Chivalry of a Failed Knight: Volume 0 (eBook)

Riku Misora (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-4730-4 (ISBN)

Infos

This side story volume brings you six exciting new shorts not seen in the main series! Stella tries an otome game, a drunk Shizuku tells Alice her hidden fears and worries, and Stella and Shizuku fight to see who's truly worthy of Ikki's love! We also learn some of Toutokubara Kanata's secrets, see a bit of what Stella's training with Saikyou Nene was like, and even witness the legendary moment that got Ikki accepted into Hagun Academy in the first place!

Textauszug

Chapter 1: The Princess Gets A Culture Shock

Martial might is a crude and savage thing. One need only look at a clenched fist to intuit that immediately. There is no beauty in a fist, only the promise of overwhelming violence. A fist exists for one purpose: to defeat one’s enemies. It has no need for elegance or grace. It is a tool to survive in this harsh and uncaring world. There is no room for aesthetics.

And yet, over thousands of years, humanity has transformed basic martial might into an art form. Thus, we now have martial arts. What separates martial arts from simple violence is the ideals and knowledge that make up their core. Do you wish to defeat your foes? Protect your loved ones? Everyone fights for their own reasons, and there is a martial art suited to each and every one of them. By granting a purpose and a goal to violence, it transforms from a wild, savage force to a beautiful art.

Today, too, Kurogane Ikki was in Hagun Academy’s courtyard, putting his swordsmanship on display. His form was pristine, and watching him, one could truly see what made martial arts an art form. He was fighting five foes in an impromptu mock battle, and they all charged him at once.

“Raaaaah!”

“You’re mine!”

They were armed with a myriad of weapons, from swords to spears to axes, and those weapons were wreathed in fire, lightning, or other magical forces. They were, of course, not using normal weapons, nor were they normal humans. They were Blazers, people who could manifest their souls as weapons and use magical powers. The flames and electricity surrounding their weapons were powerful enough to kill a person with one touch. But naturally, none of them came anywhere close to hitting Ikki. He deflected them all with just a single katana.

The spear user taking part couldn’t help but think that Ikki was using some kind of black magic to parry their weapons. Though he’d thrust at Ikki with all his might, before he’d so much as realized what was happening, the point of his spear had gotten stuck in the ground. He hadn’t even felt the impact of Ikki’s parry. It was as if he’d been aiming for the ground from the start.

But while this mock battle was a nightmare for Ikki’s opponents, the onlookers were enthralled. They watched as Ikki leisurely parried the rain of blows his opponents showered upon him, looking almost as if he were dancing. There was an unmistakable beauty to his martial arts. Those who were just passing through the courtyard stopped to watch as well, and the crowd grew.

“I-I can’t get a single hit in!”

“This is way too hard! How does he keep dodging everything?!”

After a while, the five students attacking Ikki dropped to the ground, exhausted.

“All right, that’s good enough for today. Sorry for making you help me with this demonstration, guys,” Ikki said.

“I...huff...don’t mind, but I can’t believe five of us at once couldn’t even scratch you.”

“Y-You’re not even sweating. What kind of monster are you...”

The five of them were so worn out because they’d moved around more than they’d needed to, while Ikki had been able to evade most of their attacks with a single step or two. His parries had been perfectly executed too, and he’d thus expended little energy on them. Once the performance was over, ten of his classmates ran up to him.

“Wow, that was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“I never knew martial arts could look so pretty!”

“It was like you were dancing, while those guys were just floundering about.”

“Oh no, I was so entranced that I forgot to take pictures! As a reporter, this is the greatest shame of my life! Senpai, can you do that again? Please? Just one more time so I can get a good picture! Pretty please!”

“I told you I didn’t want you taking pictures, remember? It’s embarrassing to have my face plastered all over the school walls.”

“It’s okay, I won’t put them in the paper! I’ll just sell them to interested parties on the black market!”

“I’m not sure what part of that’s supposed to be okay...”

Incidentally, the reason Ikki had held a mock battle in the first place was that some of his classmates had approached him while he’d been lounging in the courtyard and begged him to teach them swordsmanship. Because Blazers had the power to manipulate supernatural phenomena, they didn’t need to learn something as mundane as martial arts, so those who were interested in them were few and far between. For most Blazers, it was far more efficient to spend their training time finding new ways to use their power or working to control it better.

There were only two types of Blazers who bothered learning martial arts: failures like Ikki who had very little magic power to begin with, and the truly strong. They were normally shunned by Blazers, which was why Ikki had been happy that his classmates were starting to show an interest in them. That was why he’d been willing to give a demonstration.

“As you guys requested, I showed you one of the most basic forms that anyone can learn. Were you able to follow along?”

“Nope. Not one bit. You just looked super cool,” his classmates replied in unison.

I should’ve known.

Martial arts weren’t easy to learn. Ikki was only able to steal other people’s techniques just by watching them because he’d spent years training to do just that. If anyone could learn martial techniques just by watching others do it, there wouldn’t have been any need for him to develop his Blade Steal ability. In truth, Ikki had expected that response from his classmates.

“I guess I can’t pick up on people’s moves just by watching them like you can, Kurogane-kun.”

“Ikki-kun’s ability is even more awesome since he can steal people’s techniques while fighting them and even figure out the driving principles behind them. That’s not human.”

“Wait, does that mean you remember every single technique you’ve ever seen used, Senpai?” Kagami asked.

“Yep. Martial arts is all I have, so I need to make my arsenal as varied as possible,” Ikki replied.

“Wow. How many styles do you know in total?”

“If we include the Imperial Sword Arts I stole from Stella the other day, 126.”

“Th-That many?!”

“I’m amazed you know that many, but I’m also amazed that many sword styles still exist in the modern day.”

“Some of the styles I’ve learned no longer have official dojos dedicated to them or have died out and are only known through whatever form manuals and other documents have survived. Back in middle school, I was desperate to get stronger, so I looked for every dojo I could and challenged them. I also went to libraries and museums to research old martial arts styles.”

Ikki’s classmates sighed as they heard that.

“Honestly, I wish you’d said that was just your Blazer power.”

“The fact that you can do all that without magic is cheating.”

“I guess if you master martial arts, it basically becomes like a superpower.”

“There’s no way we could become like you, though, Kurogane-kun.”

They all looked disheartened upon learning just how difficult it would be to reach Ikki’s level of mastery. Considering how impressive his swordsmanship was, it was understandable that they’d be deterred. He’d worked himself harder than anyone because he had to make up for his lack of magical strength. Since everyone else had Blazer powers they could rely on, they didn’t need to go as hard on their martial arts training as he had.

“You don’t have to be so pessimistic. Unlike me, you all have useful Blazer powers, so you don’t have to train as hard as I did. Just learning enough to use your Devices better than the average knight will still improve your combat abilities significantly. There’s no harm in learning the basics, so if any of you are interested, I’d be glad to teach you.”

“Hmm... You’re right, if I combine martial arts with my powers, there’s a lot I can do.”

“I’ll take your lessons, Kurogane-kun! If you’re our teacher, then I don’t mind putting in extra effort!”

“In that case, let’s start with some basic footwork and learning how to control your inner muscles. Every technique requires having a solid foundation, so we need to start by building up your guys’ fundamentals. First off...”

Ikki was glad to have found disciples, and he spent a solid thirty minutes lecturing them on the basics of martial arts. Once the lesson was finally over, he went over to a nearby bench and sat down.

“Phew...I’m beat. I’m not used to teaching other people...” he muttered, relaxing. After a few seconds, a girl came over to him.

“You’re too diligent for your own good, Ikki. You spent all that time training your classmates when you could have used it on your own training,” she said, her hands clasped behind her back as if she were hiding something from Ikki.

“Stella...”

Stella Vermillion was a foreign princess, Ikki’s roommate, and, following the events of a few days ago, his girlfriend. She turned to watch Ikki’s classmates, who were trying to put his lessons into practice in the courtyard.

“What’s the point...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.11.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Chivalry of a Failed Knight
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: Engagement • Fantasy Romance • Light Novel • Little Sister • Magic • Magic Academy • teenage protagonist
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-4730-8 / 1718347308
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-4730-4 / 9781718347304