3 seconds
Reeshich thought that three seconds would be enough to knock Ian out.
Look at that pathetic parasite.
‘A punch to the jaw, one to the throat, and one to that ugly forehead.’
With that thought, he adjusted his posture.
‘A magician, huh.’
Reeshich had already grasped some information about Ian being a mage. It didn’t make sense why a mage would wield a sword, but perhaps it was just a deception.
Reeshich scrutinized Ian’s mouth and feet closely.
His mouth for casting spells, the feet for movement.
Just approaching before he could cast a spell would be enough to win.
‘Well, even if he casts a spell…’
Snick.
Just then, as Reeshich was about to adjust his posture, Ian disappeared before his eyes.
— Faaah!
Ian disappeared before his eyes.
“…?!”
What?
There was definitely no movement of the legs?
As Reeshich turned his head in confusion.
— Grin
It caught Reeshich’s eye.
Ian, with a smirk on his face as devilish as ever.
And at the same time, his wooden silvery sword gleaming as it swung down.
Reeshich felt a sense of unease.
“No. Wait. Why is the wooden sword silver…?”
And how can a mage wield a sword so fast?
Can he block this…?
Such thoughts didn’t last long.
—Pueeeeek!
Onlookers briefly doubted their own ears. Does a clash of a sword against an iron helmet make such a sound?
Anyway, one thing was certain.
The center of the helmet dented.
—Fwushushushushu!
Blood spurted from Reeshich’s nostrils.
“Geh-hack!”
With a strange groan, Reeshich’s eyes, gathered in the center, suddenly stiffened and then he collapsed.
Thud!
A heavy collision echoed through the ground.
◆
Next to Herman Pierce.
Count Limmksh’s eyes trembled.
‘Did I see something wrong…?’
Literally, it happened in the blink of an eye.
He blinked once and when he opened his eyes, the knight of the family, Reeshich, was being crushed by Ian’s blow.
The sight of his helmet collapsing and protruding on both sides was chilling.
“It’s a win for Ian Blackangers!”
The referee shouted.
Servants rushed to move the fallen Reeshich.
They would probably get healing immediately, but…
‘That useless fool!’
Suddenly, flames erupted.
Herman Pierce had just declared confidently that he would defeat Ian. What kind of disgrace was this, with the most skilled knight of the family?
‘Well, if it’s Vance and Hannelsichi, they’ll somehow manage to win.’
Count Limmksh was just an ordinary person without any expertise in fighting or combat. He couldn’t objectively assess Ian’s strength.
“The author must have used some cunning trick.”
“He attacked straight away without even a greeting. It means he’s a dishonorable scoundrel.”
“He’s just blinded by victory, tsk tsk.”
As the surrounding nobles checked Count Limmksh’s expression and tried to appease him.
Herman Pierce, sitting on a throne, blinked silently.
‘… What was that spell just now?’
Herman couldn’t catch all of Ian’s movements.
It was because he hadn’t been paying attention.
Just the fact that he didn’t even move his feet and suddenly shifted to a different angle in the opponent’s field of view. And then, while the opponent was still confused, he delivered a decisive blow.
That was what Herman Pierce had confirmed as Ian’s movements.
In fact, just the fact that he had confirmed those things made Herman different from the majority of the noble spectators and himself.
However.
Considering that he was an expert who had reached upper 4-Star level, the story was different. Wasn’t Herman Pierce surely within the top ten in terms of skill in the north? And yet, had he missed such a trick from some parasite-like scoundrel?
Herman was perplexed.
‘… I’ve never witnessed or encountered such a trick.’
In fact, it was doubtful whether those could even be called tricks.
There were no movements of the legs when he slipped out of sight.
‘Either it didn’t happen, or it was too fast to see.’
At least it wasn’t a knight’s skill.
Mages, in general, didn’t bother with tricks, and it wasn’t instantaneous movement magic. The movement itself was visible.
The most likely possibility was that it was either an assassin or someone who had mastered some peculiar martial arts of Antigonus.
‘But that can’t be.’
When wielding the sword, it was utterly monotonous.
Above all, the ability to instantly change the material of the sword.
That was Earth Magic.
Therefore, the most reasonable judgment would be that an Earth-elemental Mage, unheard of in both rumor and fact, used teleportation magic… That would be logical.
‘… Unbelievable.’
Herman furrowed his brow.
Whatever it was, there were more people cheering for Ian.
“Wow—!”
“Amazing!”
… An unbelievable sight even when seen with one’s own eyes.
No. Did he really see it wrong?
The gap between Herman’s brows deepened.
◆
“Wow, that was amazing!”
Descending from the training ground, Ian rolled up his sleeves.
He had intended to just knock his opponent out, but it took more effort than he had thought.
‘It’s not easy to control when there’s so much mana in the body.’
Would he say, more accurately, that his ability to manipulate mana had grown?
Even using the same technique, the intensity had increased compared to before.
Just now, he had reinforced his body more than expected and struck down the villain’s head in 3 seconds.
Anyway, now that he had dealt with one of the three villain knights, he felt relieved.
Ian returned to his seat feeling satisfied.
“That was impressive.”
“You seem to be quite good at fighting?”
“You’re the princess’s man, right? Are those techniques you learned in the palace?”
Until he went up, the participants who had previously shown no interest now pretended to be knowledgeable.
Perhaps because of the villain knights, they had started to take interest now that he was active in the duel.
Well.
Originally, all the participants were obsessed with power, so this was actually in line with their nature. From their perspective, this sudden interest was no different from lavish praise for Ian’s abilities.
Answering appropriately, Ian eventually slipped out to the outskirts of the training ground.
“Hah…”
As he sighed like that.
“Ian!”
Suddenly, Daniya approached and stuck her face out in front of him.
“That was really amazi—Nyah!”
“Thank you.”
“Especially that movement at the beginning! That was the same one you did during the Grade Assessment, right?”
Ian silently nodded.
The explosive movement he had learned anew during the Grade Assessment.
He had transformed it into a more optimized form of movement.
Although he reduced the speed compared to the original method, the casting time became faster, allowing for stable movement.
The name he gave to this newly learned movement was [Leap].
‘Although I should avoid exposing my abilities as much as possible to Herman Pierce…’
Anyway, since this [Leap] was going to be used as a basic form of movement, he judged that gaining practical experience in combat would be better.
Moreover, by showing it now, he could complicate the thoughts of mid-boss Herman Pierce.
No. He was a suspicious guy, so he would definitely do that.
“Yeah. I weakened it a bit.”
“Nyah, weakened? That was incredible.”
Suddenly, Daniya put on a serious expression.
“I want to try too.”
— Shasha!
Suddenly, she moved sideways like a crab.
“Pff!”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Hahaha! Did I move like that?”
“Ugh!”
Blushing furiously, Daniya inflated her cheeks with air.
“Anyway, you were amazing, you idiot!”
After sticking him with a poke, she huffed and left.
No, it seemed like she floated away.
“Why are you coming back?”
“Hmph!”
Then she placed something on Ian’s head, grumbling, before returning to the spectator’s seats.
It was a magical item with healing effects, called 「Snowflake Flower」.
◆
The second match was easily handled, with just a sword and enhanced body strength being sufficient to deal with the opponent.
The result was a simple victory.
Then came the official tournament rounds.
“I will avenge Reeshich, the youngest of our three brothers!”
Coincidentally, he encountered another one of the remaining villain knights.
At this rate, would he end up meeting all the villain knights and ultimately face the low kick knight in the semi-finals?
Anyway.
Ian responded seriously.
“Oh… Did the youngest one die?”
“He’s not dead!”
“But why are you calling me an enemy? Anyway, it’s a relief that you can take that blow and be okay.”
“Well, they say he’ll just need about a month to recover… But what’s fortunate about it? It’s not fortunate at all! Weren’t you the one who did that?”
“Well, in a tournament, you can get hurt, right? And besides, wearing heavy armor to fight with a wooden sword in the first place makes it harder, you know.”
“What?”
“Anyway, for a month it will be two brothers instead of three.”
“…You!”
His tone was so self-righteous.
Ian deliberately teased him.
Originally, the goal wasn’t to punish these guys but to perform well in the tournament and appeal to Yerina.
If there was an easy way to win, then it was better to take it.
“Reeshich is our brother even if something goes wrong…”
While he kept blabbering, Ian gradually closed the distance.
Even though he seemed to be wary of the sword flying from the side.
Pah—!
Ian dove straight into the center of the guy.
“You, b*stard…!”
As the guy raised his sword above his head to block the impending blow.
“Huh?”
Bwaaaaack—!
Ian’s reinforced fist struck him squarely on the jaw.
Whirl!
He spun around like a cartoon character and crashed to the ground.
— “Ohhhhh!”
— “The match is over with just one hit!”
— “Ian! Ian!”
Cheers filled the training ground.
The number of people calling out his name instead of referring to him as “the princess’s man” began to increase.
