Volume 15 Chapter 5 Katerina’s Miserable Defeat
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”What do you say? Had enough, or do you want to keep going?” I asked, tossing the question at her like a physical blow.
I wanted to rub a little more salt into Katerina-san’s fresh wounds.1 If she had been any ordinary noble girl who only played at vanity swordsmanship, she probably would have flown into a rage and stormed off. Worse, she might have done something pathetic, like run crying to her papa. But Katerina-san surprised me.
”…I’m not done yet,” she rasped.
(Ah, I see.) So she was not just another spoiled brat. She was a spectacularly stubborn idiot with far too much pride and grit.
I glanced over at her father, the margrave. The old man gave a grand, lazy nod and drawled, “Continue.”
Well, if the boss says it is fine, who am I to argue?
”All right, let’s move on to round two,” I announced, turning back toward the house. “Vera, you’re up.”
”Coming!” Vera-chan squealed.
At my call, Vera-chan came trotting over with a wooden training staff clutched in both hands. Absolutely adorable. To her credit, Katerina-san did not sneer or throw out any arrogant lines about fighting a little girl this time. She had clearly noticed Vera-chan’s outfit and worked out that she was a magic user, although from the look on her face, I doubted she had the faintest idea how terrifying Elven Spirit Magic could be.
”Just so we’re clear, my lady, you saw how the last round went,” I warned, watching her expression. “This isn’t just a simple stick-fighting match. I don’t want to hear any ‘you didn’t tell me there’d be magic!’ excuses afterward, all right?”
”I would never sink so low,” Katerina-san shot back, her voice tight.
She glared at me with sharp, irritated eyes. (My, my. Look who suddenly learned modesty after that insufferable attitude from earlier. Do not worry, though. I am still going to put you through the wringer.)
”All right, both sides ready?” I called, raising my hand. “Begin!”
”Haaah!” Katerina-san roared.
The moment I gave the signal, Katerina-san lunged forward and closed the distance in a flash. Her choice was textbook. When a swordsman faces a mage, the best answer is to strike before the spell can be finished, and her anti-mage charge was cleanly done.
Too bad for her.
”Hop!” Vera-chan chirped.
Vera-chan had read the rush perfectly, so she sprang backward the instant the match began and slipped away from the first strike with room to spare. Then she lifted her staff and called out in a bright voice.
”Gnomes of the earth, lend me your strength!”
Vera-chan did not need long, complex chants. She asked, and the spirits answered. With that casual request, raw Spirit Power bent the ground in a way human magic could not explain.
”Wh-Woah?!” Katerina-san yelped.
The patch of dirt beneath Katerina-san’s feet turned into thick, churning mud, and she dropped into the sudden mire until it swallowed her up to the waist.
”Dryads, a little help too, please!” Vera-chan added.
Thick vines burst from the ground at once, weaving around Katerina-san’s torso and pinning her arms to her sides like a straitjacket. With her opponent completely trapped, Vera-chan strolled up as if she were taking a walk in the garden.
She gave Katerina-san a soft, playful smile, then brought her wooden staff down with a gentle tap.
”And that’s match!” I called.
Trapped from the waist down and bound from the waist up, Katerina-san could not even find the words to object. She only stood there with her mouth opening and closing like a fish, too stunned to process what she had just witnessed. (Hmm, I know how you feel. Spirit Magic is unfair by nature. My old hag of a master used to do that kind of thing to me every single day.)
I stole another glance at the margrave. He was staring at Vera-chan’s magic with a sharp, thoughtful gaze, while a vicious, calculating smile crept across his face. (Yikes. Did I miscalculate? Did I just show too much of our hand to an old man whose true allegiance is still up in the air?)
Then again, Vera-chan could not win without using Spirit Magic, so there was no helping it. Anyway, back to business.
”So, my lady. What’s the verdict? Want to keep going?” I asked.
After the spell released her, Katerina-san dragged herself out of the pit. I threw out the provocation, already expecting her answer.
”……Again,” Katerina-san muttered.
Her face had gone bright red, whether from boiling rage or sheer shame, but the fire in her eyes had not gone out. Honestly, seeing her like that forced me to judge her a little differently. She might have been a sheltered, arrogant aristocrat, but I had to respect her sheer tenacity and refusal to quit. Though, to be honest, that kind of grit is usually the last thing a noble daughter needs.
”If you insist,” I said with a shrug. “Georgia, you’re next.”
”Yay! Right away!” Georgia barked happily.
The moment I called her name, Georgia bounced over so eagerly that her wagging tail looked ready to lift her off the ground. She seemed ready to tackle me right then and there. Total cutie.
”All right, my lady. Your third opponent is Georgia,” I said, letting my tone sink into something much heavier. “She is also one of my precious wives. So let me make this absolutely clear: do not let a single word like ‘filthy beastfolk’ cross your lips.”
I had already given her a mild warning earlier, but this point needed to be driven home. I can tolerate a lot of things, but I will never forgive anyone who insults my sweet Georgia. Whether Katerina-san felt the sudden weight of my killing intent or simply understood how serious I was, she swallowed hard and gave a stiff nod.
”Hey, Master! How should I fight this one?” Georgia asked, beaming as she hugged my arm while her tail swished happily.
I had only one order for her.
”Show her what a beastfolk can really do.”
Georgia gave a cute little nod, and in the next heartbeat, her expression changed into that of a wild apex predator as she turned to face Katerina-san. Perfect. As long as she remembered my training and fought with her natural instincts, the match was already decided. It was time to teach this sheltered princess what beastfolk strength really meant.
Georgia and Katerina-san took their positions for the third bout.
Katerina-san settled into a flawless mid-guard stance, exactly as the textbooks taught. Georgia, meanwhile, dropped her hips low and let her hands brush the ground in a low beastfolk stance. She did not have her usual iron training claws, so she was bare-handed, but that was no disadvantage. To a beastfolk, weapons were only an extension of the body.
”Begin!” I shouted.
”Gawr!” Georgia roared.
The moment the word left my mouth, Georgia kicked up a huge cloud of dirt straight into Katerina-san’s face. It was a beautifully underhanded opening move.
But Katerina-san was adapting. By the third match, she had learned to expect the unexpected, so she leaped to the side to avoid the blinding dirt and used her momentum to swing her greatsword in a wide horizontal arc.
Georgia dropped even lower, flattening herself against the earth as the blade whistled harmlessly over her head. Then, using her body like a coiled spring, she launched herself upward and came down on Katerina-san from above.
”──?!” Katerina-san gasped.
Faced with a storm of strikes that might as well have been knives, Katerina-san pivoted and chose to take the impact on her heavy armored pauldron. It was a smart move. Since she could not match Georgia’s speed while weighed down by heavy armor, she relied on her reinforced plate to take the force of the assault. Against a light human fencer, that would have been the right call.
But Georgia was not fighting like a human.
”Graaaah!” Georgia snarled.
”Ghh—Ah?!” Katerina-san shrieked.
This was no longer a fight against a human holding a wooden stick. She was facing a predator.
The moment Georgia realized her claws would not pierce the plate, she changed tactics. Sliding past the greatsword’s guard with frightening ease, she coiled around Katerina-san’s body like a serpent.
”Wait—stop! Ow, ow, ow, ouch!” Katerina-san wailed.
In the blink of an eye, Georgia secured a rear naked choke and locked down Katerina-san’s movements before sinking her teeth right into the noble girl’s neck.
”All right, that’s enough!” I barked. “Georgia, don’t actually bite down, you’ll kill her!”
At my command, Georgia let go at once and trotted back to me, her tail wagging furiously as she begged for praise. Adorable.
”Ehehe! Master, I won! How did I do?” Georgia giggled.
”Good girl. You fought exactly like a proper beastfolk. Very well done,” I said, ruffling her hair.
As I vigorously messed up her hair, the beastfolk girl purred happily and narrowed her eyes in pure bliss. It was almost impossible to connect this cute, affectionate creature with the feral predator who had been trying to tear out an opponent’s throat a moment ago. Seriously, if we were back at the house, I would be giving her a very different kind of reward right about now.
My eyes wandered over to Katerina-san. She was clutching her neck with tears in her eyes, staring at us with a look that bordered on pure resentment.
…Wait.
Was it just me, or was this girl still not broken?
As if sensing my confusion, she forced out a rough breath and addressed me.
”S-Sir… Soyuz-dono.”2
”Yes?” I replied.
”If it pleases you… I ask that you, the master of this house, grant me a duel as well,” Katerina-san declared, her voice firm.
Covered from head to toe in mud, with Georgia’s teeth marks standing out clearly on her neck, she still held herself tall and demanded a lesson from me. She had even swallowed enough of her noble pride to use a respectful honorific for a commoner adventurer.
Huh. She might have been an insufferable noble brat, but she was dead serious about this. If she was willing to go that far, I supposed I could humor her for one round.
But before I could agree, Lena-san cut in.
”I strongly advise against that, my lady. Please, do not do this.”
Her delivery was cold and very polite, yet it carried a sharp edge that no slave should ever aim at a noble.
”What?” Katerina-san blinked, shaken by the weight in Lena-san’s tone.
Vera-chan chimed in right on cue. “Soyuu is stupidly strong. It’ll be over in a second. You won’t learn anything at all.”
Hearing that from the girl who wielded impossible Spirit Magic made Katerina-san pause. She looked at the three girls who had just thoroughly beaten her.
”Is… is your master truly that powerful?” Katerina-san asked, her gaze moving over them.
”Yeah,” Georgia said with a happy nod. “The three of us have teamed up against Master tons of times, and we’ve never won even once.”
”Is that so…?” Katerina-san murmured.
”Yes,” Lena-san added solemnly, bowing her head a little. “As we are now, we cannot even hope to touch Sir Soyuz. The first time the three of us faced him together, we could not last for a count of ten. When he fights, he is as terrifying as a demon from the abyss.”
”He’s super, super mean,” Vera-chan whispered, shuddering.
…Hey, hold on a minute. You girls are my wives, right? You are supposed to be on my side. Why are you looking at me with those distant, traumatized eyes, like I am some kind of monster?
Even so, the warnings did not stop Katerina-san. If anything, her expression grew more intense. She turned back to me and gave a deep, formal bow, the kind an apprentice would offer a grandmaster.
”Hearing that only makes me desire your instruction more. Please, teach me how an adventurer fights.”
Ah. Okay, I get it now.
This girl was a total muscle-brain. Her head was packed with nothing but combat numbers and training plans. You see her type in the military all the time, pure sword idiots with nothing else inside their skulls. At least this idiot had realized that her traditional knightly swordsmanship was useless against real adventurers. Fair enough.
”All right, I accept,” I said, drawing a practice weapon. “But remember, my lady, I’m going to fight you strictly as an adventurer. You’re fine with that?”
”I ask for nothing less,” Katerina-san replied.
Despite being the one begging for a lesson, she still managed to sound unbelievably haughty. Behind her, Lena-san and the others were no longer angry. They only covered their eyes and shook their heads in quiet, tragic pity. Their dramatic reactions made me a little concerned, but I decided to ignore them and focus on the match.
”Let’s begin then,” I said, stepping onto the grass.
I picked up a wooden training sword and settled into a loose stance opposite Katerina-san.
”Your Excellency, would you mind acting as the referee for this match?” I called to the old man lounging in the back.
The margrave gave a lazy, amused nod. “Very well. Begin.”
Wow, talk about low effort. The old man did not even bother to stand. I guess he figured he already knew how this would end.
Fine. Let us give him a show that ends before he can blink.
I kept my distance while Katerina-san shifted back into her flawless mid-guard. We circled each other, measuring the gap between us with our eyes locked, each waiting for the other to show an opening.
And then it happened.
”!? Wh-What… is… this…?! My body… numb…” Katerina-san groaned.
Katerina-san froze mid-step. After a few moments of visible pain and twitching, she collapsed forward onto the grass, completely paralyzed. And that was my victory.
”Honestly, this is why people who only study formal swordsmanship never last,” I sighed, resting the wooden sword on my shoulder. “When you’re facing an enemy, you have to keep track of the wind direction, you know?”
I had simply moved upwind and released a handful of crushed paralytic mushroom powder into the breeze. Clean, simple, and effective. The entire match took less than five seconds.
Come to think of it, I used the exact same trick on Lena-san and the others when we first met. Back then, they had terrible tunnel vision, which made them easy targets for basic utility items.
With those fond memories in mind, I turned back to my beloved wives, only to find them staring at me with deep exhaustion while casting sorrowful looks of pity toward the paralyzed Katerina-san.
As for the margrave, he burst into a booming, ecstatic roar of laughter.
(Hmph. Laugh all you want, old man. That is the last trick you are getting out of me today.)
—
Summary:
Pushed by continuous prompts of defeat, Katerina insists on fighting all of Soyuz’s companions to prove her knightly capabilities. She is systematically outmatched first by Vera’s unpredictable Elven Spirit Magic, then subdued physically by Georgia’s swift beastfolk reflexes. Driven by a mixture of stubborn grit and an awakening realization of her flaws, she demands a personal lesson from Soyuz himself, unaware of his underhanded tactical pragmatism. Soyuz effortlessly finishes the duel in seconds using paralyzing spores, leaving Katerina’s long-term relationship with his household up in the air.
—
Trivia:
Vera does not require vocal chants or structural magic frameworks to manipulate environmental entities.
Georgia treats iron artificial claws merely as extensions of her innate biology rather than essential armaments.
Soyuz previously defeated his own main wives using the exact same underhanded wind-borne paralytic powder trick.
The Margrave shows no visible distress or protective instincts regarding his daughter’s severe physical harm.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Katerina – The youngest daughter of Margrave Verdaine is an intensely proud noble girl who wears heavy armor and wields a greatsword. Though initially arrogant, sheltered, and viewed by her father as coarse and rash, she possesses fierce resilience, tenacity, and a stubborn refusal to quit despite repeated defeats. She respects authority, standing right back up after physical discipline by her father.
• Vera – An elven girl who is one of Soyuz’s companions and slave-wives, addressing him affectionately and displaying a radiant, happy demeanor when praised by him. Wielding a wooden training staff, she effortlessly utilizes Spirit Magic without the need for incantations.
• Georgia – A beastfolk demi-human girl and devoted slave-wife to Soyuz. She fights using natural low stances and predatory instincts. Highly expressive and loyal, she possesses a tail that she wags vigorously to show her happiness.
• Soyuz – Trapped in a youth’s body, this 47-year-old protagonist is a pragmatic adventurer, master, and deeply caring husband to multiple wives. Beneath a poison mantle and magic silver sword, he uses utility items like paralytic powder with sharp combat instincts. While mocking nobility with cynical formal speech, he protects his household and companions, role-playing with Lena in his mansion.
• Lena – A skilled, brown-skinned fighter and slave-wife to Soyuz, she is a faithful guard with a grave seriousness. She has long black hair in a ponytail, a scarred face, a blind left eye, and wears tattered clothes with a collar. Despite facing discipline from other women, she maintains a dutiful devotion to Soyuz, using keen instincts to protectively warn others about the terrifying extent of his strength.
• Margrave – A noble who acts as a tactical puppeteer, enjoying the manipulation of others to achieve his goals.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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