Pursuit (Part 1)

"What if he doesn't come after us?" the Green Armored Knight asked, somewhat puzzled.

The look in someone's eyes when they wanted to kill you was impossible to hide. "Kammel needs my blood to wash away his humiliation. For his honor, he'll definitely come after me. If he were the sort to let his honor be stained, he would have agreed when I first offered double the price for him to kill Harui."

A gentleman could be manipulated through propriety. Just as Harui had Kammel figured out before, Ian had Kammel figured out now.

"By the way, I still haven't asked your name after all this time. What should I call you?" Ian suddenly remembered.

"Me?" The knight froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Old Dog."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Ian hurriedly apologized. "Back then, I was trying to..." He paused, a little embarrassed. "I wanted to leave those mercenaries with the impression that, no matter their status, they could rise to the nobility under me. It laid the groundwork for directly turning them later."

"My name is Roar, and his is Keith," Roar finally introduced them. Then he suddenly looked up and gave Ian an admiring look. "They really did come after us. Keep yourself safe. If anything seems wrong, run. With that horse of yours, they won't be able to catch you."

Hearing that, Ian looked westward and indeed saw four cavalrymen appear in the distance. The leader wore a suit of plate-and-chain armor, clearly Captain Kammel himself, while the other three wore only ordinary Leather Armor and gambesons.

"You bastard, oathbreaker, murderer! You have no honor!" Even with more than fifty meters still between them, Ian could already hear Kammel's furious roar.

Ian focused his gaze and met a pair of venomous eyes.

For an instant, Ian even felt the killing intent in the air solidify. It sent a chill through him, and the hand gripping his sword hilt trembled slightly.

Kammel did not rein in his horse or waste any more words. Raising the tip of his spear, he began to accelerate and charged at Ian in the lead.

The smooth, broad Kingsroad was ideal for horses to run on. Before long, Kammel's warhorse shifted from a brisk trot into a gallop.

At the same moment Kammel accelerated into his charge, Keith, the black-armored knight who had not spoken a word until then, spurred his horse forward to meet him. After giving Ian a look that told him to stay safe, Roar charged as well.

In the blink of an eye, the two sides clashed.

Charging at the front, Kammel aimed his spear straight at the gap between Keith's helmet and Breastplates. Keith twisted aside, thinking he could easily evade the clumsy spear.

But Kammel's lancework was superb. He had predicted the direction of Keith's dodge in advance, so even with such a dramatic evasive movement, Keith was still struck on the huge left shoulder plate of his black plate armor.

Fortunately, Kammel's spearhead failed to pierce Keith's thick pauldron. Instead, because the weapon in his hand was an ordinary spear rather than a lance with a flexible, resilient shaft, its brittle haft suddenly snapped under the force of the speed and angle.

The powerful impact forced Keith to grip the reins tightly. With the help of his stirrups, he barely stabilized himself, but that movement cost him his chance to counterattack Kammel, and he could only let the two warhorses pass each other by.

Kammel was also badly rattled by the recoil of the impact. The moment the shaft broke, he threw away the useless spear and struggled to maintain his balance while trying to draw his sword. Before he could, however, he ran headlong into Roar, who was following close behind Keith.

Seeing his opponent charging straight at him without dodging, Kammel had no choice but to turn aside to avoid a collision between their horses. But during the sharp turn, the warhorse beneath him lost its balance and toppled directly to the left.

Roar gave the reins a light tug and effortlessly steered around Kammel as he crashed toward him. At the very limit of his sword's reach, Roar leaned sideways and swung, severing half of Kammel's left hand in a single stroke.

Kammel completely lost control of his mount. His already unbalanced horse stumbled another seven or eight steps forward before horse and rider crashed to the ground. The instant it hit the ground, it crushed Kammel's left leg.

A low, miserable scream rang out across the Kingsroad.

After charging several more meters, Roar reined in his warhorse, pulled the reins to turn it around, and charged at Kammel again. Roar lowered the sword in his hand, pressed his chest close to the horse's back, and crouched low as he rushed up to Kammel. Then he thrust hard at Kammel's neck, where he was pinned to the ground.

The sword point entered Kammel's throat from the side, but Roar's horse did not stop. Its momentum drove Roar's blade onward, severing Kammel's spine, tearing open half his throat, and sending his entire head flying away.

After charging a few more steps, Roar did not stop his horse. Instead, he made another sharp turn and headed toward Keith.

At that moment, Keith clearly needed his support.

Well, it seemed Keith did not really need his support.

Roar loosened his legs and slowed his horse, covering his face with a wry smile. In the time it had taken him to deal with Kammel and his broken spear, Keith had fought three alone and already killed two of them.

Two corpses lay on the Kingsroad, one of them cut cleanly in half at the waist.

The last cavalryman under Kammel had been terrified out of his wits by Keith's ferocious assault. With all his companions dead, he could not summon the courage to fight that knight built like a black iron tower.

Taking advantage of the distance Keith had opened while dealing with another of his companions, the cavalryman turned his horse around and fled north.

"Get him!" Ian shouted, then immediately spurred his horse after him.

Of course, he could not simply watch that cavalryman escape. Any survivor today was a potential risk.

Ian drove his white horse at full speed. Thanks to the advantage of a fine horse and wearing no armor, he swiftly passed both Roar and Keith, catching up head-on with the fleeing Mercenary Cavalry.

Ian held the already drawn Crested Sword in his hand. Only when the other man was nearly within his attack range did a question abruptly occur to him.

Can I fucking beat him?

Unfortunately, he had no time to carefully calculate every possibility as he usually did. In the next second, his horse overtook the fleeing cavalryman's mount, and he could only rely on the experience of mounted combat gained from the memories of the Sellsword Knight profession, swinging his sword by instinct.

The fleeing cavalryman skillfully raised his sword and knocked aside Ian's attack. Ian felt a jolt run through his hand, and for a moment, he nearly lost his balance in the saddle.

The fleeing cavalryman seemed to realize that his pursuer was a novice. He turned and slashed at Ian. Ian hastily blocked, only for the sword in his hand to be knocked flying.