MFWSP 46

Chapter 46

“Yaaaah!”
“Take this!”
Morbe and Aken pushed each other with incredible speed and strength.
When Aken’s sword seemed to graze Morbe’s neck, Morbe’s sword slashed Aken’s stomach.
“That’s the end!”
“You know me well!”
Morbe’s sword stabbed straight forward, but Aken blocked it with his teeth and charged his body against Morbe.
The giants’ bodies collided like tanks, and Morbe fell backward.
Aken, having the upper hand, quickly adjusted his grip on his sword and pressed the blade to Morbe’s neck.
“Oh, today Senior Aken won! That makes it 5 wins and 3 losses now?”
Some knights cheered. But Lissian just watched them without moving.
“Hey, kid! Aren’t you going to clap?”
A knight near Lissian tapped his shoulder.
“Senior Aken won…”
“Idiot, he lost.”
“What?”
Lissian pointed at Morbe and Aken — more precisely, at Aken’s neck.
The knight’s eyes widened.
Though partly hidden by Aken’s body, a sharp dagger was pressed against his neck.
The one holding the dagger was none other than Morbe, who was lying down. Aken and Morbe stood frozen, each with a sword at the other’s neck.
“Oh? When did that happen… So it’s a draw?”
The knight muttered, mouth wide open.
“No, the dagger was faster.”
“But…”
“The kid’s right. If it was a real fight, Aken’s neck would have been pierced. Morbe would’ve only gotten a scar.”
Jurick, watching with them, chuckled and patted Lissian’s other shoulder.
“Good eyesight.”
“…They can switch weapons, huh.”
Lissian muttered to himself instead of answering, still staring at the two who just finished sparring.
“If you use multiple weapons, you get chances to catch your opponent off guard… then you can even beat stronger enemies.”
“Right, kid. Morbe used that method just to show you. Understand the heart of your master?”
Jurick laughed loudly.
“If you do, go and massage his shoulder or something…”
“The straight stab was a trick. He even calculated the clash and changing grip… If he had attacked with the hilt, not the blade, the outcome might have changed…”
Lissian ignored Jurick’s words, swinging his hand through the air as if testing possible strategies Morbe and Aken might have used.
“Looking at his eyes, he’s a crazy guy.”
Jurick clicked his tongue.
As he said, Lissian really was crazy.
No, not just Lissian.
Even Rin and Kyle, buried in their books while surrounded by clashing steel, were the same.
All three seemed like people who lost their minds in their fields.
They didn’t just learn with their heads, but threw their whole selves into learning. They devoured every bit of knowledge they could find.
Rin had been sleeping in the armory for days, barely seeing sunlight.
Not just studying books, she dismantled and reassembled hundreds of weapons, turning theory into practice.
Some weapons had already changed shape and function in her hands, reborn anew.
A few days ago, she fiddled with Jurick’s bow and absurdly improved its accuracy.
She didn’t explain how; she just shifted her interest to the next weapon — a crescent-shaped spear.
Kyle wasn’t sane either.
He had already read the entire bestiary of monsters given to him, and was drawing pictures, deeply analyzing the body structures of monsters seen only in books.
His drawings, combining info from various books, were more precise than existing bestiaries.
After pulling an all-nighter to complete his own bestiary, he went back and reread all the books, correcting errors with his pen.
Muttering explanations that no one but himself could understand — like, “If you combine this author’s travel log and that author’s hunting manual, another author’s guesses are wrong.”
“All three are the same.”
Morbe, who returned after sparring, clicked his tongue.
“Alright, Lissian. It’s your turn. You lost to Matthew yesterday, right? Think you can win today?”
“I will.”
Lissian grabbed his sword and strode toward a young knight signaling from the center of the sparring ground.
“Begin!”
Clang—
“Lissian wins!”
Matthew, a mid-ranking knight in the order, had to watch his sword fly out of his hand at the start.
“Wow, that guy’s a monster.”
“I don’t want to fight him…”
“Anyway, neither of you will fight me.”
“Besides the three seniors, it looks like no one can fight him now.”
The knights murmured, looking fed up.
They were right.
Aside from his natural speed and reflexes, Lissian’s talent for understanding swordsmanship was genius-level.
He learned about a hundred moves for every one he was taught, and applied everything perfectly in the next sparring.
“Next, I’ll fight you.”
Lissian pointed to Aken with a calm expression.
“Ask politely, you punk.”
“…One move, please.”
Though annoyed, Lissian listened to Aken.
Aken smiled and grabbed his sword again.
“Begin!”
The sound of metal clashing fiercely echoed several times.
Though he lasted much longer than before, when Aken struck with full force, Lissian finally fell to the ground.
“Damn, again!”
“Alright.”
Not long after, Lissian was thrown to the ground again.
“Again!”
No matter how many times, the result was the same. Lissian was hit, kicked, almost stabbed in the neck, and his sword was taken from his hand.
“D-damn.”
After Aken hit him in the stomach with an elbow, Lissian couldn’t get up and knelt.
His eyes still blazing, but his legs seemed completely weak.
“That’s a remarkable result. Rest and come at me again tomorrow.”
Aken wiped his sweat and turned away.
“Alright, kid. Tomorrow, you’ll have the honor of getting kicked by Jurick.”
Jurick, who was judging, chuckled and grabbed Lissian’s nose, twisting it while he lay sprawled.
“Get off me!”
Lissian shouted and shook off Jurick’s hand. Jurick just laughed and left the sparring ground with Aken and Morbe.
“Damn, damn, damn!”
Lissian cursed while lying on the floor.
Even Rin and Kyle, who had their faces buried in books, looked up worried.
“……”
I couldn’t bring myself to approach him easily either.
Lissian, red with frustration from head to toe, was a mess.
Judging by how much he was biting his lip, he was really angry. His restless arms were making slashing motions at invisible enemies in the air.
“He’s going to hurt himself.”
Rin muttered, and Kyle nodded.
I sighed deeply.
That idiot Lissian.
He always lies to himself but takes others’ words seriously.
Since the condition was to win within ten days, he firmly believed the promise of giving him the house for his siblings would be canceled if he failed.
Hmm, if his mental breaks, it’ll be a big problem. Even if I cancel the condition, stubborn Lissian wouldn’t accept it.
“Rin, Kyle.”
“Hmm?”
They looked up when I called.
“Can you help me?”
“With what?”
“Something that will help Lissian.”
“Really?”
They straightened up and looked at me with shining eyes.
“Will you help?”
Kyle shouted.
“What do we have to do?”
Rin asked.
“By tomorrow, make one thing together, and then deliver this to Lissian.”
I smiled and helped them up.
“Tomorrow, challenge me to a duel.”