episode_0080

Standing face to face with Count Tristitia, Gilbert felt as if two huge stones were pressing down on his shoulders. Obviously, there was nothing above my shoulders, but even raising my arms felt a strange resistance.

Is this really a knightly family?

Gilbert took a long, deep breath. It wasn’t just an illusion that was weighing down on my shoulders. It was a spirit that a knight of a certain level could display, and a type of art that utilized mana control.

It was probably an exercise in skill to suppress the momentum, but it was useless to Gilbert.

Who was he?

He was none other than the exclusive disciple of the Empire’s First Sword. Every morning, he was training with Brianna, who was infinitely stronger than him. For him, mana control was like the first hurdle he had to overcome in order to receive guidance training.

People who encountered the mana control exercised by Sword Saint Brianna said in unison that it was like carrying Mount Tai on her back. The monstrous mana control had enormous physical power, forcing action, and had the same effect as a kind of binding magic.

Even Count Tristitia’s mana control could not have much effect on Gilbert, who was receiving guidance sparring through such mana control.

“Indeed. Are you a disciple of the Sword Master?”

Count Tristitia was slightly impressed by Gilbert, who had so easily mastered mana. Although he was said to be a high achiever for his age, he could not have expected that he would be able to remove his control of mana so easily.

The fact that he was able to do something that even his three sons, who were called geniuses, could not do in one breath proved that Gilbert’s skills were great.

It was a sparring session to see how much the guy who was called a fool had grown, but it seemed to be turning out to be more fun than expected.

“I’ll go.”

“You have good spirit!”

The count looked at Gilbert with his sharp eyes as a swordsman, and raised his sword as if telling him to come as soon as he could. Gilbert also didn’t hesitate and rushed at the Count with his sword in hand.

visor!

As soon as the sparks flew, the sparring began.

Gilbert knew objectively that he was being pushed out by the Count. Although he had been blessed with a body that had begun to surpass human limitations, the Count had already entered the realm of superhumans for several decades.

Therefore, it made no common sense for Gilbert, who had only recently trained in swordsmanship, to overwhelm the Count with swordsmanship.

We had a few fights in an instant, but all I realized was that it was currently impossible to beat him with swordsmanship. The moment the swords met, the power was gently released, and in fact, it pulled him in. A fleeting thought crossed my mind about using my outstanding physical ability to engage in sword wrestling, but I dismissed it.

From what he remembered, Count Tristitia’s physical ability was ranked high in Tactical Combat. Count Tristia, a famous family of knights, valued physical training above all else, so if they tried sword wrestling rashly, it was as obvious as seeing fire that Gilbert, who was still inexperienced, would lose the upper hand in an instant.

He received the sword struck down with his sword in an ox posture and caught the sword’s face with a thumb grip. Gilbert, who had a brief struggle of strength while blocking the heavy blow with his sword guard, gritted his teeth.

As expected, it was a good thing I didn’t try sword wrestling earlier. I had to tighten my grip on the sword because there was already an attempt to snatch it using the sword’s guard.

However, even in that situation, the initiative was lost due to clever control of power. Gilbert hurriedly grabbed the middle of the sword with his left hand and, using a half-sword, rode the sword and turned to the earl’s right.

winter sword

frosty wind

As I turned to the right, the position of my hands naturally changed. The point near the handle, not the tip of the blade, was aimed at Count Tristitia’s neck like a hawk stalking its prey.

The basis of swordsmanship was defense, and the purpose was to kill the opponent, not to subdue him. For him, the most important thing was to aim for the head, and no matter what the situation, it was always right to point the tip of the sword towards the head.

Even if it was sparring, it was necessary to treat it like a real fight to prevent developing bad habits.

In that respect, Gilbert was great. So much so that Count Tristitia burst out laughing inadvertently.

“Yes! Of course that is swordsmanship!”

The move the Count chose to block the sword’s thrust aimed at the back of his neck was to push Gilbert’s left shoulder. Before the blade reached his neck, he struck his shoulder with his left fist to increase the distance, and there was a brief lull.

“Phew.”

It was a short battle, but Gilbert, who had been fighting endlessly, was already feeling tired. There was no problem physically, but the mental fatigue was greater than I expected.

Gilbert quickly took a deep breath and glared at Count Tristitia, who was raising his sword above his head. It was a Postedi Falcon that could extend its range in both offense and defense.

Is it a stab? Or slash?

It wasn’t easy to choose anything. As such, there was not the slightest hint of a gap in the Count’s posture.

“What are you doing? You don’t show the same spirit as before.”

The count provoked him, but he was not caught easily.

Gilbert had already become deeply assimilated into the sparring itself and could only think of breaking through the Count’s defenses.

The Count also realized this fact and did not utter such clumsy provocations. Even if I tried to provoke a hard-hearted prosecutor, it only hurt my mouth.

A moment passed, and it was Gilbert who took action first. As soon as he caught his breath, he stabbed his sword in half a beat, and the count blocked it by slamming his sword down as if it was natural.

Sparks flew, and a fight broke out. Gilbert entered the Count’s arms once more with his sword pierced, raised his sword and aimed at the Count’s head. Although he was unable to achieve his goal with the sword’s cross guard, he inserted his arm into the count’s arm.

I was thinking about sword wrestling.

Until now, he had not hastily engaged in sword wrestling and had rather avoided sword wrestling, which was a move that caught Gilbert off guard. The Count also didn’t think he would dare engage in sword wrestling.

However, he wanted to see the confident sword wrestling skills, so he gladly accepted the challenge. Joints and joints were intertwined, and the movement to somehow neutralize the opponent continued. He constantly dug inside, avoiding the opponent’s arms and aiming for an advantageous position.

However, as time passed, it was Gilbert who was put on the defensive. Even though he was trying to catch his guard down, his opponent was a veteran knight who had already crossed numerous battlefields with a single sword.

On the other hand, even though Gilbert was a soldier in the previous world, what he mainly dealt with was fighter jets. His talent shined even brighter when he rode something.

In the end, when Gilbert, who had given up on sword wrestling, widened the distance, the Count did not bother chasing him and let him go.

“It’s pretty good.”

“Phew…”

Taking a deep breath to the tip of his chin, Gilbert raised his sword. This clash will probably be the last. The fact that they were able to continue their sparring until now was possible because the Count had the situation in his hands.

However, seeing as the Count’s momentum changed as he increased the distance, it was clear that he intended to end the sparring.

In that case, all you have to do is make the best move you can.

Gilbert’s hands tightly grasped the grip of the sword. Although it was an unwilling sparring, I was able to obtain a lot of things. Depending on how he acquires it in the future, it would not be unreasonable for his swordsmanship to advance to the next level.

After gathering his courage, Gilbert swung his sword at Count Tristitia once again and was defeated.

Although it was her first defeat aside from her teacher, Brianna, it wasn’t bad.

***

Camilla, who watched with bated breath the sparring between Gilbert and her father, Count Tristitia, felt deep regret when the sparring finally ended in Gilbert’s defeat. Not many people have been this good against her father before.

Moreover, considering that Gilbert was the same age as her, it was safe to say that he was the only one. Didn’t even her three older brothers, who were said to lead the family, have a hard time against their father?

In contrast, Gilbert fought hard and led the sparring in some way, even though her father had taken matters into his own hands. As a half-joke, I made Gilbert spar with him, but as I watched the sparring, I became so absorbed in the sparring itself that I didn’t even notice that my hands were sweating.

It was very disappointing to hear that the sparring ended with Gilbert’s defeat.

I was hoping to win.

I knew it was greed, but I still wanted Gilbert to win.

“Good job. Gilbert!”

Perhaps that was why she took the towel and water prepared by the maids and held them out to Gilbert.

“Um…”

Gilbert accepted the towel and water she offered him with a somewhat indifferent expression. Her father and brothers seemed to be strangely glaring at her from behind, but Camilla didn’t care.

The most important thing for her was to tell Gilbert about the greatness of the sparring she had shown earlier.

“It was really great just now! I never imagined that there would be sword wrestling there!”

“I see.”

“Okay then! of course. How dare you sword wrestle against your father! If I had told this to someone who hadn’t seen the sparring, no one would have believed it!”

As she sat next to Gilbert and talked about the greatness of their sparring match, her father approached them.

“Big.”

“Ah, Dad worked hard too.”

Camilla slightly turned her head to speak to the count who cleared his throat, and then looked at Gilbert again with bright eyes. It was a very good example of who was top of mind for her right now.

“I guess I’m not good at sparring. Would you like to try it again?”

“It’s okay. I no longer have the strength to lift my sword.”

Gilbert shook his head at the sight of Count Tristitia with fire burning in his eyes. It was as obvious as fire that if we sparred now, there would be a huge setback on the way back to the Lithuanian territory.

“Oh, by the way. dad. Can I follow Gilbert now?”

“That’s…”

“It’s okay, right?”

“No, Camilla. This father’s words are a bit…”

“Thank you!”

Camilla began to cheer, saying that it was good that she could eat all the Count’s words and go with him. It was a moment when her own pace tendencies were displayed.

Gilbert, who had decided to accompany him in an instant, felt a headache for some reason. This was because the gazes of the count and his three sons staring at him were so stinging.

Gilbert looked at Camilla, who was just smiling excitedly, whether she knew this or not, and eventually couldn’t hold it in and sighed.

I had a very strong feeling that my trip to Lithuania with her would not be smooth at all.