### Chapter 21: New Adventurer Bern (19) – Not Even a Duel
From Bern, no trace of negative emotion could be felt.
His face was calm, and his tone of voice courteous and composed.
Therefore, it took the others some time to fully grasp the words that flowed from his mouth.
The first to react was not the Lord, but Gudrun, the knight standing by his side.
“You insolent cur! Are you daring to insult our master?!”
Around Gudrun, an intimidating aura began to flow.
Though they were in the reception room and in front of the Lord, the only reason he didn’t draw his sword was due to decorum. However, the magic and killing intent emanating from his body were so strong that a weak person might have unconsciously experienced breathing difficulties.
Yet Bern dismissed this pressure as effortlessly as a light breeze.
“How easily you throw around the word ‘insult.'”
“What?”
“Sending an adventurer of a lower rank implies an insult. Declining because you didn’t like it and stating your intent to leave implies another insult. What else might you find insulting today? Is my calmness, unaffected by your yelling, deemed an insult too? If so, your subordinates must be miserable. They must constantly react to your tantrums, and the mental fatigue must be immense.”
“Y-you… YOU FOOL!!!”
Slish!
With a face flushed red, Gudrun drew his sword.
Bern’s eyes turned cold.
Even if Bern had provoked him slightly with his words, drawing a sword unprovoked in front of the Lord was a clear sign of misconduct as a knight.
Even if Bern had drawn his weapon or attempted physical harm first, Gudrun could have justified himself with the excuse of self-defense. However, the situation was not such, was it?
The Financial Officer with Glasses also realized the same and hurriedly tried to stop Gudrun.
“N-no, stop this! Sir Gudrun! This isn’t proper before the eyes of Lord!”
“Proper? Silence while the master and I are insulted is the true impropriety! My Lord, please give the command! I shall slay this man promptly and hold the Guild accountable for their folly!”
“……”
The Lord frowned, his annoyance clearly visible, not only towards Bern’s insolence but also towards Gudrun’s behavior.
But in the end, might bends the arm, and he spoke.
“Do as you please. But I find bloodshed here unpleasant, so take it outside.”
“Understood, my Lord!”
“Hold on! Are you really trying to start a battle with the Guild…?”
Before Blanka could explode at the unfolding chaos, Bern stopped her.
“It’s fine.”
The weight of words is decided by who utters them.
Though it was a short statement without additional explanation, since it came from Bern, Blanka trusted him.
After all, she couldn’t conceive of a scenario where Bern would fail.
At the training ground a little way from the Lord’s mansion.
“What’s happening? Why are there so many people gathered here?”
“Sir Gudrun is going to execute an adventurer sent from the Guild?”
“What? Why?”
“How should I know?”
As murmurs spread among the onlookers, Gudrun pompously began speaking.
“You could kneel and beg for forgiveness now, and I might spare your life by cutting off just one arm.”
The tone was as though he were bestowing an immense act of mercy, prompting Bern to let out a snort of derision.
Earlier, he was ready to slice through, now he looked like he was trying to restore his dignity as time passed. It seemed humorous.
“If you give counsel to the Lord now, you may at least preserve your knightly honor.”
“You wretch, you’re still trying to provoke me!”
With that, Gudrun drew his sword and rushed at Bern.
Without any mediator or starting signal, it was a one-sided act of violence.
This was not the action of a duel but of punishment, an act which Gudrun did not hesitate over.
Why care about trivialities like rules when dealing with an inferior?
It sealed Bern’s course of action.
Suddenly, Gudrun’s body soared upwards, his ascent startling the onlookers who were filled with question marks.
Very few realized that Bern had caught Gudrun’s wrist as he ran, throwing him violently into the air, leaving them feeling like readers of a comic book missing its center pages.
The confusion among the audience was nothing compared to the shock felt by Gudrun himself.
It wasn’t until he realized the ground was rushing up to meet his face that he desperately twisted his body and performed a landing technique.
He avoided critical injury but couldn’t prevent his shiny armor from being covered in dirt.
“What, what just happened?”
“I don’t know, but Sir Gudrun was suddenly hurled into the air and fell.”
“Did the red-haired adventurer do something?”
Mutterings spread from the crowd, twisting Gudrun’s face with humiliation as he realized the situation.
Seething with rage now, he pointed his sword at Bern once more.
The faint shimmer of sword qi formed at the tip of the blade, making some of the knights-in-training gape.
“Sword qi!”
“Sir Gudrun appears ready to fight seriously.”
While the boundary between 3rd and 4th grade mages lies in the nature of mana, for swordsmen it’s about the manifestation of sword qi.
Just as a mana-infused body performs movements unimaginable to commoners, a weapon imbued with mana and one without it simply can’t be compared in combat effectiveness.
Even a crude iron sword transforms into a superior weapon, cutting through a knight’s durable armor like tofu once wrapped in sword qi.
Just as a 3rd-grade mage can’t overcome a 4th-grade mage purely by magic means, a 3rd-grade swordsman can’t triumph over a 4th-grade one.
When weapons clash, there’s no chance to survive if you get sliced together with it. So how can this count as a proper fight?
“I let my guard down the first time, but there won’t be a second.”
To Gudrun’s words, Bern didn’t respond.
He stood there, staring calmly with no sign of drawing his sword.
The grinding of teeth could be heard from somewhere as Gudrun charged with flashy swordplay.
It was proper swordsmanship earned through systematic education and training, something adventurers often couldn’t achieve even with battle experience.
Just as the shimmering sword qi seemed ready to slice Bern in two—
SWOOSH!
Gudrun’s body soared into the air again.
This time, with no time to prepare a proper landing and at a low trajectory, he fell with a thud.
KLOOSH!
The spectators’ eyes widened as the heavily armored giant rolled like discarded empty tin cans.
“What, What, What the hell…!”
Twisting his face in anger, Gudrun kept lunging at Bern.
Bern made sure to keep a slight distance so Gudrun couldn’t try grappling him, using his sword between strikes, and interspersing techniques to exploit any gaps.
But, no matter the approach or method, the result was always the same.
Gudrun would be lifted into the air and unceremoniously crashed back onto the ground.
Repetition turned anger into disbelief, disbelief into shock, and shock into fear.
Even a boar-like Gudrun had to realize by now the insurmountable gap between them.
“…”
Within ten minutes, Gudrun’s once-pristine appearance turned tattered, his confidence shattered as he stared at Bern.
He couldn’t bring himself to charge Bern again, nor could he lower his sword, standing there awkwardly.
“Sir Gudrun! What disgrace is this?!”
Gudrun was not a perfectly polished knight to begin with.
Short-tempered, unable to control his emotions, and prone to run wild under the guise of loyalty.
Yet he could keep his position as Phrencia’s chief knight beside the Lord due to his unwavering loyalty and incredible skills.
But what was this?
Even against a mere adventurer who hadn’t even drawn his weapon, Gudrun had rolled on the ground multiple times without dignity. Now, he stood like a frightened dog, watching for opportunities.
Considering the representative knight symbolizes the strength of his territory, this was a disgrace, a severe one, tarnishing the Lord’s face too.
Closing his eyes tightly, Gudrun couldn’t bear the pressure from his master and charged mindlessly, realizing there was no hope of victory but hoping he might lose consciousness.
“…Such failure is not even worth grading.”
If there were someone like Gudrun in his own Golden Cloud Knight Unit, he would have personally dismantled and expelled him.
Shaking off the fleeting thought of “Crown Prince”, Bern moved his limbs again.
Gudrun’s body soared higher than ever, so high that spectators had to crane their necks to keep track of him. Then, he came crashing down onto the ground.
KOOOM!
Looking at Gudrun’s body, mere moments away from landing right next to his feet, the Lord’s face turned eerie green.
With steady paces—thud, thud—Bern approached the Lord and spoke.
“Phrencia’s security seems to be quite unsatisfactory. With weapon-wielding thugs constantly attacking, it’s unavoidable to use a simple form of self-defense. Please, Lord, take care.”
—There was no judge, no mutual agreement, no introductions; this is not a duel. Gudrun isn’t a knight. I merely defended myself from an attacker. And by the way, isn’t it your job to properly manage your territory?
Among the audience, those who didn’t understand Bern’s meaning tilted their heads while those who did turned pale.
And among them, Phrencia’s Lord belonged to the latter group.
“…”
Silently, under his forced dignity, the Lord opened his mouth.
“I want to entrust you with a mission. I shall apologize for my previous rudeness; would you reconsider discussing this with me?”
Bern thought to himself:
Though a disgrace has been shown, he’s not entirely beyond redemption, it seems.
Thereafter, negotiations with the Lord proceeded smoothly.
Regardless of the embarrassment caused by Bern’s actions, his capabilities were undeniably proven.
Though during the heated argument earlier, the financial officer’s complexion appeared near collapse but now regained some vitality, as he continued courteously.
“The first disappearance occurred two months ago. At that time, we didn’t realize its severity until the issue escalated and a thorough investigation revealed it as the first incident.”
The first victim was Miss Mary from the herb shop.
She would regularly enter the forest near Phrencia to gather medicinal herbs and return. But one day, she disappeared without a trace.
“Since then, young women who ventured close to the forest to pick fruits or collect firewood vanished one after another. When villagers kept asking, the guard units were dispatched, but they found no trace of the missing people. Eventually, we advised the women not to approach the forest.”
However, that didn’t suffice.
Even women who stayed far away from the forest, like the baker’s daughter, the inn’s maid, and the village girl spinning threads began disappearing.
Things got worse when a high-ranking merchant, visiting Phrencia for business, also vanished.
“Young women living in the area can’t even sleep peacefully at night these days. As long as one family member keeps watch, they’re safe, but if everyone sleeps—even with the doors tightly secured—the kidnappers take the women away effortlessly. Nowadays, the entire area is extremely tense and exhausted.”
There’s a widely known story of a household, where a father, living with his daughter, stayed awake for a week to protect her, only to lose her when he momentarily dozed off. The stress and fear among the residents are beyond description.
“Please, kind sir, solve this mystery!”
As the financial officer repeatedly bowed, the group gathered in the small mansion provided by the territory to begin their consultations.
“Goodness, what a strange and horrifying case. If I were in the same position, I’d be too worried about my sister to sleep.”
“Before we talk about defeating the enemy, finding them first is the main challenge. What do you think, Bern?”
“Hmm, we should probably visit the victims’ places and inquire about the situations at that time… Hmm?”
Bern turned his gaze toward the mansion’s front gate and after a few seconds,
Knock, knock. Someone tapped on the door.
Lenya quickly moved to open it, revealing a man with a tidy gray hair and beard, with a somewhat mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Hmm, should I say ‘excuse me for intruding’ or ‘welcome to the city’? Quite the dilemma, but let’s start with introductions.”
The man grinned, declaring with a cheerful tone,
“Althes Bertreah. Your predecessor, and embarrassingly, someone who failed the mission and gave up in defeat. I’d like to have a word if you have the time?”
