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Volume 11 Chapter 2 Part 2

Several wooden swords for Roxanne and the Paladin have been then prepared at the Duke’s request.

You’re going to have this duel right here? Well, it is true that this is quite a large room, so I guess it should be fine.

Did the Duke invite us into this room just to make Roxanne participate in a duel with this Paladin from his Knight Order?

That is quite shrewd of him. Was this the plan right from the start?

Roxanne also removes her Rapier from her waist and unfastens her necklace, passing them both to Sherry for safekeeping.

She’s looking totally motivated right now.

「Just try not to get yourself hurt, okay?」

There’s no other choice but to do this, so I gave her my permission. Since she wants to do it, there’s no reason to deny it or to forcefully forbid her from going through with it.

「Yes, I will Thank you, master.」

Roxanne then selected a wooden sword for herself. It’s a one-handed sword. A wooden shield was also prepared for her by the members of the Knight Order as well. I’m glad they prepared a shield.

Roxanne and the Paladin then head to the center of the room, and face each other from a small distance.

「Well then… let us begin!」

The Paladin yelled and rushed towards Roxanne at full speed, swinging his wooden sword down with both hands. This Paladin seems to be using a two-handed sword himself.

Roxanne parried it away with her sword. She also knocked the next blow away without giving her opponent any room to spare.

Roxanne slightly bends her waist and parried another blow aimed at her, while the Paladin continued to attack her with a wave of increasingly angry attacks.

The Paladin swings his sword. From right to left, then left to right, then upper right to lower left. He slashes from the left to the lower right, then swings it up while mixing them in with powerful attacks that he was throwing in between the weaker ones quite often.

However, Roxanne handles them all with minimal movement.

Dodge, dodge, miss, and so it continued like that for quite a while.

Occasionally, she deflecting the Paladin’s sword before it would miss her by a millimeter or even less, and that was all thanks to the precise way in which she was using her shoulders, hips and feet.

But she was not on the defensive all the time, oh no.

Roxanne also swings her sword and attacked the Paladin whenever she could, but he was also managing to repel her every strike.

The Paladin then swings his sword up strongly. Judging from where I’m standing, it’s a swing that could easily cut a tree trunk in half.

Thankfully, Roxanne sees through it and avoids it, resulting in the Paladin’s sword cutting nothing but empty air.

「Alright, that will be enough.」

The Duke’s voice rang out across the room.

That’s it? Is the duel over?

I let out a sigh of relief.

I didn’t think the match was a very long one, but for all I know, it might’ve felt so short because of all the tension that surrounded it.

That last attack of the Paladin was probably a high level finishing move, so now that Roxanne managed to dodge that one as well, they should all understand her ability and how amazing she really is.

It’s a good thing that there weren’t any injuries on both sides.

「Thank you very much for this duel.」

「Likewise. Thank you very much for this duel.」

The two participants of the duel lowered their wooden swords and thanked each other. When that was over, Roxanne came back to me straight away.

「Well done, Roxanne.」

「Yes, I managed to finish it without embarrassing Master.」

She said as such, but honestly, I wouldn’t really mind it if she lost. If the duel ended in such a way, then maybe the Duke wouldn’t have his eyes on her so much.

「Lord Michio, you have wonderful Party Members. She is truly strong.」

「Yes, I am proud to have a Party Member like her with me.」

「As expected of Lord Michio’s Party Members. At the end right there, my posture completely collapsed when you dodged all of my best attacks. I just couldn’t touch her at all.」

The Duke talked with the Paladin about the duel and then came over to us.

Praise her all you want, but I am not going to hand her over to you.

「That was a magnificent duel, Lord Michio. That girl is every bit as strong as Gozer said she was.」

So Gozer’s words were the cause of all this?

「I am glad that I was able to witness this with my own eyes. I am also sure that it was a good learning experience for everyone gathered here today. But with that being said, it is almost time, my Lord.」
「Hmmm. It seems the meal is nearly ready. Come and join us, Lord Michio.」

I thought that he was going to say something more, but when Gozer made that suggestion, the Duke simply agreed with him and left the room first.

He didn’t get a chance to say that he wants Roxanne for himself, so that is all well and good in my book.

Should I also be thanking Gozer for this?

In any case, we followed after the Duke as well. We move down a passage of corridors until the Duke opens a certain door that lead us to a large room that looked more like a banquet hall rather than anything else.

A huge table was placed right in the center of the room, and on top of that table, a great number of various dishes has been lined up.

When we entered the room, we saw Cassia waiting for us, with a woman whom I have never seen before standing at either of her sides.

It might just be my imagination, but I think that today she is dressed up even more elegantly than she was the last time when I saw her, most likely because we are having a dinner party today instead of just about any ordinary day.
Even so, she is still looking as beautiful as ever.

She is beautiful.

「I’ve been waiting for your arrival. Welcome, and I am glad you could make it.」

When we entered the room, Cassia gave us a bow.

She is wearing a light blue dress. It looks good on her. I think anything would look good if she were the one wearing it, though.

It doesn’t expose much, but that is something that I would not typically expect of a formal dress like the one she has.

The two women at her sides are wearing similar dresses to Cassia’s, almost as if they were doing that to compliment her.

One is wearing navy blue and the other is in dark red. The two elves are definitely beautiful women, but I feel like they cannot even hold a candle to Cassia.
「Cassia, these are Michio’s Party Members: Roxanne, Sherry, Miria and Vesta.」

The Duke introduces the girls to Cassia in the same order I introduced them to him.

Oh my, what’s this now? It’s amazing, Duke! You actually managed to remember the names of the girls without forgetting them! I was expecting that he would remember Roxanne’s name for sure, but he even remembered the names of the other three of my slaves, even though I only mentioned them to him once.

Or could it be that he actually also has the 「Identify」Skill and I’m only learning about this now?! Or maybe…

Back in my old world in Japan, there was this person named Kakuei Tanaka, who became famous because he could remember all of the National Diet’s members’ faces, their names, electoral districts, winning frequencies and the details of their careers as bureaucrats after he joined the ministry.

He could remember even the smallest of miniscule details such as their winning frequencies, involvement with retainers, involvement with directors at various bureaus and conflicts with their personal rivals after just hearing about them once, and when asked about them, he could recall them right away. For a politician like him, that must have been a truly essential skill to have.

Is that what this is? The same kind of thing? Remembering peoples names might be a necessary ability of an aristocrat after all.
「Everyone, this is my wife, Cassia.」

The Duke continues and introduces Cassia and the two women at her sides to us. And was it just my imagination, or did he really put quite an emphasis on the words 「my wife」?

One of the two women seems to be Gozer’s wife.

「I will hold onto your swords for you.」