Well, today as usual I was doing my morning training with Ogakichi-kun when the Rusty Iron Knight who was in the middle of a match against one of my Black Skeleton Knights (Though not with his rust colored armor), requested to spar with me for a while.
Most other species will flee and their pride is easily destroyed compared to some humans, wherein, at the lowest ranks of society, Goblins and Ogres are treated the same as livestock. Yet, treating them as mere livestock means that, if their spirits aren't broken, they will attempt something foolish such as beating their own heads against the wall in an attempt to kill themselves. But, for now they seem to just do their training in silence.
I will say though, even when he (Rusty Iron Knight) was turned into a slave, he came to me with spirit still in his eyes. Being as tall as he is, he was able meet me eye to eye. Liking the strong spirit I saw in his gaze I decided to accept the bout.
As for the fight, the Rusty Iron Knight is certainly no push-over, his fighting techniques are certainly well refined and powerful, but I simply have far too great of an advantage overall. He by far has the best finesse of any human I have come across thus far, his battle prowess claimed to originate through his victories in battle. Also, I feel the need to mention that I wasn't using any of my abilities, especially those that enhances my physical performance to surpass my limits as an Ogre [subspecies] and Osoreiru. Similar to when I killed the adventurers in Velvet's Labyrinth, it was something that I greatly wanted to do.
During the bout I discovered various details about the Rusty Iron Knight
Job-Warrior - Level "100"
Job-Knight - Level "100"
Job-Monk - Level "62"
Job-Templar Knight - Level "25"
And so the Rusty Iron Knight has four combat Jobs, it seems like all his training and efforts up till now has borne fruit.
The Rusty Iron Knight's fist is both powerful and fast, his body stiff yet agile, allowing him to strike at my weakest points with lightning fast movements that don't lose out in precision.
Each of his various techniques lets out a pale white light. It seems that these are some of the techniques unique to 'Jobs' that the human race possess. He called these techniques [Combat Maneuver Arts]. Hmm, these could be quite useful. He has already proven himself to be quite the difficult enemy to face, though he still cannot be compared to the Lord of the Mountain that had surpassed all others within the forest.
The spar resulted in my victory, though a loss would have been doubtful to begin with. I used several of the [Combat Maneuver Arts] that I had gained from the previous battles against the human army, such as the ability that imparts a variety of effects to attack all at once and some support techniques. Albeit the fight was a last-minute victory as would be with Ogakichi-kun as the Rusty Iron Knight is quite skilled, not to mention the annoyance of being the sparing partner to someone who used spear-like weapons.
As of now we will be sparring using only our abilities. Though to do so, appropriate preparation would be necessary.
I used [Job-Enchanter] on the hemp T-shirt and long-pants that the Rusty Iron Knight is currently using to add [Strengthen-Body], [Resilience-up], and [Defense-up] to his cloths.
Though the Rusty Iron Knight showed a surprised face when he realized what I had done, I still have [Job-Guardian] which significantly increases the defense skills of [Lord of the Mountain's Stout Hide], [Job-Monk] and [Lord of the Mountain's Strong, Supple Muscles].
I still can't use the peak of my abilities at these levels, besides not wanting to kill the opponent, I also want to not instill fear upon my partner. When it is not kept at a certain level, I could mistakenly fire off a number of different abilities. Its just a hassle to adjust since I still need to pass through the strengthening I subjected to the Rusty Iron Knight.
I'll describe the results of my bout with the Rusty Iron Knight. Currently, the Rusty Iron Knight looks like a tattered figure lying on the floor, there are some guts scattered about across the floor. He was simply far to zealous for me to help myself. But, Well, I think that's okay though, because he fainted with that quiet happy face of his. After I healed him Ogakichi-kun noticed and came over to chat with me. From the look of it, I think he has been wanting to fight.
"Well, Ogakichi-kun, you want to go at the Rusty Iron Knight with your bare hands?"
When it comes to Ogakichi-kun and the Rusty Iron Knight, these two will surely be my antagonist in the bare hands game.
When it comes to Ogakichi-kun in battle, he has always been able to overwhelm his opponents until the Rusty Iron Knight finally became his opponent. Ogakichi-kun still has a greater presence with his magic items he's got from Violet's Dungeon. Before their bout began, it was already evident that both sides were as excited as children.
So with both now fighting with their bare hands, they have every intention to win this time around. Without relying on their items, but with their own bodies.
But I needed to postpone the bout a little while longer. Some time needed to pass so that the Rusty Iron Knights body could fully recover. At that state it was obvious that the Rusty Iron Knight was at a handicap.
After he had been allowed to recover from the devastating knock-out I had dealt him, he fought against Ogakichi-kun. It was a good fight with the elemental spec's of both parties. The bout lasted for quite awhile and ended up in a standstill with Ogakichi-kun just barely wresting victory by a slim margin.
Still, the Rusty Iron Knight was very adaptable to the flame of discomfort that Ogakichi-kun released. During lunch, I tried to listen to him while exchanging some of my personal cache of elven wine.
According to him, the Rusty Iron Knight wishes to relinquish his loyalties to the Empire, "Because I want to join your side".
As you listen to his life's story, somehow the Rusty Iron Knight was born and raised in a place where there was a lot of race discrimination in the region of Toka. It wasn't like many other places in either the Kingdom or the Empire because there were quite a lot of sub-races. Since I do not know the surrounding reasons that humans dislike the sub-races to such an extent, though there are some things you just don't openly talk about. Because it was probably some daily occurrences of fist-fights where he grew up in, the Rusty Iron Knight basically obeyed a stronger person like myself, that's the general idea of it anyway.
He had decided to serve the empire because he had lost a fight against the former leader of the knights, which he had belonged to. His loyalty to the empire was surprisingly little. When the new leader of the knights took over, some rich-boy aristocrat who he didn't even know the name of, who after the previous battle had died on the field. Nevertheless, he stayed because he was convinced there might still be merit to be had by serving as a knight. Still, having the Rusty Iron Knight around will prove rather useful, he might even prove capable of being one of my leaders if he proves himself over time.
Therefore, there was neither Liege nor Master that the current Rusty Iron Knight held any loyalty to. Or rather, he hated a number of individuals back in the Empire he came from. As long as it stays as is, it should be fine to put up with.
Since the predecessor had died, his fellow Knights that he had eaten the same food from the same pot and shed blood side by side with was his only reason he had for remaining with the Knights. The current Noble leader had seen to it that a lot of Noble stiffs were placed into the platoon, causing his team members to be exchanged with other Nobles that the leader had affiliations to. So now the Rusty Iron Knight, who was the deputy leader of the group, is now the last remaining original member left. He remained for the purpose of training the members. He stood in the position of the instructor so the result could be stalwart troops.
By the way, that Noble leader is dead from being splattered by the falling rocks. Come to think of it, that was the case for a lot of the men who had worn luxurious armor when the stones fell down...
Now back to the present ...
The Rusty Iron Knight was very discontent with the current situation because many of the Nobles had gained their positions by practically having it handed to them. None of them went through the effort of climbing the ranks from a commoner and not one of them could understand his way of thinking. The number of bickering personnel had constantly been increasing as of late. Until he had met us, the Rusty Iron Knight had been contemplating relinquishing his duties.
He probably believes it's destiny, and indeed it might be that way.
This is indeed a straightforward man.
Because the slave rings induces you to vomit via [Instructions] so that its not possible to lie, there is no doubt about his words. The Rusty Iron Knight is quite useful and i decided to accept his request to join us. He should prove to have even greater use than the elves.
As such, I released the Rusty Iron Knight from his collar, attaching the cuff to his ear. His Spear and armor set will be returned after the cuff is attached.
Now he is back to the appearance of the Rusty Iron Knight.
I have high hopes for success in the future for the Rusty Iron Knight.
Currently he is now working directly under me, and reports to me and only me.
That afternoon, I decided to go out to a usual location for hunting and the future location of the ambush. Meanwhile, the Rusty Iron Knight and Redhead were together so I decided ask Redhead about her [Combat Maneuver Arts]. She claims to have only six in total.
The power to slash with only one swing
[Slash]
To have a chance of inhibiting the movement of the enemy by beating him with a shield
[Shield Bash]
Feeding th