Are You Sure Our Empire's Knight Order Captain is a Yandere? - Chapter 17

“What’s a tiny little bartender gonna do, eh?” A guy with totally frizzy hair swaggered out of the crowd.
“Get him, Boss!”
“Go, Chief, go!”
The frizzy-haired guy raised a hand to silence his cronies, then pointed his other finger right at my face. “Hey, barkeep! I’m the big man, Grand Knight Liukes! Captain of the Honorable Escort for the Commander of the Imperial Knights!…”
So, the frizzy guy’s name is Liukes! Pretty basic name, though I hear the prince of this country is also called Liukes.
“…Tremble! Cry! Regret your lack of respect for God!…Pay for your sins! Accept the Holy Judgment from God! You’ll be joining us eventually.”
…Seriously, that sounds like a cult’s recruitment pitch.
“God?”
“You dense peasant! God is the Commander himself!”
Liukes screamed, absolutely livid, as if he couldn’t possibly fathom that someone wouldn’t know the Commander, Shen Gongye, was a god.
He’s completely bonkers. This idiot is a lost cause. Even without knowing any healing spells, I know that much.
…The guy has a screw loose.
“Mr. Liukes, are you actually planning to spar with Mr. He?” Shen Gongye asked, sounding utterly exhausted, though his face barely moved.
Why the formal talk?
He’s the prince. Do you think I want to do this?
If we weren’t using the mind-link right now, I’d probably be getting a third eye-roll. No… scratch that, I definitely would.
“Of course!” Liukes looked thrilled. “You, over there!”
In an instant, two young knights lugged a massive sword, a full 160 centimeters of it, over to us.
“This 160-centimeter monster is my weapon, the Dark Mark Black Woe Blade. Ha! Scared now, barkeep?”
Well, my eyes are dead on; it is exactly 160 centimeters.
But it looks so grim, and so darn heavy.
Liukes tore the black greatsword away, spun it once, and aimed the tip right at me. “What do you say, bartender? Why don’t you just run back to your pub?”
“Can’t do that, mate!” I grinned.
After all, I’d just overheard the little secret Shen Gongye let slip: if I win, I get to learn spells and become a mage! I’ve had trouble learning any kind of magic since I was a kid because of my body.
Today… right here, right now… I finally have a shot at becoming a mage!
There is absolutely no way I’m letting this massive opportunity go!
“Because, honestly, I’ve wanted to be a mage my whole life.”
“Blockhead!” Shen Gongye’s low growl shot through the mental link. Before I could even process it, the connection was cut.
What the heck was that all about?
“I don’t care what nonsense you’re spouting, you peasant! Yours truly is going to use this Dark Mark Black Woe Blade to hammer some sense into that rotten brain of yours!” Liukes jumped onto the platform, swinging that ridiculously named black greatsword right at me.
Oh, crud… is this seriously happening? A real fight?
I spun to look at my only chance for rescue, but Shen Gongye was just staring at me with cold, flat eyes that screamed the intention: “I’m going to mince you.”
Did I screw up?
Ugh, my back’s crawling… I haven’t, have I…?
“SMASH!”
The clumsy black sword smashed down right next to my foot, showering me in stone chips and gouging a huge hole in the platform.
“It’s pretty dangerous to just swing heavy weapons around like that!”
“That was… huff… that was a… warning for you!” Liukes yanked the black greatsword out of the hole, rested it back on his shoulder. “Yours truly won’t miss next time!”
You heard him, he said it!
“BANG!” “BANG!” “BANG!” “BANG!” “BANG!” “BANG!” “BANG!” “BANG!” “BANG!”
Thirty seconds later, I had nine new giant holes around my feet. Aside from the small slab I was standing on, the rest of the area was pretty much destroyed.
The idiot who caused it was resting, leaning on the black greatsword stuck in the floor. He looked totally knackered, but the expression on his face was priceless.
“H-how… could… huff… this happened?”
I’d like to know that myself!
“You’re clearly not built for heavy swords. You just blindly picked a greatsword because you were born a bit stronger than everyone else. And having picked it, you haven’t bothered to practice properly. When you fight, all you do is swing and smash with brute force.”
“I feel sorry for that sword.”
“You… you… you ignorant peasant!”
Liukes didn’t wait for his energy to recover after hearing my little review; he just lunged and threw a punch.
“How dare a mere pub bartender lecture a knight on sword-swinging? That’s hilarious!”
Liukes didn’t notice that the voices that had been cheering him on had disappeared.
“I feel ashamed for the bloke who owns this sword.”
“You… peasant… you hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Liukes’s whole face went bright red, his body shook violently, and he cursed under his breath.
A second later…
“THUD!”
And just like that, the prince hit the deck.
The two knights who had carried Liukes’s sword started to step forward, but I dusted the stone chips off my shoulder.
“Leave him. He’s just collapsed from sheer rage. Twenty minutes’ rest and he’ll be fine.”
And those two knights actually just left Liukes there. Wait a minute, based on what I saw…
Aren’t you two Liukes’s personal lackeys?
Is it really okay to ditch your boss just because some outsider said a few words after he passed out?
Or is this what being a lackey is like these days?
I’m starting to have doubts…
“Now, does anyone in the audience still have an issue with Mr. He’s skills?”
From where I’m standing, the knights are all looking at each other, but nobody’s arguing.
Huh? They’ve accepted it?
Does that mean I really have to work here now? Ugh…
A job’s fine, but a life of comfortable leeching would be way better!
Come on, just one person!
Someone, step up and rescue this poor fellow!
All you need to yell is…
“Yes!”