them... Let's just go and finish this as fast as possible.”
Following the platoon leader’s words, the other Knights nodded their head.
Since it was an order, they did not have to mind killing their opponents.
Although they never thought of murder as something fun.
(At least, I should not make all of you suffer...)
It might sound like a hypocrite, but that was all of the knights true feelings.
The knights grasped their spear while observing the children moving closer to them.
They have no intention of using the military magic arts.
However, such thought proved to be a mistake...