Chapter 9
“I should be the one asking. Why is Your Grace the Grand Duchess suddenly insisting on such ridiculous bravado?”
Oscar slowly began revealing his irritation.
This was Oscar’s personal space, where even Dietrich was absent to take sides, so he openly displayed his hostility.
Oscar firmly believed Adriana had come to uncover the secrets of the North’s military strength. Since he already suspected her, he had no desire whatsoever to let her observe the knights’ training.
The knights abandoning the training grounds was an unmistakable act of insubordination, yet he did not punish them because, deep down, he approved of their actions.
Even without directly ordering it, he considered their resistance against Adriana proof of the North’s unity, and he even felt proud of it.
“I cannot participate in the monster subjugation without understanding how the northern knights are trained.”
“And exactly what is it you expect me to do about that?”
“I request a spar.”
“Surely you are not suggesting that I, the finest swordsman in the North, fight you with blades?”
Oscar pointed at himself with his index finger as he asked, staring in disbelief.
The idea that the southern-born Grand Duchess thought so little of his skill made even his face flush red.
“Your Grace the Grand Duchess. I regret having to say this, but I possess the second greatest swordsmanship in all the North.”
“I know. That is precisely why I chose the commander.”
To Adriana, Oscar was merely an insolent knight commander, but to the knights themselves, he was a near-divine figure.
Had Dietrich not existed in the same era, Oscar would have gone down in history as a legendary knight.
If Adriana defeated him in a duel, then at the very least, those who criticized her ability would disappear.
But in Oscar’s mind, such a thing was impossible.
“With all due respect, Your Grace, private sparring without permission from one’s superior is prohibited.”
“Is that so? Then I shall command you as Grand Duchess. Spar with trainee knight Adriana Verano.”
Adriana deliberately omitted the surname “Brecht.”
At the obvious provocation, Oscar’s shoulders trembled faintly.
“Oscar Griff. This is the kind of order you like, is it not? I, your superior, have given a command. You must obey now, correct?”
Though Adriana herself often forgot it, in the North she was the legal ruler second only to Dietrich.
“A superior commands.”
The Grand Duchess, his superior, had ordered a duel.
“A subordinate obeys.”
The subordinate, the commander of the knight order, must comply.
Adriana chose to follow the simplest and most absolute logic there was: the logic of power.
“So come to the training grounds immediately, Oscar Griff, Commander of the Glück Knight Order.”
Oscar’s face reddened as though it might burst.
Never in his life had he imagined receiving such an order from the Grand Duchess he usually ignored.
“If you refuse to spar with me, then I shall seek out His Grace the Grand Duke and ask him the same favor.”
“Your Grace!”
The moment she mentioned Dietrich, Oscar shouted urgently.
“My goal is to cross blades with someone every knight acknowledges as powerful. That leaves only you or His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“…Understood.”
Oscar bit down on his lip and glared at Adriana.
“But I have a condition as well. If you lose to me, you must withdraw your claim about joining the monster subjugation.”
“Very well.”
Adriana nodded readily.
Having concluded negotiations, the two headed toward the training grounds.
Each utterly convinced the other’s words could never come true.
Now it was time to determine who was right.
At dawn, the moment Adriana first appeared on the training grounds—
In truth, the members of the Glück Knight Order had been hiding throughout the area, secretly observing her every move.
Knights lived by pride alone. No matter how high-ranking the Grand Duchess might be, they could not tolerate someone trampling on a knight’s dignity.
They were furious that the Grand Duchess treated the knight order like a playground, and they had no intention of returning to training until they extracted a promise that she would stop interfering with them.
Yet despite the boycott, the instincts engraved into their bones as knights kept them from straying too far from the training grounds. As a result, all of them lingered somewhere around the knight order’s buildings.
Whether Adriana noticed their gazes or not, the Grand Duchess and those southern bastards continued their disciplined warm-up drills and running exercises without being asked.
But before long, when no other knights appeared, they clearly seemed troubled. The members of the Glück Knight Order felt smug, convinced everything was unfolding according to their intentions.
A short while later, just as expected, the Grand Duchess disappeared, unable to endure it any longer.
However, after some time passed—
“Oh, she came back.”
“She probably forgot something. Maybe that sword was too heavy for those skinny arms to carry.”
When Adriana reappeared at the training grounds, the knights looked at her indifferently.
But then—
“Huh?”
The moment Oscar appeared behind her, the previously relaxed knights instantly stiffened.
The knights worried anxiously that Adriana might have said something offensive to Oscar. If she had, his anger could easily be directed at them.
Yet Oscar did not seek out the knights, and the atmosphere between the two seemed strangely tense.
“Surely… the two of them aren’t about to spar?”
“That’s the funniest joke you’ve told since joining the knight order.”
“Right?”
“Hahaha!”
The knights burst into laughter together, but somehow Adriana and Oscar continued drawing closer.
A terrible feeling crept over them, their expressions hardened, and just as someone swallowed nervously—
Adriana and Oscar both drew their swords, and the knights turned pale.
“S-Seriously? She’s going to duel Oscar Griff, the commander of the knight order?”
Not one among them believed Adriana could defeat Oscar.
There were certainly talented female knights in the North, but they were rare.
Moreover, she was not merely an ordinary woman, but the Grand Duchess. Someone who had supposedly shut herself inside her room for two entire years could not possibly know how to wield a sword.
“She’s from the South, so maybe she can shoot a bow, but can she even use a blade?”
“Seal” was the mocking nickname northerners used for southerners.
The North specialized in close-range weapons such as swords, while the South, with its many naval battles, had developed long-range weapons like bows.
Every one of them had witnessed Adriana strike absurdly tiny targets during archery competitions. None doubted her skill with a bow, but a sword was an entirely different matter.
Amid the suspicious stares, the sound of drawn blades echoed through the mountains.
At first, things unfolded exactly as expected.
Oscar hesitated to fight seriously, limiting himself mostly to defense.
But as time passed, the nature of their duel changed.
“Huh?”
“She’s… actually good?”
The knights desperately searched for flaws, but Adriana’s swordsmanship contained none.
Her style was rare in the North, but perfectly optimized for her flexible physique and slender build. Her movements were agile, elegant… and powerful.
“How is that possible?”
“I-I don’t know. Maybe the commander is going easy on her?”
Their idol, Oscar Griff, was falling behind. Faced with such unexpectedly brilliant skill, the knights were bewildered.
“Did you see that thrust just now?”
“It was too fast. Was it from the left or the right? Even swinging a bare arm couldn’t turn that quickly.”
“Hey, stop watching her hands and look at her feet. Have you ever seen someone pivot like that?”
Without realizing it, the knights began seriously analyzing Adriana’s movements.
As a woman, Adriana lacked Oscar’s absolute physical strength. Yet because of that, she compensated through overwhelming technique.
Subduing opponents vastly larger and stronger than oneself—that style of combat had its uses.
Especially when facing magical beasts.
For knights who fought monsters more often than humans, Adriana’s swordsmanship was fascinating.
Moreover, the style she used was southern swordsmanship.
Though Hielo and Trakia were sworn enemies, actual battles between them were rare. The territories lay so far apart that conflict seldom occurred.
To be honest, until Adriana first arrived, some of them had genuinely believed ridiculous rumors that southerners grew horns from their heads. Yet Adriana had appeared instead as a beauty with skin even paler than theirs and hair like blazing fire, leaving them secretly stunned.
That was how ignorant they were about the South. So witnessing the famed swordsmanship of Trakia with their own eyes was tremendously entertaining.
Every tactic Adriana employed felt like an entirely new military manual to them. No matter how much they disliked her, they could not deny there was much to learn from her.
The knights gradually forgot their vow to stay away from the training grounds until Adriana was expelled and slowly gathered closer instead. The scene before them was simply too unbelievable not to watch more carefully.
Clang!
The final exchange rang out, and the sword that fell to the ground belonged to Oscar.
“The Grand Duchess won.”
Under the logic of strength, Adriana stood as the undeniable victor.
Oscar lowered his head in disbelief.
Standing before him, Adriana raised her voice toward the places where the knights were hiding.
“Any who still object may step forward now. Those with no objections will report for training tomorrow morning!”
It was a declaration of war against the boycott.
Of course, not a single person could step forward before Adriana.
