episode_0026

Episode 26

“Umm…”

The feeling of a soft bed, it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve had a really good night’s sleep.

‘…was it all a dream?’

I think I had a dirty dream last night, but I don’t remember it very well.

Perhaps it was because Rose de Baston had been tempting me so much recently that I had another dirty dream.

‘Wait… why did I get out of bed?’

-Sigh…

-Wobbling…

‘Squishy?’

As I reached out to get out of bed, something soft and squishy caught my hand.

“Oh my, did you sleep well, Leon?”

“…”

-Rustling…

I got out of bed without saying a word and went into the doghouse with a nameplate that had ‘Leon♡’ written in fancy letters.

“Hehehe, you don’t have to be embarrassed.”

As I looked at Rose’s face, the humiliating events of the previous night began to come back to me, one by one, and soon I remembered all the strange orders she had given me using the contract the night before.

…One thing is certain: what happened last night was not entirely my will.

‘…I will not give in.’

There isn’t much time left now.

I will win the tournament tomorrow and use the wish I get to escape from the Duke of Baston.

#

The second day of the tournament, the main event of one-on-one duels, has begun.

-Booow…!

-Wow!

The horn signaling the start of the main event blew, and the cheers of the crowd filled the arena.

-Clang!

I changed into tournament-ready chainmail armor and inspected my sword and other equipment.

-Today’s first contestant! Lady Rose de Baston’s slave knight! Leoon!

-Wow!

As soon as the host finished introducing me, cheers erupted from the audience.

“Good luck, Leon.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Amir, who failed to advance to the main tournament, sent me a message of support as I headed to the arena.

-That opponent! Pablooo of the Knights of Baston!

-Wow!

Coincidentally, Pablo, who had previously been defeated by me, became my first opponent.

Pablo, who had come up on the other side, was glaring at me as if he was going to kill me.

“I haven’t forgotten the humiliation from last time! This time, you won’t be as lucky as you were then and beat me!”

“…”

He must have forgotten that he used the Sword Aura, which was forbidden in sparring, and this time he is acting like he is being used against others.

-From now on, we’ll have a one-on-one duel between Leon and Pablo-JAAAH!

-Booong…!

-Clang!

As soon as the horn sounded to signal the start of the duel, he raised his sword and took up his stance.

This time, Pablo doesn’t rush in without warning, perhaps because there are a lot of people watching.

For a while, Pablo and I stood in front of each other, slowly closing the distance between us.

Pablo’s appearance of fluttering and changing his stance abruptly as I changed the position of the sword seemed unusually cautious.

‘Let’s shake it once.’

-Koosh!

“Ugh!”

He charged his left foot with mana, kicked the ground, lowered his stance, and rushed towards Pablo.

Pablo slashes down with his sword from above to block my sword thrusting in from a low position.

He withdrew from his stabbing stance and immediately concentrated more mana into his feet, moving behind him in an instant.

“Fuck!”

Pablo turned around quickly and swung his sword, but I was much faster at putting my sword to his neck.

-Clang!

“…I lost.”

-Wow! That’s cool!

-The winner of the first match is Leo!

“Hoo…”

Fortunately, it didn’t consume much mana.

I would be given a break until my next turn, but it would take quite some time to refill my mana, so I had to manage my mana efficiently until the finals.

-Let’s go straight to the next game!

As I walked down the arena and looked around the stands, I saw Rose de Baston looking down at me from the VIP section with her greedy blue eyes shining.

Rose waves happily as our eyes meet.

I tried hard not to see her and hurried down the arena.

-Tingle!

A chill ran down my spine for a moment, and I quickly turned my gaze in the direction I felt the gaze.

“Ha…!”

Suddenly, not far from Rose, the hateful Duke Clement de Baston was looking down at me with a smile.

‘This is interesting, Leon de Normand, or rather, just Leon now. You were Rose’s slave…!’

“You’re shamelessly pretending not to know.”

I could hear his voice speaking directly into my head.

‘There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding, Leon. Because of the contract, I can no longer do anything to you or the Duke of Normandy. It is truly a coincidence and the will of my daughter Rose to have you as her slave.’

“…”

‘Ah, let’s stop talking here. I’ve reached my limit for talking like this because of the contract, so if you want to talk more, you’ll have to come see me in person.’

With that story, Clément de Baston’s voice was never heard again.

If you want to talk more, come find me.

Even if that weren’t the case, I was thinking of asking Rose to use her wish to meet him after this tournament.

When I heard his voice, cold anger spread through my chest like wildfire again.

‘…First of all, winning.’

I calmed my boiling anger and returned to the waiting area.

##

The road to the finals was fairly smooth.

I have been defeating my opponents in short battles to conserve mana and stamina as much as possible.

The finals had arrived, and as expected, my opponent in the finals was Auguste, a strong player in the 5th rank.

-Finally! It’s the long-awaited finals!

“Hoo…”

I’m not in perfect condition, but neither am I, and if I just win this duel, I’ll be the winner.

-The first contestant to advance to the finals! Leoooon, who defeated all his opponents in one go and advanced to the finals with a terrifying momentum!!!

-Wow!

As soon as the host introduced himself, I slowly climbed up onto the arena.

-The second contestant to advance to the finals! A strong member of the Knights of Baston who has defeated all his opponents with overwhelming strength and skill! Augusteee!!!

-Waaah!! Win! Don’t lose to a slave!

I definitely felt that there were more voices rooting for Auguste than for me.

“Seeing him fight, I have to admit that he’s a pretty skilled guy.”

Auguste, who had come up to the arena, looked at me with an arrogant expression and opened his mouth.

“…”

“But that doesn’t mean that the difference in hierarchy can be easily overcome. If there’s even a two-level difference, it’s virtually impossible for you to beat me.”

Auguste slowly draws his sword and continues to open his mouth.

“Your victory ends here. If you fight me with such mediocre skills, you’ll get hurt badly, so why don’t you surrender and go down now?”

“You’ve been telling me for a long time that you’re scared of me.”

“What, what did you say?”

“If you’re a Chevalier, you should talk with your sword like a Chevalier, not just open your mouth like that.”

“This kid!”

Auguste had been making a lot of noise since a while ago, so I just threw in a word.

Auguste’s face immediately turns red, his forehead blushing as if my provocation had worked.

-The finals are about to begin! Let’s do this!

-Clang!

Looking at his angry expression, I thought he would rush at me, but he was definitely an experienced strong man, so Auguste carefully took a stance and began to examine me.

‘There are almost no gaps.’

Perhaps even that visible gap could be a trap.

‘Even when sparring with my father, he told me never to go in if someone stronger than me showed an opening.’

For a while, Auguste and I were exploring each other in a circle.

-Clang… Clang…

In the arena filled with silence, only the sound of Auguste and I’s footsteps could be heard.

A fierce sword fight unfolded, with each side occasionally switching positions with their swords, and after a while, it was Auguste who made the first move.

-Bang!

A silver shell flew towards me with a sound like a cannon being fired.

-Kaaaang!! Kagak! Kagakak!

After a fierce first clash, their swords clashed twice more.

The sound of steel clashing with steel, sparks flying, and blades grinding against blades was ear-stimulating.

-Percussion!

The moment Auguste takes some distance to catch his breath after I block all the attacks.

‘now!’

He rushed at him half a beat quickly, without giving his opponent time to catch his breath.

“Crash!”

-Kaang!

Auguste, who had changed his posture abruptly when I suddenly came in half a beat earlier, seemed flustered.

The moment when you try to keep pushing and pressuring him.

-Zzz!

‘What the…’

-Crunch! Crack!

For a split second, the sword aura of Auguste’s sword that was blocking my sword flashed and then disappeared.

I hastily pulled the sword away, but the tip of my sword was already cut off and its length was shortened.

“This dirty little bastard…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you should have taken better care of your equipment.”

-Ahh! Leon’s sword couldn’t withstand the impact and broke! This puts Leon at a huge disadvantage.

-Yes, that’s right. The sword has been shortened, which means that from now on, you’re at a huge disadvantage in street fights! It’s a crisis!

-Ah, is this where Leon’s victory ends? Is it true that the difference in rank is inevitable?

To an untrained eye, it would have looked like my sword simply broke from the impact, but he had clearly used Sword Aura to cut my sword in half and shatter it.

Unless you’re a sharp-eyed swordsman, it’s not easy to tell from this distance that he’s using Sword Aura.

I turned my gaze to the judges, but they seemed to not notice anything.

“Tsk…”

Perhaps no one noticed that Auguste had used the Sword Aura except the Duke of Baston, the Grand Master Marceau, and the Vice-Grand Master Diego.

Since protesting wouldn’t have much effect anyway, I decided to immediately correct my posture and continue the duel.

‘Now is not the time to be picky.’

Since we have little mana left from the previous attack, we must make a decision in this attack.

-Bang!

Finally, I squeezed out my mana and rushed towards Auguste.

“Uh-huh… Are you in a hurry?”

“…”

He gathered mana in his left hand and extended his right hand, holding the sword, towards Auguste.

“My victory!”

The moment he swung his sword down from above as if to split me in half as I charged straight towards Auguste.

“Flash.”

-Flash!

A flash of magic burst out from my left hand.

-Whoaaah!

“Kkaaaak!”

The light that hurt his eyes dimmed and on the arena, Auguste was on his knees, screaming, with his eyes covered, having been cut diagonally from his left shoulder to his right side.

-No way! The winner is… Leon! It’s Leon!

– Flash magic! I’ve never seen a knight use magic during a duel! Leon wins in style with Flash magic!

-Wow!!

-Leon! Leon! Leon!

-Crash!

He buried the broken sword into the ground and supported his body, which was shaking due to the depletion of mana.

“Hoo…”

-The winner of the tournament is Leon!!!

I won.