Starting With an SSS-Rank Swordsmanship Talent

“How about we spar for a bit? Of course, we are not allowed to use mana.” Alaric wanted to take the chance to use this guy as his training dummy. It was rare to find a good sparring partner like this since the Elite Knights of the household were always busy with their respective tasks.

Roland was taken aback.

“Are you serious, my lord?” He thought that he had heard Alaric wrong. After all, he was an Elite Knight so he was inherently stronger than Alaric. Even without using his mana, he was confident that he could beat anyone below the realm of Elite Knights. This wasn’t baseless overconfidence, but the belief he had in his abilities.

Lord Alaric might be a swordsmanship genius, but technique alone doesn’t win a fight.

He thought to himself as he looked at Alaric who was walking toward the nearby weapon rack.

After choosing two wooden swords, Alaric tossed the other one to Roland who caught it reflexively.

Roland temporarily put aside the steel sword he got from Alaric and played with the wooden sword.

It felt light in his hand, but as an expert swordsman, he quickly adjusted to its weight.

“Then I will accept your challenge, my lord. Please guide me.” He lightly bowed to Alaric.

“Good!” Alaric chuckled.

He thought that he would trigger a system mission, but there was no reaction from the cyan screen. This left him a bit disappointed.

The two locked gazes while quietly assessing each other.

As a seasoned veteran, Roland had experienced numerous battles. There were times when he had almost died during those battles, but he managed to survive all those encounters.

A spar was like a walk in the park for him, nothing to be nervous about. However, facing Alaric, he felt strangely nervous.

I’m nervous?

He was surprised when he realized that his hands were shaking.

Roland shook off his random thoughts and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

In that instant, Alaric suddenly made his move.

Whoosh!

It was a direct stab with no superfluous movement.

Roland lifted his sword, casually deflecting the stab aimed at his chest.

Pak!

Alaric frowned when he sensed the other party’s power. He had already maxed out his strength, but there was still a huge gap between him and an Elite Knight.

That seemingly casual deflection made his balance shift, forcing him to adjust his center of gravity.

Taking the chance, Roland released a flurry of attacks.

Pak! Pak!

However, Alaric seemed to have defied gravity by parrying his attacks with unnatural angles.

It was an unconventional defensive technique that caught Roland off-guard.

Pak! Pak!

Their spar continued for another half a minute when an urgent shout forced them to stop.

“My lord!”

Alaric lowered the training sword and looked at the approaching warrior with a frown.

Roland felt that it was a pity. He was starting to enjoy the spar, but it was unfortunately cut short.

Alaric sent him an apologetic gaze. “Let’s do this again next time, Sir Roland.”

The Elite Knight knew that it must be something serious so he nodded without complaining.

“What happened?” Alaric asked the warrior with a stern look.

The warrior took a moment to gather his breath before he replied. “My lord, there is a request for reinforcements from Alverton. Their messenger told me that they had sighted a large group of orcs approaching the town.”

Hearing this, Alaric was bewildered.

Orcs? The orc invasion isn’t supposed to happen anytime soon. Why did it suddenly…

From his memory, there was still more than a year before the orc invasion. Furthermore, the orcs targeted Vale and not Alverton.

Something has changed!

Alaric felt that he had something to do with the sudden changes of the events.

“Inform the warriors and have them gather in front of the main mansion,” Alaric instructed.

“Yes, my lord!” The warrior acknowledged his command with a solemn nod.

“Go! I need to inform the baron about this.” Alaric waved his hand.

The warrior didn’t dawdle and left after giving him a snappy salute.

Alaric turned his head over to Roland and smiled bitterly as he said.

“Sir Roland, it seems like our discussion has to be delayed.”

“Are you planning to send reinforcements?” Roland asked in surprise.

“Of course! Alverton doesn’t have a proper military and they only have a handful of Knights and Knight Apprentices. They wouldn’t be able to survive an orc invasion.” Alaric responded with a grim voice.

“I’m sorry, Sir Roland, but I need to go.”

Without waiting for his answer, Alaric turned around and left.

Roland watched the young Knight leave with haste.

Normally, a noble household wouldn’t care about other territories except their own, but there was no ounce of hesitation in Alaric’s eyes when he mentioned sending reinforcements.

It was rare to find someone like this, especially within the nobility. Most of them were conceited people who only cared about their own interests.

Should I go and take a look?

This thought crossed his mind.

After some internal struggle, he shook his head and headed back to the guest mansion.

…

Meanwhile, Alaric went straight to the baron’s study to inform him about the situation, but when he arrived, he discovered that Lucas was speaking with Warrick and Henry.

“Alaric, it’s good that you’re here.” Lucas beckoned to him. From the looks of it, the baron was already aware of the situation.

Alaric didn’t say anything and just nodded at Warrick and Henry before he took his seat.

“I’m discussing with Warrick and Henry on who should we send to Alverton. Now that you’re here, why don’t you help me decide?” Lucas stared deeply at him.

Without hesitation, Alaric responded. “I’m going there myself.”

Lucas and the two Elite Knights weren’t surprised to hear this. They had already expected that he would volunteer for the task.

Lucas leaned on his seat and nodded. “Alright. You have my approval, but you must bring at least two Elite Knights with you.”