Verifying Skills (1)
Verifying Skills (1)
I tried to break the news as gently as possible so she wouldn't be too shocked, but Mother closed her eyes and spoke.
"I only wished for you to live a peaceful life..."
As expected, Mother's intuition was terrifying. After hearing my story, she seemed to have grasped the situation to some extent.
I wanted to live a peaceful life too, but honestly, without my abilities, I would have died a long time ago.
Far from living peacefully, I had to struggle tooth and nail just to stay alive.
"On top of that, you'll be dueling Young Lord Manuel. Will you be all right?"
"Yes. I'm fine. Ah! That's right. Let's go together. I want you to see my skills too, Mother."
Come to think of it, I had been far too inconsiderate of Mother. If I went abroad to study, I would worry about leaving her behind, but she would be just as worried about me going away.
It seemed I needed to adjust the purpose of this duel a little.
I had to reassure Mother through the duel.
I escorted Mother toward the forest behind the mansion.
A large crowd had gathered at the family training ground, where I had been practicing all this time.
The old butler, the Knight Commander, Simon, and even the Duchess.
In front of them, the second young lord, Manuel, waited for me, sparks flickering from his fingers.
A family gathering after all this time.
Regrettably, the Duke was nowhere to be seen.
As I prepared for the duel, Manuel looked at me and spoke.
With his nose held high, he said something that, unfortunately, was nothing new.
"I hear you fight quite well for your age. But let me show you that a noble's battle isn't fought that way."
It was a speech I'd heard many times before.
A battle between knights who wielded mana was vastly different from a fight between ordinary people.
It was as if a mundane medieval battle had been transformed into modern tank warfare.
Though there were no long-range artillery or machine guns, a knight wielding mana was much like an armored vehicle from my past life in terms of defensive and offensive power.
Yet even knightly combat was nothing like battles between nobles.
"They say battles between nobles are more like superpower showdowns, depending on the scale of their abilities and their elemental compatibility, right?"
It was pure fantasy... No, the kind of fight you'd see in a sci-fi superpower novel.
My brother, standing right in front of me, was clearly preparing for exactly that kind of battle.
He wasn't even wearing proper armor, and sparks were floating above his hand.
Well, any knight or soldier clad in iron armor or carrying a metal sword would collapse instantly from that electrical attack.
It's not as though electricity wouldn't pass through you just because you weren't wearing armor, though.
Come to think of it, was that why my brother wasn't wearing proper armor?
I'd considered taking off my armor and wielding a wooden sword too, but decided that wouldn't be an appropriate response and suited up fully.
To be honest, I also wanted to win without worrying about elemental compatibility.
Honestly, I wasn't sure why I was playing along with a kid, but I was young too, so it didn't really matter.
So I donned armor tailored perfectly to my body and took up a steel practice sword.
I couldn't use the greatsword or the dagger I'd brought from the ruins. Even if I didn't show off the abilities associated with them, anyone with a discerning eye for swords would pry and ask all sorts of questions about those two weapons.
I could easily make excuses to other people, but it would be incredibly troublesome if the Duchess, the Knight Commander, or the Chief Butler took notice.
"Hmph, so you're just playing knight after all. I suppose it's only natural for you to look that way, since you've never fought a proper noble before."
Hmm, when it came to combat experience, I had far more. They might not have been proper nobles, but I had fought people with inherited abilities multiple times.
Manuel's confidence made me doubt him.
Huh? Don't tell me... Brother Simon hadn't told his younger brother?
I glanced at Simon. He might not have seen me fight in an actual battle, but he must have watched me duel throughout our journey.
And Simon's skills weren't half bad either.
With that thought, I looked at Simon. His expression was somewhat peculiar.
He was looking at his younger brother, and his expression seemed a little cold.
Ah, could it be that even though they were brothers, they were rivals? Or was there another reason?
No, now wasn't the time for thoughts like that. I pushed aside the stray thoughts that kept popping up. Now was the time to focus on the duel.
Gripping my sword, I walked toward Manuel and looked around.
The Knight Commander and the Chief Butler watched us with intrigued expressions.
Simon stood beside the stiff-faced Duchess, his expression still peculiar.
The Duchess's head maid stood beside her, while Mother and my personal maid, Flora, watched me from a little farther away.
Mother looked worried, and Flora was busy reassuring her.
After surveying my surroundings, I stood before Manuel.
Manuel's face was filled with a sneer. But right now, his expression barely registered with me.
Instead, perhaps because there was an audience, I felt a strange heat I'd never felt before.
Before I knew it, I was gripping my sword hilt tightly.
It wasn't a battle to the death, and I wasn't particularly nervous. Yet with everyone's eyes on me, heat rose through my body.
It was an incredibly pleasant warmth. I suppose this was the power of a match with spectators.
I absolutely had to hide what needed to be hidden, but I still felt I should fight properly.
Once Manuel and I had taken our positions, the Knight Commander, acting as referee, gave us a brief warning and immediately signaled the start.
The duel began.
Flash!
At that exact moment, everything before my eyes turned white.
Rumble!
A sound like thunder followed.
I forced mana into my eyes and barely managed to regain my vision.
Though I could see again, my eyelids were still trembling. My entire body shook from the electric shock.
Ptoo!
I spat out the blood pooling in my mouth and glared at Manuel.
Wasn't he underestimating me? He'd attacked the very instant the duel began. If I'd made even one misstep, I would have been done for.
What's more, he hadn't made any distinct movement to launch the attack.
The sparks floating above his hand hadn't changed, and he hadn't reached out or flicked his fingers.
A bolt of lightning had simply struck down toward me. Or rather, should I say Manuel and I had been joined by a streak of lightning?
Honestly, his attack was impossible to dodge.
But Manuel, watching me from across the field, was scowling deeply.
He'd probably meant to sneer at me after landing an attack right at the start, but the corners of his mouth had crumpled before his smile could even fully form.
And for good reason: I'd dodged his surprise attack.
I hadn't dodged by watching his movements. I'd read the flow of mana coursing through his body.
Honestly, if I hadn't been able to perceive mana, I definitely would have taken a direct hit.
The spot where I'd been standing—the ground between us—was scorched black, and sparks still crackled around it.
Even though I'd sensed the attack through mana and thrown myself as far from the impact zone as possible, I hadn't avoided it completely.
It was much stronger than I'd expected. If I'd taken a direct hit, I might have lost at worst.
I enveloped myself in mana to shake off the residual electricity in my body. As expected, the mana easily pushed the remaining current out.
'Mana is practically a cure-all.'
Once the electric shock was gone, my trembling body returned to normal.
As expected, he had a hidden trump card.
But seriously, was it right to use such a hidden trump card in a duel between brothers?
Besides, as was always the case with hidden trump cards, it had to be a technique that placed a heavy burden on the user.
Just as I'd thought, Manuel's face was pale as a sheet as he glared at me, and he was panting as if he were about to pass out.
Indeed, it seemed to have been too much for him.
'Well, there's no need to go easy on him.'
Intending to end this immediately, I dashed forward.
Manuel's face rapidly drew closer, and I noticed something strange about his expression.
His deathly pale face returned to its normal color in an instant, and his panting quickly settled.
'What is this?'
I could feel the mana he'd depleted replenishing in the blink of an eye.
It was a good opportunity, but based on my past experiences, now wasn't the time to press the attack.
"Tch!"
I clicked my tongue and threw myself backward.
At the same time, Manuel tensed his entire body and roared, electric currents surging over him.
"Roar!"
It seemed this technique wasn't something he could use without preparation, unlike the previous one.
With his face still pale, he glared at me.
"This makes no sense! Just like before, how on earth did you dodge that?! Besides, you were definitely electrocuted!"
He shouted at me from a distance.
Seriously, what was he thinking, shouting in the middle of a fight?
Besides, I had something I wanted to ask him too.
How exactly had he recovered his mana instantly after using so much that he'd been on the verge of depletion?
Even now, as he unleashed electric shocks like that, his mana didn't seem to be running low.
Crackle!
His face was gradually turning pale amidst the sparks, but the fact that he had enough mana to maintain such electrical discharges at his age made absolutely no sense.
I'd never once heard that Manuel had a separate mana recovery ability.
And I'd never heard of anyone besides me possessing more than one ability.
"Don't tell me... do you have some kind of artifact that recovers mana?"
"T-There's no way I'd have something like that!"
Manuel stammered as he shouted back at me.
Huh? I'd only been talking to myself, though.
Don't tell me he actually had one?
Then a faint sigh reached my ears, enhanced by mana.
Glancing to the side, I saw Brother Simon with a hand over his face, while the Duchess frowned deeply.
It seemed such an item really did exist.
And my brother, who was dueling me, was secretly using it.
Seriously, if you're going to use it secretly, at least don't get caught.
There was no way this could be a proper duel under these conditions.
The Knight Commander cleared his throat, apparently planning to stop the duel there.
I couldn't let that happen.
I looked at Manuel, who was still emitting electricity from his entire body.
That electricity made it difficult to approach him or swing my sword.
Whatever kind of artifact it was, it had to be difficult to keep discharging electricity like that continuously.
I could see that Manuel was growing more and more exhausted, too.
Well, if I just waited a little, he would probably collapse on his own.
"Hyaah! Die!"
Perhaps Manuel had realized something was wrong too, because he shot some of the electricity discharging from his body toward me.
Crackle! Crackle!
But unlike with the first attack, there was no way I would fall for such an obvious strike.
As I lightly dodged the attacks one by one, Manuel exhausted himself even faster.
If I dragged things out a little longer, it seemed I would win easily.
But before that could happen, the Knight Commander would likely stop the duel, and I didn't want the match to end like this either.