Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 11 Episode 3 (section)

===Part 1===
It was a tranquil day with sunlight filtering through trees.

Amidst the sleepy atmosphere, early in the afternoon.

An old soldier with a tall and lean body frowned hearing the sounds of a sword fight from afar.

Fortress city Cross Field, first block.

At a small practice ground that was set up near the government office building made of stone, the thirty members of the White Ridge knight order led by Singlen were doing Drag-Ride training.

Singlen came here with the pretext of doing a regular inspection.

After the number of Ruins that hadn’t been conquered became three, the members of the Seven Dragon Paladins had the duty to watch the situation so they could give as much backup as possible to any faction.

It was called a duty, but in actuality it was something like a check so that no side would try to steal a march.

「I have grown old to doze off like this.」

The old soldier, Zweigbergk smiled wryly while heading to outside the building.

He was walking through the corridor that was illuminated with faint light while recalling a memory from the past.

It was a memory from more than twenty years ago.

A memory at his home country, the Blackend Kingdom──

–

「Sword Saint Zweigbergk. I want you to accept the position of being the private tutor of Earl Shelbrit house starting from the following month.」

Inside the rustic castle made of stone, within a room that had red tapestry hanging down.

Zweigbergk who was serving as the captain of the royal guard was suddenly told about his dismissal in the audience hall one day.

「Does that mean I have served my purpose? I have no memory of offending the ministers in politics to that degree though.」

*Murmur*, the sentence of Zweigbergk that he muttered with a fearless smile caused the lined up officials to stir.

Although he was the knight captain under the direct control of the kingdom, his remark was still too disrespectful for a mere knight.

It displayed his relationship with the king, at the same time it also showed that this retirement was something that he didn’t consent to.

In fact it was exactly like that.

Since Zweigbergk was appointed as the captain of this country’s knight order, his accomplishments were endless, like subduing insurrections altogether and so on.

Indeed his age had reached the middle of his forty, but it was a suitable age if it was in his capacity as commander──no, even in plain swordsmanship and stamina he hadn’t showed any sign of declining, he was a matchless general who couldn’t be matched by anyone.

And yet despite that, he was ordered to retire. Zweigbergk happened to have an idea about the reason.

(This looks like the misgivings of the influential people. There is no way they will be happy knowing that someone like a general that is staying for nearly thirty years in the castle is nearby……huh.)

Although there would be small skirmishes with other countries occasionally, the situation was generally peaceful because their distance from the Old Empire was quite far.

At present, when the public order also wasn’t bad, the existence of a powerful knight would be unmanageable for the statesmen by that much.

For the young king who had just taken over the throne, the presence of this veteran knight would make him unable to maintain his dignity.

「But, it will be regrettable if your skill is left to rust, can I ask you to lend your strength in order to nurture the next generation?」

「Fuh……. Private tutor for Earl Shelbrit’s house is it, certainly they are a prestigious family but──」

Zweigbergk scornfully laughed in his heart.

House of Shelbrit was a noted family that descended from the royal family and had produced knights for many generations. From that description it sounded nice, but if his memory served him right, that family’s behavior wasn’t decent.

The earl that was a feudal lord collected taxes pointlessly and did wild merrymaking, surrounding himself with a lot of mistresses.

He was ridiculed by his surroundings from misusing his authority. It was a house of a stereotypical debauched feudal lord.

However, although Zweigbergk had a rough and bold personality by nature, he couldn’t turn his back on the imperial command of the king.

When he went to the earl’s territory reluctantly the next month, it was a terrible place that surpassed his imagination.

The public order was the worst because the feudal lord lived extravagantly and didn’t do his work.

He held banquets in his ridiculously large stately mansion almost everyday. His several estates that were located in distance were being managed by his sons, but even they had fallen into depravity as a matter of course.

They were only busying themselves with alcohol, woman, and then hunting.

The heirs who were still very young were picking on and beating the servants and maids.

(Calling this a garbage dump won’t be enough.)

If it was like this then naturally Zweigbergk also couldn’t be properly motivated.

A few days after staying there, while he was cutting corners in giving lessons and swordsmanship instructions, he suddenly happened to encounter a certain sight inside the grounds of the earl’s mansion.

「Whoops, watch out, the tutor old man is here!」

「Let’s go! Oi, ooold man! We were only playing just now! Don’t you go tattle on anyone!」

Several children who were making vulgar expressions were running away from the courtyard.

It seemed they were bullying a fellow son of the earl.

Furthermore it was siblings, an elder sister and younger brother who were the children of a mistress who had died from sickness.

(If I remember right their names are──)

The elder sister’s name was Marche, the little brother’s name was Singlen.

He thought those were their names, but he wasn’t particularly motivated to remember their names.

「Can you stand? I’ll lend you a hand. I’ll warn those two later.」

The boy looked like he was around ten years old. Zweigbergk offered his hand to the young boy, but his words were a lie.

They weren’t children who would listen even if he warned them anyway, so he wouldn’t bother to do something pointless.

He only said that on the surface simply because of his obligation, but the boy smiled.

「Thank you for your consideration. But──your assistance is unnecessary.」

「────」

The boy called Singlen was a timid existence who wouldn’t resist even when several of his older brothers hit him.

That first impression was overwritten with a strange out of place feeling the moment he saw the boy’s smile.

Something was strange.

Although he was thinking so at the corner of his mind, at that time he couldn’t give words to it and left from there.

When he went to bed that day, Zweigbergk suddenly noticed.

That behind the boy, there was his sickly elder sister looking uneasy.

And then, while the boy himself was covered all over with bruises, his face, his stomach, his essential vital spots could be said to be completely uninjured.

「Don’t tell me, he intentionally let them hit him?」

In order to defend himself and cover his elder sister from the attack of his elder brothers from different mothers, he purposefully acted insolent and took the role of being a punching bag.

Furthermore his own body wasn’t significantly injured, he handled the attack with only his dynamic vision.

「──Interesting. Just when I thought that I’ll spend my remaining years in boredom as a private tutor.」

Zweigbergk found something to look forward to for the first time as this house’s private tutor. After that he gave every kind of special education to Singlen outside of the public’s eyes.

He was different from the other heirs. He studied diligently and grew strong in the blink of an eye, even so he didn’t strike back at his incompetent elder brothers.

Of course Zweigbergk wasn’t dissatisfied, he also didn’t instigate him by saying things like 『Why don’t you fight back even though you can win』.

It wasn’t because he was devoted to his professional duties, but because he had seen through Singlen’s true nature that was like a hawk hiding its talons.

He understood that even if he won temporarily against his elder brothers’ violence, sooner or later he would meet a counterattack that was entangled with authority.

He pretended to be powerless until he could establish his own strength.

One day he would surely take over this depraved earl house with pure strength and wit.

(How many years will it be until he rises up, I wonder?)

Such prediction and imagination of Zweigbergk was betrayed in less than a few months later.

It wasn’t like that boy was particularly waiting for the day to turn the tables.

While Singlen was away, his elder sister was hit and lost her eyesight. In less than three weeks after that──the serfs within the territory revolted, and the earl’s house was enveloped in flames.

The step brothers who hit the elder sister were all killed without exception, while Singlen and his sister escaped outside.

Zweigbergk noticed that belatedly.

Singlen’s ploy that raised the revolt and guided them through the hole in the mansion’s security.

From the beginning, he was able to destroy the family anytime.

He simply didn’t bother to do it until now, whether it was simply because of his whim, or because of his composure──

A few days later he reunited with the siblings, and when he pointed that out, Singlen smiled without any guilt.

「And, do you intend to throw me into prison, Zwei-sensei?」

The boy looked up at his teacher with an insolent smile till the end. In response, Zweigbergk shook his head.

In exchange he bowed his head and spoke.

「──I wish to be allowed to witness your path of supremacy.」

He said.

He swore his loyalty not to a prodigy who appeared every one hundred years, but to an inhuman monster with unknown depth.

Like that the relationship of the two continued until now.

It didn’t change even after that terrifying incident that occurred in the Blackend Kingdom.

「…………」

When Zweigbergk came back to himself, he saw Singlen having light practice against the knight order members in the practice ground.

The practice ground was a small space with ring shape that was surrounded by solid ramparts.

There, a knight order member wearing Wyvern was swinging his sword in full strength, sometimes he would pull his gun’s trigger, but Singlen who was piloting a Drake wasn’t even grazed.

If that was all, then it wouldn’t be something particularly surprising but,

「Vice captain-dono. That’s, what is he doing? How can Sir Singlen dodge with his eyes closed?」

When he noticed, a rookie member was standing beside him. He was muttering with a dumbfounded tone.

「It’s the lord’s secret technique, Battle Array – Moon Reflection. By touching the opponent’s Drag-Ride using Wire Tail, he can predict the enemy’s next movement through the mechanical sound of the Drag-Ride.」

The internal driving force of a Drag-Ride would move the frame before causing the next movement.

But, predicting that with only sound and vibration could be called as a superhuman special move.

Since Ruins were discovered more than ten years ago, Zweigbergk had also acquired skill that wouldn’t put shame on the title Sword Saint, but Singlen’s talent was in a different dimension.

Zweigbergk answered indifferently while walking towards his lord who had finished training.

「Just as my lord expected, Queen Raffi is heading to Cross Field. I believe that she is likely intending to have a secret talk. There is no progress with the search of Dragon Marauder and the Moon.」

「I see.」

「What should we do? Lux Arcadia is taking action that is deviating from my lord’s predictions. If it stays like this, even the possibility to exceed Magialca’s position will be──」

「Kukuku, isn’t that something joyous instead? If that man surpasses my expectations, then we can even just have him become hero as it is. The hero who save this world.」

In contrast his lord, Singlen Shelbrit was grinning fearlessly.

More than ten years after that, there were various incidents and his elder sister too had departed from this world.

The man who constantly hid his fangs tore off the chains binding him and transformed into the Blue Tyrant.

He didn’t try to hide his true strength and changed his method to dominate over other people by a display of strength.

(──Even so, there is just one thing that is still the same.)

Those who touched the scale of the dragon called Singlen, would meet ruin with certainty. (TN: In Japan there is a saying of touching the scale of a dragon, which means offending someone so badly.)

「By your will. Then I will proceed as planned.」

Zweigbergk shivered at the bottom of his heart towards this terrifying existence.

But, for some reason, he also felt similar fear towards that man called Lux too.