The Tin Knight-Chapter 25: The Tin Knight and The Lions Bloodline (8)

Adelaide von Lennart had almost no real combat experience.

She did receive basic training as a member of the Lion Duke’s bloodline, but she never applied herself enthusiastically, and those around her didn’t scold her for it either.

After all, if there were to be an heir to continue the family line, it would undoubtedly be Adelaide’s older brother, and since she was expected to marry into another household anyway, there was no need for Adelaide’s personal combat skills to be exceptional.

Therefore, Adelaide was ignorant about combat.

She had some knowledge from occasionally observing others train, but it was only superficial at best—nowhere near professional even as a polite lie.

She was a canvas untouched by anything. Clean, and pristine in all manners. It was on this pure white canvas that the Tin Knight etched his indelible mark.

The Tin Knight’s teachings were divided into just two parts:

Physical conditioning and one-on-one sparring.

Through these sparring sessions, Adelaide was able to learn various “common sense of combat” that she had never been taught prior.

[Common Sense of Combat First]

[Attacks should always be continuous—counterattacks are not made after the opponent’s attack ends but are wedged in the gaps of combat.]

Pat! Whoosh! Swish!

After successively avoiding attacks aimed at her right forearm, left thigh, and upper torso, Adelaide tilted her head, wondering why her opponent, who was on guard for the next attack, kept stopping their attacks.

Why do these people keep stopping in the middle of their attacks?

Even the first opponent, Paulo, had done the same.

If one made a nice thrust, one should naturally pursue the opponent with a flurry of attack, but he just made one attack and that was it.

She did win by implementing the Tin Knight’s advice to counterattack immediately after dodging, but it was a truly unsatisfying match.

The second match was no different.

They did launch a series of attacks, but by the time they started contemplating where to strike next while observing the gaps, the attacks abruptly stopped.

It was truly incomprehensible.

Although she couldn’t understand it—

Sir Knight said to hit now!

Whack!!

The opponent’s nose bridge was spectacularly crushed by Adelaide’s mercilessly swung wooden sword, sending them tumbling to the ground.

Other disciples gulped at her merciless actions, but Adelaide herself remained oblivious.

[Common Sense of Combat Second]

[When striking, aim for the places that hurt the most or are dangerous if struck]

When fighting Adelaide, the Tin Knight targeted her vital points without the slightest hesitation, and advised her to do the same.

An iron sword, even with its edge dulled, could easily kill a person if used properly.

This was why Adelaide, who hadn’t even properly mastered the basic stance of swordsmanship, had her evasion ability heightened to the extreme—after all, if she couldn’t dodge, she’d be pushed to the brink of death.

Incidentally, Adelaide harbored no hesitation about hitting others.

It was the consequence of persistently swinging her weapon at the Tin Knight, who would barely be marked or often remain unscathed from her strikes, even as she grew increasingly tired and disoriented.

While she understood that she should make some distinction between the Tin Knight’s body, which was clearly unordinary, and the body of a normal person, even that was meaningless in her current circumstances.

After all, the weapon in Adelaide’s hands was a wooden sword.

Unlike the dulled iron sword that could kill if hit in the wrong place, she thought that since it was just a wooden sword used for training, there was no risk of death no matter how freely she swung it.

This was a grave misunderstanding. One could die if hit in the wrong place by a wooden sword as well.

No, even if it didn’t necessarily kill, the fact that when wielding violence, the standard was “whether they’ll die or not” rather than “how much the opponent will get hurt” was already a serious problem, but Adelaide, who was in a highly tense state, failed to realize this.

Clang!

During the sixth match, the wooden sword Adelaide was holding flew into the air.

It was the result of her opponent, who had been carefully observing Adelaide’s tactic of “striking at openings immediately after dodging an attack”, intentionally showing an opening to induce an attack and then launching a counter.

It was also clear proof that Adelaide still lacked the discernment to distinguish between real openings and deliberate traps.

A fierce attack rushed towards Adelaide, who had lost her weapon.

[Common Sense of Combat Third]

[Weapons are just one of many tools. If you lose it, use something else—like your body]

After avoiding a thrust aimed at her face with a tilt of her head, Adelaide closed the distance to her opponent.

Although surprised by her unexpectedly fast speed, her opponent tried to shake her off, but Adelaide’s outstretched hand was faster in grabbing the opponent’s head.

Adelaide firmly grasped the opponent’s head with both hands, then leaped and delivered a knee strike to their face.

Whack!

“Ugh!”

Even though Adelaide was on the smaller side, the force of her knee strike, utilizing her entire body like a spring, was nothing to scoff at.

Especially if it came in a series of hits.

Whack! Whack! Thud!

Scattering bright red blood and a couple of white teeth on the floor, another opponent collapsed.

Adelaide, who nonchalantly picked up the fallen wooden sword, let out a big sigh and said, “Next, please!”

***“...Haa.”

A sigh escaped from Ruben’s mouth.

What? Evaluating a girl who had never had proper training in her life by the same standards as disciples who had been training for years was cruel?

This wasn’t a test made by someone else.

It was a thought that Ruben himself had entertained a few dozen minutes prior.

Nevertheless, Ruben had no choice but to treat those words as nonsense.

The girl’s actions, her movements, were absolutely not those of someone unfamiliar with combat.

Did Giselle give me false information?

That thought crossed his mind briefly, but he quickly dismissed it.

Giselle had nothing to gain by deceiving him.

Then was Giselle deceived? Was she hiding her skills all along?

This was a bit more plausible, but even this wasn’t very likely.

If Adelaide had such skills, she wouldn’t have been caught by thieves or sold as a slave in the first place.

No, no. Never mind the letter. The important thing is that even after I saw her with my own eyes, I judged her to be a greenhouse flower. Why was that?

It wasn’t that Adelaide was more skilled than Ruben himself.

Certainly, she was showing an unexpectedly good fight, but compared to Ruben, Adelaide’s skills were still those of a novice.

Why, then, despite the clear difference in level, had Ruben failed to gauge Adelaide’s true abilities?

Ruben soon found the answer.

The balance is off. There’s no foundation. She doesn’t even know how to properly hold a sword. Her physical abilities are decent, but that’s only impressive compared to her build and gender. On their own, they are not enough to overwhelm those who have received professional training.

While there was no proper evidence to judge her as strong, there was an abundance of evidence to judge her as a weak, inexperienced fighter.

That was why he judged Adelaide’s skills to be poor.

But.

The ability to read and avoid attacks. The boldness to not hesitate in both inflicting and receiving injuries. The adaptability to not fixate on a single method. Only these three elements are abnormally high.

Ruben turned his gaze to the Tin Knight.

He couldn’t even guess what kind of training he had given to result in such an unbalanced form, but it seemed clear that the culprit was that knight.

And at the same time, he realized something frightening.

Judging from the letter I received from Giselle, the period Adelaide has been seriously acting together with that knight is only about two weeks... This is the result of two weeks? This?

Then if those two continue to travel together, how far will she go?

Thinking of that question, Ruben let out a hollow laugh.

He couldn’t easily distinguish whether the emotion swirling in his chest was fear or expectation.

Thud!

Another disciple fell, and silence fell over the dojo.

Ruben looked at Adelaide.

“Haah, haah.”

Although Adelaide boasted an amazing record of 7 consecutive wins, it was evident that she was physically exhausted.

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Her breathing was labored, and her limbs were trembling slightly.

Ordinarily, revealing one’s fatigue was something a warrior should avoid as much as possible, but the girl either lacked the skill to hide it or didn’t seem to know that she should.

If pushed like this, it seemed likely that the dojo side would be the final victor.

Ruben asked his disciples, “Is there anyone who volunteers to step up?”

No answer came.

Ruben examined the faces of his disciples.

They all had cowed expressions.

There were many whose bodies were intact and not a few who were technically superior to Adelaide, but they were all already crushed in terms of momentum.

“Haa, really.”

Ruben felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Well, the truly capable ones among his disciples were already wandering the continent taking tests or had finished their tests and were working in the Empire. Those left here were like a second string, so it was unavoidable that their quality was somewhat lower... but still, he couldn’t help feeling bitter.

I’ll have to push them harder from now on.

Of course, there was a method of forcibly designating names and making them fight, but Ruben didn’t want to do that.

It was behavior unbefitting the Lennart name.

“I’ll ask once more. Is there no one who says they’ll fight?”

“...”

“Very well. Since there are no challengers, the remaining matches will be won by default. As the instructor of the Lennart Dojo, Lowefelt Branch, I think Adelaide von Lennart possesses sufficient skills to be recognized by our dojo! If anyone has objections, speak now!”

“We have none!!”

After confirming the disciples’ answer, Ruben approached Adelaide and stood in front of her.

Adelaide still had a dazed expression, as if she hadn’t adapted to the unfolding situation.

Thinking that such an innocent face had launched such ruthless attacks made him want to laugh, but suppressing it, Ruben said, “Congratulations on passing the test.”

“Ah, t-thank you! Thank you to the other disciples for sparring with me as well!”

Adelaide bowed at 90 degrees and greeted everyone here and there. Here sincere gestures seemed to slowly melt the the somewhat stiff atmosphere.

Even the disciples who had been looking at Adelaide with somewhat uncomfortable expressions showed signs of acknowledging her, saying, “Well, a match is a match.”

And so, Adelaide safely cleared her first hurdle.

***On the way out of the dojo.

[The 'Tin Knight' congratulates Adel on passing the test!]

[The 'Tin Knight' praises the badge, saying it's cool!]

“It is, isn’t it!? I think it’s cool too!”

In Adelaide’s hand was a locket-shaped medallion, with one of the five hollows inside filled with a fan-shaped token.

The fan-shaped token had an elaborate picture drawn on it, and it seemed that when all the token were collected like a puzzle, the picture would be completed.

“Heh, hehe...!”

Adelaide was practically glowing with excitement.

Despite having injuries here and there from the successive sparring matches, she was humming without showing any signs of pain.

[The 'Tin Knight' asks if Adel is that happy!]

“Of course I am!” Adelaide answered immediately.

“It’s the first proof that I’m not inadequate as an heir! And I fought and earned it myself! Not something given to me by someone but by myself!”

Adelaide particularly emphasized the “by myself” part.

This was also proof of how much Adelaide had been concerned about being evaluated as “incompetent, unable to do anything alone”.

[The 'Tin Knight' suggests working hard to collect the remaining 4 tokens!]

“That’s right. Well, I don’t know if the path to the cities with other dojos will luckily coincide with the witch’s route like this time.”

[The 'Tin Knight' says if they don't coincide, we can accomplish other quests instead!]

[The 'Tin Knight' declares he'll devise some intense training menus!]

“...No, I’d like to rest for at least a few days since I passed the test.”

[The 'Tin Knight' droops his shoulders!]

As they exchanged lighthearted banter, laughing and talking about trivial things, the unexpected happened.

The miniature skull hanging like an ornament on the Tin Knight’s neck suddenly rattled and opened its mouth.

《Guard! Come! Guard! Come! The witch is summoning you! The witch is under attack! Guard! Come! Guard! Come!》

The two’s laughter stopped.

Without needing to say who was first, the two began sprinting through the streets.