Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Training (3)
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“Second Son! What in the world are you saying right now!”
Paul Haksen protested vehemently at Erwin Ryanbloom’s statement.
“A duel to the death? I absolutely cannot allow it! Do you think my son’s life is worth nothing!”
“If you so much as harm a single hair on my son’s head! I won’t let you get away with it!”
“Get out right now! I won’t tolerate any more of your rudeness!”
It wasn’t just Paul Haksen. His mother and sister protested as well.
The only one keeping silent was his younger brother, Abel Haksen.
“Go stop them.”
Erwin Ryanbloom didn’t try to persuade the Haksen family or even acknowledge them.
He simply gave orders to his knights.
“Second Son, please calm down a bit.”
“Indeed. Why get worked up over something so pointless?”
The knights spoke up courageously. Even to them, the situation felt utterly bizarre.
At that, the Second Son glared at the knights with bloodshot eyes.
“Do you want to die first?”
The knights had no choice but to swallow hard.
Having guarded Erwin Ryanbloom for so long, they knew.
That he wasn’t joking. He meant it.
“Shut up with the nonsense and keep them from interfering.”
With no other option, the knights moved to block the Haksen family.
“Step aside right now! Do you think this makes any sense?”
“It’s the Second Son’s order.”
“I said step aside!”
Paul Haksen tried to push the knights away.
But he couldn’t overcome their strength.
Watching his father, Demian Haksen felt a complicated mix of emotions.
To stand against the Ryanbloom Marquis family’s Second Son for the sake of a worthless child like him.
He felt both admiration and guilt.
“Demian! No! Don’t do it! I beg you!”
Paul Haksen shouted desperately.
In this life, he had decided to obey his father’s words. But today was an exception.
Why should he beg?
This situation was exactly what Demian Haksen had intended.
“I’ll count to three. Pick up your weapon. You’re not from some beggar family without anything decent, are you?”
Demian Haksen narrowed his eyes.
Not only was he treating his family rudely, but his words were insolent too.
Simply winning the duel wouldn’t be enough.
He wanted to utterly crush his pride.
Glancing around for a suitable method, his eyes landed on something perfect on the table.
“......What the hell are you doing?”
Erwin Ryanbloom asked with a face that couldn’t comprehend.
And well he might, for what Demian Haksen had picked up was a fork meant for eating dessert.
“You said pick up a weapon?”
“I said pick up a weapon for the duel.”
Demian Haksen twirled the fork as he spoke.
“For trash like you, this is more than enough.”
“Ha......”
Erwin Ryanbloom burst into incredulous laughter.
The laughter continued for a good while.
Then, with a face filled with murderous intent, he growled.
“I’ll definitely kill you.”
* * *
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Erwin Ryanbloom kicked off the ground.
He swung his longsword down toward Demian Haksen’s head.
Demian Haksen dodged it with just a slight twist of his upper body.
“You dodged that?”
Erwin Ryanbloom said with a surprised look.
“What, even a gutter rat knows how to run? Let’s see how long you can keep dodging.”
Erwin Ryanbloom swung his sword repeatedly.
Demian Haksen evaded every attack with minimal movements.
‘He has the exact same habits as his brother.’
In his previous life, Demian Haksen had single-handedly brought down the Ryanbloom Marquis family.
He had clashed with the eldest son then.
At the time, the eldest was already a Swordmaster and had inherited the marquisate.
His talent had been remarkable.
It showed clearly in battle, as he improved in real time.
‘But I still won.’
After a fierce seven-hour battle, Demian Haksen had mastered all the eldest’s techniques and realms.
Then he exploited his weaknesses and severed his head.
‘I’ve already completely analyzed the Ryanbloom family’s swordsmanship.’
Lion’s Fierce Roar Sword.
Named for its charging momentum like a lion’s roar.
But to Demian Haksen, who knew its flaws, it seemed no more than a puppy’s bark.
“You......”
As his sword repeatedly cut only air, Erwin Ryanbloom’s expression changed.
He realized something was off.
“How is trash like you dodging all my strikes?”
“It’s all skill.”
Demian Haksen replied nonchalantly.
Rage flared on Erwin Ryanbloom’s face at those words.
“Cut the bullshit!”
With a roar, Erwin Ryanbloom channeled his mana.
As he circulated it, his movements visibly sped up.
‘Dodging will be tough now.’
Thanks to his dedicated training over the past few days, Demian Haksen’s base physical strength had greatly increased.
The fact that he wasn’t even breathing hard after such intense movement proved it.
But his body was still far too weak.
He couldn’t keep up with Erwin Ryanbloom’s mana-enhanced speed.
‘If I can’t dodge, I’ll just deflect it.’
Erwin Ryanbloom swung his longsword down.
The blade aimed straight for Demian Haksen’s crown.
Demian Haksen blocked it with his fork.
The moment the metal clashed, Erwin Ryanbloom’s lips twisted.
“You idiot bastard.”
There was no way a mere dessert fork could block a longsword.
The fork would shatter pathetically, and Demian Haksen’s wrist would be severed.
Or so he thought—when the longsword’s trajectory suddenly veered.
The blade that targeted his head glanced off to the left and stabbed into the ground.
It was an incomprehensible phenomenon. Bewilderment appeared on Erwin Ryanbloom’s face.
The other knights were just as stunned.
“You bastard?”
Erwin Ryanbloom swung again.
He yanked the longsword from the ground and slashed upward in a diagonal line.
Demian Haksen blocked with the fork once more.
The metals collided, and again the blade’s path deviated.
The diagonal slash shot straight up into the air.
Erwin Ryanbloom nearly lost his grip on the sword.
“Wha?”
Gritting his teeth, Erwin Ryanbloom swung once more.
This time, he clearly saw what Demian Haksen did.
He wedged the fork between the prongs into the oncoming longsword.
Then slightly angled it to deflect the blade aside.
Erwin Ryanbloom’s eyes widened in shock.
He stared back and forth between the longsword and fork in disbelief.
“H-How...... How can trash like you use a technique like that!”
Among those Demian Haksen had fought was a man called the ‘Sword Saint.’
A master of the sword’s pinnacle, able to deflect not just arrows but even spells.
The realm he had reached was ‘Universal Flow Insight,’ reading the flow of all attacks.
Demian Haksen had battled the Sword Saint for three days before emerging victorious.
“Genius.”
He had no intention of explaining the details. Demian Haksen gave a short, simple answer.
Those words enraged Erwin Ryanbloom.
“I said cut the bullshit!”
Erwin Ryanbloom gripped his sword hilt firmly.
Mana surged even more fiercely through his body.
“This time, I’ll slice you along with that fork!”
Erwin Ryanbloom swung with even greater ferocity.
Demian Haksen deflected every attack effortlessly.
“Th-That......”
“What am I even watching?”
The watching knights could only gape in shock.
At first, when Demian Haksen blocked the strike, they thought it luck.
But twice, three times, four. As it kept happening, they had to accept it.
Demian Haksen.
He possessed extraordinary swordsmanship.
“H-Honey, what am I seeing right now?”
“I-I don’t know either.”
The Haksen family was just as stunned.
Paul Haksen and the others stared at Demian Haksen in a daze.
“He really took out all those tavern guards by himself?”
While everyone was shocked, Demian Haksen himself felt immense satisfaction.
‘The elixir works great. I should snag a few more.’
He wasn’t even tired after moving like this for so long.
Normal physical training wouldn’t have boosted his stamina this quickly.
As Demian Haksen was lost in thought,
“This...... This can’t be happening!”
Perhaps from the repeated misses, Erwin Ryanbloom’s face twisted viciously.
“I, the Ryanbloom Second Son! Unable to handle a worm like you! Does that make any sense?”
Demian Haksen was the first to notice the change among those present.
A reddish-brown smoke rose from Erwin Ryanbloom’s longsword. The knights gasped in horror.
“Second Son! You can’t draw your Aura!”
Aura.
The ultimate weapon, forged only by warriors after long years of training.
Coat a blade with it to slice iron like water, or infuse a hammer to shatter rock.
It was thanks to Aura that puny humans dominated the subraces and seized continental hegemony.
“Let’s see if you can block this too!”
The Aura-coated longsword slashed diagonally at Demian Haksen’s body.
Demian Haksen brought his fork to meet the incoming blade.
In that moment, everyone foresaw his death.
The fork would snap, and his body would be cleaved.
But.
“......Huh?”
“Wha?”
“What?”
Nothing changed. The Sword Saint’s realm of ‘Universal Flow Insight’ deflected even Aura-laced attacks.
In the face of this absurdity, Erwin Ryanbloom’s mind went blank.
His grip on the longsword loosened.
Noticing this, Demian Haksen pressed the fork harder.
The longsword slipped from his hand and clattered pathetically to the floor.
Weaponless, Erwin Ryanbloom was left defenseless.
Demian Haksen lunged forward.
Before Erwin Ryanbloom could react, the fork slashed across his throat.
A line of blood appeared on Erwin Ryanbloom’s neck.
* * *
As his throat was cut, Erwin Ryanbloom saw his life flash before his eyes.
All the events of his life flickered past.
But when it ended, he wasn’t dragged to the afterlife.
“......H-Huh, h-heh!”
Erwin Ryanbloom screamed and collapsed to the floor.
With trembling hands, he touched his neck. Blood seeped out, but the wound wasn’t deep.
“I-I’m a-alive?”
He hadn’t died, but the overwhelming terror left him limp.
Erwin Ryanbloom screamed at the knights.
“W-What are you doing! Pr-Protect me right now! Protect me, I said!”
“Don’t come closer.”
Demian Haksen now stood beside Erwin Ryanbloom.
“This duel continues until one side dies. Anyone who interferes dies first.”
Demian Haksen said, aiming the fork at Erwin Ryanbloom.
Threatening with a fork meant for cutting cake.
It was comical, but no one laughed.
“Erwin Ryanbloom.”
Demian Haksen spoke in a cold voice.
“I’m the winner of this duel. As promised, don’t bring up that incident again.”
He wanted to kill Erwin Ryanbloom right there.
But Demian Haksen wasn’t yet strong enough to take on the marquis family.
“I don’t want to see your face anymore. Get out.”
With that, Demian Haksen placed the fork back on the table.
* * *
Erwin Ryanbloom fled the Viscount Haksen estate like a coward.
“......Demian, I can’t let this slide today.”
As soon as Erwin Ryanbloom left, the family cornered Demian Haksen.
“When, where, from whom, and how did you learn swordsmanship like that?”
They had dismissed the tavern guard story as some freak incident.
But today was different. The Ryanbloom Marquis family was a house of premier knights.
To toy with their prodigy Second Son like a child?
And even deflect an Aura-coated blade?
“Hmm.”
Demian Haksen pondered quietly in response.
They’d never believe he had regressed.
And he couldn’t concoct a plausible excuse.
His growth had been too explosive.
In the end, Demian Haksen gave up explaining.
“I just awakened to it naturally.”
His father made a strange face.
“Don’t mess around.”
“I’m not.”
“Do you think you’re some heaven-sent genius?! Awakening to swordsmanship like this out of nowhere!”
Demian Haksen’s eyes widened.
“How did you know? That’s exactly right.”
“Demian!”
“Then I’ll go back to training.”
Demian Haksen brushed off his father’s interrogation and fled.