Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi-Novel

Chapter 21 – White City

After about twenty days of sailing, we arrived at White City, officially named “Jutlandgrad”.

“This is amazing”

“Incredible”

“I’ve seen it when I was a little girl, but it really is magnificent”

White City was surrounded by walls.

The towering walls shined in white, surrounding the whole city without a single gap.

We debarked from the boat and stood in a line of people going from the harbor towards the City.

The guards issued permits to visitors in an assembly-line system.

White City was located inside large castle walls and was further divided into blocks by smaller walls, it is not allowed to visit blocks outside of what the permit allows.

The blocks were divided into four by social class: the second-class citizen area, the citizen area, the nobles area, and the royal castle.

The second-class citizen area was mainly inhabited by plebeian emigrants from outside the country.

There were no details on the actual number of people and no head tax was levied, the public order was mostly unmaintained.

It is said that the only reason they were allowed to live in the city was for wartime conscription and guaranteed labor force.

They were not recognized as royal capital residents by the other blocks, and there were frequent evictions and relocations.

The citizens block houses the common citizens, merchants and artisans and residents with other occupations.

The block with the largest population, it was constructed like a typical town.

Immigration and emigration are accurately registered using family registries, and so a head tax was levied and in exchange, public order are incomparably well maintained to other towns.

There were almost every institution from shops and manufactories and inns to brothels.

The nobles block only houses nobles and thus only very few people are given permits to enter, large mansions are built here.

The royal castle block is a special block containing the castle where King Jutland lives and only castle workers are allowed to live here.

The whole city’s population is 600 thousand, if you include the second-class citizens it is estimated to be about 800 thousand.

The clear distinction and rigid class system supports the Olga Federation’s safety and growth.

To enter the second-class citizen block, no fee is levied, but you must pay 5 silvers to enter the citizen block, while entering the nobles block requires being a noble or having a recommendation from a noble of sufficient rank.

There’s no way we would have a noble’s recommendation so we paid the entry tax for three and received the permits.

Unlike the ones I received before, it was made from an engraved metal plate, showing the difference in national power.

I asked Nonna whether she might get exposed, but ...

“There wouldn’t be anyone in the capital who’d remember a rural noble’s second daughter like me”

She said so and calmly showed her beautiful face.

“How far do those walls go ...”

It was no wonder that Celia raised her voice.

We were supposed to go through the main gates but the walls stretched endlessly overhead.

There were three walls over 30 meters tall and 15 meters thick, with space in between.

It was the kind of absolute defense that makes you think: nothing can be a threat to the royal capital.

When we finally passed through the walls, we were in White City proper.

The walls, the streets, the houses, and the Royal Castle enshrined in the center of it all was all white with snow and shining under the sunlight.

After all the tedium of being rocked on the ship, Schwarz neighed in excitement, frightening the passers-by.

Within the citizens block, the liveliness was in an entirely different dimension compared to Elektra.

The streets that can easily fit four coaches side by side was packed with stalls and people, moreover, the shops were hawking for customers.

There were anything and everything being sold here, and the customers wanted it all.

Well, this is going to be harder than I thought.

Making enemies of the Federation would mean making enemies with this kind of national power.

I wonder if I could gain that much power.

“.........”

Nonna clung tightly to my shoulders.

(I’m not letting you run after all this, okay)

That’s what her eyes said.

Well all right, doing something reckless for a woman is a man’s job after all.

I went looking for an inn while groping Nonna’s breasts.

“Nnnh! In public?”

I put my arm around her shoulder and into her cleavage, stroking her pink nipple.

Combined with the beauty’s aroused face, it immediately gathered the surrounding men’s attentions on us.

“Aegir-sama ...”

Celia tugged my other arm and looked at me with upturned eyes while putting my hand on her chest.

“Hm? Here, have a mandarin”

I put the fruit in her mouth and pat her head, she pouted.

She’s been happy with that up until now, too.

Once we decided on an inn, I enjoyed dinner being waited on by Celia and Nonna, when a man came to talk to me.

“Yo. Some nice ladies you’ve got with you there! You a local?”

He’s in his early twenties.

He looked carefree but didn’t seem to be malicious.

Being lightly dressed, I’m sure he’s from around here.

Nonna bowed in greeting.

“No, we’ve just arrived at White City today. We came from the Central Plains”

Cool! The man was surprised.

Having gone this far, I suppose there’s not that many travellers from the Central Plains here.

“Since you’re from the Central Plains, you got here by boat, right? I haven’t been on a boat but a trip with a girl’s special, right?”

You doing her? He teased. I’m doing her, I answered.

The man’s value in Celia’s eyes seems to be dropping a lot.

“Must be great, huh. So, why did you come here in this hell of a winter?”

The man brought over a cup full of booze.

Seems he wanted a drink together.

“We wanted to see the Federation in winter”

“You came just for that!? Whoa, that’s amazing!”

The man poured his own drink while every time mine is empty, Nonna or Celia would fill it.

I feel like being an alpha male here.

“You look like you’ve got a good body, so how about joining in on the winter event? There are some that lets in even non citizens”

“Event? What kinds do you have?”

“The ones that let non citizens participate are the winter fox hunt or the winter sword art tournament”

I can imagine what those are from the names but I silently listened.

“The fox hunt is about chasing and hunting foxes on the snowfields. Unlike normal hunts you have snow underfoot so you can’t easily chase them with horses. Well, it’s a riding and bowmanship competition, I guess”

Nonna had a complicated expression.

“The sword art’s of course about fighting. That said, you’re not supposed to kill each other, you’ll be going at it with blunted blades. Unlike the hunt, this one’s held within the city so you’ve got lots of spectators, and nearing the finals the nobles and royals also come to watch”

“Oh, that looks interesting”

But I can use Schwarz for the fox one, that might be good.

“If you’ve got the guts the sword art tournament’s absolutely the best! I heard outstanding fighters get to enter the army with honors or service to nobles in addition to prizes. The previous winner was a commoner but somehow got himself a knighthood you know”

I whispered, asking Nonna whether I can get Elektra without any work if I got Federal peerage. She sighed.

That would be impossible unless you have inheritable investiture, the knighthood he mentioned is treated as a one generation only honor, so the peerage isn’t inherited and so you absolutely can’t get territory with it.

So there’s no way other than a frontal attack, is there.

“And best of all ... If you got high ranks in the sword art tournament you’ll be popular with girls”

Now that’s something I can’t miss.

“Well girls do gather around strong men. Also, winning a government-sponsored tournament makes you a bit of a hero! I heard there’s one who snapped up a noble girl”

“How do I enter the sword art tournament?”

“It’s easy, you go to that plaza over there, pay the fee, and register your name. If you don’t have a Federal criminal record you won’t be refused. It’s just that, you’ve got to have resolve. Even though you’ll be fighting with blunted blades they’re still metal. They’ve got dead people every year from bone fractures and stuff”

Well, that happens.

I’ve beaten plenty people to death with a sword handle before, too.

“Anyway, I’m also joining! I’m feeling confident so be ready to get hit!”

From his light mood he seems to be a warrior.

“Oh, I forgot to mention. My name’s Kristoff!”

“I’m Aegir, best regards if we meet each other”

I’ll give him all my thanks for the information.

He left slightly drunk, I turned my eyes to the table for another cupful.

“That man went too far! .... Aegir-sama! You’re not going to get more women are you?”

“Please be careful with your body. Please don’t forget that if you become injured and cannot fulfill the dream, I will leave on a trip to hell”

These two didn’t seem too fond of the idea.

By the way, as an apology to Schwarz for the boring ride, I skillfully undid his ropes when we brought him to the building’s stables and got him to mount the nearby mares.

What a hopelessly lewd horse.

The next day, I went to register at the plaza near the inn as early as possible.

“You’re slow! The matches will already begin today evening. Watch the time!”

“The rules are: Use the provisioned weapons and armor. You can choose between one handed and two handed swords for weapons. The armor is leather armor. The match ends when you lose your weapon or the opponent can no longer fight. That is all”

Looks like I barely made it.

The tournament venue is right in that plaza, the first few matches were held in any suitable place within the city, those who get up to a certain level of strength advance to the next round and fight at the national arena.

That is probably done so that they won’t have small fries fight in the national arena where the royals and nobles would watch.

The champions from previous tournaments, nobles, and people with military recommendation would join there.

As I’m an unknown newcomer, I had to fight and rise from nothing.

Truthfully, I don’t know if I could easily fight and win.

If it’s a fight to the death I’m confident I can win up to a level.

But in this tournament I had to choose between a blunted 70 cm long one-handed sword and shield or a blunted 100 cm long two-handed sword.

Since this is a sword art tournament and not a strength or tactics contest, that much is obvious.

However, I tend to settle my fights in one hit with a heavy weapon, so I might not be able to win in a tournament where you can’t just settle things in one blow.

And it’s obvious that as a self-taught man, I’d be at a disadvantage in a battle of technique.

But still, I don’t plan on losing.

I didn’t need the peerage nor the honors but they give out prizes if I won, but best of all is the fact that the women will be all over me.

I wanted to try doing that one play I did before again where a group of women lined up with their backs toward me and I had them one at a time.

Also, I can buy a round with the prostitutes with the prize money, that’s good too.

Nonna’s quite the beauty but after having the same meal over and over again I’m excited to be having something different.

There’s only one meal I will never get tired of having.

I never even once grew tired of that sweet taste I had been having for two years and a half.

No, bad. If I keep remembering her like this my lower half is going to be in a dangerous state.

Since the match was going to start I might get called out for a rule violation if I came out carrying a second sword.

Let’s calm down by giving Celia who came to cheer for me a pat on the head.

Once noon passed and the signal for the tournament was raised, lots of people had already gathered at the empty plaza.

Despite being no more than just one of several arenas, it held the White City’s famous event so a lot of people stopped their work and came to watch.

Celia and Nonna were sitting on a bench a slight distance away.

I suppose I don’t want to show an unflattering side of me in front of my women.

The matches started one after another, but as expected from a first round there were a lot of low level matches.

The audience booed at fights where they thrusted out one-handed swords while hiding behind shields.

“You have bad luck to be meeting me on your first fight! Listen up! What you need to be the strongest warrior is ...”

My first opponent reminded me of the man I used as a shield.

“In other words! It’s the ability to know the difference in strength of your friends and enemies is what makes you the strongest!!”

As far as I know, strong warriors don’t talk this much to the opponent they’ll be fighting with.

I checked the handling of my tournament-sanctioned two-handed sword.

It was crude but at least I can use it as a greatsword.

If the enemy thought so too then there’s no problem.

At the starting signal, the man, still making his speech, raised his one-hand sword overhead in a self-proclaimed certain kill style, and I sunk my sword in his exposed flank.

There was a dull cracking of ribs. The man vomited and fainted.

I’m sorry but I’m not too fond of this kind of guy so I didn’t really hold myself back.

The audience stirred seeing the fight end in two seconds.

The match was over and I received five coppers.

Let’s buy the girls some roast chicken.

It was an anticlimax of a finish, but since there were lots of people in the opening matches, it looks like we’ll be doing two matches in a day.

Before long, my name was called and I stepped out to the arena shouldering the two-handed sword when I saw a familiar face.

“Aegir! I didn’t expect to be seeing you in the second match!”

“Kristoff, I see. Looks like we’re tied by fate”

“I saw your first match, but I’m not that kind of small fry, be very careful. I’d feel bad if I injured you with a surprise attack!”

I see, so Kristoff is quite a skilled swordsman.

Looking at him, I can see he had a well-built body and some battle experience.

I can’t approach this like the one before, huh.

I readied my sword overhead, while Kristoff readied his on his upper-right.

Our gazes met and we smiled.

(Whichever of us won, no hard feelings)

When the starting signal was sounded, both of us lunged and began our deathmatch.

It was over in two seconds.

Without even stopping my downswing, he took it right on his shoulder. He dropped his sword and rolled in pain.

Kristoff was really weak.

“Ow!! You!! Hurt!! Dying!!! Owowow!!”

I looked at Kristoff with cold eyes, but I don’t think of him badly as a person so I lent my shoulders and brought him to the first-aid station.

Seeing the disappointing development, the audience hurled insults at this disappointment of a man.

“T, this isn’t supposed to ...”

“You were asking for it. Just bear with the insults”

Probably because he was blessed with a solid body, he didn’t break a single bone.

I held nothing back because he seemed oddly strong, but I’m glad he’s not injured.

Still feeling let down, I ended the day and went back to the inn.

“Good work out there”

Back at the inn, Nonna congratulated me with three fingers on the floor¹.

I didn’t really sweat much but the armor I was wearing stank, I want to take a bath.

¹ «TN: Mitsuyubi: The act of bowing with three fingers of each hand on the floor. Normally done by wives toward husbands (which may or may not be followed with do you want dinner, a bath, or maybe, me?)»

Ever since I exchanged promises with Nonna and I took her maidenhood, she’s been handling all my sexual needs.

Of course, I worked hard to make her enjoy it too, and since I took her virginity Nonna’s been actively asking for sex.

You can say that we never went a night without sex, to the point that her womb was always filled with my semen.

However, other than her breasts her physique is dainty and she doesn’t have much stamina.

A lot of the time when I went strong on the attack, she would be out like a light for the whole day.

Anyway, those super-huge breasts that would drive any man crazy would stimulate my lust and throw all reason to the winds.

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve dirtied her breasts with semen, and there were a lot of nights where I covered her face in it and let her sleep just as she were.

Nonna cleaned my whole body, and went on to prepare the bed.

She was already naked herself, rocking her breasts as she spread the sheets and hung the wet towels while sending me flirty glances.

“Laugh at me for being a lewd girl ... I’m lonely ... over here ...”

Nonna lifted her breast up and put her own nipple in her mouth.

An act that only women with the biggest breasts, that would make other women cry tears of blood, may do.

Any man would feel uplifted seeing something like that. I jumped on the bed, took her breast away from her and gave it a powerful suck.

I forced her legs wide open and pressed my hand in between them.

I had my cock in hand and was about to put it in when a cute voice interrupted.

“Um..! Excuse me Aegir-sama?”

Usually Celia would be tactful and pretend to sleep while Nonna and I did this, even though she would work her fingers hard under the blanket.

“What is it?”

“I’d like to be Aegir-sama’s woman already! Will you sleep with me!?”

She’s been feeling all sorts of dissatisfaction up until now and it finally erupted.

But seeing her body again, I can only see her as a child.

I patted her slender chest and pressed her swelling nether regions with a finger.

“A little more”

“Eh?”

“If I sleep with you now you’ll break. I’ll sleep with you once you’ve grown up a little more. Right now you should just eat well and sleep”

“Aw man”

Celia was about to burst into tears but soon regained herself.

“Then show me! Do it with Nonna right next to me and let me see!”

“What”

“That would be ... embarrassing”

“I want to learn for when the time I attend to you comes! Also, the two of you can just make love together and ignore me”

Celia looked serious, so I thought it’d be pitiful to reject her.

Nonna complained that it’s embarrassing, but showing myself sleeping with my woman to my other woman was not particularly embarrassing to me.

“If you suddenly have the cravings for me just say so okay! You can put it in me anytime!”

Looks like her other goal was to get laid while I was in a state of carnal lust sleeping with Nonna.

Celia sat down right next to the bed where we were doing it.

“Look at this Celia, incredible breasts!”

“Uuu. I’m jealous. It’s bigger than my head ...”

I pressed Nonna’s breasts together and sucked both nipples at once.

Celia watched from right nearby. Nonna covered her face with a pillow in embarrassment.

“And this is Nonna’s woman hole ...”

“That’s right. It’s beautiful, right? How does it compare to yours?”

“The hair is denser but the lips are about the same”

I suppose so.

Nonna’s labia were trim and tidy like a young girl’s.

“Ah! But it’s a lot lot bigger than mine!”

“———!!”

Still with her head under a pillow, Nonna screamed in embarrassment.

Her fleshpot was rather big and sensitive.

I’ve been doing concentrated attacks since I made her my woman, and now I was peeling the skin back, exposing the pink center.

“Try poking it. Gently”

“Yes”

Even though I told her to do it gently, Celia gave the woman’s most sensitive spot a flick of her finger.

“KYAAAAAH!!!”

Nonna reflexively screamed and jumped.

Celia seemed surprised at her sensitivity.

I suppose I should show her the real act soon.

I pushed my noisily erect member into Nonna.

Celia looked at the scene in daze and did not say a single thing.

Making sticky noises, I dropped myself forward and rode on Nonna.

This way her giant breasts were pressed under mine like a cushion. It felt absolutely amazing.

“So a woman’s hole can stretch this far .... I can do it too”

Celia looked at where we connected, peeking from under my butt.

To fulfill her expectations, I began moving furiously.

“Ae! Gir! Sama! Too rough! I’m breaking!”

“That was an amazing sound. It goes flop flop!”

I made Nonna bear it a little and moved violently, and stopped right before I hit my limit.

“Celia, this is what men and women do. How is it?”

“......... cool”

Celia came to and raised her head.

Being enthusiastic is fine but please remove your hand from your crotch.

“I’m nearing my limit and will come soon. Want to try touching?”

“If you’ll excuse me then”

Celia timidly touched my member, but she seems to have taken a liking to my thing which was wet with Nonna’s juices stroked it, full of curiosity.

My rod that was stopped right before the end started moving. Celia was surprised that it did.

“Eh!? It moved! How do I make it stop!? Here?”

I had almost pulled my whole cock out for display up to the glans, Celia pressed it down at it’s root.

The pressing sensation made it go over the limit and I pushed it deep inside Nonna, readying for ejaculation.

“GUUUH! I’m coming! Celia, watch closely!”

“Eh? Eh?”

“Auuu— ....”

My out of control penis pulsated and ejaculated right before Celia’s eyes. My seed that was wet with Nonna’s juices flowed back out and splattered on Celia’s face who was watching from point blank range.

“This is ... Aegir-sama’s sperm”

Watching Celia unhesitantly put the off-smelling juices in her mouth and wince, I pumped several times more than the normal amount into Nonna.

The pitiful Nonna, with her belly swelling like she was pregnant, was in a lot of trouble the next day when semen kept coming out from her womb no matter how much she washed.

The second day of the tournament, my opponent was a middle aged old man with a body small enough to rival a kid’s.

As the starting signal sounds, the small old man bent his body down as far as it can go and charged.

If I held the sword the normal way, its range would be too short for an enemy coming from below.

The reason he bent down and charged was probably to slip under my sword and strike at my lower body.

“GOT YOUUUUU!!”

“I suppose so”

I ‘Got him’² by flipping away his sword with my right hand and delivered a low kick to his face. He fainted.

² «TN: Japanese sentences can be written without the subject or object, so I got you and you got me can be written the same way»

“What are you, an idiot?”

He thrusted his sword and charged at me, practically declaring “imma stab you now!”

If you could tell that he was going to stab, you can flip it away easily.

To add to that, he even told me the timing of his attack with a yell.

I never thought that there’d be this many small fries.

Maybe the real battles will take place in the national arena.

My fourth battle opponent was another idiot.

He chose a two-handed sword as his weapon but he held it in just his right hand, leaving his left empty.

Sure enough, when the battle starts I parried his sword away, destroying his posture and making him step back.

However, he didn’t stop with the one-handed hold.

I’ll finish it with the next move.

As I stepped forward, I felt a sharp pain on my left thigh.

When my pivot leg reflexively stopped because of the pain, he lunged.

I immediately moved to parry it with my sword but this time my left arm hurt.

I used all my strength to flick him off and stepped back for a moment.

What happened?

When I looked to my thigh and arm I saw something like a thin metal needle stuck there.

It was too thin to wound and it didn’t even bleed much, but where did it come from?

“What’s wrong? Is running all you can do?”

He taunted me with a grin.

I get it now, his face is the face of a man who cheats when he gambles.

I made a move to charge at him like before, and his left hand moved. I brought the handle of my sword in front of my face.

There was a schink and a needle stuck into the cloth wrapping the handle.

The guy was holding his sword in his right hand while using his left to throw needles.

It was a foul, but since he did it without superfluous moves and since the needle was small the referee and the audience didn’t notice.

Even if I did tell them it’d probably look like I stabbed myself with a dropped needle, I’d just be insisting without any evidence.

Maybe if I did make a fuss of it they’ll recognize the foul play, but I don’t want to do that.

A fight is essentially done to the death.

Rules that say it’s a match or a brawl are no more than artificial restraints.

That guy tore down those restraints by himself.

Therefore there was only one conclusion.

I charged once again.

He threw a needle with his left hand again, but once I knew the trick it was no more than throwing a pebble with his fingers.

I guarded against the needle aimed at my eye and it stuck into my leather gauntlet.

Of course, a mere needle wasn’t strong enough to pierce the armor.

He panickedly held the sword with both hands to match my moves.

He didn’t match my moves.

I let him match my moves.

While we were in the middle of locking swords, I brought my face close to his and said.

“Show’s over. Die”

He was about to make a surprised face but I kicked him in the gut, giving us a 1 meter distance.

I wouldn’t let him use the needles anymore.

I raised my sword to my upper right and swung down, aiming at his head.

A man relying on tricks won’t be able to avoid it.

It made a bam sound like a hammer hitting the wall. He flew to my left and collapsed on the ground.

His head was cracked and leaking blood and brain. The audience shrieked in surprise.

The fourth match had ended.

“That was overdoing it”

Back at my inn’s watering hole, Kristoff who couldn’t move because of yesterday’s injury came and yelled at me.

I told him what really happened but he still thought it was horrible.

“Something like that’s worth about one broken arm you know. Just how angry were you to go so far as splitting his head?”

“The battles afterwards have a bit more tension to them, right?”

“They all turned into shitty fights thanks to you!”

Seems like the battles after mine were frequently ones where the fighters both fearfully pushed their swords out like in the initial matches.

“What’s done is done. If I see someone like that tomorrow I’ll forgive them with a neck bone”

“What’s the difference!”

Unfortunately, I’m not kind enough to go easy in that kind of match.

Although, if the enemy is a woman I’ll forgive her if she lets me do her.

“Still, you’re really strong aren’tcha. Your fourth match aside, your third was against a famous mercenary, wasn’t it?”

Seems like the small old man was a famous small old man.

“If I don’t reach the arena I won’t be popular with women, right?”

“Well, there’s that, but the woman you’re bringing along is quite the beauty, right? That kind of woman don’t just pop up all over the place right? No matter how much you pick and choose”

What’s he saying?

“Nonna’s my woman, of course, but I do want to pick and sleep with other women too”

Still wearing a smile, Nonna’s eyes turned cold.

Seeing me bluntly say that in front of the subject herself, Kristoff made the best amazed expression of the day.

“I’ve got nothing to do today, huh?”

I should be having my fifth and sixth match today, finally fighting with strong people. However, both my opponents forfeited and I won by default.

Seems like the impact from yesterday’s match was too strong.

So it’s called a sword art tournament because they’re afraid of seeing blood and corpses, huh.

I suppose White City would have no immunity to battles since they haven’t seen bandits or wars for so long.

While I was imagining things on my own, the matches ended, and my opponent for tomorrow was decided.

“OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHーーー!!!”

My opponent for my seventh match seems to be “Agor”, a Royal Light Infantryman.

A present for me for winning all my matches so far by flicking off my enemies’ swords.

The reason he entered the tournament without recommendation despite being a Royal Army member was probably because he was a commoner and looked down by his superiors.

He was leaving the arena but he looked my way and stopped.

I see, so this is Agor.

He’s not a big man but he had bulging muscles and his power output looks outstanding.

He had sharp eyes, looking at me expressionlessly, trying to probe me.

This guy looked truly strong, unlike Kristoff.

Tomorrow’s match is going to be fun, let’s save up energy today and go straight to sleep and flirt with Nonna.

While I was having fun on the bed I remembered I promised Kristoff to have a drink today as well, so I asked Nonna to leave him a word.

With disordered hair and neck and breasts full of hickeys exposed.

“Aegir-sama is busy today so we’re very sorry”

That was all she said as she went back to the room with obvious impatience, leaving Kristoff to see her off crying tears of blood.

I have to make it clear to bastards peeking at Nonna’s cleavage just whose woman she is.

The next day, seventh match.

“You had a really rough match before, didn’t you”

Before the match, Agor came to talk.

He’s talking about the fourth match, I’m sure.

“I have my circumstances”

“I don’t like those kinds of fights. I’ll beat you down so you don’t have to do that”

Did he deliberately come to say I won’t kill you so calm down?

I don’t get what he’s saying but he seems to be a soft person.

“I’ll also be as careful not to kill anyone as I can, too”

I didn’t mean it to be hateful but Agor glared at me, Nonna next to me facepalmed.

“You’re making fun of him by saying that!”

Question marks floated by Celia and I.

I suppose I don’t really get Federation phrasing.

The start of the match approaches, Agor and I entered the arena.

The look in his eyes were sharper and more bloodthirsty than before.

Seems like I really made him angry.

Agor’s weapon was a one-handed sword and shield, standard Federal Light Infantry armaments.

The starting signal sounded and I set off.

Step forward right, sweep left, sweep right, step back and overhead strike, I rained attacks on him but he took and parried each and every one with his shield.

As expected, he’s good with the shield.

When I was done with my attacks Agor speedily swung his sword down. When I parried his slash that was quick but light on power, he pushed his shield out, knocking me back.

When I stumbled, he did an even quicker stab than before.

I somehow parried it by swinging my sword relying on my arm strength, but it doesn’t compare to my enemies up until now.

He knows well how to fight with people who rely on strength swinging two-handed swords.

His attacks still didn’t stop.

When I thought he was going to step back for a moment, he charged with his sword held overhead and I reflexively guarded. However, he stepped to my side and once he passed me he struck my sword using all his strength.

I see, he was aiming to win by getting me to drop my sword from the beginning.

I’m not going to make it so easy you know.

Using the momentum from him hitting my sword, I spun around. It was a move full of openings but after hitting my sword with all his strength he could not react to it.

— Agor PoV —

(No!)

Agor’s instincts told him.

It had all been going to plan until the part about hitting his sword with full power.

But he was holding the sword tightly and above all, he had a smile on his face as he spun around after having his sword hit.

Trusting his well honed instincts, he jumped back.

That moment ....

The two-handed sword slashed empty air with a speed uncharacteristic of a sword that was made for the main purpose of hacking, so fast that the sword tip was invisible.

If Agor’s backstep were one moment late, the battle would’ve been over.

The sharpness and force reminded the audience of the tragedy the day before yesterday, and they fell silent.

Agor seems to understand as well, even though his expression didn’t change he visibly exhaled.

“That just now was for the shoulder, it won’t crack your head even if it hit you know”

“Shut up!”

— Aegir PoV —

Agor moved, he made a sharp but light slash.

It seems to be an anti-heavy-weapons attack he thoroughly tempered in.

After this he would hit with his shield and destroy my posture, and continue with a finishing stab.

(But I’ve seen through it already)

It went the same way up until my sword was parried.

He then pushed his shield forward, but I was no longer there.

I took distance by a step and swung down. It wasn’t my earlier probing attack from before, but a full power strike.

There was no way he could’ve taken that with one hand. His shield fell down to the ground, and he fell forward still in his left hand forward pose.

Even though he had a sword in his right hand, since he had lost his balance as if his left was being pulled to the ground, he was unable to swing or thrust it.

I raised my sword right away and thrusted it at his throat.

“.......... I yield”

Cheers were raised, signaling the end of the match.

After that, the three of us, with the addition of Kristoff, was now in the inn’s tavern drinking booze.

“I thought you were some thug who can only swing a sword relying only on strength. I apologize for my impoliteness”

“It’s fine. You’re the strongest out of everyone I’ve ever hit”

“That used to not make me happy at all”

True that, Kristoff complained with a smile.

Agor was 30 years old. A rare commoner who made it to an Army Company Commander.

Only a common Light Infantry division but according to Kristoff it was quite a huge success.

“There’s going to be a huge choir of commoners are the shame of the army after all tomorrow, so at least let me drink today”

I might’ve done something bad.

“So I’m going to be bothered if you don’t win in the arena. If you do then I can make the excuse that I can’t help losing to someone like that”

“I do everything I can do”

“Your refill”

In praise of Agor for his good fight, I had Nonna serve him drinks.

I can definitely feel the difference from Kristoff from how he restrains himself to not keep looking at her breasts.

“You have no more matches until you go to the arena, but don’t be careless until the end, okay”

“Yeah, I’ll try going there now that I’ve gone this far”

“If you like, I can go there and root for you!”

The arena was also intended for the citizens’ entertainment so there were seats for nobility and seats for commoners.

However, the admission fee was definitely not cheap. On days where there are popular fights the tickets would be all sold out and re-sold for an exorbitant price.

“Well then, Aegir is going to have a match tomorrow. We don’t want to hold you back. You should rest now”

Agor took Kristoff and left the inn.

Even though they said so, my night match was about to begin.

Nonna said.

“Agor-sama kept stealing glances at my chest too”

I didn’t know ... Even though I knew Kristoff would steal glances every now and then.

“That’s a greeting and conversation for the chest”

Women seems to be sensitive to chest glances.

I should thoroughly give these huge breasts some tender loving today.

I grabbed both breasts in each arm and gripped so strongly until it hurt.

Nonna’s face turned red even as she made complaints. She was dripping on the floor noisily.

Love juices had finally leaked from under Nonna’s skirt.