Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Strongest Sage, Cautious of his Elder Brother

"So you chose mock battle . Alright then . As for the rule . . . . the winner will be decided when either of you give up or from my discretion as a referee, okay?"

My father Castor asked Biffgel, not me .

He continues on while ignoring my will .

But well, I think I can somehow win if it"s just against Biffgel, as long as there"s no some weird rule in place .

"Wait a minute Father . "

"What is it?"

"A referee has their limit . You can"t say that they never misjudge . "

Biffgel said such a thing .

Aa . I know what Biffgel is thinking somehow or other .

He"s probably worried if our father Castor be partial to me in his judgment . Father doesn"t think too well of Biffgel after all .

It"s not surprising for him to say that if he"s aware of it .

"Okay then . Let"s go without a referee . "

Father withdrew quite easily .

Looks like we"re going to have a mock battle without a referee . I don"t understand what father is trying to do now .

"And also, Mathias probably won"t be satisfied with just one match . How about five matches?"

"Got it . Then let"s make it five matches . "

"Also, I"m confirming just in case, there"s no need to hold back right?"

"Yea . 『Both』 of you need not to hold back . "

Father told Biffgel that .

Or rather, our father Castor"s face began to look eviler every time Biffgel suggested something . He"s already all grin now . At the same time, he also looks like he can"t believe it .

If there"s anything remarkable about what he said, it was probably how the 『Both』 part was emphasized I guess?

. . . . Not good . I genuinely don"t understand what father is thinking .

Father made a sidelong glance at the dumbfounded me, gave a training sword to Biffgel and moved to a position a bit away from me .

And then he declares the starting signal for the mock battle .

"Are you both ready? Mock battle, begin!"

"ORAAAAA! DIEEEEEEEE"

Biffgel made his move with the signal .

He readied his sword on the front while saying something inappropriate for a mock battle, rushing in toward me .

No need to hold back was it . Guess I should get serious right from the start too .

Biffgel"s strength isn"t comparable to father anyway, his swordsmanship is also terrible . I can probably win with a frontal attack .

I hit Biffgel"s down-swinging sword from the side, turning it away to the left .

"Owa!"

Biffgel lost his balance . You can"t be telling me that he didn"t think how to cope if he got blocked .

. . . . That can"t be . If that"s the case then that means his skill is really poor .

This must be a trap . He must be planning to counter me with magic or something when I let my guard down by the obvious chance .

Once I saw through him as such, I decided to get on it .

These kinds of plans become a folly once you read through them .

An action that deviates from the textbook is not efficient, that"s why they"re not in the textbook .

I swing my wooden sword toward Biffgel while paying heed of any sign of magic .

0 . 3 seconds remaining until it hits . There"s no movement .

0 . 2 seconds remaining . He still hasn"t made his move . He won"t make it in time if he doesn"t activate the magic right about now though . . . . ?

At the remaining 0 . 1 second, Biffgel showed a movement .

Biffgel is actually closing his eyes at my sword .

It"s as if he fears the sword that"s coming at him .

Really, there"s no way one would take such an action even in a mere sword training .

Did I perhaps overlook something? Did I get myself caught in Biffgel"s trap without realizing it!?

Even though that thought flashed in my mind, there"s only one action that could be taken in this situation either way .

I throw my hesitation away and swing my sword with all my might .

BAM .

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Biffgel got hit by the wooden sword, he screamed and writhed .

There wasn"t a trap or anything . My wooden sword made clean hit on Biffgel without a hitch .

Too weak . . . . No wait .

The victory condition for this battle was 『If either give up』 .

In other words, Biffgel hasn"t lost yet .

Moreover, his writhing in pain . It"s obviously not normal . It"s not something a trained person would do .

Perhaps he"s pretending to be in pain to buy some time .