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Translator: mii

editors: sleepchaser, Fire

“Good morning, everyone. I’m Fion Rosine, the captain of the Knights of Green Flash,” said Fion to the crowd in a loud voice. It echoed throughout the spacious training ground, perhaps the work of a wind spell from a royal magician. “I will serve as the referee today. Now, we will be having a friendly match between our country, the Kingdom of Istiah, and our ally, the Kingdom of Ruslan. Before we start, please greet His Highness the Crown Prince Ars of the Kingdom of Istiah and Princess Liona of the Kingdom of Ruslan.”

Following Fion’s introduction, Ars and Liona stood. Ars first looked at his surroundings and said, “Everyone, thank you for gathering today. Remember that this match is purely something that Princess Liona and I arranged for fun. I hope you won’t take it too seriously and enjoy yourself.”

Once Ars finished his brief greeting, Liona slowly nodded and said in a clear and melodious voice, “As His Highness the Crown Prince Ars said, the idea for this match sparked from a joke. In spite of this, I would like to thank everyone in the Kingdom of Istiah for setting up the venue for this match. It’s truly a blessing to see the knights I’m proud of and the knights the Istiah Kingdom is proud of in such close proximity. Thank you.”

Liona finished with a smile, and the audience clapped.

“Thank you very much, Your Highness, Princess Liona,” Fion said, bowing in courtesy. Ars and Liona sat back down without a sound. After confirming that both royals were seated, Fion pointed to the two knights standing in the middle of the training ground. Each had cloth wrapped around their neck: one blue and the other red.

“Now, I will introduce the two leading actors in today’s match. The gallant knight in blue on the right is Legion Salt, the pride of our country. He won the previous martial arts tournament.”

Clad in iron armor, Legion raised his right hand. His action aroused applause from the audience, loud to the ears. The Knights of the Green Flash were especially excited.

“On the right, the knight in red is Night, pride of the Ruslan Kingdom. He’s a genius in the sword, the personal knight of the princess.”

Night wore light armor over his black knight uniform. He too raised his right hand. And the audience cheered as well.

“In this match, the use of magic and killing is prohibited. Compete with your skill in the sword. Everyone, let’s cheer on these two brave knights, ” Fion said in a calm manner. All of a sudden, his tone grew serious as he said, “Now, both of you, take your stances.” Such an abrupt change caused the audience to grow dead silent.

They drew their swords. Legion pointed his blade straight at Night. Night took his time, sword in his left hand, diagonal to the ground.

Fion raised his right hand to the sky. Swung it down. “The match begins!”

The moment after the commencing signal sounded, Night was the first to go on the offensive. As though he believed taking action quickly led to victory, he slashed at Legion in one swift move. Legion had expected his attack and did not lose his calm, parrying Night’s sword from below.

“Oops! That was dangerous. I almost lost my sword,” Night said, promptly distancing himself from Legion. He squinted his gray eyes, in high spirits.

Legion also looked like he was having fun. “It was a good move trying to overwhelm me with your speed in the beginning. Attacking your opponent when they’re surprised will yield an instant win. However, that kind of tactic won’t work against me.”

“Seems so. It sure is tough fighting against your kingdom’s most skilled swordsman. Most people fall for this trick, you know.” Night made it sound like he was disappointed, but he was actually having fun like Legion. He fixed his grip on his sword. The easygoing atmosphere around him turned serious. “Good, I’ll stop going after victory using small tricks. Let’s compete seriously.”

“Just as I had hoped. Here I come!” Legion dashed toward Night, his steps light as if he was not wearing armor. Night blocked Legion’s frontal blow, the soles of his shoes scraping against the ground, the sound of such filling the air. It seemed the force of Legion’s attack had slightly pushed him back. After their blades clashed, they moved apart again.

“Arghh!”

“Haaa!”

Battle cries filled with fighting spirit, they exchanged blow after blow. From the front, from above, from below. At times, Night struck from an unexpected direction, but in each instance, Legion would avoid it by a hair and launch a counter. The shrill cry of metal rang throughout the training ground, over and over again.

It was like watching a sword dance. Because the two swords moved too quickly, Vio could only make out flashes of silver.

“This is amazing! Not only did he stop Night’s first strike easily, he even returned Night’s specialty feint with another blow!” Liona clenched her fists and stood with her back hunched in excitement. As she watched the match, her blue eyes shone brightly.

“I’m surprised too. I never thought that someone could fight Legion for such a long time,” said Ars in admiration, engrossed in the match. “Oh, there! Go for it, Legion!”

Since Vio couldn’t keep up with the knights’ movement, he grew impressed with the situation upon listening to Liona and Ars.

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Such a long time, he said.. It hasn’t even been five minutes since the match started though!

The only time Vio witnessed Legion in action was when Erik had attacked the mansion. At that time, he had seen Legion overpower an Equestrian Dragon. If his opponent had been an average human, he might have won in the blink of an eye.

“Wow, amazing! It’s been a while since I saw Legi take his opponent seriously,” Cheval murmured behind Vio.

In his usual calm tone, Lantz said, “You’re right. Sir Legion was amazing in the Battle of Tocanta Meadow two years ago. Although it had been his first campaign, he played a very active role in that battle, right? And yet the superiors took hold of all his achievements. It’s such a shame.”

Upon hearing that, Vio recalled that event. Tocanta Meadow was located in the southern part of the Istiah Kingdom. Around it was Tocanta River, which marked the border with?Clarina Country.

The relationship between the Istiah Kingdom and Clarina Country proved poor. They would have a war every few years due to Clarina Country’s lust of the other’s fertile land. One of the battles that gave Duke Lesserhain the chance to marry Viola occurred in one of the wars between these two countries.

Ever since the Kingdom of Istiah had won the war two and a half years ago, Clarina country maintained an uncanny silence. Even so, everyone expected them to strike eventually. They never learned their lesson, even after paying hefty reparations with each defeat.

Clarina country was a troublesome opponent, but the Kingdom of Istiah never thought of invading it, despite its vast lands. For not only were there many wastelands, their culture was also completely different from Istiah Kingdom’s.

First of all, Huma were seen as the superior race in Clarina country. The status of Locanas were lower than that of commoners; society held disdain for them. Sometimes, Locanas would be treated as slaves.

Since the Istiah Kingdom would receive little profit from ruling Clarina country, not to mention be required to divert its focus to govern them, making Clarina country pay reparations was a better option.

After Vio had recalled all sorts of things related to the war, Cheval whispered with a smile, “Don’t say that, Lantz. He’s ridiculously devoted to his master, so he was overjoyed to see his superior promoted. Since he looks happy, isn’t it fine?”

Picking up Lantz’s words, Vio had a hard time trying not to laugh. “People would usually feel bitter, though. He’s such a weird person.” Legi, so you’ve always been like that!

All of a sudden, the image of Legion acting like a dog wagging its tail came to mind. It was hard to believe that he didn’t care about his own achievements, despite being the one who did the job.

Rather than a medal of merit, he prefers compliments and praise?

And Vio had been wondering if he should reward Legion at the end of this training. Now, he received some helpful information.

As he focused on Cheval and Lantz’s conversation, a deafening clang suddenly rang through the air.

The sound disappeared, leaving an unusual echo.

“Stop right there!” Fion shouted.

Legion and Night stood facing each other. One held his sword with his right hand, the other perpendicular to the ground. Both blades had cracked in the middle.

“Both have been disarmed at the same time. It’s a draw!”

Performing a deep bow to one another, Legion and Night thanked their opponents. The audience applauded.

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Vio also applauded, following the crowd. Such an outcome had surprised him. Was this the will of the Great Spirits not to decide the outcome here?

Liona stood in pure excitement and shouted, “Both of you did very well!”

Ars also rose to his feet and said, “How incredibly exciting. Everyone, give them a round of applause.”

And the audience burst into thundering cheers again.

Overwhelmed by the liveliness, Vio clapped again until his hands throbbed.