Chapter 73

"Don't screw with me! I said the duel was off! There was no winner!"

After the duel, Hilde was making a huge fuss inside the smithy, just as I'd expected.

"You wouldn't stop, so I had no choice but to say I surrendered!"

"You said it because you had no choice, didn't you?"

If I'd stopped then, she'd have swept the whole thing under the rug, so I continued the duel with ironclad resolve.

"Um... Hilde-san, the Guild doesn't consider it a valid reason to request that a duel be stopped just because you saw your opponent's Skills and decided they were dangerous. Both parties have to agree. Since we were called here as witnesses, if you refuse to abide by the result, it will damage our reputation as well. The Guild will have no choice but to take whatever measures it can."

Matilda explained this to Hilde.

"I-I know that! Do you think I'd say something so petty as to try to invalidate the duel after the fact?!"

Wasn't that exactly what you were doing?

As I wondered about that, Hilde suddenly bowed deeply to me...