Settling the Score

"My lady. I… I can't watch."

Helen hadn't been able to open her eyes since before the duel even began. The thought of Raon—whom she had treated as her own son from the day he was born—crossing blades with Raiden, a man infamous for his brutality, had her so taut with dread she could barely draw breath.

"You still have to watch."

Unlike Helen, Sylvia kept her eyes wide open, fixed on Raon.

"That child is fighting for us."

Helen cracked her eyes open a fraction. Raon stood at the center of the training ground, loosening his shoulders. Seeing him look as he always did eased the tightness in her chest, if only a little.

"Haa… I'm still shaking, though. My lady, how are you even…"

She turned toward Sylvia, and her eyes flew wide. The woman's hands were trembling so hard the railing itself was shaking.

"My lady…"

Helen barely held back the tears welling in her eyes. Sylvia was even more frightened than she was, even more tightly wound—and she was fighting with everything she had not to let it show.

Knowing what a painful childhood Sylvia had endured, Helen felt proud of her and desperately sorry for her all at once.

When will she ever get to be happy…

She couldn't bear how pitiful both Sylvia and Raon seemed. If she'd had the power, she would have taken the two of them far away from this place.

"It will be all right."

Judiel looked at the two of them with calm eyes.

"Young Master trained day and night to counter Raiden's Chain Swordsmanship. I am certain he will show everyone here something that will leave them stunned."

"I-if that happens, I couldn't ask for more, but…"

"She's right, Helen. Let's think of it that way. Thank you."

Sylvia sent Judiel a grateful look.

"Here. Take my hand."

"Pardon?"

"Hold my hand, and let's pray for Raon to win."

Sylvia took Helen's hand first. Still dazed, Helen reached over and took the hand of Judiel, who was sitting beside her. One by one, every maid of the Annex joined hands.

"Mm…"

Feeling Helen's sweat-slick, trembling fingers and those of the maid on her other side, Judiel shook her head.

There's really nothing to worry about.

Raon was a monster.

Compared to the countless powerhouses she had encountered, his raw strength was certainly lacking. But his nature itself was different.

The look in Raon's eyes that night was something she would never forget for as long as she lived. Just remembering the terror and killing intent that had dominated the space still sent a chill crawling up her spine.

He was the real thing.

A man like that would never lose to a fake whose only quality was brutality—even if he wanted to.

While Judiel was thinking back on the day she had seen Raon's true face, the announcer declared the start of the duel.

"Hup!"

Sylvia's grip tightened.

The instant the match began, Raiden unleashed Chain Swordsmanship so dazzling it hurt the eyes. Its sharpness and kaleidoscopic variations carried all the way to where they sat.

Raon, in stark contrast to that brilliance, used nothing but the utterly honest Soft Sword Art, stepping with the Garam Footwork. He looked as precarious as a flower petal drifting through a storm.

"Nnh…"

"Ahh…"

Sylvia and Helen's hands trembled.

They're all wrong.

Judiel licked her lips. The look in Raon's eyes was the same as the one that had crushed her that night. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He wasn't flustered in the slightest.

As if putting on a show, Raiden displayed a dazzling sequence of sword forms. The instant a blade of aura twisted like a rose vine to engulf him, Raon stepped with the Garam Footwork.

It was a basic footwork even she could recognize—and yet with it, he slipped past that razor-sharp, endlessly shifting swordsmanship and drove in on Raiden's right. Raiden, who seemed not even to have noticed, was still looking straight ahead as he offered up his neck.

"H-he won! He won, my lady!"

"KYAAAAAAAH!"

Helen and the maids erupted in cheers at the sight of Raon's sword resting against Raiden's Adam's apple.

"Auu…"

Sylvia gripped the railing and let out a long breath. She seemed more relieved that Raon had come through unharmed than that he had won.

"Ha…"

Judiel let out a hollow laugh. She'd known he would win, but she hadn't expected him to win this easily, this simply.

He's truly amaz— wait?

While she was still marveling, Raon lowered his sword and smashed his fist into Raiden's mouth.

Raiden bounced backward, blood streaming from his lips, but his combat power didn't seem significantly diminished. If anything, his aura flared up like wildfire, as though the blow had only stoked his rage.

"W-why on earth?!"

Sylvia screamed. The match had been overwhelmingly over—she couldn't understand why Raon had let him go.

Raiden whirled his wrist. The chain sword writhed like a snake and shot toward Raon's heart. Raon retreated with the Garam Footwork, but Raiden's chain sword pursued him to the end, as if tracking magic had been cast upon it.

The blade writhed, aiming for Raon's heart—but Raon's expression remained calm. He flowed like a lotus on water and arrived at Raiden's left.

Once again, Raon laid his sword against Raiden's neck. And this time, he struck him across the cheek.

Twice. Even though he could have ended it, Raon had let Raiden go a second time.

Now Raiden's eyes burned like those of a beast consumed by fury as he swung his chain sword. Raon was unchanged. With a serene expression, he evaded the blade and subdued Raiden from the front.

Raon kicked Raiden in the face hard enough that the sound carried all the way to the spectator stands.

Helen bit her lip. Now she understood why Raon had let Raiden go.

He was getting revenge.

Raon was paying back, one by one, every outrage Raiden had committed when he came to the Annex. The first blow to the mouth was for the lie about sending a letter. The second strike to the face was for the spit. The kick just now was the price for trampling the flowers.

"Ah…"

An emotion she couldn't hold back carved its way into her chest.

In this place, in House Zieghart, blood was power. Other than Sylvia, not a single person had ever treated them properly—they who weren't even collateral line, let alone direct. After she had left, they had learned that cold reality. In this frozen land, she had been the only one who treated the maids as human beings.

But now there was one more. Sylvia's son, the boy they had been with since the day he was born—Raon.

He was fighting a member of the direct line for their sake, and he was destroying that direct line.

Raon's heart reached them, and they couldn't hold back the tears that spilled over.

"Heup…"

Helen turned at a sound like someone swallowing a sob. The other maids had understood Raon's intent as well, and every one of them was crying. They all felt the same thing. For the first time, they were overwhelmed with gratitude toward someone who was standing up for them.

And Sylvia, her lips pressed tightly together, was watching Raon with a face full of pride. It was the same proud expression she'd worn in the old days, before she had lost her aura and her swordsmanship.

But Sylvia was feeling a far greater emotion than Helen realized.

From the moment she was born, there had been no one who truly saw her, and she had lived her life cowed. Direct line though she was, she had been treated as if she didn't exist. Crushed by her father, by her siblings, by the family itself, she hadn't even been able to breathe properly.

So she had chosen to leave. She had walked away from the family and chosen freedom.

But.

That hadn't been the answer. She should have overcome it here, on this wretched land, with strength.

And now her own son, Raon, was telling her that. A child born weaker than anyone, who now carried a heart stronger than anyone's, was showing her with his back. That no matter who the opponent was, you had to fight to the very ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠end so that no one could ever look down on you.

"Raon…"

Sylvia clenched her fist, feeling a surge of emotion boiling up inside her.

Balder ground his teeth as he looked down on the training ground.

"What the hell is going on."

He had believed the outcome of the duel was already decided in Raiden's favor. And that hadn't been his opinion alone. Nine-tenths of the people in this training ground would have predicted Raiden's overwhelming victory.

But once the lid came off, something entirely different from what anyone had imagined was unfolding. Raiden was being beaten one-sidedly by Raon—by Raon, who was using nothing but a low-grade sword art and a low-grade footwork.

If Raon had felt like it, the fight would have ended in the first exchange. The gap was that overwhelming.

Even now, Raon was using the Soft Sword Art and the Garam Footwork exactly as before, and he split apart the final form of the Decisive Chain Sword that Raiden had unleashed.

"That insane…"

Balder let out a gasp before he even realized it. He was watching it with his own eyes and still couldn't believe it. Raon Zieghart was imbuing his blade with the true meaning of the Soft Sword Art.

The true meaning of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swordsmanship meant already infusing the blade with a will of its own—a realm one could only begin to approach upon reaching Expert High-Class or higher.

And that brat…

A kid who'd barely entered Expert, a fifteen-year-old, had achieved it. It felt like a dream. A hideous nightmare.

Raiden, already half out of his mind, could not pierce Raon's sword no matter what he tried. This duel was already a finished fight. The exact opposite of every prediction.

A genius. No—he's already beyond that level.

The continent was vast, and geniuses were common. Not only in House Zieghart—even the smallest martial groups always had someone they called a genius.

The Raon standing down there was not a creature that word could explain. He was a monster that ate geniuses and grew from them. A glutton who would one day swing his sword from the peak of the continent.

A mere collateral!

Even if he was Sylvia's son, the thought of some lowborn whose bloodline nobody even knew beating his own child sent rage spilling over.

"That bastard…"

"WOOOOOAH! JACKPOT!"

Just as Balder was about to gather his presence, a cheer so cheap it was almost rustic exploded from beside him. It was Rimer.

"A. TOTAL. REVERSAL!"

He waved the papers in both hands wildly, whooping.

"Would you shut up!"

"Huh? Oh my, sorry about that."

Rimer scratched his head and bowed at the waist. His eyes, however, gleamed as fiercely as a warrior's before a fight.

"See? I told you. I said Raon would win."

He sidled up next to Balder and grinned.

"Preparing the wager's compensation is going to cost a fair bit of money and time. Well, even without that, I made out pretty well."

Rimer cackled, pointing at the papers in his hands. They were betting slips he'd collected from all over.

"I believe I told you to shut up."

Balder's presence turned as sharp as a honed blade. He looked ready to lunge at any moment.

"You already know how this turned out, so I'll say one thing and disappear."

Rimer stepped in until he was right in front of Balder's nose and stopped.

"From this moment on, a lot more eyes are going to be watching Raon. Unless you're confident you can dodge all of them, don't lay a hand on Raon or the Annex."

"You little shit, how dare you…"

Balder's face twisted. Rimer's eyes hadn't changed in the slightest from the days when they'd called him the Light Sword. They glittered with the viciousness of a father wolf whose cub had been touched.

"Don't be afraid of me. Be afraid of the Family Head. You know perfectly well how much he hates people who break their promises."

He snuffed out that chilling presence in an instant, turned back into a cackling idler, and walked away.

That bastard's right.

If he didn't deal with Raon for certain today, it would become genuinely difficult to touch either the boy or the Annex.

And…

His two sons and the other direct-line nephews would be crushed beneath Raon's shadow. The boy was that dangerous.

He passed along a hint for beating Raon. It might well become a problem later, but winning came first.

Break him! I'll handle whatever comes after!

Hm?

Raon narrowed his eyes slightly. Raiden, whom he'd thought had given up, suddenly put strength into his gaze and began to rise.

Unlike before, he didn't spread his aura outward. He wound it around the entire blade as if he were using an ordinary sword.

So that's it.

A moment ago, the Ring of Fire had caught a faint thread of aura leaking from the spectator stands. He'd dismissed it as nothing—but it seemed Balder had just told Raiden how to beat him.

Like father, like son.

Raon glanced back at Balder, who was pretending nothing had happened.

A duel was a contest of two swordsmen's pride and martial strength. The man had interfered in that sacred contest, and there wasn't a trace of shame on his face. His eyes said it plainly: I'm of the direct line. I'm Glenn's son. What are you going to do about it?

"Kh…"

Raiden's eyes held the same look as Balder's, visible in the distance. Following the advice he'd been given, he dragged up every last drop of aura remaining in his core and condensed it into his sword.

A deep, gathering hum rolled off the blade. He settled into the opening stance of an ordinary slash rather than the Decisive Chain Sword and locked his gaze on Raon. Ugly as it was, Balder's filthy interference had clearly worked.

"Yeah. I should've done this from the start."

Raiden spat a wad of blood-streaked phlegm and bared his teeth. His chain sword surged upright, burning with a fierce blade of aura.

"I should've crushed you with the method that favored me most!"

That much was true. The volume of aura Raiden possessed was far greater than Raon's.

But.

Just as a strong sword art wasn't everything, the quantity of aura did not decide a match.

"You think you can win with power?"

"Of course I do! I'll tear that pathetic aura of yours to shreds!"

Raiden kicked off the ground and brought the chain sword down. A blow fierce enough to split the earth in two came crashing straight down.

Raon tightened his grip on the sword. A small flame blossomed at the tip of the blade and flared into a sheaf of fire.

A blade of flame that melted the air itself collided with the chain sword wreathed in green aura.

"Hhk!"

Raiden clenched his teeth. The impact made his insides lurch. That a few more flames could produce this kind of force—he couldn't even collect his thoughts.

"You—how…"

"I'm not done."

Raon's pupils burned as red as his sword.

The scarlet blossoms burned through Raiden's aura and punched through the chain sword.

The chain sword crumbled like sand, and Raiden's eyes bulged as if they would burst.

"N-no!"

"Where do you think you're going."

Raiden stumbled backward as if to flee, but Raon was faster.

"W-wait! I lost—"

Raon drove the fist that held his sword straight into Raiden's mouth.

"Ghhhk…"

Raiden's teeth popped out like kernels of corn, and he toppled over backward with his eyes rolled up.

"I'll call the rest even with this."

Raon shook off his sword. As the flames on his blade died, a silence settled over the entire training ground.