7. Disqualified as a Human
7. Disqualified as a Human
"Eliarnes Eustetia. Eurasia Espirot. What you are about to engage in from now on is a spar. Even though your equipment has no edge and you harbor no murderous intent in your hearts, do not let your guard down."
"Yes."
"Eurasia Espirot, mid-grade knight of the First Knight Order. I will carry out my lady's command."
Eurasia had been stuck to my side, wagging her tail like a puppy, but the moment she faced me, she became a completely different person.
Sharp eyes.
A flawless stance.
Calm breathing.
Eurasia's stance was so perfect she could be called the model of a Eustetia knight. Even to my eyes, she looked outstanding.
A mid-grade knight of Eustetia.
If you just look at the words, it sounds lame.
Well, back in my day, there were titles like the Empire's Greatest Sword, the Three Strong of the North, the Seven Great Powers of the South, and so on.
Those sound cool, but a mid-grade knight of Eustetia seems to fall far short.
But that's not a position just anyone can reach.
Besides, Eurasia is seventeen.
Four hundred years ago, she would have been old enough to be married and having kids, but to me she's still a little brat.
Actually, when I talk to her, she's a soft, airheaded, lively girl.
But how in the world did a brat like that manage to stand out among all those knights, raise her head, and make a name for herself?
Need I even say it? Skill, obviously.
Unrivaled talent, and the effort to sharpen it even further. The overwhelming skill forged from both.
With that skill alone, she leapfrogged all those veteran knights, reached Tier 3, and became a mid-grade knight.
She definitely has talent.
Though it hasn't fully bloomed yet.
With a smirk, I gave my wooden sword a light swing and spread Mana through my body.
"The outcome will be decided on the basis of a fatal wound. Now, I'll begin the count."
I exhaled and looked over Eurasia's vital points.
"Three."
The crown of her head isn't visible, so pass. Dantian, temples, forehead between the brows, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, jaw, throat, back of the knee, heart, ribs, solar plexus, navel, etc.
The places I mustn't touch.
"Two."
I looked at the places I was allowed to touch.
Eurasia must have sensed my gaze, because she shifted her sword slightly to block it.
"One."
Power gathered in Eurasia's right foot. The muscles in her legs contracted. Her left leg stretched, and her waist turned.
The spring that climbed from the floor traveled through her belly to her shoulder and stirred her arm.
Thump— Her sword drooped backward.
Her left shoulder came forward.
Eurasia's opening move was a rush followed by an upward slash.
Starting with that rush.
The swordsmanship about to unfold before my eyes would be Eustetia swordsmanship—originating from me and now perfected.
My past self had also favored a style of charging in first and thinking later.
Otherwise, I couldn't have kept up with Paulo's speed.
In that sense, that rush is a fitting move for bringing out my swordsmanship—no, my way of fighting.
But against me, it's the worst possible move.
And.
Eustetia shouldn't have added a defensive side to my fighting style.
"Begin."
What's the point of adding defense to a fighting style made for killing more Demons than anyone else?
*****
"I'll begin the count."
Behind the lightly swinging wooden sword, bright pink twin tails swayed.
Below them was a delicate body that looked as though it might be swept away by the wooden sword.
A body far too thin and small for someone said to have trained steadily for the past five years.
When I'd held Lady Eli in my arms a little while ago, I'd been afraid she might break.
And yet, that same young lady—
Her cherry-blossom eyes were gleaming as she rapidly scanned my vital points.
She had full command of every vital point on the human body.
"Three."
Not only that, she was slowly surveying places that weren't vital points but could render me unable to fight if hit wrong.
Even when I shifted my stance little by little to follow her gaze, she immediately found another opening.
Those elegantly curved cherry-blossom eyes were terrifying.
I couldn't tell where she would look next, or what she would find.
So.
I was eager. Thrilled.
"Two."
Because I had been mindful of the Commander watching, I hadn't been able to properly cross swords with her until now, but this spar was requested by the head of the family.
Lady Eli had also asked me to take it seriously and had even put up a gift as a prize.
It would be a clean spar with no hard feelings.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Feeling a pounding I couldn't tell whether it was my heart or some other pulse, I tightened my breathing.
What remained was deciding my fighting style.
Go on the defensive and assess Lady Eli's skill?
No, that doesn't suit me.
In the first place, Eustetia swordsmanship is not a defensive art. Rather, launching an offense that disregards defense—that is Eustetia swordsmanship.
And that sort of approach would not be showing Lady Eli the proper respect.
So. Let's go on the attack.
"One."
I extended my foot and bent at the hips.
I let my sword hang and pushed my shoulder forward.
The movement that signals a Eustetia knight is entering battle.
Close the distance, then a short upward slash.
And my favorite opening.
I released my controlled breathing and spread Mana through my whole body.
At the same time.
Those cherry-blossom eyes bloomed dazzlingly.
Lady Eli grinned.
I felt as if a sharp blade were closing in behind my back.
"Begin."
Thump— I kicked off the ground and charged.
Just the same, Lady Eli kicked off and charged.
A rush like mine?
I didn't expect it, but it wasn't a fatal move.
First, just as I had drawn it in my mind, I threw a short upward slash with my wooden sword and predicted her next move.
Dozens of moves. I picked out the most dangerous among them and constructed my next action.
It didn't matter.
Smack!
Because two beats faster than I had expected, the hilt of her wooden sword drove into my stomach.
"Kh, hck...!"
The breath I had been holding burst out from the unexpected blow.
How on earth? I had every one of her movements in my sight.
I already knew she was going to thrust in with the hilt.
The timing, the trajectory, how to counter it—I had drawn it all out.
But it didn't flow that way.
Lady Eli didn't move like that.
No, she did move like that.
I just couldn't see it.
I couldn't understand.
Pushing my confused thoughts aside, I widened the distance.
Lady Eli remained standing in the same spot.
Still grinning.
And then, moving her dainty lips, she said something...
'That.'
'Like that.'
'Is how you do it.'
'Not. Pfft.'
...Don't, Eurasia. This is a spar. It's a spar.
And your opponent is the cherry blossom of Eustetia. The one you must protect. The one you must risk your life to protect.
It's Lady Eliarnes.
So, hold on—
'Pathetic, Eurasia.'
'At this rate, do you think you can get a present from me?'
'That mid-grade knight post is wasted on you.'
'Why not be my personal attendant instead?'
A sneer seeped into those cherry-blossom eyes.
"Rrgh!"
I couldn't hold back.
I immediately kicked off and charged.
There's no need for a plan.
As I always do. As I did when I rose to the rank of mid-grade knight.
I'll leave it to my instincts.
I glared and arrived in front of Lady Eli.
I sensed her shoulder move.
That instant, I turned my foot and twisted my body.
Crunch— My Mana-wrapped toes gouged the training hall floor. The recoil brought my body to a halt.
Without pausing, I swung my sword upward.
An attack carrying even my body weight.
That attack—
Clang!
Lady Eli's wooden sword lightly deflected it.
It was a parry only she could do, one she had shown constantly during spars—a strange defensive art that flipped the flow of offense and defense.
But it wasn't unexpected.
I immediately moved by instinct and dodged her attack.
"Oh?"
Interest rose in Lady Eli's eyes.
But that was all—the annoying smile still hung on her lips.
I didn't pay it any mind.
I drove my knee up. It was blocked by her elbow.
Her wooden sword came stabbing in over it. I twisted my hips and pulled my leg down. Not wasting the recoil, I sent it into my shoulder.
The wooden sword I swung as a result fell toward Lady Eli's neck. She watched it calmly, then lightly stepped back.
Then she came charging at me again, as if bouncing toward me from somewhere.
A brief exchange followed.
When I widened the distance, Lady Eli stayed still in place. When I closed it, she led me into widening it again.
I couldn't tell what she wanted, but each time, I found a new approach.
When I thrust my foot deep, Lady Eli's foot pressed in against mine.
When my shoulder pulled back, her shoulder dug into the gap.
When my waist twisted, her wooden sword stabbed in toward the direction left open.
It wasn't fast, but it hurt.
It seemed gentle, but it was ferocious.
Still, it wasn't a fatal wound.
The exchange never stopped.
Each time, the Eustetia sword forms in my head changed.
Toward something a little better.
Toward something a little more aggressive.
Could it be... she was teaching me?
The Eustetia sword is a sword that pursues extreme speed.
And in the very moment that sword was being swung, this kind of teaching?
After watching my swordsmanship for only a moment, had she found every problem?
As expected.
I had been thinking Lady Eli might be the Reincarnation of Arisa Eustetia, and in the middle of that thought—
Lady Eli frowned and wrapped her wooden sword in Mana.
Mana that jutted up like a wolf's fangs.
I knew that attack.
A technique for breaking the opponent's weapon.
Since Lady Eli broke my wooden sword in yesterday's spar, I had endlessly agonized and studied how to counter that attack before falling asleep.
And I found it.
A theoretically possible method.
Though I had never tried it.
Though the chance of failure was higher, I had to do it.
It was a little wicked of me, but I wanted to give Lady Eli a flick on the forehead for teasing me.
It—it's a spar, so it's fine, right?
...Lady Eli will forgive me.
If she gets too angry, I'll... give her a free sparring pass or something.
Convinced of my victory, I clenched my fist tightly. I wrapped Mana around it.
I opened my eyes wide.
I watched the path of Lady Eli's falling sword.
I predicted the path it would follow and the timing of its fall.
Just as it was.
I brought my fist to the picture drawn in my mind.
Craaash!
With a sound like a giant mirror shattering, Lady Eli's wooden sword shattered to pieces.
I succeeded.
A dizzying thrill washed over my whole body.
Now I just had to bring the tip of my wooden sword to Lady Eli's neck, and it would be over.
Setting aside the sense of accomplishment, I moved.
Just as I was about to bring my wooden sword to Lady Eli's slender neck—
Lady Eli's dainty fist stretched toward me.
The moment I saw that fist, my instincts screamed.
Alarm bells rang. My heart lurched. Cold sweat soaked my whole body.
And.
All of it told me one single thing.
If that fist hits me, I'll definitely die.
At that moment.
"Ha, fuck."
Lady Eli withdrew her fist.
*****
"...Ah, my lady?"
"Are you okay?"
"I-I'm... okay. Huh? Since when was I sitting...?"
"Well... you did good, Eurasia."
After pulling a slumped Eurasia to her feet, I immediately turned my back.
I saw my surprised father and Kerion with a meaningful look in his eyes.
I bowed my head politely to them and left the training hall.
The path to the main house's training hall.
As I walked that path, I thought.
About how the limits of my weapon had come far too quickly a moment ago.
A wooden sword that would normally last five minutes—ten if I took it easy—had met its limit in only three minutes.
And about the fist I had thrown at Eurasia at the end.
That fist—
It was smooth. Unimpeded. Natural.
The power that rose from my toes had been delivered to my fist without a single drop wasted.
As if my body had craved it.
As if it had unleashed everything I had held back until now.
If Eurasia had been hit by that fist, she would have been at least seriously injured... I guess.
"And it looked familiar."
To Arisa Eustetia.
I thought it looked like the fist of a stubborn, pure-headed chimpanzee who rejected the benefits of civilization and insisted on nothing but bare hands.
"Ha, what a load of bullshit. No. No. There's no way. It's okay, Ronan. Don't worry, Eli. I'm human."
Right now, I'm going to go to the main house's training hall and beat the shit out of the scrap-metal scarecrow.
The scarecrow I couldn't break even with a wooden sword, even one made from an old northern tree.
I'm going to pound it with my bare fists.
And I'll prove it.
That I have no talent for unarmed combat.
That I'm not a chimpanzee unworthy of living and breathing in this world—a creature so profane that even sharing a table with humans is an insult.
That I'm a human with the proper dignity to live in this world.
I'll prove it. Somehow.
*****
The scrap-metal scarecrow broke.
Cracked by a little girl's fist—that day.
At the age of thirty-four, Ronan Luzarak,
after reincarnating as Eliarnes Eustetia,
was stripped of his human status.
"Fuck! Fuuuuck! There's no way. There's no way! No, no!! I'm—I'm human!! I'm not a chimpanzee!!"