Chapter 36

An hour ago.

The day of the duel was an unusually clear day for the North, with warm sunlight pouring down. I came down to the training ground first, warmed up, and waited for Roana.

I didn’t have to wait long before Roana appeared on the training ground. Yet, even though it was right before the duel, she smelled of alcohol. Although she had long since stepped down from her knighthood, her fighting spirit was undoubtedly like a sharply honed sword, but her eyes were still devoid of light. Her maid, Vivi, followed, occasionally hurrying to keep up.

The 1st Training Ground, which had been secured for the duel, was already packed with knights, squires, and servants of the Knights’ Order, who had gathered as spectators. It was worthwhile to have intentionally borrowed the 1st Training Ground, which was used as the knights’ training area, to draw the attention of many people.

The expressions of those gathered were, as expected, uniform. Eyes filled with pity that they tried to hide but couldn’t, and expressions utterly lacking any trace of expectation. Everyone was gathered, predicting my defeat.

I looked back at Roana.

“You’ve arrived.”

“…”

Roana gave my greeting a single glance before turning her head away dismissively. She then made a gesture, clearly showing her annoyance, urging Kroel Bihailnea, the current Vice-Commander of the Silver Wolf Knights, to start the duel. Although they knew each other, it was clearly a rude action.

However, the Vice-Commander was no ordinary person either. He completely ignored Roana’s gesture, approached me, and knelt on one knee. His expression was full of a roguish smile.

“…?”

I looked down at him, internally flustered. The posture the Vice-Commander showed me was a greeting that conveyed the greatest respect a knight could offer. It was a form of greeting that had disappeared in recent times, only found in books. It was the first time I had ever seen a knight show such ceremony.

“Sir?”

“Madam, would you please allow me to show my full respect?”

Kroel’s eyes were full of mischief as he spoke with a smile. He subtly glanced sideways.

‘Aha.’

The direction he glanced towards was where Roana was standing. In other words, Kroel’s exaggerated gesture and playful eyes were all directed at Roana.

I naturally played along.

“Thank you for your courteous greeting, Sir Kroel.”

As I gently offered my right hand, he merely pretended to kiss the back of it. However, the distance was so subtle—only noticeable by those involved—that hushed gasps of admiration erupted from the female servants. Roana, meanwhile, glared at the two of us with her arms crossed, as if she had seen something disgraceful.

‘Hmm, it’s clear she sees me as a brazen, shameless, evil fox.’

After the greeting, Kroel stood between Roana and me with a serious expression, as if he had never been joking.

“Now, before the duel, as the guarantor for this duel, I, Kroel Bihailnea, Vice-Commander of the Silver Knights, swear on my knightly honor to observe this duel neutrally.”

Kroel’s booming voice made the declaration to everyone gathered in the training ground. The noisy spectators quieted down and focused their attention on us with a respectful demeanor.

“Furthermore, the swords to be used in this duel will be those I have personally inspected.”

As soon as he finished speaking, two knights from the Silver Knights immediately approached Roana and me, extending swords. Just as Kroel said, the swords in front of Roana and me were identical. They were basic swords, faithful to the fundamentals without special ornamentation.

However, as soon as I picked up the sword, I felt a sense of incongruity.

‘It’s light.’

A normal sword is naturally heavier than a wooden sword. But this sword, while heavier than a wooden sword, was much lighter than a typical sword. It seemed they had made this concession because I was known to be unskilled with a sword.

I chuckled internally, swung the sword once, and checked the grip. Since I didn’t swing it with real intent, it didn’t make the whoosh sound that knights’ swings would make.

“Haa…”

Perhaps deflated by my half-hearted swing, Roana let out an audible sigh. She rotated her arms to lightly loosen her shoulders, then swung her sword with a powerful whoosh.

Unlike me, a sound of slicing the air was heard, but even this sound was not particularly impressive compared to the knights’. Perhaps because of that, Roana also wore an annoyed expression, devoid of any triumphant air.

Seeing that we were ready, Kroel raised his hand.

“Then, let the duel commence. We will consider it a defeat if the opponent admits defeat, is rendered unable to fight, or if a wound is inflicted on the neck.”

Roana stuck her sword into the dirt floor of the training ground and extended her hand to me. As a former knight who had dueled often, she offered the handshake first.

“Go on, try your best.”

The moment we shook hands, Roana clenched my hand tightly, a scornful smirk on her face, seeming to look down on me until the end.

“Thank you for the encouragement.”

My hand was slightly numb after she let go, but I shrugged and took my stance casually. Of course, to make it look like I had just started learning the sword, I took the stance of the standardized Eclipse Grand Ducal Family swordsmanship, which I learned from Nine, instead of the familiar stance taught by Wilhelm. The absolute basics that the squires of the Silver Knights learned. Roana’s face bore an even deeper scornful smile at my clumsy appearance.

‘Let’s see how long you can keep smiling.’

Roana, seemingly wanting to maintain the courtesy of granting the first strike to someone who had just picked up a sword, simply stood holding her weapon. While lightly flicking her sword tip was tantamount to provocation, I had no reason to refuse.

Clang!

The sword I immediately thrust out struck Roana’s sword, creating a sharp sound. Roana, who easily blocked it, let out an even greater sneer.

“You think you can beat me with just that?”

I ignored her words and swung the sword one more time.

Roana, who had been merely standing and blocking my sword, went on the offensive from the third exchange.

Kaa-ang!

The sword aimed at me was surprisingly not difficult to block. It was a light strike, as if she were testing my measure. But even blocking this seemed unexpected to her, as Roana’s eyebrow crookedly rose.

Several more light strikes poured down on me. With each continuous attack, the sneer disappeared from Roana’s face. This was because I was blocking her strikes—which, though light, were not slow—all too well.

“Ha.”

Roana’s gaze turned chilling. She, perhaps not expecting this, began to approach the duel with more seriousness. The clashing swords now carried increasingly heavy power. I could feel her intent to crush me with sheer force.

‘I definitely can’t win with strength alone.’

Meeting force with force is a foolish choice for the weaker party like myself. I subtly angled the blade flat and deflected Roana’s sword away.

“Ha…”

When I neatly deflected a sword that clearly contained considerable power, gasps of astonishment erupted from the spectators. Perhaps because they were people who never expected me to put up such a good fight, their reaction was more intense than I expected. Even those who had offered comforting cheers, thinking I would surely lose, and those who had offered no expectant glances from the start, were now simply gasping with their mouths wide open.

The clamor lasted only a moment before the surprised onlookers quieted down and focused on the duel again. A silence descended over the training ground, where only the sound of Roana’s and my swords clashing now echoed.

Kaa-ang!

The confrontation lasted longer than expected, but I still couldn’t see a clear path to victory. Although Roana appeared to have many openings, they were only areas that had a high chance of being countered or were merely feints.

‘I can’t take such a gamble.’

I was already at a disadvantage since I couldn’t show my full skill. For me, there was only one path to victory: To induce Roana to display the ‘family-inherited swordsmanship of the Eclipse Grand Ducal Family’ that Nine had taught me.

Rather than looking for an opening, I decided to provoke Roana’s temper.

“What even is that swing?”

Mocking her technique, I baited her.

And then—

Slice.

“Ah!”

“…”

The tip of Roana’s black hair, tied in a ponytail, was cut by my sword and fluttered in the wind.

‘It might have seemed like a meaningless sword path to you.’

What I had intended to cut was both her hair and her ‘composure.’

Hushed gasps and exclamations of admiration were heard in succession from the spectators. As I smiled, appearing still composed, Roana spoke in a harsh voice.

“That’s enough of playing around.”

Her angry eyes glared at me as if to kill me. No more openings could be found in her stance. Roana exuded a sharp momentum, as if declaring that the duel until now had been a mere game.

And.

The moment she finally let go of her carelessness toward me.

The very moment she committed to the duel seriously and displayed the proper family-inherited swordsmanship of the Eclipse Grand Ducal Family.

‘I see it.’

It was visible to me, who had watched Nine’s posture countless times and trained daily to exploit weaknesses.

Her opening was one that was even bigger than Nine’s.

Whish!

Clang!

Roana’s sword, struck forcefully from below, flew back significantly.

“Ugh!”

The moment the unbalanced Roana staggered, I quickly thrust my sword towards her neck.

“…”

“…”

The wide training ground was enveloped in silence. A faint line appeared on Roana’s neck, and a small drop of blood formed.

Kroel’s loud voice announced the end of the duel.

“The winner is Grand Duchess Chacha Eclipse!”