The Top-Tier Butler of the Marquis Family Chapter 46 : Chapter 46

Chapter 046

It was Arthas who struck first.

One of the Traits I had seen on him was Breakthrough. No one was surrounding him, of course, but I still had the feeling that he would try to break through at once in the opening and aim for a flaw in my guard.

And that prediction proved correct.

Keeping his body low, he shot toward at terrifying speed.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

A torrent of sharp blades ca pouring at .

The attack was so fast that afterimages remained behind it, as though he were wielding three swords at once.

Unfortunately for him, my eyes could distinguish the false images from the real strike. The true blade was aiming for my left side, so I twisted my body slightly to the right.

SWISH!

The sword sliced through empty air and passed by. Arthas and I traded places. He lowered his sword and grinned.

“You are better than I expected. You dodged as though you knew I was going to rush you.”

“Did I need to predict anything? It was simply slow enough to see.”

“You bastard.”

Arthas gripped his sword tightly. I pressed straight into his weakness.

His inferiority complex.

He was an Apprentice Knight. I was a Butler Apprentice. If I lost, it would an nothing at all, but if he lost, the entire Knight Order would be turned upside down.

In other words, I had no real risk in losing this match. So long as I did not lose my life, that was.

Because of that, I thought provocation related to the match would work well, and that guess was proving correct.

He was starting to lose his composure, little by little.

I decided to stir that agitation a little further. Running my mouth was my specialty, was it not?

“From the look of it, Knight Commander Varian is here too. How are you going to manage with a sword that slow? It looks better suited for sweeping floors. Have you ever considered switching careers and becoming a butler?”

“You are awfully noisy. Are you fighting with your mouth?”

“This is strategy too.”

Arthas took up a Sword Form and began advancing toward slowly, drawing a circle as he moved. I matched his direction and kept my distance.

I could not grasp his Sword Form or his Blade Path from a single opening attack. I ant to stay on the defensive for a few exchanges and probe for weaknesses.

In any case, I had the physical instincts and dynamic visual acuity granted to by reincarnation. Whatever else I lacked, I was confident in my ability to evade.

“What are you doing, Arthas? Why are you dragging this out? Finish him in a single stroke!”

“Think of the honor of the Adeline Knight Order!”

“Get in there!”

Shouts began pouring in from behind him. Arthas’s expression grew impatient. Good. Shout louder, my noble knights!

“Haaap!”

With a sharp cry, Arthas moved. His sword traced a great arc.

It was an attack like the savage forepaw of a bear sweeping down.

Can I block that?

It was powerful enough to make that question rise in my mind. I tightened my grip on the sword Smith had refined and given . But feeling that my own strength alone would not be enough, I let a thread of mana flow into it.

Hummmm!

The sword began to respond. I could not say since when, but this vibration filled my heart with exhilaration.

It was also proof that my body was becoming one with mana.

CLANG!

Sword t sword, and red sparks burst from the wound where they struck.

Watching from one side, Arwen covered her face with her hands. But when the cheers that followed rose up, she spread her fingers and cautiously opened one eye.

anwhile, Rohan stood with both fists clenched so tightly that he could not take his eyes off the match for even a mont. He was cheering on in his heart, no doubt.

And I was still receiving Arthas’s relentless assault.

CLANG! CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Without missing a single strike, I knocked away every one of Arthas’s attacks.

To the naked eye, there was a clear difference in strength and technique between us. But I was not being pushed back. And that was more than enough to confuse so of the spectators.

“What in the world is this?”

“Look at that apprentice’s sword. Is there not sothing strange about it? His Blade Path is ordinary enough, but the force behind it is considerable.”

“I do not see anything special. What exactly are you saying you can see? It just looks as though he is lucky enough to be blocking the attacks.”

“Luck alone cannot explain it. There is sothing peculiar there. Surely he is not an Aura User.”

A few of the keen-eyed veteran knights noticed the faint changes occurring in my sword. But they could only tilt their heads in puzzlent, unable to understand the physical change that had taken place.

Who would ever imagine that a Butler Apprentice could be a Mana User? It was beyond belief. The fact that they could at least suspect an Aura User was impressive enough.

If I had brought out the Mana Pistol, the whole place would have fainted from shock. I really had been right not to bring it.

Just then—

SWISH!

Arthas unleashed a killing blow. If nothing else, it was hard to deny that this strike carried murderous intent.

So now he was showing his true skill.

I watched the incoming blade. This was a dangerous attack, one that even my overwhelming dynamic vision could barely keep up with.

How brutally had he trained?

If a man like this were to receive full knightly appointnt, the future of House Adeline would be bright indeed.

But I had no intention whatsoever of becoming a sacrifice on his road to advancent.

I did nothing more than extend my sword at the proper angle.

KRAAANG!

The two blades crashed together with an explosive report.

“Oh!”

“He blocked that? Incredible!”

It was such a trendous clash that several startled spectators sprang to their feet. A few more exchanges followed, but I blocked every one of them for all to see.

After pouring out that burst of force, Arthas and I took so distance and steadied our breathing.

“Huff, huff......”

From the audience’s point of view, it was nothing more than a simple contest of exhausting one another.

But that was only from the audience’s point of view.

In reality, Arthas had lost far more than I had. He would have felt with his own body that I was much stronger than he had expected, and he would have realized that ordinary attacks would not be enough to bring down.

“You... huff, huff... what kind of bastard are you?”

Arthas looked badly winded. Was it because he was tense? His stamina did not seem especially good.

“What kind of bastard? The kind that cleans and does odd jobs.”

“This is unbelievable. How could a re Butler Apprentice handle my sword technique......”

“How long are you going to keep going on about butlers? You should be grateful we are not competing by sweeping the yard with brooms. Even a mutt gets a fifty-percent edge in its own yard, does it not? Try a little harder.”

Apparently that last attack had been his trump card. He searched frantically for my weakness, but it was not going to be easy.

Then again, if I had not infused mana into my blade, I would have lost my sword entirely, or the edge would have shattered. I might even have collapsed on the ground with a fatal wound, bleeding all over the place.

So long as he did not know that the source of my power was mana, I had no weakness.

“Do not tell you are exhausted from just that. If so, I am disappointed. Look behind you. Knight Commander Varian’s expression does not look very good.”

He did not fall for that trick. Was it too shallow? I had thought he would turn around.

“The real fight starts now.”

“How about trying a different line for once? Then shall I make my move now?”

I decided it was about ti to end this tedious fight.

It had never been a match that needed to be dragged out.

If my opponent had been soone else, that would have been one thing, but Arthas was soone I intended to make one of my people in the future. I did not want to injure him. Still less did I want to wound his pride.

But I could not lose to him either, so even if I won, I had to do it in the least unpleasant way possible.

So I ca up with a plan.

I would simply shatter his weapon.

That would at least leave him with the excuse that his sword had not been properly maintained. Up to now, I had appeared to be the one pressed onto the defensive, after all.

Having ford my plan, I swung my sword at him.

SWOOOSH!

Up until the mont our blades t, it was coated with nothing more than a faint layer too light to be seen. But the instant Arthas moved to block my sword, I introduced the variable.

I poured the Magical Power resting in my heart into the blade like a storm.

BOOM!

Sothing shattered, and fragnts of tal scattered in every direction.

It felt as though ti had stopped.

The mont the knights and butlers confird whose fragnts those were, they all opened their mouths in shock and leapt to their feet.

“Unbelievable......”

“You cannot an that this is truly the skill of an apprentice!”

The match had been decided.

The blade still intact was not Arthas’s sword.

It was mine.

Unable to withstand my Magical Power, Arthas’s blade shattered miserably and rolled across the ground. My plan had succeeded.

The heat of the Training Ground died all at once into silence.

And in that silence, the sound of applause broke out.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Marquis Chronos, seemingly deeply moved, went on applauding alone without pause. It was exceedingly rare for him to offer praise with his own hands like that.

“To think that a Butler Apprentice could display swordsmanship of such quality. Remarkable, truly remarkable. But if he belongs to our House, then of course this is only what he ought to do. It seems saving our youngest was no re accident after all.”

Once again, I had succeeded in catching Marquis Chronos’s eye.

What pleased even more was that no one had realized I was using Aura. They all seed rely puzzled.

“Sir Yanrof, where in the world did you find a talent like that? He is a young man with a promising future.”

“All of it is thanks to your grace, my lord.”

“It seems a bit wasteful to use him as a butler...... Ah, do not take that as an insult to your people.”

“How could I?”

Naturally, the credit went to Head Butler Yanrof. Yanrof rely lowered his head with a faint smile.

And there was one more person whose eyes shone all the brighter as he looked at .

The Third Young Master, Hal.

Casting aside that wastrel expression of his, he stared at sharply like Cao Cao of Wei hungering for talent.

Turning my head, I brought the tip of my sword to Arthas’s throat. He had lost the will to fight, and with that, everything was over.

“Will you keep going?”

“......”

Arthas could not lift his head in the face of defeat. He had accepted it.

“Victory to Dilen!”

The declaration rang out from the knight overseeing the match, and only then did I lower my sword. After that, I gave a military salute toward Marquis Chronos and Young Lady Sapiela.

When I raised my head, I looked toward Hal.

Our eyes t.

With a slow grin, he gave a single nod.

Did that an I had passed?

I had no idea what sort of aftershocks would co next, but the fact that I was looking forward to it seed to an that I really had beco a mber of House Adeline after all.

***

The event ended at last.

Unable to contain their excitent, the nobles began discussing the quality of today’s sparring match. So of those who had won their wagers openly rejoiced.

“To commorate the victory of the Butler Corps today, Young Master Hal has graciously opened a special banquet!”

“Excellent! I shall gladly attend. This is most welco indeed!”

The nobles grew excited all over again. So they were going to eat and drink to their hearts’ content tonight as well.

I stepped down from the platform and returned to the place where I had first equipped my gear, then cast off my equipnt one piece at a ti. At one side I noticed a suit of plate armor. Should I try wearing heavier equipnt next ti?

After all, if I used mana, even heavy equipnt would be easy enough to maintain. Or perhaps it would be better to lighten my gear and protect my body with sothing like a Protective Aura instead.

Was it because I had won the spar? A strange exhilaration welled up in , and all sorts of ideas began pouring forth.

This was why real combat experience mattered so much.

Just then Arthas ca over beside and tore off his gauntlet. He looked utterly dejected.

“Next ti, co back after you have had your weapon properly maintained. I do not want to hear people saying I won because of better equipnt. What rotten luck for your sword to break like that.”

“Tch.”

Arthas clenched his teeth hard. Strong as his competitive spirit was, he had to be furious. It probably never even occurred to him that I had taken his pride into account.

Then Arthas asked,

“But where did you learn Swordsmanship?”

“What do you an, where? I just learned it.”

“I do not know about the rest, but that last attack...... it felt like I was trying to receive an Aura Sword.”

Since my blade had not actually shone, only the sensation remained. It was worth the trouble I had taken.

“It was nothing. I just swung as hard as I could. The sort of blow where it is your death or mine. So do not think too much about it.”

I deflected the question casually, stripped off the rest of my gear, then patted Arthas on the shoulder and said,

“If we ever face each other again, let us not have it end this taly. Do not brood over it too much. Just think of it as bad luck.”

“Are you giving poison and dicine in the sa breath? Get lost, you bastard. I do not even want to look at you.”

With a small laugh, I turned and left the Training Ground.

But I was not able to leave it as I wished.

The butlers and my fellow apprentices who had been waiting for greeted with cheers the mont I appeared.