Chapter 19

The spring festival, which celebrates the arrival of spring, is one of the village's annual traditions, and the villagers look forward to it every year.

While it's called a festival, it's more of an internal event where villagers offer preserved foods from the winter and spring mountain vegetables, and the adults show off their one-trick performances and play music.

This year, due to the possibility of evil beasts appearing, the village chief has advised to keep the preserved foods in storage, and the mountain vegetable gathering is restricted due to the mountain entry ban.

Despite this, the village adults have held multiple discussions during the winter to entertain the children, and the food offered is mainly sweet pastries.

With no chance to play in the mountains since autumn and the mountain entry ban still in place even in spring, the adults want to relieve the children's stress. Honey and malt sugar, which are sweeteners, are not cheap, but it's better than having the children sneak into the mountains like Yudo and his friends did last year.

While eating a cake made with plenty of nuts with Shiraha, Rio was sitting in one of the hastily arranged guest seats.

"Karu, do your best!"

"Don't cheer so half-heartedly."

Karu, with a wry smile, stepped into the square wearing only a leather chest plate and gauntlets.

Holding a wooden sword in his left hand, Karu called out to Rakudo, who had also stepped into the square.

"I'm surprised. You're taking this seriously?"

"It's not just about the dojo's reputation, but I'm not underestimating you, Lord Karu."

Rakudo, who answered, was covered in chainmail, with a leather helmet on his head and thick leather armor on his arms and legs. While it was light armor for the Ox style, which was originally heavy cavalry swordsmanship, it was quite imposing for a village entertainment event.

"I can tell you've been studying some kind of sword technique from your posture and stance. I've heard you've reached C-rank as an adventurer. If you've experienced life-and-death battles with beasts, you're not someone to be underestimated."

"I wish you had underestimated me. Besides, I'm treated like a loser who lost an arm and ran away."

"Even if you're not at your best, I can't hold back with the dojo's reputation on the line."

"I see."

Rakudo glared at Karu, who shrugged his shoulders.

While munching on the roasted nuts scattered on the cake, Rio looked at the seats behind Rakudo.

He could see Yudo chatting with his cronies. Yudo was also wearing the same armor as Rakudo.

It seemed they were confident that Rakudo would win, but Rio was exasperated by Yudo and his cronies, who didn't even bother to watch the match about to start.

"Don't they even want to watch and learn from the movements?"

A few of the more serious students were completely ignoring Yudo and his group, observing Rakudo and the others. They probably wanted to learn from the serious Rakudo since they couldn't receive direct instruction from him.

The village chief, seeing that the villagers had gathered, stood between Karu and Rakudo.

"Let's begin. The match will end when one of you is completely on the ground or concedes. We have first aid prepared, but try not to get seriously injured."

After confirming that both were ready, the village chief stepped back and raised his hand.

"---Begin!"

At the signal, the sound of wooden swords clashing echoed.

Karu instantly closed the distance, and Rakudo countered from above.

To avoid being overpowered by the difference in arm strength, the one-armed Karu deflected Rakudo's wooden sword to the side, trying to circle around Rakudo by mimicking the footwork Rio had used.

Just as Rakudo was about to turn to avoid being flanked, Karu, in a crouching stance, swept Rakudo's supporting leg with a horizontal slash.

Rakudo, with his wooden sword just lowered and the tip pointing at the ground, used it to block Karu's wooden sword.

Seeing his attack blocked, Karu pulled the hilt of his wooden sword close to his chest and thrust sharply at Rakudo's inner thigh.

It was a vital point that even heavy armor couldn't protect. The Ox style must have a counter, as Rakudo, without showing any panic, held his wooden sword by the hilt to improve handling and deflected Karu's sword from the side.

Karu, instead of retreating to regroup, jumped lightly and flexibly to Rakudo's side, like a bouncing ball.

He knew the Ox style, which was designed for group formation, was weak against flank attacks.

Karu's relentless attacks, delivered with one arm, were surprisingly continuous. While each strike lacked power due to his one arm, the variety of techniques and the relentless attacks on the Ox style's weaknesses were sharp enough to decide the match with a single mistake.

However, Rakudo continued to handle the situation calmly. He deflected Karu's attacks with a solid defense and hardly seemed out of breath. He was demonstrating the true strength of the Ox style, which could protect a mage in the rear while conserving stamina.

It was clear to everyone that Karu's stamina would run out first.

"---!"

Karu, pushed back by Rakudo's strong deflection, tried to step back but slipped.

The audience sighed, thinking it was over. Some even clapped to praise his effort.

Rakudo, aiming to end the match, raised his wooden sword to the side of his right ear and leaned forward to strike.

An impossible move for Karu, who was falling backward with his arms spread.

However, Karu planted his wooden sword in the ground, leaned on it, and bent his knees to easily escape Rakudo's reach.

Rio watched in amazement, as if Karu had slid backward while crouching.

Realizing he had been lured into a decisive move, Rakudo straightened up just in time to deflect Karu's sharp thrust from the side.

The attack and defense switched in an instant.

Rakudo, gripping the wooden sword near the tsuba with his left hand and the blade with his right, struck Karu's chest with the hilt.

Karu, who had just delivered a powerful thrust but was in an unstable position after his sword was deflected, couldn't resist the force and fell backward.

Karu's wooden sword rolled to Rio's feet.

"---Match over!"

The village chief, looking flustered, declared the end of the match.

Karu, using the momentum from kicking his legs up, quickly stood up.

"Ah... I lost!"

As Karu brushed the dirt off his clothes, Rakudo shook his head, removing his helmet and holding it under his arm.

"If the armor had been the heavy Ox style, I wouldn't have been able to straighten up in time. If Lord Karu had both arms, he wouldn't have been able to deflect the thrust. I lost."

"Haha. But what about next time?"

"Knowing that Lord Karu uses the secret Enro style, I can definitely win."

"I agree. That was fun."

Karu extended his left hand, and Rakudo shook it.

Amidst the applause, Karu walked over to Rio.

"Next is your turn."

"It's hard to follow such a good match."

"Hey, I was pretty serious. Don't complain. Besides, my final thrust probably looked like a desperate move to the villagers who don't know the secret Enro style, so don't worry about it."

As Karu said, almost no one in the village realized that the match had been a close and exciting one. The conversation between Karu and Rakudo was probably drowned out by the applause.

Rio felt a complex mix of emotions, as Karu's efforts might go unnoticed. However, since Karu didn't want the secret Enro style to be known, he couldn't explain it to the villagers.

As he was thinking, Shiraha tugged on Rio's sleeve.

"...Rio, the village chief's reaction was strange."

Now that she mentioned it, the village chief had looked surprised before Karu and Rakudo started talking. From the chief's perspective, Rakudo's victory was a given, so there was no reason to be surprised.

It was a curious reaction, but now was the time to focus on the upcoming match.

Rio stood up and walked to the square.

Yudo, who was still chatting with his cronies, laughed and stood up, walking to the square.

Yudo grinned at Rio.

"Remember when you talked back to me the other day?"

"I remember. You were the one who lost the argument, right? I don't hold grudges, so you can forget about it too."

"You were the one who hit me!"

"What? I don't remember that. When was it?"

Rio, genuinely confused, asked, and Yudo, veins popping on his forehead, raised his wooden sword to the upper position.

"You're getting too cocky for someone who skips training at the dojo. I'll teach you your place, so get ready."

"You're the one who started it."

Rio sighed, not wanting to engage, and raised his wooden sword to a low stance, looking at the village chief.

The village chief, thinking it was just children playing, smiled wryly and raised his hand.

"---Begin!"