Chapter 18

My wooden sword, which had been wobbling, swung aimlessly through the air and, by some miracle, struck his chin with perfect accuracy.

“Keh!”

Naturally, his body was sent flying by the unexpected clean hit, and he tumbled to the ground, rolling across the floor.

On the contrary, I, who had already lost my balance, managed to avoid falling by using the sword as a support.

“Eh?”

The proper hit instantly brought silence to the surroundings.

“Guh?!”

Baltian, who was standing up with a bewildered expression, not knowing what had just happened, faced me as I, still unsteady, lightly brought down my wobbling wooden sword.

The basic stance of this sword technique is to expose as many openings as possible.

And it involves thoroughly mocking the opponent.

“Huh...”

Unlike his anger, the surrounding people let out forced laughter.

After all, the previous strike had produced an unexpected result.

“I’ll kill you!!”

Perhaps because he had been hit despite giving up the first move.

The boy, who had been glaring at me with a terrifying expression, quickly lunged forward with his sword.

Indeed, even if he was rotten, he was still a pike.

However, as a talented representative of the Boltez nation, his sword was certainly sharper than that of boys his age.

His posture was decent, and his sword strikes were quite sharp.

But.

Due to his lack of experience, his sword path was straightforward.

This was true not only for Baltian but for most people as well.

Clang!!

I took a step forward and swung my sword at him.

From my legs to my waist and shoulders, there was no proper support, and my stance was sloppy, making it almost impossible to stop him.

As my sword was deflected by his swing, a gasp of shock echoed around the room.

“Big brother!”

I also heard Winry’s worried cry.

Even those who thought they understood the situation seemed to believe that I had only managed to deflect Baltian’s sword by chance and that such a coincidence would not happen again.

Well.

Clang!

In response to his determined swing, I immediately released the tension in my legs, losing my balance.

“Eh?!”

At the same time, my body was spun around by the force of his swing, and I fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding his sword.

Whoosh!!!

And, taking advantage of the brief opening, my sword, which had lost its target, swung wildly and...

struck his forehead again.

* * *

“Keh!!”

It was the same situation again.

The surrounding people were shocked, their mouths agape at the sudden turn of events.

Who was Baltian?

Although he had a nasty personality, he was one of the promising participants in this sword competition.

On the other hand, I was known to have been in a coma for six years before regaining consciousness, a weak prince.

I had not properly learned swordsmanship.

Indeed, the sloppy stance I had shown would have reinforced their belief that I was unskilled.

However, the result was different from what they had expected.

Instead of being easily overpowered and losing my sword, my sloppy swings had taken down Baltian twice.

If this had been a real fight, he would have been dead twice already.

“Cheap trick!!”

“Hmm, am I winning? You seem to be weaker than I thought.”

My words made Baltian, who had jumped to his feet, turn red with shame.

“Huh.”

Finally, someone in the crowd couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing, which only fueled Baltian’s anger.

“This is the worst.”

“How can a beginner who doesn’t even know how to swing a sword...”

“Baltian, they said you needed to be careful, but at this level...”

“Grr!!!”

Unable to argue with them, Baltian gritted his teeth and glared at me.

Having been hit twice, his defeat was a foregone conclusion, but he refused to admit it.

Let’s see if I can provoke him a bit more.

This time, my body was more cautious. He was afraid of being hit by another unlikely coincidence.

So, if he is cautious, he won’t lose.

That’s what he must be thinking as he watches from a distance.

If he doesn’t come to me, I’ll have to go to him.

I charged at him with the same sloppy stance and swung my sword wildly.

It was a truly sloppy technique, with no proper distance, force distribution, or direction, like a child swinging a sword randomly.

Clang!!

Indeed, my center of gravity was not properly maintained, and the force in my sword strikes was not high.

Clang!! Clang!!

Seeing him calmly block my consecutive strikes, the people in the hall seemed to think I would soon be defeated.

But.

Whoosh!!

When my blind swing hit his temple, everyone gasped in shock.

* * *

“Keh?!”

A wild sword technique.

A slow and weak strike that a properly trained person would never allow.

Everyone could see it.

So why did he get hit again?

Baltian, who was staggering from the blow, looked completely confused.

“Ugh, did it hit?”

I froze, looking dazed, and the surrounding people laughed again.

“What... you’re supposed to be an expert, right?”

“Are you at the same level as us? How can you get hit by such a sword?”

“Maybe you’re not that great after all...”

“If this happens three times, it must be true.”

No one thought I was intentionally creating this situation.

“No, no! It’s not like that! This is...”

“Your excuses are pitiful.”

“Tsk tsk.”

At this point, Baltian’s expression was one of utter frustration.

He had certainly blocked the strikes calmly.

The first time was a coincidence, the second time was a coincidence, and it was a strike he shouldn’t have been hit by.

But he was hit.

Others might not see it, but there was something strange that only Baltian, who was facing me directly, could feel.

Of course, explaining it to them wouldn’t change anything.

I smiled at the agitated boy.

This sword technique is all about this.

Literally.

A drunkard’s sword technique.

It means a sword that swings like a drunkard.

A sword technique devised by Dukgo Jun, the best drunkard in the Hero’s Hall, and refined by the sword god Harees, who found it interesting.

- Damn, I created this, but it’s a truly evil sword technique!

Even the ill-tempered Dukgo Jun had to stick out his tongue at this sword technique.

- If you have any conscience as a human, don’t use it unless you want to bury it socially.

Harees, who was summarizing the completed sword technique, also frowned and advised against using it.

Is it heavy? Sharp?

No.

It’s because of the damn cheating and mocking nature that runs through the entire sword technique.

Even the two old men, who walked their own righteous paths, would feel that this was too evil.

Not for protecting someone, or killing someone, or reaching some grand goal.

It’s a sword technique with the sole purpose of humiliating the opponent in front of everyone.

What else could this be called but an evil sword technique?

Swinging like a drunkard, dodging or neutralizing the opponent’s attacks, and landing effective strikes unexpectedly.

It’s a highly efficient sword technique, but the pattern of the technique itself serves to frustrate the opponent.

The effect is even greater when someone is watching.

Like now.

“Hmm, am I just lucky? Or is the opponent weaker than I thought?”

“Damn!!”

This sword technique is so close to a variety show that when I learned it, I jokingly called it a “variety sword” instead of a “drunkard’s sword.”

A sword technique that pursues extreme entertainment.

It’s no exaggeration to call it the meta of variety shows.

Of course, if it were just for entertainment and weak, it would be meaningless.

Even a sword technique created for variety shows wouldn’t be weak, as it was created by sword gods.

Unexpected results, the perception of those around.

Baltian, who was flustered by the current situation, finally began to draw mana and emit a sword aura.

“Prince Baltian! Emitting a sword aura in a non-lethal sparring match against a non-knight! Are you in your right mind?!”

Before Baris could react, Princess Ilena shouted.

But it seemed that Baltian’s mind was already spinning, and he ignored her, emitting a menacing aura as he lunged at me.

“I’ll kill you!”

With a cold sword aura, he lunged at me, and I immediately took a step back.

As if I were scared.

“It’s too late to dodge!”

“Brother!”

As Baris shouted and tried to rush to my defense,

‘If this continues, I’ll be suspected.’

There was one person who had been looking at me with a puzzled expression.

I decided to stop mocking him and pretended to trip and fall.

Clang!!

At the same time, his sword, charged with aura, sliced through the air where my head had been and dissipated uselessly.

“Eh?!”

I saw his eyes widen as I suddenly fell backward and avoided his sword.

Stupid kid.

When I whispered this in a very low voice, his eyes widened in shock.

He seemed to realize something was wrong and tried to run away,

but it was a bit too late now.

There was no way I could turn back now.

The only thing I could do was the drunkard’s sword!

“Gah!”

As I kicked his leg with my flailing foot, he lost his balance and fell toward me.

Thud!!

We tumbled on the ground, as if in a street fight.

Those watching this miserable and disgraceful sparring match were speechless.

Clang!!

And, when the moment of tension ended,

I reflexively swung my sword and struck the ground next to his head, as if I had fallen on top of him.

It looked like a clean hit from a defensive swing.

“...”

Baltian, lying on the ground.

And I, sitting on top of him, with my sword pressed against the ground next to his head.

The shock and cold silence that enveloped the hall were the result of this incredible coincidence.

Everyone was looking at me, shocked by this unbelievable coincidence.

When I met their gazes, I saw Baltian, who had been rolling on the ground with me, lying beneath me with a look of disbelief.

There’s a lot to be shocked about.

I slowly lifted my sword, which had struck the ground next to his head, and smiled.

“Seems like I won?”

Pretending to know nothing.

I mumbled with a thick face.

The silence lasted longer than expected.