Chapter 32
This small duel started by some hot-blooded knights suddenly became the biggest event of the social gathering.
Everyone was watching in their own way.
Some older nobles whispered to each other, exchanging gold coins.
They were betting on who would win.
Those who knew the nature of wooden sword duels were predicting Felix's advantage.
Some young ladies were eyeing Damian's rolled-up sleeves and the skin exposed by his unbuttoned top button.
In one corner of the spectators, Joyce was also watching the dueling area calmly with his arms crossed. Inwardly, he, too, was dying of curiosity to see what Damian would show.
In fact, despite all the rumors, not a single person among these spectators had ever seen Damian swing a sword with their own eyes.
Joyce, of course, was rooting for Damian.
Even to Joyce, who knew a lot about swordsmanship, Damian seemed to be at a considerable disadvantage.
Felix would ignore even the implicit rules of wooden sword duels and charge in.
The match wouldn't be decided by simply touching vital points with the wooden sword.
The nobles didn't know or care about what kind of issues this posed. They only cared about who seemed to be winning visually.
So, one had to show a completely overwhelming performance, whether through strength or technique.
Damian was holding the wooden sword with only one hand, his left hand behind his lower back.
Since he wasn't gripping it with both hands, it seemed he didn't intend to match his opponent in strength.
The announcer stood between Felix and Damian with his arms spread.
When both were ready, he shouted to signal the start of the match and quickly stepped back.
It begins.
The spectators watched them with tense faces.
Felix stood in place, glaring at Damian's face for a few seconds.
Damian also stood still, waiting for Felix to come.
Soon after, Felix charged at Damian like an enraged bull.
Damian took a few back steps and then dodged to the side as Felix got close.
Felix's sword cut through the air.
At the same time, the spectators gasped, holding their breath.
Felix turned and threw himself at Damian again.
Damian evaded his sword by a hair's breadth as if performing a trick, then kicked Felix's supporting foot.
Felix’s massive body lost balance.
His upper body tilted 90 degrees, rushing forward as if about to fall.
He flailed and finally fell face down.
"Hahaha!"
The sight was quite comical, and laughter burst out from the spectators.
Felix's face, lying face down, flushed red.
"Damn it."
The moment he half-raised his body to counterattack and looked back.
The cold touch of a wooden sword was at his neck.
Felix froze in place.
Damian had approached and was already pointing the sword tip at him.
While he could ignore hits to the body, a sword blade touching his neck in an indefensible state was a different matter.
This was undeniably Felix's defeat.
Felix gritted his teeth.
"Damian wins!"
"Wow!"
The spectators applauded with admiration.
Damian turned around with an indifferent expression and walked back to the starting point.
Joyce inwardly admired him. He had created a clear win-lose scenario, knowing how Felix would act.
Felix got up and walked to the starting point of the duel.
Full of resentment, he provoked Damian as he brushed past him, "Are you so afraid of crossing swords? Do you only know how to perform cowardly tricks?"
Damian's face remained indifferent to the provocation.
After confirming they were ready, the announcer raised his arm and shouted to signal the start of the second round.
Felix was a bit more cautious this time. He sensed that charging in recklessly wouldn't work.
He threatened Damian as if to stab him with his long arms.
But Damian didn't even flinch at such deception.
"Damn it."
Felix, growing impatient, charged in again, unable to overcome his habit.
Damian reacted by lowering his body.
Felix's wooden sword grazed Damian's shoulder by a hair's breadth again.
Instead of backing away, Damian thrust his shoulder under Felix's elbow.
This caused their bodies to stick together and their arms to tangle.
The fight ended there.
What...?
And Felix felt the cold touch on his neck again.
He blinked for a moment, not understanding what had happened.
With their bodies stuck together, Damian's sword tip was touching his neck.
It felt like the duel had ended before anything could happen.
The spectators, unable to comprehend how the match was decided in such a short moment, couldn't even cheer.
Joyce doubted his own eyes seeing this.
While Felix's swordsmanship was reckless, it wasn't so sloppy as to be subdued so easily.
Yet Damian easily deflected everything as if it were full of openings.
As if he were dealing with a large child.
"Felix loses!"
Only then did slow applause follow from the spectators. Their faces were a mix of surprise and bewilderment.
Felix still couldn't grasp the difference in skill.
He just thought he had been caught in Damian's strategy.
He provoked Damian again, "Did being raised suckling a mage's teat make you too cowardly to fight head-on?"
Felix, being so worked up, failed to calculate that his provocation would be heard by the spectators.
The expressions of the noble young ladies and fellow knights who heard his provocation turned grim.
It was a clear insult to Silveryn and Damian.
This behavior clearly went against the chivalry that valued honor.
When Joyce tried to intervene in excitement, a senior knight nearby stopped him. The senior gestured to deal with it after the duel ended.
Damian didn't respond.
"..."
But the provocation clearly had an effect.
When Damian returned to his position for the next duel and faced Felix, his eyes held a murderous glint.
Felix smiled vilely at him.
Now, it was clear that he would respond to the provocation and engage in a head-on battle.
And that was good for Felix. A head-on battle was overwhelmingly advantageous for him.
The atmosphere among the spectators also became subdued.
If Damian ambiguously yielded to the provocation, it would be seen as standing by while his teacher's honor was tarnished, so now he had to retaliate decisively.
Due to Felix's line-crossing words, it was no longer a light duel but had become a duel of honor.
The announcer soon signaled the start of the third duel.
Felix leaped high and brought his sword down on Damian with all his weight behind it. The movement was excessively large.
He didn't care whether Damian attacked his openings or not.
And Damian didn't dodge but deflected the sword.
Huh?
He received it without showing any sign of being pushed back.
Felix, regaining his posture, swung his sword at Damian with full force again.
A one-sided offensive.
It was a very similar situation to when he had overwhelmed Julian.
Everyone expected Damian to be subdued.
The spectators frowned. Thanks to his rude words, none of them cheered for Felix's offensive.
Damian broke everyone's expectations and withstood it.
He didn't take a single step back.
And with each exchange, Felix's hands began to feel more and more numb.
It felt like hitting a rock.
What is this...
Felix started to become flustered.
He began to press down on Damian, crossing swords and using his weight.
But Damian didn't budge at all.
Rather, he took a step forward and pushed Felix back.
Damian was actually overwhelming him with strength.
Felix stepped back a few steps in confusion.
How did that body get such strength...
It went against his intuition.
He shook out his numb hands and leaped forward again.
Felix brought his sword down on Damian with all his might, putting his weight behind it.
And Damian, instead of dodging, strongly countered it.
Clang!
The wooden swords collided. Following the strong impact sound, Felix let out a scream.
"Aaargh!"
The wooden sword flew into the sky, and he staggered backward, clutching his twisted wrist.
Damian had completely overwhelmed him, even in a head-on battle.
The match was decided the moment the sword flew away, but Damian didn't seem like he would end it there.
He just stood still, watching.
The training ground area fell silent for a while.
Damian spoke for the first time after the duel, "Pick it up."
"...What?"
Felix glared at Damian's face.
Pick up the wooden sword again?
He was giving him another chance.
It was a statement that crushed Felix's pride.
His teeth gritted. With a red face, he picked up the fallen wooden sword again.
He took his stance again, but his arms were trembling.
Despite being furious, he couldn't bring himself to charge in first.
Damian approached him with large strides.
Felix's body unconsciously retreated bit by bit.
"Ugh, damn."
Damian, who had openly approached him, raised his sword and brought it down towards Felix in a clearly visible arc.
Clang!
Felix blocked it with all his might, but the wooden sword flew away again.
"Aaargh!"
And Felix rolled on the ground in pain.
Both his wrists had swollen red, unable to withstand the impact. His ligaments were completely damaged.
Yet the match wasn't over.
Damian personally retrieved the fallen wooden sword and tossed it to him.
"Pick it up."
Felix looked up at Damian.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
Only then did he realize he had messed with the wrong person.
Felix closed his eyes tightly and pleaded, "Damn it, I lost, I said I lost!"
At his declaration of surrender, Damian finally put down his wooden sword.
Damian crouched down and left one last word to Felix in a small voice. Drowned out by the spectators' noise, no one but Felix heard it.
Soon after, Felix's face turned pale.
Then Damian parted the crowd and left the dueling area.
Bologna, Nancy, and several other nobles followed after Damian.
***
"What kind of commotion did you cause?"
After staying overnight at the Knight Order's main building, Silveryn and Damian set out early in the morning on their way back to the mansion.
Damian was resting his chin on the carriage window, quietly admiring the passing scenery of Wiesel.
"It was just a light duel."
"A light duel that made those polite nobles shout so excitedly?"
"I guess they were really curious about my skills. You said it yourself, teacher. That people here love gossip..."
"And what's with all these gifts you received?"
Next to where Damian was sitting, there was a pile of gifts wrapped with letters and ribbons.
"I'm not sure either. They just gave them to me."
Unable to contain her curiosity, Silveryn pulled out one of the piled letters and read it.
It contained a message expressing a desire to keep in contact with Damian, along with the address of the estate where a reply could be sent.
"You're quite the popular one."
"..."
"And what did you talk about during the duel?"
Damian answered with an expression of complete ignorance, "Pardon?"
"Don't play dumb. I was watching from the window in the main building. Why were you so angry?"
Silveryn had been watching from afar, so she couldn't know the exact details.
"He called me a shorty."
"..."
Silveryn looked at Damian with a sympathetic gaze for a moment. While Damian wasn't smaller than average, the guy he had faced was indeed impressively large in comparison.
"Don't worry too much about it. You've definitely grown since I first saw you. You'll catch up in no time."
Damian replied calmly, "That's a relief."
"Are you even listening to me?"
"Yes."
Damian seemed to be lost in other thoughts while looking at the distant mountains.
"No, so what did you say back to that guy?"
"I told him we'd meet again at the Eternia entrance exam."
"...?"
Silveryn narrowed her eyes, staring at him.
Something seems to be missing.
Something must have happened last night. But Damian didn't seem to want to tell her everything.
She shook her head and gave up on probing further.
Fine, keep it to yourself then.