Ch.50Unjust Fate (6)

Leo was deeply engrossed in designing magic when the mercenary asked him yet another question.

“By the way, what do you fight with now that you’ve abandoned the Holy Sword?”

“For now, I’m fighting with martial arts. I do use magic too, but martial arts are definitely my main approach.”

“Then what do you do when your opponent has a weapon?”

“I just subdue them normally.”

When the mercenary glared at Leo in disbelief, Leo responded defensively.

“Do you think I became a hero just by relying on the Holy Sword? I can handle most weapons at an expert level.”

“Still, I don’t think it makes sense to defeat an armed opponent with bare hands.”

“You can just take their weapon and use it against them.”

“Is that even possible?”

“It’s generally impossible. Unless the opponent is missing an arm, it’s absolutely impossible.”

The mercenary displayed obvious confusion as he spoke.

“Don’t you feel your statements are contradictory?”

“This is only possible because I have a lot of combat experience. Besides, even if an opponent is missing an arm, there’s no way you could win.”

Suddenly, Leo muttered to himself loudly enough for everyone around to hear.

“Would judo make it possible? No, that would be impossible too.”

“But wouldn’t it be doable if you’re skilled in martial arts?”

“If the opponent is skilled with weapons, it’s absolutely impossible.”

The mercenary seemed satisfied with this answer, but for some reason, Leo wasn’t convinced by his own words.

“But if the opponent is missing an arm and using a dagger, it might be possible somehow…”

“Stop talking nonsense. What could you possibly do against an armed opponent?”

“Do you know how significant having one arm is? Honestly, even if I only had one arm but could use a dagger, I’d still have a pretty high chance of losing.”

“Is it that serious?”

“Against someone with Bastia’s skill level, you’d definitely lose. No, you’d lose even against someone with just over 10 years of martial arts training.”

Then he briefly added:

“Well, I suppose you might lose to someone with just 3 years of judo training.”

***

I’m running away with my tail between my legs. But this is all part of my strategy.

“Stop running! You coward!”

“Who are you calling a coward when you’re the one with a knife?!”

“I’m missing an arm, so isn’t this fair?”

“Go to hell!”

They say that swinging your arms back and forth while running conserves energy. But this man can’t use one of his arms right now.

Thanks to that, he’s running slower than me and using more energy.

So if I keep running in circles like this, he’ll get tired first.

But while I was running at full speed, he suddenly approached Rebecca instead of me.

Then he picked Rebecca up.

“…Are you seriously taking a hostage? How cowardly.”

“I’m just moving her to the corner so she doesn’t get caught up in our duel.”

“…You really are a sucker.”

“Don’t insult chivalry.”

This sucker safely placed Rebecca in a corner. And the moment he turned around…

I delivered a flying dropkick directly to his face.

“Urgh…!”

The sucker groaned in pain as my dropkick hit him square on.

“You coward… where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m not running away, idiot!”

Hit and run. The outboxer fighting style. I decided to utilize this approach to the fullest.

Land effective hits when possible, and retreat when not.

Cowardly, you say? He has a knife, and this is the only way I can win.

“Have you no honor?!”

“At least I have two functioning arms!”

“Please fight fairly!”

“Put down your knife first, then we’ll talk!”

I ran away at full speed again.

***

The mercenary asked Leo another question.

“By the way, how strong is this Bastia person? From how highly you speak of him, he must be quite exceptional.”

“Why don’t you focus on designing magic instead of asking questions?”

“Surely both you and I can handle two tasks simultaneously without any trouble?”

“I didn’t realize you had that level of intellect.”

“…Anyway, so how strong is this Bastia?”

Leo answered with a slight smile.

“In terms of skill alone, he’s the best in the Demon King’s army.”

“And what exactly does that mean?”

“He’s strong enough to exchange a few moves with me in swordsmanship. And in everything except swordsmanship, he can fight me almost evenly.”

“Is exchanging just a few moves really enough to be considered strong?”

Leo glared sharply at the mercenary and said:

“Just a few moves? In swordsmanship, battles can be decided in a single exchange!”

“Even so, isn’t ‘a few moves’ too little?”

“That’s because my fighting style and his are completely different.”

When the mercenary looked at Leo questioningly, Leo elaborated.

“I fought to kill my opponents. But he fought to win honorably.”

“And what difference does that make?”

“The difference between targeting vital points and using poison or deception without hesitation versus winning purely through skill.”

“…Why did you fight so dishonorably?”

“What do you think would happen if the hero, humanity’s hope, fell?”

Leo’s voice had grown sharp.

“Isn’t it ridiculous? That a single person has the power to destroy the world—it’s so unfair.”

“I’ve never really thought about it that way.”

“I mean, seriously, even a nuclear bomb wouldn’t scratch the Demon King? If that’s the case, why does humanity even bother researching magic or science?”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“Without the Holy Sword, I’d die from a nuclear blast too.”

Leo continued in a calmer voice.

“Anyway, his skill is incredible. The fact that he could nearly match me with pure skill alone says it all.”

“Is there anyone who could defeat such a person?”

“Absolutely no one except me. Meeting him is basically a death sentence.”

“What if the opponent fights dishonorably?”

Leo added with a satisfied smile:

“He’s the only man whose skill I truly acknowledge. No matter what dirty tricks the opponent uses, he would never lose.”

***

I’ve used up quite a bit of stamina from all this running, but I’m still in satisfactory condition.

It’s so good that I could cry thinking about returning to my previous weak body after this battle ends.

Should I try to persuade this man? With his abilities, he could probably take down the Demon King easily…

“Would you be interested in joining me to defeat the Demon King?!”

“Absolutely not! So die here for the sake of the Demon King and this world!”

“Sorry! I don’t want to die yet!”

People with abilities that could counter the Demon King always seem to be on the Demon King’s side. If it were me, I’d betray the Demon King immediately and take over.

Anyway, this man is visibly exhausted now. Meanwhile, I’m still doing fine.

Good, let me land one more dropkick.

As I approached him, he grinned and raised his dagger.

And I ran away again with my tail between my legs.

“…Weren’t you going to fight now?”

“…Did you smile because you thought I was actually going to fight you without any hidden tactics?”

“Of course. I smiled involuntarily thinking this wretched game of tag would finally end… Ugh!”

I immediately rushed toward him and delivered another dropkick. Fortunately, he really does seem exhausted.

So I ran away again. I’ll fight properly when his stamina is completely drained.

“Stop running! You absolute coward!”

“I’ll fight when you put down your knife!”

For some reason, Ha-eun was looking at me with genuine contempt.

“Senior, isn’t this going too far?”

“I’m busy running away! Talk later!”

“No, this is just too cowardly no matter how you look at it…”

“Who cares about being cowardly when losing means death?!”

As I continued to flee desperately, the man shouted as if he couldn’t take it anymore.

“If that’s how you want to play, I’ll respond in kind!”

He then approached the fallen Rebecca and held his knife to her.

“If you continue running, I’ll kill the Holy Maiden.”

“You cowardly bastard! Aren’t you ashamed to call yourself a man?!”

“You’re one to talk!”

“The guy with the knife sure has a long tongue!”

If your opponent has a knife, you can’t win no matter how skilled you are in martial arts. Yet he has the nerve to call me cowardly.

If you were born a man, act like one! You’re no better than a little girl—cut off your manhood right now!

“Fine, I’ll fight!”

“Good, wait a moment.”

The man began drawing a circle on the ground with a satisfied expression.

And I planted another dropkick right into him.

“Urgh! What are you doing?!”

“You said to fight, didn’t you?”

“I’m creating an arena! Please wait patiently!”

The man started drawing the arena again. And when I delivered another dropkick, he fell to the ground once more.

“That’s it! Chivalry be damned, I’m just going to kill you!”

With veins popping on his forehead in anger, he charged at me like an enraged bull.

***

In the midst of their design work, the mercenary tirelessly asked Leo yet another question.

“Does this person you hold in such high regard truly have no weaknesses?”

“No one is without weaknesses.”

“Then what is his weakness?”

“His unwavering adherence to chivalry.”

Leo continued with a hint of frustration:

“No matter what, he always upheld chivalry. He had a strange obsession with it.”

“Has he really never abandoned chivalry, not even once?”

“Unless it was for the sake of his comrades, he never abandoned chivalry due to mere emotions. And he never will.”

Leo sighed and lamented:

“If he had abandoned chivalry, he might have been invincible…”

***

A knife is flying toward my stomach. I really didn’t expect this.

This happened because he shouted, ‘If you run away, I’ll kill the Holy Maiden immediately!’

Where did his chivalry go?

“You bitch… I’ve finally won…”

The man spoke with genuine joy. And I grabbed his arm with both hands.

This was only possible because he was too excited and severely exhausted.

“Have you ever heard of… a shoulder throw?”

The man’s face turned pale as he desperately tried to break free, but my throwing speed was much faster.

“Ugh!”

He collapsed to the ground again. Plus, he dropped the dagger he was holding.

I immediately mounted him just like before and twisted his arm.

“Aaaaargh!”

Crack!

After twisting the man’s arm with all my strength, his left arm was also fractured.

“Now you’re missing both arms, aren’t you?”

It ended so anticlimactically. If he hadn’t been so foolish from the beginning, he would have won long ago.

Why was Rebecca so afraid of this person?

“You’re really weak, by the way. If I had known, I would have fought you from the start.”

“You… damn woman…”

“Pathetic.”

To finish him off, I wrapped my legs around his neck.

“Have you heard of choking? It’s a technique that cuts off blood flow to the brain by strangling the neck. You’ll pass out in less than 10 seconds… oh, he’s already unconscious.”

What a weak man. How did he ever become a captain?

While I was thinking about this, I felt my body returning to its previous state. Back to that weak body.

“Senior? Why are you crying?”

“…”

“You just won perfectly, so why are you crying?”

“I’m crying because I’m thinking about how I’ve returned to being a weakling who can’t even beat a middle schooler.”

Ha-eun patted my back to comfort me.

“It’s okay, Senior. You were still impressive just now.”

“*Sob*”

And only the sound of my bitter weeping lingered in this place.