Chapter 15 Swordmaster (3)

"You said you were talented. Talented enough to somehow start teaching the Young Miss after picking up the sword only two months ago, correct?"

Charon spat out venomously at Asher. That trash must have twisted his tongue and fed lies to Lady Venicia and Miss Reika. Anybody who had no education with the sword would have believed it. Asher had no shame in the eyes of Charon.

"Then beat me in a duel. I'm sure if you can beat me then anybody would acknowledge you are truly talented enough to teach others. Pick up the sword."

"Sir Charon, what are you talking about?!", Lady Venicia tried to interject as she noticed something clearly awry.

"This was the Lord's order. I can't and will not stop no matter times you ask me to stop, Lady Venicia"

Venicia was forced to shut up at Charon's words. Charon pointed his sword at Asher.

"If you can't take responsibility for your words and claims, then just beat it. You are nothing but a lowly commoner and have no place being here."

"Charon…"

Lady Venicia was feeling downhearted since she couldn't do anything if it was truly the Lord's order. Not only that, it was clear to her that Charon was also using this as an opportunity to vent his anger at a child.

"It's all right."

Asher stepped forward, patting Venicia on the shoulder to relax her. He then locked gazes with Charon. Only contempt and hostility could be seen in Charon's eyes.

'It seems this was an order sent by the lord of the estate. Hm…'

Unlike Venicia, It seemed to Asher that the Lord had some bitter feelings and opinions about Asher's presencel. Well, it was weird in the first place that a nobility like Venicia would even try to raise a commoner boy as her own son in the first place, but Asher felt indebted to her since she was the first person to have ever shown him eyes of affection. He could not let her feel down.

Asher lifted his sword slowly with a resolute and fierce gaze in his eyes.

"What will you do if I win?"

"…I won't meddle with you or your affairs anymore. If I win, you'll shut your dirty mouth about being the teacher of Miss Reika, yes?"

"That's fine with me."

Asher nodded and then shifted his steps.

***

"So that's what happened."

Lord Halvark leaned against the chair and muttered to himself. He was having a headache just listening to the story and pressed his hands to rub his temples.

"You challenged Asher to a fight… and you lost?"

"Yes."

Charon bit his lips. His face, whose lips and cheekbones were colored in black and blue with bruises, looked rather funny.

"I don't remember telling you to challenge Asher to a duel."

"…I'm sorry."

Charon bowed his head. However, Lord Halvark did not rebuke him. As a result, Charon's actions actually brought forwards some important information.

"…It's been said he has training with the sword for less than 2 months, and even Reika corroborated the truth of that matter. But I still can't believe he beat you."

Charon was incredibly strong. He became a knight of Lord Halvark's small estate to repay the kindness he received from Lord Halvark long ago, but he was originally a well-known knight in the Empire. He was not a person who would be beaten by even the most talented of children who had been learning swordsmanship from birth. But for some child to beat him… and one that had been only training for 2 months?

"And you couldn't even raise your hands because he overwhelmed you to such an extent?"

"…yes."

Charon replied in a gloomy tone. There was no room to refute what happened since the rumors had already spread from all the staff in the estate to even the villagers of the town. If Reika and Venicia hadn't stopped Asher in the middle of their so-called 'duel', Charon would have beaten bloody till he was crippled. Charon trembled at the thought of such a monstrous kid.

"Hmm."

Lord Halvark narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingers on his desk. He couldn't even try and guess what else happened to Asher since losing his memories. Everything he heard was completely opposite to Asher he once knew.

"It's like a completely different person…."

But that clearly couldn't happen. In the end, Lord Halvark only got more of a headache trying to figure it out.

"How does his relationship with Reika look?"

"It didn't look bad."

"Clearly Asher is brilliant. If I had noticed sooner I could have made a plan-"

Lord Halvark mumbled and was suddenly cut-off.

"You're telling an interesting story."

An old man's voice suddenly rang out from behind them. Charon immediately flinched and turned around, drawing his sword at the ready.

Since when did this person get behind him? There was an old man standing by the window. Charon was shocked. He was in a small room together with Lord Halvark, and he who was an Empirical knight couldn't even notice this man's presence?

"Who… who are you?"

"You are in no position to question me as a servant."

"…I don't know who you are, but if you have come all the way here just to sneak into the Lord's room, you'd better be prepared!"

Charon yelled as he stomped his foot on the ground with strength and shot forwards

"Wait Charon…."

Lord Halvark tried to stop him, but Charon's sword had already drawn a trajectory in the air. All of a sudden a flash of light lit up the dark room where the three of them were, and Charon's sword was blocked

"Hmmm… the speed is good."

"Huh…?"

Charon looked at his sword with an incredible face. The unknown old man was holding onto his sword with two fingers. The old man chuckled.

"Go away."

Boom-

"Cough!"

The shock struck Charon's body. Charon collapsed on the floor throwing up blood and slowly managed to lift the sword with trembling hands as a cane.

The old man whistled.

"Oh you didn't let go of the sword? What a waste. You would have been worth raising if I were a little younger, but I'm too old these days to teach."

"You really are too much..", Lord Halvark sighed.

The old man approached Lord Halvark with a grin.

"Your knight will get better in two days. I can protect you while he's getting treated, so what's the problem? There's no one better that you could possibly have for a personal guard than myself."

"What's going on this time that made you want to visit?", Lord Halvark asked in a tired voice.

"I was just going to drop by for a while, but I heard quite an interesting story while listening to that guy over there. Yeah… that's right. You say a boy who hasn't even trained with the sword for more than two months beat this guy over here?"

The old man spoke, pointing to Charon.

As the old man saw it, the level of Charon was quite high. Even those with great talent from birth, would not be able to defeat Charon unless they trained diligently and with motivation regularly. But some young boy had beaten this knight of the empire after picking up the sword only 2 months ago? He was definitely not going to miss this interesting story.

"You are…"

Charon looked up at the old man blankly as he spoke with shock in his voice. The old man's facial features were that of a man in his early 80s, but his body was one of a stout young man in his 20's.

In addition, the most unusual thing was the color of the old man's hair. As if the old man had rejected the passage of time, his beard and hair was pitch black instead of gray and white.

"It can't be….", Charon muttered.

"Oh it seems you know me. I thought I'd be forgotten since it's been such a long time since I was active."

"How could I not know who you are sir…!"

There was a desire in the eyes of Charon. The old man in front of him, was a man anybody who followed the path of the sword would revere and want to learn from.

Lord Halvark got up from his seat and leaned over.

"It's been 20 years. We welcome your visit. High Count Van Ester. The master of the Halvark family, and the sword of the Empire. Thank you for your visit, Swordmaster