The show during the audience (part 7)

"What a rookie mistake! Everyone knows that the one who makes the first move exposes them..."

Lance scoffed, pulling out his longsword and pointing it towards the charging Medea expecting the black-haired man to try to distract him, get out of the way, or stop in his track but instead...

*STAB*

"!!!"

Medea ran straight into the blade, impaling himself on it and causing the audience to let out a uniform horrified gasp as the blood squirted from the wound.

The injury wasn't nearly as bad as it looked from the perspective of the terrified nobles – although it wasn't anything to scoff at either.

Medea managed to charge at the blade at such an angle that the longsword pierced him directly under his left collarbone, trapping the weapon in his flesh as the seasoned duelist was more taken aback than ever in his life.

"I caught you~!"

Medea pushed forward, enlarging the wound and having the metal grind against his bones – as he moved, his thick glasses slid down, revealing bloodshot eyes with pupils so dilated his irises became circles less than a hair's breadth thin.

"...!"

Lance could not move a muscle as nausea was fighting with faintness and pure fear.

A man he was facing a madman that was in some sort of a trance!

******

"If we do it like that, the first prince will still think that he is in full control, but instead, he will lose an immense amount of respect after sending his precious bodyguard to die like that."

When they were still in the inn half a day away from the capital, Medea finished inductor... instructing Charlotte, and was going through his plan one last time as the darkness of the night was fading away, making a place for the sun's return.

"You can't be serious about killing Lance! He is the pride of all commoners who never bowed down to a noble! Don't take away that symbol!"

Charlotte trembled and gasped urgently. Funnily enough, she didn't seem to doubt Medea's ability to deal with an undefeated champion who won twenty swordsmanship tournaments in a row.

"...~"

"...!"

Medea smiled friendlily, and the pale-blond-haired girl instantly closed her mouth and lowered her head apologetically.

"He did bow his head, though? He agreed to serve as the first prince's bodyguard, so that symbol you are talking about collapsed on itself all on its own."

"But...! But... Mister... what if Lance will turn out to be more skillful than you anticipated? Isn't it okay to just harm him plenty and let him live?"

Hearing the dismissive comment, the girl clenched her fists and gathered all of her courage to speak up to the black-haired man.

"If it's a matter of skills, then in the first place, I am nowhere near his level, though?"

"Wait... then...!"

Medea shrugged his shoulders and, for a moment, returned to his serious expression, which was like a ray of hope for the exasperated Charlotte.

"That's why I am not going to compete with him with technique. I will simply kill him."

The black-haired man went straight to grinning like a demon, skipping the friendly smile phase.

"B-but... how does that make any sense...?"

Charlotte lowered her head just to evade accidentally making eye contact with Medea, but she still stuttered.

"I thought you realized what kind of person I am... I would expect that question out of my dummy, but not you."

"...I... I'm sorry...!"

Medea chuckled without changing his expression, making Charlotte bow her head even lower while apologizing in a hurry.

"Oh, well. It seemed that we must have grown up in widely different environments because, for me, the answer is so blatantly obvious that it's almost funny.

The black-haired man leaned back and pointed out.

"..."

Charlotte couldn't agree more, but she didn't have enough courage to say it out loud as the hidden meaning of Medea's words weighed on her far too much.

"The answer is drugs. Lots and lots of drugs."

"EH?!"

The black-haired man didn't have enough theatrical flare to prolong the suspense anymore and revealed, causing the pale-blond-haired girl to almost flip sideways.

"So much, in fact, that I have doubts about my glasses being enough to cover my eyes. Many nobles partake in recreational uses of various substances and would be able to recognize what was going on just by seeing my pupils. There is a chance that in such an instance, they would warn Lance about the danger, and your beloved symbol would either back off or try to get me arrested... So do not go looking for eye contact to reassure yourself because I will not be raising my head unless the king talks to me, or my dummy will be too cute."

Medea continued speaking as if he did not hear Charlotte's gasp and ended up on a note that took the teenager by complete surprise.

******

"Such recklessness. The winner of the duel is obviously...!"

The first prince scoffed, shaking his head at Medea's action...

"E-exactly! Make him back o..."

…his words made Lance shake off at least some of the feelings clouding his mind, and he called out, but the swordmaster made a mistake that only a seasoned duelist who took part in countless matches with dozens of strict rules could make.

He believed that when the organizer of the event would speak up like that, the judge would step up and separate the participants, so he looked away from his opponent.

*STAB*

*STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB*

The next moment a powerful attack broke through the defense, and a blade of a knife pierced through the neck of the undefeated champion of the commoners – and within the next second more attacks followed, turning Lance's throat into mincemeat.

*STAB* *squelch*

As if to make sure that his victim was dead – or maybe just because it was fun to him, Medea finished the chain attack by delivering one final blow o Lance's chest – right where the heart was - and twisting it to ensure the severity of the inflicted wound.