"So, what do you say to that?"
Kael doubled down with his question after asking me to spar with the other men in his squad. I let out a small frown as I looked over at him, feeling a bit of hesitation.
"Aren’t they all paladins of the church? I am just a local knight coming from a small baron family... I am pretty sure that I would just end up losing miserably against people with their level of training."
I told him that, trying to give him a reasonable excuse to back out.
"They are not actually full paladins just yet, as they are all still in the middle of their training; they are technically known as templars. Also, you managed to become a captain knight of your own territory, no matter how small it might have been— that fact alone means you are strong, so you really should not put yourself down like that."
Kael responded to my concern with an encouraging tone.
"Especially since I have seen how hard you have been training, you really need to learn to trust in your own abilities."
Then he followed up with those words after a short pause.
It is not exactly that I don’t trust in my own strength and ability, but I am fairly certain that even though the others are still templar knights and not full paladins— they are most likely still capable of wielding some form of holy power.
’It will definitely become a huge problem for me if they decide to use that kind of energy against me, considering I am a demonic being.’
But on the other hand, I reminded myself that this is just supposed to be a friendly spar... there is really no logical reason for them to use their most dangerous powers against me.
’I am honestly quite curious to see just how strong these templars actually are anyway.’
"..."
I just stared at Kael for a long while, not saying a single word as I weighed my options. I looked up at the night sky and saw the bright moon hanging above us, which meant I was currently at my absolute full strength.
Even if something were to go horribly wrong during the match, I figured that I could use everything in my arsenal to make a quick run for it.
And so, bringing my full attention back to Kael and opening my mouth to speak—
"Fine, having a quick spar with the others doesn’t actually sound like a bad idea."
I declared that, finally giving him my consent.
*****
After Verc finally gave Kael his affirmative answer, Kael immediately stood up with a grin and went to inform the rest of his men. The other four knights all turned their heads to look at Verc, and he just slightly bowed his head toward them in a polite gesture.
The four of them did the exact same thing back to him out of a sense of professional courtesy.
After that, at Kael’s loud command— they all worked together to clear up a small circular space where the sparring matches would take place. It didn’t take them very long at all as they just had to move some medium-sized rocks and other debris out of the way.
And after the area was ready, Kael called out for Verc to step forward.
Verc took a quick look at the sword hanging at his waist, and then he slowly headed over to where the others were waiting for him.
*****
(Kael’s POV)
"Verc, these men here are the members of my personal squad; from left to right, we have Stanford, Kelton, Harper, and Gibson."
I introduced my subordinates to Verc as soon as he arrived at the edge of the clearing.
"Guys, as you already know by now, this gentleman is Verc; he is a wandering knight who is travelling with us for the time being."
I followed up with that introduction. They all showed a proper amount of respect to each other, and feeling satisfied with the atmosphere— I nodded my head in approval.
"Verc has agreed to spar with you guys tonight, so I want to know who wants to step up and go first?"
I asked the group, not beating around the bush— and almost immediately, someone’s hand shot up into the air.
"I want to go first, Captain."
It was Stanford, who happened to be the youngest and the newest member of my squad. He is the second son of Viscount Baine, and he arrived to join my unit less than a year ago.
If I might say so myself, the boy is actually quite talented for his age.
"Is that fine with you, Verc?"
I asked as I turned my gaze back to him. He just nodded his head silently without saying a single word.
"Good, then both of you should go ahead and get into position."
After I said that, the two of them walked out into the clearing we had made for the sparring matches. I watched Verc walk with a sense of deep curiosity; I know for a fact that he is strong— but for some strange reason, I just cannot fully gauge the true depth of his strength.
’Still, seeing as his swordsmanship is still clearly at an early stage of development; it will probably be very hard for him to win a match against someone like Stanford.’
I thought that to myself.
Anyway, as the two of them reached the center of the place— they faced each other and pulled out their weapons. I was just about to give the signal to start the match.
But before I could even do so—
"What is going on here?"
I heard a very familiar, and beautiful voice speaking from behind me. I turned around quickly, and there; the Saintess stood in her shining armor, looking past me and staring directly at Verc and Stanford.
"Ah, Saintess...!"
I greeted her with a bow.
"This is just a friendly bout between knights. I asked Verc to spar with the templars to help him train, but if you don’t like the idea, I can make them stop right now."
Then I quickly explained exactly what was going on to her. The Saintess looked at me for a second, then glancing at Verc—
"No, please go on with the match."
She simply said that.
’As I thought, the Saintess seems to be interested in Verc for some reason. I already knew they had met before in the library just as they told us, but I really don’t know what is going on inside her head right now.’
She easily agreed with my suggestion to have Verc travel with us, and she even joined us for breakfast this morning, which was probably because of him as well.
’Hmm, whatever.’
Moving on, I decided to ignore this thought for now and brought my full attention back to Verc and Stanford.
They were both staring at each other so intensely that they didn’t even seem to notice the Saintess’ arrival. Especially Verc, who looked incredibly focused at the moment.
Seeing that they were both ready to go at it, I raised my hand high into the air, and then bringing it down quickly—
"Begin!"
I exclaimed that, officially starting the match.
"HUP!"
BAM!
Stanford kicked off the ground and rushed directly at Verc as soon as the signal was given. He arrived in front of him in an instant— SWISH! and unleashed a swift, diagonal downward attack with his sword.
FWIP-
Verc quickly crouched down low, the sharp blade barely missing the top of his head. He looked up from his low position, and with his right hand— SWOOSH!
He swung his own blade upward with immense force.
Stanford saw the counter-attack coming and braced himself for the impact, putting his sword horizontally in front of him to block the strike, clenching the hilt tightly with both of his hands.
But then— TAAAANG!!!
When their two blades collided, Stanford’s arms were shot upward by the power of the blow, and his guard was completely broken!
"...!"
My eyes widened in shock seeing that happen. Stanford looked just as stunned as I was, and before he could even try to do something to recover— FWIP! Verc reached out and grabbed the metal pauldron of his armor with his left hand—
BOOM!!!
And with nothing but sheer physical force, he slammed Stanford’s body hard into the ground!
"GAH?!"
Stanford let out a pained groan, and before he could even begin to recover from the impact— Swish~
Verc’s cold blade was already resting against the side of his neck.
He was mounting him as well, making any hope of escape completely impossible.
Stanford was left totally speechless, he can’t believe what just happened... but after a short while—
"I lost."
He admitted that quietly.
The entire match had barely lasted for ten seconds...
I saw Verc stand up. He reached out to help Stanford get back on his feet.
Looking at him now, a small, impressed smile formed on the corner of my lips.
’It seems like we have a monster travelling along with us.’
I thought of that, remembering the sheer physical prowess Verc had just shown us.