Chapter 15 - EPISODE 15 – COUNT CHASE (4) (1/2)

Count Bayer’s test for leaving home was simple.

Succeed in dealing a strike against an opponent, who is at the standard of an ordinary knight, in a duel.

Although it was very simple and clear, there was little room for the so-called tricks.

Testing only your abilities in a fair manner.

Count Bayer passed the test when he was at the young age of twelve, and Gale, though he wasn’t naturally gifted and as good as his father, passed the test at thirteen, younger than the average age.

Jude’s age is seventeen.

The truth is, at this time, applying for the test was close to irrational because his age was two years older than the average age of passing the test for the Bayer family, which is fifteen years old.

‘One month at the most.’

Before he got the Sun’s Necklace, let alone having proper training, even training his physical strength was difficult for Jude.

No matter how long Jude tried to catch up on his training period, it was only a month ago that he got the Sun’s Necklace and started his treatment, of which his martial arts training time was less than 15 days.

Furthermore, Jude’s condition, as of now, was not completely cured.

His Gueumjulmaek was getting better and he was gradually getting closer to having normal strength, but if you look at it from the knight’s standard, he was still on the weak side.

‘However.’

Count Bayer did not intend to humiliate Jude in front of everyone.

Of course, he also had no intention of conducting a sloppy test on purpose for his child.

‘Victor, I believe in you.’

A day before he arrived home, there was a phrase in the last letter that came from Victor, the family’s old knight.

The young master will pass the test.

I believe it if Victor said so.

He was not one to speak at length groundless stories.

‘But even so.’

Count Bayer was also a man.

His curiosity grew.

What was it that gave confidence to Victor that he came to the point in his report?

Perhaps it was a stupid idea that Jude did not have talent, and that maybe, Jude actually had a talent that even surpasses his?

His heart was pounding.

It must have been Count Bayer himself who waited for the current test more than anyone else in this place.

“Father.”

Gaël said in a low voice, as he handed a wooden sword to Count Bayer who took his place in the middle of the indoor training area.

Count Bayer laughed at Gaël’s bitter eyes that asked whether the Count even needed to play the role of the opponent himself, but Gaël eventually abandoned the thought and shook his head, saying in a low voice.

“Go easy on him.”

“Okay.”

He was no one else but Count Bayer, one of the Sälen Kingdom’s teenage swordmasters.

Restricting his swordsmanship to the level of an ordinary knight was quite easy.

Count Bayer, who received the wooden sword, pleasantly looked at Jude preparing for the test at a distance – to be exact, at Jude and Cordelia.

Likewise, Gaël who looked at the same place, laughed and said with a smile.

“They’re a really well-matched pair, right?”

“Yeah, it’s really a nice sight. I think it was not to that degree before I left for the expedition…but in the meantime, they’ve significantly become closer.”

“Because they had a good time together.”

A man taking the test and the fiancé worrying about such a man.

What a beautiful sight it was.

Surely, they must be exchanging pretty and sweet words.

“Hey, you crazy bastard. Count Bayer directly came out. Ask him to at least change your opponent.”

“Hey, I’m certain he’ll adjust the level.”

“And if you lose? You clamor about your Gueumjulmaek day in day out.”

“If I lose, you’re going to Langesthei alone. Main scenario, Fighting!”

“What’s this crazy bastard saying?”

Cordelia, who said those pretty and sweet words in a hushed whisper, said with a sigh.

“Okay, I’ll believe in you. You’re Outboxer, so you’ll do it somehow. Still…”

“Still?”

“Don’t overdo it and get hurt. Okay?”

“Yellow Storm.”

“Why?”

“You really resemble your father.”

“Of course, who else will I resemble but my father?”

“You’re right.”

Jude, who wrapped up the conversation with a giggling laugh, stretched his shoulders and exhaled a long breath.

Finally, he looked back at Cordelia and said.

“Let’s go together.”

To Langesthei.

To reform the main scenarios of Jude and Cordelia.

Jude grinned, and Cordelia snorted, shaking her fist lightly as if cheering.

“Fighting.”

This was enough. Jude fixed his wooden sword and stepped forward, while Cordelia retreated to where Count Chase stood.

“Miss, are you all right?”

When Dahlia asked in a small voice, Cordelia nodded.

“He’ll be fine.”

Outboxer009 said so.

Holding back her backbiting, Cordelia looked at Jude as if to observe how he’ll do it, and Jude stood before Count Bayer.

“Let’s begin.”

There was no need to prolong it.

Count Bayer spoke at the moment they faced each other, and as soon as Jude took a stance, he launched an offensive.

It was the Kingdom Swordsmanship that Count Bayer and any knights who used swords had learned.

Count Bayer kept his word.

The speed of the wooden sword and the strength he used was at the level of an ordinary knight.

But even so, the swordplay he wielded was the one of the 10 swordsmanship attack styles. It was an attack that was like the standard of the Kingdom Swordsmanship.

And so…

‘I can do it.’

Jude averted Count Bayer’s sword.

In a way, it was a simple avoidance, but in the eyes of the observing knights, it was conspicuously reflected at that moment.

Half the step of a footprint.

It was the distance that Jude moved to avoid Count Bayer’s sword. He evaded Count Bayer’s sword with minimal movement.

Count Bayer’s sword struck in succession.

The swordplay similar to the kingdom swordsmanship continued, and Jude avoided all the Count’s attack without a single one hitting him.

Seven times.

The moment he avoided the swordplay seven times, admiration burst out between the knights.

Count Chase’s eyes shone, and Gaël almost looked like he was going to cheer.

And Cordelia understood.

What made Jude so confident?

‘You memorized it.’

The Kingdom Swordsmanship.

The pattern of the attacks unfolded by the test examiners of Count Bayer, which has been handed down from generation to generation.

If this was an indiscriminate sparring, it wouldn’t work.

But it was a test, and in order to be a fair test, the examiners had limited patterns of swordplay and attack.

‘What the hell is in your head?’