Spirit Sword Chapter 26

Chapter 26. Victory at the Martial Tournament

TL: Warriormonk

Editor: Isleidir

The preliminary rounds of Jabel viscountcy lasted for a week. Twenty one people successfully completed nine rounds, and received a silver medal.

Those who did not succeed in pa.s.sing the preliminaries bitterly headed back to their home towns. There were some who had turned into cold corpses as well.

Partic.i.p.ants who had received silver medals were given permission to enter the castle, as the final rounds were carried out in private. Only the privileged guests or those of status could view the final rounds.

“All those entering the final rounds, present your medal and enter.”

Twenty one partic.i.p.ants all excitedly entered the castle. Their room and board would be taken care of by the lord of Jabel viscountcy for the duration of the final rounds.

Luke was also able to enter the castle as Kurotan’s second, a position held by a person of close relation that would take care of the aftermath of a partic.i.p.ant’s death should it happen.

The room provided by Viscount Jabel was rather large and luxurious. The meals were much better than the ones that had been provided at the inn as well.

“The room is so much larger than the inn’s!”

“The food is much better.”

Luke and Kurotan were able to comfortably prepare for the final rounds of the tournament while staying at the Jabel castle.

There were fifteen seeded partic.i.p.ants that were going to be partic.i.p.ating in the final rounds, without having had to go through the preliminaries. Along with the twenty one people who had pa.s.sed the preliminaries, there would be thirty six people partic.i.p.ating in the last rounds of the tournament.

The preliminary rounds could be said to be a festival for the commoners of Jabel viscoutncy. The final rounds, however, were meant for the eyes of n.o.bles. The final rounds started with eager n.o.bles from nearby territories, knights, and wealthy merchants watching.

“Let the final rounds begin.”

Unlike the partic.i.p.ants who had pa.s.sed the preliminary rounds, who were of a diverse age range, the seeded partic.i.p.ants were mostly between their late teens and early twenties. Their eyes s.h.i.+ning, the disciples of knights and children of n.o.ble houses hungrily waited for the chance win the tournament and the honor it would bring.

“The first match will be between young master Chase, third son of Marquis Lael, and mercenary Alan, a level B mercenary from the Kital Mercenaries.”

Their names called out by the referee, the two men stepped up on to the ring that had been prepared for them. The first rounds between the thirty six people would mostly be between the partic.i.p.ants who had pa.s.sed the preliminary rounds and seeded partic.i.p.ants.

Unlike Chase, who was in his early twenties, Alan was a stocky man in his thirties with a messy mane. Alan bit his lips as he gripped his b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword tightly with both of his hands.

‘I must display my skills so that lord viscount notices me.’

The way to knighthood was not limited to winning the martial tournament. If you were skilled enough, it was not uncommon for the lord hosting the martial tournament to approach you with offers of knighthood.

Most of the partic.i.p.ants who had pa.s.sed the preliminary rounds were aiming to be as lucky.

‘Even if he has received training from an early age, I have more experience in actual situations. I must aim to utilize my experience.’

The referee signaled the beginning of the match as Alan was hardening his determination.

“Begin match.”

Alan roared fiercely and ran towards his opponent. Chase, however, calmly took a sword stance.

The match did not last long. Although Alan had honed his skills on the battle field and monster exterminations, it was not enough to defeat Chase, the son of a n.o.ble who had had the way of the sword ingrained into him at a young age.

“Stop match. Young master Chase wins.”

Alan’s mangled body was carried out on a stretcher as Chase lifted his sword proudly.

Most of the matches continued on with similar outcomes. The winners of the preliminary rounds found themselves being overwhelmed by the young masters of n.o.ble houses who had been born into the sword.

Not all of the matches, however, followed the trend.

Kwwannng.

Eric, of indirect line to a nearby n.o.ble house, frowned as he was pushed back from the impact of the clash. The s.h.i.+eld he was holding was deformed beyond recognition.

‘What the h.e.l.l? Why is this b.a.s.t.a.r.d so strong?’

The young n.o.bles’ greatest weakness was their lack of experience. Most of them held metal s.h.i.+elds in order to overcome this handicap. By utilizing the large surface area of a s.h.i.+eld, they could defend against even the more unpredictable sword strikes.

This was one of the reasons that the seeded partic.i.p.ants had been winning the matches so easily until now. Each one of the rapid attacks that Eric’s current opponent was throwing at him, though, could not possibly be blocked even with a s.h.i.+eld.

Kwaang.

A hole appeared in the middle of the thick s.h.i.+eld, and Eric slid back with his feet braced. The arm that held the s.h.i.+eld was numb, with no sensations coming from it.

‘No way. I can’t lose like this.’

Eric countered desperately but his opponent effortlessly deflected his attack before launching one of his own. Eric raised his s.h.i.+eld once more with a pale face.

Ujijik.

A chilling sound rang out, as the arm holding the s.h.i.+eld slumped in a strange manner. The ma.s.sive force behind the axe had broken his arm. Eric had no choice but to announce his surrender.

“I-I surrender.”

“Stop match. Kurotan, victory.”

Kurotan looked disappointed as he withdrew his axe and exited the ring. The gazes of the audience were concentrated on Kurotan as he stepped down.

He had been a tornado of attacks that relentlessly beat down Eric until he had won.

“What an amazing fighter.”

“Indeed, how amazing.”

Luke smiled warmly to greet Kurotan, who had returned to his seat.

“Good job.”

Because there were so many people surrounding them, Kurotan merely saluted Luke silently before sitting beside him.

The first rounds finished, and eighteen partic.i.p.ants moved on to the second round. Kurotan was a s.h.i.+ning star in the second round as well. He had overwhelmed his opponent to an extent unexpected by even Luke.

Kurotan’s sword style was not yet complete. His familiarity with Belloche sword style could not be that high, as he had only recently learned it.

On top of that, it could be said that Kurotan had yet to fully adjust to his human body. Despite all of these factors, Kurotan was able to dominate his opponent mercilessly to the point of pity.

“How surprising. I didn’t expect that you would fight this well.”

“Of course I would. These opponents are like baby chicks compared to the knights I had to face when I was an orc.”

“Ha, I suppose so.”

“Besides, I have gained the strength of aura. This is nothing.”

Kurotan defeated his third opponent lightly as well. His opponents so far had all been seeded partic.i.p.ants, but he had been able to overwhelm them with his brute strength.

Kurotan had received many small wounds during this process. The Belloche sword style was heavily concentrated on offense, after all.

In order to win the martial tournament, one had to have a certain amount of luck. Only if you did not sustain many injuries would you have to stamina to be able to win the final round.

With two rounds left, Kurotan’s previous two opponents had held on bitterly until their defeat, leaving many wounds on Kurotan’s body.

“It’s all right, I can still fight.”

Kurotan refused to cower even with his body wrapped up in bandages.

“You stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d, your final opponent won’t be so easy to deal with.”

“I can still win.”

Luke smiled bitterly and took out a gla.s.s bottle from his pocket. The liquid that splashed inside was none other than a healing potion.

“What is that?”

“It’s a healing potion. It was disgustingly expensive.”

“I had a lot last time, is it all right if I have it again?”

“Those were mana potions. This is a healing potion. I bought it especially for you and your victory, so drink up.”

“All right.”

Kurotan chugged the healing potion without hesitation. His eyes widened as soon as he emptied the gla.s.s bottle.

“Wh-What the?”

As soon as he had finished the healing potion, his whole body had begun to itch, after which a wave of rejuvenation spread throughout his body. The wounds under the bandages began to heal rapidly.

Luke unraveled the bandages around Kurotan’s arms. The wounds that he had sustained yesterday were gone without a scar. Kurotan exclaimed at the sight.

“Amazing. Humans sure have interesting things.”

“You guys wors.h.i.+p Maal as well though? You guys don’t have a priest?”

“We don’t have anything like that. We do have shamans, but they cannot heal wounds this rapidly.”

“I suppose, since orcs have a natural healing ability far beyond that of a human’s…”

With Kurotan’s wounds fully healed, they needed to prepare for the final opponent.

“It’s a pity that we can’t train due to all the prying eyes.”

It was something that could not be helped. Kurotan, who had made it up to the top two, was constantly under watch.

Because of the circ.u.mstances, Luke and Kurotan waited for the final match to begin silently.

The host of the martial tournament, Viscount Jabel, had taken an interest in Kurotan.

“Your predictions were correct, Sir Cooper.”

The knight captain, Cooper, straightened his posture.

“Lord, I am absolutely sure that Kurotan can utilize aura.”

Cooper had a.n.a.lyzed all of Kurotan’s battles in the finals in order to a.s.sess Kurotan’s skills.

“He forced his opponents to surrender by crus.h.i.+ng their s.h.i.+elds or breaking their arms. It is simply impossible to produce that level of force without the use of aura.”

“How do you think he was able to train in aura when aura cultivation techniques are incredibly rare and valuable?”

Aura cultivation techniques were hard to obtain even in the Sith Empire unless you were a member of a prestigious n.o.ble house. The Jabel vicsountcy itself was not in possession of a complete aura cultivation technique.

“There are differences between aura cultivation techniques, but most of them require at least ten years of training before one can utilize aura freely. However…”

Cooper frowned. There was something that he had been unable to wrap his head around.

“Kurotan’s achievements in the sword are not very high. It has not been that long since he has learned the sword.”

This was the most puzzling thing to Cooper. Cooper had become an aura expert by combining a training of blood and tears along with arduous hours of cultivating his aura.

An aura expert was usually extremely polished in the sword. Cooper could not help but be suspicious at Kurotan’s obvious lack of experience with the sword, or axe, style.

“The sword style that he executes with his axe is definitely at least mid-level. It is focused on offense, but is still a fairly complete sword style, lord.”

“Either way…”

Viscount Jabel looked at Cooper seriously.

“Do you think that he is a talent worth recruiting?”

“If we forget about the suspicious aspects of his talent, then yes, my lord. Should he not be a spy from a foreign country, we should absolutely try to recruit him.”

“Is that so?”

“However, we must find out the truth behind his less than polished sword style and how he came by an aura cultivation technique.”

“All right.”

Viscount Jabel nodded his head silently.

“As you say, we should investigate a bit more thoroughly before making our decision. Let us concentrate on the final match tomorrow for now.”

“Yes, my lord.”