What appeared was a large monster that resembled a rat. With its red eyes, long whiskers, and sharp teeth, its face could easily have passed for that of a giant rat. Below the head, though, it looked nothing like one. Four pairs of legs sprouted from its shaggy body: three pairs that looked like insect legs, and a topmost pair twice as large and much longer than the rest. With fur covering its head, body, and legs, it looked as though someone had turned a rat into an insect and enlarged it.

“Why are Red Mice here...?”

From the mutter beside me, I gathered that was what these monsters were called. Despite the name, their skin wasn’t red. It was closer to gray.

The Red Mice approached slowly. I raised my sword and asked the Firebird Hunter, “What do we do?”

She glanced at me, then counted the approaching monsters. Three in all.

“We can’t outrun Red Mice underground. We’ll have to fight.”

Having confirmed their number, she drew the sword at her waist. The soaring bird engraved on its blade shone brightly.

“Do they have any weaknesses?”

“They’ve hardly been seen since the Great War. All I’ve heard is that they’re fast and a pain to fight.”

The books at the mansion hadn’t mentioned any monsters called Red Mice, either. We would have to find out the hard way.

The approaching monsters saw us and growled low in their throats.

GRRRR.

The growl sounded like a foul wind rising from hell. The monsters stopped a short distance away and growled at us, while the mercenary and I held up our swords and glared back.

I was releasing all the mana I had kept hidden. As I drew it up, I could finally move the sword I’d been dragging around well enough with both hands. A faint glow gathered along its broad blade.

She looked startled at the sight of my glowing sword. “I thought you might be stronger than you looked, but that much mana at your age makes no sense. Could the ducal house still have Mana Sensitivity?”

Mana Sensitivity? Wasn’t that an inherited ability passed down through the royal family? What did my mana have to do with a royal ability? And how did she know about it?

I gave her a questioning look, but she avoided my eyes. “Anyway, you’ll make a better partner in a fight than I expected.”

With that, she charged forward. She must have let something slip. Now wasn’t the time to press her, though, so I readied myself to fight the oncoming monsters.

Fortunately, two of the three turned their attention to her as she charged. Only one came for me, and I swung my sword at it.

WHOOSH.

The angle was right. So was the timing. But I felt no impact.

‘Did it dodge?’

Damn it. She’d said they were fast, but there was more to it than speed! I hadn’t even seen where it had gone. I hastily pulled my sword close and leaped backward.

CLANG!

A heavy impact struck my sword and shoved me back. This time, though, I had anchored myself to the ground. With mana driven into the earth, I held firm after only a short slide.

Only then did I see what had hit my sword. Four claws extending from the monster’s foreleg were pushing against the blade.

SKREEE.

Something grated as sword and claws strained against each other. Fortunately, my sword was intact. In that case...

CRACK.

Two of the claws pressing against my sword snapped, and the ratlike face contorted as the monster retreated.

The monster held its two frontmost legs raised, four long claws growing from each. It reminded me of something I’d seen somewhere in my previous life, but I put that thought aside and watched it. Fortunately, perhaps because its first attack had failed, it didn’t rush me again.

It moved fast enough for me to lose track of it, and its speed made its attacks stronger than I’d expected. It had struck and immediately withdrawn, too. It seemed smarter than I’d thought. Fighting it felt like facing a swift knight.

I’d clearly underestimated monsters. On the journey to the marquis’s estate, I’d dealt with all the monsters we encountered fairly easily except the first. Even that one had been blown away in a single strike by the former owner of this sword. Somewhere deep down, I’d begun to think too little of them.

“Sorry. I guess I got too full of myself.”

I lowered my sword and apologized to the monster before me.

GRRR.

Unfortunately, it didn’t accept my apology. Words alone apparently lacked sincerity. An apology had to be backed up with action.

I began to move my sword.

I breathed out, then in, slowing the movement bit by bit. The sword passed in front of my body and descended to my lower left. As the body it had concealed came into view, the monster flinched.

It wasn’t taking the bait. It really was quite intelligent. But that didn’t matter. The movement was only the opening stance of the sword technique that followed.

Until now, I hadn’t made proper use of the swordsmanship I’d learned in a real fight. I’d often fought at close quarters, almost as if I were using a dagger, or settled things with a single blow. Since taking up this sword, I’d also relied on brute force that didn’t suit my build. None of those fights had made it easy to use proper swordsmanship.

Even so, what I’d learned in the past had come through in those fights and helped me greatly. I’d been told that was how real combat worked, so I hadn’t regretted it. But after fighting that way for so long, I’d begun to swing my sword reflexively whenever an enemy appeared.

I couldn’t fight this opponent like that. There wasn’t a huge difference in our abilities, and it wasn’t using any underhanded tricks. Besides, the swordsmanship I’d learned had been handed down since the Great War. It was used to fight humans too, but it had originally been created to fight monsters.

I steadied my breathing and focused. The monster filled my vision: its eyes trembling slightly, its claws twitching, the fur stirring with each breath. I matched my breathing to its own and aligned my mana with my movements.

HUMMMM.

I could feel my mana moving. It was the first time I’d properly felt each movement of it in a real fight. It swept in a broad circuit through my body. The mana extending into my sword seemed to be trying to pass through the blade and reach the monster.

Mana trying to leave my body? Ah, was that how it worked? I felt as if I’d glimpsed the principle behind the way the assassin had used mana to control the surrounding space the day before. Unfortunately, mine was trapped in the sword and couldn’t get out.

GRRRR.

Even so, the pressure of mana that hadn’t made it out was enough to keep the monster from attacking. Then it was my turn to go after it.

I reversed the mana anchoring me to the ground, creating a force that pushed me away from it.

THUD.

At the same instant, I kicked off. The monster rushed closer. One moment it was flinching; the next it moved so fast it left an afterimage. A little earlier, I would have lost sight of it. But now I could follow its movements, even if all I saw was a blur!

If it fled, I’d struggle to keep up. But it was coming toward me.

THUD!

I planted my advancing foot in the ground and used mana to dissipate the momentum carrying me forward. It was as though a galloping horse had stopped dead in its tracks. Then I put the remaining momentum into my arms.

WHOOOOSH.

My sword swept in a wide arc toward the monster lunging at my side. With my strength and momentum behind it, the blade moved at tremendous speed.

Chapter Three of the Hero Carlos Sword Style, one of the fundamental sword arts taught to knights of the royal and ducal houses.

‘Wide Sweep!’

The name sounded so cheap that the royal family had tried several times to change it. Apparently, they couldn’t quite bring themselves to alter a name bestowed by their ancestor.

In any case, the monster recoiled at the sword coming from the side and raised a foreleg, but...

CRUNCH!

The blade shattered all its claws and took off the foreleg as well.

GRRRR!

A strange shriek came from its ratlike mouth. I had no intention of wasting the opening.

I stepped closer and kept swinging. Even with mana to help, I couldn’t move such a heavy sword any way I pleased. I could only guide its direction according to the swordsmanship I’d learned. I couldn’t make explosive bursts of power or launch unexpected attacks, but the blade flowed onward, carving into the monster’s body.

At first, it dodged with only minor wounds. After the continuing strikes took off two or three of its legs, though, its explosive movements ceased. The rest was easy. Its claws couldn’t stop my sword. Its other foreleg flew off along with the claws, and then my blade severed its ratlike neck.

THUD.

The headless monster collapsed. I didn’t know its weakness, but apparently decapitation killed it. I drove my sword into its body to make sure. Only then did I remember the partner fighting beside me.

That showed how thoroughly I’d concentrated—and how little attention I’d paid to my surroundings. I still had a long way to go.

Fortunately, the Firebird Hunter was doing well. One monster lay dying with most of its legs cut off, while the remaining one fought on despite having lost two. She was drenched in sweat but showed no sign of injury. At her level, speaking to her probably wouldn’t distract her.

“Want some help?”

As expected, only the monster reacted. It flinched at my voice and gained another deep wound.

“Wow! You finished already? I don’t need help!”

Her voice sounded far more at ease than she looked. Had she been holding back?

As the thought crossed my mind, her sword moved faster. Blood spurted from the monster’s body.

Huh? Had the sword hit it? That didn’t match the blade’s reach. Her sword was moving very quickly, but not too quickly for my eyes to follow. I was certain it wasn’t touching the monster.

While I watched her sword in surprise, the monster collapsed. It lay dying, blood flowing from wounds all over its body. It was clearly bleeding to death.

“Hmm. It doesn’t seem to have a particular weak spot. Cutting off its legs to stop it moving might be best.”

She really had been holding back. She’d drawn out the fight to look for a weakness.

“Wow, you’re impressive in a real fight, too. You’ve learned the kingdom’s swordsmanship properly. One-on-one, you could beat most knights.”

No, you’re the impressive one. She’d seen everything I did while fighting her own opponents. And how did a mercenary recognize my swordsmanship?

There was no need to ask who she really was. If we stayed together, I was sure I’d find out soon enough.

“Well, shall we go? There might be more of these things. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

She headed for the largest cave apart from the ones the monsters had emerged from, and I followed. Despite the fierce fight, my body felt all right, perhaps thanks to all my training. Fortunately, the cave we entered led upward.

We walked briskly, but before ten minutes had passed, we stopped. I turned to the Firebird Hunter. She was staring straight ahead, her face pale.

“Talk about tempting fate...”

“What does that mean?”

Huh. Did that saying not work in this world? In any case, whether because of what she’d said or not, we were surrounded.

More than ten of those rat monsters waited in an open space partway through the cave. Behind us, others had somehow blocked the passage with their bodies. There was no way forward or back.

Beside me, the Firebird Hunter spoke, her face still white. “It would be stupid to hold anything back now, wouldn’t it?”

Her sword shone brightly, and I saw the air wavering at its tip.

‘Is that her inherited ability?’

With that thought, I poured mana into my own sword. Unfortunately, these monsters didn’t wait to test us.

GRRR!

A horde of them poured toward us, and we swung our swords like mad. I saw legs and torsos flying in every direction around her wavering blade, but other monsters quickly hid the sight. They were everywhere.

I swung and cut them, but they wouldn’t fall. Even after I severed their legs and stopped them moving, they attacked me with their claws, while others lashed at me from behind with both feet. I swung hard to fend them off, but one sword couldn’t block dozens of claws.

Claws sank into my body one after another. Then my hand was severed, and I lost my grip on the sword.

“Damn it!”

I screamed in pain, but the monsters paid no attention. Their claws drove deeper. Then a ratlike mouth opened wide and bit down on my head.

It stinks.

The instant that thought crossed my mind...

CRUNCH.

The world went dark.

[You have died. Restarting from the autosave point.]