The Third Son of a Medieval Knight Family Chapter 42 - Tribal Conflict (7)

“Stop!”

The Leshy’s movement, which had seemed ready to lift up the entire ground, paused for a moment.

Someone was approaching with an extraordinary aura.

Though the ground was so soft that it was difficult to even step properly, he was running straight ahead without any disturbance, leaving deep tracks in the sinking ground as if he didn’t care at all.

“Ah, Sir Knight!”

“It’s Sir Viktor! He’s coming to help us!”

The mercenaries, who had been engulfed in fear and anger, shouted with delight.

“Sir Knight! Just give us your orders! Should we shoot arrows at it?”

When one mercenary shouted as if requesting command, Viktor opened his mouth with a voice that was strangely clear and audible.

“Everyone fall back for a moment.”

“Yes, yes? Sir Knight, surely you’re not planning to go alone…? That won’t do! That thing is a monster!”

“It’s dangerous!”

The mercenaries clamored in alarm, but Viktor’s expression was as solid as could be.

“Trust me and step back for a moment. Don’t provoke it further.”

At his resolute words, the mercenaries also began to reluctantly retreat.

“Even so…”

“Hey, the knight told us to step aside. He must have some plan.”

A few still hesitated, but they eventually had no choice but to retreat under pressure from the other mercenaries around them.

This was possible because Viktor commanded considerable respect from the mercenaries.

Without the martial prowess and courage he had shown, the mercenaries wouldn’t have followed his words so obediently.

Watching this scene, the Leshy let out a scornful laugh.

[Human! Human! You think you’re something special, human! What do you plan to do all by yourself?]

The Leshy’s voice was incredibly eerie.

It had a strange feeling, as if the sounds of rustling leaves and buzzing insects had been transformed into human speech.

Viktor calmly opened his mouth.

“Are you the Leshy?”

[Human! Human! Insolent human! So what if I am?]

As the Leshy reacted roughly and waved its hands threateningly, the forest surrounding the road could be felt crying out like a wail.

Anton, who had somehow approached quite close, ran to Viktor’s side in panic.

‘The Leshy has become excessively violent. At this level, talking with it now would be meaningless!’

From what he could see, the Leshy was already on the verge of attacking Viktor.

It had to be stopped before then.

Just as Anton was about to shout for them to flee first.

Viktor casually opened his mouth again.

“Shut your mouth, you insolent fool. Were you taught to treat guests that way?”

‘…Ahhh!’

With a calm expression, Viktor had dropped a bombshell.

Not only Anton who was running over, but all the mercenaries who were watching the situation from a distance looked at Viktor in horror.

‘Sir, Sir… when we should be trying to appease it, to provoke the Leshy… what are you planning to do?!’

‘Hey, light a fire. We need to prepare for battle.’

The Leshy began glaring at Viktor with a seething face.

[Human! Human!! What did you just say?]

“I asked if your parents taught you to act that way. Just because you’re a spirit, does that make you special? What’s all this about grabbing people passing by? If you don’t have a valid reason, I won’t forgive you.”

However, Viktor remained unmoved, showing no fear.

He went even further, drawing the axe he carried on his back and scolding the Leshy.

Anton squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Now we have no choice but to fight…!’

From what he could see, the knight had definitely come running with the intention to fight from the beginning.

But something strange happened.

The Leshy, which had been nothing but ferocious, began to show some confusion.

[Human! Whatever I do is my business! And I don’t have parents! You don’t know anything!]

“That’s not my concern. Leshy, you know it well yourself. That your actions don’t make sense. Go back into the forest. This road belongs to the human realm.”

[Human! Are you giving me orders!]

“No. I’m simply speaking reasonably. Leshy, how would you feel if a person carelessly invaded your forest? And if he showed you no respect whatsoever?”

[…Human, that would make me feel bad.]

“Then conversely, what do you think I feel when I see you entering a road built by humans and running wild?”

[…]

As the Leshy quietly closed its mouth, Anton looked at Viktor in amazement.

‘Sir, did you perhaps attend university?!’

Being able to silence a being like a spirit with words was not something just anyone could do.

Their words, being non-human, contained strange magic that had the power to make listeners unable to resist.

To overcome such power, one needed either an extremely firm will or to have learned professional methods for dealing with them.

‘Moreover, not just resisting but verbally subduing the opponent would be impossible unless one had properly learned rhetoric, demonology, and demon studies…!’

Anton felt as if he had confirmed another aspect of Viktor.

He had thought he was just a knight who was strong and faithful, but it was clear that he was also someone who had received higher education.

He nodded in admiration.

The more he knew about him, the more mysterious aspects there seemed to be.

‘Where on earth did such a person come from…’

That’s when it happened.

The Leshy’s eyes flashed suddenly, and it began to speak energetically once more.

[Human! Human! But this road was built without my permission! Who said you could cut through the forest? If you want to pass through here, you’ll have to follow my demands!]

“Fine. Let me hear your demands.”

[Human! Your group is very large. I can sense it! So offer one horse for every ten people who want to pass! That’s the price of passage!]

The Leshy stamped its feet violently and laughed wickedly.

To anyone listening, it was an unreasonable demand.

The Count’s army trying to pass through this road numbered well over a hundred people.

To offer one horse for every ten of them would require dozens of horses, which wouldn’t be enough even if they brought them.

The Leshy was being spiteful because it couldn’t match them in words.

The mercenaries listening to the story began to get excited and agitated.

“That, that conscienceless bastard!”

“No wonder it shows signs of growing up without parents! Sir Knight! Can’t we just beat up that bastard!”

The mercenaries harshly criticized it, but the Leshy didn’t even blink.

[Human! Human! Hehehe, if you don’t want to accept my conditions, you’ll never be able to pass through this road!]

Anton also frowned and glared at the Leshy.

‘Now I understand why it’s resented as being close to an evil spirit.’

The Leshy truly had a nasty temperament.

Originally, they were said to have quite gentle natures, but this was unimaginable.

Anton glanced at Viktor.

‘No matter how great Sir Viktor is, such unreasonableness… hmm?’

Viktor surprisingly showed no significant change in expression.

He was just calmly nodding his head.

Viktor opened his mouth.

“Would that be enough?”

[…Hmm?]

The Leshy looked down at Viktor as if surprised.

[Human! Are you saying you’ll accept my proposal?]

“There’s nothing I can’t accept. As long as you’re not lying.”

The Leshy pounded its chest and got angry.

[Human! Human! What do you take me for! I don’t lie!]

“Really? What should I believe? Can you show me proof that you don’t lie?”

[Human! What do you want!]

“We humans, when trading something, shake hands as a sign of mutual trust. Come closer.”

At the same time, Viktor began slowly approaching the Leshy.

[Human! What’s a handshake! How do you do that!]

“It’s the act of grasping each other’s hands and shaking them. If you do this, I’ll try to trust you too.”

As Viktor extended his hand and walked forward, the Leshy looked at his hand with suspicious eyes.

Then, soon letting out a vile laugh, it extended its large hand and approached Viktor.

Anton cried out in alarm.

“Ah! Sir Viktor, be careful! That thing has other intentions!”

From the Leshy’s expression, it clearly intended to crush Viktor’s hand.

As soon as Anton shouted, the Leshy began to grip Viktor’s hand strongly.

[Human! Stupid human! Kehehehe, did you trust me! Since you ran your mouth so arrogantly, I’ll crush your hand!]

But something was strange.

Even though the Leshy was putting all its strength into its grip, Viktor’s expression was completely peaceful.

“As expected, you lied. That’s fine.”

[…!]

“I lied too.”

Crack!

The Leshy’s hand bent in a strange direction.

[Kraaaaak!]

The Leshy screamed and swung its opposite fingers widely.

The eerily long fingers whipped like a whip, aiming for Viktor, but he quickly pressed his body close to the Leshy to avoid it.

Since their hands were still clasped, when Viktor applied force to his hand while rushing into an embrace-like position, the broken hand was dragged along like a puppet with severed strings.

[Kiiiaak! Let go! Let go!]

“What a noisy mouth.”

Viktor struck the Leshy’s face with his free opposite hand.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Unable to escape with its hand caught, the Leshy’s face began to be mercilessly crushed.

[Gak! Urk! Kraak!]

The sight of Viktor punching with his gauntleted hand with an expressionless face was chilling beyond words.

Even the mercenaries who had been about to rush in angrily at the Leshy’s dirty tricks could only swallow their saliva and watch the brutal execution scene.

[Ak, krak! Wa-wait! Urk! I was, urk! wrong! Kiek!]

Blue blood different from humans splattered and dirtied his face, but Viktor paid no attention.

Thud! Thud!

Now the Leshy couldn’t say anything at all.

A quiet silence pervaded the surroundings, and only the steady sound of a face being smashed could be heard.

Finally, the Leshy’s body collapsed.

The Leshy’s face was completely ruined to the point where eyes, nose, and mouth couldn’t be distinguished.

When Viktor released the hand he was holding, the Leshy fell powerlessly.

He quietly wiped the blood from his face and muttered.

“It’s quite sturdy.”

Viktor turned around.

Everyone was looking at him with horrified faces.

‘He beat a Leshy to death…?’

‘Fucking scary…’

The mercenaries couldn’t even dare to make eye contact with Viktor.

Among them were some who had become somewhat friendly while he helped rescue mercenaries stuck in the mud, but even they couldn’t say anything.

They doubted whether he was really the same person as that gentle and generous-seeming knight.

They realized a fact they had momentarily forgotten.

That the knight before their eyes was a monster-like being who had slaughtered barbarians single-handedly.

Anton approached Viktor, trying to calm his trembling body.

“Sir, truly tremendous strength… I’ve never heard of anyone being able to subdue a Leshy like that…!”

“Hmm, it was sturdier than I thought. I intended to smash its head completely.”

Though he felt momentarily chilled watching Viktor casually say such eerie things, Anton forced himself to continue.

“But sir, the Leshy probably isn’t dead.”

“Hmm?”

Viktor looked at Anton with slightly surprised eyes.

Anton shook his head with a dark expression.

“This is why it’s difficult to easily defeat a Leshy. As long as it’s in the forest, it will continue to revive.”

At the same time as those words, the sound of something stirring began to be heard from behind.