Chapter 25 (2/2)

Only then did Drago respond.

“Ah, I apologize, sir. I didn’t respond because I was concentrating. Would you take a look at that partic.i.p.ant?”

Cooper’s eyes widened as he listened to Drago’s request and looked towards the back ring. A high level duel was taking place at the ring he was now facing.

“Who the h.e.l.l is that b.a.s.t.a.r.d? I can’t even follow his movements.”

“He’s on his fourth consecutive win.”

Cooper was even more surprised by Drago’s words. Four consecutive wins were no light feat. A duel would heavily drain one’s stamina, making rest absolutely necessary after even a single match.

“Finally, someone of decent skills that we can look forward to. His opponent is rather skilled as well, but he is overwhelming him.”

“Even though he’s using an axe, his movements and attacks are sharp and quick. He definitely has had proper training, sir.”

The two knights looked at Kurotan with antic.i.p.ation.

Kw.a.n.g. Kwaaang. Kw.a.n.g!

Kurotan’s opponent was a mercenary who seemed to be in his mid-thirties. The mercenary was well equipped and even had a s.h.i.+eld, but Kurotan was overwhelming him with heavy blows with his axe. The mercenary’s face was ugly from tension.

‘G.o.dd.a.m.nit… Curse my luck, someone so skilled right at the preliminary rounds?”

The mercenary was Hansen, a veteran who had been roaming the mercenary world for nearly twenty years. He had even partic.i.p.ated in a territory war once, and defeated a knight on a one on one battle.

He had been filled with confidence by the win, and had decided to partic.i.p.ate in a martial tournament in hopes of being knighted.

‘If it’s a martial tournament held by a visocountcy, I could win the tournament easily.’

However, his dreams had run into a large obstacle right from the get go. He had encountered an opponent far stronger than him in the preliminary rounds.

Kwaang.

Hansen screamed silently, barely blocking the horizontal slash with his s.h.i.+eld. The senses that had been sharpened by twenty years as a mercenary were sending him strong signals of danger.

‘No way. I can’t beat him no matter what.’

Hansen staggered backwards, throwing away his sword and raising his hand in surrender.

“I give up.”

A mercenary’s greatest a.s.set was his body. He had surrendered as soon as he determined that he had no chances of winning the match. This was the reason Hansen had been able to survive as long as he did.

The referee stopped the match quickly.

“Match over. Kurotan wins.”

Kurotan clasped his axe onto his back, disappointment evident on his face. The earlier three matches had left him disappointed, as they had been extremely easy matches. Finally, at the fourth match, he had found someone worth a couple of blows, but he had given up soon after the match began. The referee handed two medals to Kurotan.

“Will you continue?”

Kurotan looked back at Luke. He could have kept fighting, but he needed Luke’s permission first. Luke shook his head.

‘Stop fighting and come down?’

Kurotan shook his head and stepped out of the ring with his medals, as the referee read out the names of the next partic.i.p.ants.

“I could have kept fighting, why did you call me down?”

“You could have finished the match a lot earlier, why did you drag it out?”

“Because…”

Kurotan scratched the back of his head. Luke’s point was valid. Kurotan could have finished the match early, but had not done so in order to enjoy the match.

“Don’t do that from now on. The referees have sharp eyes. You can enjoy plenty of matches later on, as a part of the final line.”

“Why not?”

“Whoever the opponent is, you have to go all out. This is the mindset of a knight. As you will soon be knighted, it is a mindset that you have to have at all times from now on.”

“All right. I will keep it in mind.”

Kurotan gestured that he was ready to the referee as soon as the match was over. The referee called out Kurotan’s name, and the partic.i.p.ant that had just won the match frowned heavily as he watched Kurotan walk into the ring.

‘G.o.ddammit, why is he coming back?’

No matter which way he looked at it, he would not be able to win against Kurotan. He gave up.

“I give up the match.”

Afterwards, Kurotan continued to win his way through matches following Luke’s advice, holding nothing back. The matches finished in the blink of an eye.

“Begin.”

The referee signaled the beginning of the match, and Kurotan’s opponent glared at Kurotan as his grip on the sword tightened. Kurotan, however, became a blur of movements before his opponent even made a single slash, and the opponent’s vision went black.

Puuk.

The partic.i.p.ant fell to the ground with unfocused eyes as the sound of metal being crushed rang out, a malformed helmet rolling across the ground.

“Ku-Kurotan, victor.”

The referee’s voice was shaking as he announced Kurotan as the victor.

Before long, Kurotan had gathered the ten medals he needed in order to move on to the final rounds. He traded in the medals, with the referee’s signatures on them, to a table organizing the event. The person manning the table handed Kurotan a silver medal, a verification that he was qualified for the final rounds of the tournament.

“Good job. However, the final rounds won’t be so easy. If you wish to do as well as you did today in the final rounds, you must familiarize yourself even more with Belloche sword style.”

“Don’t worry. I’m training with you every night, so it won’t take long for me to master it.”

Kurotan frowned suddenly.

“I am hungry.”

“Let’s go eat at the inn. I’ll even order you a meat stew in celebration of your pa.s.sing the preliminary rounds.”

“Hehehe, those words are like music to my ears.”

Luke’s wallet was bulging as they headed back to the inn. There were a lot of people that bet on the results of the preliminary rounds, and Luke had bet everything he had on Kurotan. Kurotan had been an unknown partic.i.p.ant, a true dark horse.

There were two pairs of eyes that followed the two men as they walked back to the inn.

“What will you do? Should we report this to the lord?”

Cooper nodded his head, expression stiff.

“It seems we’ll have to. His skills are not ordinary.”

“His sword style does not seem to be of our Sith Empire.”

“I think so as well. It doesn’t seem like he is that experienced in the sword style either. However…”

Cooper’s eyes narrowed.

“That Kurotan, he definitely knows how to use aura.”

Drago’s eyes widened at Cooper’s conjecture.

“How could that be…”

“It’s definite. In the last five battles, even I couldn’t follow his movements. His movements were impossible with just physical movements.”

Drago nodded silently. Cooper was at the level of an aura expert, capable of raising his physical capabilities through the use of aura.

“Simple but a profound sword style, as well as an aura expert. Suspicious.”

Drago narrowed his eyes as well.

“It’s possible that he is a spy from a foreign country. It would be easier to travel around the country if you were a knight, after all.”

“Regardless, we need to keep our eyes on him. Investigate him thoroughly.”

Cooper turned his back decisively.

“I will report this to the lord. Look over the rest of the preliminary matches, Drago.”

“Yes, sir.”

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