Are you referring to that new knight over there with light blue hair fluttering in the wind when you say Blaine?

Calt quickly racked his brain as Dietrich’s turquoise eyes suddenly turned cold.

‘What is it? What did I say wrong?’

I didn’t make any verbal mistakes, did I?

However, Dietrich’s mood, once it started to sink, reached the point of drilling through the underground.

Dietrich arrogantly raised his head and flicked his finger.

Calt stuck close to him and lowered his head.

“I need to spar.”

“Yes, who would you like to spar with today?”

Dietrich scanned the training ground and raised his hand to point at someone.

Calt’s mouth slightly opened as he shifted his gaze following that finger.

“Do you mean… Blaine?”

“Yes, that knight.”

“But young master. You already sparred with Blaine recently, and Blaine’s skills are still far lacking to face you. How about Allison instead? She’s the only female knight in our order. However, she’s very skilled, and as Blaine’s dedicated senior…”

“No, I’ll go with that knight.”

Worry clouded Calt’s eyes at the firm words.

Of course, Blaine was also a skilled knight. The very fact that he had joined the Hareon Knights Order proved his abilities.

However, crossing swords with Dietrich was a different matter entirely.

While it might be every knight’s dream to spar with Dietrich at least once, hadn’t Blaine already done so?

He had already confirmed all the areas that needed improvement from the last sparring session, so there was no need to do it again.

Moreover, Blaine had recently injured his knee during a sparring match.

‘There’s no need for you to face such a knight.’

Calt decided to hear Blaine’s opinion first.

Even if young master Dietrich wanted to spar with Blaine, if Blaine found it burdensome, he planned to try persuading Dietrich once more.

After all, it was also the vice-captain’s job to protect the pride and body of a new recruit in the Hareon Knights Order.

“I understand for now.”

Calt gestured towards Blaine, who was visible in the distance.

Blaine, who had been running across the training ground, came running over with his light blue hair fluttering.

“Did you call for me?”

“Blaine. How’s your condition today?”

“Perfect.”

“Can you spar with the young master?”

“With the young master?”

Blaine looked at Dietrich with sparkling eyes.

Although he felt goosebumps rising on the back of his neck as he met that impassive gaze, Blaine didn’t want to back down.

‘To think I can spar with the young master.’

The memory of being utterly defeated in the last sparring session was still vivid.

The possibility of that happening again was quite high, but seeing his eyes made him not want to back down even more.

The composure and ease emanating from a strong person was enviable.

‘If I become strong, I could be like that too.’

He wanted to improve his skills for that reason. Sparring with young master Dietrich would be an excellent training opportunity.

“I can do it.”

Blaine answered vigorously. As a result, Calt’s expression became complicated.

He seemed to be moved by Blaine’s great courage, but also worried about him.

“Blaine. Be careful, I’m concerned about your knee injury.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Calt patted Blaine’s back encouragingly.

As news of their sparring spread, other knights who had been training gathered in small groups and whispered among themselves.

“It looks like the young master’s sparring partner today is Blaine.”

“Again? Didn’t they spar not too long ago?”

“This bastard Blaine, did he do something wrong to the young master? Otherwise, there’s no way they’d spar this often. And with the young master exuding such an aura of properly facing him.”

The knights chattered, certain that Blaine must have seriously offended the young master.

“Will you all not shut up?”

However, at the fierce growl of a woman’s voice, everyone clammed up.

Her golden hair, tied up high in a ponytail, swayed behind her back.

As she glared at the other knights who had been whispering about Blaine with her fierce blue eyes, a man beside her hurriedly tried to stop her.

“Haha, Allison. Can’t you control yourself a bit? It’s not like they were insulting Blaine.”

“Not insulting Blaine? They said our maknae had offended the young master!”

Allison glared at the knights once more, tapping her fingers against her lips before making a slicing motion across her throat.

It was a silent warning that loose lips would lead to death.

The knights averted their gazes, pretending not to notice Allison’s menacing gesture.

There was nothing good to come from getting involved with Allison, one of the mad dogs of the Hareon Knights Order.

Her swordsmanship skills were already well-known within the Hareon Knights Order.

“Allison.”

“But Noah! Those bastards…”

“The sparring is about to start, so let’s talk later and just watch for now. Our maknae’s skills.”

“I’m worried sick because young master Dietrich always fights with real swords.”

“It’s alright. The young master is always considerate not to injure the knights.”

Noah gently soothed Allison.

Allison’s fierce demeanor deflated a bit. People around them gave looks that said “As expected of Noah” and gave a thumbs up.

Noah, who had joined the order at the same time as Allison, was a childhood friend who had been by her side for a long time.

His swordsmanship style of gently defending and looking for openings in the opponent was the complete opposite of Allison’s forceful style, and it closely resembled his personality.

He was highly empathetic.

So he knew well how much affection Allison, who had recently become Blaine’s dedicated senior, had for him.

He too hoped that Blaine would come out of the sparring with young master Dietrich unharmed.

Soon, the sparring began.

Blaine drew his sword first. Dietrich followed suit.

As he drew his sword, the training ground fell silent as if a mouse had died.

Then, someone murmured softly.

“Oh, that sword is…”

A sword that the Hareon Knights Order, serving the Delgado family, couldn’t possibly not know.

The beautiful sword with an exceptionally elegant form and a deep green jewel embedded in the center was undoubtedly Harpe.

All the knights stared at Harpe, losing their senses.

It was the legendary sword they had only heard about.

A sword greater than even the swordsman who had subdued a great evil 400 years ago and gone into hibernation.

A great sword that had instantly silenced the swordsmen who had cried out how a sword could be greater than a swordsman.

Like the others, Allison, who had been staring blankly at Harpe in Dietrich’s hand, mumbled to Noah.

“Noah. Am I seeing this right? That’s definitely Harpe, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s Harpe. But how? They said no one had been able to find Harpe until now.”

“… As expected of young master Dietrich. He’s a bit scary, but amazing.”

Dietrich remained calm despite receiving everyone’s gaze.

He had noticed the commotion in the knights order. It was probably because of Harpe in his hand.

There was a reason he had brought Harpe to the training ground today.

It was because of what Nocturne had said to him during the hunting competition not long ago.

[The magical power contained in the sword itself is enormous. It’s no exaggeration to say it was made by the greatest archmage of the time.]

He had said the sword had enormous magical power. However, the Harpe that Dietrich had used in the Northern expedition was quite ordinary.

[The magical power in that treasured sword is enough to blow away the empire. Of course, you’d have to break the magic seal on that power first.]

Nocturne had said that with the sealed magical power in Harpe, it could blow away the empire.

‘Was that guy just bragging?’

Harpe in his hand, which all the knights were staring at intently, was still an ordinary sword, so plain that it was rather unsatisfactorily heavy.

He might have missed it during the Northern expedition because things were hectic, so he had deliberately brought it to try using it again during sparring.

Until now, he had tried not to show Harpe outside because of the Duchess and the Council of Elders who would pounce on anything expensive and precious.

But since he had already revealed Harpe during the Northern expedition, that plan had long since failed.

Now the best approach was to keep carrying Harpe around.

It wasn’t a bad idea to use Harpe, said to be an extraordinary treasured sword, especially since he had gone on an expedition and broken his sword.

However, he still didn’t particularly like this sword.

Tsk, Dietrich clicked his tongue softly and adjusted his grip on the sword.

Then he nodded slightly towards Blaine.

It was a signal to attack.

At the same time, Blaine thrust his sword deeply while slightly bending his waist.

With a clang of metal clashing, Blaine’s sword was pushed back.

Dietrich’s lips curled up slightly, seemingly quite satisfied with Blaine’s attack.

If Heidi had seen it, she would have muttered, “Look at that smile! Sheesh. Sword maniac,” as it was an expression of genuine enjoyment.

“Your skills have improved quite a bit in a short time.”

Blaine’s ears flushed red. To receive praise from the swordsman he respected.

His will to fight began to burn even more fiercely.

However, that was only for a moment.

“Ugh!”

Blaine hurriedly twisted his body as a sword aimed for his waist.

However, Dietrich’s sword smoothly changed direction as if gliding underwater, approaching as if to slash his thigh.

He thought it would cut him at this rate, but the sword stopped right in front of his thigh.

“One.”

The sword made a whooshing sound as it quickly flew towards his shoulder.

There was no place to dodge this time either. If he pulled back, his neck would be in danger of being sliced.

“Two.”

Again, the sword stopped in front of his shoulder.

Blaine gritted his teeth. Right now, young master Dietrich was toying with him.