Chapter 102: Reunion (4)
“…?”
Brian Burns’ head turned to Bratt Lloyd.
He had no choice but to do that. His words made him doubt his ears.
Get serious?
Then, did that mean they weren’t at their best right now?
He couldn’t understand. No, he didn’t want to accept it.
Even the swordsmanship the two had shown so far, was so amazing that no young person could do it.
No, they were stronger than most people their age. And they were close to an Expert…
‘That means… it means, those two who turned 20 had reached the Expert Level…’
Was it possible?
He stared with a blank expression for a while, then looked at the hall.
It wasn’t just that.
Everyone in the Murray manor’s hall was looking at them.
Judith who looked around said.
“You’re a lot better than I thought, Irene.”
“I practiced hard.”
“I see, I get it. I thought that you were meditating or something trying to find your sword, but I guess that wasn’t right?”
“Haha…”
“You didn’t learn all this alone, who did you learn it from?”
“Hmm…”
Irene Pareira had a puzzled expression at the question.
It was weird to say he learned it alone or he learned things from people. And if he had to explain briefly, she would think he was weird.
“I’ll tell you that later.”
“Well, that isn’t very important at this moment, so okay”
Judith took her stance again.
Without a drop of sweat on her, and a smile.
It showed how relaxed she was.
However, it was the same with Irene.
Concentrating, he looked at Judith, and Judith, too, looked at him with eyes full of tension, anticipation, and excitement.
The tension that couldn’t be compared to the warm-up match.
In an instant, Judith’s form blurred.
Step!
A leap strong enough to crack the hall!
It wasn’t that she jumped into the air.
She lowered herself and then put force on her back leg as she leaped a little over the floor and moved like a ray of light.
Irene didn’t miss it.
His sharp eyes caught his opponent’s movements.
And thrust his huge sword down.
Whoops!
Judith avoided it, but she didn't move back.
She rolled on the ground and then dashed ahead, and with her left elbow she aimed for Irene’s abdomen.
A surprise attack that worked well in close combat and it was better than using a sword!
Irene raised his right knee to block it.
Tang!
Thanks to his balance, the distance widened in an instant. In the meantime, Irene, who recovered his balance, took a stance.
However, Judith’s offensive streak wasn’t done yet.
Nope, it just started.
Kang!
Kang!
Kang!
Kwang!
Kwaang!
Continuous attacks which unfolded like fireworks!
Unbelievably fast.
Most of the people in the hall looked at Judith’s offense, unable to know what was going on.
Only Brian Burns was able to follow her movements, but he wasn’t the kind to stop them during a match.
And that made it even more shocking.
He was able to stop all the ruthless attacks that came at him as he’s been devoted to the sword for 30 years, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to stop Judith’s sword.
No, just like Judith, the swordsmanship of the one called Irene, who responded with similar attacks shook his heart.
Just then, he heard a low voice.
“This is insane…”
The words of the blue-haired young man called Bratt Lloyd.
It was strange.
Before he became the notary, he heard that this man was a colleague of the two.
Of course, he assumed that he was equally skilled.
‘He said something earlier.’
However, his expression now was as shocked as Brian was.
‘Is something the matter?’
For a moment, doubt arose, but then Brian Burns brushed it away.
The match was too great to think about something else.
He even yelled at himself for wasting his time by looking at Bratt.
After watching it a little more, he realized it.
The swordsmanship of the two was similar.
Kang!
Kwang!
Kwang!
A sense of stability and balance from an incredible core balance.
The tremendous rotational force, and the collisions of the swords.
There were differences though.
The swordsmanship of the blonde was monotonous and crude, and that of the woman was more cheerful and bright.
Above all, her feet were free.
In fact, she was circling around the young man while attacking him from all directions, and she seemed free yet intense at the same time, like a wildfire spreading around.
But the young man didn’t back down.
“…”
“…”
Slower and heavier movements than the opponent. A response that was half a beat late could put him in jeopardy.
However, he didn’t collapse.
But how long could he last?
He endured without losing his composure despite the sense of urgency and running out of breath.
As a result, Brian Burns' anxious mind calmed down.
And he admired him at the same time.
It was because he instinctively realized that the blonde man’s swordsmanship had changed.
‘As if surrounded by dense water!’
No matter how hot the flames were, no matter how intense the explosions were, they didn’t seem to get closer to him.
A truly invincible defense technique. At least, it couldn’t be broken.
Perhaps her sword was swept away by the strange flow, her sword seemed to deviate into an undesirable direction.
Brian glanced around. The young man called Bratt seemed to have sensed it, and he had a serious expression.
‘But, rather than feeling shocked by the young man’s abilities, it feels like he’s surprised…’
While he was thinking.
The young man’s greatsword, which had been clinging to defense, changed.
“Huh!”
Judith seemed taken aback.
She was about to launch a stronger attack to break the opponent’s defense.
Her breathing and balance were disturbed by the attacks which Irene managed to do through the gaps.
In the end, she gave in to the offensive and tried to end it at once.
Clang!
Papak!
And retreated back.
Silence fell again.
“…”
“…”
All the onlookers were blown away.
Among them, Brian Burns, who was in thought, looked.
Both Judith and Bratt Lloyd were looking at Irene with the most serious faces.
After a while, Judith, who managed to calm herself, asked.
“The swordsmanship you showed, did you copy me?”
“… I took a lot of notes.”
“Did you just see it and follow it right away? No, it can’t be. It’s because you started to use Bratt’s swordsmanship in the middle. And…”
Judith swung her sword. It was clumsy but it was similar to the last strike Irene showed.
She asked.
“… was that the Sky Sword?”
“…!”
“…!”
Most people in the hall were shocked.
They were currently in the Maios Kingdom, one of the five western kingdoms.
There was no way they wouldn’t know what ‘Sky Sword’ meant.
But, why was it mentioned now?
At that moment, Bratt who had been silent till then interrupted their conversation.
“I’m certain. It’s the Sky Sword.”
“That so?”
“I saw it only once during the final evaluation, but… there’s no way I can forget that. The shock I received at that time.”
Bratt Lloyd closed his eyes.
His vision darkened, and the memories from five and a half years ago came to his mind.
One of the two swordsmanship displays that hurt him.
Sigh, he sighed as he opened his mouth to ask Irene a question.
“By any chance, have you completed the current sword based on your memories from the final evaluation?”
“…”
Irene put on a troubled expression.
It seemed like Bratt and Judith misunderstood.
He wasn’t someone great enough to follow swordsmanship he saw only once.
However, in order to explain it, he would have to tell them about the world of sorcery and Irene didn’t want to do that in a public place.
In the end, he decided what to say.
“I will tell you later. I will explain it all.”
“Is that so?”
“Huh. And I don’t want to talk about it here.”
Bratt looked around with cold eyes. Everyone who made eye contact with him trembled.
It was strange.
The two people in the match were amazing, but this young man made them feel frightened.
An air which made them feel like Bratt was the main character here.
With that, Bratt nodded.
“Okay. We’ll talk later.”
“Right. After hearing the results from Sir Brian Burns over…”
“No.”
“Huh?”
Irene looked at Bratt.
It seemed like he didn’t want the fight to stop.
The match was only used to show off Judith’s skills to Cora Murray.
Now that it was over, he thought it was natural to move away and then talk to them about all that happened.
But, that didn’t seem to be the case.
There seemed to be something else that Bratt Lloyd was concerned about.
“There’s something you haven’t shown yet.”
“…”
“You know what I’m talking about, right? Show me what you showed in the final evaluation.”
“Ah! Right! If I don’t see it, I’ll end up regretting it!”
Said Judith while wiping off her sweat.
She looked very excited, and seemed really interested about it.
However, Bratt seemed to take it more seriously.
“Will you show it?”
“…”
Bratt was different than usual.
Despite wearing different attire than usual, he seemed calm and collected. (1)
In reality however, that wasn’t the case.
Irene Pareira who was a half-sorcerer could look into people’s hearts.
Especially when he looked into their eyes.
From his point of view, Bratt’s condition was…
‘Not stable!’
And if he didn’t show the skill of the man in his dreams, it seemed like something would happen.
It was Irene's first time seeing Bratt like that, so he started to panic.
But aside from that, he didn’t want to turn down Bratt’s request either.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t used it since I met with Ignet.’
After meeting that woman, Irene realized what fighting spirit was, and it helped a lot in his training.
Although the technique was a little forgotten as he didn’t practice it much, he thought that there could be changes now.
He thought that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check it out here.
But the problem was…
“If I use that… the hall will be… a little damaged… would that be fine? This isn’t a dirty floor but a pretty expensive hall.”
‘Damn it! What the hell is he talking about!’
Cora Murray tilted his head hearing Irene’s horrifying remarks.
(1) - To elaborate some more, since I think this detail is interesting, he’s wearing common men’s clothes instead of his usual noble attire.