Magic Caster of Destroy

There were many soldiers on the battlefield, but Climb stood out among them because almost none of them wore full plate armor. On top of that, his armor was painted a bright white. Bowmen would aim at him, and cavalry would use him as a target. Although Climb was somewhat stronger than the average Imperial knight, there were still warriors who were stronger than him. The Four Knights of the Empire were one such example.

If I’m not wrong, Princess Renner gave him that armor… she must not be very familiar with the battlefield if she ordered it painted in that color.

She might be good with tactics, but it would appear she was out of touch with the realities of the battlefield.

If Climb dies, she’ll be sad…

With magic, they could temporarily change the color of the armor, and return it to normal once they returned to the capital.

He approached the two of them from behind while he was thinking of this. Brain turned his face, and his hand reached for the hilt of his katana.

As expected of Brain. He could sense me from a distance like this.

Metal armor made noise when its wearer was in motion.

It would not be strange for people to notice and react to the sound if it drew close to them.

However, there were many people here, all preparing for battle. Under these noisy circumstances, while focusing on making one’s way forward, noticing any other sounds would be very difficult. Of course, a thief with specialized training would be a different matter.

Brain widened his eyes. Then, he glanced at Climb and grinned, as if he had pranked him.

Although Brain seemed to have gotten the wrong idea, this was fine as well.

While smiling the same way Brain did, Gazef drew closer, trying not to make noise as he advanced, slowly shortening the distance between himself and the still-unaware Climb. Although he had not been trained in moving silently and was wearing metal armor, Climb still had not noticed him, and seemed to be discussing something with Brain.

His challenge was to reach the spot directly behind Climb’s back, which he succeeded in doing.

Gazef brought his hand down in a gentle chop, directly onto Climb’s unguarded head.

“Uwah!”

Climb stumbled back while squeaking in a thoroughly unmanly way. As his eyes recognized Gazef, they goggled open.

“This! Isn’t this Strono―”

“―Quiet.”

After Climb swallowed his half-formed words, Gazef continued.

“Quiet. Revealing my identity here will be very troublesome. Just call me Gazef.”

Although he was the Warrior-Captain, many villagers from the rural areas of the Kingdom did not know what he looked like. Who knew, in their imaginations, the Warrior-Captain might be two meters tall, bearing a gigantic sword, and armored in a suit of shining golden plate armor.

Gazef did not want to dash their expectations, and besides, drawing attention would be annoying.

“I-I apologize for my lack of―”

“No, you did nothing wrong,” Gazef said as he interrupted Climb’s apology with a wry grin. Then, the grin took on a new meaning.

“Although, I have to say that you need to be more alert. After all, you did miss someone in full plate armor sneaking up on you. Still, there shouldn’t be any enemies here.”

“What are you saying, Gazef? Being relaxed isn’t necessarily bad. Being wound too tight is.”

“Then, Brain, how did you discover me from so far away?”

“Isn’t that obvious? There was a strange presence in the air.”

Gazef noticed that Climb was looking at Brain and himself with eyes full of surprise.

“Climb, as Princess Renner’s personal guard, you need to be able to sense presences like that. If you miss a hidden assassin, your charge will be hurt.”

“Ah, so that’s what it is. I was wondering what you were up to. Now I see. Climb-kun, if I’m not wrong, you’re using a self-invented style, right? Does that include presence sensing?”

“Ah, no, it doesn’t. I focused on combat techniques. My apologies.”

“I wasn’t scolding you. I just wanted to make sure. To be honest, I used to be like that in the past as well. It’s easy to forget about practicing sensory skills like that when you train by yourself. That’s a dangerous habit. After all, a lot of the time you won’t have a straight fight against an attacker that you know about.”

Gazef’s face was a little red. The look on his face as he glanced at Brain seemed to say, “You didn’t have to tell him that here.”

In the first place, training young warriors was also a duty of the Warrior-Captain. He felt ashamed that he could not accomplish that.

Because Climb had been born a commoner like him, it was important not to let the nobles see them falter while in service to the royal family. For example, if Gazef crushed Climb in a spar, the nobles would whisper that Climb was not worthy of protecting the Princess. Meanwhile, if Gazef stumbled against Climb, they would turn their malicious gossip on him.