「Here I come! Uoooh!!」
「I have no intention to lose!」
Raphael and the Knight began to exchange blows with their wooden swords.
The young teen, still barely a gangly boy growing into his own body, in a practice combat against a Knight who had spent years honing his body and skills. Anyone would assume that the teenage boy was weaker.
However, Raphael made up for his lack of strength with his agility.
Moreover, he had the mind of a tactician — with the ability to find openings in his opponent’s defenses and use them to his advantage.
Raphael kept locking swords whilst redirecting the inertia of his opponent’s strike.
In response to that, his opponent put more strength behind his blows in an attempt to break through Raphael’s defenses.
As the exchange continued, the knight’s swing became wider and wider.
That had been the teen’s intentions all along — for when his opponent took a wide step to strike, Raphael took the opportunity to step in and deliver a blow onto the back of the knight’s knee, crumpling the knight instantly.
The battle ended swiftly with the teen’s sword pressed into the knight’s throat.
「Match over! Young Master won!」
Declared Ryuk, Inglis’ father.
「Mu…! Young master, you were splendid!」1
「Not at all, my arms are already numbed from the impact. The battle could have tipped either way had it been dragged out longer, you see.」 2
Seeing her brother’s victory, Rafinha jumped in joy with a big smile.
「Big brother~! You were so cool~!」
「Your son is really something else! To think that he can actually win a battle against an adult knight…!」
「To be honest, I didn’t really do anything special.」
「Now, this is what they call a child cut from a different cloth, sister.」
「Ufufufu. That makes the two of us then.」 3
The mothers were delighted with the development. Even Inglis had to admit that Raphael was indeed outstanding.
As a matter of fact, Inglis assessed that there wasn’t anyone in the training field who could win against him, excluding Ryuk, the order’s leader. And of course, Inglis was also excluded.
It was always a good thing to have skilled family members including one such as Ryuk.
Since that would mean that Inglis wouldn’t need to search for a good training partner.
「Young Master Raphael! Please have a bout with me!」
「Okay! Please guide me well!」
The next contender raised his sword arm and charged at Raphael, exchanging a few blows.
However, the boy once again showed who was the better combatant, easily outwitting his opponent.
After that, one knight after the other stepped up to challenge him — each taking turns to practice with the future feudal lord.
Raphael had come out of each battle victorious just as Inglis had predicted, the boy’s ability was no joke.
That’s quite the talent he has. If he had been one of my retainers, he could have ended up as the strongest of my imperial guards, or even the supreme commander… Anyhow, I really want to test my skills against him.
Inglis thought as she watched Raphael’s consecutive victories.
Then——
「Greetings, master Ryuk! We’ve finally arrived!」
A group of armed men led by a huge man strode into the training field.
Judging from their attire, Inglis guessed that they were something similar to mercenaries.
However, they were actually people of the Lambert firm — a group of armed peddlers.
Travellers often possessed their own Artifact to protect themselves since the world had become more treacherous and one wouldn’t know when or where the Magic Stone Beasts would attack them. Thus, this kind of conduct was approved by the surrounding Kingdoms and feudal lords.
The knights under Marquis Wilford and these armed peddlers had good relationships with each other since they often held joint practices together.
As a part of the joint practice, they would be having sword matches today.
A smile graced his lips as Ryuk returned the well-built man’s greeting.
「Why, if it isn’t Mr. Lambert! Thank you for coming. We’ll be under your care for today. Let us spar and learn from one another.」
「Of course! It’s an honor for us to be able to borrow some of the esteemed knights’ time.」
With a smile, Mr. Lambert introduced a young boy about the same age as Raphael to Ryuk.
「This one is my son, Rahal. Rahal, come greet him.」
「Nice to meet you, Master Ryuk. My name is Rahal.」
He was a rather skinny boy with a sharp glare and his greeting sounded a little strained.
「Oh, best regards. It seems like Rahal is around the same age as young master Raphael, isn’t he? Why don’t we let the two polish each others’ skills then? Young master! Please come and greet our guests!」
「Okay!」
Raphael answered delightedly and approached them. With a smile, Raphael held his hand out to Rahal.
「I’m Raphael Wilford. I’ll be under your care for today. Please go easy on me.」
「Me- me too…!」
「Great, let’s do some warm-up first before we start the match!」
Ryuk immediately took charge of the situation after the introduction, quickly getting the knights and the armed peddlers to mingle together and begin their sword practice.
From the matches Inglis could observe thus far, the knights appeared to be more skilful than the peddlers.
She assumed that would also be true for Rahal, that he would be skilled for his age but he wouldn’t be quite up to par for an adult knight. She thought that Raphael was an exception and normal growing boys just couldn’t be that strong.
If it’s like this, our knights will surely win all the matches. Or so Inglis had thought.
However, when the matches began earnestly, something unexpected happened.
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