Chapter 38

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on February 10, 2025

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A knight’s pride was a tremendous thing.

If insulted, they’d throw down their gauntlet and challenge even the Sword Monarch or the father of the Sword God to a duel.

This wasn’t just because of their strong pride; dueling with stronger opponents was also the fastest way to improve one’s skills.

Thanks to this, duels happened as often as eating meals, and losing wasn’t particularly dishonorable. In fact, avoiding a duel became a great disgrace.

‘I wonder how strong someone who receives a medal is?’

Of course, he had no intention of losing. The reason he openly provoked Cecilia was partly curiosity about how strong the rumored Sword Heroine was, but fundamentally, he was confident in his victory.

After all, he was a knight on the verge of becoming a Sword Emperor.

“Why no answer? Could it be… you’re scared?”

Hehe.

Even after being insulted, her bright attitude made Dick flinch.

‘Why is she reacting like that?’

Cecilia had decided to ‘frost’ the newcomers.

But it wasn’t an easy task. The knights’ loyalty was fundamentally strong, and blatantly saying ‘our Knight Order is awesome’ wasn’t considered proper etiquette.

Cecilia wasn’t one to miss such a good opportunity.

“Two hours later, see you at the Colosseum.”

“…The Colosseum? For a duel? What’s with the official arena? Hey!”

And Cecilia spread the word around the neighborhood.

People of the town! The most beautiful Cecilia is having a duel!

“A duel? With Cecilia?”

“Where? We must see that!”

The rumor spread rapidly. Citizens walking the streets, and other Knight Orders who came to the capital for brief errands.

“The rumored Sword Heroine is having a duel?”

“We arrived at the capital at a good time.”

In no time, the Colosseum was filling with people.

Meanwhile, Windsor Knight Order Headquarters – Vice-Captain’s Office.

“Vice-Captain! Big trouble!”

“…What is it?”

Edward was investigating if there were any issues with this new recruit’s background.

Verification was an essential yet extremely complicated procedure, keeping Edward incredibly busy.

“Sorry, I’m quite busy. If it’s nothing major, report later…”

“Cecilia is having a duel! With the Royal Knight Order!”

“!”

Edward briefly glanced at the mountain of reports.

No time to watch a duel…

“I can’t ignore this.”

Edward quickly headed to the Colosseum.

**

Colosseum.

Nearby, groups from the Windsor Knight Order and the Royal Knight Order stood.

The two factions growled at each other.

The Windsor Knight Order and the Royal Knight Order didn’t get along well.

Both were Knight Orders based in the capital, and due to their proud nature, the Royal Knight Order couldn’t openly admit that Windsor was the best.

The Royal Knight Order, protecting the Queen, also had considerable pride.

“The ones representing the Rianen Kingdom should obviously be the Royal Knight Order!”

“Right!”

“Can’t you tell by the name?”

“Do we look like jokes to you?”

Of course, the Windsor knights only sneered at such reactions from the Royal Knight Order.

“And why are all bets placed on Cecilia?”

“Idiots.”

“Do you guys know anything about the Demon Race?”

However, not a few knights predicted Dick’s victory.

Firstly, Cecilia had only been a Sword Heroine for a year.

Dick was also the second strongest within the Royal Knight Order.

“Who do you think will win, Captain?”

When Vice-Captain Michael asked, Kairon twitched his eyebrows and glared at Michael.

It was a look that said, “Do you want to get hit?”

“Obviously Cecilia.”

Doting father…

Michael sighed deeply, looking at Cecilia with some concern.

“But Cecilia has only been a Sword Heroine for a year.”

“Do you think the Sword Demon of the Windsor Knight Order and the Sword Demons of other Knight Orders are on the same level?”

Kairon crossed his arms, showing an expression that said it was absurd.

“The title of strongest isn’t something anyone can have.”

“But this time, the Royal Knight Order has been aggressively recruiting talented individuals. That Dick is a famous knight from the south.”

The Royal Knight Order was originally a conservative group. As the knights protecting the Queen, they valued background more than skill.

If there was even a slight flaw, they wouldn’t accept you. However, many things changed when Draven became the captain.

The Royal Knight Order needs to boost its strength too!

Following his strong argument, the entrance test changed.

Thus, many knights who could easily join the Windsor Knight Order were now also in the Royal Knight Order.

“If we lose, it’ll be a big blow to this recruitment…”

“How dare the captain’s aide talk nonsense!”

“What does a paper-pusher know!”

“Captain! Can I hit him just once?”

Seeing Michael sweating coldly from the protests coming from behind, Kairon gave a small nod.

“No! Shouldn’t I maintain some rationality here!”

“Well, there’s no need to worry too much, Michael.”

Edward said leisurely as he descended the stairs.

“In a 1:1, surpassing Cecilia is impossible.”

“But that’s only because of Wind Shear…”

“The ultimate technique is the manifestation of one’s mental state. It reflects individual characteristics.”

The main feature of Wind Shear was that while it was disadvantageous against large armies, it showed great efficiency against single targets.

Using such an ultimate technique meant believing in certain victory if there were no interruptions.

That’s what Edward thought.

“So the focus of this duel isn’t whether she wins or loses, but how Cecilia wins.”

Just then, the referee Draven was reciting the rules.

– The use of ultimate techniques is prohibited.

– Any form of lethal moves is also prohibited.

“Then, I’ll start when I return to my seat.”

Draven turned and walked away. Cecilia and Dick slowly tilted their swords forward.

Swish!

As soon as Draven reached the audience seats, Cecilia charged. Dick, as if expecting it, held his sword diagonally.

Bang!

He smoothly deflected Cecilia’s strike, but Dick was bounced back. At that moment, Cecilia realized what his blessing was.

“Dick’s blessing is definitely…”

“It’s the Blessing of Elasticity. They say the more it bounces back, the more its speed and power increase.”

That was exactly right. Bounced back, Dick rebounded off the arena wall and returned to Cecilia at high speed.

It was a type that converted the opponent’s strength into their own.

Just like how a rubber ball thrown hard against a wall returns faster.

“To counter that, either strike with force that can’t be deflected.”

“Or avoid it while looking for an opening. Personally, I’d probably choose the former, but what about Cecilia?”

Edward watched the duel with interest. Cecilia struck Dick’s sword. Dick returned shortly after, and Cecilia kept striking him away repeatedly.

“…Isn’t that the worst move?”

“Haha, here we go again.”

Kairon wiped his face.

By now, Cecilia probably roughly guessed what the opponent’s blessing was.

Yet, Cecilia was moving exactly as the opponent wanted.

The reason was simple.

‘It feels like playing tennis!’

It was fun!

The more Dick bounced back, the faster he returned.

For Cecilia, it was pure fun.

‘But… I can’t keep enjoying this forever.’

Dick was already returning at an incredible speed. Now, before she could even deflect it for a second, another sword strike came from a different direction.

‘What if the ball bursts?’

Cecilia turned her eyes to the right. Dick, upon meeting her gaze, was shocked.

‘To react to this speed…?’

Of course, a Sword Demon could block this speed. But that was only through ‘intuition’. Barely deflecting by feeling it.

No one reacted directly by seeing it.

‘Well, anyway, if he increases the speed further, I won’t be able to keep up.’

With confidence, Dick thrust his sword. But Cecilia’s sword was already at the arrival point.

‘Parrying…!’

Dick spun his body once and barely altered the sword’s path slightly.

Due to the nature of parrying requiring precise angles and timing, it didn’t manifest fully, but Dick fell to the ground as a result of forcefully changing its course.

Bang!

Dick was lifted into the air due to elasticity. At that moment, Cecilia, who had been still until now, moved.

“It’s over.”

Edward smirked as Cecilia’s sword wrapped in wind slashed through Dick.

But Dick wasn’t so easy.

“Wow!”

“Did he deflect that?!”

Dick had converted Cecilia’s sword strike into elasticity. It was impressive enough to handle a sword strike in an unstable posture with nowhere to brace himself in mid-air.

Dick used elasticity again to fly into the air. His sword rippled with the sword energy converted from Cecilia’s previous strike.

“Hahaha! Payouts! How much are the payouts!”

The Royal Knight Order side cheered and celebrated. The match was practically over.

Due to Dick’s blessing characteristic, the stronger the opponent’s strike, the stronger the returning force.

Moreover, Cecilia’s previous sword strike had immense power even by their standards. Successfully converting that into elasticity basically meant the match was over.

But-.

“That idiot.”

“Creating distance against Cecilia?”

None of the Windsor knights thought Dick would win.

“Th, that’s really dangerous, isn’t it?”

Except for Vice-Captain Michael. Kairon shook his head.

“Giving Cecilia distance is foolish.”

“Eh? But- isn’t it impossible to interfere with a sword energy with that much power? Even if Cecilia starts charging her sword energy now, she won’t have enough time.”

“Distance means nothing to her.”

But Kairon smiled faintly.

“The wind is everywhere.”

As soon as Kairon finished speaking, Cecilia, who had been looking up at the sky, disappeared.

“!”

And appeared right behind Dick, who was flying in the air gathering sword energy.

“Oh no!”

When Dick felt he was done for, Cecilia mercilessly kicked his back.

Boom!

With a tremendous explosion, Dick crashed into the ground.

When the sandstorm settled, Dick was sprawled out like a frog.

Cecilia squatted in front of Dick, poking his cheeks worriedly.