Chapter 39
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Intermission: All is Created by the Mind (2)
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First to react was, naturally, Roselin.
"What is this sudden rudeness? Do you think you're some noble, bullying a pitiful and frail weakling with brute force?"
Suddenly elevated to the status of a pitiful and frail weakling, Kim Yul coughed out a retch, but Roselin showed no intention of taking back her words.
Well.
Because it was the truth.
In Roselin's eyes, Kim Yul was nothing more than a hamster who wrote well but occasionally got himself into trouble he couldn't handle—a bizarrely tough little creature.
And in reality, there was an overwhelming gap in their physical strength.
But even hamsters sometimes unleashed ferocity beyond cracking sunflower seeds.
"Enough, Roselin."
"Eh? Huh?"
As he scooped up the glove with a three-cushion shot off his face, the table, and the floor.
Kim Yul grinned.
"Truly, the empire's family education is exemplary. Must be nice having so many mothers."
At that refined praise.
"Y-You filthy cur...!"
Regios trembled from head to toe, too delighted by the insult.
Thanks to the sliver of duty remaining in him as a noble and a member of the capital guard.
He managed to avoid drawing his sword to sever Kim Yul's head only to get punched by the Saintess and have a hole blasted through his gut.
It was evasion befitting a man who had rightfully claimed the third son position of a duke through honest competition rather than backroom deals.
Instead.
"Surely you're not going to spew such vile words and then refuse a duel like some lowborn coward."
He growled lowly.
Here.
Kim Yul betrayed Roselin's expectations once more.
"Fine by me. Let's have at it. You don't look like much anyway."
"A-Author?!"
Ignoring Roselin's shock, Kim Yul rose from his chair and locked eyes with Regios.
A gaze like gleaming obsidian—ominous and foreboding—pinned down from higher than Regios's eye level.
Regios flinched momentarily under the pressure and checked the flow of mana, wondering if his senses were playing tricks.
But there wasn't a trace of mana in Kim Yul's body.
Which meant.
Bluffing.
"At least you've got guts. Then show up at the southern capital guard post tomorrow."
.
.
.
The moment Regios's sneering back vanished from their sight.
Smack!
"Ow!"
"Author! Are you in your right mind?! What if you hurt your wrist?!"
Roselin's backhand smash landed squarely on Kim Yul's spine.
Undeterred even as he folded in half and shuddered.
"See?! If you can't even handle a little teasing like this, what makes you think you can duel?!"
"S-Saintess, twice like that and I'd be torn into four pieces...!"
"Anyway, you know who you're up against, right? You do know, don't you?"
To Roselin's question, Kim Yul straightened his bent waist and replied.
"Of course. Sir Regios, captain of the guard—the one who takes after his father in working his lower half the best and has fifty mothers to his name."
"...You really do know? You know he's one of the empire's top swordsmen?"
"Pfft, no matter how strong he is, he's not stronger than a dragon."
"A dragon...?"
Roselin, who hadn't yet witnessed hatchling Esthea wagging her tail innocently, tilted her head at the out-of-left-field remark.
But Kim Yul already had his foolproof plan.
"Might as well prove how strong I am while we're at it."
He added an unnecessary line and earned another Saintess handprint on his back.
* * *
The next day.
The southern capital guard's training grounds buzzed with cheer from the morning.
"No way, for real? He actually accepted the duel?"
"Hahaha! Gotta admire the guts, I suppose?"
"It's not like the monster Saintess is gonna crash a man's duel. Does he have nine lives or what?"
"Must be delusions from writing too many novels—thinks he's the hero now."
Regios's unit consisted solely of noble sons who had built camaraderie with him since the academy.
No one among them—neither those they'd failed to beat during academy days nor those dwarfed by his family's influence—believed Regios could lose.
So they just chattered merrily about the spectacle.
"Captain? Go easy on him, yeah? Honestly, the two heroes thing is kinda fun."
At the jest from his subordinate, Regios—his anger slightly cooled after a day—chuckled too.
"Want me to lop off your arm too?"
"..."
Of course, the words from Regios's mouth were far from amusing, so the subordinate promptly shut up.
.
.
.
A short while later.
"Thought he'd chicken out, but he showed."
"...That bastard, dragging around women like that?"
"They'll hear you."
"Whoa, check it out?"
"You're gonna get yourself killed? Didn't you hear the Saintess soloed fifteen assassin squads recently?"
"..."
Amid the subordinates' whispers.
Kim Yul arrived, two women in tow.
The monster Saintess, Roselin, recently sighted often in the imperial capital.
And.
"Hehe, this'll be fun!"
A golden-haired girl laughing innocently.
Soon after they click-clacked over to the makeshift spectator seats.
The two men.
Kim Yul and Regios faced off in the training grounds.
"Bringing a gaggle of women like it's a picnic?"
Regios sneered, but Kim Yul's expression remained serene.
Kim Yul's mouth slowly opened.
"Do you know the saying that all things depend on the mind?"
"Spare me your sly, lowborn tongue. The conclusion here is you'll be thoroughly crushed."
Whatever lame excuse he was about to spout, Regios ignored it and shot back.
Evidently, he'd heard it somewhere.
The man had pathetically brought a blunt iron club to face a sword.
But his blade, honed relentlessly, wouldn't yield to some scrap metal—so it was pointless.
Whether he knew Regios's thoughts or not.
Kim Yul calmly rattled off what he wanted to say.
"Even on the battlefield, when two generals lock eyes, they duel heedless of the surrounding soldiers. If I see you as mere cannon fodder, how could I treat you as a worthy opponent?"
"That's your idea of provocation?"
Regios scoffed.
And assumed his stance.
He had no desire to play word games.
Regios, his mind filled with thoughts of quickly ending it, sharing drinks with his men, and then enjoying that tavern wench he'd eyed.
"Come at me, lowborn."
He pointed his blade at Kim Yul, and the subordinate referee struck the drum with a resounding dong.
"──!"
A colossal pressure surged from behind, nearly making Regios drop his sword.
Only then did he sense the anomaly.
From the moment he stepped into the training grounds until now.
The man before him, Kim Yul, had never once looked at him.
He'd only kept his gaze fixed on something behind him.
What.
What in the world was there.
No, it didn't matter now.
I just need to smash this lowborn, sever his wrist as an example, and flash a victory smile.
So, your opponent is me.
Look at me.
Look at me!
He wanted to shout, but even Regios could barely steady his quaking legs against the overwhelming presence at his back and the bloodlust shredding his nerves.
Unlike Regios, who clenched his teeth.
The man facing him.
Kim Yul's eyes remained impassive as a deep abyss, staring only over his shoulder.
Was it crushed by that composure?
"Haaah!"
He'd planned to toy lightly, but Regios unwittingly swung with full force.
Though his mind was rattled.
Years of training didn't betray him.
A sword renowned even in the empire traced a beautiful arc, pristine in its perfection.
And that arc became vivid death bearing down on Kim Yul.
That instant.
The odd club in Kim Yul's hand began to move slowly.
And.
"──!"
Regios's eyes twisted in horror.
The trajectory from his hand rivaled—no, surpassed—the one he'd honed over years, verging on perfection.
Hiding his strength?
No, how without mana?
The shock didn't end there.
Kim Yul's swung club.
Craaack──!
Devoured his sword strike outright.
Without losing momentum, it seized his prized sword, Framberg, so meticulously maintained──
Snap──!
"Ah──"
Folded it clean in two.
No, severed it beyond repair.
The club still had power left.
Gradually, slowly.
No, fast—but to Regios's senses, agonizingly slow and clear.
"Guh──!"
It folded his waist.
His body lifted into the air, vision flickering then blurring.
"Regi───! ──!"
"──Captain──!"
"───, ───flew───!"
Fragmented voices faintly reached his ears.
But Regios had no time to dwell.
He looked at the man who launched him.
The black-haired man who still looked frail.
He still wasn't looking at him, but elsewhere.
Only airborne did Regios vaguely make out the shape.
It was unmistakably.
A petite golden-haired girl──
That was as far as he got.
Regios's memories and consciousness blacked out.
* * *
The man who had just uppercut Regios skyward for a home run.
Kim Yul shook out his bat with a flourish.
Amid the satisfying clatter of the Lee Dae-ho signed edition aluminum bat rolling away.
He shouted.
"Enemy general! Defeated!"
A line he'd always wanted to say, just once.