WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Weakest Knight Became a Swordmaster, But Only in Dungeons ◈
Chapter 7: Subjugation Test (1)
──────
The instructors of Griffin Knight School had all once roamed battlefields as magic knights.
Instructor Logan had subjugated Rukel, the Iron Horse Dragon, and had a record of defeating a group of Sword Experts from an enemy nation.
Instructor Rachel was known as a master of telekinesis. During her active days, she had made tremendous contributions to the campaign against Hethalos, the King of the Water Calamity that rose from the deep sea.
The other instructors likewise had impressive achievements and abilities from their days as magic knights.
In other words, they had sharp enough eyes to spot students with potential without fail.
In a nearby observation room overlooking the subjugation test, numerous screens floated in the air.
It was magic that displayed the sights seen through the eyes of the golems roaming the mountain, the test's targets.
Rachel, the red-haired magic knight instructor who controlled the golems, watched the screens alongside the other instructors.
Beneath her pointed hat was an indifferent expression.
“Instructor Rachel, which student are you looking forward to most?”
Logan, an instructor with black hair, a scruffy beard, and lively eyes, sat in a chair with one arm draped over its backrest as he spoke.
“None. I just hope it ends soon.”
Whenever a student defeated a golem, a quill floating through telekinesis recorded that student's score in the ledger.
The screen of a defeated golem vanished. As a certain number of golems were subjugated, the remaining screens expanded to fill the empty space.
“Still, aren't there some students who stand out?”
“Well, sure. It can't be helped. Some real heavy hitters enrolled this year.”
Both during the train incident and now, the students who caught Instructor Rachel's attention were obvious.
At the mountain range where the test was taking place, Turak, the grayish-brown haired barbarian, ferociously smashed golems to pieces.
‘His strength is incredible, just like a barbarian's. The problem is that he fights stupidly, without a thought for consequences.’
His intelligence fell below the standard, but his strength was comparable even to that of active knights.
Then there was Violet, the female student with deep violet hair.
Boom!!
She controlled the skeletal corpse of a massive tiger magical beast as an undead servant.
When it swung its forepaw, a golem shattered apart.
‘That one's practically a monster herself.... Most knights wouldn't even leave bones behind. ...Her ability has a fatal flaw, though. Overcoming that will be her problem going forward. Otherwise, becoming a magic knight will be difficult.’
Several other outstanding students, along with students of decent ability, passed through Rachel's field of view.
‘But the most exceptional one is still....’
“Bloom, scatter.”
Rustleee!
At the Word Command, rose petals made of mana scattered with the wind.
Each petal shredded golems and nearby trees with the sharpness of steel slicing through paper.
A magenta-haired student swung her sword while carrying a deadly gale of petals with her.
She was Elise Lorendia, the undisputed top scorer of the entrance examination.
‘Steady and strong. Her technique, finesse, mobility, mana, magic. And in contrast....’
There was one student who was the complete opposite of Elise.
The very opposite. The reverse of first place, dead last.
The light-brown-haired young man entered Rachel's sight.
‘Ron Hazely.’
Rachel knew because she had memorized every student's information.
The weakest physical abilities. The lowest mana capacity.
Ron Hazely, the student whose nickname was even “the weakest.”
She had heard from Logan that Ron had survived the previous expulsion test by persuading a barbarian and a dark mage to help him.
How much had she laughed upon hearing that the student who entered knight school at the bottom of the rankings had struggled that hard just to survive?
“Well... he's out.”
He would not be able to count on the same stroke of luck this time.
Unfortunately, Ron's struggle would end here.
* * *
Crash!
Boom!
Sounds of destruction and explosions came from all around.
It seemed the students had already begun fighting.
‘I shouldn't get caught up in this for no reason.’
I moved cautiously.
I couldn't let myself get crushed between whales fighting.
At times like this, safety came first and second.
“Grrrumb....!”
“Huh.”
Before long, a two-meter-tall creature made of stone appeared in front of me.
A golem.
The target of this test.
Seeing one in person, unlike in the game....
‘Um, it looks... much stronger than I expected...?’
A bead of cold sweat ran down my cheek.
This was outside my expectations....
“Punch!”
The golem enthusiastically shouted as it swung a fist at me.
Why did they bother giving it a language function?
I only had a moment to wonder before its broad, mana-wrapped fist came flying toward me.
Whoosh!
I bent sharply to the side and barely avoided it.
‘Holy shit...!’
A vicious gust swept past right in front of my nose.
If I took that fist head-on....
‘At the very least, I'd be knocked unconscious.’
Okay, understood.
I couldn't win.
“Hup!”
I drew in a deep breath.
Tap tap tap!
Then I ran for it... no, made a strategic retreat.
* * *
“Grrrumb!?”
The golem stared in confusion as Ron fled.
The instructors watching the scene were equally confused.
The light-brown-haired student, Ron Hazely, had fled right in front of a golem and disappeared among the trees.
‘What is with that coward...?’
Instructor Rachel let out a quiet, disbelieving laugh.
Among students who were generally exceptional in courage and spirit regardless of their skill, he stood out as an especially strange case.
“Seriously, even if he has no confidence....”
His behavior was so ridiculous that Rachel and several other instructors unconsciously snorted.
It was becoming pitiful.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he was expelled.
“Grrumb....”
The golem scratched its sprout-covered head.
After hesitating foolishly for a while, it turned around and began walking away.
...Then.
Thud!
“Grrrumb!?”
A man with light-brown hair fluttering behind him dropped from above the trees. His foot landed on the golem's shoulder.
The golem immediately tried to counterattack by filling its fist with mana.
Stab!
But a blade already coated in silver mana slipped like the wind through a gap in its rocky armor.
Crunch!
It pierced the core, the magical power source hidden near the golem's shoulder blade.
Ron Hazely, the owner of that sword, smiled.
“Just as I thought. The core was here.”
Based on his knowledge of the game, Ron had already figured out the characteristics of the places where a golem's core was hidden.
The area surrounding the core displayed subtle texture due to the mana's influence. If one looked closely, it could be identified.
Ron had only judged that he could not defeat a golem in a head-on fight.
The core lost its light, and the golem stopped moving.
Ron pulled out his sword and jumped down.
Thud!
The golem collapsed helplessly.
Instructor Rachel, who had watched the scene, could not close her mouth.
‘He hit the core exactly...? How?’
Each golem had its core, the central power source that moved it, hidden in a different location.
The test had been designed for students to gather and analyze information while fighting, destroying different parts of the golem to target its weakness.
Whether the students cooperated or managed it through exceptional observation did not matter.
A knight had to be able to understand an enemy by any means necessary. This was also a factor that earned additional points in the evaluation.
Ron had accomplished it first among the first-year students.
The corner of Rachel's mouth twitched. She smiled softly and stroked her chin.
‘Not bad, Ron Hazely. Maybe he has more insight than I thought?’
Was he the type who, because he was weak, focused on abilities other than strength to find the best way to survive?
This was entertaining.
“I've got one.”
“What?”
Rachel smiled at Logan beside her.
“The student I'm looking forward to most this time.”
“You mean Ron?”
Logan had also been surprised to see Ron defeat a golem in a single strike, so he immediately understood whom Rachel meant.
“Yeah. He's interesting.”
His weakness made him more interesting. How would this student named Ron survive here?
In a way, it was entertainment.
Watching someone weak carve out an individual, desperate path to survival would be much more enjoyable than watching predictably talented students show off how capable they were.
Shing!
Crunch!
At the mountain range where the test continued, Ron carefully ambushed the golems each time, accurately piercing and destroying their cores.
The golems were slow, and both their attacks and defenses were straightforward and clumsy. Ambushing them was not difficult.
His method made his subjugation speed slower than the other students', but the results were certain.
Before long, the sun began to set, pouring down its red evening light.
The time limit for the test was approaching.
‘This makes nine.’
I only needed to take down one more.
Then I could avoid expulsion.
Perhaps because the number of golems had dropped so much, finding the remaining ones became more difficult as time passed.
Then.
Thud.
An especially heavy set of footsteps rang out.
They were golem footsteps.
Ron quickly turned his head in that direction.
“Ah.”
A sound closer to a groan escaped him on reflex.
A grayish-brown stone golem holding a mock sword had entered his sight.
The golem's eyes glowed green.
Even without recalling his knowledge of the original game, he could tell at a glance.
This golem was clearly on a different level from the ones he had defeated so far.
The fact that a heavy, sluggish golem held a sword was unusual enough.
That was right. It was the strong golem Instructor Logan had mentioned.
“Ah... it's over.”
“After struggling so hard to survive, too. Tsk. What a shame.”
A bitter feeling filled the mouths of the instructors who had been eagerly watching Ron.
That golem was deployed during the latter half of the test so that immature students would not be eliminated too early.
By terrible luck, Ron, the bottom-ranked student, had encountered the golem intended for top students before he could even reach ten subjugated golems.
With the skills the instructors had seen from Ron, he would not be able to ambush that golem or even escape easily.
And facing it head-on bravely would only be reckless. Ron would clearly be defeated one-sidedly.
In other words, this had to be the end.
‘It's unfortunate, but... it can't be helped.’
Instructor Rachel swallowed her disappointment.
He had been entertaining, but this student did not meet the standard required by Griffin Knight School. In that case, he would simply fail.
Goodbye, Ron Hazely.
Whoosh!
The golem swung its sword. It was a heavy strike. There was no point in Ron trying to block it with his strength.
But at that moment.
Ron saw the image of Maslo, the Demonkin, charging at him.
How had his hand moved then?
Swish.
The sword technique he had glimpsed and unleashed while in the Swordmaster state.
The sensation from then ran through Ron's hand like an electric current.
Instinct moved ahead of reason. The hand that had directly experienced the pinnacle of swordsmanship cast aside fear and stray thoughts as it moved.
Fsssh!
Silver low-grade mana rose from the blade.
It was a movement he had replayed countless times since the day he subjugated Maslo.
Mana control, the distribution of force, the angle of the sword. A counterattack technique precisely unfolded to match the enemy's attack.
Ron stepped forward and swung his sword upward in time with the golem's strike.
Clang!
For an instant, the golem's sword slid along Ron's blade before bouncing away with a sharp cry.
One of the knight sword techniques of the Empire of Eskrad.
Lightwing Sword, Wing Unfurling.
‘Oh, I did...! Urgh!’
Before he could feel joy, pain rang through the hand gripping his sword. Ron fiercely furrowed one eyebrow.
Compared to when he had been in the Swordmaster state, his strength and technique were far too lacking to perfectly redirect the golem's strike.
Still, this was enough to count as a success.
Thud!
The golem lost its balance and fell under its own weight.
“...!!”
Instructor Logan's eyes widened as he leaned forward and stared closely at the screen showing Ron.
“Ron, that guy...! Was that Wing Unfurling just now!?”
Wing Unfurling.
A difficult sword technique that could only be used after grasping the principles of Lightwing Sword.
Even the most gifted first-year students still found it difficult to accomplish....
Yet that bottom-ranked student had just succeeded, though not perfectly.
“Instructor Rachel, did you see that?”
“Yeah.”
At some point, Rachel's lips had curved into a smile.
“He's showing some promise.”
Author's Note
Thank you for your support, Yhwach!!
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
