Much apologies for disappearing for some time. Hadn’t had much time to translate Din so this has been delayed for a long time. m(_ _)m

Translated / Edited by: Rinkage

A special thanks to Frost for helping me out with this chapter ^^

Character page:

Ill.u.s.trations for Volume 1:

Chapter 21: The Reunion of Two People (part 1 / 2)

The moment I cancelled out Cross Blast, exhaustion swept over me.

I had done something incredibly rash.

I breathed heavily as I knelt on the ground.

When I looked up towards the audience seats, seventy percent of the n.o.bles appeared displeased.

But, this was not the end.

Rather, the best part would begin from here.

The observer who was standing in the ring, waited for Horgos’ representative to come over.

…However, Durf, the a.s.sa.s.sin brothers, as well as most of the attendants were carried off somewhere at the speed of light.

It was probably so that the magicians could carry on with healing, using their recovery spells.

Rather, did the kingdom a.s.sign any magicians for that?

I strapped the knife back onto my waist and tried to get up.

Possibly because a sense of fatigue had attacked my feet, I ended up staggering unintentionally.

「…Uoo, whoops」 (Regis)

I collapsed backwards, but someone supported me from behind as I keeled over.

A gentle vanilla ice-cream-like aroma greeted my nose.

Without even needing to turn around, I could tell that it was Walkins.

「Regis-sama, thanks for your hard work.」 (Walkins)

「Oh, did you see it? My gallant figure. 」 (Regis)

「Yes. You have a very reliable back. 」 (Walkins)

As she said so, she hugged me tightly from behind.

I could feel embarra.s.sment surging through me, but the sense of security that permeated me was far stronger.

Shadiverga walked towards us as the maid lent me her shoulder.

Had the effect of the poison lessened significantly? His complexion seemed to have returned to normal.

「It was exhilarating, Regis! I would like to try resolving it that way with my own hands, too, even just once.」 (Shadiverga)

「What are you talking about? It’s because I’m your son that I was able to obtain victory like this.」 (Regis)

On hearing that, Shadiverga merely scratched his cheek in embarra.s.sment.

Since he has low self-esteem, he deprecates his own abilities entirely.

「Haha. Regis’ endurance and strength in magic are definitely inherited from Sefina.

Also, look — I couldn’t do anything at all…」 (Shadiverga)

「No. Father’s encouragement gave me the strength. In other words, this strength belongs to me, Walkins, father and mother. This is our victory.」

I looked at Shadiverga, seeking his acknowledgement.

He then nodded, with tears in his eyes.

This guy is someone who is easily moved to tears.

He was smiling as he cried.

Well, that part of him was what made me trust him, though.

「As expected of Regis-sama. Watching this match made me feel anxious, but I believed that you would definitely win.」 (Walkins)

「There was no way I was going to lose, when what’s at stake is you.」 (Regis)

Even so, it was a pathetic sight.

Despite achieving victory, I had wounds all over my body.

The state of my legs was that of a newborn deer.

If I were to stumble upon people like my cla.s.smates in a place like this, I would be nicknamed Bambi-chan on the following day.

Hold on a second.

It didn’t seem that bad actually.

Bambi-chan is really cute.

While I was being overwhelmed with happiness, someone walked out from the front.

It should be a representative from Horgos family.

Since Durf, the original representative was seriously injured, the attendant had stepped out on behalf of him.

Yes, this was so he could find out my demand.

Incidentally, the aforementioned representative was the attendant that I had clashed with in the northern n.o.ble district.

It was that guy who sent out the private soldiers in an attempt to kill Edgar and me.

「Yo, so how’s the feeling of being a loser?」 (Regis)

「…Tch. I can't believe we’re beaten by a brat like you.」 (Attendant)

The attendant spat on the ground and faced me as he clasped my hand.

The observer who had confirmed it, began delivering her speech.

「Well then, I would like to reveal the demand of the winner of this duel. Furthermore, I, Limwris Trúvaneia, as someone who has been selected as the judge of this duel between n.o.bles in this kingdom, have the power to enforce and the right to reject the demand.」 (Observer)

I paid no attention to the long-winded explanation.

Is this woman’s name, Limwris?

From what I’ve seen, she didn’t seem to be a n.o.ble.

She’s an earth-shattering beauty. It made my heart skip a beat.

She didn’t seem to be that old, but she was chosen as the observer.

In other words, she was probably trustworthy enough to be nominated by the king.

She might unexpectedly be someone from the magic a.s.sociation.

Since she seemed to have an aura similar to Walkins behind, I couldn’t discern her age.

However, she has quite a cold expression.

After a lengthy speech, Limwris paused for a moment.

Oh, is she finally done?

This uncle dislikes listening to long-winded talk.

「—- But just one more thing. Some demands may not be accepted and are at the discretion of the king. We will not accept any demand that would be disadvantageous to the kingdom. This is also one of the supplementary points in Article 122 of the dueling rules—-」 (Limwris)

Ah, sorry. She wasn’t done yet at all.

The cool sounding lawyer-like explanation was still going on.

Although, were they familiar with the duel already?

The n.o.bles in the audience seats appeared unconcerned.

It amazed me that they could endure listening to such a boring thing every time.

Rather than listening to these uninteresting words, copiously cited with references, I would have preferred to work on the electric circuit for physics that I have yet to do.… Ah, on second thought, physics is impossible.

There was once when I was conducting the experiment using iron b.a.l.l.s, but I accidentally dropped it on the tip of my foot, breaking a bone in the process. That incident was too traumatic to me.

I was 'blessed' to have met that physics teacher, who had instructed us to use those real iron b.a.l.l.s. Really.

「Well then, I shall disclose the demand without delay.」 (Limwris)

Finally over?

Limwris brushed her hair, looking through the note quickly, from the beginning to the end.

At that moment, her face twitched.

She rubbed her eyes and read it again.

It didn't seem as if she was convinced, even after looking through the note numerous times.

She then looked at me suspiciously, with unclouded eyes, seemingly asking if I really wanted to go ahead with it.

I nodded slowly.

Upon seeing our exchange, the attendant raised his voice irritably and spoke out in a haughty manner.

「Could you make it quick? I don’t have that much free time to be sitting down with a filthy fallen n.o.ble. There’s a limit to how much insult I can take.」 (Attendant)

「Is that so? Then join us and let’s be the fallen n.o.bles together.」 (Regis)

「…What?」 (Attendant)

The instant he heard those words, he frowned.

I feigned ignorance and looked the other way.

Walkins’s body felt warm.

As I thought, it gave me a sense of security when she hugged me from behind.

I didn't show it, though.

Limwris cleared her throat and read out the contents in one breath.

「Alright. First, the things that are requested are as follows:

First, the Horgos family will transfer all his gold and silver mines to the Din family;

second, all his surrounding lands and authority over the residents there are to be transferred to Din family;

third, 90% of Horgos’ a.s.sets are to be ceded to Din family;

and fourth, the rebuilding of the magic shop managed by Edgar-s.h.i.+—」 (Limwris)

She read them out one after another.

The riotous arena fell silent instantly.

Everyone was paralyzed by the demand, since the contents entirely undercut the honour of this kingdom’s n.o.bles.

Normally, it is a common practice to make only one request in the duel.

Despite that, my request came one after another.

The absurdity of it made the attendant jeer at me.

「Wha.. What f.u.c.king demands are these?!」 (Attendant)

「There’s no helping it, isn’t it? Your side lost.」 (Regis)

The attendant became even more furious when I shrugged my shoulders and answered him.

He paid no mind to his honour anymore and spat out all the words of criticism held deep inside him.

「Do you even have any common sense! How many f.u.c.king demands are you going to make?! Gold mines? Territories? Authority? Shop? There are no n.o.bles who would make such preposterous demands!」 (Attendant)

「There's one in front of you. Ah, don’t forget the silver mines. You left it out. Besides, don’t expect any dignity from a fallen n.o.ble. We’re just earning back our money for tomorrow since we almost died today. Exploiting the upper echelons just a little is fine, isn't it?」 (Regis)

I will definitely not change my demand.

Why should I yield?

Just because the n.o.bles in this continent regard someone who makes more than one demand as despicable?

Don’t make me laugh.

Who’s going to abide by the dueling rules or the supplementary rules when the contents are not even written clearly?

It was my belief that you should take whatever things that you can get.

It was just like how I acquired too many free pocket tissues that were distributed outside.

However, there was one occasion when someone reported it to the girl who was distributing them.

She grasped my hand, exposing me when I tried to get one from her.

A man prostrating to a girl at the station at night.

I don’t think there are any other weirdos except for me who would do such a thing.

Don’t look down on this NEET b.a.s.t.a.r.d who has gone through numerous ‘trials and tribulations’.

Did you think I have still not made any progress after all that?

The attendant’s shoulders were trembling out of anger.

「There is no way such suggestions would be accepted! This will definitely affect the country's interest!」 (Attendant)

「Don’t worry. Father will be able to govern the place well. He was able to bring smiles to the people’s face by sacrificing the growth of his hair. He will be able to make good use of the territories received.」 (Regis)

「…This brat. Are you planning to crush the Horgos family?」 (Attendant)

「It’s just crus.h.i.+ng a stinking pigsty. Deliver the requests quickly and disappear from my sight.」 (Regis)

The attendant placed his hand on the hilt of his sword when he heard my words.

However, the moment I flicked the handle of my knife, he turned pale and regained his composure.

This was retribution for making light of me just because I am a kid.

There wasn’t anything else to say.

I made eye contact with the observer.

Thereupon, Limwris made a loud declaration.

「Well then, we will let the king decide if the contents of the demand are acceptable. The representatives from the two families will come by the king’s castle after this!」 (Limwris)

Hou, so the king will be the one to decide?

Was that one of the stipulations, or something from the dueling rules?

By the way, these additional points in the dueling rules article are not really well-known, since fundamentally, the seven main rules of the duel are already sufficient.

Therefore, the supplementary points to the dueling rule are only for when something unexpected happens.

They were hardly used in a normal duel.

Nevertheless, there were a few exceptions in the situation this time.

Not only had I forced the opponent out of the ring, Din's family requested an abnormal amount of demands as well.

I had, in any case, incurred the animosity of the n.o.bles who have good relations.h.i.+p with Horgos already.

Nonetheless, if we had cared about something like prestige, we wouldn’t have ended up becoming fallen n.o.bles.

Also, my job ends here.

I shall leave all the complicated discussions after that to Shadiverga while I go to the vicinity of this area to pick up medicinal herbs for curing baldness.

I then turned around triumphantly, antic.i.p.ating seeing Shadiverga standing there, overflowing with pride but…

It was different than what I expected.

I wasn’t beaten to a pulp nor was I killed.

Yet he was trembling and chattering his teeth.

「Father, what’s wrong? Has the poison not wear off yet?」 (Regis)

「N-No, that’s not it. I’m going to have an audience with the King now, right? I-I was wondering, if it would be alright for someone like me to have this honour…」 (Shadiverga)

Certainly, it might be too over the top for a fallen n.o.ble to have an audience with the king.

If he really didn’t want to, I wouldn’t mind going in his stead.

「Since I’m the head of the family today, I don’t mind going actually.」 (Regis)

「Y-Yeah, I mean that’s right!」 (Shadiverga)

「But as I thought, father should be the one to go. It’s only the process of transferring the execution right and decision-making power to you. So, just go and have the audience with the king.」 (Regis)

I gave Shadiverga a light pat on his back.

I had intended to hand over the baton to him casually, but he shook his head, looking fl.u.s.tered.

「T-That won't work! If it’s just meeting me, then it’s fine, but the King wants to meet the head of the family, right?」 (Shadiverga)

「The royalty would be troubled, wouldn’t they? If a kid like me were to be the one to meet them? It would be better for father, who is still recognized as the feudal lord of the fallen n.o.ble, to make the appearance instead.」 (Regis)

「…Uu, that is certainly true, based on the past experience. I wouldn’t know what might happen if you were to be the one to meet the king.」 (Shadiverga)

Oh, you do understand it well, don’t you?

After my interaction with Durf, he seemed to have acquired the 'skill' that prevented him from stepping on the 'landmines'.

Yes, so it would be a conversation between adults from here.

I don’t want to see the ugly dispute over territory and authority.

So, let’s just say that I have left the play.

After all, Shadiverga is originally good with words.

One who is quick at seizing the opportunities. He is basically that type of person.

At any rate, he will not mess up as long as they do not touch the issue regarding Sefina.

I shall entrust Shadiverga with the matter of diplomacy.

The lingering scent of something burning hung in the air inside the arena.

The majority of the n.o.bles who were greatly disappointed by the unexpected result left the place, looking dissatisfied.

Shadiverga and the attendant, who represented Horgos's family, were taken away by the observer.

A fallen n.o.ble and a high-ranking n.o.ble.

This duel happened in the Imperial City because of the two families that clashed with each other.

For the time being, the event that had disrupted the ordinary days was settled.