Chapter 9

Chapter 9. Arms Dealer Jacques (2)

“Cowardly Alexei I begged me to spare him, but I pierced the bastard’s heart with a single stroke.”

He boasted as he spun his tale of martial valor.

‘When did I ever beg? I fought without giving up until the very last moment.’

Aslaf, who knew his own final moments, was dumbfounded by his lie.

“I heard Alexei I threw a sword and wrecked Georg’s hand and eye before he died.”

At Aslaf’s rebuttal, the knight flinched, startled that a young boy knew that. Then he cleared his throat and changed the subject.

“Ahem. A-anyway, I was the one who dealt with that vile villain under heaven. I avenged the poor souls that bastard killed.”

The knight raised his hand and pointed all around as he shouted.

“If I hadn’t killed the cruel tyrant Alexei I, many people would still be suffering under that dictator’s rule even now. Know that it’s all thanks to me that you can stretch out your legs and live comfortably.”

He did not even know the truth, yet he bragged and even spread lies that damaged Alexei I’s honor. There was no need to quietly listen to his absurd nonsense.

“Enough chatter. Draw your sword.”

Aslaf cut him off coldly. He gripped the Yeon tribe sword and stood before him. He tried to suppress his emotions, but his blood boiled despite himself.

The knight looked at Aslaf in disbelief when he saw him take up the sword and stand before him.

“What nonsense! Don’t tell me you’re challenging me to a duel. A lowly gypsy like you can’t duel a knight.”

As he said, Aslaf could not duel a knight. Duels were sacred and permitted only between knights and nobles. Aslaf, who had no knightly title and purple eyes that made it obvious at a glance he was of the Gypsy tribe, could not possibly duel a knight.

“This is not a duel. We are merely testing the sword’s hardness. I will hold the sword, so strike it seven times.”

Aslaf corrected him, saying it was a test, not a duel. If it was only a test of the sword’s hardness, then even a noble and a commoner could agree to strike and block with swords without issue.

“You dare say you’ll block my sword, the sword that killed Alexei I?”

The knight snorted and drew his sword. Since Aslaf had said he would pay the repair fee if he failed to block it, the knight had no reason to refuse.

“If you get hurt, that’s none of my concern. It’ll all be your fault.”

The knight grinned through bleary eyes and leveled his sword.

Aslaf raised the sword and took his stance. A Yeon tribe blade had softer iron, but depending on how it was held, the shock could be dispersed. If one took the stance of Yeon tribe swordsmanship, the sword would not break easily.

Aslaf held the sword the way the Yeon tribe held their blades and waited for the knight to strike.

“Hyah!”

The knight brought his sword down with the weight of his whole body behind it.

Aslaf watched the incoming blade and blocked it at the right point of impact. Only by meeting it at the exact spot could he disperse the force.

Clang—

The two swords collided. The impact of the knight’s full-force swing traveled through the sword, and a tingling pain ran through Aslaf’s wrist.

“One.”

Iwan counted from the side in a tense voice.

“Not bad.”

The knight had thought Aslaf would be unable to endure his strength and stumble backward, so when Aslaf withstood the impact with only a slight bend of his knees, he looked somewhat flustered.

“Tch. My hand slipped because of the liquor.”

No one had asked, but he muttered an excuse under his breath.

“Hyah!”

The knight struck down with even greater force.

Clang—

Aslaf still blocked the knight’s sword with accurate posture.

“Ugh!”

This time, even the knight seemed to feel a sting in his wrist, and his face momentarily twisted.

“Two.”

With sweat in his hands, Iwan studied their expressions.

The knight’s pupils shook as the situation flowed differently from what he had intended. His plan had been to force Aslaf to his knees with the first strike, make him apologize for his insolence toward a knight and swear never to do it again, then dump the repair fee on him. But even after two strikes, Aslaf did not budge, like a boulder.

“Fine. Now I’ll show you my real skill.”

As if growing irritated, the knight spat into both hands and gripped his sword again.

“Uaaah!”

The knight’s blade flashed before Aslaf’s eyes as he swung it with a strange cry. It was much faster than before. Aslaf did not take his eyes off the blade, followed its movement to the end, and blocked.

Clang—

The clear, refreshing ring showed that the swords had properly collided.

“Agh!”

The knight’s strength was so great that even he staggered from the rebound and cried out.

Aslaf, too, was pushed back several steps and nearly fell. However, Aslaf had also inherited Baron Lenke’s sturdy body, so he was not that weak. And because he had dispersed the impact with accurate posture, he could soften the blow.

“Three.”

Jacques, who had at first watched like a bystander, grew increasingly absorbed and stared intently as Aslaf unexpectedly held out well.

“Hah, you stubborn bastard.”

Perhaps the knight was gradually being seized by anxiety, because he adjusted his grip on the sword again and again.

“You won’t be able to hold out anymore.”

Then, as if determined to finish it this time, he clenched his teeth and brought the sword down with all his strength.

Riiing—

The two blades collided so squarely that they rang like flutes, creating a clear metallic note in the air.

As that sound ran down their spines, everyone watching flinched in surprise and shuddered.

“Four.”

By now, the knight was gasping for breath. He had poured in so much strength that beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Seeing him rub his wrist and elbow, he seemed to be feeling pain.

Aslaf’s wrist was gradually losing strength too. It had gone beyond tingling and was now numb enough that he could hardly feel the pain.

“You should stop here. He’s still a child. At this rate, he’ll be hurt.”

Jacques tried to stop the excited knight, but the knight looked ready to leave Aslaf no mercy. Instead, his beard twitched, and his eyes flashed.

“Do you think I’ve lived by fighting moderately until now? That bastard was the one who picked a fight with me first.”

With his pride wounded, the knight seemed to have lost sight of everything and swung his sword wildly.

“Uaaah!”

He attacked by surprise before Aslaf could properly take his stance.

Claaang—

The attack came at an unexpected timing, so Aslaf could not prepare and took the shock head-on. His wrist bent backward, and he felt the joint twist and stretch. Aslaf grimaced and instinctively grabbed his wrist.

“Five.”

Iwan said in a trembling voice as he approached Aslaf’s side.

“Stop it, Aslaf. At this rate, your wrist will give out.”

Jacques also shook his head in despair.

“Why are you going this far? Are you doing this much just to work at our shop? Even if you do, I still won’t hire you.”

“That is not why.”

Aslaf could vaguely feel why both he and the knight refused to back down and were so desperately trying to decide the match.

It was something already foretold by the ill fate of their past lives.

“No one can stop us.”

It was a fated fight between the one who killed and the one who was killed, a fight neither could step back from.

“You insolent gypsy bastard. Where do you think you’re glaring?”

The knight shuddered, perhaps displeased by Aslaf’s expression.

“Those eyes. I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere.”

He surely could not imagine that a boy with lowly gypsy blood was the reincarnation of Alexei I.

Yet, for a reason he could not explain, he instinctively sensed that he absolutely could not back down from this fight.

Only two strikes remained.

“Uraaagh!”

The knight swung his sword sideways with enough force to cut Aslaf’s neck.

“N-no. If he does that, he’ll hurt him!”

Iwan shouted urgently as he watched the knight thrust in from a direction they had not agreed upon.

Now, regardless of the wager, his goal seemed to have been cutting Aslaf.

Claaang—

Even though the knight had launched a sudden lethal attack, Aslaf blocked it at the right place, as if he had known it would happen.

They had agreed that the knight would simply strike down, but now he was swinging the sword threateningly and trying to stab Aslaf’s body.

“That’s not what you agreed to! You said it wasn’t a duel!”

Iwan tried to step between them. Aslaf shook his head and stopped him with his eyes.

‘This is a fight between me and that bastard.’

“One final strike remains.”

At Aslaf’s words, the knight breathed roughly through his nose and poured sweat like rain.

“Fine. I’ll end this.”

With bloodshot eyes, the knight retreated several steps. Then he leaped upward and brought his sword down with the force of gravity acting on his body weight. The knight’s sword fell toward Aslaf’s head.

Aslaf crouched and gathered his strength, then rose. Then he caught the blade falling toward him and struck upward with all his might.

Clang—

With a clear sound, the knight’s sword spun through the air and flew like a bird before falling to the floor.

“Gah!”

The tip of Aslaf’s sword, having rotated around, grazed the knight’s arm and wounded it. It was a shallow cut that had only lightly sliced him, but blood soon welled from the skin and dripped down in drops.

“Seven. The match is decided.”

Aslaf gasped for breath and handed the Yeon tribe sword to Jacques. Jacques examined Aslaf’s sword. Despite seven powerful blows, aside from the part that had originally been chipped, the Yeon tribe sword had no deformed areas.

With a flushed face, Jacques held the blade out to the knight and confirmed that nothing was wrong with it.

“The edge has not chipped. Sir Knight, you will have to bear the repair fee.”

The knight looked back and forth between the undamaged blade and his injured arm, then trembled as if he had finally sobered up.

“Wh-what, what in the world......?”

He could not believe that he had lost a wager to a gypsy boy who was neither a knight nor a warrior. And on top of that, he had even been wounded.

“Did I drink so much that I’m seeing things?”

He looked confused as to whether this was a dream or reality.

Jacques quickly held out the remaining refund money to the knight, excluding the repair fee.

“Here is your refund. I have deducted the repair fee.”

Then he opened the door, as if begging him to please leave now.

The knight accepted the money with a blank expression, as though he had just woken from being possessed by a goblin. Seeing the blood flowing from his arm, he lost all his earlier bravado from when he had entered and dragged his feet as he walked out weakly.

“I’m like this because I’m not drunk enough yet. I need to drink more.”

He staggered away toward a tavern, hunching his shoulders as if he were cold. He also glanced around from time to time, as though afraid someone would realize he had been wounded by a boy’s sword.

Once the door closed, Iwan, beside himself with pride, examined Aslaf’s aching wrist.

“You did well, Aslaf. I knew you could do it. Is your arm all right?”

“It’ll probably be fine after I sleep for a day.”

Aslaf opened and closed his fist, loosening it. Seeing that it moved well, there did not seem to be any major problem.

“Wow. For a young friend, you’ve got no ordinary strength.”

The shop clerk who had driven him out with a broom now looked at Aslaf in awe after seeing him face a knight without yielding. He acknowledged that Aslaf possessed martial skill he could never treat lightly.

Jacques stood in thought for a moment, staring silently at the closed door. His attitude as he looked back at Aslaf had become far more serious than before.

“Looking at you reminds me of someone who died a long time ago.”

Jacques covered his face with one hand, lost in thought.

“That man once told me that if I ever found an honest and courageous young person who wanted to learn swordsmanship or become a knight, I should introduce them to him.”

Aslaf knew very well who that man was. Whenever Alexei I came to buy weapons from Jacques, he had told him to introduce any honest and courageous young people to him regardless of their status.

“What kind of person was he?”

Aslaf was curious how Jacques remembered him. Did he remember him as a vicious tyrant like everyone else? Or did he feel even a little human affection for him?

Unlike those who had only heard the rumors that spread, Jacques had dealt with him and traded with him directly, so Aslaf hoped he would evaluate him objectively.