Ch.45Duel #8

The sound of muscles and bones cracking was distinctly satisfying.

It was such a pleasing sound that I momentarily let my guard down.

Of course, finding it pleasing doesn’t mean I have sadistic tendencies. It was simply the relief of knowing the end was near.

Anyway, thanks to twisting with all my might, the knight’s arm had become a complete rag.

He was severely injured to the point where treatment would be impossible, at least for this battle.

In other words, he didn’t even have the strength to grip his sword.

“You, you dare…!”

The knight gritted his teeth as he glared at me from a distance.

Even in his agony, he had suffered the humiliation of having his sword taken away. As a knight, he couldn’t help but be furious. I would have been angry too if I were in his position.

“How pitiful and pathetic.”

I waved the sword ostentatiously, pretending to be solemn.

Even to myself, I thought my words and expression were perfectly provocative, tinged with a nobleman’s arrogance.

“You… you wretch! I’ll tear you to pieces!”

Enraged by my taunt, the knight charged at me with his dangling arm.

Depending on the person, a face mixed with pain and anger might look desperate yet pitiful.

It seemed as though he couldn’t completely let go of his attachment.

Of course, I think it’s right not to give up even in such a situation.

And it’s understandable that he’d be angry after having his sword arm turned to rags by a young opponent he had been underestimating.

It would be stranger if he weren’t angry.

Anyway, after my provocation, I swung my fist at the sword in my hand several times, thoroughly shattering the blade.

Fragments of the blade scattered to the floor, and the once straight, clean sword was left with nothing but a pitiful hilt.

I had taken precautions to make it unusable in case it was somehow taken back.

“Tsk.”

The charging knight still looked menacing, but there was something deflated about him.

It was because the sight of him approaching with no sword, just a dangling arm, looked like he was begging to be captured.

I clicked my tongue, lowered my waist, and rushed toward the man.

I was going for a tackle, the kind you might see in wrestling.

“Ugh?!”

A shock like two speeding cars colliding enveloped my entire body.

It was bearable, but if I hadn’t slightly turned my body sideways, the impact might have been enough to crush my head.

It was an impact that naturally made me grimace, so my opponent couldn’t have escaped the pain either.

Moreover, having charged with a twisted arm, his pain must have been at least twice the shock I felt.

His painful groan was proof of that.

“You, you dog…!!”

The knight raised his good arm high, spewing curses like a common thug.

It seemed he intended to strike my exposed back with all his might and, if possible, shatter my spine.

However, the knight couldn’t achieve his intention.

Because I lowered my posture further and lifted his thighs with all my strength.

“Wh-what…?!”

As I straightened my waist, the knight’s upper body faced the ground.

It was quite burdensome to lift him due to the combined weight of his build and armor.

I probably wouldn’t have even attempted to lift him if I couldn’t enhance my body with mana.

“Hup!”

I flipped his legs with all my might, and the knight was swept along with a dumbfounded cry.

As a result, he flew through the air as if grandly tumbling, landing back-first on the training ground floor.

It felt like flipping over a dining table.

“Gahk!”

A painful groan escaped the knight’s mouth. It was understandable that the impact was severe, having landed on his back while wearing armor.

Although armor reduces damage, it doesn’t cushion impact like an airbag.

Not missing the opportunity, I lifted one of the knight’s legs as if embracing it, and twisted it with all my might, just as I had done with his arm.

Whether it was because the body part was larger or because I applied more force, I’m not sure… but the eerie sound that hit my ears was incomparable to when I twisted his arm.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

“Nngh, nnnngh!!”

He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even properly groan, yet his voice was loud enough to spread far across the training ground.

Looking at his voice and his expression contorted in pain, I almost felt my heart soften involuntarily.

But I didn’t stop there and twisted his other leg with all my might as well.

Once again, a painful groan forced its way through the knight’s lips.

Having broken it with the intention of shattering it, he wouldn’t be able to walk right away.

“Phew…”

Only after realizing that this knight could no longer move could I finally catch my breath.

His legs were ruined, he had no sword, and only one arm was still functional.

I wasn’t letting my guard down, but I couldn’t deny that the situation had become very favorable.

“Ah! Jion…!”

While I was staring at the knight, Helena’s exclamation reached my ears.

It was a voice thick with relief that I wasn’t hurt, rather than joy.

I couldn’t see her face, so I didn’t know what expression she was making, but I imagined it wasn’t much different from her voice.

However, the duel wasn’t over yet.

I stopped myself from turning to look at Helena and shifted my gaze to the knight’s intact arm.

If he hadn’t been wearing armor, I would have shattered small areas with striking techniques, but because he was armored, I had to use joint techniques.

If he had been wearing even light armor, it wouldn’t have come to this. It’s truly regrettable.

“What will you do? Do you surrender?”

To the knight who had already suffered humiliation worse than death, I offered a chance to save his life.

I never wanted to kill for the sake of killing, and I wanted to avoid situations where killing became necessary.

“Y-you bastard…! Just… kill me!”

Instead of begging for his life, the knight grimaced and demanded to be killed.

It seemed as if he couldn’t forgive himself for allowing things to go this far due to a moment of carelessness, and I thought perhaps he knew that even if he survived, he would never receive the same treatment as before.

If someone were to ask why I thought so, I would tell them to find the answer in Count Killinear’s contemptuous gaze.

“…Very well.”

I didn’t offer any hollow words about easing his pain.

I simply stepped on the upper arm of the knight’s good arm to immobilize it, then bent down to end his life with a dirk I drew from inside my jacket.

“Then, farewell.”

“W-wait…!”

Just as I was crouching down to plunge the dirk, the knight shouted with an urgent look.

It seemed his thoughts had changed when the moment of death was upon him, but the result was regrettable.

The tip of the dirk was already touching his Adam’s apple, making his cry too late.

“Guh, gurgle…”

Bloody foam bubbled from the knight’s mouth, and his eyes, which had been wide open with all his might, lost their strength and showed only the whites.

When I placed my hand under his nose, there was no sign of breathing, confirming he was completely dead.

With that, I twisted the dirk blade inside his neck once before pulling it out.

It might seem somewhat cruel, but it was intended as a confirmation kill, given that the opponent was a knight.

“He’s dead.”

“…Hmm. So it is. The winner of this duel is Jion Altram.”

As I bowed my head with a somber voice, the king also declared my victory in a low voice.

He might be pleased that the side he could call his own, the Duke’s side, had won, but the process had been uncomfortable, so it was understandable that he couldn’t simply rejoice.

Still, there was no denying that I had won.

“I’m so glad you’re safe…!”

Helena grabbed both my hands tightly and smiled as soon as I stepped down from the training ground.

There were strange glances because of the atmosphere where smiling seemed impossible, but on the other hand, they seemed to understand. After all, we had somewhat escaped from a situation where we were about to be sold as slaves.

“I’m the one who’s fortunate to have won. It’s all thanks to your training, Lady Helena.”

“Really… really thank goodness…”

As I comforted Helena, who kept murmuring how fortunate it was, I gave a slight nod to Ellen, who was climbing onto the training ground behind her.

Since I couldn’t speak to her in this situation, I was trying to encourage her this way.

Fortunately, Ellen seemed to read my thoughts and nodded with a slight smile.

“Redhood…”

“No matter how desperate for victory, to bring in such filth…”

The hatred that had cooled briefly due to Helena’s and my duel raised its head again. The contemptuous gazes and voices directed at Ellen were enough to dampen one’s spirits even for someone who wasn’t the target.

However, the person in question had a face that couldn’t be more comfortable, just as she had said.

“Tch…”

The knight facing Ellen clicked his tongue but looked visibly tense.

Aside from how dark elves are treated, Ellen’s notoriety and skill were undeniably outstanding.

One side seemed quite relaxed despite supposedly putting on an act, while the other side was tense.

“Then, begin.”

I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be, but this was clearly the final match.

And as the king’s signal to begin the final match fell, a woman and a man began to move.

◎◎◎

“This can’t be…”

Just 30 seconds after the duel began, Duke Killinear couldn’t close his mouth at the impending disaster.

His entire body, including his hands, trembled, and his mind went blank as paper.

Perhaps it would have been better if the situation had merely looked grim, or if things were just going somewhat unfavorably. He might have been able to prepare himself mentally, at least to some extent.

But reality was not so kind, leaving his mind blank.

“Phew…”

Ellen had unintentionally shattered Albus Killinear’s mental state, but she herself seemed unaware of this fact, merely exhaling a sigh of relief.

Despite having shot a large water droplet created with spirit magic to obscure vision, and using that opportunity to accurately pierce the joints of arms and legs with arrows, she remained composed.

Actions that might seem reflexive and thoughtless at a glance were all calculated.

Jion realized this fact while observing Ellen’s relaxed demeanor, but what was more surprising was something else.

The gap between summoning spirits and using them was remarkably short.

It was so fast that one might think she had pre-loaded her shots.

If that wasn’t the case, it would mean she could control two spirits at once, but Jion couldn’t know for sure.

The only thing he could be certain of was that the duel had concluded with consecutive victories for Helena’s side.

“The winner is… Ellen Redhood. With this, Duke Crauzer’s side has won two out of the three duels, so Duke Killinear, I expect you to fulfill the conditions.”

The king frowned as he looked at the knight’s head rolling on the floor, cut off by a wind cutter.

While the victory of Duke Crauzer’s side was what he had hoped for, the result was too gruesome.

Following the stabbing of the throat, this time the head was completely severed, so his reaction was understandable.

Moreover, having witnessed the fountain of blood spurting from the neck and the clean cross-section with his own eyes, it was even more so.

“Heh, hehehe…”

It was the same for Duke Killinear, but the blood fountain left by the knight wasn’t particularly important to him.

The problem was the suffocating and unbearably heavy reality that because the knight had died spurting blood, the Duke had lost and now had to bear the consequences.

He felt stifled. Unbearably stifled.

Even as he couldn’t think of anything, his heart ached, and his chest felt as if a heavy stone had been placed on it.

He didn’t want to meet anyone, and he desperately wished that if this was a nightmare, he would wake up.

It was something he had started with confidence, and until Helena made her mistake, he had believed the matter was half resolved…

“Duke… no, I should call you former Duke now.”

How was it that the detestable Duke Crauzer was approaching with a stern expression and addressing him?

“I apologize for the confusion, but I will fulfill the conditions right now. From this moment, Albus Killinear is no longer a Duke, and he will be moved to live in a monastery near the Margrave’s territory until he closes his eyes forever. And…”