Chapter 48

Chapter : 48

Even if I did not have the discerning eye to grasp an opponent’s level the moment I saw them, I could see the mana pouring from their body.

Jericho poured out mana as if showing it off to me. As though he had no intention of letting the sparring match drag on, he burned through mana from the very start.

A blue haze shimmered along his body. The amount of mana he emitted was considerable.

He had good reason to be confident of certain victory against Raphael. It seemed that not only a weak bastard like Raphael, but even most knights would struggle to hold out against Jericho.

Even taking into account that he was a noble born into a martial family and had encountered mana earlier than others, it was still a great deal.

Seeing that both he and I possessed so much mana, it almost made me think the Isaac family should have learned magic instead of the sword. Compared to Leo, would it not be three or four times as much?

“Then I will begin.”

“Suit yourself.”

Since this sparring match had been arranged because I had reached Sword Expert, it felt as though I was being tested yet again. It was unpleasant.

And since I might kill Jericho if I misjudged my strength even slightly, I had no intention of drawing out Sword Aura.

Jericho raised his sword. The sword tip flashed as it caught the light.

I had stopped partway through learning it, but there was such a thing as swordsmanship unique to the Isaac family. It was a family born with abundant mana, and naturally, their swordsmanship had developed to maximize that advantage. They seized powerful force through mana, and rather than aiming for the enemy’s vital points, they aimed for the opponent’s weapon.

Jericho executed the swordsmanship he had trained in all his life.

His right foot, one step forward.

He advanced, set his center of gravity on his pivot foot, and rotated.

His sword, carrying centrifugal force, came at me fiercely and struck my blade. From there, the Isaac family’s swordsmanship flowed into different forms depending on the opponent’s reaction.

If the opponent could not withstand the impact and lost their sword or their stance collapsed, the neck was cut. If their balance wavered, another full-force sword strike would follow, seizing certain victory.

But it did not account for the case where the opponent received the sword without the slightest trouble. That was something that only happened when the opponent was someone you could not defeat no matter what you did. When the gap between levels was too great. In that case, the only answer was to flee.

CLAAAAANG—!

I had stood defenseless until just before our swords collided.

Only when Jericho’s sword was about to touch mine did I move and swing my own. It was a strike made with arm strength alone, carrying neither body weight nor centrifugal force.

And yet, astonishingly, the sword that was sent flying was Jericho’s.

Immediately after the two swords collided, unlike my sword, which had come to a stop, the blade in Jericho’s grip shook violently.

Jericho gripped the hilt fiercely, afraid he might drop it.

He pulled back his elbow and hand, which had been flung far away from his body along with the sword. He staggered back two whole steps.

Jericho’s pupils contracted until they were no larger than dots in his irises. His face crumpled as he exhaled the breath he had been holding.

It had been no more than a single clash, but even someone ignorant of swordsmanship could tell the difference in level between Jericho and me. No, the Isaac family was a martial family.

Even those who did not hold swords had excellent eyes for judging swordsmanship. Everyone watching the sparring match was certain.

It was Jericho’s defeat.

Everyone knew it. Would Jericho not know it too?

There was no way he did not.

Even so, he took his stance again and prepared to fight.

He went heavier, broader. Even if it meant showing an opening, it was so he could break the opponent’s stance. So he could seize even a fragment of victory.

His feet stood a little wider than shoulder-width apart. He tensed his body as though drawing a bow and pulled back his sword.

He drove oxygen deep into his lungs and closed off his airway. After storing that air inside his body, he charged at me like a madman.

“Aaaagh!”

Jericho brought his sword down vertically.

Like a bolt of lightning crashing down, a vicious sword strike targeted me and fell.

I knocked it aside with a tap. It was a counterattack using the principles of Force Release, but to others, it would look as though I had brushed it away with nothing but the strength of my wrist.

Jericho was pushed back. He glared with both eyes and ground his teeth.

Jericho attacked with all his might, and I defended lightly.

We went through that process several times. The same exchange repeated.

Jericho’s breathing grew rougher and rougher. From his sword came the information that his stamina was running out.

The hand gripping his sword steadily lost strength.

“Haaah! Haaah!”

I stood still and waited for Jericho’s next sword strike. When would Jericho surrender? Judging by his momentum, it seemed faster for him to collapse from exhaustion instead. Either way, it was not far off.

When Jericho furrowed his brows, the muscles around his eyes moved with them, creasing his forehead. He spoke through a mouth whose breath had turned faintly sweet.

“Why are you so strong?”

The kid must have lost his mind. With so many eyes around us watching, he had dropped his speech level. Paying no mind to anyone’s gaze, he continued.

“You’re not supposed to be that strong. How much training have you even done? I worked several times harder than you. This is unfair.”

“Do you want to surrender?”

I had suggested it out of consideration for Jericho, but he seemed to take it as provocation. The area around his eye muscles contorted.

“Huuuup.”

Jericho sucked in oxygen. Air entered deep into his lungs, and his chest expanded.

“Uaaaaagh!”

He came running with a shout.

His hair, soaked with sweat and plastered to his face, whipped in the wind.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The ground shook with every step he took.

He brought his sword down with all his might. A textbook Vertical Slash.

CLANG—!

I received it with the same movement as before, but with greater force than before. The moment our swords collided, I briefly pulled back to absorb the impact, then added the principle of Force Release and knocked him away. Jericho, who had poured everything into his attack, was sent flying and rolled across the ground.

Jericho could not get up. Perhaps the dirt in his mouth felt gritty; he spat onto the ground.

“Haaah! Haaah!”

With even his sword flung aside, he stared up at the sky and gasped for breath. It seemed he no longer had the strength to fight.

“Let’s end it here.”

“It’s not over yet. Who says you get to decide?”

Jericho tried to use his sword as a cane and lift himself up, but perhaps his legs had given out, because he fell back onto his rear.

“I do. This isn’t a duel, it’s only a sparring match. Stop acting so solemn.”

Leaving Jericho behind, I moved into the manor. The spectators read the mood and dispersed. Only Jericho remained in the training ground. Judging from the sound of sobbing I heard, he seemed to be crying alone.

---

After finishing the sparring match, I washed and changed my clothes.

Only after changing did it truly sink in that I had set down another heavy burden.

Thanks to my unexpectedly rapid growth, I had known Jericho would not be much of a problem, but after seeing it through to the end, my heart still felt lighter.

I lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling. As I rested in my room for a while, I heard a knock at the door.

“May I come in for a moment?”

It was Evelyn’s voice. When I gave permission, Evelyn entered. In her hand lay two rings. One of them was familiar.

Right after I had possessed this body, Raphael had been wearing all kinds of ornaments.

They had felt so stifling that I took them all off and gave one ring to Koromang.

It was the old ring set with a blue center stone, the one I had given Koromang then.

I sat up in bed and faced Evelyn.

She lowered her eyes and held the two rings out to me. The rings had the same design; only the gemstones set into them were different, one blue and one red.

“I came to return them to you.”

“Those? Why?”

“Because you would want them, of course.”

“No... It’s fine? And why do you have them? I didn’t give them to you.”

“Pardon?”

Evelyn, who had never been flustered no matter what I said, opened her mouth wide and only blinked. After opening and closing her mouth like a fish, she said,

“You truly gave this to the head maid? You were serious? That was sincere?”

“Yes. Why?”

Evelyn’s eyes widened until they could not possibly grow any larger. Then her mouth fell open to about twice that size.

“This is Mother’s keepsake!”

It felt as though someone had spilled hot coffee onto my trousers while drinking it. The burning shock snapped me awake.

Ah! Ah! So that was why!

I had felt that something was strange.

It had only been an old ring, yet Koromang had handled it with excessive care. Somehow, I had also thought it strange that it stood out so much among the things that looked expensive at a glance.

I had brushed it off, assuming the ring must have some kind of antique value.

That was not it.

So the ring had that kind of backstory!

Faced with a story I had never imagined even in my dreams, my brain stopped.

How was I supposed to excuse this? I could not exactly say that I had forgotten about Mother’s keepsake and given it away to someone else.

I tried to calm my heart, which felt ready to burst at this sudden accident. If I closed my mouth here to choose my words, that would look even more suspicious. I moved my tongue first.

“I know. I only handed the ring over because my circumstances were awkward at the time. But that does not give you the right to take it.”

“Koromang gave it to me. She must have known it was not something she should keep! Did you truly intend to hand Mother’s keepsake over to a maid, Head of the House?”

“No.”

As I hesitated over how to excuse myself and stayed silent, Evelyn covered her mouth with her own hand. As if she had never been agitated, she steadied her breathing and took a deep breath.

“I apologize. It seems I went too far.”

“It’s fine. The situation was easy to misunderstand. What I was objecting to was that you took the ring without consulting me.”

“Yes, I understand. I was thoughtless.”

“If you wanted it, you should have told me first.”

Evelyn’s cheekbones twitched. She hesitated, reluctant to speak, then lowered her gaze.

“If I had said I wanted it, would you have given it to me?”

“Of course. You have no idea how uncomfortable that kind of jewelry is when swinging a sword. Even if I kept it, what could I do with it but enshrine it in a display cabinet?”

At my words, Evelyn closed her mouth again.

She must have known this was not a situation where she could demand the ring.

But there was no guarantee that I would remain in the territory forever, and there was no knowing when my mind might change again. After a long pause, she said,

“If you will give it to me, I would like to receive it. But I have nothing to offer you. I am already in your debt, and I cannot incur an even greater debt. What should I do?”

“Pay me back later.”

“I may not be able to give you what you want in the end.”

“That’s fine.”

If I had known that old ring carried such a heavy, heavy story, I would not have handled it so lightly.

Deep down, I felt sorry to Evelyn, and there was something awkward about having her hand over the ring to me when I had no sentiment attached to it at all.

The value of an object changes depending on the person.

I, who saw a precious jewel that Evelyn would not trade for anything as merely a somewhat pretty stone, could not accept it.

“Yes... Then I will keep the ring. If there is anything you want, please tell me at any time.”

Evelyn took the ring and withdrew.