Published: March 21, 2026
Since fighting inside the building felt wrong, we moved out into the courtyard.
I climbed up to the level a few steps above the ground and when I looked at Victor, I was a little surprised.
The parts that had been hidden by the throne earlier were exposed now.
“Centaur...?”
He looked exactly like a half-human, half-beast.
In the audience chamber you could see his hooves, but the horse’s torso extending behind him hadn’t been visible.
I’d seen various beastmen since coming to Beastmen territory, but I’d never seen someone whose animal blood was this strong.
Most of them looked like human bodies with some beastlike additions; having the entire lower half be a horse was rare.
By the time the duel (?) was about to start, a crowd had gathered — more people than I could have guessed.
A corner of the otherwise silent hall grew noisy.
Most of them were soldiers, but there were some officials too; I wondered if their duties were okay given they’d left.
Really, it felt like duels everywhere lately.
Come to think of it, it was odd that we’d had a duel even in the Elf territory, where the folk are supposed to be peaceful. Maybe it was just the Beastmen territory being hot-blooded.
When King Igusam, Ria, and Amelia came out onto the second-floor balcony, even the soldiers quieted down.
These were clearly the troops of the largest Beastmen nation — their discipline wasn’t like the soldiers who had been at Reytis Castle.
It was unusual that even seeing Amelia didn’t stir them up.
“Now, I have gathered you here to witness the match between the hero summoner Akira Oda and the castle’s strongest, Victor.”
To my surprise, the strongest person in this castle was Victor.
From his looks I would’ve thought he spent his time at a desk writing reports, so this was unexpected.
Among the soldiers there were men bigger and more muscled than Victor, but he was stronger than them — people really can’t be judged by appearances.
Murmurs of “hero summoner” spread among the soldiers.
Well, since the rest of my classmates besides the heroes were still holed up in Reytis Castle, it made sense they were surprised.
Nobody knew whether they were alive or dead — the prevailing rumor was that the hero summoning this time had failed.
“This is not a private brawl, but a bona fide duel held in the name of King Igusam Lagoon of Uruk. Both sides, show your full strength.”
Victor slung his battle axe over his shoulder, and I held the “night blade god” daggers reversed in both hands.
“Begin!”
The moment King Igusam said that from the second floor, Victor stamped his hooves, closed the distance in an instant, and swung the axe from his shoulder.
“Whoa, that was close.”
Well, I easily dodged it.
The spectators cheered.
“Oh! Did you just avoid that speed?!”
“Even I don’t know if I could’ve dodged that...”
After avoiding that strike, we kept our distance and stared each other down.
We maintained range and stepped along the edge of the courtyard in a circle.
“I thought an Assassin engaging in frontal combat would be foolish, but apparently that’s not the case.”
Victor muttered, surprising me when he suddenly spoke.
I stayed silent and watched his movements.
“But—how about this!!”
He raised the speed of his swing and I avoided it by angling my body, but he followed up as if he’d expected that.
“Heave!”
I jumped to avoid the axe coming down to split my torso, and landed on top of the swinging weapon.
“What!?”
“Ho!”
I slashed toward his neck with my dagger, but Victor knocked the axe upward to parry.
I spun in the air and landed a bit farther away.
Without taking a breath I pushed off the ground and lunged at Victor again.
“Oh!! The agility of a circus acrobat!”
“What nimble movements!!”
“I didn’t see it!”
Amid the cheers, my twin daggers and his battle axe clashed.
Although my body clearly looked weaker, in the hilt-battle I was the one forcing him back.
The axe, knocked away by my daggers, flew high and embedded itself in the ground.