The cleanup didn’t take too long.

Bethel’s body was recovered by others under Laius’ orders, and those at the scene were found before they woke up and taken to the palace.

As Arendt had guessed, there was nothing to find out. They just kept repeating the same thing over and over again and couldn’t even remember their own names.

“So what about them?”

“I don’t know. It seems like they’re having a hard time up there too. I’m sure they’ll figure it out. It’s not our business.”

Arendt and Arthur stood facing each other in the training ground.

Now, they were quite familiar with each other. The other knights around them also pretended not to notice the two confronting each other.

Arthur had a large bandage on his cheek, but other than that, they both looked fine. Arthur lowered his voice when he made sure that his colleagues around him were not paying any attention to them.

“Hey, more than that… what were you talking about with that guy?”

“Don’t act like a fool, you punk. You had a serious talk with him right before I got there. He was saying he had to get it back and stuff.”

Tch.

Arendt clicked his tongue. It seemed as though Arthur had heard what he needed to hear, even while rushing about frantically.

Arthur continued speaking.

“Is it related to what you took after killing Bethel?”

“Well, you could say that.”

Arendt nodded.

Even while talking, the two pulled out their sparring swords and kept their distance from each other.

“Aren’t you going to explain it in detail?”

“Would you understand if I told you?”

“Do you really want to die?”

“I will decline. Unlike others, I do not have the hobby of meeting a tragic death.”

Arthur’s hand gripped the sword tightly.

He had a feeling that if he scratched him a little more, he would be able to see Arthur really fighting to kill him.

Just as Arendt was about to open his mouth again to put it into practice, a voice suddenly interrupted them.

“It’s noisy. Don’t make unnecessary noise in the training ground.”

Arthur and Arendt both turned their heads toward the voice at the same time, and the moment they saw who it was, Arthur frowned slightly.

“… Senior Richt.”

A neatly dressed knight approached them.

He had a handsome face that looked like it was drawn on paper, and his clean-cut blond hair and sharp blue eyes were impressive.

“You came back a few days ago in disarray. You barely managed to escape with your life thanks to a guy who left the palace without permission.”

From the way he walked and the upright posture he stood in, it was clear that he was a knight from a strict noble family.

Arendt was a beat late in recognizing who he was.

‘It was Richt von Chrysantha.’

If Arthur was the most humane of the knights, then Richt was the one who maintained the dignity and discipline beyond the reach of Laius.

Like Arendt, Richt was from an aristocratic family.

He was a person who came from a family that had produced knights for generations, followed the elite course as expected, and even joined the Knight Order.

‘On that topic, wasn’t it said that he didn’t get along with his family?’

If Arthur had won Laius’ trust through his neat handling of affairs and his occasional flexibility, Richt had helped Laius through his uprightness and leadership.

These two people often clashed because of their different personalities.

Arthur was much younger than Richt, so he was the one who was being bullied.

As Richt stood in front of him, Arthur lowered his sword and bowed his head, but Arendt just kept his eyes open and stared at him.

As expected, Richt frowned slightly.

“What’s that look?”

“Why is that the expression on your face as you look at your respected senior?”

Arendt faced him shamelessly.

Richt’s eyebrows twitched as his eyes met his.

“That cheeky mouth of yours doesn’t know how to change. I’ll let it slide once, but not twice.”

“Look at me, what do you mean? Oh, my face is pretty handsome. Look at me a lot.”

Arthur could be seen gaping at the side, but Arendt, of course, paid no attention. He went even further, crossing his arms and tilting his head with an indifferent expression.

“Or what, did you come here to scold that guy for playing with a traitor? He’s a bad guy, so don’t play with him~ Is it something like that?”

“Hey, hey!”

Arthur, terrified, grabbed Arendt’s shoulder, but Arendt slapped his hand away.

Richt’s face was now completely distorted.

Arendt chuckled and added one more thing.

“It’s not like I’m a thug.”

“…”

Richt’s hand holding the scabbard trembled.

Arendt watched his face change from moment to moment with indifferent eyes. As expected, he was as upright as he had expected, and his anger toward the arrogant brat was also great.

When he read ‘The Blue Knight of the Holy Sword’, he really liked the character of Richt. He was cool, sharp… and moreover, he was a righteous person who stepped forward before anyone else in dangerous situations.

But now there was no need to avoid the oncoming trouble.

He approached Arthur and spoke to him, but Richt had been staring at Arendt all along.

Richt warned once more.

“I told you I wouldn’t let you look at me like that twice.”

“Why? I can’t look at you? Are you going to personally condemn something that the captain said he wouldn’t take issue with?”

“You crazy bastard, why don’t you shut up?”

Arthur grabbed Arendt by the back of his neck in horror.

“Ouch.”

“Senior, I’m sorry. I’ll do it in your place…”

“Yes. It is also my duty to guide apprentice knights on the right path.”

Richt cut off Arthur’s words and glared at Arendt. Arendt shook off Arthur once more, took a big step forward, and engaged in a staring contest with Richt.

As the commotion grew, other knights also began to gather little by little.

Arendt glanced around, taking in the atmosphere.

Richt continued speaking.

“I heard you left the palace without permission last night. Did you follow Arthur, who had been given separate orders?”

“Yes, I did.”

Arendt nodded confidently.

Arthur’s face hardened.

“Senior, that is…”

“It seems like the captain just let it go, but as a senior, I can’t do that.”

Richt silenced Arthur by looking at him coldly.

Richt’s eyebrows furrowed further.

“If you look at it from a long-term perspective, it might be a good path for you. I left you alone because you were young, but in the end, what I was worried about happened.”

“…”

“You barely managed to save your life, so you shouldn’t waste this new opportunity.”

Contrary to his image as a very reserved man, Richt was surprisingly talkative. That meant he was very angry.

Arendt looked at him indifferently.

“So?”

That attitude seemed to irritate Richt even more.

Richt growled, lowering his voice.

“Arendt, you show no sign of remorse. Arthur, who you were close to recently, has backed down, and the captain is not the kind of person who has free time to guide you personally, so I have no choice but to step forward myself.”

“Senior!”

“Well, it’s not bad. If you, my great senior, teach me a trick, I won’t necessarily refuse.”

As the situation became more serious, Arthur quickly intervened, but this time Arendt cut him off.

“I doubt you can really give me any useful teachings.”

“What…?”

Richt was starting to feel more and more bewildered than angry.

Even though Arendt was very talented, he was no match for Richt, but Arendt went one step further and nudged Arthur with his elbow.

“Senior, what are you doing? Give that to Richt senior.”

“Uh?”

Arthur, who had been responding stupidly, looked at the wooden sword he was holding a beat later.

Richt clicked his tongue in annoyance and extended his hand toward Arthur.

The meaning was clear.

In the end, Arthur had no choice but to let out a deep sigh and hand the wooden sword to Richt.

“Senior, you were wondering about that earlier.”

“What?”

Then Arendt suddenly said something.

Arendt relaxed and blurted out.

“I won’t explain it in detail, but I’ll give you a look.”

“What?”

Arthur was taken aback, but Arendt was already following Richt and walking briskly towards the center of the training ground.

This was the real reason why Arendt doubled the amount of arrogance in his words with Richt. He had something he wanted to try.

The knights formed a circle around the two people in the unexpected duel. Arthur, who was still bewildered, had no choice but to join them.

“That habit needs to be fixed.”

“You’re being overly arrogant about coming back from the trial alive.”

The knights’ voices were heard muttering like that.

Arthur thought that it’s not that Arendt became arrogant, it’s just the way he was.

‘I can’t help but feel like he’s gone a little further back than before he was thrown in prison.’

Arthur stared at the two of them anxiously.

Arendt and Richt faced each other from an appropriate distance.

Richt looked really angry to the core.

“The world is much bigger than you think. There are plenty of people who are better than you. Keep that in mind.”

Arendt didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he just urged him on absentmindedly.

“Aren’t you going to start?”

“…Don’t blame me for being too hands-on. If something goes wrong later, I’ll personally apologize to the captain.”

Finally, Richt lost his sense of reason and growled fiercely.

At that moment, Arthur saw a subtle smile cross Arendt’s face.

Suddenly, he remembered the events of the past few days.

The East Safe building and the sparring they had for the past few days, and even the night before, when they faced Bethel.

In one training match, Arthur was able to subdue Arendt with just a little bit of force, but Arendt, facing the enemies, was a little different.

It wasn’t long that they had a proper conversation, but it was enough time for him to get to know the cocky junior.

In such a situation, what Arendt does best was:

“Attract attention, make them crazy, set a trap, hit them in the back of the head…”

And on top of that, there was something he just casually said in passing.

He said he would show him something.

“Arthur, what did you say?”

“Huh, shouldn’t we be stopping them?”

As Arthur muttered out loud without thinking, the knight next to him asked, but Arthur could not respond.

If the flow was like this, then it would not be Arendt who would see blood in this confrontation… Arthur’s face turned dark as he thought about it that far.

“Wow!”

“Senior Richt, let’s break his pride!”

As the knights’ cheers erupted, Richt and Arendt kicked the ground and rushed at each other.

Normally, he would not attack a younger junior, but this time, Richt, who was heated up, had no intention of giving him any mercy.

“I will make you regret it!”

The moment Richt raised his sword and was about to strike Arendt’s shoulder, who had come within striking distance, Arendt disappeared from his sight.

“…?!”

Richt opened his eyes wide.

Boohoo!

The sword cut through the air with great force.

Richt hurriedly looked for Arendt.

Before he knew it, his opponent had moved a safe distance away and was raising his sword. It was the exact same movement that Richt had just shown.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Arendt brought down his sword.

Taaaaaah!

Two swords clashed.

And after a while.

Clack.

The sound of something breaking echoed through the quiet training ground.

“…”

No one dared open their mouths. Even Richt seemed to not understand what was happening.

Arendt slowly straightened his posture. Then he slung the wooden sword over his shoulder.

“The world is much wider than you think.”

Bam.

Only then did Richt’s wooden sword, broken in two, fall to the floor. Richt barely managed to move his frozen gaze to look at Arendt.

He met Richt’s eyes and added calmly with a calm expression.

“There are plenty of people who are better than their seniors.”

“…”

No one opened their mouths.

The cheers quickly turned to shock.

Arendt felt the gaze of his seniors and the audience and lifted the corners of his lips.

“You should keep that in mind, right?”

Arendt’s exceptionally clear voice was clearly engraved.

The tone of voice, full of empty boasts, had a strange cheerfulness to it.