CH 17

The Sacred Duel

It was an one-sided duel.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Gladios shouted loudly and swung his sword, but Nathaniel avoided it just by twisting a little. Gladios never touched Nathaniel, not even once.

‘How come?’

On the other hand, Nathaniel’s sword stabbed Gladios at an unavoidable speed.

The back of the hand, under the fingernails, between the fingers, the tip of the ears, the elbows. Cuts, but no fatal injuries. Like a cat playing with a mouse.

‘How come!’

He avoided all of Gladios’s attacks with light steps as if the clouds were brightened. After that, there was always a sword attack that subtly penetrated the skin.

(P/R: Brightened clouds mean that the day is extremely nice as if the heaven is shining down upon you, like how darkened clouds mean a bad day or sad feeling as if your days are over.)

[Too many unnecessary movements.]

“Ha, ah, ahh!”

Gladios’s great sword swung loudly. 

It was a fatal blow, but Nathaniel did not receive it.

[Moving slower.]

“Shut up!”

[The less you talk, the better.]

“You, this bastard! This motherfucker! This…….!”

[Vulgar too.]

“You… you…! You!”

[Your back is open.] (T/N: he means he isn’t protecting his body)

Gladios did his best to swing his sword. But his mind collapsed first. It’s right in front of him, but he couldn’t reach it.

‘Why…… Why doesn’t it hit? Why can’t I reach him? Even though I received knight training? He said I had talent!’

He swung the sword again, but Nathaniel avoided the cross-section cut with a languid gait.

[The pre-action is too long.]

His words sounded more like a request for action than advice.

Gladios spent a dozen more minutes acknowledging his helplessness. And in the end, the tip of the sword fell.

‘Was my sword this heavy?’

Tears filled his eyes, blurring his view of his convulsive arm. His legs had been shaking since a long time ago. Anxiety rushed in as if it had been waiting to swallow Gladios.

Keeping one’s appearances and the finger-pointing of others weren’t the problem. (T/N: ‘keeping one’s appearance means to save face and pointing finger meant to look down on others)

Right now, the smell of the unknown grave, which he might undertake five minutes later, made him break out in a cold sweat on his back and shudder.

(P/R: 모골이 송연했다 means made his hair stand on end or shudder. For this sentence, I searched up every single word/phrase and formed the sentence.)

He avoided the situation and looked at Nathaniel with trembling eyes.

‘Don’t tell me you are going to do it? No! It happened only because of a woman. Would you really kill me?’

But when their eyes met, he realized that there was no hope anymore. Nathaniel looked at him with the eyes of a predator, with an elegant posture that felt reverential. 

However, beneath the shadow casted by his nose clearly lies an uncontrollable barbarism.

It was time to see what that meant.

‘You are really going to kill me…’

Gladios belatedly sobbed explosively after experiencing fear.

“It’s too much. This is too much! I wish….. You had told me sooner!”

[Woof?] (T/N: He mocked Gladios by making a sound, more like whistle like how we whistle while insulting someone… similar to it)

Nathaniel replied.

“Don’t pretend to be weak! You’re strong! You’re a lot stronger than me! If you had told me this!”

Nathaniel laughed at Gladios’s harsh roar.

[Why should I?]

He was astonished. That was the logic of the strong.

P/R: He = Gladios

With emotionless, clear eyes, Nathaniel looked at the speechless Gladios.

[You’re like that, too.]

“Me, what do you mean me!”

[What you did to Buchanan last night. I don’t think you did it with Buchanan’s permission.]

“Gee, so it’s only because of a woman……!”

[Of course not. It’s none of my business.]

Nathaniel laughed again. He looked at the handle of the sword in his hand and lowered his eyes.

[That’s right. Actually, you’re just unlucky.]

He thrust his sword in a straight line terrifyingly as soon as he finished speaking. In the blink of an eye, Gladios’s great sword was flung far away. 

At the barrier of Mana Stone, the tinging sound of the blade rolling on the floor resonated. (T/N: the barrier broke, the barrier couldn’t be broken by any swordsman but Nathaniel easily broke it)

Gladios was sick and tired of it. 

Nathaniel stood near him and asked kindly and mildly.

[Are you done?]

Gladios shook his head roughly.

He had no more room to run away. Both mentally and physically.

“No, no, no…….”

[It looks like it’s over.]

“Ah, no…! Not yet, I can still do it!”

[Without a sword?]

“No! No! Not yet, I can still do more!”

[I don’t think so.]

“No… No! No! I can do it!”

Despite saying no, Gladios did not show any action. Nathaniel smiled without any emotion. 

He was a man to look down on. The feeling of helplessness had already eaten up Gladios.

Only then did he throw out all the bluffs and inclined his head.

“Save me…….”

Gladios with his head down did not see, but the audience felt that the temperature around him had dropped by about five degrees at that moment.

And they saw it. The magical interest in Nathaniel’s eyes. He suddenly became cold like a carcass and muttered low.

(P/R: His attitude took a turn into a cold one.)

[Lame.]

Black shoes slowly walked into the edge of Gladios’s view that no longer saw his knee. He could see the white sword moving in a white line. (T/N: the white line means it is the after image of fast moving, pure white sword)

Gladios closed his eyes in anticipation of death. It was at that moment.

“Stop it.”

Kyrie Buchanan jumped in.

“Uh uh…?”

Gladios looked at Kyrie’s back in tears.

Light purple hair blew over her slender back, without the cloak that she forgot to wear.

“…..Kyrie?”

“Stop it, Lord Nathaniel.”

She blocked Nathaniel with her arms open. In one hand was the sword handed over by Nathaniel.

“Stop it. “

Kyrie said it again.

The tip of Nathaniel’s sword stopped in front of Kyrie’s collarbone. Even if she breathed badly, it was still within reach of her. No one moved for a while.

The crowd shouted at Kyrie, who broke the barrier of mana stones and jumped into the training arena, but the uproar was not enough to break the sharply tightened tension.

[If anyone hears it, they think I really tried to kill him.]

Nathaniel said that and took back his sword.

His clear, transparent eyes were strangely revived.

“No?”

Kyrie calmly lowered her arm.

‘If I hadn’t noticed that the sword could cut the barrier, Gladios would have died.’

But it didn’t seem like he really wanted it to stop. 

Nevertheless, she couldn’t figure out what Nathaniel was thinking when he handed over the sword.

Nathaniel said with a fresh look.

[You have to be prepared to lose your life if it’s a duel.]

“Was it that serious?”

[The gravity of the problem doesn’t matter, Buchanan. Resolution is important.] (T/N: I love the way he says “Buchanan”)

“Everyone makes mistakes. They embrace things they can’t handle, just like me.”

[So you have to take responsibility.]

“There are other ways of taking responsibility. “

[Another way?]

Nathaniel laughed low.

[What can replace a life? There’s no such thing, Buchanan.]

Kyrie did not back down.

“If you know that, you shouldn’t take his life anymore.”

Kyrie glanced back. Gladios was pale in color, spaced out. She gracefully turned away as there was a yellow puddle between his legs.

“Give him a chance.”

[With what right do you have to intervene in the sacred duel?]

“Have you forgotten?”

She snorted gracefully and arrogantly raised her chin. 

As if there were none. If there were, it would last forever. 

She was Kyrie Buchanan.

“By the right of the lady who has delegated her pride to you.”

Did Nathaniel know that such an answer would come out?

He was terrifyingly silent.

It was a quietness like thin ice.

The silence, so great and cold that Kyrie forgot about the cold air, was cut sharply with a laugh.

[You’re smart, too.]

Unlike an old man’s relaxed smile, his clear eyes, like a child’s, looked at Kyrie. His eyes were purely cruel, that everywhere he touched felt frosty.

But anyway, his words meant acceptance, and Kyrie managed to answer.

“…..Thank you.”

[Vermont.]

Nathaniel decisively called out his name.

Gladios, who had disappeared like a frog on the floor, looked up at Nathaniel in surprise.

“Yes, yes?”

[Congratulations. You lived.]

Gladios’s face brightened. Tears that seemed to have stopped poured out again.

“T-thank you, thank you…”

[Thank you? Will you think so later?]

“What?”

[You owe your life to Buchanan now. You’ll say you’ll do anything for the joy of your life right now.]

“Of course! If there’s anything you want …”

[But it won’t last a day. Maybe you want to stir me up. Sooner or later.]

It was the voice of the devil’s whisper. Gladioso shook his head resolutely.

“No! Absolutely not!”

[No. Everyone did it.]

(T/N: he is referring to people who were in the same place as of Gladios)

Nathaniel exhaled gracefully and tapped his finger. Then Nathaniel’s sword returned to the cane, and Kyrie’s back was covered with the cloak she had not taken.

He stood still and looked at the sky with his cane.

He was smiling, but for some reason, he looked expressionless.

Snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

Nathaniel turned around when the first snowflake touched the floor.

[Let’s play again later.]

He walked away in the direction of the mansion, with everyone looking at him.

When the immediate danger disappeared, Gladios breathed in relief. There was still Kyrie in front of him.

“Miss Kyrie! You are truly my voice…..!”

“Stop if you’re going to start calling me a saint.”

“Thank you for saving me! How can I stand in front of such a terrifying man, I….”

Gladios shuddered. Only then did Kyrie sigh.

“I can’t handle it either. I don’t want this to happen anymore. “

“Well, I will…”

Gladios, who nodded with a body full of scratches, lit his eyes with an illusion until the end.

“But you’ve helped me, so you’ve also given me your heart!”

“There is none.”

Kyrie deliberately used the hem of her cloak to cover her nose.

“Wouldn’t it be better to take care of your body first? It smells….”

“…..”

Gladios’s face turned red.

Kyrie, who didn’t want to see the man spreading over the yellow puddle anymore, grabbed her dress and walked away.

‘If I hadn’t run out, he would have killed him.’

He was also a dangerous man.

However, while walking with an impression, she suddenly realized that the match was different from her expectations.

In the end, she didn’t get the hatred of the Marquis of Vermont. He also pressed the nose of the heroist.

{P/R: Nathaniel squashed the pride or ego of the hero (Gladios).}

‘You’ve lost in a duel and even wet yourself, Gladios.’

It will become dark. (T/N: talking about the sky)

‘Don’t tell me?

Kyrie stopped and stood tall on her path.

She looked belatedly in the direction Nathaniel had left.

There, Nathaniel was looking at Kyrie as if he had been waiting.

To Kyrie, who looked at him, he set an example of a knight with an elegant gesture and turned his back.

T/N rant: Did y’all like the length of the Chapter? If yes do tell me in the server~

I somewhat feel the story is kind-of getting dragged….

I want to reach the main plot really fast.