25
Carefully analysing Id and Sasha’s attires, Aleksey continued.
“So far as I suspect you are spies, I can’t let you go so easily. So first, I’ll check if you guys are real apprentices to an Imperial Knight. Denis, check out the sword skills of these striplings.”
Knight Denis, ordered by Aleksey, stepped forward. He was one of the five intermediate Knights of the Kozlov Order, estimated as the best Knight in the Order excluding Aleksey. It was Id’s first time to face a regular Knight, so he cautiously put his hand on the hilt of his sword. Although Denis was at a different level than the mercenaries or gangsters Id had dealt with before, his sword technique was incomparably inferior to any of the Nordburg Mayor’s three Knights, who had engaged in the three-on-one fight against Andrew five years back. Though the two opponents were unaware of it, Denis was no match for Id, who had exceeded Andrew’s sword skills a couple of years before. Almost simultaneously, their swords were unsheathed and clashed several times violently. Inferior in both strength and speed, Denis barely managed to block Id’s last strike and took a few steps backward. Aleksey was shocked by the brilliant movements of Id’s blade. He himself was not confident of winning so overwhelmingly against Denis. Aleksey approached Denis’ side, telling Id.
“The young apprentice has great swordsmanship! I’ll deal with it myself.”
Aleksey gave Denis a few instructions quickly in a low voice and then stepped up to Id, putting down his shield and holding his two-handed sword.
“From your swordsmanship, I believe you were an apprentice to an Imperial Knight. Now that your master is dead, why don’t you join the Kozlov Order? I’ll ask Baron Kozlov to knight you immediately if you agree.”
“I have to accomplish what I promised my late master, so I can’t be someone else’s Knight. I’m supposed to be a Knight of Marquis Adelian.”
Staring at Id with a disappointed look, Aleksey raised his two-handed sword and rushed to Id. It was Id’s first time dealing with a heavy weapon, Id attacked Aleksey with dazzling sword skills, taking faster steps, but Id’s experience was insufficient to subdue the Knight, who wielded a two-handed sword wearing a full-plate mail, in a short time. Finally, after about a dozen minutes of violent clashes, Id, dodging the two-handed sword with unusual footwork, turned to Aleksey’s left side and struck him hard on his pauldron. As Aleksey staggered back several steps due to the shock, Denis shouted.
“Stop.”
When Id looked back, Denis glared at him, holding a sword to Sasha’s neck.
“If you don’t back down, I can’t guarantee your friend’s life.”
Having been secretly instructed by Aleksey, Denis suddenly attacked Sasha with his three colleagues while Id was engrossed in the confrontation with Aleksey. Sasha, who was off guard, resisted the sudden attack fiercely, but his experience was still too lacking to deal with all four Knights at once. Though their behavior was shameful for Knights, the beleaguered Kozlov Knights had recently resolved to do anything. After losing the feudal battle, none of them would survive, and knighthood would be meaningless to the dead. Sheathing his sword and glaring at Aleksey, Id asked.
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“Why on earth are you doing this to us, we have nothing to do with you people? If you make an unreasonable request, we will fight to the end even if we have to give up our lives.”
Aleksey said, frowning due to the pain in his shoulder.
“If you help us a little bit, I’ll return your friend and your master’s equipment. Baron Kozlov will reward you, too. Let’s go to the Lord’s Castle and talk in detail.”
The Knights seized all of Andrew’s weapons Sasha had. Hearing Aleksey, Sasha shouted in a grim voice.
“Id, don’t yield to the threats of these shameless cowards. I don’t care even if I die. Show them what chivalry is.”
As Denis hit Sasha’s temple with the pommel of his sword, Sasha fainted. Looking at Sasha with mixed feelings, Id spoke to Aleksey.
“First, let me hear your offer. But if you force me to do something against the spirit of chivalry or to renege on what I swore to my master when I became an apprentice, I’ll resist to the end even if I sacrifice my friend’s life.”
Looking into Id’s eyes, Aleksey felt a deep skepticism about whether he could still be called a Knight. Nevertheless, the Kozlov Knights wanted to survive at any cost. The Knights returned to the Kozlov Castle with Id and Sasha. Id spoke when Aleksey instructed his men to lock Sasha in the castle’s dungeon.
“If you are going to imprison my friend, I request you at least untie him so that he can wait for me comfortably and return all of his equipment. It is unacceptable for anyone to treat my late master’s equipment recklessly. My friend won’t be able to break out of the prison on his own anyways. If you don’t comply with my requirements, I won’t listen to your offer.”
Aleksey ordered his men to comply with Id’s requests and increase the number of the dungeon’s guards. Kozlov estate’s underground jail was so sturdy that it was almost impossible for anyone to escape on their own. Aleksey kept Id waiting in the reception room and headed to Kozlov’s office to report the current situation.
When Aleksey first saw Id, his idea was simply to use Id as bait. Id’s height and body shape were almost identical to Baron Kozlov’s only son Oleg Kozlov. Oleg, who turned twenty a couple of months back and resembled his mother, was handsome and slender. Probably because he resembled his father, who had been a civil official, he had no talent for swordsmanship. When he was young, he learned swordsmanship for about two years but gave up. When the feudal war began, Oleg’s mother took her only son and four daughters to her father’s estate. Unlike Sergey Korolyov, the heir to the Korolyov Viscounty, leading the war as a centurion, Oleg Kozlov had taken a completely different course in life. Given the frequent one-on-one showdown between the successors of each estate engaged in the feudal battles, Oleg’s incompetence was a painful weakness for the Kozlov Barony.
Aleksey saw that Id was slender, unlike ordinary swordsmen, so Aleksey thought of disguising him as Oleg Kozlov to provoke Sergey Korolyov. If they gave Id useless conscripts to attract Sergey to stall him, Aleksey might have a chance to lead elite troops to attack Korolyov’s main camp unnoticed in the meantime. However, Aleksey revised his plan after he experienced Id’s outstanding sword skills. Although Sergey Korolyov’s swordsmanship was excellent and rumors spread that he would go to Scandia City next month to receive his knighthood directly from the king, he would never be Id’s match. Therefore, Aleksey planned to put Id in Oleg’s armor and incite a one-on-one confrontation with Sergey. If Sergey lost the one-on-one match, Korolyov’s morale would fall. If lucky, Korolyov's Knight Commander Daniel might lead some of his Knights to support Sergey, which would result in the weakening of Korolyov’s main camp.
“Is our situation so difficult that we have to get help from a wandering apprentice?”
Kozlov asked Aleksey with a disapproving look on his face. Though he knew, of course, that things were heading toward the worst-case scenario, his feelings towards his son and the knowledge that he had fled to the home of his mothers parent’s during the war left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Since the apprentice’s swordsmanship is better than mine, he’ll definitely win the match against Sergey. Now is not the time to second guess our actions, we have to be willing to do anything for survival. If we waste time like this, the castle will fall within two days. Given the characteristics of Viscount Korolyov and Sergey, if we ask for a one-on-one match in Oleg’s name, they’ll never reject it. The apprentice’s physique is similar to Oleg’s, so no one will notice he’s a different person if he wears a helmet.”
Even if the apprentice defeated Sergey in a one-on-one battle, the odds of winning the war were slim. However, as Aleksey said, it was time to try anything before it was too late.
“All right. I’ll give you Oleg’s armor. Do as you planned.”
Having received Oleg’s armor and helmet, Aleksey headed to the reception room where Id was waiting. Although there was no chance that Oleg would become a Knight, Kozlov had the finest magic armor made for Oleg to celebrate his twentieth birthday. Since Baron Kozlov intended to use it as ceremonial armor, he ordered it to be decorated as spectacularly as possible. After commissioning the dwarf master artisan, Blackanvil, to produce the armor, he requested Torres, the seven-circle Wizard of the Wizard Tower in the Scandia City, to engrave various magic diagrams on it. Baron Kozlov felt an ache after handing out Oleg’s custom-made armor, which had been made at an enormous cost, to a wandering apprentice.