3. Dropout Swordsman and Swordsmanship Academy [1] – part 2

As I had arrived here unexpectedly early, I killed the time at a nearby stall by appropriately filling my belly.

Although I ate breakfast just a little while back, I felt hungry for some reason.

And five minutes before the scheduled time, I went to the gymnasium which we agreed as the duel location.

When I arrived there, I was overwhelmed.

「Wh-What is… this…」

Even though it was early morning, the gymnasium was overflowing with a crowd of students.

「Wow, it is the entry of the Failed Swordsman!」

「You’re finally going to disappear! Watching you swing the sword like a fool everyday was unsightly!」

「We have to be grateful to Dodriel! He’s going to drive away the burden of the academy after all!」

Jeering from my classmates rain down on me to the point where I wanted to plug my ears.

「H-How…?」

When I was in confusion, I heard an unnatural deliberate giggle.

In the direction of the giggle- Dodriel was standing at the middle of the gymnasium, surrounded by his followers. He had a repulsive grin plastered on his face as he gave a sidelong glance at me, who can’t stop trembling.

「Aha… you deserve praise for not running away at the very least, Allen.」

「D-Dodriel! What is this…! I didn’t know about this!」

I questioned Dodriel while pointing at the crowd of surging students.

「Hey, I am surprised too. It seems that the information about our duel leaked somehow… Some guys have really bad taste.」

Dodriel unnaturally shrugged his shoulders.

「You…!」

There is no doubt. It was this guy who spread the information about our duel and gathered all the academy students here. It seems that he is planning to humiliate me with the entire academy witnessing it.

Just… how rotten can this guy get.

「Blast away the Failed Swordsman!」

「Kyaaー! Dodriel-sama! Good luck!」

A male teacher came into the gymnasium as the the students cheered for Dodriel’s victory and my defeat. He was momentarily surprised at the number of students and their loud noise, but then kept walking without saying anything.

「Well… It is the predetermined time, thus I want to start the duel between Dodriel Barton and Allen Rodore.」

……I see, so he isn’t even going to question this situation.

Fundamentally, a duel can’t take place if the terms for both parties are not equivalent.

Obviously, a duel in such an away situation is not fair in the slightest.

(The neutral party from the academy, isn’t even going to interfere in this situation…)

Which means, even the academy wants to drive me out of here.

(Shit…!)

I just have to grit my teeth and accept the fact that I’m surrounded by enemies on all sides.

「Ahem, both parties, are you ready? Thenー START!」

And the match began, in such extremely away circumstances.

「I won’t end this in an instant, Allen. I’ll slowly hurt you… until you cry and beg for forgiveness!」

Dodriel pulled out the sword fastened at his waist and gave a sadistic smile.

「…If you look down on me, you will be the one to get hurt!」

In accordance to that statement, I pulled out my sword, and held it in front of my navel. The basic stance of swordsmanship – Seigan no Kamae. 1

A heavy air permeated through the duel atmosphere.

Within such an atmosphere, I closely observed Dodriel’s sword.

A beautiful temper pattern can be seen on the sword blade.

If I’m not mistaken, I remember him boasting pridefully that it was the work of a master craftsman.

Whereas, my sword costs 1000gold ーー the lowest-ranking sword which can be found for sale anywhere.

(I would probably… No, I’m definitely going to be defeated in this match.)

Sword, Skill, Talent- I can’t compete with that guy in any of this.

(But, there is no way I can back down at this point…!)

Even I have my own pride.

(I’m not gonna shamelessly retreat, when my mother is ridiculed…!)

With fighting spirit burning brightly in my heart, I stared right into Dodriel’s eyes.

His sword, is an offensive sword. Much like rain, his performs waves of consecutive attacks which doesn’t allow the opponent to counterattack.

I have no chances of winning by crossing swords with him from the front where his specialty lies.

(I have to aim for a counter ー a one shot certain kill!)

Even that genius is a human.

He will eventually make a mistake.

(Therefore, I just have to endure his fierce attacks until then!)

When even the slightest opening presents itself during the fierce sword exchange, I have to exploit it with a single powerful blow.

Even if I can’t win, at the very least I can injure him.

This was my strategy.

(Now, come…!)

I readied my mind, and waited for Dodriel to step in.

However, contrary to my expectations, that guy absolutely didn’t step in to attack me.

Moreover, for some reason he didn’t close the distance between us by even a single step.

(…What? Just what is he playing at?)

While I was being suspicious of Dodriel’s 『Unusual Behaviour』,

「Allen…! what, what did you do…!?」

He had cast away the bold smile from a while ago, and was glaring at me with an angry look.

「…What are you saying? I don’t understand your question.」

「Do you plan to play dumb… with your Failed Swordsman reputation…!」

While gritting his teeth, Dodriel started to circle around me while maintaining a considerable distance.

I stuck with the Seigan no kamae stance while keeping him in the middle of my sight.

(… Dodriel has very short patience.)

I know him just as well as he does me.

Short tempered and fickle natured ー that natural born genius will eventually get tired of this stare down. He will surely rush at me before long.

And then 1 minute… 2 minutes… passed ー Dodriel changed his stance.

(…He’s coming!)

The next moment,

「UOOOOOOOO!」

He released a loud vigorous roar and rushed at me in a straight line.

「……!」

Even while feeling the pressure from his loud roar, I strengthened my spirit and opened my eyes wide.

However, what unfolded there was a ridiculous scene.

(…Ha?)

No matter how much time passed, Dodriel does not get close to me.

To be more precise, he was running slowly towards meー as how children pretend to play with swords.

(What the hell is Dodriel thinking…?)

I immediately came up with an answer to that doubt.

(I see, is that so…… There is no value in taking me seriously, huh…!)

「You are not worth my true power」ー that’s what that guy was implying.

How frustrating.

I didn’t expect him to make a fool out of me to this extent.

I was under the impression that he would at least take the duel seriously.

(Damnit…!)

I clenched my fist tightly and gritted my teeth.

A few seconds later, Dodriel finally got close to me and began attacking.

「Rain Style ー Summer Rain!」

He unleashed a crude large swing followed by a series of thrusts which were screaming 「Please Avoid」.

(I don’t even need my sword to ward off such an attack.)

I avoided the slow consecutive attacks with minimal movement, it was slow enough to make me yawn.

「Wha!?」

Dodriel finished delivering his thrusts and, with a pale face, leapt back immediately to put distance between us.

「A-Allen…? To be able to see through all my sword, luck sure is with you today…!」

「…Eh?」

「But, I was just warming up. The next attack will be 3 times faster than the last. You won’t get lucky like just now.」

「No, what are you sayin-」

As soon as I posed my question,

「Rain Style Secret Technique ー Passing Shower!」

Dodriel stuck out his sword straight, and charged at me again.

It’s not a consecutive attack as before, but a one-point concentrated thrust.

However,

(……Did he become slightly faster?)

It was a one-strike attack which was still at the level of a child’s play like before.

What bothered me most was, Dodriel’s one-strike thrust had left him completely defenceless.

As though provoking me with 「Cut me」.

(Damnit…… just how much more is he going to humiliate me…!)

I got tired of the repeated provokes, and swung my sword at him.

「Be serious!」

The single vertical swing that I released with the intention of intimidating him—branched into seven slashes and captured Dodriel’s whole body.

「Kaa, Haaa…!?」

At the same time, Dodriel was struck by the seven slashes… unable to endure the blows, he let go of his sword, and was blown up to the wall of the gymnasium.

The entire gymnasium was dead silent. To the point where I could hear them gulping in their throats.

「…Huh?」

A stupid voice leaked out of my mouth, due to that unexpected situation.

「D-Dodriel Barton, unable to continue! Winner, Allen Rodore!」

Even after the referee, the male teacher announced the results, the gymnasium was still surrounded by the strange silence.

I realised at that time.

「It… wasn’t a dream…!?」

That the billions of years of hell spent in that different world was not a dream or an illusion.

(The reason why Dodriel’s movement seemed unusually slow was not because he was going easy on me…)

In reality, I was far stronger than that guy!