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Chapter 51

Not even the most good-looking guy could avoid looking funny when he was bleeding from both nostrils.

“You—”

Hector quickly got up and resumed attacking me.

Although his attacks were fiercer, it was easier to predict them because they were driven by emotion.

I calmly dodged his attacks as I asked, “What’s the name of this sword technique?”

“Shut up!”

“Aha. Shut Up Swordsmanship.”

Hector’s face became red with rage.

Even the children of the Lord of Blood and Iron, no matter whether they were born with incredible talent, would fall to this level if they lacked real experience.

He’d lost his composure to some simple taunts.

Honestly, if I were not his opponent, he might not have gotten this angry.

“Are you only going to dodge like a rat bastard!”

“If I was, I guess your nose would be fine.”

“Shut up!”

“You already told me that.”

As I saw blood veins pop on Hector’s forehead...

“Hector!”

Someone called to him.

I glanced toward the audience.

There, I saw an older man who looked similar to Hector.

Someone from Hector’s mother’s side?

Anyway, it seemed Hector found his cool again after that man’s shout.

Although he still looked angry, I saw him stop his attacks for a moment to calm his breathing.

I could’ve used that opening to attack him and ended this duel quite quickly, but I decided to ask a question instead.

“By the way, Brother, why do you hate me so much?”

“What?”

“There should be a reason you’re going out of your way to mess with me.”

Hector glared at me.

“...Can’t you tell your rude behavior is only fanning the flames of my anger?”

“Stop talking nonsense. You hated it when I groveled to you as well.”

“...”

“Brother Hector, you’re not someone to put your all into punishing someone just because they wronged you. You don’t have the time for it either.”

Hector continued to glare at me, but I felt the hand grasping his sword loosen a little.

A moment of silence later, a low voice spoke to me.

“How much do you know about the Great Houses?”

Although it was an unexpected change in topic, I replied without being flustered, “The descendants of the heroes who repelled the Church of Darkness 2,000 years ago.”

“That is the summary. Including the Imperial House, the Goodsprings, House Bednicker, and all the other houses who attended the Blessing Ceremony... whether their blood be thick or thin, they have all inherited the blood of our great ancestors. Our blessings are living proof of that bloodline, clearer than anything else.”

“Proof?”

Hector suddenly stabbed his sword into the ground.

Rumble...

At that moment, the ground rumbled like a wave.

“It is the definite proof that one has inherited the blood of the great heroes.”

It was as if there was a shockwave underground.

Naturally, everyone here knew that this wasn’t a natural phenomenon, so they stayed calm.

Split, crack!

As if water were being drained from the ground, cracks started to appear.

I maintained my balance on the shaking earth.

“And for the last 2,000 years, among the many heroes, not a single one was blessingless, Luan Bednicker. That is, until you appeared.”

Crack.

Flames flickered in Hector’s eyes.

“Do you not know how much humiliation Father had to endure from the Great Houses because of you?”

“Humiliation?”

“The lowly ones insulted and spoke ill of Father’s bloodline, saying that the blood of the ancestor was thin, that he was a weed, not a hero... Such nonsense was said about him.”

Only now did I understand the situation.

As said before, Hector was a fanatic. The Lord of Blood and Iron was like a god to him.

From my perspective, he wasn’t too different from the cultists who worshipped the gods of disaster. But regardless, I was the one who had brought shame to his god.

Now I understood why he had gone out of his way to bully me.

“I wanted to kill you when I heard the news, but I held back because Father didn’t say anything. However, you chose to again step foot into the main house with your dirty feet.”

“But I succeeded in receiving a blessing.”

“That is the reason you will not die today.”

Hector pulled his sword out from the ground, then pointed the tip at me as he charged.

The trajectory of his slash, it was different this time.

Stab!

I definitely dodged it.

However, blood started to squirt out from my shoulder which hadn’t been hit.

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Hector’s sword.

Unlike his earlier swordsmanship, I clearly recognized what this was.

Is this Shadow Sword?

This was the swordsmanship that he’d created around the time he was 14 years old.

By imbuing the blade with mana, he could change it at unseen intervals to create irregularities in the sword ki.

Meaning, while using this swordsmanship, the opponent needed to be wary of both the real blade and also the sword ki created using mana.

Slash!

As if surrounded by a blessing of some sort, Hector’s movements became faster.

The killing intent within the blade of his sword became stronger as well. I could no longer treat this as a normal duel.

It’s a tricky sword technique.

But if one asked if it was dangerous, I would tell them no.

I suffered a few scratches in the beginning, but eventually, wounds stopped appearing on my body.

It happened when my eyes got used to his attacks.

To give a short review, the idea was good, but his proficiency seemed lacking.

An unpredictable swordsmanship technique was good in theory, but his heart was simple, making all his movements predictable.

In many senses, it could be said this was the worst swordsmanship technique for Hector right now.

It might have been better if he’d just focused on the fierce swordsmanship he’d used before.

* * * * *

* * * * *

Once I was done observing the Shadow Sword, I started to take steps toward Hector.

At this, Hector’s expression fully hardened into a serious face.

It looked like he hadn’t expected me to purposefully close the distance while he was displaying his Shadow Sword at full force.

Soon, Hector’s frustration became apparent in his sword.

Crack.

The sound of him grinding his teeth told me it was my time.

I intentionally left an opening on my side.

The timing was amazing, so Hector took it without a smidgen of doubt.

He charged headfirst into the trap I had dug for him.

I immediately twisted my upper body to dodge his attack, but it didn’t end with just dodging this time.

Clasp!

I slammed down on my arm to grab Hector’s sword in my armpit.

“What!”

Hector sounded genuinely surprised.

Although I had grabbed the side of his sword, it was still a dangerous action.

And since Hector was still using his Shadow Sword, I could feel a piercing feeling in my armpit.

Since I couldn’t hold on like this for long, I kicked Hector’s chin while he still looked surprised.

Crack!

Did I shatter his chin? It felt like that.

Hector hesitated for a moment before charging at me again while screaming, but I blocked his mouth with my hand to shut him up.

People say weapons are used in close-quarter combat, but against bare hands, swords are more like medium-range.

Meaning, for the first time in this duel, I had broken through Hector’s range.

“...!”

I held on to Hector’s mouth as I twisted and slammed him into the ground.

It was admirable that he maintained his grip on his sword even in this situation, but that wasn’t enough to regain his balance.

Maybe he read my thoughts, because Hector quickly let go of his sword and reached out toward me, but I used my other hand to deflect his hand and put more force into my grip on his mouth.

Crack.

“—!”

I could feel Hector let out a silent scream.

“Your jaw might fall off if I use a bit more strength. Have you ever eaten nothing but porridge for a month?”

“—!”

It was an experience one could only endure once.

At that moment, Hector’s eyes glowed yellow and he pushed me away with great power.

Is that a blessing?

It seemed to be a blessing that temporarily increased his physical abilities, but why was he only using it now?

Because he’s not used to it yet? Or because he didn’t want to use it against someone like me?

It was probably both.

As I looked at Hector charging me like a beast, I remembered Hariba for some reason.

Although he was bursting with power, it felt like he didn’t know how to control it properly.

His physical strength had increased by about two levels, but this just made it easier for me to fight him.

It seems he received some martial arts training as well.

His movements indicated that he wasn’t just flailing about. But compared to his swordsmanship, I could see that his training wasn’t up to standard.

I dodged around Hector’s awkward attacks and punched him.

Smack, smack, punch!

In particular, I focused on his face. After getting hit a few times, Hector began to find it difficult to see what was in front of him.

His movements changed. At some point, they went from adhering to some sort of training to fiercely flailing.

“Stomach, hip, thigh, forehead, and thigh again. What are you doing? Your entire body is open. Who taught you how to punch?”

I could tell that my behavior had become quite childish and emotion-driven, but I didn’t want to stop.

Since I had become younger again, it didn’t feel wrong to act my current age on occasion.

At some point, Hector had become hard to look at because of how terrible he looked.

His face was swollen and dripping blood, and his armor, which I suspected to be of Iron Blood Knight Order origin, had become crumpled.

He was letting out labored breaths from his swollen mouth, but somehow he could still talk.

“You... who... are you...”

I let out a sigh.

It was the same as when I’d fought the assassins. Why do the people who get beaten up by me always have the same reaction?

Slap!

I slapped Hector’s cheek to tell him to get his senses together.

And then I shook him by his collar.

“You don’t know who I am? I am Bednicker’s cute youngest son. The youngest brother that you bullied.”

“You can’t... be... Luan...”

Even though his face was swollen up severely, his pronunciation was pretty good.

That felt disgusting to me, so I slapped his face once more.

Slap!

I slapped him again because there was still fire in his eyes.

I slapped him again because I didn’t like how he looked.

I slapped him one more time because I didn’t like his black hair.

I continued to slap him out of the goodness of my heart.

But then I heard Hector mumble something with his swollen face.

“What did you say?”

I stopped slapping him and paid attention to his mumbling.

“C-cra-y... bastad...”

Although his pronunciation had slipped a little, I could understand what he was trying to say.

It was only natural to respond when insulted.

I slapped Hector’s cheek once more, and he fell unconscious on the spot.

“Well done, Hector.”

“...”

“...Elder Brother.”

I turned my gaze away from the collapsed Hector and looked around, but I could only hear the sound of silent breathing.

I looked at Overseer Jein.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, “Victor, Luan Bednicker.”

“...”

“...”

Maybe I should say I’d expected it...

But no one cheered.