Chapter 5 Part 1
Chapter 5 – Duel
“Abel! You’re open!”
He should do something about that habit of moving after announcing his actions out loud first.
I thought and lightly flicked my arm with the spine of the book.
Hm. Wait a minute.
“Ted. Did you just call me by my name?”
“Haha! We’ve been playing together for many days now, even I can remember!”
Somehow, it is pleasant to see children grow a little.
I was about to get sentimental about it, but when I thought about it calmly, I realized that nothing was surprising about it.
A typical child should be able to remember my name easily.
It’s just that this rich kid of nobility has a terrible memory.
“You’re my future underling, so I have to remember it properly!”
If such a future comes, then, by all means, you can forget my name.
Now.
There’s something I’ve learned from observing Ted over the past few days.
He has the <<Burning Eyes>> that is good at fire attribute magic, but unfortunately, his talent for attribute magic, which is his favorite, seems to be lacking.
Attribute magic requires a good head on your shoulders to instantly understand, apply, and expand on complex magic syntaxes.
It seems to have been a bit too much for a simpleton like Ted.
But instead, Ted has a ‘reasonable’ amount of talent for body strengthening magic.
Unlike attribute magic, this type of magic does not require logical thinking but rather ‘natural intuition’.
Perhaps it suited Ted, who had a simple thought process, for better or worse.
“Take this!”
Ted’s fist came straight at me.
I see.
It seems that he has somewhat improved his skills over the past few days.
However, in the world I was in two hundred years ago, anyone could do this level of movement, regardless of age.
It is only at the level where ‘not worth considering’ has become ‘somewhat better’.
I caught his arm with one hand and swept his leg out from under him.
“You’re too slow. Even a fly can stop such an attack, you know?”
“Uguaaaa”
Ted let out a toad-like shriek and rolled a few meters away.
“What’s the matter, giving up so soon?”
When I gave him a provocative ‘shove’, Ted got up with a prolonged shout of “Damn it!”
It was immediately after that that something unusual happened.
“Whoa!”
“Hey-hey…”
It was a mistake to get up so quickly.
Ted’s foot slipped on the snow that piled up on the roof and fell towards the back door.
Ah-ah, ah.
That sucks. He fell onto the stone pavement.
Well, that’s Ted, whose only merit is his resilience.
He won’t die from something like this.
“Ou…! Ouch…!”
Ted is screaming silently.
Tears continue to flow from his eyes.
I see.
It seems that he broke his leg when he landed.
What. It’s just a broken bone.
In my previous world, broken bones were a common occurrence.
While organ damage tends to be troublesome to repair, it is relatively easy to join bones with magic.
“Stop crying. You’re a man, aren’t you?”
Or not, Ted is just a child.
It would be unreasonable to expect him to endure the pain of a broken bone.
I can’t deny that I’m partly responsible for Ted’s injury this time.
It can’t be helped.
I’m not very good at recovery magic, but if it’s a wound like this, I can treat it ──
“Ted! Are you okay!?”
Bass came running in a hurry.
“Wait for me! I’m going to cast recovery magic on you right now!”
Oh?
This guy is not a magician of the <<Gray Eyes>>, but he can use recovery magic?
Bass invoked the basics of recovery magic.
I think I may have underestimated him a little bit.
Depending on the nature of the magic, I’ll have to evaluate Bass’s abilities.
“W-What the hell are you doing…? Just what are you doing?”
“What’s so unusual about recovery magic? I’m having trouble concentrating, so I need you to be quiet for a minute!”
This is bad.
Recovery magic is similar to building with wooden blocks in terms of image.
It is easy to build with big wooden blocks, but it gets difficult with small wooden blocks. The more advanced or complex the magic is, the smaller the wooden blocks become. That’s how delicate recovery magic is.
Then, when stacking these wooden blocks, larger blocks are usually placed under the smaller blocks so that they would not collapse.
But this guy is like forcing a large wooden block on top of a small wooden block and reinforcing it with glue.
Wow….
I can’t watch this anymore….
I think this guy really hates his younger brother.
If he joins them together like that, the nerves will rub against each other, and problems will occur.
“Gyaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”
“Are you okay!? It’s going to hurt a little bit, but you’re going to have to endure it!”
I can’t help but feel sorry for Ted.
Ted, who had been subjected to crude recovery magic from his older brother, ended up fainting with his eyes rolling back into his head.
“Hey. I think you should take him to the infirmary for treatment”
The hurdle for treatment has been raised a bit because of the older brother, but even now, Ted will probably be able to recover well enough with proper treatment.
“Wait a minute. Before that, you…”
“What is it?”
We need to get Ted to the infirmary quickly.
Your crude recovery magic will turn into body-destroying attack magic.
“This injury, how did it happen?”
“We were playing, and he fell”
“He didn’t just fall, did he?”
“Hmm?”
“I saw it. Just now, I saw you swept Ted’s foot”
“If you saw it, then you should know what happened next. When Ted tried to get up ──”
“It should be Ted-sama, don’t you think!?”
Good grief. What has this rich kid of nobility… been saying just now?
To fuss over such details in this situation.
“You are a commoner. Ted is noble. No matter how young he is, he is the legitimate second son of the Langobalt family”
“Err…. So?”
“What’s with that attitude?”
“Commoner or noble, that doesn’t matter now. We need to get Ted to a place where he can recover”
“It doesn’t matter, you say?”
Bass clenched his fists.
He was clearly directing his hostility towards me.
“You ‘Inferior Eyes’ bumpkin! I’ll make you regret your disrespect towards nobility!”
Bass threw something at me.
The act was a little familiar to me. It was an old way of doing things.
“A duel! You’ve dishonored nobility. I’m sorry, but I’m not lenient on insolent fellows”
Yeah. I had a hunch that this would happen.
The intervention of the ‘unable to take a hint’ rich kid of nobility (older brother) seems to have made the situation increasingly complicated.
“Wait a minute. I really don’t have any reason to fight you, you know?”
Of course, this rich kid of nobility (older brother) is nothing.
Defeat is unthinkable.
Even if we duel ten thousand times, the result would probably all be the same.
But I just want to live peacefully in this world.
Even now, the people in the city who have heard the commotion are gathering around us.
It would not be a wise choice to stand out in the city.
“D-Don’t screw around! You’re trying to mock the pride of the nobles!”
Ahh. Bass’s anger is flaring up.
That’s right. He’s just a child, after all.
If I tell them not to be so angry in their anger, tempers will flare.
Mmm.
What should I do?
Maybe it would be less conspicuous if I were to just accept the duel and win it in an instant?
I have a feeling that the more I anger Bass, the bigger the commotion will become.
I sighed deeply again.
“Okay. I’ll accept the duel”
It can’t be helped.
Let’s just go along with Bass’s game.
I was just thinking that I would like to have a ‘sample’ of the nobles’ magic capability in this era.
As long as I don’t use any flashy magic and just end the fight quickly, I probably won’t draw too much attention from the people around us.
“Fufufu. I’ll explain the rules of the duel then! One on one, you and me! The first one to make the opponent say ‘I give up’ wins! Well, since we’re so far apart in age, I’ll give you a handicap…”
“Okay. I understand. No handicap is necessary. Let’s just get this over with”
I’m more worried about Ted’s injuries more than anything else.
Since I’m partly responsible for the injuries, I have a duty to treat Ted’s injuries.
“What…!? H-How far do you intend to insult me…!”
Oh no.
It seems that my careless attitude has further angered Bass.
His voice trembled, and his whole body radiated bloodlust that seems to be ready to lash out at any moment.
“Very well. You should regret insulting me for the rest of your life!”
Bass drew out the sword at his waist.
Hmm.
A single-edged sword, a bit long for a child to hold. It’s probably a proper sword for adults.
But it’s not like a normal sword. It has some strange workmanship.
“Wind Blade, Wind Edge!”
As soon as he swung down the sword, a wind blade came straight towards me.
Hmm? He is better than I thought.
The power itself was mediocre, nothing to speak of, but the construction of the magic was too fast.
The only person who could construct magic at such a speed was me in the previous era.
Then, what I find suspicious is the unfamiliar shape of the sword that the rich kid of nobility (older brother) holds.
There’s some sort of special workmanship on that sword.
Otherwise, there was no way a child like Bass could construct magic so quickly.
“Hmmm. That reaction. Perhaps you’ve never seen a magic tool before?”
Magic tool?
Is that the name of the sword? This is the first time I’ve heard it.
“Seriously… I’m speechless. I can’t believe you’ve lived your whole life without knowing about magic tools…. You must have lived a harsh life in the countryside”
“Well, it’s not like I lived in the countryside…”
On second thought, it’s hard to explain my circumstances to others.
Even if I told someone that I was a magician who had been reincarnated two hundred years into the future, it is probably hard for them to believe me.
“Well, you’re right. At least I’ve never seen anything like it”
“Then let me tell you this, instead of a handicap. This item supports the construction of magic!”
Bass raised his sword as he exhaled.
“── This sword allows me to activate magic much faster!”
The ‘Wind Blade, Wind Edge’ was activated again.
I easily avoided it and then observed the sword.
I activate my <<Analysis Eyes>> which is an application of body strengthening magic.
Hmmm.
I see.
It seems that the sword that the rich kid of nobility (older brother) is using has a magic syntax set in advance.
In other words, it allows simple magic to be activated by simply pouring magic power into it without having to assemble the magic syntax.
“What do you think? This speed! You can’t keep up with me unarmed!”
What can I say about it…? It’s a well-made toy.
That’s the only way I can describe it.
Such a tool looks like the cane that a crippled old man would use to walk around.
In magic, no syntax is absolutely correct.
The real thrill of a battle between magicians is to search for and construct the best syntax that best suits the situation of the battle.
“Come! This is my power!”
Bass continuously swung his sword one after another, but none of them felt threatening.
Too slow.
It is because he uses a sword that does not fit his stature.
I simply dodged everything and took some distance.
Bass would then unleash the same ‘Wind Blade, Wind Edge’ again.
“Foolish”
I’m starting to get bored with this.
I use my left hand to easily knock off the ‘Wind Blade, Wind Edge’ that Bass has unleashed.
“What!? M-My magic with your bare hand!?”
The mystery that I had been wondering about has finally been solved.
Magic tool.
Perhaps it is one of the reasons why magicians have become weaker.
Magic tools are indeed convenient.
Because they are convenient, the magicians from this era must have thought, ‘I don’t have to build my own magic syntax if I have a magic tool’.
In fact, in a world without the natural enemy, the demons, simple instant magic would have been sufficient.
But, it is tragic.
In the era I was living in two hundred years ago, the environment was not conducive to the use of toys such as magic tools.
As a result, magic tools have deprived magicians of the ability to think.
“That’s magic? I thought you were sending out balloons”
“Wha──! You!”
Bass struck out with a series of spells made with the exact same magic syntax in a fit of rage.
It can’t be helped.
I would like to express my gratitude to him for his cooperation in the verification process so far.
Let me show him what pure and genuine magic looks like.
“Wind Blade, Wind Edge”
The magic I chose was the same one that Bass used, the ‘Wind Blade, Wind Edge’.
*FLASH*
The ‘Wind Blade, Wind Edge’ I constructed flew right through Bass’s magic.
“Wha──!”
The rubble settled, and Bass laid flat out on the ground.
It went without saying that I had added a few touches.
I had applied some flashy effects to show the difference in our abilities but reduced the power considerably.
Such a flexible response would be impossible with a fighting style that relied on magic tools.
I walked over towards the rubble and approached Bass.
As I thought.
He seems to be in a daze, but it does not look like he was seriously injured.
“H-How did I…. To a commoner like you…”
Whoops.
Come to think of it, I almost forgot.
The condition of this duel was not to render the opponent incapacitated.
“What do you think? Are you ready to say ‘I give up’?”
“You filthy… inferior-eye brat…! Why would I…!?”
Good grief.
Can’t he put that pride to use somewhere else?
Humanity will be finished if we take pride in what others have given us instead of what we have achieved.
With that being said, I’m not a demon either.
There’s no reason to push him any further, so let’s call off this game of a duel at this point.
And just when I was about to show mercy ──
“Ahhh!”
The sound of rubble collapsing was accompanied by Bass’s scream.
The person who kicked the rolling Bass away was someone familiar to me.
“Err…. Lilith. What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry. Abel-sama. There was trash lying around”
That was not what I was asking.
She is a housemaid working for a rich noble household, right?
I feel that violence against an employer is a bad idea.
“Argh…. Lilith…! What the hell are you doing…!?”
“Shut up. Don’t ever speak to me again. I will not allow you to insult Abel-sama any further”
“Eek──!?”
Bass looked completely terrified when Lilith directed her bloodlust towards him.
Uh-oh.
Didn’t Bass like Lilith enough to confess his feelings for her a while ago?
I have a feeling this is going to be a lifelong trauma for him.
“Abel-sama. I’m so sorry. This incident occurred due to my lack of supervision”
“No. It’s fine. I don’t care about it”
“…But by the looks of it, you must have received some pretty rude remarks from that guy without my knowledge, right?”
“Yeah. It’s fine if it’s about my eyes. I’m used to it. Let’s just forgive Bass”
The remarks made by Bass this time were nothing compared to two hundred years ago.
Many people were not treated as humans in the previous era just because they had the <<Amber Eyes>>.
The people of this world may look down on people with amber eyes, but they don’t do anything more than that.
“Hey. You there”
“Eek”
“You should be grateful for Abel-sama’s generosity. Just this once, I’ll let your sin slide”
“……”
I get it. I get it.
I get what Bass is exactly thinking.
The words he was probably thinking of saying were, ‘Why am I, a noble, in such a situation!? Isn’t it normally the other way around!?’.
But that’s the last thing he would want to say.
He probably knows that Lilith will kill him the next time, so he can’t say anything.
“Agghhh! Agggggghhhhhhh!”
How tragic.
There’s nothing Bass can do about it.
His pride was utterly shattered, and he just plopped down on the ground, crying out in misery.
