Imperial Knight vs. Ogre

Ah… no motivation at all.

Why must I, of all people, be tasked with slaying an ogre?

You wish to say that a failure like me—unable to properly nurture even the chosen hero bestowed upon me—is fit only for such a task?

Just thinking about it makes my intestines boil.

Fanatics of the Divine Word Church.

I said I would raise the strongest hero, yet you tore me away by force!

The Empire is the Empire.

Why do you so readily obey the dictates of the Divine Word Church?

It should stand firm, as a true great power should.

Ah, well. The current Sword Emperor is merely a name, a commoner at best.

That is why I dream of a future for my child.

I’ve heard the prince born several years ago is said to be a natural genius.

Even a common talent carries the blood of a sword emperor, or so it is said.

Irrelevant to one like me, exiled to the frontier.

Of all the places to be sent, it had to be Dazalro Fortress—on the border of the demon realm.

Given my past record and proven strength, I expected a more lenient reception.

Perhaps protecting a hero was too much to ask.

Did the Church of Divine Words grow suspicious and withdraw support?

“Lord Ronant! We’ve sighted it! That is the forest where the orcs dwell!”

The knight shouting loudly beside me drains what little energy I had left.

“Shouting won’t make it any more visible.”

“Is that so!”

His voice is unnecessarily loud.

It hurts the ears.

This noisy nuisance is Knight Nyodz of the Empire.

Excessively energetic, excessively loud, excessively strong.

A complete waste of all those qualities.

We are of similar age, but our spheres of activity differed, so we had little contact until now. My assignment to this frontier region has brought us together.

Nyodz is a knight of common birth, stationed here in this borderland for years.

I have primarily resided in the imperial capital, meeting him only once every few years. Yet due to his excessive presence, I remember his face better than those I meet more frequently—wasting memory on a pointless burden.

"Combined, Lord Ronant's magic and my swordsmanship shall be invincible! Not even the vile ogres shall stand against us! Let us advance!"

He raises his sword with excessive fervor, attempting an unnecessary charge.

Utterly wasteful of time.

"Wait. The ogres here are said to be a unique strain. Charging in without strategy will only increase troop casualties."

"Mmph! As Lord Ronant says! How could I have forgotten such a thing!"

Forgotten? You hadn’t thought of it from the start.

"Then, Second Student. You’ve properly gathered intelligence on the ogres, I assume?"

"Yes. But, Master—why was it only me who listened to the briefing when we both went to the guild? Can I ask that for about an hour?"

"Denied."

Even Second Student has wasted time.

I’d rather spend my time striving toward the essence of magic than listening to ogre reports.

"Uh. Master, they probably haven’t heard, but this ogre—seems to possess multiple unusual skills, and has developed quite a bit of cunning. The confirmed special skills include sudden, complete restoration. Restores not just wounds, but magic and stamina as well. Next is explosive temporary stat enhancement. Duration is short, but they’ve been observed combining it with the restoration ability—quite troublesome. And the last point is critical. There’s a possibility the creature possesses the ability to create a magic blade."

"A magic blade!?!"

"Never heard of such a skill."

"Me neither. Pure speculation, unverified information, really. But it’s confirmed they’re carrying multiple magic blades."

"An ogre wielding a magic blade!? This is a challenge worthy of my cherished sword!"

Do not develop an unusual rivalry. Do you understand the abilities of the magic blades the ogre carries?

Confirmed: lightning magic blade, fire magic blade, and another that is buried in the ground and detonates upon being stepped on.

Buried in the ground?

Apparently, anything buried can explode when stepped on. Most adventurers have fallen to this method.

Interesting.

Was there ever a fool in the past who used a magic blade this way?

Magic blades are difficult to manufacture and rare.

To detonate one?

Impossible.

If the return on investment is one adventurer per blade, it is not worth the cost.

And yet they carry out this method without hesitation.

To call this anything but interesting—what else would one call it?

Interest has sparked.

Energy has returned.

"The sword buried in the ground detonates under excessive stress. That's the information the adventurer risked their life to obtain."

"Wouldn't it be safer to try striking the ground with wind magic?"

"With your master's absurdly excessive magic, you should be able to do it."

"Playful. You think I can't manage that?"

"Eh!? Me!? Really!?"

This girl is the youngest daughter of a minor noble house. She has talent, but laziness and poor speech habits left her without direction—until I found her.

I failed to fulfill the promise made by that one person—‘raise a hero’—but I decided, at the very least, to take a disciple and experience the act of nurturing another.

In the end, I learned much.

Teaching and guiding another person proved far more difficult than I imagined.

I, too, was once called a genius among men, despite my own flaws.

What I learned while teaching was that even actions I performed casually in daily life were often incomprehensible to my student.

I could not understand why I could not understand.

This occurred frequently. In searching for the reasons behind the incomprehension, I occasionally reached a different perspective.

Through this, I found myself learning from my student as I taught.

That must have been what the master intended when he told me to raise a hero.

Indeed, impressive.

"Impossible! Impossible, I say!"

"Child! Deciding in advance that something is impossible is not good. If you do that, even things you could accomplish will become unattainable!"

"Just try it. If you fail, I'll just laugh heartily. That's all."

"Master, you're the lowest!"

"The highest kind of mistake, surely."

Now, me and the 100 imperial knights led by Nyodzu.

How will the ogres fight?

This will be worth watching.