What on earth is that presence in front of me?
As soon as the sparring began, Hassel focused all his attention on identifying the identity of the man named Kyle Lyard.
He was certainly nothing more than a commoner who could not even reach the level of the Lyard family name.
No, he wasn’t even worthy of being called a commoner; he was merely a worthless outcast who didn’t even belong to that line.
Yet, the intensity of the alien magical energy he was emitting and the sharpness that seemed to strip the skin from his body were not at all the same as his younger brother he once knew.
“Why so serious, brother? Shall we start? Or are you nervous?”
Kyle’s blunt words clearly showed that he considered Hassel to be beneath him.
If it had been the usual Hassel, he would have immediately grabbed a wooden sword and rushed at him, using all his strength to shatter the head of this insolent failure.
But,
Hassel could not bring himself to do that.
He simply gripped the wooden sword tightly, barely moistening his parched lips and swallowing the dried-up saliva down his throat.
This meant that the pressure Kyle Lyard was exerting was extraordinary.
“If you don’t come, I’ll go first.”
As Hassel wondered how to proceed with the attack when there was no opening in sight, Kyle casually spoke those words, and the presence in front of Hassel disappeared in an instant.
Puff!
“Ugh…!?”
Where did he go?
Before he could even question, a sharp pain hit Hassel’s right forearm.
It felt as though he had been struck with a hammer or a polearm rather than a wooden sword.
The shock knocked Hassel down and sent him rolling across the floor.
The spectators and even the referee, Dver, had their mouths wide open as they witnessed this unexpected turn of events.
“Ugh, what…!”
However, the person who was most shocked by the situation was none other than Hassel himself.
What was that movement just now?
Even when he had sparred with Dver, his father and the current head of the family, he had been able to at least follow his movements with his eyes.
That was what allowed him to stand out as a talented individual in this prestigious martial family and gain Dver’s affection.
‘How could I not even follow that guy’s movements?’
Yet, he was unable to react to the movements of his younger brother, who wasn’t even a famous swordsman of the empire, someone just one year younger than him.
And it wasn’t like Kyle was delivering a finishing blow either.
While Hassel lay there, Kyle scoffed and turned his body away as if Hassel’s fall was nothing to him.
Hassel’s pride took a massive hit.
How dare this clueless brat!
A failure who disgraced the Lyard name is getting cocky just because he landed one blow on me.
“You bastard!”
Hassel, who had a temper as volatile as a kettle, was not the type to let it slide.
Once the fire was lit, he would boil over quickly, but it would also cool just as fast.
And now, after being mocked and allowing a hit from the brother he had always looked down on, there was no way Hassel would remain calm.
Shaking off the intimidating presence from Kyle with anger, Hassel picked up his wooden sword and charged at him with all his might.
Though his underlying emotion was pure rage, his movements were undeniably sharp, just like any promising talent from the Lyard family.
Hassel feigned an attack from the front and quickly tilted his body to target Kyle’s right arm.
Since his right arm had been attacked earlier, he was aiming for revenge.
Thud!
But the wooden sword he swung with all his strength was blocked with a dull sound.
Kyle, who had been standing still, simply held the sword vertically, and that was enough to block Hassel’s attack.
From a superficial perspective, it wouldn’t have been surprising, but Hassel was in disbelief.
While he had swung with all his might using both hands, Kyle had only used his left hand to easily block the blow.
Creak, creak.
“Damn…!”
What kind of trick is this?
No matter how hard he tried, Hassel could not budge the sword, as if he were trying to push a mountain.
Additionally, caught up in his unnecessary competitive spirit, Hassel, focused solely on the wooden sword before him, failed to notice the additional strike.
“Ugh…! Ugh!”
He was kicked in the stomach by Kyle and fell once again, vomiting all over the stage.
This was a ridiculous spectacle.
‘The positions have reversed.’
Watching Hassel struggle in pain and even throw up, Kyle stared indifferently and then gave a wry smile.
It was the same scene as when they sparred in the past, except that their positions had swapped.
Back then, Kyle had charged in without thinking, terrified that he couldn’t win, and had taken a kick to the stomach just like now, vomiting on the spot.
It wasn’t something he had planned, but the flow was strangely identical.
The only difference from that time was how they each accepted their defeat.
“Ugh, even a maggot can roll, huh? Whatever method you used, you somehow managed to learn this much magic in such a short time.”
In the end, Kyle admitted his defeat and humbly accepted the loss, while Hassel rationalized the difference as being due to magic.
Since his younger brother had been born with a magical talent equal to or greater than his own, it wasn’t strange that he had awakened his magical abilities at some point.
In other words, Hassel wanted to convince himself that he still had the upper hand with the sword.
“Magic? What are you talking about, brother?”
“Aren’t you pretending to not know? You must have asked Alf if you were allowed to use magic during the sparring!”
“Surely Alf didn’t lie to Father and me, right?”
“How could I forget?”
Kyle shook his head, denying it, and Hassel gave a sly smile.
This was the moment Hassel was sure he could find an opening.
“Then, how about we settle this properly, as blood of the Lyard family, with nothing but a sword and our bodies? Let’s set aside magic for now.”
Hassel was not foolish enough not to feel the difference in strength.
Thus, he acknowledged that it would be difficult to defeat his younger brother, who had clearly mastered quite a bit of magic.
Therefore, he decided to invoke the name of the family, suggesting a kind of legitimacy, hoping to steer the sparring back into a way that favored him.
Though some might consider it a bit shameful, it was better than losing a sparring match with the position of the next head of the family at stake.
He was confident he would not lose in a sword fight, so if he could show the true difference in skill, the spectators and even his father would surely accept the result.
That was the extent of Hassel’s plan, but there was one problem.
‘…Brother, are you misunderstanding something?’
“What misunderstanding are you talking about?”
Kyle, deliberately feigning innocence with wide, pure eyes, tilted his head, prompting Hassel to frown and respond.
However, as if to crush even that faint hope Hassel had, a deep sneer appeared on Kyle’s face.
“I haven’t used magic yet. I merely hinted at it, in case I might not be able to beat you… It seems I’ve caused some misunderstanding.”
“…What?”
Hassel was struck by the cold truth, and his expression turned dumbfounded as he awkwardly stared up at Kyle.
Meanwhile, Dver, the referee, who had been watching the scene closely, merely turned his head in silence.
At this point, the outcome was virtually decided.
After the one-sided beating disguised as a sparring match, Kyle casually descended from the stage.
“Lyard Young Master! That was an amazing match!”
“You were so impressive! The first movement was something we, as amateurs, could never hope to follow…”
“How did you master the sword so quickly?”
The daughters of various families, who had no idea where they had come from, rushed forward to offer their congratulations.
For Kyle, who usually only received cold stares even when he was forced to attend social events, this was such an alien scene that he froze for a moment, like a statue.
It was probably not that surprising.
After all, he had practically solidified his position as the next head of the family, the successor of one of the three great swords of the empire.
Even if he didn’t particularly want to speak with them, his parents would have likely pushed him into at least acknowledging them for appearances’ sake.
Just looking at the heads of the various families or their wives glancing at him from the back was enough to know the underlying truth.
‘What a headache.’
Kyle absentmindedly thought this as he glanced around.
On the other hand, he couldn’t help but feel ridiculous when he thought that, after only a few exchanges with a wooden sword, his treatment by others had changed so drastically.
“Thank you for the compliments. I would love to talk more, but I’m completely drained after the sparring… Hopefully, we’ll have another chance to meet.”
It wasn’t their fault, so Kyle tried to politely dismiss them, giving a vague signal that it was time to leave.
Just as the noblewomen surrounding him were starting to show a look of regret, one brave young lady raised her hand and stepped forward with a sweet proposal.
“Well then, would it be possible for you to visit our estate sometime soon? I would really like to have a more private conversation with you, Lyard Young Master…”
Her flushed cheeks suggested that she had developed a deep admiration for Kyle through the sparring.
She was an attractive young lady, shy yet lovely, and any man would have been tempted.
However, Kyle replied without any change in his demeanor, turning his back to her.
“I’m sorry. I already have someone I care about… But I’m sure you’ll find someone wonderful as well, Lady.”
Although he would never reveal it, and perhaps it was better that way, in this moment, Kyle gave a wry smile, hoping that she would forgive him.
Meanwhile, the noblewomen left behind started discussing among themselves, shouting excitedly about who the lady who had captured Kyle’s heart might be.