The Duel's Dying Breath
The blonde named Alex seemed surprisingly popular with the others despite his unpleasant demeanor. "Lord Alex! Teach that arrogant bastard a lesson!" "Show him what a highest-rank Sword Expert is made of!" "Kill him!"
The men kept shouting for my death. It couldn't be helped. With few exceptions, Beta Males harbored hostility toward Alpha Males. They saw us as rivals competing for females. But we never considered them rivals. After all, it takes an actual competition to call something a rivalry. In reality, females chose Alpha Males one hundred times out of one hundred. A fight that wasn't even a contest. Perhaps that was why Beta Males had chosen not competition, but a long, drawn-out war. Unable to personally defeat Alpha Males and win a female's heart, they had resorted to sheer numbers and brutal violence.
Truthfully, it was somewhat unfair. Just as I refrained from laying hands on Erika, Alpha Males had no intention of claiming every female. We would build harems with exceptional women, of course, but the females I had touched were all outstanding—my mother, my sister, and others like them. The rest were women who had arrogantly challenged an Alpha Male like me. Or, like the Beta Male I'd dealt with before being summoned here, cases where the female's man had been at fault. As long as Beta Males and their females didn't provoke us, we Alpha Males left them alone. Yet in the end, despite the Beta Males' overwhelming numbers, we Alpha Males had emerged victorious and established the World Government. That was the true nature of Beta Males—eliminating rivals to claim females. Some had even killed Alpha Males or other Beta Males simply to possess them as trophies, without love or lust. Shouting for my death was only natural. That was how most Beta Males behaved. Only a rare few acknowledged the gap in status and offered loyalty.
"Kyaa! Lord Alex! Huh? Wait, what's the breeder's name again? Alpha? Kyaa! Alpha!" "If Lord Alex gets even a single scratch on his face… What do we do? The opponent looks even more handsome, doesn't he?"
The females, who had initially cheered for Alex, gradually began cheering for me as well. They instinctively sensed it—the superior genes their wombs recognized in an Alpha Male. Still, they didn't wave at me the way they did for Alex. Being the center of attention was only natural for an Alpha Male. There was no need to respond to each one individually.
I channeled mana into the sword in my hand. Hum… "It works." Though invisible to the eye, I smiled in satisfaction as I felt the mana seep into the blade.
"If you kneel and apologize to my father even now, I'll call this duel off."
Perhaps my calm demeanor irritated him. Alex casually brushed back his golden hair with one hand while waving to his supporters with the other. "Cut the bullshit."
It was laughable. How pathetic did a Beta Male have to be to entrust a duel to his own son just to protect his honor? That was the amusing thing about Beta Males. Those who held even a shred of power tried to kill Alpha Males using other Beta Males' hands, terrified of dying themselves. And after their proxy died, they often took the dead man's female for themselves. The most famous example was King David from the Bible—a Beta Male who sent his subordinate Uriah to fight an Alpha Male, then took his wife Bathsheba into his bed after Uriah's death.
"…You still don't understand the situation, do you? Priest, begin the judgment already. Alpha, was it? I'll kill you."
"Yes. Lord Alex. Before the duel begins, both sides must agree to stop immediately if the opponent admits defeat, and that the duel continues until one admits defeat or dies. Is that correct?"
"Yes." "Yes."
With our answers given, the duel finally began.
"Then the duel begins—!!"
Vwoooom…! "So this is the aura of the highest rank!" Having continuously felt mana since arriving in this world, I could sense the immense power contained in the aura coating Alex's sword. It was on a completely different level from the aura Erika's club had emitted on the first day. If our swords clashed, mine would be cut clean through.
"Die!" "He's fast!"
Alex charged at full speed from the very start, clearly having no intention of letting me live. "Hah…"
But he had underestimated me far too much. Even so, I had trained in swordsmanship enough to defeat a ninth-dan dojo master in just one month. Of course, that Beta Male instructor had used real swords, intent on cutting down my talent back then. "Was that when I was ten?" I didn't remember clearly, but my body remembered the movements. Alex's attack was faster and stronger than the instructor's had been, yet it was far too straightforward. A direct thrust aimed at my vital point. I dodged it with a simple shift of my body. Was this the swordsmanship of a highest-rank Sword Expert? It seemed the swordsmen of this world neglected technique because of the extraordinary power called aura. It was absurd. Martial arts like swordsmanship had originally been created by Beta Males, who were lacking in every aspect, to defeat Alpha Males. Those who reached the profound depths of martial arts deserved our respect. Yet here was this fool.
"Huh…?" Alex muttered in confusion, clearly not expecting me to dodge. The sight of a man who claimed to have trained with the sword his entire life tilting his head in bewilderment at missing a single attack made me sigh. "Stupid bastard."
Whoosh—! "Huh…?" Vwoooom—!!!
I wouldn't miss such an opening. I poured all my mana into the sword and swung it toward his neck, intending to end it in one strike. "Kuhk…?! Kuhhh…!!" Blood sprayed from Alex's neck as he flailed. His body, unprotected by mana, hadn't expected to be attacked and easily spurted blood from my blade. Spurt—!! Like crimson rain, the pulse of life gushed from his neck. Trying to coat himself in mana now was pointless. It only accelerated the loss of his life's mana.
"……" Both the Beta Males who had been shouting for Alex to kill me and the females who had been cheering fell into stunned silence at the sight.
"Kuhk!! Kuhhh!!" Under normal circumstances, Alex would have clutched his neck to stem the bleeding, but he had already lost too much blood. He might have survived with quick first aid. "Alex!! S-Stop!! P-Priest!! Q-Quickly! Cast healing magic!!"
At Baron Wellington's urgent cry, Alex raised his sword. Oxygen deprivation to his brain had left him unable to tend to his wound; instead, he faithfully followed the last command imprinted in his mind—to kill me. A powerful aura, the mark of a highest-rank Sword Expert, flared around his blade one final time. No—it was clearly more refined and concentrated than before. Before dying, he had taken his first step into the realm of Sword Master!! "Great Heal!!"
As he brought his sword down, a pillar of light descended from the sky. The wound on his neck, which had been spraying blood, began closing as if by a lie. So this was the power of divine blessing—holy power! "That's it!! Lord Alex!! Kill that arrogant bastard!!" "Kill him!! Kill him!!"
As the aura now enveloping Alex's recovered sword was visibly on another level, the Beta Males began shouting again as if the silence had never happened. BOOM—!! His sword struck the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. Naturally, I wasn't about to be hit by an attack made while oxygen-deprived just because my opponent had become a Master. "H-Huh? W-What just happened?"
Still disoriented from brushing against death's door, Alex failed to notice me charging through the dust. Thud—!! "Kuhhh—!!" I drove my sword straight into his neck. Though his aura had only lasted a brief moment due to mana depletion, that had been enough. He hadn't protected his body with mana, and even the mana he belatedly tried to gather had spilled onto the ground along with his blood. In other words, Alex's desperate final strike had been his last. As if confirming my prediction, his aura faded away. My sword pierced through his nape and vocal cords. "Kuhhh…!!" This time, I twisted the blade to ensure he couldn't recover. Alex's agonized scream rang out, but I paid it no mind. His body collapsed, signaling the end. It was a fitting death for a fool who had gained the chance to become a Sword Master yet stood there stupidly, more delighted by reaching a new realm than by assessing the situation.
"……" "M-Melania!! P-Please, spare my son! That bastard attacked my defeated son unfairly!" What nonsense. Alex had never admitted defeat. He had swung his sword at me even with his neck slashed. If he had admitted defeat, he should have thrown down his weapon and knelt to staunch the bleeding. "From what I saw, your son neither admitted defeat nor stopped swinging his sword. If anything, aren't you the one who dishonored the duel by calling for a priest?" "T-That's…"
Even as we argued over right and wrong, Alex continued dying. "Kuhk… Kuhhh…!" "Hey! Priest! Heal him again, quickly!" "I've used all my holy power. I can't do any more!! And the young master has already departed for Lady Eldinia's side." "N-No… No…!! Aaaah!!"
Wellington wailed as he clutched his son's corpse. But I felt no pity. Wellington had deliberately picked a fight with me in front of Melania's door. He had orchestrated this duel to kill me, but instead, I had killed Alex. "May I take my leave now?" "Y-You bastard… I'll kill you!!" "Enough."
Baron Wellington grabbed me by the collar. As expected of a bald man, he had no strength in his grip. But Melania wouldn't overlook his behavior. "How long must I tolerate you, Wellington? You got the duel you wanted. Stop making a spectacle of yourself and tend to your son's body. Tch." Melania looked thoroughly annoyed. After all, Wellington's actions had bordered on insubordination. "That aside, I never expected you to defeat even Alex. Your skill is impressive. I could train you as a knight, not just a breeder." "I'll do my best if you entrust it to me." "Good… But what you must do right now is conduct pregnancy tests and devise countermeasures against the Black Death. Since Alex's death has caused significant losses to the territory, you must give it your all. Understood?" "Yes."
Leaving Wellington behind as he wailed and tended to his son's body, I received a light word of encouragement from Melania before departing. "Alpha! That was far too reckless! Young Master Alex was the second-strongest knight in this territory! Why did you accept the duel challenge!!" Once Melania left, Erika clung to my side, shouting noisily. Even though she was yelling at me, I didn't get angry—her voice was filled with concern for me. "You're amazing. And not just that. To have the skill to defeat even my brother~"
Ertia clung to me stickily from the other side. "Ertia! Get off. People will misunderstand if they see." "…Come to think of it, you always call my brother 'young master,' but you just call me by name? Are you trying to make me angry on purpose?" "Hmph! You always treat me like a commoner and look down on me. Why should I show you respect? In contrast, Lord Alex always addressed me with proper honorifics." "Pfft! He was just trying to get in your pants. You should be grateful. If you'd shown even the slightest interest in men, my brother would've had his way with you, then passed you around to the entire knight order. If you don't believe me, go ask the girls who quit being knights." "T-That's…"
So it was true… Alex, that bastard. Not all Beta Males were trash, but someone who tried to imitate an Alpha Male was definitely trash. Good that he died. *
"Hic… M-My son…"
Wellington wept as he gazed at his son's body in the coffin. To give him time alone, only the coffin and Wellington remained before the goddess's statue, with no one else around. "I worked so hard for you!!" Wellington shouted at Melania, who wasn't there. He felt wronged. The Bicken family had served her for generations. Yet she had taken the side of some arrogant otherworlder who had been summoned out of nowhere. This wasn't how things should be. Of course, if he had properly carried out Melania's orders, there wouldn't have been any problems, but humans were animals that only saw what they wanted to see. "I will have my revenge on you!! I swear it on my life!!"
Before the goddess's statue, Wellington began swearing eternal vengeance. He would inflict the most humiliating and agonizing suffering upon her! Without telling anyone, Wellington attached a letter to a pigeon and sent it flying.