Chapter 312 Duel Challenge
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(Second-Class Soldier Ivan)
”I thought it was fate when I saw you again in Razia Village…”
My colleague Hans is slumped over the table.
”You’ve been aiming for her since we worked in the Royal Capital, huh?”
”Coming back from Mundo… I never thought I’d find you in Razia Village! I thought it was my chance. You get it, right, Ivan?”
”By the way, Hans, who were you aiming for?”
The granddaughter of the blacksmith Toldo, the Freeberry triplets.
They were popular among the soldiers in the Royal Capital.
”Meluda. I’ve liked her since we were little.”
”Oh! So she’s your childhood friend?”
”Not really, we weren’t that close… we just talked occasionally…”
Hans lifts his head from the table and chugs his beer.
”To think she’d end up as Hiroya’s girl…”
He mutters and slumps back down on the table.
”Speaking of which, the guys from the Royal Capital were saying, ‘All the beautiful girls in Razia Village are Hiroya’s girls’.”
”..I heard from the guys stationed here too. ‘Meluda has become Hiroya’s girl,’ they said…”
(But… he’s just a 9-year-old kid, right?)
”I heard Hiroya is an adventurer, but he’s still a kid, right? Just take her away.”
”..They say he’s incredibly strong. A regular soldier like me wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Hans is shedding tears.
──Well, with that kind of weakness, there’s no way he could take Meluda.
* * *
”Did you hear? Another girl has become Hiroya’s.”
”Yeah… it’s Simona Schmidt from ‘Rose Hip,’ right? I was surprised. She’s the Clan Leader who hates men so much.”
”Yeah, Simona, but apparently the leader of the ‘Zett Merchant Guild’ too?”
The voices of the soldiers from the Razia Village garrison can be heard from the counter.
They were just gossiping about ‘swift’s’ Hiroya, so I leaned in to listen.
(Leader Sasha… I remember Captain Alberich Pressner was after her…)
Rumor has it he was turned down pretty harshly.
”Well, it’s Hiroya, so I can’t blame him. He’s popular not just with the girls but also with the male adventurers. He’s strong, caring, reliable, charming, and he’s the lord’s son, so it’s no wonder the guys fall for him too.”
”Yeah, right? Damn it, maybe I should quit being a soldier and become an adventurer.”
”Oh, that sounds good! You could get training from Hiroya──.”
(What a smug guy he seems to be.)
He’s got it made.
And he gets to monopolize the girls… I don’t like that.
”Hans… don’t you want to make that kid Hiroya eat dirt?”
”..I do want to. Do you have a good plan or something?”
Hans turns his face, which was resting on the table, towards me.
…What a pathetic look he has…
”Captain Pressner said, ‘That nouveau riche woman embarrassed me.’ It’s the man’s job to deal with a woman’s mess, right?”
”Ivan… you have a really bad look on your face right now.”
Hans weakly sits up straight in his chair.
”We could provoke Captain Pressner and have him challenge Hiroya to a duel. He’s always acting tough, but his sword skills aren’t bad.”
”I see… no matter how skilled an adventurer he is, he shouldn’t stand a chance against a knight from the Royal Capital…”
”Captain Pressner really had a lot of grudge against Sasha Zett.”
Did my thoughts get through? Hans in front of me smirks.
”I see… all we need to do is let Captain Pressner know that Hiroya is Sasha’s man. ──Ivan, let’s go with that.”
Hans, you have a pretty bad look on your face too, you know?
* * *
(Alberich’s POV)
(Sasha Zett’s man… is a 9-year-old kid…?)
This is a perfect opportunity for revenge against the woman who embarrassed me.
I just need to challenge that kid to a duel.
There’s no way I would lose.
But the problem is that kid is the second son of Baron O’Brian.
I can’t make a move carelessly…
Baron O’Brian is conveniently absent right now.
And his guardian, the Minister of War Elberhardt, is also away from the village…
(I hear that his sword instructor is that Knight Müller, but no matter how good the instructor is, he’s just a kid…)
That Knight Müller is also not here.
Everything is perfect for a duel with that kid named Hiroya.
──Knock knock…
”Come in.”
”Ivan, Second-Class Soldier, and Hans, Second-Class Soldier, entering!”
The door opens, and 2 soldiers who brought information about Sasha walk in.
”We have information that Hiroya O’Brien is currently at the Adventurers’ Guild.”
”If he’s at the guild, there’s a training area. We can have the guild master act as a witness. ──Alright, you two come with me.”
* * *
(Hiroya’s POV)
”Hiroya! Hiroya O’Brien! I, Knight Alberich Pressner, challenge you to a duel!”
I thought I heard something from a man named Bone in front of me, but his voice was drowned out by the man shouting at the guild entrance.
”Tch…!”
Bone clicked his tongue and looked at the entrance.
Since I was also called out by name for a duel, I turned to look.
”I’m Hiroya. What’s the reason for the duel?”
I walked up to the knight who introduced himself as Pressner and asked.
”So you are Hiroya. I have been dishonored as a knight by Sasha Zett… You’re her man, right?”
”Yeah. Sasha is my girl──Kazumi, is Ms. Sasha at the Clan house?”
I glared at the knight who was clearly looking down on me and called out to Kazumi.
”She should be at the Zett Merchant Guild headquarters right now. ──I’ll go get her!”
As Kazumi tried to leave the guild, the two soldiers standing behind the knight blocked her.
”Get out of the way!”
Kazumi shouted, but the soldiers didn’t move.
”You guys, let that little lady through! You need to hear what the woman named Sasha has to say too!”
Surprisingly, Bone glared at the soldiers and said that.
The two soldiers backed away from Kazumi, perhaps overwhelmed by the commanding voice. Kazumi delicately pinched the hems of her skirt, gave a small nod to Bone, and exited the guild.
”What a polite young lady.”
Bone said with a sly grin, then quickly shifted his gaze to a knight named Pressner.
”Well, after hearing both sides of the story… you can settle this duel properly. I’ll stand as your witness.”
”And who are you to claim that authority? I was planning to have the guild master oversee this.”
Pressner retorted, still looking down at me and refusing to even glance at Bone.
”I’m Bone Schnabel. Technically a minor royal, if that means anything to you.”
At Bone’s nonchalant tone, Pressner’s eyes widened, and he finally turned to face him.
”Y-You’re *that* Bone… the troublesome one.”
”Call me the ‘Black Sheep,’ will you? That’s our clan name.”
Bone replied, casually digging a finger in his ear, his demeanor screaming boredom. Meanwhile, Pressner, standing frozen in front of him, could only nod repeatedly like a broken puppet.
”Well then, looks like my credentials as a witness have been accepted.”
Bone said with a grin, looking down at me.
”Don’t worry. I’ll oversee this duel fairly. I swear it on my royal blood.”
”Yeah, coming from you, swearing on royal blood doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”
Carla, the deputy captain, muttered with an exasperated tone as she pushed back her long, rich brown hair.
”But Sir Hiroya, even though he may look like this, he is a man who keeps his word. He will definitely handle things fairly… or, better yet, we will make sure that we handle things fairly.”
The rest of the Black Sheep members behind her nodded in agreement, their expressions just as resolute.
”‘We will’? What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t tell me you don’t trust me?”
””””””WE DON’T!””””””
The answers chorused from his clan members.
”R-Right, fair enough,” Bone muttered, deflating under their overwhelming response.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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