Chapter 80: Live To Sienna Pt.80

Jamie shook his head and made an impression when he saw the man sitting down with his eyes open. Despite his victory, he looked unhappy.

“The victory of Lord Waters.”

It was not until Asen’s voice rang out on the training ground that the spectators threw out their breath that they had held back.

“Look… Did you see it?”

“I’m sure it moved, right?”

“How is that possible?”

The knight’s roar increased.

“How can that skillful man be at the expert first class?”

Deli, who was standing next to Jamie, intently watching his skills, opened his mouth. After he put away his sword into his sheath, he was about to say something to Jamie, but Sienna said acting like she didn’t know,

“That’s what I’d like to say. The one who can’t even get your sword out properly who is at expert’s middle level is really astonishing. I find it quite hard and suspicious to believe how he got into the Imperial Knighthood.”

At Sienna’s words, Deli looked at her with a weary face.

“I’m afraid Your Highness is saying that because she doesn’t know much about the ranking of the knights, but that’s not how an expert’s counterattack is. The fear of each one standing in his or her seat and fighting for how long he can keep up with his sword…”

Even before his words were finished, someone came forward to discuss and debate on the Phoenix Knighthood.

“How can one attack like that in the Great Battle of experts?! What’s more, what do you mean by how? I’ve never heard of a beginner’s ability to move like that with a sword.”

Jamie refuted his remarks,

“That’s what I’d like to say. To even think that in a sparring match, there’s an idiot who would just stand still like that.”

Jamie’s voice was not loud, but it sounded smart in the ears of everyone gathered at the training camp. Perhaps because he had just mastered his ability, everyone was silenced and took notice of him and Sienna. The training ground was enveloped in silence. The article came to his senses and thought at this rate, he might have to be discharged from the military in disgrace if this continues on.

“Ori… originally, the expert regimen is like that. It’s not like wielding a sword without knowledge, like you.”

He didn’t face Jamie in the eye, even though he was pondering. Keeping a sword and dealing with a sword-wielding monster like that was also quite courageous. His knees shivering was visible even to Sienna, who was sitting far away.

“If you’re going to stand there and receive the spotlight due to the sword, you’re going to be a clown, not a knight. If you go to war, you will be hounded by an arrow flying towards you even before you wield your sword.”

The article who had been arguing with Jamie said in a dead voice,

“It’s an arrow. With armor…”

Jamie looked at him pitifully.

“You said you were an imperial knighthood, and you’ve never fought a battle before? If you go out in your heavy armor and fall off your horse, you’ll break your neck first. That’s a pitiful thing!”

“No matter how good you are, you dare to call the imperial knights pathetic!”

“The imperial knights fight with their mouths, not with their swords. Rather, I’m quite curious. If any of you go to any mercenary squads and ask for a duel, they’ll have a lot of better players…”

“You’re comparing us to mercenaries!”

“How dare you!”

The Phoenix knights raised their voices against Jamie because he hurt their pride. At the same time, when they made eye contact with him, they’d became surprised and turned their heads away immediately.

“Hey now, calm down.”

Asen dried up the excited knights. Then one of the articles said to Asen with an unfair face,

“Lord Trint, didn’t that guy lied? He dared to suppress our knights by hiding his skills. And here you are. Surely this isn’t an act that makes you laugh.”

Asen said to him,

“Lord Waters is really a beginner at expert. That’s why the Crown Princess didn’t make a fool of herself.”

“Sir Trint! You must have seen it. If that guy is an expert beginner, then Clorel is not an expert intermediate. The leader was clearly certified by the imperial court.”

“Of course, your leader is in the middle of expert class.”

When Asen was right about the knights at the training camp, Valore called him in and asked,

“Lord Trint, even at a glance, Jamie is far superior in terms of skills, but how come the Phoenix knights’ man is of an intermediate level and Lord Waters is only at beginner level?”

As soon as he started to ask questions, other knights looked at Asen’s mouth and waited for answers.

“Do you know the criteria for distinguishing an expert?”

“Aka Sienna, I’ve heard you have a different grading system depending on how long you’ve had your sword and how long you can endure with it.”

“Yes, based on that standard, the Phoenix chief, who can last more than fifteen minutes, must be an intermediate level while Sir Waters, who can’t last more than fifteen minutes, must be a beginner level.”

“But there’s a difference in skills.”

“That’s because they have different standards. The Phoenix Knights, or today’s imperial knights, assess the duration of the sword while standing still, and in the north, where Sir Waters belongs, measures the duration of the sword, working with his equal-level counterpart. So, there’s a difference. Obviously, they’re both in the beginner and in the middle level of an expert that fits the legal standards.”

“That won’t mean anything to ratings. Shouldn’t the same standards be applied?”

“But the law only specifies the duration of the sword…”

“I beg your pardon during the conversation, but may I speak to you?”

Sienna stepped in between Asen and Valore’s conversation. Valore readily agreed to her talk.

“Sir Trint says only the time is specified, but in reality, it says that you should fight and continue with your sword. The Imperial Code says in the next paragraph, “The act of subjugating the other side by force while keeping the promised standard of ‘the match.’ So, it’s wrong for the Phoenix Knights to claim they’re of expert intermediate level.”

“Does that mean the current imperial standard is wrong?”

When asked by Valore, Sienna said,

“As far as I know, it’s been ten years since the imperial family has had more expert beginners and intermediate levels.”

Sienna looked at Asen as if to ask for confirmation, and he nodded her assent.

“From some point on, the number of expert beginners has decreased, so has the imperial knights. But they couldn’t scale back the imperial knights, so someone studied the way. They couldn’t change the decree that Rioli the Great made. Instead, they’ve found something else that we can interpret, and that’s what this is. It was a simple thing to fix the rules of the sparring match by two people standing still and showing off their swords. Since then, we’ve had more expert beginners in the capital.”

Sienna added to his words,

“The problem is that lowering standards puts the real and the bad in the same line. In ten years, I’ve heard that a lot of people working for the imperial family have left the royal family.”

Asen nodded at Sienna’s words and expressed his sympathy.

“Yes, my friends are all gone. Now, I’m the only old man.”

Valore asked with a surprised face,

“So, what level of imperial knighthood do you have now? Sir Waters, you tell me. What’s the level of skills of a leader who just lost in the North?”

“Frankly speaking, with that level of skill, you can’t even be a stableman in the North. It’s something that women in the North do to light their swords.”

Deli opened his mouth.

“Lord Waters, you’re going over the top. It’s too much to compare this to a girl, however.”

“I don’t have the slightest bit of exaggeration in my opinion. If you’re that good, you won’t be able to catch a single monster even if you get a dozen of them. In the North, we can handle a monster with just five adult women.”

When Deli looked surprised, Jamie said, pointing to the Phoenix Knights with the tip of his chin.

“To be honest, I’m embarrassed. What’s the point of putting a sword up against a sword… If you know how to stand still with your sword out, what’s the difference between your hands and feet being tied and thrown in the middle of a battlefield? I don’t know how you can protect the Crown royals with that kind of skill…”

Jamie said, staring at Deli.