3 bar menu

Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 6

「Took you long enough! 」

Milzer said sullenly, clutching onto his sword tightly the entire time.

「I am very sorry for keeping you waiting so long. 」

Theo sincerely apologized to Milza for being late. He intended to change his clothes in a hurry with the help of the Werewolf twins Emma and Luna, but then Milza would probably berate him for ignoring his words to come fight him dressed like he was.

「I did not expect you to bring a shield with you as well. 」

As Milza snorted at Theo anyway, he turned the sword playfully in his hand before assuming his combat ready stance.

「Now, come at me! 」

「No, you can go at me first. 」

Theo quietly responded to Milza’s provocation.

「Oh really? 」

Milza smiled fearlessly and slowly closed the gap between them.

Then he began swinging his sword ferociously.

It was a fierce attack like a desert storm. A violent blow that swirls freely, sweeps away and swallows everything in its path as it continues endlessly without stopping. Siluca could only think of it as a serious attack with the intemt to kill put behind it. She wanted to immediately brandish the magic wand that she was keeping hidden under her coat, but she endured the urge to do so endured and decided to just watch over Theo for the time being.

(Do your best, Lord Theo.)

Siluca said a silent prayer in her mind.

As for Theo himself, right now he was like a hopeless traveler in the middle of the desert who has been thrown at the mercy of a sandstorm, as he was only able to use his sword and shield to fend off Milza’s relentless blade. There was no time for him to fight back…but he had no intention of fighting back

In the battle with the Vampire King in the Forest of Eternal Darkness, Theo was made keenly aware of his own weakness, and that in order for him to truly pursue his dreams, he must become strong. That is why he continued to patrol The Forest of Eternal Darkness, which has become his own territory thanks to Vilar, quelling the Chaos and the presence of monsters while simultaneously increasing the power of his own Crest. And whenever he was not busy with patrolling, he was engaging in practice fights with Irvin, Aishela, Emma and Luna as his opponents while instructing them to fight him as if they were engaging in a real battle.

Because of that, he was constantly suffering from various injuries, but at the very least he could feel that he was gradually improving himself with every battle he got through and with every would he received, and he definitely came to know his own strengths and weaknesses much better than before.

He is not good at attacking, but he is not so bad at defending himself. However, counterattacking when the opponent is tired of attacking by closing the gap between them the way Milza did does not suit his nature at all, so he decided to stick to the thing that he does best and stay on the defensive.

Ever since he started doing that, the number of times that he hae has lost against his Artist friends have decreased, even if he could not win any of the practice matches by not actively attacking.

His way of fighting was not the one that suited a hero or a leader in times of war, but he did not mind that because he never saw himself as either of those things. Thanks to all of that, he was confident that if he ever were to run into a strong enemy, then he would definitely not lose to them that easily. That is also why he was using the power of his Crest not to attack, but rather to protect himself and his companions who fought alongside him.

Of course, right now they were in the middle of a practice duel, so he was not going to use the power of his Crest of course, not yet at least. He decided that before he uses it, he is going to see how far he can go with just defending himself against a Lord who believes himself to be the strongest with just his strength and technique alone.

I’m practicing now, so I’m not using the Holy Seal. He intended to see how far he could defend against the monarch who believed himself to be the strongest with just his strength and technique.

「I can tell that you are definitely going easy against me! What is wrong? Why are you not attacking me?! 」

Milza calls out to Theo mockingly. Theo was perfectly aware the he was provoking him again, and because he lost to the opponents who were stronger than him several times before, he was able to judge the strength of his opponents more accurately. Thanks to that, he knew that Milza could deliver the finishing blow long ago if only he wanted to do so, but he was deliberately stopping himself from doing that because he was waiting to see Theo going on the offensive before he would resume his attack.

Theo knew it too. In fact, he had already lost several times before. However, Milzer did not deliver the decisive blow, waiting for Theo to be ready before resuming his attack.

「You say you want me to attack you, but as soon as I am going to do that you are going to counter it and the battle is going to be over just like that. 」

「*Tch!* Your way of fighting is way too boring. 」

Milza spat those words towards Theo, and in the next moments, the swings of his sword became even sharper and wilder than before, causing Theo to work with hid feet even more than before as he was doing his best to block the strikes that the Black Prince was directing towards him with both his sword and his shield.

After blocking it in such a way for a while, Theo could both feel and see that Milza was starting to get irritated, to the point where the next blow that he launched towards Theo was a merciless one that came from above his head.

Seing that blow, Theo was prepared for his death, however, his body started moving on its own as it held up his shield just in time to prevent that fatal blow from connecting. And then, while Milza’s blade was still sliding off of Theo’s shield, he jumped towards Milza while brandishing his own blade.

Milza prepared to receive Theo’s sword while trying to jump in the opposite direction, but contrary to what he was expecting, Theo did not try to slash at him with his own sword, but while keeping his shield leveled, he followed Milza with his entire body.

There was a sound of a light impact, and the edge of the shield catched Milza’s left shoulder. After scoring that hit, Theo fell back, brandished his shield and faced Milza again. Milza swung his sword at Theo’s torso, but he also managed to block it.

After that, Milza finally put his sword away. Theo also put down his sword and shield and took a deep breath. And then he bowed deeply to him.

「Thank you very much for everything you taught me, instructor. 」

「You cannot really be taught anything if the person that you are calling an instructor does not want to teach you anything, you know? Same thing if you do not actually want to learn anything. 」

Milza continued to spit the resentful words towards Theo.

「I am very sorry for the inconvenience that I have caused you. 」

Since he was perfectly aware of everything that Milza said, he sincerely apologized.

「When I saw how poor your dancing skills were, I thought that you would perform a lot better during battle, but then I got disappointed again because all you did was to get on the defensive all the time. 」

Milza said as he glared at Theo.

「No, this is just my preferred way of fighting. 」
Theo answered unapologetically.

「Certainly, there is something to be said about the way that you handle your shield. That much was obvious to me ever since I saw you protecting your contracted Mage against the Black Witch’s attack back in The Forest of Eternal Darkness. 」

「Thank you. 」

「However, you should not forget that by design, shield is supposed to protect its wearer, and just the wearer. With a shield, you will not be able to protect two or more people, even if they are close to you. 」

There was genuine anger in Milza’s voice.

「If you defeat the enemy before they can do anything, your allies will not be defeated. As a result, you will save many allies. That is how a true Lord should fight. 」