TRHK Chapter 2

In the original story, "Maylin" falls for Joel and his endless flattery and gifts, dreaming of becoming the countess—but on Joel's end, he'd never intended anything more than making her his mistress. And because Maylin bragged to the other maids that she was going to marry him, word of it reaches the count and countess's ears.

The count and countess, then arranging a political marriage for their son with some noble family's daughter, flew into a towering rage, had Maylin killed, and had the body tossed into the river like refuse. To them, some contract-bound maid—no better than a slave, and hardly worth more than that—was something you simply got rid of, and that was that.

Chasing the memory down, I felt gooseflesh rise on my arms and shuddered.

Then was this body, too, going to be killed by the count and countess? I'd only just died from an arrow. Was I supposed to die again?

"……No. Not yet."

Fortunately, this Maylin had no relationship whatsoever with Joel Coutner yet. From what I'd overheard the maids gossiping, Joel Coutner was currently at his academy dormitory. He'd come back for the break, but not before.

Then couldn't I just leave the county before then and escape?—one might wonder. But leaving now was impossible.

Because Maylin was a maid magically bound to House Coutner under a servitude contract.

That's right. Magic existed in this world. Magic, Sword Masters, dragons—all the things people here spoke of and accepted without a second thought were exactly what had confirmed for me, beyond doubt, that I was inside the book.

A "magical servitude contract" was mainly used by those of higher standing to bind those beneath them. A servant bound by the contract couldn't leave the designated territory until the contract itself was destroyed. In my case, that territory was this county—stray too far from it without permission, and it counted as an escape attempt: the magic would slowly strangle me to death.

Naturally, this contract couldn't be undone by anything short of high-level magic or a comparable power like Aura.

Given all that, with no talent for magic or swordsmanship myself, the best I could manage was:

First. Don't fall into Joel Coutner's hands.

Second. Find a way to break the contract, or leave the territory, as soon as possible.

Those were my two options.

Of course, there was some small chance this wasn't The Sword God's Adventure at all—that Maylin and House Coutner shared only the names, while everything else differed. If that were true, at least I wouldn't have to worry about being killed.

But not long after, rumors about a "red-haired knight" reached my ears, and I had no choice but to accept, finally, that I was inside the book.

"They say the Red-Haired Knight wiped out another pack of monsters!"

"I heard some swordsman challenged the Red-Haired Knight again and got himself wrecked, they say."

"The Red-Haired Knight's really that strong? Still can't be on par with the Knight Commander, though, right?"

"Word is he used to be some secret weapon for a noble house in the capital, and got thrown out over some scandal."

One of the major figures from the book.

And the rumors matched exactly what I already knew.

That confirmed the maid Maylin's death as a settled fact—but there was no reason to despair yet. What caught my attention was the knight himself.

The Red-Haired Knight.

Perhaps I'd found a way to break the contract after all.

Clang! Clang!

The hard clang of clashing steel. Ragged breath. Air gone rank with the raw stink of sweat.

I was hiding behind a tree right now, spying on several dozen knights training in the yard.

Not, of course, to waste what little rest time I had.

"Watch it! Where are you looking?"

"Ah, sorry. But—"

Someone had fumbled a sparring match; shouts rose from the knights.

The "Red-Haired Knight" I'd come to see stayed locked on his match despite the chaos around him.

The man at the end of my gaze was that same knight with the little tied-back ponytail I'd run into in the corridor before. Watching him switch opponents again and again, winning every single time, I was fairly certain he was the real thing.

In The Sword God's Adventure, the protagonist, passing through a village by chance, hears that the local lord's castle keeps a "Red-Haired Knight" with staggering swordsmanship, and goes to challenge him out of curiosity—only to lose badly. The knight, it turns out, is secretly a Sword Master.

Crushed, the protagonist sets out again to build his strength, and once he's become a Sword Master himself, seeks the Red-Haired Knight out a second time.

In the book, the "Red-Haired Knight" is one of the figures who awakens the protagonist.

And, as far as I was concerned, also the person who could destroy my magical servitude contract for me.

As I understood it, a Sword Master was someone who could handle mana to produce sword aura—in this world's terms, the strongest of the strong when it came to swordsmanship. Someone at that level had to be able to do something about a magical contract. I almost resented myself for not thinking of him sooner, too absorbed in worrying over the original Maylin's circumstances.

Ah, if I'd known this, I should have said more to him back there…

"Something you needed?"

"Gah!"

I gasped and spun around at the sudden voice to find a large, stern-faced man watching me. As if wondering what on earth I had to be so startled about.

"I'm Landale Permok, commander of the First Order of Knights."

The man, his gray hair cropped short, carried the stern air the title suited him for. Since he'd given his name, I awkwardly gave mine in return.

"I'm Maylin, a maid here at the castle."

"I see. Why are you here?"

"I—I was just watching…"

"Knight training isn't a spectacle."

I'd been scolded. I apologized, still off balance.

"I'm sorry."

Without thinking, I glanced back and found several knights watching me. Caught out, they startled and quickly went back to their training as though they hadn't been looking at all.

Only the red-haired knight kept his eyes on me, his expression gone slightly slack. Nothing like the focused man swinging his sword a moment ago.

I'd only meant to observe quietly today, but since I'd already been caught, maybe it was time to push things a little further.

I turned back to Commander Landale.

"Actually, I came here to meet the Red-Haired Knight."

Making friends with a Sword Master.

Honestly, even if he weren't a Sword Master, it would've been an awkward business. Whatever the original Maylin had been like—she hadn't been particularly sociable either, from what I understood—I myself had never had a single friend.

Something odd crossed Landale's stern face at that. After a moment, he spoke.

"Which one?"

"…Sorry?"

"There are two Red-Haired Knights. Which one do you mean?"

For a moment I was too flustered to get a single word out.

'Did you hear? They say the Red-Haired Knight wiped out a whole pack of monsters again!'

'Some swordsman challenged the Red-Haired Knight again and got himself wrecked.'

'He's really that strong? Still couldn't compare to the Knight Commander, surely?'

'Word is he was some noble family's secret weapon up in the capital. Got thrown out after causing some incident.'

Even while sweeping, even over a snack, the servants would often go on chattering about the Red-Haired Knight. Of course, whenever I edged closer wanting to hear more, they'd clam right up, as if they'd never been talking at all, and scatter.

But not once—not once!—had anyone said there were two of them!

I couldn't recall reading anything like that in the book either, and it made me start doubting my own memory.

Still, the fortunate thing was that I had a few clues to go on for figuring out who he was.

This Red-Haired Knight—one of the protagonist's rivals—wasn't originally from around here, and had come to Coutner castle a few months before Maylin signed her binding contract. He was currently staying at the count's household under the status of a wandering knight. He was hiding the fact that he was a Sword Master, but his skill with a blade was so plainly extraordinary it couldn't help but show, and House Coutner was doing everything it could to recruit him into the knight order.

So all I had to do was confirm these facts… but first, I felt I needed to work out who this other red-haired knight—the one I hadn't met yet—actually was.

"Where's he supposed to be, exactly?"

I'd climbed the hill behind the manor just as Knight Commander Landale had told me, but the red-haired knight was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah."

Then I saw him. Beneath a green, leaf-heavy oak, a man lying idly asleep.

Even in the shade, his red hair was vivid enough that I knew at a glance he was the man I'd been looking for.

He lay sprawled out, arms and legs thrown wherever they landed, sleeping without the slightest regard for appearances—and yet, somehow, the sight still gave the impression of looking at a masterpiece.

His long lashes and finely drawn features held my eyes far longer than I'd meant to look. Watching that peaceful, beautiful face, it almost seemed as though the birdsong overhead had transformed into the trumpets of angels.

I'd never seen anyone that beautiful. I'd only meant to confirm who he was, but before I knew it, my feet had carried me several steps closer without my meaning them to. The man still hadn't opened his eyes, and I was still too busy looking to notice much else.

Then—

"Stop there."

The cold warning froze me mid-step.

Slowly, the man opened his eyes.

I had expected them to be red—bright, vivid red, to match his hair. They were darker than that. Deep crimson, close enough to black in poor light to be mistaken for it. The lashes, I noticed now, were dark too.

His cold face, unexpectedly, showed not the slightest trace of sleepiness.

Had he not been asleep from the very start?

"Don't come creeping up on me like a rat. State your business."

Rat.

From lips that seemed built only to hold something elegant and beautiful, a vicious word came out.

He rose to a seated position, unhurried, and leaned his back against the tree trunk. Feeling the atmosphere darken by the second, I hurried to speak.

"I'm Maylin."

I didn't know the first thing about how to make friends, but I'd picked up a little from watching the other maids, in the short time I'd spent in this world.

I pulled my lips into a smile. As natural a smile as I could manage, I hoped.

"A-and you, sir knight—what's your name?"

If only I'd remembered the red-haired knight's actual name, I could have saved myself all this digging around. Unfortunately, in the original story, he'd been referred to by his epithet far more often than his name.

What if he just ignores me? Right as that worry crossed my mind—

The man curved his mouth up the same way I just had. With that faint smile added to his angelically beautiful face, I felt something close to rapture.

"I believe I told you to state your business." His tone was pleasant. "Rat bastard."

But what came out of that mouth remained every bit as merciless.

"Not a rat."

I corrected him before I could stop myself. My hand flew up to cover my mouth, but it was already too late.

"Ah."

He picked the thread back up, his tone deliberately artificial, as though he'd just realized something.

"Different business, then? My mistake for not realizing."

"……"

"If you don't mind the open air, I'll take you on right here."

As he said it, he lightly patted his own thigh, twice.

"……"

……What was that supposed to mean?