Chapter 21: Students (4)

-Thud.

Despite the grand display of being flung into the air, the sound when they hit the ground was surprisingly small.

After finishing my Baldo, I returned the sword to my waist, feeling dissatisfied and clicking my tongue inwardly.

‘Without a scabbard, it can’t really be called a proper Baldo.’

Baldo begins with drawing and ends with sheathing the sword, both involving the scabbard. Without it, the whole process was flawed from the start.

‘It’s not even worthy of being called a pseudo Baldo.’

Before removing this monstrosity from my waist, I checked on the fallen guys’ conditions.

‘Considering they were thrown so high, are they alright….’

Starting with the ones who had attacked from behind, I confirmed that although they would be sore for a few days, they had no broken bones or fractures.

I had adjusted my strength to match their aura in preparation for future duels, and seeing that they were merely unconscious, it seemed I had succeeded.

‘I’ve checked the ones behind, now for the one in front――!’

As I was about to turn around, I felt a sword aimed at me and quickly rolled forward to avoid the attack.

After dodging the attack and quickly getting up, I turned to see the man who appeared to be their leader panting heavily with his sword pointed at me.

“What, you’re already up?”

I had intended to knock him out, but he was already on his feet. Had I used too little force, or was he surprisingly tenacious?

“You… you coward!!”

Despite struggling to breathe, he stood upright and shouted loudly. He must have been really pissed off.

“Coward? What are you talking about?”

Feigning ignorance, I asked. He trembled with anger as he replied.

“You said you wouldn’t use aura…!!”

“You actually believed that?”

This guy dismissed my flawless Baldo theory as nonsense but chose to believe I wouldn’t use aura?

“If you’re going to believe, believe everything. Why pick only the parts that suit you?”

It was foolish to believe an enemy who said they wouldn’t use aura before a fight.

“You could win normally without lying, so why!!”

“If lying makes it easier to win than fighting normally, why wouldn’t I?”

As someone strong, it made sense. But why wouldn’t weaker guys do the same?

“And you call yourself a warrior who upholds chivalry?!”

“Chivalry my ass… So lying is cowardly, but three-on-one is a noble act?”

“Charging alone at a stronger opponent is not courage, but recklessness.”

“That’s hindsight. Before coming here, you didn’t even know my face.”

These guys didn’t even know I was a Baldo master a moment ago, accusing me of being a wizard. They’re unbelievably shameless.

“Shut up!!”

Running out of excuses, he yelled and charged at me with his sword.

However, his attack, hindered by the previous blow, was so unsteady that it didn’t even feel worth dodging.

I stood my ground and intercepted his attack directly.

“Ugh!”

His swing was easily deflected by the aura I had lightly surrounded myself with, but he didn’t stop attacking.

Even though he was stumbling and his hands were shaking, he continued to swing his sword, making me think he was quite impressive despite being an enemy.

‘He’s got guts.’

After pushing him away, I looked down at him on the ground and asked,

“What’s your name?”

“Huff… Hawkins….”

“I’m Ian Barthow. I have a great proposal for you: how about learning Baldo?”

“What?”

You could tell just by looking. Despite the foolish words he had spouted, his basic training was solid. Although not at my level, he had undergone significant training.

“Do you know why you lost? It’s because you haven’t learned the art of Baldo.”

Although I had superior physical abilities, more training, and significantly better control and quantity of aura compared to Hawkins, the decisive factor was that Hawkins hadn’t learned Baldo.

If he had learned Baldo, his sword speed and aura would have been several levels higher than they were now.

“If you learn Baldo, you can become several times stronger than you are now! And right now, I’m offering to personally teach you one-on-one!!”

“…Just out of curiosity, what does that training involve?”

Seeing Hawkins intrigued by my offer, I explained my perfect training curriculum, which he couldn’t possibly refuse.

“All day long, you’ll listen to my Baldo theory and practice Baldo until the sun sets!!”

“…I refuse!! Just kill me instead!!”

Hoping to uncover the secret behind his strength, I asked about his training regimen, only to find it was nothing short of hellish.

‘…He’s not sane.’

Spending every day listening to his insane ramblings and wasting time on meaningless exercises?

If anyone else had said that, I would have thought it was just a cruel joke.

But seeing his innocent, unclouded face, I was certain that he truly believed in that deranged regimen.

I had suspected he wasn’t normal from the moment he mentioned Baldo, but I hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

The more we talked and the longer I spent with Ian, the more convinced I became that his mind was utterly broken.

“I don’t understand! Why are you refusing?”

“Not knowing the reason is why you’re insane!!”

For some reason, I felt that he would never understand the reason as long as he lived.

“…Well, I guess there’s no choice.”

“What do you mean, no choice…?”

As he took his stance again, my hands trembled in fear as they gripped my sword.

My body understood before my mind did. I was about to face the fastest attack of my life once more.

I took a defensive stance to minimize the damage, but he lunged at me before I could fully prepare.

‘…Huh?’

As I braced for the impact, I felt something was off.

‘Why can I see it?’

Just moments ago, I couldn’t even perceive his attack, but now I could see it clearly.

Of course, it was still far too fast for me to react to, so all I could do was watch.

“Ugh…!!”

The sword, drawn in an instant, struck my side, and I fell to the ground.

As I endured the groans escaping from my mouth and looked up, he was staring down at me.

“Do you know what I realized in this fight?”

“Ugh…! What, what did you…!!”

“I finally understand why people couldn’t appreciate the greatness of Baldo. Why the technique that captivated me at first sight wasn’t accepted by others!!”

I listened, expecting more nonsense, and indeed, he spouted something even crazier than I had imagined.

“If you’re at the level of a Swordmaster, you can see it, but for anyone below that, my Baldo is too fast to be seen. That’s why they couldn’t recognize its greatness.”

“…So you deliberately slowed it down?”

“Exactly, and you still don’t seem to grasp how incredible Baldo is. So, I’ll teach you at a speed you can see until you understand.”

With that, he swiftly drew the sword at his waist again and struck me as I lay on the ground.

“Aaargh!”

My body was lifted into the air, spun around once, and then crashed to the ground.

I barely held back the urge to vomit, trying to catch my breath.

The events that followed were literally hell.

Seeing the pain that was about to overwhelm me caused more fear than when it was unseen.

Terrified, I tried to escape even if it meant abandoning Larry and Jun, but he wasn’t the type to just watch that happen.

He chased me down, slashed my back, and knocked me down, returning me to my original spot.

After this happened several times, he looked down at me as I crawled on the ground like a bug and said,

“Hawkins, I’ll give you one more chance.”

“A ch-chance for what…!”

I didn’t know what kind of chance he meant, but I hoped it was something like betraying Lady Jessica.

If it meant getting out of here, I would have done it immediately.

“Become my student and train in Baldo with me! If you refuse――.”

“I refuse!!”

Of all things, that was the one thing I absolutely couldn’t do.

If the price for escaping one hell was entering another, who would agree to that?

I’d rather die than spend my time listening to his idiotic Baldo theory all day.

Using the last of my strength, I sprang up and swung my sword, but he easily deflected it and said,

“I can’t understand! If you learn Baldo, you could become stronger. Why do you refuse?”

“I won’t get stronger, you crazy bastard!!”

“Is it because of pride? Are you refusing to become stronger because you’re ashamed to learn from a junior?”

“Listen, you crazy bastard! I won’t get stronger even if I learn that crap!!”

“You still say that…. Then I’ll keep at it until you understand the greatness of Baldo!!”

“Arrrgh!!”

I saw the sword being drawn from his waist again, coming straight at me.

God, devil, I don’t care.

I’d sell my soul, just please, someone… someone kill this madman.