Chapter 4 : Scoundrel VS Scoundrel (3)
The hall boiled over.
“The second young master has finally gone mad. Challenging Young Master Alain to a duel.”
“That’s impossible. Can he even be a match? He’s that scoundrel famous for being frail.”
“I wonder if he can even swing a sword.”
The bustling whispers of the spectators no longer bothered me; I had already grown used to them.
I, Hein, had only one thought.
‘I need to properly correct that bastard’s manners. And while I’m at it, I’ll wash away some of this scoundrel stigma of mine too.’
There was no more fitting opponent than Alain.
Within the Reichart territory, he was just as notorious as I was.
‘And I can test the mana rings I trained over the last three days.’
That said, I had no intention of letting my guard down.
‘His personality is rotten to the core, but that doesn’t mean he lacks talent.’
Despite his refined appearance, Alain had long surpassed the level of an apprentice knight and was already a fairly seasoned knight.
He wasn’t on the level of the eldest or second young masters, but among his peers, he was still a standout.
Alain himself clearly knew that fact as he prepared for the duel with a relaxed face.
‘What did Hein Reichart, that scoundrel bastard, eat wrong today?’
Not only had I come to the forge first thing in the morning and spewed insults at him, I had even challenged him to a duel despite having never properly wielded a sword.
You couldn’t go mad much more thoroughly than this.
‘This works out well. I’ll smash him to bits so he can never hold a sword again.’
The ‘evidence’ I mentioned bothered him a little, but it would amount to nothing.
Eldest Young Master Helkane would take care of it anyway.
This was the perfect chance to legally beat the troublesome second young master to a pulp.
***
‘A duel between the two scoundrels of Reichart.’
The open space of the forge quickly filled up.
Apprentice knights and craftsmen who heard the news that Hein and Alain were dueling gathered to watch.
“……You will respect your opponent to the end, accept the result, and must not deliberately inflict fatal injuries upon one another.”
With the declaration of a low-ranking knight who had been made referee by circumstance, all preparations for the duel were complete.
Hein and Alain stood facing each other at the center of the open ground.
Shing.
Alain drew his dueling sword.
Though the blade was not sharpened to prevent serious injury, a sword was still a sword.
Its material, weight, and length were identical to a real combat blade.
Alain glared at Hein with vicious eyes, as if he intended to rush in and tear him apart at any moment.
‘You arrogant weakling. If I can’t cut you to death, I’ll smash your skull in.’
Since all injuries during a duel carried no responsibility, Alain was resolved to wreck me within the permitted limits.
In contrast, Hein acted as if none of this was a big deal.
“Referee, I have a request.”
“Please speak, Second Young Master.”
“The practice sword is too heavy and hard to handle.”
“If that is the case……?”
“May I just use a wooden sword?”
Once again, the crowd stirred.
This was an open insult toward the opponent, and Alain’s face crumpled instantly.
After a moment of hesitation, the referee glanced at Alain and answered.
“If the opponent agrees, it is possible. Young Master Alain, is that acceptable?”
Alain thought Hein had completely lost his mind and was either bluffing with empty bravado or laying the groundwork for excuses after losing.
That only excited him further.
Either way didn’t matter.
What mattered was that he could legally beat Hein senseless.
“As much as you like. I’ll follow my brother's wishes.”
Hein took hold of the wooden sword.
It was the same size as a practice sword, but made of wood.
Far lighter and cruder.
‘Even before the regression, I barely ever held a sword, but…….’
I had no intention of winning by swinging a blade.
I had already completed two mana rings; simply operating mana would be enough.
I had mastered the handling of mana back in my pre-reincarnation days.
At that moment.
Wooooong.
The sword Alain Vispon was holding began to vibrate.
“B-blade aura.”
“At that age, he can already infuse aura.”
“Even if he’s a scoundrel, he really does have talent.”
Small exclamations of admiration escaped from the apprentice knights and craftsmen watching.
Though it wasn’t clearly visible due to his shallow training, the vibration flowing along the blade was unmistakable.
“Hoo.”
Sweat had already formed on Alain’s brow, perhaps because he wasn’t yet accustomed to handling aura, but a satisfied smile bloomed on his face.
At this moment, even a practice sword could cleave through rock in a single strike.
But my reaction to the scene was ice-cold.
‘Ha. What a joke.’
Even to my eyes as a non-knight, Alain’s aura operation was completely wrong.
‘No fundamentals. Just an empty flash. Shoving all that bean-sized aura into the sword. Then what about your hollow body?’
If a knight’s aura was insufficient to support both body and weapon, the first priority was to infuse aura into the body.
So-called physical enhancement.
‘You’re not fighting a golem, yet you pour all your aura into the sword? Inefficient.’
The opponent was human.
Against humans, bodily movement mattered far more than weapon strength.
Unless facing a high-level knight whose body was completely wrapped in aura, there was no need to infuse aura into the weapon at all.
Especially when the opponent was holding nothing more than a wooden sword.
‘This will end sooner than I thought.’
Before the duel, my greatest concern had been that it might turn into a war of attrition.
Even with two mana rings completed, my current body was completely untrained; once stamina ran out, things could become dangerous.
‘If he had infused aura into his body, I might’ve had to use magic to win.’
That would have been far from ideal.
I didn’t want to expose my power, nor earn the disgrace of using magic in a sacred duel.
Unaware of any of this, Alain was intoxicated with excitement, freely radiating his tiny amount of aura.
His gaze looked ready to tear me apart at any moment.
‘Stupid bastard. You don’t realize how terrifying an aura-infused blade can be. Heh. Even with a practice sword, killing a weakling like you would be nothing.’
With a greasy grin, Alain sprang forward, planning to bring his sword down with full force.
‘You won’t be able to block this with a mere stick of wood!’
“Hah!”
With a shout, Alain’s aura-infused sword descended at terrifying speed.
The aura was weak, but with his full body weight behind it, it was a truly powerful strike.
But.
Thud.
“Huh?”
The attack was easily blocked by the wooden sword.
Despite receiving it head-on, my posture didn’t waver in the slightest.
And Alain Vispon was struck by shock for another reason.
“W-what?”
The aura he had infused into the sword had vanished without a trace.
No one among the spectators noticed, but Alain himself felt it clearly.
The aura he had been controlling had evaporated completely.
“H-how did this happen?”
“How did it happen?”
I replied calmly to the stunned Alain.
“It means you’re in big trouble.”
I could clearly feel it.
The mana that made up Alain’s aura was seeping into my wooden sword.
“M-my mana……!”
Mana Drain.
A magic that could temporarily absorb the mana of a contacted opponent.
It was a unique spell personally designed and created by Alexar during his days as an Archmage before the regression.
‘As expected, both the quality and quantity of mana are poor. Well, what could you expect from a milk-smelling brat.’
An amount barely worth mentioning.
Poorly refined mana, close to raw.
‘Still, it’s not completely unusable.’
They said a master didn’t choose his tools.
For me, this was more than enough.
‘I only have two mana rings, so it’s not like before, but against small fry like this.’
If mana rings were the ‘craftsmanship,’ then mana itself was the ‘tool.’
Just as a skilled craftsman could create a masterpiece with crude tools, a mage was the same.
A mage with solid mana rings could wield powerful magic even with low-quality mana.
Like the current Hein Reichart.
‘Eighty percent to the body, the rest to the wooden sword.’
As I properly distributed the stolen mana, the mana within the wooden sword began to move slowly.
‘Hmm.’
A clear sensation.
Though minuscule, the feeling of cold mana flowing through my veins was distinct.
After finishing the distribution, I shot my hand out and grabbed Alain by the collar.
A movement far too fast to be human.
Naturally, Alain couldn’t even track it with his eyes.
“Ghk, khk.”
In an instant, blood vessels popped in Alain’s eyes as his neck was seized.
“Kid, this is how mana is used.”
“Kghk, khk!”
I lifted Alain’s body and slammed it straight into the ground.
With his face buried in the muddy earth, Alain instantly looked like a rat fallen into a cesspit.
“Class fee collection starts now.”
Pinning Alain’s body with my right foot, I raised the wooden sword high overhead.
Thwack!
“Aaagh!”
The wooden sword came crashing down mercilessly on Alain’s buttocks.
Thwack!
“Ughk!”
It was a spot even flashy armor couldn’t protect.
Pinned down and unable to move, Alain could only be beaten helplessly.
Thwack!!
“U-ugh!”
His flesh had already split; reddish blood seeped through his trousers.
Even so, my beating didn’t stop.
Thwack!
“Ghk…….”
The wooden sword struck at regular intervals, precisely on the same spot each time.
It was meticulous, diligent punishment.
With each blow, Alain’s groans grew fainter, while the spectators’ gasps only grew louder.
Thwack!!
“Ghh…….”
“Th-that’s……”
“At this rate, it’ll really end badly.”
“How can such massive blows come from those thin arms……?”
The referee could only stare in a daze, not even attempting to intervene.
“G-ghk.”
Only after Alain foamed at the mouth and passed out did my beating finally stop.
I glanced at the referee.
“Is this still not enough to decide the match?”
“N-no, Second Young Master.”
“I could go on all night.”
“N-no. It’s over—this concludes the duel. Second Young Master’s victory.”
Gulp.
The apprentice knights and craftsmen watching swallowed hard.
“It wasn’t even a duel. It was a one-sided beating.”
“T-that’s impossible. The Second Young Master had that kind of strength?”
“Isn’t Alain Vispon one of the top students at the swordsmanship academy?”
Meanwhile, I calmly returned the wooden practice sword to the stunned referee.
“It served me well. And that one should be taken to the physician immediately. If you leave him be, he might spend the rest of his life crawling.”
“Y-yes, I-I understand.”
Just as I was about to turn away, Haineph came running over in a hurry.