How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 14

Living as the Third Son of a Failed Novel – Chapter 14

Chapter 5: To the Lord’s Castle!

Thanks to Kerwin, Ruth and I replenished our stamina and descended the mountain at a rapid pace.

“You’re fast.”

I thought I’d be returning half-dead.

Perhaps it was thanks to pushing myself to the limit, but my horsemanship also improved dramatically, allowing me to easily match Ruth’s speed.

“At this rate, we can definitely make the deadline.”

“Good. Since we’re suffering anyway, let’s push it a bit more.”

“Understood.”

Ruth still didn’t know what had happened in Manelop.

He seemed curious, but when I vaguely brushed it off, he respected my boundaries and didn’t press further.

‘My body is light, but my heart is heavy.’

Since I received gemstones in place of 1,500 gold coins, my luggage was light.

But perhaps because of the burden on my heart, my body didn’t feel so light.

I took out the small pouch I had kept in my pocket.

Bright light leaked through the narrow opening. It was the radiance emitted by the gemstones.

1,500 gold coins was just a figure; these gemstones would easily exceed that value.

‘What should I do with the extra money?’

I’ll worry about that later. I don’t even know exactly how much will be left.

“Would you like to take a break?”

“Sounds good.”

The sun was beginning to set.

Ruth and I stopped our horses and began preparing for camp.

After finishing our meal with the boar meat we had packed, we each lay down in a comfortable spot to rest for a while.

About an hour later.

As if we had made a promise, Ruth and I stood facing each other next to the campfire, each holding our swords.

“Shall we do what we always do today?”

“Would you like to?”

Ruth nodded, and I drew my sword.

Glory, the sword Kerwin had given me, was surprisingly light and frighteningly sharp.

This sword was mentioned several times in the novel, so there was no need to doubt it.

‘So this is the Ego Sword.’

Ego Sword.

Simply casting permanent magic is difficult and limited in number, so there are clear limitations.

On the other hand, if there is an ego, it can be used directly when needed.

This means it overwhelms ordinary magic swords in efficiency.

The power of this sword was expressed countless times in the novel.

Crude blades swung from blind spots were automatically blocked by Protect magic.

Sharpness magic helped reduce mana consumption, and various elemental magics enabled long-range combat.

Listing only the advantages like this, it might seem like you could become the strongest with just this one sword, but…

‘There’s a problem.’

It requires mana.

Not only is it needed to awaken the sword’s ego, but the sword’s source of magic also comes from the user’s mana, so it’s a given.

In other words, it’s nothing more than a gilded lily [something that appears valuable but is actually worthless] to me right now.

Still, let’s look for immediate advantages: it’s made of an unknown mineral, so it’s far lighter than ordinary swords.

“Haa!”

Shriek!

Ruth hurriedly turned his head to avoid my sharply penetrating sword.

Surprised, Ruth took a few steps back.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you’d block it easily.”

“It’s not your fault. I was careless.”

A few strands of hair cut off by the sword slowly fell.

Ruth stared at the hair and then clicked his tongue.

“Your swordsmanship seems much sharper than before.”

“Really?”

“Definitely. I dodged according to the speed I was used to, but I was caught off guard like this.”

Ruth lightly touched his cut hair and nodded.

“You couldn’t have been secretly training, and even if you were, this level of skill improvement is unbelievable.”

Sorry, Ruth.

The sword just got lighter.

‘It’s definitely about the same weight as a bamboo sword.’

Ordinary long swords weigh between 1.5kg and 2kg.

On the other hand, wooden swords or bamboo swords used in kendo [a modern Japanese martial art] weigh less than 1kg. If they are light, they can be reduced to 600g.

Of course, it’s a problem if it’s too light. But like a masterpiece, the weight distribution was amazingly well done.

In other words, I got the best weapon for my habits.

“Young Master.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but it doesn’t seem right to teach you the Lindayer family’s swordsmanship.”

“Why?”

“It seems like you have a direction you’re instinctively pursuing.”

Ruth also knew my body was accustomed to kendo.

However, he thought of it not as a habit hardened after long repetition, but as an ideal I was pursuing.

“Now?”

“I’m not telling you to put down your sword. I just thought we should consider other methods.”

“For example?”

“The movement you instinctively pursue is not the Lindayer family’s flowing offense and defense, but a quick sword closer to a one-hit kill.”

That’s right.

The spirit of oneness between body and sword is very important in kendo.

It’s not about leading the sword, but becoming the sword itself and scoring a point from the opponent with one perfect opportunity.

That’s why he called it a quick sword.

“So?”

“Rather than suppressing that nature and covering it with the family’s swordsmanship, I think it’s better to take advantage of the strengths.”

Take advantage of the strengths?

“It’s not about forcing you to learn the family’s swordsmanship, but about extracting only the strengths to create your own swordsmanship.”

“Ha, is that even possible?”

Create swordsmanship? Me?

“I’ll help you from the side.”

“You?”

“My swordsmanship is also not the complete Lindayer family’s. I joined the Knights at a late age, and I didn’t have a proper opportunity to learn swordsmanship at first. That means I can help you with the trial and error you’ll experience.”

Come to think of it, that was true.

Ruth lived as a fire field farmer in the mountains and joined the Knights at the age of 17. He must have had all the bad habits.

Moreover, due to the limitations of his birth, he would not have had a teacher to learn swordsmanship from one-on-one. At best, the Gilain Knight Commander, who recommended him, might have paid a little attention.

“Would you like to try?”

“Why not?”

“Good.”

Rather than killing it off halfway, let’s make sure to bring it to life.

With that motto, I swung my sword as I pleased, as I was used to.

Ruth was an excellent teacher.

I don’t know about others, but at least he was to me.

‘Duels or sparring are essentially no different from back alley brawls. The only difference is that they are more formal.’

How to win.

If necessary, you have to throw sand in the opponent’s eyes.

If the opponent’s legs are fast, you have to grab their collar, and if their sword is fast, you have to stick close enough to hear their breathing and fight dirty.

Manners maketh man [a saying meaning that good behavior defines a person], but you can lose your head while taking care of manners. What’s the point of honor after you die?

In that respect, at least Ruth and I were a good match.

Three days passed like that.

“Haa!”

Crack!

The branch broke because it couldn’t withstand my sword, which was deflected.

Swish!

The sword, swung with the remaining force, created a faint red line on Ruth’s cheek.

It was an achievement made because it wasn’t a real sword and Ruth didn’t use mana on purpose.

“…….”

Ruth licked his cheek with his thumb, saw the red blood, and smiled.

“Good.”

“That won’t work anymore, will it?”

“I admit it. You’re improving day by day.”

Ruth threw away the cut branch and drew his real sword.

And that day, I dropped my sword exactly fifteen times.

* * *

“We’ve arrived.”

Fifth morning since leaving Manelop.

A familiar camp came into view.

It was the shelter at the entrance of the mountain range where we first arrived and grilled boar.

“How much time is left?”

“Plenty.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“You too, Young Master.”

The weather is still sunny.

The horses, Ruth, and I still had plenty of stamina left.

There was no need to spend the night at the shelter; we could just take a short break and leave right away.

“Leo!”

I got off my horse and called Leo.

“What, is he sleeping?”

However, no sign of life was felt inside the shelter.

Sensing something was wrong, Ruth quickly began to look around.

I also hurriedly moved my steps and opened the door of the shelter.

“What is this?”

I could find the inside in a mess.

Disheveled bedding and broken teacups. Focusing and looking around a bit more, I could see faint dried bloodstains on the floor.

Then I put my hand in the bedding.

It was cold. There was no warmth left. Even if I didn’t know, it seemed like he had been away for quite some time.

‘What happened?’

Thump!

The door opened and Ruth came in.

“Young Master, how is it here?”

“You came just in time. There are bloodstains here.”

“Bloodstains, you say?”

Ruth squatted down and ran his finger over the bloodstains and nodded.

“It seems like it was spilled recently.”

“Looks like something happened.”

“Judging from the shape of the stains, it doesn’t seem like a serious injury. I think it might have been a nosebleed.”

“A nosebleed…….”

Did he suddenly have a nosebleed in the middle of the night?

But the messy interior was bothering me.

And above all, these footprints, starting from the entrance and stamped everywhere inside, were clear evidence.

“There’s mud on the footprints.”

When I pointed to the muddy footprints, Ruth nodded and touched the hardened soil with his hand.

“It must be because of the rain we had when we left. It hasn’t been long. Only a few days.”

“What can we guess?”

“There are a few things.”

“First of all, it’s not a monster.”

If we were attacked by a monster, this amount of bloodstains wouldn’t be enough.

“A bandit? Weren’t we robbed?”

“That possibility is slim.”

“Slim? Why?”

“Even if it’s a girl, there’s no reason to kidnap a boy. Even if there is labor, it’s more important for bandits to reduce the number of mouths to feed. Besides, Leo had your identity badge and gold coins.”

“That’s right.”

“Even the most reckless bandits wouldn’t kidnap a count’s family member. It could cause trouble later. At best, they would take their lives and steal their belongings.”

“Is there a possibility that Leo just ran away?”

“There is also room for that. He may have pretended to be kidnapped and ran away to find freedom.”

“But why bother?”

“That’s right. If a wanted order is issued, there will be no place to set foot in the North. And you didn’t entrust him with enough money to launder his identity [to conceal the source of illegally obtained money].”

“Above all, he has money to get from me, so why would he run away?”

He has a debt of twenty gold coins.

The amount entrusted was not higher than that amount.

“Then there’s only one thing left.”

If it’s not a monster or a bandit.

“I think he met a scout.”

“You think so too?”

“Things seem to be a bit twisted.”

The Count’s scouts are a dragoon unit [mounted infantry] created by the Count to protect the commerce between the territory and the small villages.

They weren’t particularly outstanding, but they were able to handle lower-level monsters and bandit gangs, and thanks to that, the territory had fairly good security despite being in the North.

“If a scout happened to stop by here and meet Leo.”

“There would have been an inspection.”

“After that, they would have seen my identity badge and gold coins and misunderstood him as a thief.”

“Wouldn’t that be the case?”

“Well, the Count’s third son climbed the Volum Mountains on a rainy day? I wouldn’t believe it either.”

Especially with the rumors about me.

Feeling that things were getting twisted, I rubbed my temples.

“Ruth, if the scout arrested Leo, where would he go?”

“I don’t know the route. But the final destination is obvious, isn’t it?”

“Lord’s Castle.”

“That’s right.”

Nodding, I kicked the scabbard with my foot and slung it over my shoulder.