Chapter 191: Silver Armoured strong foe

I walked on the same path as yesterday in the same armor.

Just as we were about to reach our destination, I suddenly felt it.

“It seems like today the other party reached here first.”

“Sensei, you can tell?”

Hallock asked with eyes like he was staring at a reliable partner.

“Well, yeah. I have the Presence Detection skill after all.”

My Hunter job has a skill called Presence Detection II.

Although Presence Detection could only sense the presence of monsters or humans, Presence Detection II could roughly tell me the strength of the other party.

There was a large presence in front of a small one.

I guessed that I won’t be able to handle the opponent in a straightforward manner.

It was the correct choice to have Carol enter My World.

If the opponent was some unruly man, it would have been horrible if he used Carol as a hostage. To be safe, I searched for the presence of an ambush but it seemed like I didn’t have to worry about that. I could only sense the presence of small animals.

“Now then, let’s focus ourselves.”

I touched my belt a little to verify the position of my sword and walked ahead.

“Yes, Sensei. I will do the negotiations so Sensei can just listen.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll leave it to you — half the fishing ground okay. Don’t get greedy.”

“He … yes.”

That was a late reply. Perhaps he wanted to secure a larger fishing ground by provoking the other party.

It was the right choice to nail it in.

We walked a little more and arrived at the same discussion place as yesterday.

The person wearing the armor was clearly slender — in other words, I could easily recognize that it was a different person.

It looked like they didn’t intend to hide it. The color of the armor the large man wore yesterday was gold but today the armor the man was wearing was silver in color.

Incidentally, the large man who wore the golden armor yesterday,

“We’ve been waiting, Port Kobe’s greenhorn pirate gang.”

Laughed as he ridiculed us.

“Says the incompetent Port Ithaca pirate gang. You guys actually dared to ask for help because you fear my captain! That’s clearly a different person compared to yesterday!”

“It’s not a helper, this is our real captain. Yesterday we didn’t think that you guys would come so I came out as a proxy — there’s no agreement that the captain himself must be the one who conducts the negotiation right? Seven years ago, the Port Kobe pirate captain gave some lame excuse for having a hangover and had a proxy stand-in after all right?”

“Guh.”

He did kind of make sense. Or rather, don’t stand people up for an important negotiation like this just because of a hangover.

Nevertheless, the other party’s helper captain — Silver Armor had not said a word. Maybe he was concentrating since he hasn’t spoken at all.

I looked at that man and he also glared at me.

It looked like he was all fired up.

The glaring contest continued before,

“Captain, the talk is done. It will be a one-on-one duel against the other party’s captain there. If we win, they will hand over half of the fishing ground for 10 years. If we lose, they will snatch 90% of the fishing ground.”

“I see —”

I muttered and nodded.

Hallock was quite skilled to negotiate the splitting of the fishing ground not only for this year but for a ten year period.

With this, even if they didn’t have pirates next year, they would still have a share of the fishing ground.

“Also, Sensei ― it’s a suggestion from the other party, they requested to use the same weapon ― please use this Bronze Sword.”

“Bronze Sword?”

Judging from the design of the sheath, the opponent was truly holding the same weapon.

“The opponent said that if it was to be a duel, the conditions should be the same ― Sensei don’t have any issue with it right?”

“Yeah. A good workman does not blame his tools, I’ll grab victory even if I have to fight with my fists.”

Actually, I was nervous thinking that my opponent would be using a superior weapon compared to mine. Even after using Metal Appraisal on the Bronze Sword, the result was Bronze Sword so it didn’t seem like there would be an issue.

(Equal conditions huh ― it seems like the opponent believes in fairness.)

I wanted to have a match where I shake hands with the silver armor guy after everything is over.

I drew the sword from its sheath and dropped the sheath onto the ground as I stepped forward. If my opponent was Sasaki Kojiro, I would probably have already been torn asunder.

Unfortunately, I was the one who was late to the fight instead. (TL: See wiki for the duel between Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi.)

The large man stood between me and Silver Armor and asked with a smile.

“Are you ready?”

Silver Armor drew his sword. It was a great stance with no openings.

I also prepared my sword.

“Let the match begin!”

He announced but neither of us moved. Then, Silver Armor and I slowly closed the distance between us and it happened the moment our swords touched. Silver Armor’s sword moved in a blur and cleaved at my torso. However, I leaped high up and swung my sword down with the intent to use Slash but,

“Geh!”

The blade of my sword cleanly came off. Impossible! Could it be possible that the sword fasteners fell off!?

Even though it seemed fine just now ― was there a trick built into it that would cause it to come loose once a certain amount of time passes?

“What did you do! That’s cowardly!”

Hallock burst out but the large man replied.

“It’s your fault for not checking! Now is the time, get him!”

He instructed Silver Armor. But ― Silver armor didn’t follow his orders.

Then, he tossed his sword to me.

Does he want me to use this sword?

It looked like Silver Armor was not aware of the trick done on the sword.

He was probably a handsome man like Suzuki who would make girls go crazy over him ― but, I’m glad that’s the case this time.

I drew the Bronze Sword and the opponent also pulled his own two sword-like swords.

” … !”

Seeing those two swords, I checked my opponent’s job and increasingly realized my own idiocy. Well, now the other party will probably feel the same, or I guess even more so. If possible, I would like it if she doesn’t end up hating herself but ― I drew the sword and dashed forward.

“Receive this attack squarely with those two swords!”

Following my order, Silver Armor blocked my direct frontal attack with the two swords. Then, she seemed to have noticed as she asked with a soft voice.

” … Master … ?”

“Yeah, I missed you ― Haru.”

But, why is Haru at a place like this?

Haru was probably wondering the same thing too.

Author’s note:

The fight is over and maybe it’s time to start the charade … or?