A gentle warmth was embracing my cheeks as I opened my eyes.
It seems that my body had been laid down. I had apparently been asleep.
As I was arousing my consciousness, the sound of a dead dry wood being burst open could be heard.
Finding a peculiar sound, I moved my face in that direction and found an open-air fire a little ways from my spot.
The fire that had the perfect blaze for burning wood, was burning wood.
Needless to say, having a fire like this was out of the ordinary, unless one did it by oneself.
In that case, someone──no need to say who it was──lit the fire.
「….The one who lost, me.」
「Oh, you woke up.」
While supporting my upper body, I muttered in the direction of the culprit who built the fire.
On the other side of the fire Chester was placing in wood while laughing.
….Damn it. It was just a little more and I would have beaten him. Involuntarily, I grit my teeth.
For me, it was a desperate struggle that used up all my energy, but Chester seems to have some spare energy left.
The evidence for this was the position I woke up in, as well as the bonfire.
Moreover, my body only ached, and wasn’t in any serious pain.
Even though I had been injecting the maximum amount of magic into my fist during the fight, I still had enough magic to heal serious injuries.
Besides the two decades that I didn’t experience due to my rebirth, there was also a twelve year blank.
It wasn’t like I was trying to make an excuse but, it seems that during those years, he had raised his strength a lot──I was weak.
「Complete defeat…for sure.」
「Ah. With a body of a brat, you didn’t even skip a day of discipline. You still aren’t accustomed to that body, right? It was just a little, but your techniques were a bit dull.」
For a while, silence ensues.
….Honestly, I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated at feeling frustrated and I couldn’t help but clench my fist until blood came out.
My foundation has to be worked on. I had worked on my magical power more than I had in my previous existence in order to make it perfect.
However, this was the result.
The hands and feet of a child are short. The skills that I had gotten in my previous existence couldn’t be properly used even if I did understand the 「Principle」behind the skill.
Chester had used a feint, one which I could have easily grasp his hand in──however, that was only if this were my previous existence. Then, I definitely would have been able to grab his hand by moving faster than Chester’s reaction speed.
This was just a talk of “if”…the result is unchanged. I had to accept my defeat.
….Though, if this were a deathmatch, I would have definitely been dead today.
I wasn’t going to abhor it, after all, I used all my strength and lost. Other people probably weren’t as lucky and died because stupid things came out of their mouths. (TL: No idea what the Japanese idiom on the second line means so I put this.)
For my nemesis to step into an even higher realm, I couldn’t feel any jealousy towards him. Compared to the me who had died once to understand 「Martial Arts」, this guy had a way longer life.
He was closer to the position of strongest than I was. That’s why, it was enviable, but couldn’t be helped.
「You.」
「What.」
「I had polished my 「Martial Arts」with the intention to fight, so what the hell.」
Perhaps, there was no one who could defeat Chester unless he was delivered to them on a silver platter. While the world certainly was wide, it was like trying to find a pin inside of a haystack in order to find a worthy opponent for this guy.
That is to say, what was this man fighting for?
I was suddenly very concerned, and wanted to hear his answer. ──To answer the mystery, even though it was already known.
「….Who knows? I hadn’t thought of such a thing. Ever since you had died, I suddenly lost the motivation. I only polished my「Martial Arts」because it was a daily routine. Because every day happened in such a manner, I hadn’t really thought about it.」
──So, there was no such reason. His goal could be described in two words; uncertain. (TL: I think this line means what it means because the 2 JP words mean uncertain)
It was the same after all; people didn’t become a「Martial Artist」if they didn’t have the resolve to aim to be the strongest.