The First Defeat
The auditorium buzzed with confused chatter.
“What the hell? What just happened?”
“Radeon suddenly collapsed.”
All the students gathered in the hall struggled to make sense of the scene.
“Why did he fall over like that?”
“I don’t know. It looked like a sudden gust of wind came out of nowhere.”
Elbin watched Nam Doyun in silence. He truly hadn’t expected a monster like this to exist.
“The winner is Nam Doyun,” Elbin announced.
“What? Radeon just tripped, didn’t he?”
“Teacher, Nam Doyun didn’t even do anything. Radeon collapsed on his own. How can you call that a win for Nam Doyun?”
“Exactly. Shouldn’t Nam Doyun have to beat Radeon with swordsmanship to win?”
Elbin let out a small chuckle at the students’ protests.
He had founded the swordsmanship club at Elphon Academy and had run it for nearly ten years. In that time, he had seen countless students. He had witnessed more talented swordsmen than he could count. Among them, Radeon had been in a league of his own.
But Nam Doyun possessed talent so overwhelming that even Radeon’s unparalleled genius looked insignificant by comparison.
At first, Elbin had been stunned by the boy’s movements. The level of swordsmanship he displayed was impossible to reach in just one week. The trajectory of his swings, his posture, his instincts—everything was nearly perfect. It was not a realm one could attain in seven days.
At the same time, he had felt a pang of regret. A student with such talent had wagered his withdrawal from the academy on this match. No matter how gifted he was, it had seemed impossible for him to defeat Radeon. Above all, his glaring lack of experience had been obvious at a glance.
Elbin had thought the academy was about to lose an incredible talent.
But then came the final strike—the one that had made Radeon fall. The other students hadn’t seen it, but Elbin had caught it clearly. The reason Radeon collapsed was the iaijutsu Nam Doyun had unleashed. It was no coincidence.
That was a technique that normally took decades of sword training to master. Yet this kid had acquired it in a single week.
“...What an absurd guy.”
He could even cover up his lack of experience with overwhelming talent. Just how ridiculous was this level of genius?
Elbin looked at Nam Doyun. The boy clearly still lacked real combat experience. But what would happen once he gained it? How far could he climb?
The corners of Elbin’s mouth slowly curled into a grin.
Radeon wore a dazed expression. He still couldn’t comprehend what had hit him.
“Just... what the hell happened?”
The situation made no sense to him. Why had such a powerful gust of wind suddenly blown him off his feet?
Radeon lifted his gaze and saw Nam Doyun standing in the iaijutsu stance.
…No way. Had he actually used iaijutsu?
But how could someone who had only learned swordsmanship for a week pull off a technique even he hadn’t mastered…?
“You okay?”
Nam Doyun extended a hand to the fallen boy.
“.....”
Radeon couldn’t bring himself to take it. A talent that could manifest iaijutsu after learning the sword for less than a week. In the face of such impossible genius, he was nothing more than a frog in a well.
Radeon bit his lip. If this incident spread, his position as the next family head would be in jeopardy. The rumor that he had lost to an ordinary person who had only trained for a week would be devastating to his reputation.
Yet he couldn’t deny the loss either. The teacher had already declared it.
As Radeon stood there, trapped between a rock and a hard place, Nam Doyun smiled faintly and said,
“Looks like the teacher made a mistake in his judgment, doesn’t it?”
Radeon stared at him blankly. Was this guy actually considering his pride?
He recalled the words he had thrown at Nam Doyun before the match—how he had arrogantly declared he would face him with nothing but a dagger, how he had said he wouldn’t take the duel seriously. Looking back, how ridiculous those statements had been. The truly arrogant one had been himself.
Even after hearing all that, this man hadn’t mocked him. Instead, he was protecting his dignity. It was a complete defeat, both in character and in swordsmanship.
Radeon let out a small laugh. Then he took the hand Nam Doyun offered and stood up.
The students immediately swarmed him.
“What happened? What was that? Radeon? Why did you suddenly collapse?”
“The teacher must have judged wrong, right? There’s no way you lost.”
“When are you having a rematch? This match should be invalid, shouldn’t it?”
Radeon shook his head slowly. Then he raised Nam Doyun’s hand high.
All the students stared at him with puzzled expressions.
“What are you doing?”
“Why are you raising Nam Doyun’s hand?”
Radeon spoke clearly.
“No. The winner is Nam Doyun. It was my complete defeat.”
“.....”
With those words, the entire auditorium fell silent.
After the duel, Radeon returned to his dormitory room and collapsed weakly onto the bed. His eyes drifted to the wooden practice sword tucked in the corner. It was the very same one he had used since he first learned to walk. The marks of long years of use covered its surface.
Radeon picked it up. Memories from his childhood suddenly flooded back.
—Wow. You really were born with incredible talent.
—The next family head will definitely be Radeon.
Praise had followed him since he was little. Radeon stared at the wooden sword he had wielded since childhood. But now, he could barely bring himself to hold it.
Me? Talented? No. Not at all.
If anyone deserved to be called truly talented, it was Nam Doyun. Compared to his ability, Radeon’s own talent was nothing special.
Originally, he had planned to face him lightly with a dagger and make him feel the gap between them. But he had unconsciously drawn his longsword instead. And even then, he had lost.
It was a perfect defeat. There was no choice but to accept it.
Radeon looked at his phone. A message from his mother waited there.
She only trusted him. His mother had pinned all her hopes on him alone. She never doubted that he would become the next family head.
Do I really deserve to be the family head?
To become the successor, he had never grown complacent with his natural talent. He had trained with bone-crushing effort. He had lived with desperate determination.
But Nam Doyun denied all of that. He was an existence beyond the rules. Radeon had considered the possibility of meeting someone like him one day. Yet when it actually happened, an overwhelming sense of defeat and inferiority surged through him.
Compared to that man, his own talent was infinitely small. Did someone like him truly have the right to become the head of the swordsmanship family, the Greville household?
Ring—
Radeon answered the call with a trembling hand.
“Hello?”
“Yes, Lord Radeon. I’ve heard the news.”
“I’m sorry. I lost.”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
“I lost in a swordsmanship duel. To an ordinary person who only trained for a week.”
“Why would that be something to apologize for?”
“...Excuse me?”
“Do you know why I strongly recommended that you attend Elphon Academy, Lord Radeon?”
“What was the reason?”
“It was because I wanted you to grow. There was no one in the family who could serve as a proper rival for you among your peers.”
“.....”
“What did you feel during this duel?”
“I realized just how much I still lack.”
“That is more than enough.”
“Pardon?”
“Haven’t you felt that your swordsmanship has recently hit a wall, Lord Radeon?”
“Yes. To be honest, that’s true. No matter how hard I tried, it felt like I was just running in place.”
“That was because there was no one among your peers who could match you.”
“...”
“Those with swordsmanship skills similar to yours are already active as hunters, so they were never considered rivals in the first place. And when you look at your peers, none of them can keep up with your level.”
“...”
“A true rival is supposed to be found among your own generation, but you couldn’t find one. Until now.”
“.....”
“But you’ve finally found one. A true peer with whom you can exchange swords. Thanks to that, your skill will improve by leaps and bounds.”
“But… the other elders won’t stay quiet about this.”
Radeon was the youngest in the Greville family. He had two older brothers above him, each supported by their own faction of elders. Those elders would surely seize this opportunity to speak ill of him. The fact that he had lost a sword duel to someone who had only trained for a week would put his position as the next family head in serious danger.
“Lord Radeon.”
“Yes?”
“Do not worry about that. I will take care of it.”
“.....”
“Do you think this old man cannot handle even that much? Heh heh—”
“But… I’m not sure if I’m truly qualified to be the next family head. Someone like me becoming the head…”
“Lord Radeon.”
“Yes.”
“May this old man offer one piece of advice?”
“Of course.”
“Then I shall speak boldly. You have simply lost for the first time.”
“.....”
“You, who had never experienced defeat before, have simply suffered your first loss. Am I wrong?”
“.....”
Radeon remained silent for a long time. Then, after a while, he spoke.
“Yes. You’re right.”
His eyes grew red.
“The first defeat always shocks a person tremendously. It makes you wonder if you were really this insignificant.”
“...”
“If you fall into deep despair and cannot move forward from it, then you truly do not deserve to be the next family head.”
“...”
“The Lord Radeon I have watched all this time is someone who can overcome this hardship and rise again. If not, then I must have been mistaken.”
“...Yes. You are correct.”
“You have only suffered your first defeat. You are still young. Don’t you have an enormous number of opportunities left?”
“Of course. In the end, I will win.”
Radeon wiped away his tears as he spoke.
“Heh heh— Yes. That’s it. That mindset, Lord Radeon.”
The elder laughed warmly.
Radeon ended the call and picked up the wooden sword he had used since childhood. The intense feelings of inferiority and defeat were new to him. He hadn’t known how to accept them.
But if he let those feelings of inferiority and defeat end there, then he would truly be nothing more than a pathetic human being.
Radeon gripped his wooden sword once more.
Whoosh—
He swung it. If he could use that sense of inferiority and defeat as fuel to grow even stronger, then it would become excellent nourishment.
Whoosh—
Radeon swung the sword again.
“Next time, I will definitely win.”