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Volume 7 Chapter 5 Part 7

「Use this.」

 

Then, we could hear a voice of one of the woman’s Party Members calling out to her. It seems like it belongs to this Sabo guy, but I couldn’t hear the rest of what he said at all.

 

「Hey, what is going on there?」

 

「It’s okay, master. He didn’t give her another Sacrificial Misanga, so now the duel can end in an honorable draw.」

 

「Ah, well, yeah, I guess, but that’s not really what I am concerned about…」

 

What I really want to know, is what was Sabo saying to her and what did he give her just now. Also, what the hell is an honorable draw, and how does it even differ from an ordinary kind of draw?

 

「Have I managed to do my best, master?」

 

「Yes, you definitely did, Roxanne.」

 

「As expected of Miss Roxanne. Your performance was as splendid as ever.」

 

「It was great, desu.」

 

Something still seems to be happening, and while she was listening to our compliments, Roxanne was also paying attention to the other two without being negligent or dismissive of their situation.

 

The woman that was on the ground was not moving anymore. That is a scene that is typical of an ending to an intense battle: one side is left standing triumphantly, while the other is going to be on the ground with their head in the dirt in shame.

 

Fortunately for us, that should also mean that the match between these two has drawn to a close, and that should be the end of it. Of course, unless the woman decides that this is not over yet and that she wants to go for round two.

 

「I always watched master and the way that you fight. You were always my inspiration  for continuing to improve myself, so I wonder… I wonder if I managed to become even a bit more stronger than I was before?」

 

「I see. Well, in my eyes, you most definitely did.」

 

「Thank you very much. That is the result of being trained by master.」

 

No, I really don’t think that Roxanne getting so strong has anything to do with me or how I trained her at all.

 

「It would seem that the other Party has given up on continuing the battle, so would you like to do the same and end the duel in a draw?」

 

Gozer comes closer to us and asks us about our intentions.

 

「Yes. There’s no need for the violence to escalate any further than it already did.」

 

Roxanne answers him after glancing my way to see and seeing that I gave her a nod of my approval.

 

「Is that alright for you too?」

 

Gozer then goes to where Roxanne’s opponent was and asked her about the same thing. But instead of her, Sabo was the one who stepped forward and spoke to Gozer instead.

 

「Yes, it is. After all… there’s no other choice now, is there?」

 

「Very well. Then, with the agreement of both sides, I hereby declare this duel to be a draw.」

After Sabo gives his answer, Gozer declares that the duel has been finished. He then steps forward and approaches the woman, who now lifted herself off the ground enough to sit down.

 

「You are a disgrace to the Baradam house.」

 

Sabo says that to her while brandishing his sword. And then… he brings it down onto the woman’s neck swiftly, beheading her on the spot.

 

「Ah…!」

 

What the…

 

「Why the fuck did you do that?!」

 

I accidentally allowed the thought that I intended to keep for myself to leak out of my mouth as genuine words.

 

「I offered her an Orb of Self-destruction since I thought that she would rather use it to end her own life instead of keep on living after suffering such humiliating defeat, but she refused to do it, so I had no choice but to finish her off myself. After all, if someone is not willing to go to such lengths in order to keep the reputation of the family untarnished, then the Baradam family has no further use of them, which means that we are free to dispose of such trash in any way that we deem fit.」

Not paying any kind of regard to the body of the woman whom he just killed, Sabo stepped over it and made an ominous declaration.

 

From what I remember, The Orb of Self-destruction is an item that does severe damage to all of the enemies around you, but it is doing so in exchange for the user’s life. Is that what is meant by honorable draw? A situation in which both of the Parties are going to end up dead, essentially resulting in a double K.O? Because if you asked me, then there is nothing honorable in such a practice at all!

 

「Why have you done such a thing?」

 

Gozer steps in and asks Sabo about his reasons for killing that woman.

 

「I feel no need to explain myself to you, since this was an internal issue between the members of the Baradam household. And since this woman was acting under my control, then as the head of the Baradam family, I see no problems in disposing of a family member who dared to go against my direct orders, which can be seen as her rebelling against me.」

 

「I understand. In that case, I only ask to check your Intelligence Card later in order to confirm what you just said.」

 

Wait… you understand it, Gozer? Don’t tell me that you’re going to let this guy off the hook so easily just because he slapped you in the face with a bunch of arguments that sounded as if he took them right out of his ass just a moment ago!?

Gozer withdrew his objection easily. Faced with what he just witnessed; he should have been pushing about an explanation.

 

What kind of rule is that even? So even if murder is performed right in front of those who are supposed to be upholding the law, everything is a-okay and there are no problems as long as you preface the entire thing with a statement that the entire thing is an internal issue of your household? I am not buying that kind of a bullshit explanation. Not in the slightest.

 

「Even if the draw as a result might be considered as convenient in our current situation, it doesn’t change the fact that such a result is still a disgraceful one for the Baradam family. Not only its representative didn’t manage to win the duel, but she also refused an honorable death through the Orb of Self Destruction. However, all of that pales in comparison to the beigest insult that the Baradam family has suffered: that the one who clearly won the duel refused to deal the finishing blow to her opponent. This is the kind of disgrace that I will simply not stand, and so, I demand to have a duel with that woman as compensation.」

 

While he showed Gozer his Intelligence Card, Sabo made a demand as he pointed his finger towards Roxanne.

 

「Normally, there are no rules that state that the side that won the duel has to accept a request for a rematch coming from the side that lost the duel. As long as the winners don’t want to fight anymore, they can just walk away. However, since the result of the duel between Miss Roxanne and that woman was a draw, then that rule does not apply here.」

 

Sherry informed me, because I was just about to open my mouth and asked what made Sabo think that we’re going to accept his ridiculous demand.

 

So that means that even if we managed to achieve a draw in Roxanne’s duel, we might have ended up actually shooting ourselves in the foot here? If I knew that a draw might result in a rematch that cannot be refused, then I would have told Roxanne to finish that woman off after all. I wanted to just get this thing done with as fast as possible, but if it keeps drawing on, we might get more unnecessary attention to ourselves. This is as if the worst possible scenario that I was afraid of was coming to fruition before my very eyes.

 

「Can we simply run away without going through with the rematch?」

 

「We might, but that is not something that I would recommend. If we run away now that the declaration for a rematch has already been made and the word about it gets spread around, then we will become a laughingstock of the entire region, because running away from a duel is universally perceived as the height of cowardice.」