Chapter 92: World's Greatest Husband Contest - Main Tournament (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 92: World's Greatest Husband Contest - Main Tournament (10)
“Kyaooo!”
Letting out a roar that was truly like a leopard’s, Irusan charged toward me.
In my past life and in this one, Irusan was known as a master of the spear, hailed as the 1st Spear of the Fiona Warrior Band.
That very leopard was now rushing at me the moment the match began.
“No feeling out the opponent first?!”
—Clang!
I lightly deflected the spearhead that was flying toward my throat.
The tingling weight left in my hand… she really intended to kill me.
When I slightly furrowed my brows in response, Irusan raised her voice with a refreshing smile.
“That was a strike with all my might, yet you parried it so easily! As expected of the man who traded blows with Her Highness! [referring to the Princess/Empress]”
“Listen…”
“You are a much more likable opponent than some spindly mage! I, Irusan, 1st Spear of the Fiona Warrior Band, humbly request a bout!”
The moment she finished speaking, Irusan thrust her spear.
The brow, the solar plexus, the testicles.
It was a rapid three-stage thrust that aimed to pierce three vital points on the centerline almost simultaneously.
‘This woman, seriously!’
I didn't care about the other spots, but how dare she target my big, precious jewels?
A surge of heat rose to my head, and without realizing it, I poured strength into the hand gripping my sword.
—Clang!
I violently struck upward against the spear aiming for my solar plexus.
Since she would have to retract the spear to thrust again, I wanted to buy as much time as possible.
In the opening I created, I tried to leap into Irusan’s personal space… but.
“Tch…”
Irusan didn't retract the spear; instead, she swung the shaft horizontally with immense force.
—Whoosh!
A terrifying sound echoed from the spear shaft as it grazed past the top of my head.
Retreating would have been too late, and blocking wasn't ideal, so lowering my stance had been the right call.
However, in that brief interval, Irusan had already taken a step back.
“Are you just going to keep running away like that?”
“Ahaha, do you want me that badly?”
“Ugh…”
Even if the sky were to fall, that wasn't it.
I wasn't some weirdo with a fetish for beast-kin just because I happened to have a suspicious amount of money.
However, Irusan raised the buckler on her left arm, rested the spear shaft against it, and charged.
“Fine! Then I shall play along! Let me bear your child!”
“No!”
I began to circulate mana through my body in earnest, activating physical enhancement.
To me, magic was like the image of executing a game skill or running a computer program.
I simultaneously activated a four-fold enhancement: strengthening my entire body's muscular power, physical durability, kinetic vision, and reflex speed.
‘Good, I can see it.’
Thanks to that, in a world where everything had slowed down, I could clearly see it.
The tip of Irusan’s spear as she charged behind her buckler.
I swung my sword with all my might toward that spear tip, like a baseball player swinging for the fences.
—Clang!
“Kugh…!”
It would have been great if she had just flown right out of the arena.
Instead, Irusan was merely pushed back a considerable distance, leaving long claw marks on the floor.
It was a satisfying result in its own way, but I couldn't achieve what I had really aimed for.
“I was planning to break the spear, but it’s perfectly fine.”
“Fufu, of course. This Gae Bolg, carved from the bones of the Sea Dragon Kurid by my great ancestor, will never break!”
Whirling the spear—which was twice as long as an ordinary one—around, Irusan took her stance again.
‘This is getting troublesome…’
The reach of a spear that a sword couldn't touch, combined with the reflexes of a feline predator.
Furthermore, she possessed skill worthy of the title '1st Spear.'
Added to the fact that this was my first time facing a spear in my life, Irusan was proving to be quite a difficult foe.
‘Well, I’m starting to get the hang of it, though.’
Because I had kept the output fairly low, I was maintaining the four-fold physical enhancement without any issues.
Even at that level of output, I had no major trouble dealing with Irusan’s speed.
If that was the case, I could definitely win by steadily chipping away at her… Just as I reached that conclusion.
Suddenly, Irusan looked toward my waist and asked.
“Are you not going to draw that sword? Even at a glance, it doesn't seem like an ordinary blade.”
“Haha, well…”
I’m sorry, but you aren't an opponent worth drawing Sitri for.
Even so, I couldn't bring myself to say something so insulting out loud.
Despite everything, I was a nobleman and a man of common sense, possessed of etiquette and dignity.
However… it seemed the fact that I wasn't drawing Sitri had ignited Irusan’s fighting spirit.
“So you’re saying I’m not an opponent worthy of that sword!”
“Huh? I didn't go that far…?”
“In that case, I will make sure you draw it! Here I come!”
Irusan suddenly gripped the spear with both hands and thrust it toward the sky.
At that moment, the atmosphere fluctuated, and a wind began to blow from somewhere.
‘I forgot about this!’
Gae Bolg, the spear Irusan held that was said to be carved from sea dragon bone, was imbued with powerful magic.
In the Milfgard of my past life, there was a pattern where she would summon a storm and swing it as if sweeping away the entire battlefield.
It was based on the setting that a dragon of the sea is a being that stirs the waves and commands the wind and rain.
The moment that memory surfaced, Irusan shouted while leveling her storm-wrapped spear at me.
“O Wind! Obey my command!”
“Dammit…!”
*
The gale erupting from the tip of Irusan’s spear swallowed the entire stage in an instant.
The situation was further obscured by sand and dust fluttering wildly in every direction.
Because the flow of the battle looked bad to anyone watching, Valeria’s face, as she watched from the audience, was filled with anxiety and nervousness.
“W-what should we do? If my darling gets hurt…!”
Immediately, Sitri’s low voice enveloped Valeria.
“There is no need to worry. Leon will not be blown away by a mere breeze coming from the bones of a dead dragon.”
“B-but still…”
Natalia and Helena shared the same grim expressions.
Even without Gae Bolg, Irusan was a formidable foe against whom victory could not be easily guaranteed.
Furthermore, the battlefield itself was now favoring Irusan.
In the end, even Helena muttered with a troubled face.
“If it’s this bad from the outside, he won't be able to see properly inside. Sister, what would you do?”
“I’d have no choice but to focus on defense and wait for an opening. You wouldn't even be able to sense her presence because of the sound of the wind. Still, it really is a difficult situation.”
Even the spectators filling the stands had worried faces.
The Konstanz family was a prestigious house that had protected the frontier for generations.
They were literally the Sword of the Frontier and the Shield of the Empire.
It was unacceptable for the one carrying that family name to kneel before a foreign wind.
While everyone else cast looks of anxiety and doubt, only Sitri still wore a faint smile.
“Fufu, I say again, there is no need for such concern.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Helena asked Sitri.
“Do you have some kind of plan?”
“He is your Young Master, is he not? He has more than enough ways to overcome a crisis of this level.”
“Is… that so?”
Despite her unwavering trust, Helena, as well as Natalia and Valeria, still couldn't shake their fear.
As if even those expressions were lovely, Sitri whispered while wrapping her arm around Helena’s neck.
“You look like you think the Young Master’s swordsmanship cannot cut through that storm.”
“That… haah, yes… It’s not that the Young Master lacks talent, but I wouldn't say he is exceptionally outstanding either…”
“Fufu, you truly are the teacher who raised him since he was a child. However, Leon’s talent isn't limited to making you all wail.”
The eyes of everyone present turned toward Sitri at once, asking what on earth that meant.
Sitri even let out a snort, her voice sounding as if she couldn't believe they still didn't know.
“As the Great Demon who created all magic, I am certain. When it comes to magic, Leon has a more natural talent than anyone else. Even more than Solomon!”
The moment those words ended.
The endlessly swirling storm came to a dead stop.
*
—Kwooooo…!
It was a sight that made me think, ‘Is this what it feels like to be in the eye of a storm?’
There was the violent wind swirling so fiercely I couldn't see ahead, as well as sand and small pebbles scraping against my skin.
Furthermore, I couldn't hear anything except the sound of the wind, making the situation not just difficult, but suffocating.
Literally, the future looked pitch black.
‘And Irusan, the caster, probably has no restrictions.’
She’s likely used to this situation, and besides, an area-of-effect spell that harms the caster themselves would be pointless.
So, I assumed Irusan could move freely, unlike me.
“In that case… Ugh!”
—Clang!
I deflected a spear that suddenly flew at me.
It was lucky it came from the front; if she had aimed for my back or thighs, I would have been caught defenseless.
Of course, I wouldn't die from being stabbed by a spear, but…
‘The problem is that it hurts that much.’
Even with an immortal body, there’s no way to avoid mental exhaustion.
If I kept getting stabbed by a spear in a situation where I couldn't see or hear anything, I’d have no choice but to admit defeat, whether I liked it or not.
Therefore, I had to solidify my defense first.
“Hup!”
I took the barrier of mana I had formed inside my body and projected it outward, expanding it into a sphere.
It was a simple barrier that allowed me to feel it through my skin the moment an object of a certain volume entered its space.
Now the worry of a surprise attack was gone.
The next thing to do was to quell this annoying storm.
‘What should I do…’
Should I try to cancel it out by creating a storm of the same size?
Hmm… not bad, but since it’s a large spell, there’s a chance the surrounding audience might get hurt.
Or should I just cut the spear apart with Sitri…
‘Hmm, that’s too violent. A spear carved from dragon bone would be a national treasure.’
No matter how much of a martial arts tournament this was, I couldn't just go around breaking things like that.
I was a civilized man and a man of common sense, after all.
—Clang! Clang! Crash!
Of course, even during this, Irusan’s attacks continued.
Thrusting at my throat from the front, sweeping at my ankles with the shaft, or pouncing from above by riding the wind.
‘Usually, with a spell this large, waiting for the caster’s mana to run out is one way to handle it.’
Unfortunately, that tactic was unusable.
This storm wasn't something Irusan created; it was a type of authority generated by the dragon bone.
“Hmm… in that case…”
—Clang!
I deflected the spearhead that appeared from the right along with Irusan.
When her attack was blocked, Irusan flowed away to the left as if riding the wind.
“Flowing away… Oh, I’m getting a feel for it.”
A storm is wind. Wind is the flow of the atmosphere.
What if I punched a hole in the middle of that flow?
“Alright, let’s go with this.”
Irusan’s gale was rotating in a circle around the stage.
In this state, if I created a vacuum in the front, back, left, or right, all this violent wind would head toward the audience.
Therefore, the only place to create a vacuum was upward.
—Clang!
I swung my sword with all my might and heavily pushed back Irusan’s spear as it aimed for my solar plexus.
As soon as I gained this small opening, I reached my hand upward.
‘Vast knowledge, a flawless formula, a magic circle and incantation without a single error.’
Magic doesn't need things like that.
True magic is twisting reality and manifesting exactly what one imagines.
Therefore, the only thing magic needs is imagination.
“Huuuup…!”
I ‘gouged out’ the atmosphere above my head into a circular shape.
Just as I expected, Irusan’s gale was sucked entirely into the invisible hole in the air, leaving only Irusan standing before me with an absurd expression.
“Impossible… Gae Bolg’s storm…”
“The 1st Spear finally shows herself. I guess you’re a bit shy?”
“What on earth did you do?!”
“A magic called the laws of physics!”
Since Irusan had been the only one running wild until now, it was my turn to charge at her.
Of course, I cranked up the output of my physical enhancement magic to the max.
Faced with my speed, which was suddenly twice as fast, and my strength, which was more than double, Irusan was pushed back further and further.
“Kugh…!”
—Clang! Clang!
“What’s wrong! If you just stand there and block, you’ll bring shame to the name of the 1st Spear!”
“Kyaooo!”
Letting out a roar, Irusan struck my sword away with all her might and then leaped far back.
She immediately charged with her spear leveled, causing me to instinctively take a defensive stance.
But then, Irusan suddenly slammed the spear shaft into the ground and vaulted high into the sky like a pole vaulter.
“What?!”
“O greatest enemy I have met for the second time in this life! With respect and praise, I offer this final blow!”
Wrapping herself in the storm she drew out once more, Irusan hurled Gae Bolg at me.
The spear, rushing down while riding the gale, was less like a thrown weapon and more like an incendiary shell or a missile.
“Pierce through!”
The demonic spear of the storm closed in by the second.
I took a deep breath and raised my brother’s sword above my head.
It was too late to retreat. If I cowered, only death awaited.
“Hah!”
The sword I had swung every single day since I was five years old.
Even if swordsmanship was nothing more than a means to conquer the women I liked.
I poured the weight of all those years, the weight of all that waiting, into a single downward strike.
—Skreeeeek…!
“Kugh…!”
Sparks flew from the clashing sword and spear.
Even though it had already left its master’s hand, the demonic spear continued to try and pierce me.
However, I would not be pierced by anyone.
Because I was always the one doing the piercing!
“Haaaaah!!”
With a clatter, Irusan’s demonic spear finally fell at my feet.
I suppose I had subjugated the spear made of dragon bone that could summon storms.
Before I could even feel a sense of satisfaction or achievement, Irusan’s voice struck my eardrums.
“The only person to ever deflect that strike was Her Highness! Splendid, Leon! I admit my defeat!”
Simultaneously, all the spectators rose from their seats.
“Waaaaah!!”
“Long live Lord Leon! Long live the Empire!”
Of course, it wasn't just my name; Irusan’s name was heard just as much as mine.
From shouts of ‘cool’ to ‘pretty’ and ‘lovely,’ there were even suspicious cries from some questionable people.
‘By the way, my brother’s sword…’
Well, it’s mostly fine… but one more time and it’ll be the end of it.
I sheathed the sword after checking its condition.
I intended to return to the mansion immediately and savor the lingering emotions of victory with everyone…
“Why are you blocking my path, Irusan? I gave the spear back.”
“Fufufu, there is still one more thing I must receive.”
“…W-what is it…”
“Why should I hide it! I have fallen for you at first sight! Now, let me bear your child!”
For the first time in my life, I ran away from a woman.
I usually don't turn away a woman who comes to me… but a leopard that walks on two legs is just too much…
“I will definitely bear your child! Leon!”
“Aaaagh!!”