Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!-Chapter 35: Shattered Confidence

Ignoring my warning, Klugen closed the distance in an instant with light footwork. Using the head-cutting technique Scheitelhau, he tried to finish me like lightning, but my reaction speed was pretty damn fast too.

I caught his vertically descending sword with binding, pressing it down while swinging my blade toward his head. But Klugen twisted his head to dodge and quickly pulled back.

Clang!

Oscar’s arming sword went for Klugen’s back, but Klugen deflected it downward and tried to stab Oscar’s neck, only to be stopped by the shield. Oscar tried to drive forward with the shield to knock him down, but Klugen’s footwork was so light and quick that he slipped free of the encirclement in an instant.

That was the step called cat-walking—effective for escaping encirclement.

One of the advanced techniques I hadn’t learned yet.

This was bad. Judging by his technical level, he was clearly a better knight than me. The three-star danger rating and the title Rose Knight were no empty boasts. Even with Oscar holding a shield, facing him one-on-one would be extremely dangerous.

Only a knight can match a knight. I wasn’t confident how long I could hold out, but retreating without a fight wasn’t an option.

"Oscar, be careful—he’s strong. I’ll attack; you look for openings."

Clang clang!

I pushed Oscar aside and deflected Klugen’s thrust upward, blocking his offensive while immediately countering with my own thrust, but Klugen batted my sword down.

As we closed in, a binding battle ensued, and we fought for timing. But Klugen seemed to read every attack before I made it.

I went for Klugen’s shoulder with lightning-fast winding (attacking while bound), but he raised his grip to block. Immediately, Klugen attempted a sliding cut (slicing while bound and sliding) toward my head.

I caught Klugen’s sliding blade with my back edge. Then I drove my shoulder into him, forcing Klugen back.

I tried to quickly split his head with Scheitelhau, but in that brief moment, Klugen shattered my Scheitelhau with Krumphau (a hooking cut) and slashed my left thigh.

Luckily it wasn’t a deep cut, but I realized with painful clarity that my opponent’s technique and speed were superior to mine. My pride stung too much to back down now, though.

Clang! Clang!

"Ugh!"

Noticing my left thigh was cut and harder to move, Klugen relentlessly targeted my left pivot foot to force it out of position. Unable to use my leg properly, if I let the distance open, I’d get carved up one-sidedly.

So I tried to press close with binding and take Klugen down with wrestling techniques. At least I had overwhelming strength on my side.

I tried to overpower him while bound, but Klugen deliberately released his force during binding. Having pushed hard, my center of gravity naturally lurched forward, and at that moment, Klugen drove a fist into my solar plexus.

I thought I’d lose my breath. His close-combat skills were top-notch too. With my current skills alone, there was no way I could gain the upper hand.

But I held on with binding to keep the distance from opening, because the moment Klugen focused entirely on me was Oscar’s opportunity.

That was exactly what I’d been counting on. Oscar’s arming sword stabbed at his back. Klugen sensed it and twisted to dodge, but in that gap, I sliced Klugen’s right shoulder with a sliding cut.

I was no match one-on-one, but two-on-one was a different story entirely. The reason Klugen had lost track of Oscar for a moment was that I was no pushover.

Rather than stubbornly insisting on a one-on-one duel and courting death, it was more important to survive by any means, using every resource available. I worked hard to exploit the two-on-one advantage and steer the fight in our favor.

"Oscar! Stab his back!"

Thud!

"Ugh!"

Just as I was about to press the advantage, Klugen stomped on my foot with his back heel and headbutted my nose. The impact knocked me back momentarily. Klugen used that opening to deflect Oscar’s sword and smashed his face with the pommel.

Oscar, having lost his shield, was left defenseless, and Klugen moved to finish him—but Hans, who’d been protecting Göring, charged in with a yell and tackled Klugen around the waist.

Crash!

Hans and Klugen went down together.

They wrestled on the ground, but Hans couldn’t handle Klugen, who only targeted vital points. Blood gushed from my nose after that ironhead had slammed into me, but I pulled myself together, grabbed my sword, and fought to get back on my feet.

Luckily my nose wasn’t broken.

As expected of a knight who’d been through war, he was vicious in a brawl.

What a monster!

My stance when I rose with my sword was slightly off. Klugen, who’d beaten Hans down and assumed an Ochs stance, didn’t miss that subtle gap and lunged to finish me with a thrust—the longsword’s most devastating attack.

But I’d been expecting his thrust. I’d already stepped my left foot forward, placed my sword above my right shoulder, and settled into a guard position. Honestly, this was almost a gamble, but thanks to the F-Rank Knight (military power 20%, courage 20%) title I’d acquired, I wasn’t afraid.

Klugen’s thrust was blindingly fast. I barely twisted my head to dodge, but my left cheek got sliced open. At that moment, I stepped out with my right foot and cut Klugen’s exposed left wrist. Klugen, gripping his wrist, pulled back.

I’d made Klugen, who’d held the initiative throughout, retreat. But the situation was growing worse for me. Blood flowing from my thigh was sapping my stamina.

"For such a young age, your swordsmanship is excellent," Klugen said.

"Compared to the Rose Knight, I’m nothing but a greenhorn," I replied.

"Too valuable to kill here."

"I have no intention of dying in a place like this!"

Clang!

Despite his wrist being cut, the force behind our clashing swords was still formidable. When swords clash and bind, closing in and fighting with winding is like reading your opponent’s moves in chess—constantly probing, checking, and countering with cuts.

German swordsmanship’s defense isn’t passive—it’s about seizing the moment to switch to offense and press the attack. Attack is the best defense, a saying that fits this swordsmanship perfectly.

When Klugen tried a diagonal sliding cut toward my right thigh, I brought my sword diagonally down to guard above my thigh, and the moment I blocked, I quickly lifted the bound swords with force, riding the winding to strike at Klugen’s head with Scheitelhau.

Klugen traced a horizontal arc, deflecting my blade and counterattacking with Zwerchhau (a horizontal cut) aimed at my temple.

Clang!

Screech!

The fierce battle of techniques wore down my mental reserves. If I gave ground here, I’d lose the initiative. I think I’d already reached my mental limit. I was starting to flag from this endless war of attrition against such a powerful opponent.

Just as I was gradually being pushed back, Oscar, having regained consciousness, crawled across the floor and slashed Klugen’s back leg. As his leg was cut and he staggered, I struck his sword upward and mercilessly cracked his skull with the pommel at the end of the grip.

Thud!

"Ugh!"

Even a full-force pommel strike to the head didn’t knock him out. Not your average ironhead. Blood flowed from Klugen’s head as he staggered back. Both of us were spent and struggling.

As bleeding from my left thigh worsened, I maintained my concentration to the very end. Oscar also struggled to his feet, raising his shield and arming sword. He looked terrible too.

"...Young knight. I want to know your name."

"Wolfgang von Streit. A rookie who hasn’t even been knighted."

"...Streit. I see. You’re his son."

Did he know my father? Well, they’d been on the same battlefield, so it was possible. Oscar and I gradually surrounded and pressed Klugen. Judging that he could no longer handle us both, Klugen escaped through another door behind him.

He could still run like that even with his leg cut?

Oscar and I chased hard after him.

Through that door came another twenty-foot passage, and he escaped through a small door at the end. Following through that door, I could see the sewer that supposedly only nobles had access to. The old sewer, with its terrible stench and filthy water coursing through it, branched off in a tangle of directions.

Of course, I could track him with the Searcher Scouter, but I gave up since I couldn’t guarantee victory.

[Rose’s Phantom II Quest completed]

[2,000 points, 20 silver coins awarded]

[German Swordsmanship Manual]

[Stage 2 Training Quest completed]

[1,000 points, 1 silver coin awarded]

Two quests completed at once. Rose’s Phantom II completing made sense since I’d somehow survived, but I was truly relieved that Stage 2 of the German Swordsmanship Manual was finally done. I’d been so frustrated, stuck at 99 proficiency with no way to break through to 100.

I’d finally fully mastered the Meisterhau. Perhaps I could execute the techniques more accurately and quickly now?

[German Swordsmanship Manual]

[Stage 3 Training Quest]

[Master Fühlen]

[Proficiency 0/100]

[There are limits to tracking sword movements with your eyes. You must learn to judge by feel—what your opponent intends, what technique is coming, what technique to counter with.]

[Reward — 1,000 points, 1 silver coin]

Fühlen? Translated to English, it meant "feeling." Did I have to judge the opponent’s intent and techniques by feel while our swords were crossed? I’d definitely been relying on my eyes to read my opponent’s sword trajectory and movements up until now. But the Rose Knight had seen through all my attacks and counters. If Oscar hadn’t struck from behind, I would’ve been dead for certain.

So I had no real idea how to train this Fühlen thing. There were too many elusive aspects to grasp through feel alone. This was homework I had to figure out.

And on another note, my confidence had been utterly shattered. I’d honestly been cocky, thinking I could handle any opponent after going through real combat. But that had been pure arrogance.

Fighting the Rose Knight, I’d been like a frog in a well blindly charging at an outside viper—I was deeply ashamed of myself. Damn it, if I could master Fühlen, I wouldn’t get pushed around so pathetically when I faced the Rose Knight again.

As humiliated as I felt, it only made me want to train harder and settle the score with the Rose Knight. Of course, not now—at least after I’d trained Fühlen to a certain level.

"Sir Wolfgang, let’s stop the bleeding first!"

"Tie it with pressure bandaging like I taught you."

I’d made sure to teach my retainers how to wrap bandages—specifically which technique was effective for which type of wound. I’d given them thorough theoretical instruction too. Bandaging isn’t that hard anyway. So my retainers dubbed the method I’d taught them the Streit Bandaging Method.

I’d learned it in the military, but I became the founder by accident. Hans, who’d been knocked out, came to as well.

"Ugh, I’m so ashamed. I don’t think I was any help."

"Have confidence, Hans. Your courage and quick thinking saved Oscar," I said.

"That’s right. If it weren’t for you, brother, I’d have died to the Rose Knight," Oscar added.

That was true. Thanks to Hans stepping in to block Klugen at the critical moment, he’d saved Oscar’s life and bought me time to recover. Without Hans, we all would’ve died. Göring must have been deeply troubled about how to report to Bertheim—finding Klugen was one thing, but the situation had escalated far beyond expectations.

On top of everything, there’d been a fight, and in the end, Klugen had escaped.