"!!!!!!"
"!!!!!!!!!!"
My body froze for an instant at the sudden turn of events.
Not missing that opening,
"Urgh···."
Grover swung his sword and landed an attack on me.
No, but seriously, this was too damn unfair.
How often does a sword break in the middle of a fight?
I’d been using that sword for years, damn it.
It was the sword I’d had since I first became a mercenary, and it had never given me any trouble until now.
Still, if there was one fortunate thing even in this situation,
— Shring.
It was that I had one more sword, the one I’d pulled out on Mount Tusnis.
‘It looks like a famous blade, but I don’t know if it’ll hold up.’
This was only the second time I’d used this sword.
The first time was against the mutated boar I’d caught while carrying out a request with the mercenary corps,
and the second time, I was using it against a person.
When I swung it the first time, I hadn’t really thought this sword was particularly good.
I just figured that since I’d infused it with aura and swung it, of course it had cleanly sliced through the mutated boar.
I hadn’t thought that I’d been able to cut down the mutated boar because of this sword’s abilities or anything like that.
So I was worried that this sword might also fail to withstand Grover’s techniques and shatter, but,
"Wow··· holy shit."
That worry turned out to be needless.
The moment I infused aura into the sword, the wide-open sensation I felt was so addictive it was unreal. It was the kind of sword anyone would recognize as a masterpiece.
Maybe the difference just felt that much stronger because I’d been using an ordinary iron sword until now?
Anyway,
with this sword, it felt like I could fully block every one of Grover’s attacks.
And in reality,
— Clang!
"!!!!!!!"
starting with rebounding Grover’s slash,
— Sssssk!!
then smoothly letting his sword slide past,
— Fwoooosh!!!!
I was even able to counterattack with aura infusing at an even faster rate.
"Urgh."
Faced with the suddenly changed situation, he took up a defensive stance again and seemed to start thinking things through.
‘If I give you that opening, I’d be an idiot.’
That’s right. I had to win.
This wasn’t some wager between knights where we had to value honor and fight fair and square.
I had no honor to protect.
???: Your parents would···!!
‘I don’t have parents?’
???: Your honor as a mercenary··!!!
‘Society looks down on me even when I’m doing nothing?’
·····.
Then who the hell can stop me now???????
Win. Complete the request.
That was all there was to being a mercenary.
I thrust my sword without stopping.
— Clang! Clang-clang! Clang-clang-clang!
I stabbed.
I swung.
If one side was blocked, I stabbed from the other,
and if stabbing didn’t work, I cut.
But Grover handled it quite skillfully.
Someone might think he was being pushed back because he wasn’t counterattacking and was only defending,
but this response actually meant he was calm and still had enough mental composure.
I didn’t like that about him.
If he was just calm, I could have let it pass. But the calmness on his face carried the arrogance of “I won’t lose to a mere commoner like you,” and it made irritation surge up inside me.
‘Now that it’s come to this··· the chance is now.’
Before Grover can understand me any further,
before he can figure out my patterns, my preferred angles and timing, and respond to them, I have to end this.
I declared confidently.
"That smug face of yours. I’ll crush it for you."
"What did you say··?"
Yeah, that expression that says I’m spouting nonsense.
Sorry, but that really hurts my pride, you know?
While working as a mercenary until now, I’d met countless nobles.
Every single time, their expressions were like that.
We are different from you. You are meat shields. A lowly group that does anything for money.
Even while hearing crap like that, I had no choice but to swallow it down inside, smile, and bow and scrape before my employers.
Because that was my social position.
But now it was different.
Within this event called the tournament, I was allowed to beat that guy as much as I wanted.
On top of that, I no longer needed to live while watching the nobles’ moods.
I was going to live as a meat shield solely for the Hero’s Party anyway, so what did nobles matter?
Right now, we weren’t separated by class. We were temporarily equal.
— Fwoooooosh!!!!!!!
Aura blazed up violently.
The dark-red flames flowed like the corners of a demon’s mouth, until the sword that was supposed to be the core could no longer be seen.
To the point where it was impossible to tell whether the blade was ordinary iron or dark-red flame.
***
At the very moment I was burning with that resolve, another vision unfolded before my eyes.
A man stood before me.
He was being swallowed by flames.
It was as if he were using himself as firewood to make the blaze burn fiercely.
Even so, the fire was calmer than I expected.
Then suddenly,
— Fwoosh!
The man’s long, neat coat began to sway up and down.
— Shring.
He drew his sword and took his stance.
I didn’t know what was in front of him.
I didn’t know why I felt that this man was enraged right now.
A monster? Or an enemy? Or perhaps···
him···self?
Well, none of that really mattered.
All I could see was how he was rotating his aura at that moment.
What his footwork was like, how he swung his sword, what angles he used.
Only the series of movements he performed in order to unleash that technique.
The man swung his sword.
As if the morning sunlight were spreading out and setting the world alight.
The sword path the man drew horizontally was like radiant light.
The scene he unfolded began to take root in my mindscape.
***
"Haaah!!"
When I came to my senses, I was back in the situation from before.
The very moment I had shouted that I would peel off Grover’s face and was about to attack.
The time that had passed while I fell into and returned from the vision was truly only an instant.
But influenced by that instant, my heart began to pound.
Under the control of my unconscious mind, my aura instinctively tried to recreate the scene I had just seen.
I was still far from reaching that level, but even so, it tried to follow that sword strike.
That world where such complicated will had merged together,
collided head-on with Grover’s world through my sword.
"Heaven-Guarding Sacred Flame Sword (守天聖火劒), First Form, Sinjo Gaehwa (申朝開火)."
The perfect dawn drawn in a horizontal line,
— Hissss.
spread out as it evaporated his aura.
And by the time all the smoke that bloomed from it had cleared, he had already—
— Baaang!!!!!!!!
Thud.
collapsed unconscious.
A large burn mark had been left on the outer wall of the arena.
The referee was flustered by the sight unfolding before his eyes, but soon came to his senses and,
"The winner, Evan!"
officially declared that I was the victor of this short tournament.
No one cheered for him.
This was not that kind of tournament.
But only one person was quietly clapping, the only one congratulating him.
Of course, the sound was so small that it would never reach him.
***
A few days later.
I was spending my days as usual.
After the tournament ended, Grover’s family, House Ceylon, had officially protested and attempted to have punishment brought down on me.
They were a count’s family, so I had wondered if something might happen, but,
"The duel between Evan and Grover was a fair match carried out under the approval of the imperial family, so no responsibility can be assigned."
As expected, it was just as expected.
I might not be recorded in history either, but from the moment I won the tournament, I could be considered a member of the Hero’s Party.
They had to cover for me at least that much.
I thought that from now on, maybe it’d be okay for me to puff my shoulders up a little when it came to this sort of thing···
With that thought, I was excitedly walking through the streets, partly to take a stroll, when,
"Please stop!"
"Heh heh, what can’t we do, miss? Knocking over your herb basket? Or··· walking around with such big breasts openly on display?"
I saw Bell surrounded by thugs in a narrow alley.
"Hey, you sons of bitches!!"
When I shouted and cursed, they turned back toward me.
I drove a roundhouse kick into their stupid heads and gathered them into a corner of the alley, dealing with them all at once.
The patrols in Roten Castle weren’t as tight as I’d thought.
If just a little more time had passed, something dangerous might have happened.
"Phew··· are you all right?"
"Ah! Yes! I’m all right··· thanks to you·····."
She turned red.
The tips of Bell’s ears were dyed red.
With a slightly teasing tone, I asked Bell,
"Are you getting embarrassed over something like this?"
"No··· ummm·····."
— Whiiiiistle!!!!!
The sound of a kettle boiling came from somewhere, and for a while, Bell said nothing.
First, I took Bell to a nearby park and had her sit down.
After a little time passed, Bell seemed to calm down somewhat and opened her mouth.
"I was startled because they suddenly rushed toward me··· and in that kind of situation, you saved me like a hero from a storybook····· It just felt···· yes··· it felt kind of strange."
But her words didn’t enter my ears at all.
Cute.
Her reaction was just far too cute.
This was something not only I, but anyone would say was cute if they saw it.
I wasn’t the strange one. She had more than enough charm.
To change the mood a little, I brought up another topic.
"Have you been gathering herbs well these days?"
"Yes! What you taught me last time was helpful····."
And so began our conversation.
I chatted with Bell in the park for quite a while.
When it felt a little boring, we drank coffee at a nearby café,
and at times, we looked at the fountain and laughed over pointless jokes.
Before I knew it, the sun was slowly beginning to set.
"Um··· I should probably get going now. I have friends waiting for me."
"Ah···."
I was a little disappointed, but I decided to let her go.
After all, there should still be a little more time left.
There would be plenty of chances to see her in the future.
"Understood. Please get home safely."
"Yes··· y···· you too, Evan···."
We exchanged farewells like that and parted.
I returned straight to my lodging.
In this state, with these feelings, training or anything else was hopeless.
That evening, I tossed and turned in bed and fell asleep with quite some difficulty.
***
The next day.
I once again walked around various parts of the city.
With a slight expectation that perhaps I might be able to meet Bell again today.
But,
unfortunately, it seemed the time given to me was not as plentiful as I’d thought.
"You will need to follow us to the marquis’s castle shortly."
It seemed the Hero’s Party was about to leave this place.