Wortenia Senki (LN) - Volume 22 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Castle Invasion

“I can’t believe this was his plan,” said Lione as she focused on the devastated wall with an amused smile. “For a moment, I thought we were taking it slow with the offensive. I guess the boy always surprises us.”

Her smile showed how she was prepared to lunge on her prey. As Lione had mostly been away from the front lines since the battle on the Runoc Plains, she was itching to fight and live up to her title of the Crimson Lioness.

Standing beside her was Gennou Igasaki, stroking his beard while observing the aftermath of the walls’ destruction with a satisfied expression.

“The lord’s ideas are as impressive as ever. It’s hard to believe we destroyed such firm walls so easily,” replied Gennou, shaking his head.

An unspoken exasperation hid behind his amazed words. Ryoma had planned to dig tunnels that burrowed under the walls and activate an earth element verbal thaumaturgy called Earth Sink. With the support of the earth beneath the walls suddenly gone, they would collapse and be unable to support their own weight.

The plan took advantage of the ground on which the walls stood being defenseless, even with the measures set up to nullify thaumaturgy cast on the walls themselves. And the plan was simple when put into words, but no one else would have conceived the idea.

While Gennou’s surprise was understandable, Lione just shrugged.

“It goes to show we’re serving a reliable man. And that’s a good thing. With all the preparations set up ahead of time, the job itself was easy enough.”

Lione was being honest. In terms of the quality of each soldier, the Mikoshiba barony army was overwhelmingly superior to the opposition. Now that the pesky walls were gone, all that remained to end the war was to flood into the capital and capture all the key points.

Enemy morale is at rock bottom. There’s almost no one left who’s loyal enough to draw their sword, thought Lione.

As far as Lione could tell, the only ones who still fought for Queen Lupis were Mikhail Vanash and Meltina Lecter. Other loyal knights might remain, but those two were the only remaining threats when considering commanders and true warriors.

The fact that one of the three kingdoms of the east is down to two knights willing to fight for their country’s survival is a sad state of affairs. Or maybe they have someone still helping, a pearl hiding among the trash, like our lord? 

To Lione, her life as a mercenary made war a calling for her because she lived and died on the battlefield. She wanted to have a meaningful death—one where she fought not for money but for a man worth giving her life for.

Lione had followed Ryoma to the Wortenia Peninsula after the civil war as his skills and ambitions drew her in.

And, well, I won’t die that easily when I’m working under him. 

Ultimately, Ryoma’s efforts were all meticulous, down to the last minute detail. She thought the siege battle was oddly long, but it led to the walls falling apart. Thus, she wondered what kind of education could have produced a monster like him.

I guess having a leader who’s far too skilled is much better than having an incompetent one.

The scenery Lione looked at was the outcome of what happened when an incompetent leader ignored reality and acted in the name of her feelings and ideals.

“Still, I would like it if he let us do our side of the work sometimes. Can’t help but worry that he thinks we’re incompetent.”

Although having a reliable leader was encouraging, that leader being too good could be concerning.

“Surely you jest,” said Gennou, cracking a wry smile. “The lord trusts you dearly, Lady Lione. I find it hard to believe you would say that.”

“True. To put it another way, I wish I could put in the kind of work that matches his trust.” Lione cackled, then threw a glance over her shoulder.

A force of ten thousand heavily armored soldiers stood there with Nelcius’s elite dark elf units guarding the rear. They all had resolve and were ready for battle, the air hot with their fighting spirit. The force was like a pack of beasts preparing to storm the kingdom’s capital.

“Now that the dust has settled, let’s get started,” whispered Lione, then smiled at Gennou. “By the way, don’t ya have preparations to attend to, old man?”

“No need for concern,” said Gennou, shaking his head again. “Sakuya already arranged everything perfectly.”

Gennou bowed to Lione and turned on his heels. Lione watched the old man leave, then raised her hand to signal Boltz, who stood behind her.

“All right, let’s get started, boys. Let ’em all hear ya!” She thrust her fist into the air and swung her sword toward Pireas.

At the crumbled walls of Pireas, the screams of Rhoadserian citizens and soldiers caught in the middle of the fighting echoed from every direction. Amid the chaos, Lione’s heavy infantry unit marched in. The sporadic counterattacks of small groups of soldiers didn’t amount to much against Lione and her forces.

Their chain of command is in shambles. Maybe a very skilled commander could have handled all these unexpected developments.

The wall the Mikoshiba barony army had destroyed was right between the northwestern and northeastern gates. By contrast, the defending army’s chain of command had their base in the castle in the center of the capital, with a forward command post set up at every gate. Most times, an enemy army would attack from the vicinity of one of the gates.

Knowing this was what the defending army expected, one could attack the walls. They also reinforced the ramparts with endowed thaumaturgy, so physically destroying them required the use of large-scale siege weapons like battering rams, siege towers, catapults, and ladders.

Attackers could overcome said fortifications using weapons to destroy or scale the walls. That wasn’t to say armies always employed siege weapons.

Siege engines were expensive to use. The most common one used on the battlefield, the battering ram, was a relatively simple device made of lumber and reinforced with metal to batter through the walls. Even this simple, blunt weapon wasn’t easy to assemble during a battle.

Any siege weapon used in battle, such as a battering ram or siege tower, had to be manufactured beforehand and carried onto the battlefield. The same applied to catapults, ladders, and other large-scale siege weapons that were too conspicuous to be moved in secret. During the daytime, anyone could spot them with no issue.

With all these problems in mind, the biggest question in a siege battle was how to destroy the gates and rush into the capital.

This time, the boy flipped the script.

If nothing else, nobody in this world would have devised a way to destroy such large walls without using siege weaponry. A large-scale ritual using verbal thaumaturgy to destroy walls reinforced with endowed thaumaturgy made more sense than what Ryoma did.

Under such conditions, the units could not expect this turn of events or react appropriately. After all, Laura and Sara were launching attacks on the northwestern and northeastern gates.

And they’re giving the kingdom a hard fight too, mused Lione. The Mikoshiba barony would have broken through the gates by now if the defending army had underestimated them. I doubt the enemy’s that dumb, though.

As a result, they had to redirect the guards defending that area so no forces could attack Lione’s unit. The only soldiers remaining were the rear guard in the castle at the center of the city. Anyhow, it would take time for news of what happened on the front lines to reach the castle.

More than anything, Viscount Gelhart’s groundwork is paying off.

Viscount Gelhart’s scheming caused disgruntled members of the Monarch’s Guard and Royal Guard to stage a massive uprising in the capital’s southwest corner. The capital’s garrison naturally had to send in men to suppress it, which meant it was questionable if anyone could deal with Lione’s unit.

Precise information sharing and appropriate positioning of your guards are necessary for intercepting an enemy force.

Commanders, above all, needed resolve and skills to control chaotic situations, and Queen Lupis had no people like that under her authority. Any person Lupis might have had with such skills was already in Ryoma’s hands, determined to create a Rhoadserian kingdom under a new ruler.

But very few people were aware of that.

In the end, she’s just picking up the tab for everything she’s done so far.

Everyone had to pay for their transgressions, and those who failed to do so left the tab for their family and close friends. And when that happened, just like with debt, one must pay in interest as well.

If one didn’t like that, their only option was never to accrue that debt. Often, those in positions of power and authority had a way of forgetting that.

“Lady Lione, we’ve secured a path to the castle!” yelled a soldier.

“Good. We march on, then. Listen up! We’re making this flashy! Keep their eyes fixed on us!” Lione looked at the castle with a smirk, thinking about how Ryoma was likely moving through the underground tunnel.

♱

As Lione crossed the walls and entered the city on the surface, a group walked through the capital’s underground with the light of a lantern guiding them. Countless footsteps reverberated through the subterranean gloom, as dark as the road to the underworld.

About fifty people comprised the group, with Igasaki ninjas leading it to serve as vanguards in case of any danger ahead. Ryoma Mikoshiba followed them clad in black armor, Kikoku sheathed at his waist, and a cross-shaped pipe spear in his hands. Behind him, serving as rear guard, were Dilphina and her elite dark elf Black Serpent unit.

They had a single objective: to strike the final blow to end this absurd war. Before long, the group stopped before a steel door, reaching the staircase leading up to the castle as planned.

“Milord... This way,” said an Igasaki ninja.

Ryoma nodded, signaling the ninja to approach the door. It seemed to be locked. After he examined the nearby pillars, the door clicked and swung open toward them with the sound of a spring moving.

It happened just like Douglas said, thought Ryoma.

In the past, Douglas Hamilton had opened the door in the same way to use the escape tunnel from the House of Lords. The door mechanism might have been different because this was another door. In that case, the dark elves would have used verbal thaumaturgy to blow the door open. Yet Ryoma preferred they went about their mission quietly if possible.

Even though the enemy was in disarray due to Lione’s diversion, the castle still had a considerable garrison. The noise of the group’s verbal thaumaturgy would have exposed their presence.

Avoiding detection is a big help. When we return, I’ll have to reward Douglas for his help.

Although Douglas was once a corrupt clerk, he was now a denizen of Sirius in the Mikoshiba barony. Since he knew how to read and write while being knowledgeable in such affairs, he had a chance to work in the port to handle financial clerk responsibilities.

He had become corrupt because of his daughter’s sickness. Fortunately, she had recovered and was healthy enough to get out of bed thanks to the nostrum provided by the dark elves. Douglas went through what can be called rehabilitation, and his assistance was nothing short of admirable.

I was right to believe in him.

While Douglas was loyal to Ryoma now, there was no guarantee Douglas wasn’t seeking to betray Ryoma because they used to be enemies. As such, Ryoma couldn’t deny feeling anxious over the information being trustworthy and had to bear subordinates who still doubted Douglas.

However, Ryoma stood by his decision to trust Douglas and accepted the man who had switched to their side. He knew this choice was a gamble, but Douglas had met his expectations.

I did have a backup plan set up just in case, though.

The men’s actions were the most genuine form of trust. Trust relied on putting your faith in another while not being dependent on your belief in them.

Standing beside the door, Ryoma gave the Igasaki ninjas their next orders.

“All right, so far so good. It could be time-consuming, but I need the Igasaki ninjas to go up and check the area. Many knights will be patrolling the area if we’re right. If dealing with the patrols goes well, we should be able to sweep this place quickly!”

The Igasaki ninjas nodded briefly and swiftly ran up the stairs. And after waiting a long while, one of the ninjas returned to Ryoma’s side.

“I have a report from my comrades who snuck ahead. The castle’s garrison unit headed out to intercept Lione’s unit that breached the walls under the leadership of Mikhail Vanash. But Meltina Lecter has left the castle’s command post. The disruption of the chain of command has left the guards confused and unorganized.”

Ryoma nodded, thinking, Yeah, I’d expect them to do that. Those two care too much for the queen...

Regardless, Mikhail and Meltina were not fools. From their perspective, the sudden invasion of the capital had pushed the queen’s side to the brink of collapse. Such a situation gave them no choice but to defend Queen Lupis’s life. In their eyes, she was more important than everyone in Pireas. They believed that the survival of Queen Lupis guaranteed the survival of the Rhoadserian kingdom.

Still, Ryoma knew that belief was false. Now, let’s apply the finishing touches.

Lione was undoubtedly engaging the defending army in combat. According to the Igasaki ninjas, Viscount Gelhart was causing a diversion near the southwestern gate as planned.

It’s been so long... But we can settle that score.

A mixture of joy and loneliness crossed Ryoma’s heart, which was only natural under the circumstances. He was about to put an end to a yearslong grudge.

He had set things in motion a long while ago to ensure this happened so that he and his allies were safe and the Wortenia Peninsula could develop. Ryoma knew he would sacrifice much to achieve his ambition, but he wouldn’t back down now.

Especially since, in this world, everyone has to sacrifice others to survive.

No matter what words one used to embellish their cause, they couldn’t achieve their goals without sacrificing others. The only world where this rule didn’t apply was one where everyone was miserable. One could go so far as to say that joy could only exist based on someone else’s sacrifice.

For instance, finding a significant other was wonderful. Yet, it could mean you were taking the place of another one who longed for that person. The same applied to people vying for a position at work or getting accepted into a school. In simply being alive, people competed for who was more worthy of resources. The question of who got sacrificed in the process remained in the wake of that.

What decided the victor was whatever placed a person in a superior and advantageous position relative to another—be it power, knowledge, or material fortune.

That, Lupis Rhoadserians, is why you and your country will become my sacrifices. And if you don’t like that, stand up and fight back.

Ryoma knew better than anyone that this wouldn’t happen, as he was the one who set up this situation. In a sense, what he spoke about was the philosophy of the strong, which undeniably held truth.

A vicious, animalistic smile played over Ryoma’s lips.

“Then the Igasaki ninjas are to split up with us here, as decided. I’m counting on you to sweep the place clean of enemies and secure the target.”

The Igasaki ninjas lowered their heads in assent and hurried up the stairs, showing they were astute and flexible warriors. They were also capable of martial thaumaturgy on top of that, meaning the average knight would be no match for them.

But they were still ninjas, more geared toward surprise attacks and assassinations than fighting an enemy head-on. And in infiltrations of enemy territory like this one, they were more effective as skirmishers than warriors.

They had to scatter across the castle and eliminate sentinels and knights they came across using their best judgment. The word “sweep” was a fitting one for their task.

Once Ryoma saw the Igasaki ninjas depart for their task, he spoke to Dilphina’s unit standing behind him.

“All right, let’s go!”

With that said, Ryoma sprinted up the stairs and made way to Lupis Rhoadserians’s bedroom located on the castle’s top floor. The corpses of sentries with their throats slit littered the corridor—likely taken out by the Igasaki ninjas. As per Ryoma’s orders, the ninjas were taking over the castle at a steady pace.

And so, Ryoma marched through the empty castle in pursuit of Queen Lupis. But he had come to the location personally because he sought someone other than her.

When Ryoma reached his destination, a woman stood in his way. Once this woman appeared, Dilphina and her unit shielded him like guards. Ryoma, however, stopped them and walked to face the woman.

So that’s what you’re doing. You want to fight me here...

They were in a hall standing between the staircase and the individual rooms. This area wasn’t spacious enough to deploy a military unit, making it ideal for one-on-one combat.

Based on her attire—white, shining armor worthy of her title as the Ivory Goddess of War—she likely hoped to use this place as a chance to settle the war. The way she looked in that armor gave the impression she was more than human.

“The one I was waiting for has finally arrived,” she said.

“Yes, Helena,” agreed Ryoma. “It’s been a while.”

“It sure has,” said Helena, hanging her head glumly.

Seeing Ryoma in the flesh made her resolve waver somewhat despite having decided to see this through.

“I didn’t think a day would come when I would meet you here. No, perhaps I should have expected you’d come.”

Helena’s words were contradictory but represented her state of mind. As the supreme commander of the Mikoshiba barony army, Ryoma had no reason to put himself at risk by storming the castle personally. He only had to use the Igasaki clan’s expertise in detection and espionage or Dilphina and her troops to eliminate Queen Lupis as he watched from a safe distance.

Though Ryoma knew this well, he had elected to come to the castle for one reason: to speak to the woman who faced him. Helena had also come to exchange words with Ryoma one last time.

“Let me tell you that Her Majesty isn’t in her room.”

Usually, this news would be catastrophic for the Mikoshiba barony army. They had just charged into enemy territory only to learn the leader gave them the slip. Yet Ryoma nodded in a composed manner.

“That’s what I thought. Meltina must have snuck her away.” There was no surprise or disappointment in his expression. All he did was accept the facts presented to him.

“You’re not surprised,” said Helena, taken aback by his attitude.

“I mean, knowing what they’re like...” responded Ryoma with a cold grin, earning him an ironic smile from Helena.

She knew Ryoma didn’t see Lupis Rhoadserians as his match, even though she was the queen of this country.

“If it were anyone else, I’d call that remark arrogant. But when you say it, it’s somehow convincing,” she said.

Queen Lupis was indeed no match for Ryoma since she was dancing on the palm of his hand all this time. No matter how meticulous his plans were, unexpected developments could happen. However, any slight miscalculation at this point would not change the outcome. Ryoma had made enough preparations to speak with confidence.

Ever since he heard Meltina had vanished from the castle’s command post, he knew she must have been planning to flee the city with Queen Lupis. So, it would have surprised Ryoma if Lupis stayed in her room.

Helena sighed at Ryoma’s response, realizing the shocking news she just delivered was of no consequence to a man ambitious and resourceful enough to bring this country to its knees. And with deep sorrow, she told Ryoma why she stood there.

“Allow me to apologize before I draw my sword... I’m sorry. I’m sorry for betraying you back then...”

Her voice filled with sadness like it’d come from the very core of her soul. The betrayal she spoke of resulted in her breaking her pact with this young conqueror. It was a choice that lingered as a painful scar on the Kingdom of Rhoadseria, a regret that tormented her.

It would be unsurprising if Ryoma blamed Helena for her betrayal. She had come here because, deep down, she wanted him to condemn her choice. But Ryoma had no intention of doing this, and he didn’t know why. Perhaps he was too fond of Helena, feeling no anger toward her.

Ryoma felt quite the contrary. He truly wanted to heal her sorrow, which was unusual for him, and this emotion somewhat confused him. Moreover, he was the kind of man who was ruthless toward those who betrayed him, yet it seemed there were exceptions even to that rule.

Not bad, though. I guess I just like Helena Steiner too much.

His emotions weren’t of romantic love, given that she was old enough to be his grandmother. That wasn’t to say there weren’t wealthy older women with young lovers, but those were rare. If nothing else, Ryoma wasn’t attracted to Helena.

Rather, his affection toward her was simply as a fellow human being he respected and admired. Her friendly, noble, refined personality charmed and drew him to her. For that reason, Ryoma smiled as Helena stood there battered and awaiting judgment.

“I know. You made the obvious choice in your position. Having your dead daughter turning out to be alive isn’t something you can remain indifferent about.”

Helena’s eyes widened in shock. “You knew?”

“Yes. After Chris delivered your letter, I had my people infiltrate the capital to investigate.”

Helena’s parting letter and the apology for her betrayal were a bolt from the blue to Ryoma. The letter came from nowhere and greatly confused him just as he had escaped the House of Lords to return to Sirius. And so, he instantly ordered the Igasaki clan to look into why she sent that letter.

“Is that right... You must have thought I was a truly foolish woman for falling for such a petty lie.”

Although Helena was overjoyed to find her daughter was alive, a part of her heart doubted this miracle. After all, the one who told her about it was the elusive Akitake Sudou, the most suspicious man in Rhoadseria.

The locket he handed her had a portrait of her daughter, and when she met the girl, she did find a distinctive mole on her shoulder. When she saw that proof, she happily accepted her daughter. And yet, some part of her couldn’t help but refuse to believe Saria had survived.

Ryoma shook his head and said, “It seems too good to be true, but it’d be hasty to assume your daughter’s survival was a lie.”

Sudou was suspicious, and Ryoma acknowledged the man was a dangerous enigma. Despite both men being Japanese, making him Ryoma’s compatriot, everything about him was mysterious and elusive. Ryoma would have even tried to eliminate him, but Sudou was exceptionally adept at wiping away all traces of his existence. His evading the Igasaki clan’s pursuit meant he had unique skills.

Since Sudou had mediated Saria’s return, he surely didn’t do it solely out of goodwill. It only made sense to assume that this was a plot to keep Helena in check.

That doesn’t mean Saria is necessarily a pretender. 

Deciphering her identity would be difficult since there were no DNA tests to determine parentage, unlike in modern society. There were multiple methods, like the single-strand DNA and mitochondrial DNA types. Even so, those scientific methods used statistics by examining part of the DNA.

The mole on Saria’s left shoulder and the locket Sudou had made it safe to assume she was real. Despite this, Helena felt inclined to suspect Saria’s legitimacy since Sudou was involved. She knew she was dealing with a charlatan, and doubted him accordingly.

But even charlatans can tell the truth sometimes.

Furthermore, good lies had a kernel of truth mixed in. The possibility Sudou had prepared a fake Saria Steiner was hard to believe, especially if the girl had physical attributes only Helena knew of. Thus, the case of Saria being real felt more plausible.

At the same time, I can’t believe he just had Helena’s daughter in his custody and only found out about it when she joined forces with me.

In that case, the conclusion was that Sudou likely had known who Saria was since the time of her kidnapping when she was young. That would have also applied to when they sold her to slavers, toyed with her, and were about to dispose of her. Basically, he had known of Saria’s identity as Helena’s daughter for over a decade.

Or maybe someone else saved Saria to keep her safe, and Sudou works with them. Nothing else could explain it.

And Sudou played that trump card at the perfect time.

“I think Akitake Sudou knew about Saria’s existence the whole time and kept it secret.”

Helena’s eyes widened in shock as she never expected what Ryoma said. Before long, her expression filled with anger, proving she realized the meaning behind his words.

“Yes... I think I see what you mean. It’s possible, yes. Which means Sudou is some country’s spy... Maybe O’ltormea, or the southern kingdoms.”

“I have no proof, so I can’t say one way or another... But I think it’s likely.”

Those who abducted Saria were assassins hired by a slaver, who was working under the orders of Hodram Albrecht. That man had conspired to steal Helena’s position as general. Nevertheless, Ryoma couldn’t rule out the possibility that Sudou was the one who implanted the idea to assassinate and abduct Helena’s family.

Helena was a fabled general, which meant the surrounding countries saw her as an obstacle.

General Albrecht, a bigoted general who scorned Helena for her commoner background, just so happened to be in Rhoadseria and made for the perfect pawn. If Ryoma were in charge of the national defense of the O’ltormean Empire or the Helnesgoulan Kingdom, he wouldn’t overlook such a weakness in a rival country.

I’d make some kind of play.

That was the natural way of going about things in this savage world. Ryoma believed that another entity, not a rival nation, was carrying out their will through this plan.

As far as I can see, the Organization is the most likely suspect. They operate out of sight, hide in the dark, and move with everyone none the wiser.

Before Ryoma left Xarooda, its king, Julianus I, gave him a cryptic warning. The goals of this secret group that worked behind the scenes of the western continent and meddled in the affairs of countries were unknown. But Ryoma was grasping their methods.

Additionally, they took advantage of people’s weaknesses to manipulate them. Though this was all speculation, Ryoma could say it was a possibility.

“But no matter,” said Helena, sighing and slowly unsheathing her sword. “There’s plenty to think about, but it’s too late.”

The glint of her drawn blade shined over Ryoma’s face, both sharp and bleak.

“I wouldn’t mind continuing this conversation,” replied Ryoma.

Helena smiled, then shook her head sadly. She would have liked this moment to linger forever, but they both knew this wasn’t a possibility.

“Me too... But our pleasant chat must come to an end. I want to finish this before someone comes and gets in our way.”

“Right... I understand. Having someone get in our way because they can’t read the room would be disappointing,” said Ryoma with a shrug, likely catching on to who that boorish someone was. Then, he handed his cross-shaped pipe spear to Dilphina and unsheathed Kikoku.

The fighters stood five meters apart, no longer wearing peaceful and cordial expressions. Their eyes gleamed with the cold, firm will of a sharp blade. The fighting spirit emanating from their bodies turned to tangible pressure, clashing in the air between the two combatants.

Both began the battle by holding their weapons in a middle-level posture, aiming their blades at each other’s throats. They took the swiftest posture available in swordsmanship.

And then, they clashed. Red sparks sprayed into the air.

The two pushed each other as hard as they could, then slipped by each other. In the blink of an eye, Helena and Ryoma changed positions.

“To have reached that level at your age...” Helena said. “You really are impressive.”

“You’re something else too, Lady Helena,” said Ryoma, glaring back at her. “I can see why people call you the strongest knight in this country.”

Through sword combat, the two could gauge each other’s skill when locking blades and confirm their impressions. Indeed, Ryoma’s estimate of Helena’s prowess was correct.

Helena’s swordsmanship is neither florid nor graceful, he thought. Many people would say her style is unfit for a knight. Regardless, she’s fierce and practical. I can only fend her off because I investigated her beforehand. Having come to this fight unprepared could have ended poorly for me.

Knights took pride in their swordsmanship skills and often participated in royalty-sponsored tournaments held in Rhoadseria and across the continent to show off their strength and advance their careers. They honed their skills for such events, making them flashy and impressive to rouse audiences.

On the flip side, regulation forbade techniques that were too brutal or seen as cowardly, such as aiming for an opponent’s privates or gouging out their eyes. The battlefield, however, had no rules and allowed everything. But even this cutthroat world deemed that callous brutality had no place on a tournament stage.

The audience would boo a knight who used brutal techniques, causing the participant to lose their chance at being hired by a noble. After all, even nobles seeking knights didn’t want sadists under their employ for safety reasons and because it would draw backlash from their people.

While some nobles had a sadistic streak, others were both nobles and famed warriors, like the late Count Salzberg. People like him, who employed more practical forms of swordsmanship, were few and far between.

Since knights had to work continuously, they were inevitably required to care about appearances. Many then wielded their swords with forms that stressed theatrical performance, even if they were hard to maintain on the battlefield.

When knights clashed with mercenaries, the latter usually won due to their difference in mentality. Knights like this also lost because they failed to see how sporting matches differed from actual combat.

Helena was free of such misconceptions, and her style of swordsmanship sought to slay her opponents accurately, swiftly, and effectively.

“Of course I am,” remarked Helena, smiling savagely at Ryoma as a seasoned knight. “I wasn’t always called a ‘Goddess of War,’ after all. I had to work my way up.”

Despite Helena’s reputation as Rhoadseria’s Ivory Goddess of War, she came from a commoner background. She wasn’t the child of a noble house or knights, meaning she wasn’t born into a position that commanded people.

Therefore, her reaching such a high rank and garnering so much respect was owed entirely to her experience on the battlefield. She had fought, survived, and gained experience through bloody trials that brought her glory throughout her life.

And that well of experience was not to be underestimated.

The combatants distanced themselves again about ten meters apart. Suddenly, they moved in perfect unison and closed that distance to stand three meters away—a sword’s slash away.

Yet they hardly moved. They were inching toward and away from each other, trying to stay out of their opponent’s attack range while keeping the other within their own.

Ryoma reacted and changed from a middle-level posture to an eight-direction posture, holding Kikoku’s guard at the same height as his mouth. This stance was geared for offense and defense, allowing for mobility.

Helena took a lower-level stance, which excelled in defense. After all, it lets a person break the opponent’s posture after blocking their blow in order to cut them down with a counterattack.

She’s changed to a lower-level stance...

They closed the gap and evaluated each other for openings, even if both were extremely skilled and wouldn’t usually present a sign of weakness. Ryoma started using his legs while maintaining his stance. He intended to create a vulnerability in Helena’s defense by circling around her, keenly waiting for his chance.

Without warning, Ryoma changed his stance from an eight-direction posture to a high-level posture called the stance of fire. This new mode was an offensive form that cast aside defense for attack power. To compensate for its lack of defense, the attacks it unleashed were swift and packed weight. More than anything, the change in stance caught Helena by surprise.

Even so, Helena was an experienced war hero.

Sparks flew as their swords clashed again, the impact sending the blades moving in a circle as they swung down at each other’s heads.

Ryoma swung his sword in a sweep, a downward slash, and an upward one. Helena blocked his savage flurry, sweeping and knocking his blade down, using the momentum to unleash a fatal strike aimed at the back of his head.

But Ryoma bent his body to dodge, resulting in only a few hair strands fluttering to the floor. Had the blade met his flesh a few centimeters away, it would have cut his head in half.

The swiftness of Helena’s attack made it seem fearsome, boasting overwhelming force. It would have been foolish of Ryoma to try blocking this powerful attack, as it would have overwhelmed him. Moreover, his sword would have snapped in the process.

Yeah, I see why she’s so feared. I knew she’d be strong, but... Not this much...

Helena’s build was what one would consider slender, and she was slightly tall for a woman. She weighed half of Ryoma’s over one hundred kilograms. Despite that, Ryoma’s hand was numb from the impact of battling with her. However, the sensation wasn’t enough to impede his combat ability or make him wonder where all that explosive strength came from.

Just as Ryoma was impressed with Helena’s skill, she felt the same way about his prowess.

“We’re a match in terms of swordsmanship skills... But what about martial thaumaturgy?”

With Helena’s words as their signal, both concentrated their chakras with the prana circulating through their bodies. A surge of energy ran through Ryoma, the prana awakening the sixth Ajna chakra between his eyes.

Mastering the Manipura chakra was a base requirement to be considered a skilled warrior. Those who grasped the Vishuddha chakra became master warriors, and Ryoma exceeded even that. All this made it clear how much overwhelming strength mastering the sixth chakra brought.

Even with the tens of millions living in the O’ltormean Empire and the Kingdom of Helnesgoula, fewer than a dozen people reached this level. For Ryoma to have unlocked this well of strength would normally mean he couldn’t possibly lose.

He still felt a hint of anxiety, though.

The thing is that I have no information on how far along Helena’s thaumaturgy is.

The highest level of martial thaumaturgy was activating the seventh chakra, Sahasrara, at the top of one’s head. In Hindu yoga, they saw this chakra as a spiritual or mental summit unreachable by ordinary men. A similar belief existed in this world, meaning Ryoma wouldn’t lose in martial thaumaturgy now that he’d reached the sixth chakra. If he were to lose, it would be because he lacked skill.

But this world has exceptions to that rule. And what lies beyond that...

He recognized that as a Level 7 warrior in the guild, they transcended the boundaries of mankind while remaining mortal.

Koichiro had told Ryoma what lay beyond being transcendent, so Ryoma wondered if Helena had reached that level. With most people, Ryoma would not want to be concerned about this matter. Dealing with the Ivory Goddess of War changed things, and he had to consider the possibility of her exceeding common sense.

No, don’t let pointless thoughts cloud your mind.

Ryoma cleared away those ideas and focused on activating his chakras to control the flow of prana. He felt energy surge from the Muladhara chakra in the base of his spine as it gradually climbed his body. As it did so, his nerves sharpened while power filled his muscles.

He lost track of how long it took and couldn’t tell if it was just a few seconds or several minutes. What felt like eternity passed him within moments as his chakras revolved at top speed. When Ryoma and Helena’s raging fighting spirits reached a fever pitch, they drew close again as if they’d agreed to do so at that exact moment.

Their movements were smooth as they slid across the floor. Martial thaumaturgy and movements they had perfected through training had bolstered their speed, allowing them to move so quickly Dilphina couldn’t see them anymore.

Even if they weren’t holding back when they exchanged blows earlier, it was clear their first altercation was like two vehicles moving at low gear with the engines not heated up yet. But their engines were now roaring with life, and they switched gears to the highest chakra they could reach.

The loud cacophony of metal clashing against metal filled the room, which didn’t let Dilphina register each strike. How many blows did they exchange? Was it ten? Twenty? She wasn’t keeping count, but their blows clearly reached the hundreds.

Dilphina and her subordinates could only look at this flurry of slashes in shocked silence. The two involved saw it differently.

“Yes, you truly are something special,” said Helena. “At your young age, you already have perfect control over the Ajna chakra.”

In truth, the most challenging chakra to activate was the first one, the Muladhara chakra. Once a person learned how to manage it, the rest above it were easy. So, why did most thaumaturgy users rarely master anything over the third, the Manipura chakra? That was because the more chakras one activated, the harder it became to control the prana coursing through their bodies.

The fundamental principle of martial thaumaturgy was to activate the chakras in sequence to gain superhuman strength. It was like using multiple dry cell batteries in a series to light a lamp and produce a stronger light. However, that consumed twice as much electricity as connecting them in parallel.

If a person charged a lamp with more electricity than its capacity allowed, the lamp would shine bright for a moment until its filament burned away. As such, a man who activated more chakras than he could handle would reinforce his body past his capacity to control himself and collapse under the strain.

This understanding inspired users of thaumaturgy to undergo long and arduous training to master their chakras.

“There’s always exceptions, though. Veritable geniuses brimming with talent like you, Ryoma.”

Ryoma couldn’t help but crack an ironic smile.

“To be fair, I dodged it by the skin of my teeth,” he said, wiping a cut on his cheek.

His fingers felt warm, sticky blood clung to them, even if the wound wasn’t fatal. Ryoma and Helena were a match, but a seasoned warrior like her wouldn’t engage in a pointless battle of attrition.

“Out of respect for your talent and ingenuity, I shall show you what one who has transcended the limits of humanity can do.”

Then, Helena played her trump card. Vast amounts of prana spilled from her body, unleashing a physical shock wave that rattled the hall. Even though it only lasted a moment, the prana gushing out of her body soon died down. That, however, marked the coming of a new threat.

A pillar of light... She really reached the Sahasrara chakra.

Ryoma saw the prana emanating from Helena’s body as a pillar of light. The pillar shot through the tip of her head, connecting heaven and earth through her body. People who reached this level in yoga were saints, while those in Taoist belief were called Xian. Helena reached that same level, the apex of what one could do within the scope of being human.

“What do you think?” asked Helena.

Her voice shifted from that of an experienced individual to one of a young woman brimming with life. But her voice wasn’t the only thing that changed. As Ryoma looked at Helena, she looked like she was in her midtwenties.

Helena displayed youthfulness and beauty that didn’t match her advanced age, seemingly freeing her from the constraints of aging. Her skin was as sleek and smooth as a baby, and her ashen hair now shined with a golden luster.

Ryoma stared at her, stunned by something else that wasn’t her beauty.

It can’t be... Adaptation...

Adaptation was a term in poetry and literature where an artist took a work made by an older creator and remade it in their style with novel ideas and expressions. But the term also had another special meaning.

That other meaning was a Taoist idea incorporated in Chinese martial arts novels, where warriors who reached a new level cast aside their old, emaciated bodies and were reborn in a new form. In a sense, it was a transformation into a superhuman.

Of course, Helena’s transformation was nowhere near that radical because she wasn’t fully reborn. Her hair and teeth would have fallen off just as grime would have covered her skin if she’d undergone Adaptation. The impurities of aging that had built up in her body would have seeped out with her sweat and dripped onto the floor.

None of that happened to Helena. She had not a single tooth or hair strand fall, nor was she sweating. Luckily, she hadn’t shed away her old body for a new one.

It’s like every cell in her body rejuvenated.

She had likely circulated that overwhelming amount of prana throughout her body, spurring her cells to activate, reinforce, and regenerate faster. If Ryoma was correct in this assertion, the situation had just swung in the worst possible direction for him.

“Now then, I must ask you to play along with me for a while longer,” said Helena.

It seemed like she had vanished, but she moved faster than Ryoma’s eyes could follow. A second later, he kicked backward as hard as quickly as possible out of sheer primal instinct. He felt something cold whir in front of his abdomen.

“Oh? You dodged that. Did you see me move?” said Helena, appearing with a composed smile.

Ryoma cracked a strained smile as he placed a hand over his stomach and judged his injury.

Well, crap.

Although he wasn’t injured, that didn’t mean he wasn’t in a very bad state. If anything, things were getting worse.

I have special armor made from a giant centipede’s chrysalis under my clothes, and she cut through it as if it were silk.

Giant centipedes were massive creatures that matched the strength of dragons, and their chrysalides withstood ordinary weapons. Ryoma wore armor made from one such chrysalis, which dark elven endowed thaumaturgy reinforced. Laura had pretty much forced Ryoma to put it on when he decided to storm the castle. Then Sara angrily insisted he do so, making it difficult for him to say no. And so, he wore it under his usual leather armor, which was a good idea.

Anyhow, Ryoma didn’t know if that wise decision would go on to prove fortunate. He hadn’t neglected to activate the seals of weight reduction and hardening etched onto his armor by the dark elven thaumaturgists. These granted them defensive prowess that matched not just metal armor but even legendary armors that used dragon scales, making his armor a treasure.

And Helena effortlessly tore through this high-quality, treasure-tier armor.

That likely happens when she mixes those absurd physical abilities with her swordsmanship skills.

Moreover, Helena’s sword was a top-class thaumaturgical weapon that Ryoma couldn’t see a way to deal with.

What am I supposed to do, though? Helena was old earlier, and all I could do was match her.

Saying he matched her was perhaps even an overestimation. To an impartial observer, Ryoma was at a two-thirds disadvantage since age no longer burdened Helena.

Her experience remains the same. Dammit, her getting younger and keeping all the advantages of her experience just isn’t fair. Still, if all I want is to kill Helena, there are means I can resort to for that.

Complaining would get Ryoma nowhere. With that in mind, he saw Dilphina and her troops from the corner of his eye.

No reason required Ryoma to fight Helena solo, as he could fight alongside Dilphina and her unit to overwhelm his opponent. He could also call in the Igasaki ninjas scattered through the castle and have them poison her.

But Ryoma elected not to do any of those things.

Of course not... Killing Helena isn’t what I’m after.

The fight wasn’t about winning at any cost. Instead, Ryoma wanted to triumph over Helena Steiner in a way she would acknowledge. He had come to this castle for that reason despite the risks.

There’s only one way out of this, then.

Honestly, Ryoma wasn’t inclined to use this method. Doing so would give him a fighting chance against her, but he’d pay a significant price. One mistake could result in both of them dying.

Just then, silent sobbing reached his ears. The sound of a demon weeping due to her grudge at everything and anything that lives.

Fine. Last time, it ended before we could go all out.

When Ryoma recently fought a Church of Meneos operative during Asuka’s rescue operation, he unleashed Kikoku’s power. Before they could fight earnestly, the attacker had mentioned his father’s name and cut the battle short. Kikoku had been in a foul mood until it faced a formidable foe like Helena.

As Kikoku’s master, Ryoma wanted to oblige and calm it down. He slowly stood up, quietly sheathed Kikoku, leaned forward, and dropped his waist.

“What’s this? Giving up?” asked Helena suspiciously.

Covering one’s sword in the middle of battle was usually a sign of surrender, but Ryoma shook his head in denial.

“So you’re not giving in then, are you?”

“No, I will keep fighting as long as I have the means.”

His statement might have come across as the words of a sore loser or an excuse made by someone on the back foot. Ryoma had somewhat given up, though he did not perceive it like that.

Helena felt the iron will that hid behind his words and smiled. “Is that right? That’s what I’d expect from a relative of Koichiro.”

Despite Ryoma briefly widening his eyes in disbelief, he displayed a bemused smile. That remark almost surprised him just as much as the revelation the Church of Meneos knight, Dick, shared about his father. Still, Ryoma didn’t feel shaken and hoped to ask her about this when given the chance.

“Right. Grandpa told me about it, but you’re the Helena he was talking about?” stated Ryoma.

Koichiro Mikoshiba had shared an old story with Ryoma when they reunited. When Koichiro first came into this world, he traveled the western continent and met a girl called Helena. At the time, she traveled the land alone and sought a lord to serve. That description had made it hard to link the young knight Helena with the Ivory Goddess of War she would become.

When Ryoma heard that story, he never imagined that the apprentice knight his grandfather met was Rhoadseria’s general. Koichiro recalled meeting a woman called Helena as Ryoma told him about the Mikoshiba barony’s situation and Helena Steiner.

Yet Ryoma didn’t think those Helenas were the same person. If Helena acknowledged that, he would have to admit it as fact despite how low the probability might have felt.

“I didn’t have any proof until now, but seeing your posture when drawing your sword... That’s called the Thunderblade, right? I saw Koichiro perform it many times,” she responded.

Her voice resounded with nostalgia. Indeed, she had no proof to correlate Ryoma with the man she knew.

I’ve never seen Ryoma’s techniques, after all, mused Helena.

She felt an odd kinship and familiarity with Ryoma, noting Koichiro and he had similar personalities even if their physiques differed. That wasn’t enough to make her assume the two had a familial relationship. At most, she presumed two people from the same country known as Japan came to this world.

Now that she had witnessed Ryoma’s skills, her memories of Koichiro overlapped with this experience. Seeing the stance Ryoma took to draw his katana cemented her belief that the two were related.

“Thunderblade... Yeah, you’re definitely familiar with it,” said Ryoma.

Helena nodded and said, “You’ll draw your sword when I attack you. Yes, that might be your only chance now that you’re at a disadvantage in terms of brute strength.”

Ryoma could not match that said aspect of Helena’s now that she had unlocked the Sahasrara chakra and the deepest secrets of martial thaumaturgy. That would be like trying to outspeed a Ferrari with a regular car. But in other areas, like ease of driving and cornering, he still had a chance.

He hoped to strike at the split-second opening Helena would present when attacking him, a gamble taken on the razor’s edge of death.

“Do you really think you can win that way?” Helena looked at him, cocking her head.

The art of sword drawing came from the idea of go no sen. One stood, fully prepared, waiting for the moment the opponent attacked and broke their defensive posture. Go no sen was why none took the first move in karate.

There was no guarantee it would work against someone like Helena, who had exceeded the boundaries of human capacity. The foundations of go no sen proceeded from the idea of humans who couldn’t go beyond those limits.

He retained his posture even in the face of Helena’s doubts.

“Very well, then...”

Helena began speeding through the hall with superhuman speed, making air pressure flow through the room. Dilphina and her soldiers could only watch in bated breath. Amid all this, Ryoma closed his eyes.

I can’t follow the way she’s moving either way.

She moved so fast that Dilphina and the others could lose track of where she was at a given moment. Following someone moving that fast with the naked eye was impossible, so he might as well have kept his eyes closed.

If I lose this, I’ll look so lame, thought Ryoma, a self-deprecating smile creeping over his lips.

This wasn’t to say he had relaxed and grown complacent. Ryoma had his concentration maximized as he waited for the right moment. Though there was no visible indication of the attack, he clearly felt Helena enter his range.

“Kikoku! Lend me your streeeeength!” howled Ryoma.

In that instant, plenty of prana flowed from Kikoku into his body so he could forcibly unlock his seventh chakra. Ryoma Mikoshiba had reached the same level as Helena Steiner.

He swiftly drew his katana, the blade shining a dark red, with red sparks spraying in every direction. The sound of metal clattering to the floor filled the room.