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.
That was why he was ashamed of himself; for abandoning the young swordsmen to serve the King, and because he was called a good man even though his deeds were not all that amazing.
No, I shouldn’t feel ashamed. If I have the time to do that, I should―
“―Ah, never mind, I’ll leave it at that. Since you’ve been so kind as to point out Climb’s weaknesses in front of me, I’ll do my best to beat them out of him.”
“Thank you, Gazef-sama.”
“…Would you mind not being so formal? You serve the royal family like I do ― that makes you my subordinate. Even so, I have not guided you, and have instead passed that job to someone else. You need not thank someone like that.”
The more Climb thanked him, the guiltier he felt.
“Isn’t that a pain in the ass, being someone with a foot in noble society. People drag you back for pointless things, and you can’t even do the things you want.”
“Since you’re Climb’s comrade, protecting Princess Renner alongside him, doesn’t that make you one of those people as well?”
“I’m not nearly as tight-assed as they are. Being that princess-dono’s flunky or… no. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Being the Princess’ guard is only a temporary thing. Once I’m tired of it, I’ll move on.”
Brain smiled, his expression as cool and clear as the autumn sky. The rain-drenched wreck of a human being Gazef had seen in the capital was nowhere to be seen.
He was envious of how Brain could live in such a free-spirited way.
“Come to think of it, is it alright for you to chat idly with us, Gazef-sama?”
“Well, I’m actually kind of busy right now. I just wanted to take a break… say, are you two free?”
Brain and Climb looked at each other in response to Gazef’s question.
“Free… huh.”
“Yeah, I guess. Don’t have much that needs doing, just prepping my wargear.”
“Then, I hope you… right,” Gazef said as he looked to one of the watchtowers on the city walls.
“Want to head over there?”
Nobody refused, and Gazef led the way.
As the Warrior-Captain, no soldier stopped him. In this way, they made it to the place Gazef had in mind, the place with the best view in the city.
E-Rantel’s outermost walls were the highest point in the city Which was to say, they had the best scenery and one could see furthest from there.
And because the air warmed by the many bodies below them did not reach this place, the cool, fresh air brought by the winter wind refreshed their bodies.
“What a great view!”
Climb exclaimed in heartfelt delight as he looked toward the southeast.
“These are the Kattse Plains, right?”