Subaru Natsuki, who returned from the new Three Kingdoms

Rough.

fierce.

Not elegant enough.

Yet it carries a sense of living towards death.

Wilhelm believed that this swordsmanship, which only focused on offense and disregarded survival, would end with a final move that turned the blade on the user to commit suicide.

But that alone is not enough to defeat him!

Wilhelm suddenly changed his footing.

The sword's momentum, which was originally as calm as the surface of a lake, suddenly gained a hint of battlefield killing intent.

That was something from his youth.

It was something that had been etched into his muscles when he walked the battlefield as the Sword Demon.

Subaru Natsuki's pressure suddenly increased.

The old man in front of me seemed to have suddenly become decades younger.

The sword is no longer just a sword.

Rather, it's experience, murderous intent, distance, and manipulation.

Natsuki Subaru dodged the sword, only to discover that the sword had been designed to force him to dodge.

He had barely shifted his body when Wilhelm's foot was already upon him.

The wooden sword is aimed at the wrist from bottom to top.

Natsuki Subaru forcibly stopped, but his shoulder was struck by the sword.

boom!

He staggered backward.

"it is good!"

Subaru Natsuki's eyes shone even brighter.

"Old man, with your skills, you could easily become a general under Cao Cao!"

Wilhelm did not know what the former general's rank was.

But he could tell that the strange young man in front of him was genuinely praising him.

He did not respond, but simply drew his sword again.

This time, a faint glow appeared on the wooden sword.

Wilhelm did not use a real sword.

They didn't use any killer moves either.

But he started to take it seriously.

Subaru Natsuki's palm clashed with the wooden sword once again.

This time he blocked the sword, but not the impact amplified by skillful force.

The shock made him take half a step back.

Wilhelm seized the opportunity, the tip of his sword stopping just before Wilhelm's throat.

It's only an inch away from the skin.

The training ground fell silent.

Natsuki Subaru kept his hand raised and blinked.

Then he let out a long breath.

"I lost."

Wilhelm sheathed his sword.

"If you were to use a sword, I might not be able to defeat you."

Natsuki Subaru shook his aching wrist.

"A loss is a loss. What can you say when you die on the battlefield? You can't exactly say that you died for a good reason."

Wilhelm looked at him.

This is also not something a teenager of this age should say.

He became increasingly curious.

"Who exactly are you?"

Didn't I just say that?

Natsuki Subaru smiled and said:

“I am a friend of Reinhard.”

Wilhelm paused slightly in his sword grip, staring intently into Subaru's eyes, as if trying to ascertain the weight of those two words.

friend.

The word sounds somewhat unfamiliar when applied to Reinhard.

Wilhelm knew very well that the child had been living in misery.

Or rather, they have been tormenting themselves with pain.

He wanted to become the perfect knight.

I want to do everything right.

I want to shoulder everyone's expectations.

Wilhelm certainly knew.

How could he not know?

That's his grandson.

He just didn't know how to face it...

Did he resent Reinhard?

Many people believe that is true.

He believed that Reinhard hated Theresa for taking away Theresa's Sword Saint Blessing, which caused Theresa to die in the White Whale Conquest.

But only Wilhelm himself knew that it wasn't like that.

The person he truly resented was himself.

It was resentment that he hadn't honed his swordsmanship for many years and ultimately failed to take Theresa's place on the battlefield.

He resented his own lack of strength, which prevented him from saving his wife.

It was resentment that she couldn't pull her son out of the grief of his beloved becoming a vegetable, and could only watch him degenerate day by day.

It was also resentment that prevented his grandson from stopping his self-reproach, ultimately leading him to create a near-self-enclosed, perfect facade, becoming a fake version of himself.

The more powerless he felt, the less he knew what to say when facing Reinhard.

Silence thus became a distance.

Distance has led to a deeper misunderstanding.

But now, Subaru Natsuki says he's Reinhard's friend.

They also said that they hit it off immediately yesterday and drank heartily.

Wilhelm naturally found it absurd.

How could Reinhard, with his perfect knightly demeanor, possibly agree to drink with someone he had just met?

Besides, it's someone like Subaru Natsuki.

He didn't believe that Reinhard couldn't see what was special about Subaru Natsuki.

But Wilhelm had a nagging feeling that this might be a good thing.

Such a person has unexpectedly appeared beside Reinhard, who has always been isolated from others.

A man with rough swordsmanship, strange speech, and eyes that look like he's crawled out of the dead, yet he can still drag you out for drinks.

Moreover, Subaru Natsuki's swordsmanship is truly unique.

It was so special that it piqued the interest of him, the greatest swordsman of his time.

That kind of sword technique, which is almost suicidal, is definitely not something that ordinary people with the ideal of "becoming stronger through sword practice and achieving hegemony" can master.

Why do you practice swordsmanship?

Wilhelm suddenly asked.

Chapter 19: 019. The Reason for Becoming Stronger

Natsuki Subaru was taken aback.

Why practice swordsmanship?

The question came somewhat suddenly, and he couldn't think of it for a moment.

If you ask him why he drinks, he can rattle off a dozen profound reasons in the blink of an eye!

If you were to ask him why he joined Cao Cao's forces, he could immediately pat his chest and say, "It is the will of Heaven that the Great Wei will prosper!"

But why practice swordsmanship?

This question, rather than being a silent sword, suddenly pressed against Natsuki Subaru's throat.

His initial thought was to say, "To get ahead, to make a living."

In order to take revenge on some beast who forced him to call him master, or in order to survive on the battlefield.

But those don't seem to be the original reasons.

What was it again in the beginning?

In total, Natsuki Subaru didn't actually spend too long in the Three Kingdoms period.

That is, the few years from the alliance of the feudal lords to the end of the Battle of Guandu and the period of recuperation.

But for Subaru Natsuki, it felt like a very, very long time ago.

There is no other reason.

He has died too many times.

Sometimes you can die hundreds of times in an afternoon.

Sometimes, even a small mistake on the battlefield can cause him to die repeatedly until he becomes numb to it.

Time is shattered into pieces by death.

Memories, too, become like an old knife buried in the mud, rusty and mottled, difficult to retrieve.

Natsuki Subaru remained silent, thinking for a long time.

Wilhelm noticed the complexity and unease in Subaru Natsuki's eyes.

With that look in his eyes, he almost mistook Natsuki Subaru for someone his age...

So he didn't interrupt Subaru's thoughts and waited quietly by his side.

Finally, Natsuki Subaru unearthed something from the very beginning from those jumbled memories.

"Let's do it to protect it."

Subaru Natsuki lowered his voice.

Wilhelm suddenly widened his eyes and subconsciously turned to look at Subaru Natsuki.

Natsuki Subaru looked down at his hands.

The spot where it collided with the wooden sword is now red and swollen.

"There were things I wanted to protect, but I was unable to."