Irene Pareira’s unpredictable victory.
Seeing the result, Bratt and Judith were at a loss for words, and instructor Kent had a dazed expression until he came back to his senses.
And then he moved back and forth in confusion.
At that moment, the schoolmaster, who was on the floor, jumped up.
He looked around and then stopped his gaze at instructor Kent.
And said.
“This is very embarrassing.”
“Wait, are you alright, schoolmaster!”
“I'm fine, fine. In the end, the damage wasn’t great as the young man decreased his strength.”
“But, you fell to the floor, didn’t you?”
“It's embarrassing. I did say that it would be a fierce fight, but maybe because I overestimated myself I lost the match so quickly? I was so embarrassed that I was unable to raise my head. So I fell to the floor to organize my thoughts.”
“…”
“But while thinking, I was more embarrassed after lying down, so I got up.”
With that, Hyram smiled. Hahaha.
It was embarrassing, it really was.
However, instructor Kent’s expression was much worse.
His schoolmaster, who is an Expert, was beaten so quickly!
At that by a young man who just turned 20!
He couldn’t believe it, he didn’t want to believe it.
“Huhu, your face looks bad. Instructor Kent, head inside and rest.”
“But…”
“Don’t make me say it twice. You need to control your mind now. I’ll see you later once you calm down.”
“… yes.”
With that Kent walked away.
And thus, only Hyram, Irene and his party remained in the training room.
“…”
“…”
There was silence for a while.
Hyram and Kent were perplexed, but Bratt and Judith were baffled.
Because they didn’t expect Irene to have such an overwhelming victory against a schoolmaster.
Hyram looked at their faces.
As he smiled, the atmosphere changed a little.
The three of them waited for him to speak, and he did.
“You people, are you from a swordsmanship school?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“Krono Swordsmanship School.”
“Hu, indeed you are. Are you perhaps the ones they call the golden trainees of the 27th batch?”
“… we are called that.”
“Indeed… seriously, there's only one place that can nurture geniuses of this level. Hehe, I guess this is how it is…”
“…”
Silence fell again.
It was strange.
Obviously the three of them were superior to the man, but they still felt overwhelmed by their opponent.
Even Judith, who had a temper, looked at Hyram.
The schoolmaster opened his mouth with a gentle expression.
“At first I thought you were here to deceive me or something.”
“No deception! Absolutely not!”
“Huhu, I don’t think so now either. But when using swords, I had no choice but to think like that. You possess such skill, but you didn’t reveal it? No, I don’t get it, is there a reason for you of this level to come to this place? Is what I want to know.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t reveal where we came from. We don’t have an excu…”
“I know. If you revealed that you were from the 27th batch of Krono we wouldn’t have accepted your challenge. And if someone does accept, it would become burdensome for them, even us elderly are not much. Even if we win a lot, one loss is all that is needed for us to lose ourselves… ah! That's what I thought.”
“Excuse me…”
“Hahaha! It was a joke. I'm the kind of person who doesn’t care about that at all. Among the swordsmen of Partizan, it can be said that I'm most Partizan-like. Well? I didn’t mean to say that…. Now, I just want to know. Why did you challenge a swordsmanship school with your level of skill? You made me so embarrassed of myself.”
Hyram said the same thing again.
“You, you people don’t realize just how strong you are.”
“…”
“If you did know, you wouldn’t have come to this city in the first place. The swordsmen who will take you on in this city… even if you hide yourselves would be four? Or five? But that's all. And you will win over them. Even the two behind this young blonde man, if you’re on the same level, then you’ll win too.”
Hearing that, Judith wanted to say something.
However, she didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to come out as rude by asking, ‘Is the level of swordsmen in Partizan so low?’
Fortunately, she didn’t speak.
Cough, the schoolmaster cleared his throat and explained.
“Do you know what level most swordsmen want to reach? Shockingly, there are very few who aim to be Sword Masters. Most people dream of being an Expert.”
Sword Master.
There are only 100 Sword Masters on the continent.
Which was why most swordsmen don’t target the Master Level.
Because they know that it won’t happen.
For those who are aware of their talent, origin, and efforts while being realistic, the highest level for them is Expert.
“But being an Expert also isn’t easy.”
What the man said was the truth.
The Holy Kingdom, Avilius, has 200 Experts, and in the case of the five western kingdoms, there are more than 100 Expert Level knights and swordsmen.
However, it was a shame that such power can only bloom in powerful nations.
In small scale nations, there were fewer than 10 Experts.
In other words, people try to reach the Expert Level to get treated like nobility.
“And the people in Partizan… not one has reached past the level of Expert. But it makes sense to think that the power of this city is greater than a small nation. Right. Although this place cannot be compared to historical places such as Lation or Paitan, the swordsmen of Partizan are of high quality. However...”
After a moment of hesitation, Hyram spoke in a confident tone.
“Your skills are so great that even swordsmen in Partizan won’t stand a chance.”
“…”
“It isn’t that they’re weak, It’s that your level is abnormal. To the extent that an ordinary Expert can’t compete… I wanted to let you know that.”
After hearing those words, the trio fell into thought.
Thinking about it, it did feel right.
Irene remembered his homeland, the Hale Kingdom.
There were only five to six Experts including Hill Burnett.
Considering that, Hyram wasn’t someone who was lacking.
No, rather, he was at a level where he had a different air around him as the schoolmaster.
Nevertheless, Irene felt disappointed in the confrontation because of the opponents he had so far.
‘Ignet was like that and Charlotte and Victor, too, were stronger than me. Judith and Bratt… schoolmaster Ian.’
The people Irene met on his trip were all strong, so he was never able to know his true level.
And it seemed like Bratt and Judith were in the same boat.
‘They, too, had crossed swords with the seniors of Krono… they must be in the same situation as me.’
Hyram’s words pointed it out.
“Perhaps because you come from Krono. And because of the monstrous senior swordsmen you have, you weren’t able to know your own level. You people are Experts, a level which many swordsmen want to reach, and you’re strong enough to stay at the top of the list. If you’re expecting to meet someone more talented than you in this city, throw those thoughts away.”
“Then what do we do?”
“You need to go to Lation, Paitan, or Malta. A place with more than 150 years of history.”
“Lation doesn’t accept challengers.”
“Right. I did hear about that, but I forgot. It can’t be helped though. You people get so strong so fast. Even if you run around the world, it will be hard to find a partner.”
“Ugh.”
Judith couldn’t help but sigh. Bratt hit her arm at her rude response.
Of course, he thought that the truth was harsh too.
The same went for Irene. The three had much darker expressions on their faces than when they entered the school.
Seeing that, Hyram couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
‘They really are young people. Rather than being happy at the compliments, they’re disappointed that they won’t meet opponents. When one gets this strong, they become conceited, but these ones are hungry… maybe I'm looking at three future Sword Masters right now.’
Great talent and enthusiasm. And there was nothing wrong with these three.
Thinking that, Hyram felt envious after a long time, looking at them, he spoke again.
“Of course, you have nothing to gain here. And this might not be good to say since I was defeated in an instant, but let’s fight again. I won’t let you win so easily this time.”
“Another match?”
“Yes. Aside from the fact that both Krono and Hyram focus on central styles, western nations use different styles than other parts of the continent… it would be good to study and analyze the differences. How about it? Does that sound interesting?”
“Of course! This time fight me!”
Judith said, raising her hand.
A much brighter face than before, seeing that Hyram laughed.
“Nice. Are you as good as that young man?”
“I'm better than him.”
“Man… then let’s not fight, but let’s talk with swords. Do you get that?”
“I know. I will use a wooden sword!”
The battle between the four swordsmen lasted till late night.
It was a useful and meaningful time for both the old and young swordsmen.
“We learned a lot.”
“Hm. There are a lot of things to keep in mind. He was better at teaching than competing.”
“He's a good person.”
Judith, Bratt, and Irene, who came out of the school, spoke.
The time in the school wasn’t bad. And it was something they enjoyed.
He even wrote them a letter of recommendation saying that they can come back and visit at any time.
However…
‘It’s unfortunate!’
‘So unfortunate.’
‘I wish there was a stronger opponent.’
Even if meeting Hyram was nice, the three of them felt regret.
They had come to the city to fight fiercely.
They came here imagining that they would meet strong people who would give them a hard time.
But now, that feels impossible.
The 5th greatest swordsmanship school in Partizan.
A prestigious school.
But that school gave them nothing much.
‘And we have already been rejected by Lation…’
In the end, by the time they went back to Lulu and Kuvar, they couldn’t hide their dark expressions.
Meanwhile, Kuvar said something.
“There may be a person who you might be interested in.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And he's a very strong person.”
“That's weird. Schoolmaster Hyram didn’t mention anything about this…”
Irene questioned. It was strange because the schoolmaster wasn’t the kind to lie.
But Judith didn’t seem to care.
And asked.
“How strong? A Master? Is that person a Master?”
“Not a Master. But… he’s a famous sword master. He's rumored to be the 101st strongest swordsman on the continent.”
“101st strongest swordsman? Ah…”
Judith exclaimed.
It was the same with Irene and Bratt.
The number of known Sword Masters was only 100.
In that case, calling him the 101st strongest swordsman meant that he was…
‘The strongest among Sword Experts!’
Sparks flashed in the eyes of the young swordsmen.
