V1C10

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VOLUME 1 – CHILDHOOD

Then, to the Battle

Pack (02/02)

NT: Errrm, well, let’s talk about the situation here… The situation… has become a bit complicated for Catora. Because of everything that has been happening, I mean, for the duration it has had, the advanced completion of my semester of the current semester at my university has been considered, and it does not seem to be being handled very well. It is still being discussed what will be done, but for now, the situation could end in such a way that next year we will all have a big gap in our heads and … well, things don’t look good. Besides that… nothing. I am quite healthy, and in addition to some quite annoying problems with my internet, nothing particularly bad has happened to me.

*Zawa~a* The atmosphere inside the room changed completely.

Durf had become stiff, and Shadiberga looked as if his soul had just left his body.

On the other hand, Wokins, although she also looked slightly confused, stood firm while clasping her hands.

Then I called Shadiberga.

「Hey, Father. That’s what I wanted to say」

「Yo-You said too much!」

Shadiberga shouted that with tears in his eyes.

Even if you say that, I couldn’t think of anything better to say.

Besides, he was the one that did not behave properly in the first place.

Even though he is a simple messenger, he came and tried to bend at his own whim.

「… Bra-Brat. What did you just say?

I won’t get angry, so dare to say it one more time」

Durf, who had a vein sticking out of his forehead, told me that while looking at me with his bloodshot eyes.

Even so, it seems that he still does not completely lose his patience.

Shadiberga, who saw this as an opportunity, hurried to whisper desperately.

「Retract it! Retract and say it again more gently, okay?」

「Leave it to me. I’ve been good at dealing with complaints for a long time」

I cleared my throat and turned to Durf.

It is as Shadiberga says, I must make sure to say things properly.

I may have been too aggressive when I said that.

Let’s try again.

I must speak to this great Noble that I have as an opponent with the greatest possible respect.

「Ehem… To the Degenerated Hog who seems to be the Head of the Hogos Household, Durf. Since it seems you are still living with the rest of the cattle, I will ask you to please castrate yourself to prevent more pests from appearing like you――」

「WHAT I MEANT WAS TO CHANGE YOUR WOOOORDSSSSS!」

Shadiberga let out a loud scream.

However, this time he did not ask me to retract.

This is no longer a situation that can be amended, so it seems that he abandoned the idea of having me retract.

Then, I turned to Shadiberga, who was trying to hold his head, and asked.

「Well then, Father, are you okay with this?

Do you agree to hand them over Wokins to him?」

「Of course not, clearly my decision will be against that.

Because she is … An important Maid of this House――」

Shadiberga straightened his posture and said those words.

He had finally been able to speak honestly in front of Durf.

That was the decision of the head of our house, the decision of Shadiberga.

I nodded satisfactorily and called Durf.

「So.

Since that is the decision of the master of this house, I will repeat it again.

Listen carefully to me, Durf.

―― We will never give you Wokins」

I prepared myself and said those words with all my might.

Durf, who had begun to agitate due to humiliation, finally let his anger out freely.

Then, leaving aside his dignity, he yelled at us.

「Insolent garbage!

Are you aware of what will happen to you by insulting the master of this Western Region!?」

「Don’t start to boast.

Who is the master of the Western Region? Do you mean yourself and the rest of those poultry animals?」

「I WILL DESTROY YOU! I WILL DEFINITELY DESTROY YOU!

DON’T THINK THAT YOU CAN CONTINUE RECEIVING SUPPORT FROM THE REST OF THE NOBLES OF THE ZONE FOR A LONGER TIME!」

I don’t care if you explode and start threatening us now, I had already expected this after all.

And it’s not like I expected to receive some support from the beginning.

Then, I looked coldly at Durf and told him.

「These are difficult lands to develop and are barely stable.

We have nothing to gain or anything to lose with this.

And from the beginning we were nothing more than a family of Fallen Nobles. So from the beginning we were in the lowest place.

And that’s why we can’t fall any lower than this」

The cultivation areas are narrow.

There is no mine nearby.

And the area is in a state in the simple increase of the population would end up causing it to collapse.

But… It is thanks to those difficulties that, every obstacle we face, seems nothing more than mere pebbles by the roadside

We just need to open our eyes a little more to notice these problems and put them aside.

Upon hearing my words, Durf only decides to change his objective.

「Gununu… Hey, Shadiberga! Shut your brat’s mouth!」

「Nn? I don’t think I should stop him.

From now on I will just let Regis take care of the matter」

On the other hand, Shadiberga responded by giving me support.

Thank you.

Now, let’s keep pressing it.

Just when I thought about it.

Durf’s subordinate, who was behind him, suddenly moved toward him.

He leaned toward his Master and whispered something.

Then, after hearing what he had to say, Durf put on a huge, placid smile.

Apparently, his Subordinate was also plotting something behind the scenes.

「I see. Now I understand why it is that the Din Family has not been able to rise more than this.

I also understand how the Head of the Family was able to go and leave all the dirty work to a simple brat.

It seems that Din House has no alternatives left」

Durf said that while smiling disgustingly.

It is painful to look at him directly.

Indeed, there is no cure for the discomfort that causes me to look him in the eye.

Unconsciously I turned my gaze to Wokins.

When our eyes met, she showed me a sweet smile.

Cute, as always.

Her cuteness is justice.

No matter how many times I see that smile, it’s still as warm as ever.

On the other hand, Shadiberga seemed to have bothered a little by Durf’s words.

But, at the end he could only shrug and respond to Durf.

「… I take responsibility for his insolence, so I’ll formally ask you to stop blaming my family」

「Leave that. It’s just that I just remembered something interesting」

Something interesting he says, uh …

Anything that seems interesting to Durf cannot be harmless to me.

Then, Durf continues with an unpleasant tone.

「Now that I remember, Shadiberga.

A few years ago you had decided to engage with a Fallen Noble without even taking your own position into account, isn’t it?

It was someone from the Jirginus Family, right?

Someone from that dirty clan of savages who is only interested in improving their skills with magic and the sword」

The moment that name arose, the atmosphere surrounding the room changed completely.

――Jirginus.

I think that was the name of the House of my mother, Sefina.

The Jirginus House was on the verge of collapse at the time they merged into the Din house due to Shadiberga.

After that, our House began to sink until we became a Family of Fallen Nobles.

The cause of that was clearly the merge between the Jirginus House and the Din House.

A depressing shadow covered our face.

Then, as if he didn’t care about that, Durf continued to insult Sefina’s House.

「It’s really funny.

And despite everything, it was thanks to them that the Din House was able to continue conducting its negotiations peacefully.

By the way, where is the daughter of the Jirginus House? I think haven’t seen her」

Durf began to look around the entire room.

Of course, Sefina was nowhere.

She is resting in her bed right now.

But, I’m sure this guy already knew, he just wants to bother us.

「What? Did she go to bite someone?

I guess it can’t be helped, after all, she’s nothing more than a rabid dog.

But even so, it is really atrocious that the Landlord cannot maintain order within his own territory」

How dare you insult her like that.

I really want to hit this guy.

To be honest, I don’t think I have much patience.

But seriously, why did he have to go so far throwing all these insults at us?

I stared at Durf.

When I saw him, I could see nothing but vanity and the lack of shame embodied in one person.

I only saw one man who didn’t mind trampling on others while enslaving the weakest.

Indeed, he is the type of person I hated most in my previous life.

Take a breath and get up.

No. To be precise―― I try to get up.

But by the time I noticed it, there was already someone standing in front of me.

「… Sefina」

The man, who slowly raised his body, began to look at Durf with contempt.

His eyes were completely open.

And his shoulders trembled with anger.

That man, which no one could imagine that way because of his usual attitude, was being enveloped by an aggressive atmosphere.

「DON’T YOU DARE TO INSULT SEFINA!

THAT’S THE ONLY THING THAT DEFINITELY WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!」

Shadiberga Din

That man with an undecided personality who seems never to be sure of anything.

That opportunistic-looking man who had been completely trampled by Durf.

That man responded to Durf with a spirit that no one had ever seen in him.

「It doesn’t matter if she has a defect or whatever, she’s my responsibility.

THAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY THAT THIS SHADIBERGA DIN ACCEPT TO HAVE!」

Shadiberga put his hand on his chest as he flatly denied each of the insults that had been thrown at Sefina.

He looked like a wild beast.

Apparently, what they had told him had affected Shadiberga so much that it led him to act in the opposite way from his usual self.

「That Sefina is dirty? DON’T MAKE ME LAUGHT!

THE ONLY ONE THAT IS DIRTY IS YOU, DURF!」

Shadiberga’s anger was only compared to a burning flame.

But, given his personality, this was not something strange either.

He was never the type of person who suspected others, on the contrary, he greatly appreciated everyone.

He was the type of person who placed all his trust within his companions.

That’s why right now he is the one who is more angry than everyone else.

He could only condemn Durf, who dared to insult his beloved wife ――

「You, who have done so many despicable acts, do not have the right to belittle anyone!

Moreover, you have no right to insult Sefina, which has nothing to do with this! None!」

Shadiberga held the holster of his sword that was at his waist and threatened Durf.

If Durf continues to insult Sefina, Shadiberga will definitely unsheathe his sword.

Then, without taking his sword from the sheath, he faced Durf.

But still, Shadiberga.

It seemed to have acted just as the other side wanted.

「… then, are you challenging me to a Duel?」

「――Ah?」

Shadiberga froze with a face that seemed to mean, 「Damn it」.

Yes, a nobleman had threatened another nobleman with his sword.

And the other party,

「Very good. I will accept your challenge」

After saying that, a battle began in which the pride of both families would be wagered.

It was something totally inevitable.

It was tacit understanding.

After reaching this point, we can’t pull back.

We had reached a point of no return.

「It’s a great opportunity to crush you, little nobles who can’t do anything but annoy me.

You have already bothered to jump into your own death.

It would be very rude of me if I didn’t take this opportunity, right?」

Durf let out a loud laugh as he placidly said that,

His loud laugh echoed throughout the mansion.

And so, it was decided that my House would face them in a Duel.

What did you just do?

◆◆◆◆

「… I don’t know what to say to apologize」

「No, it’s fine. Even if you bow your head, you won’t be able to turn back the time anyway」

It had been a while since Durf left the mansion.

Shadiberga had been depressed since then.

Moreover, he had been bowing his head all the time, towards me and Wokins.

「But even so, I wasn’t able to control myself after he said all those things about Sefina …」

「No, if Father hadn’t got out of control like that, I would have started attacking him myself.

I think it would have even become a bloody scene. Rather, I think I was really angry at the time too」

Anyway, if Wokins had been the one to explode, it wouldn’t have been nice.

I already knew that Shadiberga would get angry when they started insulting Sefina.

However, his reaction was three times higher than what I expected.

「That’s right, Shadiberga-sama.

Please don’t continue prostrating.

If you keeps rubbing your head against the floor like that, you’ll end up getting even balder 」

「I’m not prostrating!

And besides, I already told you not to mention something about my baldness!」

Shadiberga began to deny it desperately.

That’s good.

It seems that he finally recover some energy.

Then, it is time to receive a more detailed explanation.

「Father, what did he mean when he said we would face a duel?

How will we decide who wins and who loses specifically? Will it be a war with soldiers?」

「No. Necessarily there is neither victory nor defeat.

In order not to drastically diminish the forces of both houses, several laws were created to regulate the Duel」

「The Kingdoms called them, 『Duel Laws』」

Wokins said that complementing his explanation.

Duel Laws.

That is something new for me.

Even so, it seems to be common sense that one House challenges another to a duel when they point their sword.

Even so, according to their history, there seems to be a series of rules in between when the Nobles compete for their pride.

Apparently they call these, 『The Seven Articles of Duel』, which are strictly regulated by law.

By the way, the Duel Laws are composed of the following seven rules.

First.

The Duel will only take place when one House challenges another, and the challenged House accepts the challenge.

In our case, Shadiberga started this when he threatened Durf with his sword.

Since the other party accepted that as a challenge, the necessary conditions for filing the Duel were met.

Second.

The Head of each House will select any person to participate in the Duel as their representative.

The Duel will consist of a one-on-one combat.

In other words, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the Nobles who face.

Therefore, they usually prefer to hire mercenaries or a soldier to represent them.

With this method, the House is able to maintain a little more resources after the duel.

The collapse of the nobility that supports the Kingdom would be the same as the collapse of the Kingdom itself after all.

It is an appropriate measure to prevent the state from falling apart.

Third.

The battle between the two challengers will continue until either party dies or surrenders.

Even if they say it will end when one of the two admits defeat, there have been no cases in which either of them could say, 『I give up』.

Basically, they would have to continue until death.

And even if someone lowered his sword and surrendered, most likely he would end up being killed anyway by his employer.

Fourth.

Once an agreement is reached, both sides must publish the Duel.

The loser will also be forced to give the winner whatever it asks.

However, this can cause some disagreement.

That is why whatever the nobles want, they must write it on a piece of paper and present it to the referee before the match, and these are kept secret until a winner is decided.

By the way, there seems to be a reason for that.

In this Kingdom, asceticism is a symbol of the Stoic Nobility.

So all those prideful nobles will avoid openly saying things like, 『I want this』 or 『I want that』 in the middle of the Duel.

Therefore, they submit a written request before the duel.

By the way, there is no rule about it, but it seems common sense to ask only one thing from the other party.

It seems to be some kind of unspoken agreement among all the nobles.

From what I have heard so far, I already have an idea of who we are going to choose as our representative.

If we chose Wokins, anyone who chooses our opponent would end up being completely defeated.

However, the other party is surely aware that he can use the next rule to prevent us from choosing her for combat, so it is better not to take anything for granted.

Fifth.

In the event that any person affiliated with the house is related to the petition, the other party can send a notification to exclude that person from combat.

In addition, it is strictly prohibited for any member of the Houses involved to perform any detrimental act towards the Individual related to the request before the Duel, self-harm is also prohibited.

In addition, after sending the notification, the House that sent it cannot make any changes to it.

To put it another way, it would be like, 『I will be demand the Individual A, so prevent the participation of Individual A in combat』 or something like that.

So, if you wonder why they do that …

Suppose you want to snatch the expert Mercenary A in a good state from the opponent’s House, in other words―― Notification is to ensure that the Mercenary A remains 『intact』.

If your opponent’s House sent Mercenary A to fight for them, and assuming you ended up winning.

At that time, the defeated Mercenary A that you acquired would not be usable.

There were also cases in which loyal soldiers from the other side preferred to injure themselves before or after the fight so as not to have to leave their employer.

This law is very painful for the nobles who are forced to surrender their loyal subordinate.

If you use this rule well, you can prevent Wokins from participating in combat.

These kinds of rules that treats people as simple goods make me want to vomit.

Even so, it seems to be a custom that has been around for a long time, so I can’t do anything about it.

「Father, has the other side already demand Wokins?」

「Yes, before they left they told me, 『I plan to demand Wokins, so don’t think about choosing her as your representative』」

「Well, I already imagined that they would use that rule in their benefit」

With this, we have become unable to choose Wokins as our representative.

Although we could have solved all this immediately if we could have chosen her.

This has become a very serious situation.

「… Ha~a. That’s a really annoying rule」

Wokins let out a sigh.

If we could only eliminate that rule we would not have to worry so much.

Well, it doesn’t matter what I think, I can’t do anything about it anyway.

Then I ask for the explanation of the following rule.

Sixth.

After the Duel, both Casa will be strictly forbidden to come into contact with each other.

This is a rule created to prevent the opposite side from taking any reprisals for resentment.

Failure to comply with this would result in receiving all kinds of reprimands from the rest of the nobility.

Due to numerous past battles, no noble has dared to break this rule.

Seventh.

The Kingdom will send someone who functions as a duel observer, who will also be in charge of investigating both House to avoid any kind of fraud during the Duel.

In addition, the duel will take place in the Arena of the Royal Capital―― and will be expected by the rest of the Nobles of the Kingdom.

The arbitrator will be someone specifically sent by the Kingdom in order to strictly regulate the rules of the Duel.

Because of this, the Referee will have considerable authority.

He also has the ability to disqualify someone if he believes he committed a foul.

I feel relieved with that, so we will not be misjudged during the Duel.

In addition, the Duel will take place in front of all the Nobility of the Kingdom to be able to impart justice.

This is a rule created so that absolutely no fault occurs during the Duel.

「So those are the Laws of Duel. Now I understand better what it is about」

「In addition to those, there are also the calls, «Supplementary Laws of Duel,» but since those have not yet been detailed you can ignore them」

「Couldn’t we just kill him?」

「Absolutely not. If we did, Din House would be condemned for the rest of the Nobility」

「Just kidding, don’t take it so seriously」

Shadiberga was immediately agitated when I said that and tried to persuade me in a state of panic.

Seriously, he is reacting very exaggeratedly.

On the other hand, Wokins, who had not talked until now while we finished discussing, suddenly made a suggestion.

「There is still a month left for the Duel.

What if I choose someone outgoing from army and start training him now?」

Certainly, that is probably the best alternative at this time.

We have no more alternatives.

But even so, Shadiberga still refute it.

「No, we will not use someone from the Army.

They have a lot of experience in group battles, but they don’t know anything about individual fighting」

「Do you prefer to hire a mercenary in that case?」

「Confidence bought with money is too fragile.

In addition, our House doesn’t have enough funds left to hire a mercenary who can win」

「… So, what are we going to do?」

Wokins inclined her head.

Shadiberga is lost in his own thoughts.

I think I could, somehow, do it.

I think that, even if my chances of winning are low, I still will make my way to victory.

Anyway, I won’t listen to them if they try to stop me.

I thought while waiting to see how Shadiberga will respond to the situacion.

「―― I’ll go」

「Are you crazy? The enemy will probably send a skilled mercenary.

Do you think you have any chance to win?」

「It’s not if I can win or I can’t win. I will win」

Shadiberga said that with an imposing and powerful voice.

Even Wokins trembled slightly when she heard him.

He said that with a powerful spirit.

But still he didn’t tell Wokins.

He was just trying to inspire himself.

「I’ll make sure to make Durf pay for the insults he told Sefina with my own hands」

He had a strong determination.

Shadiberga, who usually spoke insecurely, today speak very seriously.

It seems that he really couldn’t forgive Durf.

Well, I already agree with him, however.

Winning or losing has nothing to do with it.

「We will leave as soon as possible to the Royal Capital as soon as we finish the preparations.

This has made me reach the limit of my patience.

I’ll make sure to punish Durf myself――」

Shadiberga was on fire.

He was heading towards his own destruction.

But, it didn’t matter how much we tried to persuade him, he didn’t change his mind.

He had insulted his beloved Wife.

If I were in the place of Shadiberga, I would have been angry too.

He was furious. He was not willing to let his opponent go.

「We’ll leave tomorrow! Just wait for me Durf! I will definitely not succumb to you!」

He too is unable to see the whole situation, but still, his spirit is something worth of respect.

I can’t let this guy die.

Based on my experience, such a hot-blooded man shouldn’t die.

In addition, I also have to protect Wokins.

――And I would like to be a person who can save someone else.

The words I said that day resonate in my head.

I finally have another chance.

Let me protect you with all i have this time.

The following day.

As soon as we left, an important fact was revealed to me.

That’s right, I just vomit up in the carriage.

Each time the horse-drawn carriage moved from side to side.

*<ruby>Gerogero<rt>《throw up》</rt></ruby>*. «That» spurted out.

By the way, by the time we reached the Royal Capital, my weight had already been reduced by 1kg.

I want my medicine for motion sickness.

NT: As always, if you find something weird, whatever, just tell me in the comments.

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