Chapter 75: Chapter 43.2

***

And after that exchange, here they were.

“Grab the restraints. One for Rishe, three for me.”

“–Hai!”

The knight guard Arnold ordered began to move after a snappy reply.

However, the look they gave Rishe while they were at it obediently was terribly worried.

The knights returned with a crate and held it out to their lord, bowing their heads.

Arnold took it and picked up a certain item inside.

… A belt?

“Put this on.”

Rishe obediently received what was handed over.

It was a brace in the form of suspenders and a belt in one piece.

While Arnold explained, he first put his arms through the suspenders in a loop.

The belt that intersected with those two suspenders vertically was wrapped around his waist and secured with a clasp.

“Turn around when you’re done.”

She turned around as ordered.

Then Arnold’s hand, fitted with a black glove, grabbed Rishe’s left hand.

He wrapped a thin strap around her wrist.

And then, he put Rishe’s left hand behind her, and secured her waist belt and wrist strap with metal fittings.

“This is…”

In this manner, her left hand was useless.

“Special training is performed with the body partially restrained and the movement of the limbs impeded.”

As he spoke, he himself began to wear the same restraints.

The difference was that while Rishe’s dominant arm, the right side, was free, Arnold had a strap wrapped around his right dominant arm.

“Is this how you always train?”

“Not necessarily. Everything would come to nothing if you were to develop some strange habits.”

As if accustomed to it, Arnold finished putting his belt on, and grabbed another tool from the crate before he could secure his wrist behind him.

It was similar to a knee pad, but it didn’t seem to have the same use as it looked.

Arnold wrapped that leather around his left knee.

He’s trying to keep his left leg unbent.

He then picked up a black eye patch.

Arnold covered his right eye with that eye patch and tied the cord behind his head.

Finally, a knight guard stepped forward reverently and secured Arnold’s wrist to the belt at his waist.

Rishe, on the other hand, has only her left hand restrained.

“Make adjustments in this state. — Sword.”

The knight who received Arnold’s signal held out a wooden sword to Rishe.

Rishe thanked the knight and held the wooden sword in one hand.

“I see…”

She could feel how her center of gravity was thrown out of whack just from not being able to use her left hand.

On top of that, it would strain her muscles to use only one hand to support something she normally held with both hands.

But it didn’t seem so simple.

“Is sealing off the limbs to bring conditions closer to the battlefield?”

“Hmm, do you understand?”

“Because if it’s just to strengthen the core and build up the muscles, there’s no reason for Your Highness to cover one eye.”

Rishe asked while looking at Arnold, who received a wooden sword from a knight.”

“This training is for – continuing to fight even when a part of your body is disabled on the battlefield – right?”

“…Hahaha!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Arnold laughed heartily and pointed the sharp tip of his wooden sword at Rishe.

“Great observation, as always.”

Unlike Rishe, it wasn’t his dominant arm that was free.

Moreover, it was his left arm, which was slightly slower to move than the right due to an old injury in his shoulder joint. And yet, there wasn’t even a hint of an opening.

“Not very much, but it’s hard to believe you’re a proper lady who knows nothing about the real battlefield.”

“…”

She could feel her skin tingling in the tense air.

The knight guards unconsciously backed away, as if their instincts as swordsmen made them do so.

“If you get wounded, you can’t move your arms. If you get blood splashed in your eyes, they’ll be useless for a while. But even in those circumstances, the fight goes on, and the enemy will attack you.”

A vivid memory of the battlefield revived in Rishe’s mind.

“I will swing my sword even if my arm is torn to shreds. Even if my legs are shattered, I will still advance. Even if both of my eyes are crushed, I’ll find a way to slash into the enemy until the end.”

Arnold looked at Rishe.

“This training is for that.”

His eyes have always been sharp.

Even with one eye covered with an eyepatch, she wondered where that heavy pressure stemmed from.

“– It’s the so-called link to the path to survival.”

“!”

His words made her gulp.

I shouldn’t have fought against him.

Chivalry, as Rishe knew it, was a kind of aesthetic.

It required nobility and beauty, even while wielding a sword and fighting for the country.

To take up a sword fairly and squarely, to fight without shame, even against the enemy, and to die for one’s master to the end” was respected.

Even Rishe, once a knight, risked her life and eventually died to protect the royal family.

Despite the odds, survive, even if it means floundering unsightly — and to the enemy for it. That’s what made up the knights of the Garkhain Army.

In the past, Rishe had this man as an enemy.

And depending on her fate in the future, there was a possibility that they might become enemies again.

Arnold laughed as Rishe gingerly regripped her wooden sword.

“Normally, I’d have you experience a fight with me after you’ve gone through basic training. Since you’re the one I’m dealing with this time, I’m only covering one eye instead of both.”

“It’s my honor, Your Highness.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let my fiancée suffer a single injury before the wedding.”

Arnold could guarantee that because of the overwhelming difference in their ability.

Rishe thought for a moment and then opened her mouth.

“If I beat Your Highness, can you tell me one thing about anything I want to know?”

“…What?”

“In return, if I lose, I’ll grant you one thing, whatever Your Highness desires.”

Arnolt looked surprised, then laughed as if delighted by Rishe’s bet.

“All right.”

“Well, then, please treat me favorably.”

A knight gave the signal for the start.