47: The Families Meet (2)

Baron Russell’s eldest son, Martin, burst out laughing.

Caesar Lester looked wide-eyed as if checking if he heard it right, and Kevin just shook his head.

Of course, it was exactly what they wanted. They had come to the gym with the very intention of picking a fight.

However, the situation was completely unexpected.

They couldn’t understand what the Deadbeat Noble had just said.

“Great confidence… nice. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Kevin Lester stepped forward, flustered.

The weapons caretaker looked anxious at the situation, but there was nothing he could do.

How could he intervene and talk to nobles?

While the caretaker was concerned, Kevin Lester picked up his sword and walked up to Irene.

Woong! The way his sword cut through the air wasn’t bad.

It had to be like that. This kid had been training the sword for six years.

Woong!

“Phew.”

Once more, he slashed the sword, and Kevin Lester looked up.

There was no way that he would lose. It was natural. It was said that Irene had been to a famous swordsmanship school for a year.

It was too short to learn anything.

In contrast, Kevin had been learning the sword for a long time.

He received good instruction from a nice teacher and participated in the subjugation three times. He had experience killing monsters.

‘I’m going to disgrace you properly.’

He wouldn’t give him an easy defeat.

He was going to mess around with Irene and make sure the other two got a good laugh.

And then tell the others too.

He thought that Krono gave Irene some confidence, but he was still a Deadbeat Noble no matter what.

With that thought in mind, he tried to swing the sword lightly.

Swish!

“Ugh!”

The results were out in an instant.

Irene Pareira’s sword was on the opponent’s neck, and Kevin Lester… didn’t respond.

He really couldn’t do anything.

As if his body was possessed.

Irene, who had been silent, lowered his sword.

And looked behind Kevin.

“Next one, come.”

“Wa-wait! Invalid! This is invalid!”

“How?”

“You didn’t say start! You cowardly bastard suddenly attacked…”

“You made eye contact.”

“…”

“And nodded. Isn’t that a positive signal to start a battle?”

Watching Irene cut off his words, Kevin sharpened his teeth.

There were a bunch of things he wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out.

His anger paralyzed him, and he didn’t expect the coward to talk back to him.

But the most important thing was the speed of Irene’s sword.

He knew what would have happened roughly.

Even if Kevin had prepared for the attack, he wouldn’t have been able to stop it.

He glared at the opponent with a mixture of bewilderment, annoyance, and shock. He just stared.

A deep voice came from behind Kevin.

“I’ll go, Kevin.”

“What? No need! This cheeky bastard…”

“I know that it was because you were careless, but I’ll do it.”

“…”

“That stupid person. I’ll have to deal with him to make sure he knows his place.”

Kevin Lester shut his mouth at Martin Russell’s low voice. And stepped back.

After a moment of silence, he spoke to Caesar, who was next to him.

“That pitiful bastard… doesn’t even realize it… right?”

“Of course. Ha, look at him.”

Caesar comforted his brother with a smile. He had no choice but to do so.

Because he was as shocked as Kevin. The swordsmanship that Irene showed wasn’t something that could be learned in a year.

Caesar’s head was full of thoughts.

‘Of course, Martin won’t be shaken….’

He looked at Martin Russell, who replaced Kevin.

He was unbelievably tall for a 16-year-old with a thick body.

To be honest, he was different from them. The period of learning the sword was similar, but Martin had outstanding talent and physique.

‘Smash him. Beat him, beat him like a dog!’

Caesar looked at Irene, still confused, but the anger within him was much greater.

It was a natural feeling.

A guy who was never treated like a noble, let alone stand like a human, was now looking right into their eyes. They couldn’t stand it at all.

While he was thinking about it, Martin Russell picked up his sword, stood in front of Irene Pareira, and said.

“Shall we start?”

“Yes.”

A different start from before.

Shortly after, Martin Russell’s sword went for the opponent’s head.

Thud!

Ta-ta!

The sound of wooden swords clashing began.

There was no interruption. There was no stopping. The speed was so fast that one wouldn’t believe that it was kids who were fighting.

But that was it.

Martin’s sword never touched Irene’s body. It always got blocked.

“Ugh…”

Time passed, and the match continued as Martin’s expression began to distort.

It was a natural reaction. He was trying his very best now.

After throwing the first strike, he was wielding the sword faster and stronger than ever.

Nevertheless, Irene didn’t back down. He didn’t even falter.

He wasn’t even sweating.

That fact drove Martin crazy.

‘It can’t be!’

He didn’t want to admit it.

Martin Russell was better than the Lester brothers and most kids his age.

His self-esteem was high, and he would burst out into laughter at the mention of Irene, who lived a sedentary life and suddenly picked up the sword.

However, as he was facing Irene as an opponent, he wasn’t able to smile, let alone laugh.

“Ku…”

Martin Russell’s expression changed.

From forced a smile to expressionless, expressionless to nervous.

Still, Irene didn’t change.

The same look he had from the beginning, he was wielding the sword with a cold look.

He didn’t want to admit it.

Now, even the negative emotions towards Irene changed. The feeling of fear began to fill in Martin Russell’s eyes.

Someone end it.

No more, he didn’t want to do it anymore.

Watching him suffer, the Lester brothers’ expressions changed dramatically.

“Stop it! I think it’s over.”

A sudden voice.

It wasn’t a voice from those in the ground. However, they looked older.

Irene Pareira immediately moved back.

His eyes looked far behind but not far from where Martin stood.

The man to whom the voice belonged spoke with a smile.

“You have grown a lot, Irene. How about you try competing with me?”

“…”

“If possible, with a real sword.”

Ryan Gairn, the eldest son of Viscount Gairn.

‘Will this turn out fine?’

The caretaker anxiously looked at Ryan.

This was definitely intentional. If it weren’t for that, there was no way that Ryan would have prepared a greatsword similar to the one their young lord used.

‘Surely this is going to turn into trouble…’

He couldn’t help but worry.

Of course, as before, the caretaker couldn’t do anything, and the ones in the ground didn’t even care about his presence. Ryan Gairn spoke.

“I’m glad that the knight under my command is using a greatsword. Sir Jack, would you lend your sword to Irene?”

“Definitely, Lord.”

“Let’s do that. Use it comfortably.”

“…”

“Ah, it’s fine if you don’t want to use a real sword. The weight will be different from what you usually use… it might become burdensome for you.”

To the words which were disrespectful to him, Irene briefly answered ‘yes’.

Ryan Gairn’s lips twitched. He dryly responded to Irene’s acceptance.

And naturally, a different atmosphere formed.

Irene didn’t care. He really didn’t care about it.

It was something he had expected since the birth of the eldest son in the Gairn family.

Taking a deep breath, the boy remembered the past.

He didn’t know much about Ryan Gairn.

He had no choice but to go ahead.

Ryan had an excellent talent in swordsmanship, he attended the Royal Knights Academy for the past 7 years and returned two months after graduation.

He only met Ryan once. When Ryan, who was on vacation, visited the Pareira estate with the Viscount.

… However, the look in Ryan’s eyes at that time was something that even the lazy prince could never forget.

‘Contempt’

His eyes were so narrowed and disgusting to look at that they couldn’t be compared to his father’s, and he was trying very much like his father to overturn the public’s good reviews about them.

And now.

He was looking at Irene with a more disgusting face than ever.

“There is no giving up. From the point of view of learning the sword, doing this will be appropriate.”

“…”

“You don’t like it? Do you want me to go easy on you? If so…”

“Fine. I’ll accept it.”

Ryan’s words were cut off again. Yet, he didn’t lose his composure and smiled.

“Great. Come.”

While speaking, Ryan took a stance.

It wasn’t the right posture.

It looked like he was resting the sword on his shoulder.

A completely demeaning attitude, but no one pointed it out.

This was because he was the prodigy son of the six southern families.

Everything changed. Even the people of the Pareira estate were sure of Ryan’s victory.

“…”

On the other hand, the opponent, the boy, was standing plainly.

No, that’s wrong.

The pressure he pushed down Kevin and Martin with was nowhere to be seen. However, he didn’t look cowardly either.

And that wasn’t the end.

“…?”

He closed his eyes with his head pointing towards the person in front of him.

His stance was lacking, and it looked awkward.

Full of gaps, a posture that only a novice would take.

Seeing that, the Lester brothers’ and Martin Russell’s faces were shocked.

“Haha.”

So was Ryan Gairn.

No, he was more than shocked. The forced smile he had been holding dropped.

An expression of ridicule that couldn’t be hidden began to form.

No matter how weak the opponent was, one would never act like that.

Even if Irene was scared, how could he approach the opponent with such a defenseless stance?

It was weird.

But it wasn’t incomprehensible.

The others didn’t know that, but Irene was always like that.

Irreparable.

Garbage.

Coward.

It didn’t matter how many more negative comments were added to him.

Every word would fit him perfectly. Just like the term deadbeat noble.

Thinking so, he raised the sword that was resting on his shoulder to the front.

And started to move towards Irene.

He had no intention of attacking. It was supposed to be a threat to Irene.

If he couldn’t threaten him, that cowardly bastard would keep acting out like he did today.

The look of ridicule on Ryan’s face began to deepen.

It was then.

The boy’s eyes opened, and his sword moved.

“…!”

Tat!

Ryan spread the distance. It was just one step, but still, the distance widened.

As he moved back, he rubbed his neck.

There was fear in his eyes.

‘Just now?’

That had to be an illusion.

He couldn’t understand.

He felt something creepy flow around, so he quickly spread the distance… he didn’t know that nothing changed.

No, it wasn’t like that. There was one thing that changed.

Frowning, he looked ahead.

The sword of his opponent was down.

‘No way, him… no, it can’t be.’

Right. The timing was coincidental, right? Since that was too big of a leap to make in one year.

The gap was large. No, he never thought that Irene could ever manage to do something like that.

Rather, Ryan’s thoughts began to wander.

Instead of focusing on the bizarre sensation he felt before, he looked at Irene and his usual calm expression.

‘This guy…’

Ha, Ryan Gairn burst out laughing.

It wasn’t that weird.

Irene couldn’t even control the distance, so he swung his sword from there, and Ryan looked at him with an expression that said.

‘Annoying’

He couldn’t stand it.

There was no need for him to be patient. Enraged, he strode forward.

It was the moment that he moved his sword to relieve himself of the annoying feeling.

Tak!

The sword fell to the floor helplessly.

Not missing from the hand.

But it broke and fell.

To put it precisely, it could be said that the sword fell as if it was neatly cut.

“…”

Ryan Gairn went stiff. The Lester brothers and Martin Russell stopped laughing.

Jack Stewart, Aaron Gairn, and everyone else who stopped near the ground looked in astonishment.

Only Irene, who was at the center of the gazes, was expressionless in front of Ryan Gairn.