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◈ The Wandering Knight and the Moving Castle ◈

Chapter 5: The One Who Understands Three Worlds (5)

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Though blind, Gopri usually kept his eyes open. It symbolized his vow to put aside his life as the Knight of Prophecy and devote himself to his faith.

Now, he closed them.

Knowing what that meant, Eugene carefully steadied his breathing.

‘I was blinded by affection too.’

Beneath Gopri's rocky solemnity, kindness had always peeked through like moss. That was the impression Eugene had of him.

Now, it was gone. Before him stood not a knight who revered honor and justice, but a sword demon mad for the blade itself.

Eugene glanced around. A few steps would take him into the reeds, but a trick like that would never fool his master's ears.

“In the past, plenty of opponents tried to lure me into places like that to fight, only to ruin their own vision and go to their deaths.”

He remembered a story his master had once told him.

"I can hear your eyeballs moving. Don't even think about trying anything clever."

"You can hear that much?!"

Even when he had moved them slowly, just to test it, Gopri had noticed. His master's hearing truly belonged to the realm of gods.

"That was a joke. Even I can't hear that much."

"You should pick your moments for jokes..."

Whoosh!

A blade flew at him without warning.

It was a straight thrust rising at a twenty-degree angle. An ordinary swordsman would have had their heart pierced before they could even react.

Once he had lost the initiative, dodging was impossible. Whether he stepped back or moved aside, the blade would follow. It felt like being pursued by a flying viper.

Blocking with his sword was no better. The blade would ride up the weapon and sever his wrist.

There was only one sure response: crush it with overwhelming force.

Remembering the feel of shattering the monster boar's skull, Eugene exploded with strength.

Clang!

The collision sounded far too violent for two swords striking each other.

Thunk!

The point that should have pierced Eugene's chest buried itself in the ground, and Gopri dropped to one knee.

"Yes. That's it."

Gopri staggered as he pulled his sword free, then took his stance again and aimed it at his disciple.

"Once a fight begins, don't relax for even an instant. Always choose the best option."

"Didn't anyone criticize you for fighting dishonorably when you were a knight?"

"No. I didn't use it in tournaments, and everyone who saw it died."

"I'm learning a lot of new things about you today, Master."

"Isn't that true for both of us?"

Then countless exchanges followed. It went beyond drawing out Eugene's limits. It was a comprehensive test of everything Gopri had taught him.

Flash.

Gopri tilted his blade, catching the sunlight.

A fierce sting gouged at Eugene's eyes, and he shut them. He pushed every sense to its limit and evaded the attack.

Gopri's blade missed Eugene's armpit by a hair. Only about two centimeters of cloth had been cut away, but an ordinary knight would have been bleeding profusely from the armpit.

"When someone's eyes are attacked, they instinctively raise their arms. And armored opponents die easily when you target the armpit. It's a cheap trick you don't need, since you can smash armor and its wearer together."

"I remember every lesson."

With every exchange, Eugene recalled everything he had learned at Gopri's side, from childhood until now.

He had learned that vision-blocking ambush two years ago.

“Your sight can disappear at any moment. Your eyes might be cut on the battlefield. Dirt or dust might get in them. You could be poisoned or struck by magic. Some fighters even die in duels because sweat runs down from their foreheads and gets into their eyes.”

“That's a pretty pointless way to die.”

“If you don't want to die like that, don't rely on sight alone. Train and refine all your senses.”

Following that teaching, Eugene had trained not to rely on his eyes alone. He had followed the path his master had walked.

Clang!

Gopri's sword, wielded in earnest, was incredibly difficult to handle. It was immensely fast, yet it changed freely and without warning.

There was only one sword, but it felt like facing two attacks separated by time.

The moment Eugene prepared to defend against or dodge the initial strike, Gopri read it with his superhuman hearing and immediately altered his attack.

A sword could not move before the muscles holding it did, so Gopri always remained at least one move ahead.

Clang!

Just then, Eugene had decided to deflect an attack coming at him diagonally, only for it to turn into a thrust aimed at his shoulder. There was surely a reason Gopri had been called the Knight of Prophecy.

Clang!

He knocked away another attack that returned from an unnatural angle.

Eugene thought it was the hardest fight he had ever faced, and Gopri felt the same.

‘If this had been a fight to the death, I would already be dead.’

He did not show it before his disciple, but that was Gopri's true thought.

Cold sweat streamed down his back, though not because he was tired. His body had been honed enough to cast aside even the wrinkles time had scattered across it.

Every time he sent his sword at Eugene, instinct sounded the warning bell of death. That was what made the sweat pour from him.

Clang!

Attacks that had cut down countless skilled knights in real battles were all being stopped.

Even formidable opponents would have their hands and judgment thrown into confusion by his unique chains of attacks before losing their heads. Yet they did not work at all against his disciple.

Clang!

He could not even form a chain of attacks.

Gopri staggered.

Every time Eugene defended, Gopri's stance and breathing were completely shattered by that overwhelming strength.

To defeat his disciple, he would have to end it in a single lethal blow, but...

‘How am I supposed to deal with someone who surpasses me in stamina, strength, speed, and talent?’

Experience was a deadly weapon above all else, but that changed when it was the only advantage he possessed.

Clang!

His disciple even made up for his lack of experience with natural instinct and beastlike senses.

Eugene was the sort of person who could wield even an unfamiliar weapon skillfully after swinging it a few times.

Their sword dance continued until twilight fell and the moon leaned toward the opposite horizon.

Since he considered this his graduation test, Eugene had fought mainly on the defensive.

But at some point, he realized there were no more questions left to answer.

"Huff! Huff!"

Hearing his master's ragged breathing, Eugene knew it was time to leave the testing ground. The sheath Gopri had forged within Eugene’s heart had been torn apart long ago.

Bang!

Gopri's stance broke, and his sword spun through the air before landing far away.

Eugene stopped his own blade before his master's throat as Gopri fell to both knees.

"Haah... Haah..."

He waited for his score, but Gopri seemed to have taken a heavy blow from that final strike.

Clutching his torn, bleeding palm, Gopri trembled and could only gasp for breath.

"...Kill me."

"That joke was pretty funny."

Eugene smiled, sheathed his sword, and helped his master up.

"The thing I did during the first ambush was a joke too."

"People call that cheating."

Eugene brushed the dirt from his master's knees and shins.

"Enough. I can do it myself."

"Isn't this one of the few chances your disciple has left to be filial to you? Please let me."

Thump!

Instead of answering, Gopri sat down heavily.

"After facing a monster child wearing human skin, I can barely stand."

"Not a monster child. A Witch's child."

"Sure, sure. It's nice to see you taking pride in the mother everyone curses. What a devoted son."

Gopri teased him lightly.

Eugene sat beside him. Master and disciple cooled their heated bodies in the night wind.

Eugene took Gopri's wrist.

"Let me see the wound. You were bleeding."

"Forget it. It's minor."

"Even a conqueror shrivels from a small boil, and even a lion starves to death from a single thorn in its paw."

"I raised a knight, not a bard."

Despite his words, Gopri quietly held out his hand to his disciple.

Eugene fetched a waterskin from the supplies he had set aside.

"This may sting."

"Save that line for when you're treating some noble young lady's hand. I've had a sword stuck in my gut three times in my life."

"You've survived remarkably well."

Clean water soaked Gopri's torn palm, but he did not so much as blink.

Then Eugene took out an herb with thick leaves.

"I thought you'd just wrap it in a bandage, but you're different after all."

Eugene gathered several leaves together. The proper method was to twist them like a braided pastry and squeeze out the juice, but Eugene's monstrous strength made the liquid gush forth. He sprinkled powdered medicine over it as though seasoning food.

"What did you do? The pain suddenly faded."

"It's mushroom powder with a pain-relieving effect. It's fairly valuable. Please understand that the proper sequence required me to sprinkle it on last."

"You really are talented. If you ever become disabled, you could still make a living as an herbalist."

"Thank Homi. Homi gathered it."

Gopri smiled. Eugene saw through the gratitude Gopri was too embarrassed to voice.

Eugene stood before him, possessing every quality he needed: physique, swordsmanship, skill, and perceptiveness.

After wrapping the bandage, Eugene held Gopri's injured hand between both of his.

"Is there still more?"

"Yes."

Eugene closed his eyes and moved his lips softly. It was neither conversation, recitation, nor song, but a strange resonance.

Each word Eugene uttered seemed to take shape and seep into Gopri's palm.

"Y-you... Don't tell me you can use miracles?"

Gopri was as startled as he had been when Eugene defeated the monster boar.

Truly exceptional priests could perform wondrous miracles, but there were very few of them. Even at the village monastery, only the abbot could do so.

Eugene shook his head.

"Of course not. I have no faith, and I'm a Witch's child. I can't close wounds like a famous bishop can."

It was an age when everything passed by word of mouth, and rumors often became distorted. All kinds of nonsense mixed into stories about divine miracles in particular.

Still, Eugene had lived at the monastery and occasionally seen the abbot's miracles. He knew not all of it was false.

"My mother once told me this. Priests blindly serve the gods dwelling in the Otherworld, while Witches try to understand the Otherworld itself."

Gopri felt as if the herbal liquid beneath the bandage were moving.

"Talented Witches can summon something from the Otherworld and make it dwell in this world."

"It feels like something's crawling around in my palm right now."

For the first time, Eugene saw fear on his master's face. Blades and death could not shake him, but superstition seemed to frighten him.

"Wouldn't living juice work better than ordinary juice?"

Eugene smiled faintly.

"I'll take it off right now, you brat! So that wine incident wasn't an accident either!"

"I was surprised then too. I didn't do it on purpose. I suppose my mother's blood within me manifested on its own."

Eugene pointed at Gopri's bandaged hand.

"It's good for you, so don't worry. It won't eat your flesh like maggots or anything."

"!!!"

Eugene had to struggle for quite some time to stop his master from tearing off the bandage.

* * *

When wolves howled in the distance and dawn was not far away, the two said their goodbyes.

"Are you truly leaving alone?"

"The road I must walk is a pilgrim's road. I don't seek worldly things such as wealth, honor, power, or retainers. If we travel together, we'll only hinder each other's dreams."

Gopri pointed to the armor set aside nearby.

"Those are yours from now on."

"What about you, Master?"

"Armor is a luxury for a pilgrim. A hooded cloak is enough to cover my body."

At some point, Gopri's clouded eyes had opened. The air of a sword demon had vanished, and he had returned to his usual self as an ascetic.

"Understood. I'll use them well."

"You could at least pretend to refuse once, but you accept them without hesitation."

"I know you hate melodramatic scenes like that."

"Yes, yes, you're so clever. Since we're talking about it, take one more thing."

Gopri tossed a ring to his disciple, whose eyes shone with expectation.

"What is this?"

"The family signet ring of Sir Rain Mayer, my master. He's already passed away, so his house is yours from now on."

"What? All of a sudden?"

"After you loot the Sealing Vault, you'll leave the village. Won't you need a respectable status? Even when people treat you well, a noble knight gets at least one more loaf of bread or piece of meat than a commoner."

"Impersonating a noble is the worst crime, isn't it? You can be hanged without trial."

"It's not impersonation. My master was the last survivor of his family."

Gopri narrowed his eyes as though recalling old memories.

"Everything he owned passed to me because he had no children, and now I simply pass it on to you. A house with only a name left is still better than no house at all."

Eugene quickly accepted. He knew how useful noble status was in this world.

"Then I'll be Eugene Mayer from now on."

"It's a dead house from far away, so there'll be no way to verify it. Your accent, appearance, skill, and besides..."

Gopri turned toward the forest.

"You even have an excellent Squire, so no one will suspect you."

"You really want Homi, don't you?"

"A disciple is someone you pass things down to, not someone you exploit."

Then Gopri tore off the bandage around his hand.

"Ah! You shouldn't do that yet."

"I can't endure the horrible feeling of something crawling around in there!"

Gopri rubbed his palm.

"Huh. Incredible."

The torn wound had already healed halfway. The blood that should have seeped everywhere had vanished cleanly, as though something had eaten it.

Gopri picked up his fallen sword, sheathed it, and faced Eugene in silence.

Shhhhhhh.

Only the sound of the night wind cutting through the brush lingered between them.

Gopri seemed to want to say more, but they had already said everything that needed saying. He was not naturally eloquent.

"Won't you hold an investiture ceremony?"

A knight could appoint a new knight.

It was a right handed down from ancient times as a form of customary law, so it could not be used carelessly. Some knights were even punished by their lords for it.

Of course, no one could object if a knight as renowned as Gopri knighted his only Squire.

"Forget it. That kind of thing gives me goosebumps. Just be a knight from now on."

"..."

Gopri was about to part his lips as if to say something, then abruptly turned and approached the horse tethered nearby.

Eugene supported his master, who staggered from exhaustion, and helped him onto the horse.

Then he took the reins and led it to the road outside the village. They traded only a few jokes along the way.

That was their farewell. The master left, and the disciple remained.

Footnotes:

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