Chapter 110: Tournament (2)

Sven passed the preliminaries without difficulty. Cheers erupted from the area where the Liberta group had gathered.

Sven pointed at the defeated opponents with an arrogant expression.

“Hey, you guys. You’re weak.”

Seeing that, Yuri murmured,

“I want to give him a good whack on the head…”

He was planning to teach him some humility with his fists very soon. Completely unaware of what Yuri was thinking, Sven strutted off the stage.

Due to limited time, the preliminaries progressed quickly.

“Your sword isn’t even a stream. It’s stagnant water.”

“¡Kugh…!”

“But even that puddle will eventually flow into the sea. Train until your sword becomes as vast as mine.”

Froin qualified as the representative of Brusen.

“Too easy.”

Fenek and Sybilla of the Holy Kingdom also advanced to the final round without trouble.

The duke’s son, with his hair perfectly slicked back, won with ease, and Hasan silently defeated his opponents without saying a single word.

There were participants from many countries, but most of those who qualified were from the Empire.

“The Empire’s talents are impressive.”

“Right? Hahahaha…”

At Yuri’s comment, Ragnar let out a laugh, though his expression wasn’t entirely cheerful.

It had only been a short while since he learned that the crown prince was spreading corruption throughout the Empire. His mind must’ve been in chaos.

As evening fell, Laurent appeared on stage for the final preliminary round. Five men stepped up to the platform together.

Ragnar looked at Laurent and remarked,

“Laurent is a good guy. But it would’ve been better if you had participated.”

“I wanted to compete too.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“I’m pretty busy, as you can imagine…”

“Hmm…”

Yuri’s words had a deeper meaning. He was the prince of Briol, and he was working hard to solve the Empire’s problems. Ragnar gave a wry smile.

“Don’t throw that in my face.”

“I just hope you don’t give me a reason to.”

“This brat sure is throwing jabs…”

While they chatted, the match began.

“Final preliminary round. Two finalists will be selected. Begin!”

Laurent moved smoothly as he spun his practice sword. His agility drew gasps from the spectators.

“Is that the knight Laurent?”

“Incredible.”

“They say he dominated fencing tournaments as a child.”

Yuri’s fame had helped spread Laurent’s name as well. The fact that he had won several fencing tournaments as a child made many people focus their attention on him.

Laurent remained composed. But suddenly, as if prearranged, the other four participants charged him all at once.

“Hey, what is this?!”

“How dirty!”

“Did they plan this?”

“Again, again!”

The audience hurled complaints. However, Laurent remained unfazed.

He moved as light as a feather, slipped out of the encirclement, and struck the back of one of the men standing at the edge of the stage. Then he grabbed the opponent—who doubled over in pain—by the neck and tossed him off the stage, eliminating him.

He didn’t rely on brute strength or flaunt his speed. All his movements flowed naturally, as if they were the simplest thing in the world.

Yuri smiled.

“You’ve become strong, Laurent.”

Laurent had already been strong in his previous life, but now he was growing at an impressive pace. As his leader, Yuri felt proud.

“Yuri, now’s not the time to smile like that.”

“Why not?”

“If Laurent wins the tournament…”

Ragnar’s eyes widened.

“That would mean he gets Yekaterina. Ah, what a waste that would be. Doesn’t it worry you even a little?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“That’d be a great loss. By the time you regret it, it’ll be too late.”

“Your Highness. I’ve been meaning to tell you something…”

Yuri placed a hand on Ragnar’s back. For anyone else, touching a member of royalty like that would be disrespectful, but neither of them minded.

A friendship that transcended age and status had formed between them.

“First, we should ask the princess what she thinks.”

Ragnar had only intended to arrange an introduction, but the emperor had gone so far as to arbitrarily decide his daughter’s marriage.

Yuri gave a bitter smile and said,

“Honestly, it doesn’t sound so great.”

Ragnar turned to Yuri. His eyes were filled with burning emotion.

“Yuri.”

“Yes.”

“You’re a great man…”

“…”

“If only I had a daughter…”

“I’d rather you didn’t…”

“You really are a great guy.”

Ragnar put an arm around Yuri’s shoulders.

“You’re right. That’s the proper thing to do.”

“Just knowing that is enough.”

“So I’ll talk to Yekaterina and formally introduce you—”

“Please, stop already…”

While they were having that trivial conversation, Laurent defeated the remaining three.

Only two were supposed to be left standing, but Laurent knocked everyone out in the blink of an eye. The referee decided that the last one to fall would move on to the next round with him.

Thus ended the preliminaries. The tournament’s main contenders were now determined.

“The first match will be the day after tomorrow. See you then!”

The referee announced the end of the preliminaries with a bow. The crowd began to disperse.

Yuri and Ragnar also left the area. As they walked, some citizens approached to greet them. Yuri responded kindly.

“Prince, why didn’t you participate?”

“Laurent competed in my place.”

“Is Laurent stronger than you?”

“How childish. Avoid questions like that. Obviously, I’m stronger.”

“Is Got doing okay?”

“I don’t know. We’re not that close.”

“Huh?”

***

The Imperial Palace was in celebration.

And for good reason, as the tournament’s prize was the hand of the imperial princess, and the Empire’s best knights had advanced to the final round.

For the Empire’s citizens, it was an event worth celebrating fervently.

However, unlike that festive atmosphere, Yuri was busy with the drug issue.

“Where’s Gorio?”

“Since then, those who were selling the drug haven’t shown up again.”

“Could it be they realized we were tracking them…?”

Now that his suspicions were starting to be confirmed, Yuri felt a growing sense of helplessness.

It was as if everything he had done so far had been useless, and the Empire continued marching steadily toward war. He wanted to storm into the Imperial Palace right then, cut off the crown prince’s head, and shout that the bastard was a damn dark sorcerer.

“Dark magic…”

That was the real issue in the end.

“Looks like for now, we have no choice but to wait…”

Yuri stood from his seat. Thinking so much made him want to sweat a bit. Then he remembered something.

“Jared.”

“Yes.”

“How about we take the day off?”

“Sounds good.”

“Follow me.”

“Didn’t you just say we were taking the day off?”

“Lies.”

Before leaving Briol, Bernard had told him that if he needed help, he should look for Sparrow of the Swordsmanship Guild.

Not that he needed help right now, but he wanted to meet him at least once. Yuri went out with Jared and, after asking around, found the location of the Swordsmanship Guild.

The guild was housed in an old building.

A rusted sign hung outside, showing only a drawing of a sword and the words “Swordsmanship Guild.”

Upon entering, they found a fairly spacious training hall, where several people were sparring with practice swords. A man who had been training approached, wiping off sweat.

“How can I help you?”

“I want to see Sparrow of the Swordsmanship Guild.”

“The master?”

“Yes.”

“May I ask why?”

“I just want to sweat a little.”

“You’re requesting a sparring match?”

“You could say that.”

Lately, Yuri had felt the urge to face a new opponent. Perhaps, deep down, he regretted not participating in the tournament.

“The master isn’t here right now.”

“When will he be back?”

“Who knows…”

The man scratched his head.

“He’s very unpredictable…”

At that moment, the door swung open and someone walked in.

“Of course I’m unpredictable!”

“Oh, master. You’re back.”

Yuri turned around. It was a middle-aged man with a mustache. He had quite a large body—not muscular, more like plump. He looked nothing like what Yuri had imagined Sparrow to be.

“And who are you?”

“Well…”

The man leaned in and whispered something to Sparrow.

“Briol?”

“Yes.”

“The prince of Briol, huh…?”

It seemed the man had recognized Yuri. Sparrow stared at him and said,

“Did you come prepared? I’ve got a score to settle with that place…”

“A score?”

“Isn’t that Bernard guy from there?”

“A score to settle? That’s the first I’ve heard of it. I thought it was the other way around.”

“Nonsense!”

He pulled out a curved sword from his waist and swung it. Jared immediately stepped forward to block him from Yuri.

“Don’t disrespect the prince.”

“Oh, you brought a bodyguard.”

Yuri thought Jared was finally acting like a proper bodyguard for the first time in a while.

“Let’s see how good you are, bodyguard.”

Sparrow stepped forward and suddenly slashed. It was incredibly fast.

Though he hadn’t seen it coming, Jared instinctively blocked the strike with his sword, thanks to his beast-like reflexes.

Sparrow whistled.

“Whoa, you’re fast.”

“Are you drawing your sword because you really want to go serious?”

“Serious? If I had, you wouldn’t be standing.”

As their swords clashed, the man who had welcomed Yuri tried to stop Sparrow.

“Master, what are you doing? This man is a prince!”

“But he’s friends with that bastard Bernard.”

“Still, you can’t do this.”

“Tsk…”

Yuri asked,

“What happened for you to resent him so much?”

“Resentment?”

Sparrow lifted his shirt. His large belly and thick body hair were revealed.

Yuri and Jared winced.

“My eyes…”

“Mine too…”

Sparrow chuckled and lifted the shirt higher.

“Not this, look higher…”

Then he showed a long scar on the right side of his chest.

“That damn ‘Swordsman’ attacked me out of nowhere, saying he wanted to test his technique. Left me with this scar. Could’ve at least warned me! He pounced on me at night without a word, a damn lunatic.”

Yuri shook his head.

Apparently, Bernard had been truly wild back then. Fortunately, now that he had met his father, it seemed he had learned some manners.

“What a nasty guy.”

“Exactly!”

“But that was his issue. Why take it out on me?”

“Aren’t you his student?”

“Yes, but blaming the student for the master’s sins is ridiculous.”

“The master’s sins are the student’s sins.”

“How old-fashioned.”

“I call it accuracy.”

“Fine, let’s do this.”

Yuri smiled and stepped forward.

“Then…”

While pretending to make a suggestion, he suddenly grabbed the man next to Sparrow and threw him to the ground.

Sparrow, startled, raised his sword, but Yuri was faster and drew Guilty.

The icy blade grazed the man’s neck.

“I can do it too. If you attack the third prince of Briol with your sword, what if I blame your disciple? How about that?”

“That’s low…”

“Oh really? Yours was a strategy, and mine is low?”

“Not the same. Bernard isn’t here, but I am.”

“What kind of cheap logic is that?”

“Fine, let him go.”

Yuri gave a wry smile and released the man he’d held hostage.

“Hey, sorry. It’s your master’s fault, so blame him.”

“Y-yes…”

Sparrow frowned and stepped closer to Yuri.

“Alright, I suppose you have a request. What do you want?”

“Excuse me?”

“If Bernard’s student came all the way here, you must want something.”

“Well, yes, but… weren’t you his enemy?”

“I am, but I’ll grant your request anyway.”

“What kind of ridiculous logic is that?”

Sparrow lifted his shirt again. Yuri and Jared quickly looked away.

“Why are you looking away? Look!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“After he stabbed me in the chest…”

He said,

“I begged him to spare me, and he said that if I ever asked him for something, I’d have to say yes. I agreed, and that’s how I saved my skin. Whew.”

Sparrow said it proudly.

Even in front of his students, he openly revealed that he had begged for his life. For Yuri, who had been haunted by guilt for something similar in his past life, it was an unexpected blow.

“Aren’t you ashamed?”

“Why? You can lose a fight. If I were invincible, do you think I’d be here?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“But now it’ll be different. I’ve perfected my family’s secret technique—Single Strike!”

“What?”

“Single Strike! It pierces everything. If I meet Bernard again, I’ll skewer him with one blow.”

“And what’s your family?”

“A famous swordsman house that once produced a Swordmaster.”

“No way… Sparrow Apache?”

“Oh, you know it!”

In one of the books from the Imperial Archive, the author of Single Strike had the surname Apache.

Was Sparrow descended from that author?

“The Swordmaster you’re talking about—is it Jackson Apache?”

“Exactly! I see you’ve heard of his fame too!”

‘As annoying as the ancestor… and the descendant.’

“Excuse me?”

“It’s fine. I have a request for you.”

Yuri looked at Sparrow and said,

“Teach me the Single Strike.”