The Day of Duel with Vino

"Wait a minute." Abercio stopped Altezza who was about to leave.

"If you are so confident, can you give me a little leeway?" bargained Abercio. He wanted to create a favorable position for himself.

"What are you planning?" With suspicious eyes, Altezza looked at Abercio.

"You don't need to be so suspicious, My little brother. I just want to decide when the duel will take place."

Altezza thought about Abercio's words for a moment and then slowly nodded. No matter what cunning tricks Abercio had, such a request would not affect his chances of winning. Abercio remains a weakling, according to Altezza.

"Agreed. But, I also have a condition. I want to duel at least in the next half year from now," Altezza asked.

Without thinking, of course Abercio will agree. "Agreed."

"Don't forget—half a year. You can't make any excuses like how you need to recover from Vino's duel or things like that," said Altezza.

Wow, in such a short time, Altezza had thought that far. He is smart.

"Don't worry. I also have no intention of delaying it that long," Abercio said. After all, he wanted to leave this house as soon as possible, why delay the duel for that long, right?

Delighted by Abercio's words, Altezza turned and left. Watching his sister leave, Abercio gripped his sword tightly once more.

'That little brother looked down on me so much. I'll make sure to leave him a big present right before I leave.'

SRINGG!

As if he was slashing towards Altezza, Abercio's sword sharply cut through the air. After a few days passed, the date for Abercio's duel with Vino arrived.

*****

The day of the duel was bright, and the Marquess' residence was swept away by a strange atmosphere. Many people were anticipating a fight between the elder son, Abercio, who had lost his father's support, and the genius knight, Vino. It's even more exciting because even though it's not official yet, they are expecting a succession duel between the young nobles, Abercio and Altezza. They had been looking forward to this day and the duel of the two Bronka brothers arrived.

However, no one wanted Abercio to win. Both within the family and in the eyes of the workers, Abercio was a complete outsider. Nobody thinks Abercio is important. They all underestimate Abercio.

"They prepared this seriously apparently." Abercio muttered after looking around him.

As a family that attaches great importance to military strength, the Bronka are used to opening tournaments from time to time. The circular arena was the place for such situations, and now was the place where Abercio and Vino would fight.

'Seeing that they've even prepared the arena for a fight, it seems they really want to watch me lose,' Abercio thought.

Even though Abercio was the Marquess' oldest son, the scale of this event was too great. It was as if someone had deliberately arranged all of this.

"They probably want to tarnish my reputation with this opportunity and spread the news of my defeat everywhere."

All of their plans were clear to Abercio's eyes, but he didn't care. He had expected this. Win or lose, Abercio still has nothing to lose.

'This is what I want.'

Abercio's eyes looked around him. In the audience seats, there were more people than he expected. The knights, nobles under the auspices of Marquess Bronka's family, retainers, and anyone with the time seemed to have come, including the citizens of their territory.

Then, his eyes fell on one point of viewer: the Marquess and his family sitting in the upper seats. The Marquess wore his usual serious and flat face, and beside him was the Marchioness talking something in his ear, and Altezza who was haughtily gazing at the scene below.

"They really suit each other. A perfect family, with only one son." Abercio chuckled sarcastically. And there was no place for him there. Altezza is the only son they wanted.

'I who was too stupid didn't notice it when I was young.'

Now that Abercio thought about it, he had wasted a lot of time when he was young in his past life still wishing for a warm family when it was clear that wasn't possible.

"I feel sad for my mother who was dead. And... I in the past, maybe? Because sometimes I'm blind how compatible they are as a family and instead wish to be part of their family. What a fool," Abercio chuckled sadly.

Abercio took his eyes off the unpleasant family. There was no need for him to keep staring at them. He had to focus on the opponent in front of him first.

"He probably prepared everything he had for today's duel," muttered Abercio looking at the opponent standing tall in front of him.

Vino, who was standing in front of Abercio, looked very determined to make this match his place for revenge. Even though the match hadn't started yet, Vino's hand continued to swing his sword as if he would draw it at any moment. And don't forget, the expression on his face that looks belittling Abercio.

"You must have been really looking forward to this day, right?" asked Abercio.

"..." Vino didn't answer. His eyes locked on Abercio.

Fortunately. few knew that Abercio had defeated Vino, so only baseless rumors about the incident spread throughout the Marquess residence. In order to keep the rumors as rumours, Vino had to beat Abercio in this duel in front of everyone.

Vino snorted in disgust, "Don't worry. I think it's time for me to teach you a lesson now. You can no longer win by cheating like before. In the end, the one with the true skills will win. Cheating will not be able to bring you to victory again."

Vino's attitude and stance was completely different from when Abercio had first met him, he was like a knight right before start war at the battlefield now. Vino must have learned not to let his guard down with Abercio.