Chapter 28: Duel (3)

“Ugh…!”

I woke up with a fierce pain in my head, clutching my head and looking around.

Quite some time had passed, and the once brightly lit third training ground was now shrouded in deep darkness.

As I slowly got up in the dark, I stepped on the fragments of the hammer lying on the ground and thought,

‘…I lost.’

It wasn’t that I had never experienced defeat in my life.

I had faced countless losses while sparring with my father, my brothers, and other knights.

But this was the first time I had felt such a bitter and irrevocable defeat.

“Ugh…!!”

By tomorrow, there would undoubtedly be rumors spreading that the daughter of the von Grund family, foolishly challenged a mere baronet and lost.

Not to mention the humiliating fact that she survived only because of her opponent’s mercy, despite initiating the duel.

Thinking that the family’s honor had been tarnished by such a trivial matter, my resentment burst out from my lips.

“Ugh…!! Aaaah!!”

“Ah, sh*t, you scared me! What’s going on?!”

Turning my head at the sudden, dazed voice from beside me, I saw the man who had knocked me down, looking at me from beyond the darkness.

“What are you doing here…!”

“Can’t you see? Ah, it’s too dark, so maybe you can’t. I was training after the duel.”

To think he continued training next to the person he had knocked out… I had suspected it before, but was there something wrong with his head?

Staggering, I managed to stand up properly and glared in his direction.

He walked slowly towards me, a sly smile on his face, and said,

“Now you see? As a mere lady with bun hair, you should just tattle to your parents like a child.”

“…Is that your goal?”

“Huh?”

Thinking back, it was strange from the beginning.

Why would someone with such skills intentionally make an enemy of the von Grund family?

If he had bowed his head a little, he could have gained the status and wealth befitting his abilities.

If he hated bowing to someone weak like me, he could have simply avoided the gathering.

He didn’t have enough free time to seek out each baronet who didn’t attend and punish them, so he would have ignored them.

But this man deliberately attended the gathering and went to such lengths to put me in an inescapable situation.

Until now, I thought it was either an impulsive act or that he was simply a madman.

But even a madman has his own reasons and principles of action, incomprehensible as they may be.

So, what were his reasons and principles? Unless he was a maniac with a desire for destruction, he must have been pursuing some benefit.

Initially, I didn’t know what that benefit was, but in hindsight, the answer was always close by.

“…Your goal is to kill my father.”

At first, I thought it was just a provocation to treat me like a child because he wouldn’t be able to do it anyway.

But at some point, I realized he was persistently trying to involve my father in this matter to duel him.

“Come to think of it, you said your father died, right? Is that why you’re targeting my father?”

“What?”

The South was always a devastated land, plagued by monsters and barbarian invasions from uncharted territories.

Thus, conscription orders were frequently issued to repel them, and many died responding to those orders.

His father must have died in battle against the barbarians, and he must have blamed my father for issuing the conscription order.

That’s why he kept provoking me to force my father into a duel with him.

It was absurd, but it wasn’t uncommon for someone who lost a loved one to blame the wrong person.

My anger towards him lessened slightly with a bit of sympathy, and I spoke to him as he silently listened.

“Do you think doing something so foolish will bring your father back? Revenge won’t bring back the dead!”

He hesitated for a moment, then tilted his head and asked,

“No, what nonsense are you spouting? Father? Revenge? Why are you suddenly talking about my father?”

At first, I thought he was playing dumb, but his voice was genuinely confused.

Hearing his voice, I wondered if I had misunderstood and asked,

“Oh, is that not it?”

“Well… I don’t even know where my father died. I was practicing Baldo during his funeral, so I left quickly to continue practicing.”

“……What?”

Practicing Baldo at his father’s funeral?

What was he even talking about?

I was confused and couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he continued without caring.

“It’s true I’m targeting your father. But it’s not for something as trivial as revenge.”

“Then why…?”

“It’s all for Baldo.”

…What was he talking about?

“What do you mean, for Baldo? What does that have to do with killing my father!!”

“Of course, it matters! Think about it. What would happen if I defeated your father with Baldo?”

“What would happen…?”

Though it was unlikely to happen, if it did, it would cause a huge commotion.

A mere baronet, just an academy student, defeating the strongest warrior in the South with Baldo, despite its penalties.

“The fact that you defeated my father with Baldo would spread widely.”

“Exactly!! That’s my goal!! To defeat renowned warriors and show the world the power of Baldo! That’s my purpose!!”

“…Are you serious?”

When I asked, he nodded without a hint of hesitation.

Seeing him, I thought. This man was even more abnormal than I had thought.

A swordsman taking pride in his skills was normal, but this went beyond that.

Moreover, defeating renowned warriors, not just my father but even the Sword Saint, was he planning to defeat all of them?

“…Are you sane?”

“Do you think an insane person could come up with such a perfect plan?”

They say a madman doesn’t know he’s mad, and he fit that description perfectly.

His confident attitude left me dumbfounded, and I shouted at him, exasperated.

“What perfect plan? This is just madness!!”

“It’s not madness, it’s a revolution!! A revolution to restore Baldo to its rightful place!!”

The words that followed were beyond my comprehension and something I didn’t want to understand.

He talked about how friction turns into speed and power, how spreading Baldo would make the world right.

Every word made me question his sanity.

Despite recognizing his strength, he was still just a student.

He might have potential for the future, but there was no chance for him now.

“You’re just a frog in a well! Do you think you can beat my father if you fight him now?!”

“Most likely, I’d die. But so what?”

“…What?”

“For Baldo, I don’t care if I die.”

His eyes showed no hesitation or doubt. Seeing those almost pure eyes, I thought.

“Madman….”

It was a crude word I had never uttered in my life, yet it came out so naturally.

Even though I knew saying such things would only lower my dignity, I couldn’t stop repeating the word madman.

“Madman… madman…!!”

Once, either my father or my brother had said something like this: To beat a madman, you have to be even crazier than him.

“Hoo….”

Taking a deep breath, I pointed the hammer handle at that man, Ian, and said,

“I won’t bow to a lunatic like you. Give up any hope that I’ll ask my father for help!”

“What if you don’t? Are you really going to just let this disgrace go?”

“No, I won’t let that go either. I will make you pay for what you’ve done! But that’s something I will do with my own strength!”

“So how? Are you going to challenge me to another duel?”

“Yes, I will. As many times as it takes until I win!! I’ll keep challenging you until I crush your head with my hammer!!”

He found my words amusing and smirked at me.

“Then go ahead! I’ll accept it as many times as you want!! But… you know what will happen if you lose, right?”

“Yes, I know! No matter what humiliation I face, I will overcome it and smash your head!!”

To beat a madman, you have to be even crazier. Even if I end up being labeled a madwoman, I will definitely take my revenge with my own strength.

“…Then I’ll be looking forward to it! Come back for another duel as soon as you can!!”

With those words, he passed by me and tried to leave the third training ground, but before leaving, he picked up my fallen hair and said,

“Oh, can I take this? I’ve always wanted bun hair!”

“……”

Can anything be madder than this?