Chapter 24
In front of me, Erza Ractos, the knight captain, wearing his armour, is taking a stance with a slightly long one-handed sword in his hand.
I, too, takes a stance while holding my double-handed sword.
The start of this happening is earlier today during the resting time of our morning practice just this afternoon.
My dear mother, Liliane Ractos, has a matter in the castle, and on that occasion, she also made a bento for me.
After that, for some reason, the Commander and Knight Captain has come and things ended up in a mock battle.
Ah , the lunch box is really delicious , yeah !
Because of that, I will do this mock battle , yeah !
But, right now ... there"s something that crossed my mind.
Though I"m not really someone who fuss too much about power level, its still vexing to lose.
[[ Knight captain ! Today , I will defeat you for sure, yeah ! ! ]]
[ ... ... haha, Aren"t you quite energetic there Erzchan. Please don"t be too hard on me, okay ? ]
Nggh... Even though I already showed all of my enthusiasm like this, he is still showing a face of composure. As expected of the strongest knight.
But that expression, I will make it crumble for sure , yeah ! !
[ Arza ~ Do your best ~ ! ]
[[ I"ll do my best , yeah !
! ] ]
I answered to mother"s cheers.
[ Alright, then are you guys ready ? ... Start ! ! ]
The mock battle starts with the sign from the Commander, whom is acting as the referee.
The knight captain takes a stance where there is no gap in it"s defense could be seen.
First, I have to probe what my opponent"s move is, then seeing through my opponent"s next movement.
That was the standard guide for a 1 vs 1 battle. But...
My sword is a sword for attacking !
It"ll mince the meat and sever the bone ... even if it"s for a counterattack ! !
I will only charge ! !
[[ Uoooooh ! ! ] ]
[ Kgh !! ]
I raised a howl as I rush toward the knight captain, with the knight captain raising his vigilance. Just like that, I swipe my great sword horizontally.
Of course the knight captain fended it off with the sword"s body... But I already guessed that !
Without missing the opening, the knight captain showered an attack on the joint part of my elbow. This also inside my hypothesis !
My armour is something that could withstand this kind attack. As the name said, the black metal armour !
[[ Sudden stop , yeah ! ! ]]
I used all the muscles in my body to stop the inertia that is due to the heavy weight
weight of my sword. After that, I unleashed a second slash . (TL :For those who"s confused, you know Erza is using a double-handed sword. Having her sword paried means that the sword will swing backward until it reaches the ground or the swordman stopped it , slowly. But Erza just used all of her power to stop that swing ignoring the inertia, it"s quite impossible I guess. )
[ Haha, you"ve done something really reckless you know ! ]
The knight captain said so with an air of composure. He once again fended off my attack ... but !
[[ Once again, sudden stop, yeah ! ! ]]
The second counterattack from the knight captain is safely defended by my armour.
After that, I gave out the third slash !
[ Wha ! ? ]
Even the knight captain is surprised by the sudden attack. Without parying my attack, he bent his body to evade ... no counterattack is coming!
[[ I"ll attack until it landed , yeah ! ! ]]
Again and again, after receiving many slashes from the sudden stop technique, it seems that the knight captain is starting to get used to the pattern. I ended up receiving several counter attacks but, as expected, he had to focus on his defense while being rained on with my fierce attacks. All of his counter attacks are light.
[ Kh ... now that it has come to this...
to this... It can"t be helped. Sorry, Erza. I have my position to consider, too. Don"t think badly of me! ]
The knight captain took a step back as if trying to make a distance from my fierce attacks.
Something"s coming ! ?
[ Hidden technique - Haavy Impetus ! ! ]
Suddenly, he held his hand in an underhanded grip. Matching his timing with my sudden stop, the knight captain plunged himself under my bosom.
He stepped hard on the ground and attacked my helmet using the tip of his sword"s handle with all of his might !
Unfair ! It"s a technique that I"ve never learned ! ! !
The attack goes past my helmet and the aftershock transferred directly into my head that I got blown off several meters away on the ground.
[ The, the end ! ]
I felt that the commander"s voice is so distant.
Uuh, I felt an echoing sound inside my head. ...
As expected, the knight captain is strong.
I can"t win again.
... when the shock from the attack started to fade, the knight captain walked towards me.
[ A, are you alright ? Erzchan ... ]
My vision is wide and the way I can hear the sound from outside is different from usual. It seems that the latch of my helmet was snapped so my helmet got blown off .
[ I am fine , but my latchbut my latch .... Rather, Knight Captain, what was with that attack from before ? I never learned about that attack ! Please teach me about that ! ! ]
[ Aah , That thing ... haha , ah Now that I remember about it, d.u.c.h.ess seems to be going towards the castle, right ? What is the business you have here, Madam ? ]
Huh ! ? He clearly tried to change the topic ! !
I won"t let you! ! I will ... !
[ aah , That"s right. Since it looks like the Prime Minister is busy at the moment, perhaps I will tell this to knight captain instead ? Honoured father-in-law, Diebold Ractos-sama is on his way back to this country. ]
Eh ! ? Grandfather is coming back ! ?
If I remember correctly, this time he goes to a mountain kingdom that"s famous for it"s mining and blacksmithing... Perhaps I could hear about a story around a new kind of metal from him ! !
I"m looking forward to it ! !
TL : the technique that the knight captain is similiar to a real technique in the real world when the knight use the handle of the sword to smash the oponent"s helmet (together with the head ) but they didn"t hold the sword in underhanded grip but holding the blade and swing the sword like a mace (that"s what I read at least)