Soim’s Honorable End to His Career*

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After leaving the residence in Sibyaku, Soim Hao served in the one-person army.

While keeping an eye on the rear, he proceeded in a position where he could see or not see the main force he was supposed to protect. If enemy forces appeared between them, he would be able to pincer them.

It seemed that obstacles were laid down in the south of the royal capital. He got scattered before he could join them, so he stayed far behind.

In no time at all, the obstacles were moved out of the way and the carriages moved on. The time the carriages were stopped was probably less than ten minutes.

Soim proceeded with a bird.

Behind the removed logs, dozens of corpses were abandoned. Blood stained the cobblestones rode bright red. A corpse was trampled after lying down and was run over by the wheels of a carriage.

It was nostalgic, that was a carpet of warfare.

The bonfire seemed to be lit with raw wood, and the sound of crackling and exploding echoed constantly. There were sparks and smoldering smoke. The nostalgic scent of the battlefield.

He even felt their souls, which were now dead, leaving their bodies and filling the space. It wasn’t a dead old battlefield, but the air of a battlefield at the moment. It was the air of a battlefield.

Soim felt like he was finally back where he belonged.

Once they escaped the royal capital, there was only one road from here. There would be no need to watch over them any longer.

A dark night road stretched out before them, lit only by moonlight. This road, which he had passed by many times, now looked like a flowery avenue of a glamorous grand theater.

 

—

 

Soim continued down the street at a slow, steady gait. This was the slowest gait for birds, and it was about the speed of a human fast walker.

About an hour after they had left the royal capital, the sound of a flock of birds running came from behind them. Beyond the straight, cobblestone-plastered street, a number of torch fires could be seen.

It made his blood boil and he poured cold water on his heart to quell it.

How could such excitement spoil the brilliance of his technique? Soim knew better about this better than anyone else in his experience.

Soim stopped the bird there and checked the stones he had picked up along the way.

“Hah!” (Soim)

With a small call, the Galloping Bird’s beak was pointed at its pursuer. By the time, it became a canter, then gallop and the speed increased, they were almost at a distance from each other as they approached each other. Soim, then, threw a fist-sized at them as hard as he could.

The road, with forest on both sides, was nearly dark, with only a little moonlight reaching it. To those whose eyes were accustomed to the bright light of the torches, it would have looked as if a stone had suddenly popped out of the darkness.

The stone hit the head of the Knight who spearheaded the charge, and his bird fell backward on the sport. Perhaps, the Knight was holding the reins tightly, his bird fell right behind him while he was holding the reins that connected to his beak. Then, it came to an abrupt halt.

The following bird got caught up and five or six birds faltered and fell over.

A fall of birds of unknown cause occurred, and the command ‘Stop!!” was issued. Soma wanted the one that issued it. The momentum of a herd of birds rushing toward him was just too much for a spearmanship to handle.

Soim silently lunged into the group, swung his spear with a cutting wind sound, and cut off the heads of those closest to him. He aimed at the vital points of two to three people, cutting off their neck and arteries.

“What? You bastard!” (??)

They noticed the presence of Soim and then, he thrusted his spear into the eyes of anyone who tried to raise their voice.

“What! What’s happening!?” (??)

From now on, it would be a fierce battle. Soim, who sensed that, lifted his hips from the saddle.

The belt that hung from the stirrup was shortened, so when straddling, the rider must fold his legs, making it difficult to ride, but instead, he could stand higher by lifting his hips. He stared at the cavalrymen from a higher vantage point, clamping his saddle with his knees instead of his crotch.

Holding the reins with his left hand, he wielded the spear while maneuvering the bird with subtle force, he did it step by step as if he were doing trick riding. It was a trick that was only possible by the bird that had come to know each other’s habits over the three years since it had been purchased.

After killing about ten people in a row, the other side’s confusion seemed to subside. More and more of them were holding their spears pointed at him.

Soim took a few steps back to a position where he couldn’t be caught in a run-up distance so that he could catch his breath.

“Who are you!?” (??)

A person who appeared to be the commander came out from the back of the group, wading through them, and asked him again who he was. It was a female voice.

“I’m Yuri Hou’s first retainer, the one who once dedicated his spear to Rook Hou. I am Soim. I suppose you are the soldiers of the Witches.” (Soim)

“That’s right. We are the Second Army of the Royal Guards, the Eukriha Cavalry. I am Dinche Kersfitt. Why are you blocking our passage? This road is under the direct control of Her Majesty.” (Dinche)

Dinche was the third daughter of the Kersfitt’s household, one of the Seven Witches. She was 43 years old. She was a graduate from the school of Knights.

“Now that the Queen is dead, we from the Hou Household serve our spear to Her Majesty Carol. Do you insist on the rights of this heavenly territory while you serve a brute who poisoned her own mother?” (Soim)

“Queen Simone is still alive. We will arrest you in the name of the queen. It’s better to let you be bound by this rope obediently.” (Dinche)

If she wasn’t being sarcastic, but serious, she was a ridiculous fool. Soim thought so.

“You Witch. Now that you have poisoned the head of the Hou Household, from this day forward, your tongue no longer has the power to stop our spears.” (Soim)

There were no longer any questions.

Soim thought while tapping the bird’s side with his foot and making it step forward. Then, one of the riders intervened as if to protect Dinche.

“My name is Gugri of the Solnant Household! I am the second son of the household that has been given the title of ‘Lightning Knight’. Let’s have a duel!” (Gugri)

After the man who called himself Gugri spoke, he sent his bird running with his spear ready. Immediately before, the spear changed direction and headed for the Galloping Bird on which Soim rode.

As if Soim had expected it, he sat down lightly, swept the ground with his spear’s other edge, swiped the enemy’s spear away, and decapitated the man with a sword in return. The head was left behind by the torso, which slid off and rolled on the ground. The Galloping Bird ran off, carrying its master on its back, who was spitting blood from his neck like a fountain.

He stepped on it as a threat and cut off its head, an act that hadn’t been done in a long time for Soim, who had been trying to fight even for a bit in his old age. A nostalgic feeling of severing the spine, something he hadn’t felt in decades, lingers in his hands.

“The Witches’ spears are as rusty as I knew it should be! The Hou Household has the skill of an old retainer, so burn it into your eyes!!!” (Soim)

Once again, Soim raised his spear and plunged forward.

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—

 

“Damn it! Somebody, do something about that guy! Hold a bow! Isn’t there a bow!?” (Dinche)

Dinche Karsfitt was surrounded by soldiers screaming in a high pitched voice. Naturally, none of the cavalrymen had bows.

There was no custom to shoot a bow while riding a Galloping Bird, so there was no way they had one.

They had no choice but to confront Soim with their bird, their own body and spear.

Soim was standing on his Galloping Bird, wielding a fluttering and slender spear. Every time the unconventional tip danced in the air, the tip was sucked into someone’s vital point and a spray of blood was splattered.

A pile of corpses had already been built under Soim’s feet, and the street was decorated with a carpet of warfare woven by Soim after a certain point.

“What’s wrong! All of you, go!! He is cornered!!” (Dinche)

Dinche exclaimed, but the soldiers couldn’t even see him as a man, as he stood in the saddle with his face hidden by his unfamiliar appearance and built a mountain of death with his exquisite skill.

It seemed as if there was one spirit beast standing in the way that shouldn’t be touched, and if they charged it, one could only retreat without being able to touch it.

The Eukriha Cavalry had 500 cavalrymen. It was the large cavalry unit in the Second Army of the Imperial Guard, which had a capacity of 10000 men. It was the second largest in the entire Imperial Guard army, after the Dawn Cavalry of the First Army.

The General households had a rule that only a maximum of 300 military officers were allowed to ascend to the royal territory, and as long as this was the case, they should be able to pursue anyone who fled the royal castle. Reality couldn’t handle just one man, and thus, he was pushed.

However, even though he was being pushed back, the number of people Soim had defeated was still less than a hundred. To be exact, it was 52 riders, and 11 others who weren’t killed instantly but whose major arteries were cut escaped to the rear, leaving them alive.

The spear, which was forged by a master craftsman, was losing its sharpness little by little as the sharpened blade dulls with each touch of the chainmail. But even so, the brilliance of his technique never slowed down, and anyone who set out to stop Soim always became rust on his spear.

“Enough! All hands, ignore him and run alongside! Move on and aim for the main target! Those who don’t comply shall be punished by violation of military orders!!!” (Dinche)

Even as Dinche shouted this, the cavalry moved slowly.

“All of you! He is just an old man! He doesn’t have ten arms or multiple spears! He only has one spear! Now, go!!” (Dinche)

When that command was issued, Soim let out a yell for the first time today.

“Oooaarrghhh!!!” (Soim)

A loud voice, which couldn’t have come from an old man’s mouth, echoed through the forest, causing all the soldiers to cower. With a shout, Soim plunged into the enemy camp.

At this time, Soim wasn’t making a strategic decision. He was quite exhausted after dozens of minutes of fighting, and what Dinche had said had fallen on deaf ears.

Even so, the concentration that stretched to every corner of his body remained unbroken, and his eyes continued to calmly observe the enemy. Dinche’s words caused the soldiers to feel their last remaining will to fight fade away, and Soim’s battle-hardened instincts were ready to take advantage of this perfect opportunity.

The soldiers, who had been given permission not to fight by Dinche’s careless order, had lost all will to fight, whether they obeyed the order or not.

“Heekkk!!” (??)

Soim didn’t pursue the fleeing cavalrymen as he showed his back.

With a yell, he rushed toward Dinche in a straight line, brandishing his spear in a threatening manner. No one got in the way and paved the way. No one stabbed spears, even though there were plenty of openings.

Dinche was about five meters from the front line, and every cavalryman between those two who should have stopped Soim’s charge with their flesh took the intiative to clear the way. Dinche was reflected in Soim’s eyes.

Dinche, who wasn’t wearing a face guard, was frozen as she looked at the oncoming Soim. Her shoulders trembled and she shrank back as she looked at the reaper who was going to give her death, a look unlike any Soim had ever seen on the battlefield.

It was a horrified woman’s face.

Soim wielded his spear mercilessly with Dinche in his blade range. He slid the blade into the side of his neck, and with a small, pleasant touch, her thin neck was cut off.

“I killed the commander!” (Soim)

He declared so in high spirits and held up his spear.

Soim felt that the tense concentration there had diminished. Just as a musical instrument with broken strings no longer played any sound, a body that had lost its concentration had lost the divine enegry that used to pervade every inch of it and had become just the body of a well-trained old man. This was the limit of a man whose mind and body had deteriorated.

Soim knew it best. However, his heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment and pride. He was satisfied.

“Now, those of you who seek to increase your military achievement… come at me! The villain who defeated your lord is here! If you can take the neck of Soim from the Hou Household, take it!!” (Soim)

 

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