With All Your Might

Block, parry, swing. Block, parry, swing. I was stuck in that repetitive loop while fighting against the pair of adventurers.

Even so, I still haven't gotten a clean hit in, even though I've gotten hit quite a lot. I was bleeding from my nose and I'm pretty sure I got some cracked teeth.

While they showed an incredible amount of speed at the start, they haven't been able to repeat the same movement again, but then again they might just be underestimating me.

But still---

''Kfgh!''

Interrupting my train of thought the woman stepped in and spun with her right foot and sent a kick toward my head, striking my face with her heel and snapping my head to the right. The man jumped forward and hit my abdomen with the sword.

''Khga!''

The inhuman strength of the strike sent me flying backward and I just barely managed to stay standing.

'They're really good at team attacks!'

Not giving me a chance to rest, the woman ran forward and struck me in the face with a horizontal strike. Throwing her arm back, she prepared another swing toward my face.

I raised my hands and blocked the sword with my hands. The skin in my palms tore off and they became numb right after. Using the half-second where she was stuck in that position, I grabbed the wrist of her left hand to stop her from swinging her sword or running away and threw a straight punch that struck her right in the nose.

''Fgh!''

I let her wrist go, and before she could step away I pivoted with my left foot and kicked her in the left side of the head with my right leg, directly in the ear. Her eyes widened and she stumbled back while covering her ear with her hand.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the man running toward me. He raised his sword and pushed it toward my head.

I dodged the incoming sword by throwing my head back and grabbed his arm and his collar.

I pulled his head in by the collar and headbutted him in the jaw. Some of his teeth went flying out his mouth.

''FGH!''

I let his arm go and threw a punch toward his face. I felt his eye get crushed under my knuckles.

''---AHHH!''

''Ah, sorry about that.''

He bent down from the pain and covered his face. Although there was no visible blood, he seemed unable to open his eye.

Seeing this, I grabbed his hair and kneed him on the temple.

His body fell limp onto the ground.

''--That's one man down! In spite of all odds, it seems Isaac is doing quite well!''

The crowd roared in excitement at what the man with the mohawk said.

I turned around and faced the woman, who seemed to still be in shock from the kick to her ear. She was breathing heavily and her body was shaking all over. Well, it is possible that I crushed her eardrum, but it's not that bad, right?

I mean, I was able to fight just fine when that happened to me.

She gritted her teeth and ran toward me. Her previous speed was nowhere to be seen. Although she was still fast, it wasn't anything out of this world.

She drew a vertical arc from above and threatened to strike down with the sword. Her attack was sluggish and slow, so I simply stepped in from below and struck her face with an overhand punch. She stumbled away holding onto her bleeding nose.

I ran forward and punched again, this time with a left haymaker to her right ear. The hit snapped her face to the left so I punched her again with a right hook to the face. Then A left hook.

I felt her nose crack and get crushed under the impact of my fist, he even let go of the sword on her left hand.

Wrapping my hands around behind her neck, I stepped forward with my right foot and sent a knee to her liver. The accumulated spit and blood on her mouth escaped as she groaned in pain and she fell down on her knees.

Seeing this, I kicked her in the face. Her body was flung away and she curled into a ball the moment she fell. Guess that liver shot really did her in, huh?

I turned toward the man with the mohawk and asked:

''Hey, isn't this enough?''

''Mhm?''

''I mean, she's already on the ground and I doubt she can keep fighting, so...''

He raised his brows and looked at the shaking girl, who held her stomach tightly.

''Mhm, let me think...''

The man with the mohawk stared at the ground thoughtfully.

''...Alright then! Despite being overwhelmed by two A-Ranked adventurers, the decisive winner of this duel is Isaac!''

The crowd screamed with excitement and disbelief. The man with the mohawk walked toward me and raised my fist in the air.

Shit, this was really tiring, although it was fun, a bit. It was fun when I wasn't getting my ass beat, at least. I'm also pretty sure I cracked some ribs.

I turned towards the fallen woman, and...

She wasn't there.

I looked a bit more to the rightt, and saw her getting up from the ground. In her left hand, she was holding the wooden sword that she had dropped on the ground before.

It was less than a second, but I felt her gaze on me. Looking deep into my eyes.

''---[Fierce Strike]''

----Her quiet voice was the last thing I heard before a cloud of darkness swallowed me whole.

------------------------------

''Shit, it's not getting out...''

---Right now, I was cleaning Beltran's gigantic clothes.

Due to all the screams, the commander went to see what all the uproar was about, and found us knocked out on the ground with a circle of people around us.

Despite everybody's participation in the fight club, only the fighters and ringleader were punished. That being, me, Samuel, the pair of adventurers, and the dude with the mohawk.

However, with me beating her up that badly, and Elisa almost tearing my jaw clean off my face with a hit, she and I were the ones who got the worst out of it. Thanks to the healers working hard we managed to recover from most of our injuries, so we were told to take care of our tasks as soon as we woke up.

As for the ringleader, the mohawk guy, he disappeared. And now it seems nobody can find him. Sneaky fucker....

''Hey, Elisa, come here.''

I turned toward the blonde woman who was also cleaning. She turned around with a frown on her face.

''What? Why?''

''I need help cleaning this stain off.''

''Hah?! No, do it yourself!''

It seems my way of asking didn't work, as she just turned around and kept cleaning. I'm doing this forus both, you know?

Shit, to think I'll have to clean this and the other knight's clothes, just thinking about it makes my head ache.

''There's only one way to get rid of this...''

I scratched the sauce stain on the shirt with the brush as quickly and as hard as I could.

Remembering something, I turned around toward Elisa.

''...Hey, you still haven't told me.''

She didn't even move her eyes in my direction and asked:

''What?''

''What was that thing that you used at the end.''

Her brows furrowed for a second before returning to her normal stern face.

''It was a [Skill].''

''What's that?''

''You don't know?''

''Not at all.''

In spite of being here for 18 years, it's the first time I've heard about skills. Since there wasn't anything like a system or something, I assumed they just didn't exist, but I guess they do.

''...[Skills] are magical martial arts. You can use them to enhance your speed, strength, or learn magical sword arts. They're learned by imbuing a [Skill Scroll] with your own mana and absorbing the contents of the scroll.''

I see. It kind of made sense, although it's still baffling to me that you can just 'absorb content'. I don't know what I expected, but the answer was a bit underwhelming.

Scrolls, huh...

''I see. Nope, never even heard about it, how do you even get a [Skill Scroll]?''

''Why should I tell you?''

''It was rhetorical.''

We returned to our task in silence. She really didn't like me, I must have something that makes women hate me. In this case, it's the whole beating her up part, and for Ana, it was the fact that I indirectly killed her friends, but even so, I haven't even had a woman willingly approach me in this life.

...Mhm? Now that I think about it, I've always had bad luck with women. In my past life, no girls ever showed any sign of romantic attraction toward me. I always ended up being friends with them somehow. And from what I remember, I never had a girlfriend back then either.

And now, women don't approach me because I look like shit and probably smell like it too. I kind of act like a piece of shit too, now that I think about it.

Huh, that's one weird constant.

''...Shit, I've done all I can, I'll just let it dry.''

Lifting the long shirt up, it didn't look weird at first glance, but it had a strange gray stain on the right side. I managed to remove the stain fro. before, but it left that behind as a reminder.

I hung the clothes on the clothesline and returned to cleaning the other knight's clothes.

The minutes passed, and not a single word was shared between us. It was only when we both finished that she talked.

''Let's go, we need to clean the kitchen too.''

''Right...''

I followed behind her. She hasn't even looked at me in the eyes. However, even though I thought it was because I beat her up, it didn't feel like that. She seemed embarassed almost.

Well, whatever it is, it's none of my business.

Let's just get this done.

----------------------------------

Cleaning the dishes and pots, it was only the two of us in the kitchen. We were both stuck in an endless loop of brushing and scratching. How many people are staying in this camp?! It feels like the stack of dishes never ends.

''--Ah, shit...!''

A loud metallic sound echoed, breaking the deafening silence. I turned around and saw the woman looking at her shaking hands.

''What happened?''

''I can't feel my hands...''

The woman said in a worried tone.

''Can't feel your hands...? Aren't you a swordsman? I feel like you should be used to using your hands a lot...''

''It's because of the water!''

She answered angrily, to which I frowned. Is it really something to get angry at? I was just making a point. And it's true, if she's a swordsman she should be able to withstand a bit of cold water.

''Huh, I see, makes sense. Just rest for a bit then, until you can keep cleaning.''

Although her face was covered by her hair, I saw her bite her lips in frustration. As to the why for that frustration, I had no idea, I just turned around and continued cleaning the plates. Only a few dozen more to go.

''....Haha,''

She suddenly started laughing. Did she go crazy from cleaning? Well, everybody has a limit, guess her limit was all of the food stuck on the plates.

''You think I'm pathetic, don't you?''

....Mhm? What??

''Excuse me...?''

''I said you think I'm pathetic!''

She raised her voice and struck the wooden table with her hand. Jeez, talk about being unable of managing your anger, lucky I was far away.

Still, what was she talking about? Pathetic? Her? The moment she stopped holding back I got knocked out in a second, why would I think that?

''No? I've never thought you were pathetic...''

''Haha, stop lying, we're A-Ranked adventurers, yet we lost to one measly knight!''

I raised my brows at her words. So she still hasn't learned not to insult or undermine other people. Of course, I could also be misunderstanding her words, so I won't be too harsh and just ask her.

''Is it that big of a deal? The moment you used that skill I lost instantly. If you used it from the start the fight wouldn't have lasted even one second.'''

''Besides that, you use skills when you fight in dungeons or against monsters, right? Then the result of a duel with no magic doesn't mean much.''

What I was saying wasn't debatable. Although in duels magic isn't allowed, there are no such rules when you're in a battlefield. You might lose hand-to-hand but win using magic.

She didn't answer, and she quietly said after a few minutes:

''Hey, do you wanna know how we got to A-Rank?''

''Huh?''

...Not really. I didn't care, but maybe she just wanted to vent her feelings? I ooked at her strangely and nodded.

''I mean, sure, if you wanna talk about it.''

She raised her head and looked toward the distance as if looking at a place far away from here. Really getting into character, I see.

''...Both Daniel and me are nobles. Although our families aren't very influential, we have quite a lot of connections and powerful acquaintances.''

''Due to how close our families are, we've been practically raised together, and our path had already been decided from the moment we wete born. We bothwould become magic swordsmen, no matter what.''

Magic swordsmen, I see, I guess that tracks. While their swordsmanship was good, I did feel sort of confused as to how they handled some of their swings, but if I imagine them using magic, then it made sense.

Still, that's a pretty ambitious goal they set up for their kids. To become a proficient magic swordsman you need to have a perfect understanding of both swordsmanship and magic.

''And so, we would train every day with no rest. From morning until noon, and from noon until nightfall. The skin on our hands would tear off every day, but our parents didn't care. They simply put some bandages over the wound and would tell us to keep training."

So that's why her hands are pretty sensitive. That seems like a really shitty way to train a pair of children, but about what I'd expect from parents who prepare their kids life as soon as they're born.

''And so, we grew together like that. Training swordsmanship and learning magic, eventually becoming able to combine the two together. We could even fight side by side with no trouble."

''Since our parents had connections to some higher-ups in the guild, as soon as we registered we were already A-Rank, as our parents wanted us to start taking up more difficult and dangerous missions from the very start.''

''According to them, it would make us stronger, and more skilled...''

''But...''

I heard her take a deep breath to calm herself down.

''It didn't work. Despite thinking we were pretty powerful compared to others, we weren't even able to clear a B-Ranked dungeon. All of our training, efforts, they were all for nothing.''

...Ah, I can see how that could happen. No matter how much you train with the sword, unless you actually use it in real combat, you won't know how truly weak you are.

I had to learn that the hard way myself.

''It didn't matter what it was, Orcs, Goblin Hordes, Ogres, we were completely overwhelmed. Nothing we trained worked against them. Despite how much our parents trusted and invested in us, it was useless.''

''So when the war started, it was like a sparkle of light for us. Even if it may sound cruel, it was a way for us to escape.''

''So we waited. Until the right time. And three years after the war started we enlisted and finally ran away from the pressure of our family.''

Her words became shaky as she talked, and her hands that were grabbing onto the table tightened their grip, making the wood creek.

''But even here we're useless. Even in a 2x1, I had to rely on using my strongest skill to knock you out. Pathetic, isn't it?''

I turned around slowly and saw tears falling down her face.

Honestly, I thought of her situation as... ridiculous. I'm not one to mock another person's reason for being sad, because as they say, the same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg.

However---

''Say, you came here to run away from your family's pressure, right?''

'Yes, that's what I just told--''

''Then why are you still thinking so much about them?''

She didn't respond right away. She turned her head around and looked at me in confusion.

''What?''

''I mean, you're here because you wanted to leave all of that behind, and didn't want their expectations to hang over your head so much, right?''

She didn't say anything, so I continued.

''In that case, why let it affect you so much? Your family isn't here. Nobody is expecting anything from you, all they know is that you're some A-Ranked adventurer, and that's about it.''

''In this place, nobody cares about you or your faults.''

I worded it pretty harshly, but it was the truth. The people here didn't care if she lost, won or if she even died. Everybody here worries about themselves, and that's it. There's no place for anybody else in their mind.

She kept quiet, and just stared at the ground.

From what little I could see of her face, she stopped crying, and her lips curled upward just slightly.

''...Right,''

She wiped away the tears and snot from her face and raised her head.

''Thank yo---''

''By the way, while you were telling me your life story, I finished cleaning."

''Huh?''

I took off the apron I was wearing and walked to the exit.

''So yeah, all finished from my side. I'll go take a piss, make sure you hurry up, we still need to do more.''

''W-What? Y-You?! Son of a---'''

I closed the door behind me and walked away.

''Haah...''

I sighed and kicked some rocks on the ground away.

''What a tiring day..."