“You have bad luck to be meeting me on your first fight! Listen up! What you need to be the strongest warrior is …”
My first opponent reminded me of the man I used as a shield.
“In other words! It’s the ability to know the difference in strength of your friends and enemies is what makes you the strongest!!”
As far as I know, strong warriors don’t talk this much to the opponent they’ll be fighting with.
I checked the handling of my tournament-sanctioned two-handed sword.
It was crude but at least I can use it as a greatsword.
If the enemy thought so too then there’s no problem.
At the starting signal, the man, still making his speech, raised his one-hand sword overhead in a self-proclaimed certain kill style, and I sunk my sword in his exposed flank.
There was a dull cracking of ribs. The man vomited and fainted.
I’m sorry but I’m not too fond of this kind of guy so I didn’t really hold myself back.
The audience stirred seeing the fight end in two seconds.
The match was over and I received five coppers.
Let’s buy the girls some roast chicken.
It was an anticlimax of a finish, but since there were lots of people in the opening matches, it looks like we’ll be doing two matches in a day.
Before long, my name was called and I stepped out to the arena shouldering the two-handed sword when I saw a familiar face.
“Aegir! I didn’t expect to be seeing you in the second match!”
“Kristoff, I see. Looks like we’re tied by fate”
“I saw your first match, but I’m not that kind of small fry, be very careful. I’d feel bad if I injured you with a surprise attack!”
I see, so Kristoff is quite a skilled swordsman.
Looking at him, I can see he had a well-built body and some battle experience.
I can’t approach this like the one before, huh.
I readied my sword overhead, while Kristoff readied his on his upper-right.
Our gazes met and we smiled.
(Whichever of us won, no hard feelings)
When the starting signal was sounded, both of us lunged and began our deathmatch.
It was over in two seconds.
Without even stopping my downswing, he took it right on his shoulder. He dropped his sword and rolled in pain.
Kristoff was really weak.
“Ow!! You!! Hurt!! Dying!!! Owowow!!”
I looked at Kristoff with cold eyes, but I don’t think of him badly as a person so I lent my shoulders and brought him to the first-aid station.
Seeing the disappointing development, the audience hurled insults at this disappointment of a man.
“T, this isn’t supposed to …”
“You were asking for it. Just bear with the insults”
Probably because he was blessed with a solid body, he didn’t break a single bone.
I held nothing back because he seemed oddly strong, but I’m glad he’s not injured.
Still feeling let down, I ended the day and went back to the inn.