Chapter 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Provocation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘But if I wasn't mistaken back then.’
Melin's eyes glinted deeply.
‘Perhaps he'll show me something unexpected again.’
She had been watching the duel with that expectation.
But what unfolded before her was a scene so unbelievable it far surpassed her wildest predictions.
*Thwack!*
A loud noise echoed through the training grounds.
‘What?’
Melin’s eyes widened.
She wasn't the only one. Every Majin in the training grounds had the same reaction.
It was only natural.
Someone was on the ground.
Not Chris, but Canin.
Bleeding, after taking a wooden sword straight to the face.
In a single blow.
Chris smirked as he looked around at the Black Swamp Knights.
“The Black Swamp Knights are nothing special. Anyone else want a go?”
* * *
The grounds fell silent.
The Majin were bewildered.
‘What just happened?’
‘How did Canin end up on the ground?’
No one could comprehend the scene that had just transpired.
The moment the duel began, Canin had aggressively pushed Christian back.
‘Even though he's just a squire, Canin is a 1-Star Majin. There's no way that scoundrel can handle him.’
‘How long will he last?’
‘Ten seconds?’
‘Five?’
That was what everyone had been thinking as they predicted his defeat.
The match was decided in an instant.
Christian's wooden sword had broken through Canin's attack and struck him squarely in the face.
And this was the result.
‘What in the world?’
‘Did that Canin fool let his guard down?’
But this was the second time.
Could it really be dismissed as simple carelessness when it happened a second time?
As everyone reeled in confusion, an arrogant voice echoed across the training grounds.
“Anyone else want a go? From what I've seen, it seems many of you have a problem with me.”
Chris let out a short, irritating laugh, the corners of his mouth lifting.
“Anyone can step up. I'd like to see the so-called skills of the Black Swamp Knights for myself. I find it hard to believe you're as great as the rumors say.”
“!!”
The Majin’s faces turned red.
They looked at each other, then singled out one person.
A full-fledged member of the knights, a ‘2-Star’ Majin, stepped forward.
“My name is Thorn.”
“Well, I suppose there's no need for me to tell you my name.”
“…You will regret insulting the Black Swamp Knights.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Chris flicked the tip of his sword.
“Come at me.”
At the insulting words, the Majin who had stepped up as the challenger, Thorn, felt his face flush hot.
*Clang!*
Wooden sword met wooden sword.
A jolt ran up Chris's wrist.
‘Just as I planned.’
Chris smiled inwardly.
He had deliberately provoked the Black Swamp Knights just now.
He had predicted that a 2-Star Majin would step forward.
‘I figured their pride wouldn't allow a higher-level Majin to step forward to face a scoundrel like me.’
The man who had stepped forward was the perfect opponent for his current situation in many ways.
For one, he could just barely handle an opponent up to 2-Star with his current abilities.
‘Even though my magi reserves are lacking, I can handle this much.’
*Clang! Thud! Screech!*
The wooden swords flew back and forth.
As time passed, the training grounds grew quiet.
Everyone was starting to sense that something was off.
“What are you doing?!”
“Finish him already!!”
On the surface, it looked like the 2-Star Majin, Thorn, was overwhelmingly dominating the fight.
But he couldn't seem to land the finishing blow.
No, it was more than that.
‘What is this? I can't break through!’
The flow of his attacks was broken again and again by the opponent's crude counters.
Whenever he tried to push through with sheer force, his opponent would cleverly evade, or his attacks wouldn't land as intended.
‘The two before me… they weren't just being careless.’
Thorn swallowed hard.
It was incomprehensible.
His opponent was clearly weaker than him.
And yet, it felt as though he was the one being pushed back.
To be precise, it felt like his opponent was perfectly at ease while he was struggling with all his might.
‘This is ridiculous.’
Meanwhile, besides Thorn, the duelist himself, someone else was watching in utter astonishment.
Vice-Commander Melin.
‘…Impossible.’
Vice-Commander Melin couldn't hide her surprise.
‘I wasn't mistaken back then.’
The movements Christian was displaying now…
Each and every one was enough to send shivers down her spine.
Because they were brilliant?
No, the exact opposite.
They weren't brilliant at all. That was the problem.
If he had overwhelmed his opponent with masterful swordsmanship, it wouldn't have been surprising.
But Christian was gaining the upper hand with unremarkable movements.
He was accomplishing the impossible.
‘…Crazy, how is he doing that?’
She couldn't understand it.
It might be possible for someone with an unbelievably innate, heaven-sent combat sense.
But even for a genius, was something like this truly possible?
It was hard to believe, but it was happening right before her eyes.
The training grounds fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone stared at Christian with wide eyes.
Meanwhile, Christian thought to himself.
‘Should I end this soon? I think I've seen enough.’
He had caused this commotion today for two reasons.
First, to gain recognition among the Majin.
In a society where the strong reigned supreme, earning respect through power was the best way.
If he defeated a full-fledged 2-Star knight, the way they looked at him would change considerably.
‘And there's a more important reason.’
Chris’s eyes deepened.
He could see the Majin swinging a wooden sword at him.
But Chris saw much more.
First, the posture of the wrist gripping the sword.
The angle of the hand.
How the arm muscles contracted.
How the foot stepped forward.
And thus, how the magi extended to enhance his power.
In other words, he was seeing how the Black Swamp Knights' basic sword style, the ‘Mud Sword Style,’ was actually executed.
‘So this is roughly how it works.’
He had been watching the Black Swamp Knights’ training sessions whenever he could during his runs.
He had a general grasp of their movements, but there was a limit to what he could glean from watching at a distance.
That was why he had deliberately created this situation.
‘This should be enough.’
With that final thought, he swung his wooden sword.
*Fwoosh!*
Magi spread through his body.
It was the faint magi of someone who had just reached 1-Star.
But it didn't matter.
What's important isn't 'how much,' but 'how.'
The same magi could produce vastly different results depending on its application.
Unlike his opponent, Thorn, whose powerful magi swings hadn't even touched the hem of his clothes, Chris's sword easily pierced Thorn's defenses.
*Thwack!*
Chris's sword struck Thorn's temple, and the blow to the vital point made Thorn's eyes roll back as he fainted.
“……”
An oppressive silence crushed the Majin.
No one could process what had just happened.
It was so shocking that their minds momentarily refused to accept it.
But that lasted only a moment.
Astonishment spread through the training grounds.
“Crazy… was that scoundrel of a Young Master always that strong?”
“He's not strong. His magi attainment, his sword movements, they're all terrible.”
“That's what makes it so amazing. Damn it. How is something like that even possible? His magi seems like he's barely reached 1-Star, if at all.”
“Wait, I thought he hadn't learned magi at all? When did he reach 1-Star?”
It wasn't just admiration.
A wave of incomprehensible shock and astonishment swept through the Majin.
In an instant, the same word appeared on all their faces.
‘…A genius?’
Everyone swallowed hard.
It was something impossible for anyone but a genius.
And not just any ordinary genius.
‘Just what level of talent makes something like that possible?’
They were elite Majin.
It wasn't their first time seeing someone called a genius.
Many among them were considered to have outstanding talent.
But they had never seen talent capable of something like this.
‘To think that scoundrel was hiding such talent.’
The way the Majin looked at him began to change.
The way Majin think is simple.
The strong reign supreme!
They bow their heads to the strong and despise the weak.
The reason Christian had been scorned until now was not just because of his scoundrel-like behavior, but fundamentally because he was weak.
A pathetic scoundrel who was also weak.
If he had been strong, many would have graciously overlooked a certain degree of indulgence, as long as it didn't cross the line.
Of course, even the strong were strictly punished for crossing lines, but the Majin of the Magitech Empire were generally lenient towards the powerful.
‘Good. This is the reaction I was hoping for.’
Chris rejoiced inwardly.
He had orchestrated today's events precisely to elicit this reaction.
Still, he showed no sign of pleasure on the outside, maintaining a deliberately cold expression.
He felt it would be more effective in winning over the Majin.
His intentions hit their mark, and the Majin were once again impressed.
‘He's not gloating at all. Is he acting like this is only natural?’
‘He seems much more like a Majin than before.’
The face of the body Chris now inhabited already looked ill-tempered.
After his Bone Metamorphosis, he had gained the dignified air of a noble scion, and now, with his face set in a cold expression, he gave off an incredibly arrogant impression.
And the arrogance of the strong was a virtue the Majin celebrated.
Majin considered frank arrogance a greater virtue than clumsy humility.
‘I'll have to keep an eye on him from now on.’
Just as the Majin's perception of Chris was changing, he did something else they could never have imagined.
‘I didn't start this just to end it with something so trivial.’
“Disappointing. It seems I expected too much from the Black Swamp Knights.”
“!!”
Insulting the knighthood again, the Majin's faces flushed once more.
Respecting the strong was one thing, but it was only natural to get angry when the knighthood one belonged to was insulted.
Just as the Majin bristled and were about to step forward, Chris made an even crazier statement.
“Vice-Commander, what do you think of my assessment?”
“!!”
Chris’s lips twisted into a smirk.
Obnoxiously so, to anyone watching.
“The fact that the knights' skills are so mediocre must be partly your responsibility, I'd say.”
Everyone gasped.
That crazy bastard was provoking Vice-Commander Melin!
‘That madman.’
‘He hasn't changed a bit. He's just gotten crazier.’
‘Shouldn't someone stop him?’
Vice-Commander Melin let out a hollow laugh.
“Young Master, I understand you're pleased with your unexpected victory, but are you not overstepping your bounds?”
“Well, I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”
Chris gestured with his wooden sword.
“I implore you, Vice-Commander, to show me the true skill of the Black Swamp Knights.”
“!!”
He was challenging Melin to a duel.
Her face turned cold.
“Scoundrel, if I were to get serious, you'd be dead in a second.”
She had dropped the honorifics.