abcnovels
Chapter 51 Losing Is Necessary
Chapter 51 Losing Is Necessary
Name – Julia Morton
Age – 21
Class – Knight
Knight Rank – 7-star
Attributes – Ice
"Julia Morton. I will be your opponent, Callius."
Looking at the system panel in front of me while observing the silver-haired female knight in front of me, I thought:
'Julia Morton, a named character in the game. A person who is very good to Arthur and Emma and the person who practiced with those two from time to time.'
Remembering the things related to her in the game, I said:
"Julia Morton, do you know you are disrespecting a higher-ranking noble right now?"
"…"
Ignoring me, she turned his head towards George.
"Head knight George, we shall start right away. Duchess Adelyn is waiting."
And then said.
Just blatantly ignoring me while mentioning the name of the Duchess itself means she had already taken her side and didn't hide it.
This behavior naturally made me mad; however, these feelings welling inside me were nothing but artificial things that created my traits, and even though suppressing them is normally hard, right now, I was pretty calm.
'If there are only traits of the original Callius, then wouldn't the existence of my other self just for the sake of future knowledge? It seems, when it comes to being serious, myself from Earth would be able to suppress the traits of the original one.'
Thinking that I exhaled a long breath.
"Sigh…"
And then, I looked at George. Seeing the troubled look on his face, it seems he is in a dilemma about what he should do.
Although blatantly disrespecting me, an heir of the dukedom, would be punished since I don't have much support. So, even if he takes my side, there is quite a high possibility of nothing happening.
Looking at me with eyes asking what he should do, I decided not to create any other unnecessary drama. I am getting tired of constantly playing with my words.
Nodding my head, I gave him the signal to start the fight.
"I see. Both contestants, get ready."
Just like that, the same process started.
The knight in front of me has the nickname Frozen Sword.
She is a very high-ranking knight that ascended to the 7-star at the age of 21, and she is from the Morton Count Family, which is under the rule of our dukedom.
Therefore, she is pretty famous because of her sword skills coupled with her beauty and background.
In the game, you can learn several sword skills from her, and she has a soft side to Arthur, albeit it is not in a romantic way but more like a big sister type.
But her skills with a sword are no joke, and when it comes to training, she turns into a very cold-blooded person, just as she should be.
Grabbing the estoc in its scabbard, she drew her sword.
Bracelets limiting her 7-star strength, a sword shining silver, and a blue gem attached to the middle of its handle were a beautiful sight.
And, I, too, drew my 'Nihil' from its scabbard, taking my position.
/THUD/
And the moment coin hit the ground, the duel had already started.
/SWOOSH/ /SWOOSH/
Immediately dashing at each other, we both attack trying to gauge our strength.
/CLANK/ /THUD/
And immediately, I was the one being pushed back.
At this point, the reason for the duel had already changed. If the knights before were trying to save their colleague's honor and fingers, now she is just trying to destroy me.
It can already be felt from the weight of her attacks and the places she is amazing.
'She is not trying to give me time to adapt to the fight.'
/CLANK/ /CLANK/ /CLANK/ /CLANK/
No matter how hard I trained for the past five months, it can never hold a candle to a genius knight reaching the 7-star rank at the age of 21 who had also honed her skills for years on the battlefield.
As always said, a person can train for hundred years, but practice will always beat it.
/CLANK/ /CLANK/ /SWOOSH/ /CUT/
Since both of our styles were related to speeding and finding weak points, there were a lot of blows being traded.
And the negative thing about that is if you don't have a %100 blocking rate, then there are bound to be injuries accumulating on your body.
/CLANK/ /CLANK/ THUD/ /SWOOSH/
Slightly feeling the pain in my left shoulder, I blocked the incoming right stab with my sword redirecting it to the side.
And immediately kicking Julia, I retreated to take hold of myself.
'This barrage of attacks, she is overwhelming.'
Trying to figure something out, I immediately regained my position.
/CLANK/
And immediately blocked her attack.
/SWOOSH/
Then, dodged the incoming stab coming to my right eye, tilting my head to the side.
/THUD/
And immediately threw an elbow strike to her open chest, making her stagger.
/CLANK/
Deciding to follow this opening, I launched an attack, only to be blocked by her sword.
She had already read the way I was thinking, but this was okay. I just needed to find an opening.
/CLANK/ /CLANK/ /CLANK/
Just like that, we kept engaging in close-quarter combat.
I was slowly getting the gist of the fight the more we exchanged blows. However, I was accumulating more injuries at the same time as well.
Like an avalanche growing, the more it moved, her attacks were getting heavier and heavier the more she attacked.
/SWOOSH/
Immediately sidestepping to dodge her left swing attack.
'A right swing from the bottom is coming.'
Thinking that I put my sword to my right to block the attack.
However, the attack I anticipated never came.
'A faint? No. Above!'
Immediately sensing the danger coming from my right side, I tried to block it, raising my right hand from the bottom.
/THUD/ /CRACK/
Albeit, it was too late since the injuries I had accumulated were already slowing my speed.
An elbow strike reached my face and smashing it, I lost my balance and staggered, falling down to the ground.
/SCHLINK/ /DRIP/
Blood dripped from my wounds all around my body, and a new wound leaked blood to my face, and a bitter metallic taste filled my mouth.
In the midst of my bloody vision, I was able to see a shining blade pointed at my neck.
'I see, so that was how they felt when they saw the blade pointed at their neck.'
Thinking that I raised my hand.
"I surrender; it is your win Julia."
And said.
At that moment, not even a single sound could be heard around the audience.
/CLENCH/ /GRIT/
"Knight Julia wins the duel."
Grabbing my sword tightly while gritting my teeth, trying to overcome this sense of loss growing in the bottom of my heart, I raised my head.
Only to see a pair of cold eyes looking at me indifferently.
However, no matter what, even if I lost a fight with her, there was no way I would be able to swallow someone looking down on me.
"You are talented, Young Lord Callius. I shall acknowledge that. But you can't always read other people like a book. You need to know that they can write the contents of their own book you are reading. They are not some mindless animals you can simply read and cast aside; they are humans who have their own will and their own thoughts."
/FLINCH/
The moment I heard that, suddenly, something inside me snapped. I realized one important thing I was overlooking for a long time.
"Heh."
"What?"
"Hahaha, it is so funny. Such an obvious thing…."
"What are you saying?"
Seeing me behaving weirdly, Julia looked at me with a weird expression.
'Ah, that is right. I have been saying that I was living in a game world, and everything became my reality, but no matter where you look at it, adapting it at such a fast rate doesn't make sense. Subconsciously, I was still assuming that this world was still a game world, and aside from me, everyone was NPC, although I was not blatantly saying. I needed a loss to remember that everyone around me is human; they have their own depths of thinking, their own story, and their own ideas.'
I thought while slowly opening my eyes.
"Tell me, Knight Julie. Do you bleed?"
"…."
"You will. Next time we met on a battlefield. I will be the one to cut you. So be prepared. I will get my revenge."
Saying that, I grabbed my sword and started leaving the arena. Everyone was quiet, watching the fight unfold right in front of them.
"Young Lord Callius, let us heal your wounds."
"Leave a mark on my right shoulder intact. Aside from that, heal every other thing."
Hearing that, the clerks started healing me.
After that, I left the arena and entered my own training room I have been using.
"Master, what do you want to start with?"
"Aura, change the background to the mountains."
Looking at the wound mark on my right shoulder, I screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Just to relieve this frustration of losing for the first time after I came to this world.
And then started running mindlessly, leaving myself to the tiredness of training…