ALL NOVEL Chapter 18 - Words Like These
The knight Remond Gameurang, who had commanded the tax collector’s escort soldiers, stepped forward boldly and stated:
“My name is Remond Gameurang! I serve as a knight under Louis Bergson de Brhymath, the rightful ruler of Brhymath! I would hear your name, noble one!”
To the knight Remond Gameurang’s words, Sophia responded in an annoyed tone:
“You have yet to earn the qualification to hear my name. If you wish to know it, prove you are worthy.”
Kkeuk. This was the sound of Remond Gameurang grinding his teeth upon hearing Sophia’s response. Her answer had clearly wounded his pride.
No matter what. Sophia had no intention of indulging someone’s pride unless they deserved that consideration – someone who lacked any sense of propriety or self-awareness, even discarding basic human decency into the trash bin.
“So come, without further ado. Face me.”
With a wineglass still filled in one hand, Sophia extended her other palm upwards, flicking her four fingers – the most typical body language to express ‘come at me’. As she taunted her opponent with a bewitching smile, the restrained Remond Gameurang finally shouted:
“Charge!”
Then, proving they were at least well-trained, the escort soldiers quickly formed ranks and advanced on Sophia – five halberdiers in front, four swordsmen behind them with swords drawn and ready, and crossbowmen at the rear aiming at Sophia, as if facing a man-eating beast.
Watching this from the sidelines, the village youths hurled insults:
“Those shameless bastards! Calling it a duel while aiming crossbows at her, what is that?!”
In response to the youths’ curses, the soldiers had their own thoughts:
‘They just don’t understand! Honestly, it was absurd for us to even propose a duel against a Paladin knight from the start…’
‘Did anyone actually see that nun knight move earlier? I didn’t.’
Truthfully, they felt like screaming at the absurd situation of being caught up in such a fierce battle due to serving an incompetent superior – but as mere mercenary soldiers, wasn’t obeying their superiors’ orders precisely their pitiful lot in life?
Since the opponent had said she would concede if even a single drop of wine spilled from her glass, they had no choice but to move as trained while hoping for a stroke of luck.
In any case, seeing the soldiers’ response, Sophia’s eyes lit up as she praised them:
“The escort soldiers’ skill is quite decent. You seem to have trained diligently.”
“Ah, you flatter us beyond our station!”
Sergeant Jacques, the highest-ranking soldier, spoke to Sophia with immense reverence for a Paladin. Hearing this, Remond Gameurang’s expression soured slightly, but he said nothing as he retreated behind the unit, giving orders:
“Soldiers, do your utmost to restrain her limbs! Leave the final decisive blow to me!”
An outright order treating the soldiers as sacrificial pawns. Their superior’s brazen cowardice left both the escort soldiers and villagers dumbfounded. As for Sophia herself, she laughed cheerfully and graded Gameurang’s judgment:
“Haha, good! At least he seems aware he cannot face me one-on-one, so he avoids an outright failing grade! But his final remark is rather disappointing? Does he really think he’ll have a chance to effectively attack me?”
Though indignant, Gameurang refrained from reacting further, thinking it would only play into her provocation.
Despite the halberds and crossbows trained on her, Sophia remained in place, spinning and laughing as she casually deflected their offensives with one hand. Her casual, strolling demeanor amidst the commotion made Conra, who had come to observe, gulp hard.
‘Incredible technique and physicality.’
Without perfect mind-energy-body harmony, such consummate and fully-realized skill could not be displayed. In an instant, she would block the halberd thrusts to obstruct the swordsmen’s paths, then lightly swish her cape to deflect quarrels fired from crossbows. Such techniques unfolded moment by moment, yet not even a ripple disturbed the wine in the glass held in her other hand.
Watching from behind, Remond must have felt this approach was futile, as he gave another order:
“Be more aggressive in your attacks! That’s the only way to make her expose an opening!”
The soldiers were already exasperated at being thoroughly outmatched by Sophia’s prowess, only to receive orders compounding their frustration from the rear:
‘Then why doesn’t he try it himself?’
‘Doesn’t seem like we can even match her physical might? Is there any chance for us to even restrain her limbs?’
Though trained in rudimentary reverse muscle cultivation, granting them superhuman abilities surpassing ordinary people, they felt a helpless gulf in skill and physical capability against Sophia that rendered any further efforts futile.
Faced with this unbridgeable technical gap and overwhelming physical superiority, Sophia seemed to sense there was no point in further play, finally remarking:
“This is getting rather boring. Did you think I couldn’t get to you by hiding behind your men, or did you really think I was just waiting patiently because I couldn’t reach you?”
By demeaning her pronoun usage towards Remond, Sophia made her contempt and vexation abundantly clear.
“What? What does that mean?”
In an instant, Sophia’s figure, previously standing still, suddenly burst forth. Moving with fluid grace, the only traces she left were afterimage-like trails from her veil and cape.
Neither the thicket of leveled halberds nor the swords lying in wait between them could impede her movement. The next moment, Sophia’s figure had reached directly before Remond.
“Words like these.”
With a dull thud, Remond’s body was sent flying. Where he had stood, only Sophia’s caped shoulders reflected the moonlight – a shoulder check, or the technique known as the “Iron Crane.”
Flung with the force of being struck by a dump truck on Earth, Remond sailed like a severed kite, crashing through the carriage doors in a crumpled heap before shuddering briefly and lying utterly still.
“Hmm. So he won’t be getting up? Lacking in fortitude, it seems.”
With a genuinely bored expression, Sophia spoke as she placed one hand on her hip. The other still held the wineglass filled with wine. The moonlight-bathed beautiful female knight, one hand on her hip while the other held a swaying wineglass, could have appeared quite alluring to some. But to those who had just witnessed Sophia’s majesty and spirit, none could appreciate such an impression.
“Well then, soldier gentlemen? The primary party to accept the duel’s outcome has lost consciousness. May I ask your judgment on the matter?”
Of course, that answer required no further mention.
+++++
The previous night’s festival resumed as if uninterrupted. After tying up the unconscious tax collector and knight, unceremoniously stuffing them into the damaged carriage, Sophia suggested the villagers continue their festivities.
The villagers merrily drank while using the disgraceful behavior of the coachman, tax collector, and knight they had just witnessed as drinking accompaniment. To them, the taste of the wine that night was exceptionally memorable, lingering on their tongues in a way they had never experienced before.
The soldiers, unable to join the festive atmosphere and cautiously observing from the sidelines, gradually blended in at Sophia’s suggestion and the villagers’ hospitality. The villagers noticed Sophia’s treatment of the soldiers differed slightly from the humiliated ones, so while somewhat awkward towards the soldiers, they did not particularly distance themselves.
The next day, Sophia and Conra departed the village, bringing the soldiers and the carriage with its broken doors. Inside the carriage, bound with ropes by the soldiers, were the tax collector and knight loaded like cargo.
Driving the carriage was the same coachman who had initially suffered humiliation the previous day. As Sophia had not released him from paralysis that entire night, the coachman remained sprawled in that contorted posture until dawn.
That length of time, long or short, was truly an ordeal of torment, terror, sorrow, and anguish for the coachman. How often does one endure a frigid night with their body stiffly frozen, and in such an undignified, face-planted posture at that?
Was it thanks to that? When Sophia finally recalled the neglected coachman’s existence and released his paralysis, his posture had become extremely obsequious, adopting a perfect kowtowing stance.
“Then shall we go hold the lord accountable as per the duel’s contract?”
“Yes, Master!”
As Sophia spoke energetically, Conra responded just as vigorously. This time, Conra did not ride Janghwalljang, instead mounting the horse ridden by the knight Remond Gameurang. Having practiced horseback riding in the meantime, his form was now quite natural.
To the soldiers, this eerily unfolding situation felt extremely awkward and burdensome, but they soon realized they had no choice. They had already mounted the tiger’s back, so to speak. They could only firmly grip the reins representing the Paladin nun knight they had been forcibly handed and endure.
Thus, this peculiar party set out towards Joseim, where the lord of Brhymath had taken refuge from the plague.