Chapter 12 - Scoundrelry Makes No Distinction Between Men and Women (2)
I could tell at once why the scoundrel had committed such a rotten outrage.
It was the childishness of a little boy lifting the skirt of the girl he liked, or the twisted courtship of a man with a nasty temper.
Something like that, probably.
If not, then his eyes had to be rotten.
But I knew better than anyone that his eyes had not been rotten.
Those eyes were now mine, and with them I was seeing her flawless figure without the slightest distortion.
Disgust surfaced on Arwen Kirgayen's face.
"Your Highness has not changed in the slightest."
Her voice was as cold and dry as a biting winter wind, and yet beautiful enough to make one want to hear it just one more time.
"I don't think so. I think I've changed a lot."
Changed was an understatement.
With my insides completely replaced, I was effectively an entirely different being.
But she had no way of knowing that, and she did not listen to me.
She simply glared at me with a sharpened gaze.
"His Excellency Count Ballorhard has arrived."
While I was admiring her beauty for a moment, my uncle arrived.
"Apprentice Knight Arwen Kirgayen of the Iron Lion Knights greets His Excellency Count Ballorhard."
Upon seeing my uncle, Arwen Kirgayen gave him a military salute with disciplined movements.
It was a typical knightly greeting, placing a clenched fist over the heart.
"Dame Arwen, is it? Is your father well?"
Perhaps they had been acquainted from the start, because my uncle greeted her with an uncharacteristically warm manner.
"Thanks to your concern, he is well."
"I see. But..."
My uncle looked at me with an unkind gaze.
It was a look that seemed to ask what on earth I had done to earn her grudge.
Of course, I had no intention of answering, so I neatly ignored that look.
"Tsk."
Clicking his tongue in displeasure, my uncle turned his gaze to Arwen Kirgayen.
"Be careful."
"What happened to the observer's neutrality?"
"The Prince's sword is rather vicious."
Just as I had done, my uncle neatly ignored my words.
But Arwen Kirgayen, who had heard my uncle's advice, merely nodded perfunctorily to express her thanks for it.
As if my uncle had no intention of interfering any further, he soon stepped back and declared the start of the spar.
"Then begin."
No sooner had the declaration fallen than Arwen Kirgayen's eyes flashed.
And a streak of blue light flew toward my waist.
CLANG!
Since I had been prepared in advance, I blocked her sword strike without difficulty.
In that instant when our swords met, a strange wave invaded me.
My chest lurched.
My chest shook violently.
My Mana Heart screamed as if it had been harried by the mana of a ring for dozens of exchanges.
It was a completely unexpected situation, but I did not show it.
Because eyes like those of a raptor hunting prey were still shooting straight at me.
SWISH!
With a sharp sound of slicing air, the second attack flew in.
From the crown of my head to my crotch, a single line was drawn.
"Hup."
One step to the side, then I rotated my body.
Before the sword wind that had brushed past me could fully disperse, I thrust my sword forward.
The sword strike, carrying centrifugal force, swept around her waist.
Instead of retreating, she dug into my space and shoved my hand aside.
At once, the line broke apart, and my attack fizzled out.
She counterattacked.
Her knee rose and struck my side.
I drew in my arm and twisted my waist at the same time, dispersing the impact.
My body jerked up.
I did not resist and simply bounced back.
Arwen Kirgayen's sword chased after me.
CLANG!
Sharp metallic sounds burst out one after another, and sparks flew in the air.
I retreated several steps, blocking her sword.
My insides churned.
The mana inside my body roiled.
But there was no time to calm it.
Arwen Kirgayen's sword was relentless, and it did not give me even a moment to catch my breath.
That meant this spar was perfectly set to her rhythm.
Tsk.
I had to pull the rhythm over to my side.
The method was not difficult.
All I had to do was set up a single blade in my heart.
The mana in my heart, which had been trembling as the ring's mana seized and shook it, instantly settled down.
Then it spread throughout my entire body.
At that moment, sword clashed against sword.
BANG!
Arwen Kirgayen was sent flying backward.
No, it looked as if she had been sent flying.
In truth, she had withdrawn on her own.
Thanks to that, my Dragon Slayer, which had bared its venomous fangs toward its prey, ended up looking ridiculous.
"Hm."
She looked surprised, or perhaps frustrated.
Her expression was complicated as she retreated far away.
["She is a talented person who trained properly in swordsmanship at the knight order."]
["When it comes to swordsmanship spars, even full-fledged knights cannot deal with her easily..."]
["That is why you must be careful..."]
Karl's advice replayed in my head.
"So having one ring doesn't make everyone the same."
There was a world of difference between an apprentice knight from a country noble family and an apprentice knight of one of the kingdom's elite knight orders.
She possessed enough skill that it would feel wrong to lump her together with them.
But that was all.
□ Arwen Kirgayen [female, 19 years old], [apprentice knight]
□ Aptitudes. [Swordsmanship-A], [Archery-B], [Combat-B], [Mana Sensitivity-B]
□ Traits. [Gifted with the Sword], [Competitive Spirit], [Peerless Beauty], [Tough Outside, Soft Inside], [Pure-hearted Romantic]
I had been able to see her status window since a little while ago.
With the limited authority of Assessment, what I could see was only opponents weaker than me or similar to me at best.
That meant I had no reason to be inferior to her.
Of course, there was an enormous difference in terms of potential.
In any case, at this point in time, she was not an opponent I could not defeat.
Moreover, what kind of sword was I holding in my hand?
It was a dragon-slaying sword created to face mighty living beings that humans dared not oppose.
There was no way a sword that had even slain a dragon could fail to catch a mere lioness.
"Hack! Ptoo!"
I spat out saliva mixed with bloody phlegm.
Then I adjusted my grip on the sword with both hands.
"Now let's start the real game."
I kicked off the ground with force.
* * *
"Haaah. Haaah."
"Haa. Haa."
Ragged breathing mingled in the air.
I could see Arwen Kirgayen, her shoulders heaving with exhaustion, yet her fighting spirit still intact.
The neat appearance she had when I first saw her was nowhere to be found.
Her tightly bound hair had already come loose and was covering half her face, and her disheveled clothing was torn and sliced here and there, a complete mess.
She looked like a madwoman.
But I could not laugh at her.
Because I must have been just as much of a mess as she was.
"Stop. That is enough for today."
Just as we were both watching for an opening, my uncle stopped the spar.
"Tsk. I was just about to finish it."
"How unfortunate. I was just about to do the same."
When I lowered my sword and said a word, Arwen Kirgayen shot back without backing down.
"Want to keep going?"
"As much as you wish."
"Enough! Both of you are to receive treatment immediately."
At my uncle's shout, the royal physician and the medical officer who had been waiting rushed over.
"Oh dear. Look at these bruises. I will treat you cleanly, so please endure it for a moment."
I entrusted my body to the royal physician's hands and looked at Arwen Kirgayen.
Just then, she too turned her head toward me.
Our gazes met in the air.
She seemed as if she might say something, but she only glared at me like that before leaving.
Not long after she disappeared, my uncle also left the training ground, and I staggered into my bedchamber.
I threw myself onto the bed.
I was tired.
Truly tired.
Both my mana and my stamina were completely depleted.
I wanted to fall asleep just like this, but I forced myself up.
I had to fill my almost completely emptied Mana Heart with new mana.
Only then would I be able to swing my sword vigorously again tomorrow.
* * *
There was no victor on the second day either, and in the end, with the match still undecided, the final day of the promised spar arrived.
"Then let us begin."
As always, my uncle announced the start of the spar.
Arwen Kirgayen gripped her sword, her eyes flashing.
Her entire body radiated the will to settle her grudge today, no matter what.
"Wait."
I raised a hand to her.
"I have something to say."
Arwen Kirgayen lowered her sword and looked at me.
"I will not accept an apology."
She drew the line sharply.
It was likely an expression of her will to restore her wounded pride herself, rather than accept a mere verbal apology.
It was a commendable and admirable thought, but I ignored it.
Because what I had to say was not an apology.
"We're fighting this fiercely, so how could there be no prize?"
At my words, her face looked as if she had been insulted.
Oops.
Was the word too blatant?
I regretted my careless choice of words, but the water had already been spilled, and I could not take back what I had said.
"How about the loser grants whatever the winner wants?"
She did not even pretend to listen.
It was the reaction I had expected, so I tossed out bait she might react to.
"If you tell me to kneel, I will kneel, and if you tell me to prostrate myself and apologize, I will. If I lose, that is."
"Y-Your Highness!"
The ones who took the bait were, oddly enough, the Royal Knights.
"Please take back your words!"
"Take them back!"
My uncle, who had been standing at a distance, also rebuked me.
"How about you gain a little more awareness of your own position?"
"Does righting a wrong distinguish between kings, lords, generals, and ministers? What are a pair of knees worth?"
"The honor of the royal family may suffer because of you alone..."
"Will the royal family's honor fall because I act like a scoundrel? Or will it fall more because I right a wrong?"
If it was sophistry, it was sophistry, and if it was sound logic, it was sound logic.
My uncle tried to argue back, but I opened my mouth first.
"Anyway, what do you think?"
Arwen Kirgayen answered while looking not at me, but at my uncle.
"I would not dare commit such disrespect."
It meant she would keep to a proper line when making her demand so the honor of the royal family would not be damaged.
In effect, she had expressed her acceptance of my proposal.
"Good thinking."
After saying that, she adjusted her grip on her sword.
"Aren't you curious what I'll demand?"
"If I am defeated, then do as you wish, Your Highness."
Unlike her words, her face showed she had not even considered that she might lose.
"That's a dangerous thing to say. What will you do if I make some strange demand?"
"That will never happen."
Her answer was firm.
"Good. No changing your tune later."
Instead of answering, she made the tip of her sword tremble.
* * *
Arwen Kirgayen knelt and looked up at me.
"How in the world?"
Her expression and voice were full of disbelief.
Watching her, I gave a low chuckle.
The process had been different, but in the end, she too had become just like my other sparring opponents.
That expression and those words, unable to accept her own defeat, were no different from those of everyone I had seen so far.
"Well."
I gave her the same answer I had given the others.
At my mischievous answer, her face turned blank with shock.
It was the face of someone who could not understand her own defeat at all.
She must have thought we were evenly matched.
She must have thought it was neck and neck, a difference of a hair's breadth.
She must have thought that with just a little more, she could achieve the revenge she longed for.
Because I had made her think that.
"Then shall I state my demand?"
Arwen Kirgayen's face turned pale.
Only then did she seem to realize what she had done.
"I."
Looking at her, I smiled brightly.
