Chapter 152 - 152 The Conclusion of the Duel
On the day of the duel, many people had gathered in the training ground. Steve, Christina, and Nancy, along with Daphne as the witness. The opponent, Bartholomew, and his parents, the Doyle Baron and Baroness. Furthermore, Count McVee and Viscount Rice were also there. In addition to the knights who wanted to watch Steve's fight, Prince Carter was in attendance because it was a problem concerning the nobles of his own faction. Furthermore, Prince Alex and Count Cutter had come to see the results of the stratagem. Besides that, nobles from the Royal Capital who had heard the news. Furthermore, the King and the Chancellor had come because they were worried about what Steve might do.
The training ground, which usually felt wide, felt narrow today.
Steve looked at such people
"I should have charged an entrance fee."
he muttered softly.
"I think it is inappropriate to make a spectacle of a pure young man's feelings, sir."
Nancy warned him, and Steve made an excuse that he wasn't serious.
"I'm not serious. However, with so many people gathered, it's a bit disappointing that the match ended in an instant."
"If so, shall I serve as the opening act? I happen to have a suitable opponent."
Nancy glanced toward Daphne. Daphne noticed that gaze as well.
"I was also thinking that just being a witness might not be enough."
The two gazes collided, sparks flying. Steve smiled bitterly at such brainless two.
"Be careful not to get hurt. Though I will heal you if you do."
Steve said that and sent them off.
The nobles who had come to watch the duel between Steve and Bartholomew found it strange that two beautiful women were walking toward the center of the training ground holding swords. One was Daphne, the commander of the Royal Guard Knights Order, which everyone knew. However, the other one was unknown.
Nancy did not appear at social gatherings, so the nobles did not know her face. And the King, the Chancellor, and the knights who knew Nancy's background had their hearts beating with anticipation.
They could see a fight between Daphne, the commander of the Royal Guard Knights Order, and Nancy, the Queen of Sword.
The King volunteered to give the signal to start himself.
"We shall begin at my signal."
"We understand."
The two acknowledged that.
And the King announced the start.
"Begin!"
Before those words had even finished, Daphne's heels kicked up the dust. Those who knew nothing of swordsmanship could not catch Daphne's movement of stepping forward with their eyes. It was only when Nancy blocked Daphne's attack with her sword, when the sound of swords clashing rang out, that they realized Daphne had attacked.
While receiving Daphne's attack, Nancy tried to somehow break Daphne's stance. She tried pulling back, pushing forward, repeating these actions, but Daphne did not easily lose her stance or show an opening.
In the past, Nancy's skill was far superior, so this would have decided the match, but due to Daphne's improvement in technique, Nancy's techniques like this were no longer effective now.
Nancy gave up on creating an opening while defending and moved to attack while circling to the left. The attacks Nancy unleashed drew silver trails in the air. It was like a silver snake trying to bite onto Daphne.
In the breath-holding offense and defense, no one in the training ground spoke. Everyone's eyes were nailed to the two's movements, not wanting to miss a single moment.
Such continuous attacks by Nancy were all light, but she hid a heavy blow within them.
Daphne, who had been receiving only light attacks until now and thought the next one would be the same, took Nancy's heavy blow with that feeling and lost her stance.
"Damn it!"
Nancy would not let go of the collapsed stance, unleashing the next blow mercilessly. Daphne did not give up, swinging the sword she held at Nancy's sword in an incomplete stance.
Crack!
The sound of metal breaking echoed through the training ground. The practice swords both were holding, unable to withstand the fatigue accumulated until now, finally broke with this one blow.
Daphne turned around and ordered the knights.
"Someone, bring a new sword."
At that time, Daphne thought the match was interrupted, but Nancy did not think so. She pounced on Daphne, who had turned her back and lowered her guard, pressing the broken sword firmly against her neck.
"There was no declaration of match interruption anywhere."
Saying that, Nancy chuckled.
Daphne did not say it was unfair and admitted her defeat. On the battlefield, the one who let their guard down is at fault. Yet, since this was a training ground, she admitted her fault for wrongly judging that the match was interrupted just because the sword broke.
The King finally stopped them here.
"That is enough. Both of you were magnificent."
Applause started from somewhere, and the two returned to Steve. Nancy, who had won, was smiling.
"How was it, sir?"
"It was good. You've become stronger than before, haven't you?"
"Yes. If it's now, I could even take the head of the Ace of Chalice."
"No, there are various problems with that, so don't do it."
The Ace of Chalice was Nancy's younger sister, Cecily, and the wife of the Emperor of the Yellow Empire. Taking her head would cause quite a problem.
Christina offered a sharp remark to such Nancy.
"You are standing out too much. The nobles are starting to gossip, aren't they?"
As she pointed out, the nobles were extremely interested in the woman Steve brought who had defeated the commander of the Royal Guard Knights Order. Since Nancy was officially recorded as deceased, she was not expected to stand out. However, now that the Empire's system had changed, even if Nancy was revealed to be the former Queen of Sword, there should be no major problem.
And up to this point was the opening act; the main event was the upcoming duel between Steve and Bartholomew.
"Well then, it's my turn."
Steve said that and walked to the center of the training ground. Daphne came along with him.
From the opposite side, Bartholomew appeared. Overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the venue, he was acting timidly, but there was no feeling of running away.
Once the two were ready, Daphne declared the conditions of the duel.
"If Bartholomew Doyle wins, Lord Archibalt guarantees the marriage of his choice. If Lord Archibalt wins, Lord Archibalt may do as he pleases with Bartholomew Doyle's person. Are these conditions acceptable?"
Asked by Daphne, the two nodded.
"Since the conditions have been confirmed, I would like to start the duel between the two now. Begin!"
With that declaration, Steve immediately attacked Bartholomew. With the first blow, he cut the hand holding Bartholomew's sword, and Bartholomew, overwhelmed by the heat and pain, dropped the sword. Then, Steve thrust his sword at Bartholomew.
At that, Daphne declared Steve's victory.
The training ground was stunned by the truly abrupt conclusion.
With the victory confirmed, Steve healed Bartholomew. When he used magic, Bartholomew's wounds disappeared without a trace.
On Bartholomew's face, who was receiving Healing Magic, there was no sign of regret, and he looked refreshed as if a certain milestone had been reached.
"Well then, as promised, I will take custody of you. I will take you to the Archibalt Territory and make you work hard, so be prepared."
Steve declared that.
In response to that declaration, a commoner was brought to the training ground. A young woman of the same age as Bartholomew. She stopped once beside Christina.
"Well, just making you work hard won't be bearable, so let's take your lover along too."
Christina gave an order to the woman introduced as his lover.
"Now, go. Margaret."
The woman called Margaret advanced toward Bartholomew. Bartholomew embraced Margaret and bowed his head toward the Doyle Baron.
"Father, I wish to marry this Margaret. She is a commoner, and you and Mother will not approve of the marriage, so please disown me."
This was what Bartholomew had asked Steve for. He was willing to throw everything away to marry Margaret, a commoner. However, he did not think he could live completely as a commoner having been raised as a noble heir, so he planned to learn from Cyril at Steve's place, become a researcher at the Royal Research Institute someday, and regain the status of a noble.
When that went well, he wanted to have a record of action so he wouldn't be looked down upon in the noble society he returned to.
In Bartholomew's plan, he intended to be opposed by his father, the Doyle Baron, here, but that did not happen.
"She was a servant at Lord McVee's place, wasn't she? Did you meet her at Lord McVee's mansion?"
"Yes."
"I don't know if you can become a researcher, but build a happy family. If a grandchild is born, come show your face."
"Yes."
He answered in a flow, but Bartholomew realized afterward that the result was different from what he had thought.
"Is that alright?"
"Should I stop you?"
"No, that's not it."
"Ah, by the way, Lady Margaret recently became Lord McVee's adopted daughter. In other words, it becomes a marriage between children of nobles, but do you still wish to be disowned?"
This was something Bartholomew did not know. Steve, who knew that Bartholomew's goal was to marry Margaret, had made arrangements with the Doyle Baron and Count McVee. Steve also wanted to hire Bartholomew in the Archibalt Territory, but if he was saying that just out of temporary emotion, it would be troublesome later, so Steve wanted to test him here to confirm whether Bartholomew wished to remain as the heir.
Adopting Margaret was the same method as when Aila and Lala married their noble husbands. Nobles with pure noble elitist thoughts might not even accept adopting a commoner, but the Doyle Baron and Baroness were not to that extent.
Even though the conditions were set up to that extent, Bartholomew did not change his original plan.
"I want to try how far I can go without relying on my family name. I apologize for being selfish, Father."
The Doyle Baron, confirming that Bartholomew's will was firm, said nothing more.
Thus, Bartholomew's duel ended safely.
Alex sighed, thinking it was disappointing, and left the training ground.
Count Cutter gritted his teeth as his schemes had failed.
Seeing that, Carter whispered secretly to the Marquess Finley who was next to him.
"I'm glad my brother's aim missed."
"So it is."
Marquess Finley was the leader of Prince Carter's faction. The two knew that Count Cutter was moving behind the scenes of this duel. And they also knew that Prince Alex was behind that.
He had tried to create a rift in his own faction, but it didn't happen; instead, the bond became stronger. After all, even though it was an adoption, the marriage between Lord McVee's daughter and the Doyle Baron's son was possible. Furthermore, the marriage between Viscount Rice's son and Lord McVee's daughter was also completed without problems. The married sons might not become the heads of the house, but their position as relatives remained intact, and a blood tie was formed.
"Nevertheless,"
Prince Carter continued.
"My brother even thinks of touching that Lord Archibalt. He is waiting for destruction, you know."
"Perhaps there are no other means to turn the tables."
Prince Carter had witnessed Steve's activities in the Holy Nation. As a result, he had wanted to stay away from Steve, who was inhuman.
And Prince Alex was in a disadvantaged position, and as Marquess Finley said, the only means to turn the tables was to use Steve.
"He is not worth fearing yet, but won't he be content with just being a duke for now? I don't want to crush each other as brothers."
"Perhaps he has ill ambitions now that he has gained the interests of the Southern region."
"Maybe so. And Lord Archibalt was involved in it too. Well, I'll leave the monitoring of my brother's faction to you."
"We understand."
Marquess Finley bowed his head, but in his heart, he thought that Prince Carter actually wanted to fight Prince Alex more. Although he said on the surface that he didn't want to crush each other as brothers, he couldn't help but think otherwise.
Thank you always for your typo reports.