Chapter 4 The Blood-Drunk Saint And The Trash Swordsman
"Excuse me? Who shoved a pole up your ass you Ikemen bastard? I haven't even said anything yet! Rhyne is the one who chose to add the sama, you chunni piece of shit! Get your head out of the clouds."
Furious at the verbal lashing he got from someone who only just met him. Despite being from arguably the most well-mannered race on Earth, Hiro responded in kind. The rest of the peanut gallery had trouble understanding Hiro. Ikemen? Chunni? What language was this person speaking in?
Amused, the Crown Princess walked between the two as she tried to defuse the situation.
"Artorius, Hiro-sama is my guest, you are being rude, apologize this instant. I was the one who asked for the favor, as well as the one who insisted on treating him with respect. Until I say otherwise, please remain cordial for my sake."
The white-haired knight stood over 190 cm while Rhyne at 170. Amusing was the sight to see the bigger being pouting in unhappiness at the beauty's rebuke. But Artorius wanted Rhyne's approval and affection first and foremost thus he quickly complied.
The white knight then bowed at a crisp 90 degrees and said in a clear voice. "I apologize for my misconduct Hiro-ojisan. I will remember to watch my words in the presence of elders."
Hearing the hidden barbs in Artorius' words, Hiroyuki shook his head as he saw the evil smirk on the bastard's face. The angle kept his grin out of sight of the princess.
'Look at this fucker, I'm only 33! What ojisan you white-haired chunni. Whatever, I need to see if I can do OP skills. Let's just beat the crap out of him.'
"Whatever, I forgive you, just give me a sword and let me test my skills out."
Artorius inwardly celebrated and quickly righted himself up as he said with a beaming smile.
"It would be my honor to serve as your sparring partner, ojisan. I recommend a trashing match so we can have an accurate gauge of your skills."
'Trashing match? Does that mean a brawl or something? Well whatever, I am looking forward to smashing this bastard to the ground.'
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"Sure, a thrashing match it is then."
Rhyne who heard the type of match attempted to stop them. "Hiro-sama, please use a regular duel instead, a trashing match against Artorius at your level is impossible."
Unfortunately, with his pride as an OP protagonist on the line, Hiroyuki couldn't back down. Even more so when he heard the words of the woman he wanted to court. "It's okay, I can take it."
Artorius who heard the exchange quickly clapped his hands as he said, "Wonderful, please let me remove my armor 1st and change into lighter clothes then. I will be back in a moment."
Hiro approached the sword racks and aimed to take a simple steel longsword. He then noticed a small crowd gathering around the area. Multiple murmurs could be heard from the spectators.
"Oy, let's get a good seat, an official thrashing match against Sir Artorius." "What? Who is the opponent? Do they not know why Artorius has the moniker the blood-drunk saint?" "I don't know, is he even in Starfall?" "I heard he was a transmigrator, so this should be a good match." "I wonder if the other monsters might watch too. Aren't all of them transmigrators?"
Hiro, who quietly waited got a few interesting tidbits from the gossip people uttered. One, Artorius had the moniker the blood-drunk saint, and two they shared the trait of being transmigrators. So, like Hiro, this Ikemen also came from another world. Lastly, there were other transmigrators.
He then tried to lift a sword and wobbled a bit as he held it.
'Ugh, this thing is heavy, but with two hands I think I can manage. How in the world can they show duel-wielders in anime, that shit seems impossible just from the weight of this thing.'
"Dude, this poor sap is going to get destroyed by Artorius, he wobbled just from lifting a longsword."
Plenty of such murmurs echoed around, Hiro stabbed the sword to the ground and rested his hands on it to look imposing. Hiro was only around 165 cm, so fairly short. He looked for Rhyne and saw her sitting in a luxurious chair surrounded by what appeared to be butlers.
'Maybe I have been too hasty, I can't afford to look bad in front of Rhyne. Well at worse I will just throw my sword and surrender. And who knows maybe I can awaken a skill at Lvl 2 or something. Can I check my skills? Status.'
Hiro tried not to say the word out loud as he invoked his status and saw the same status screen but it appeared in his vision like a heads-up display instead of floating in front of him.
_______________________
Mission: Make Rhyne Fair Dominii Empress of Valorious.
_______________________
Name: Hiroyuki Mitsurugi
Race: Human
Level: 1
Age: 33
Title: Sword Novice
HP: 270 | MP:0 | SP:0 | AP:0
STR:12 | AGI:7 | INT:20
_______________________
Battle Harem: N/A
Dominant Rank: N/A
Dominant: N/A
Submissive: N/A
_______________________
Skills: Sword Novice [D] Lvl 1
_______________________
Equipment: N/A
Runes: N/A
Enchantments: N/A
_______________________
The same screen as earlier showed up, Hiro then tried focusing his vision on his skill [Sword Novice] like in a VR headset. And suddenly the screen changed.
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Sword Novice
Rank: [D] Skill Type: Active Level: 1
A skill from the sword masteries allows for faster learning of sword-related proficiencies. Grants enhanced perception to the user and a small increase in strength.
Evolved from Sword Initiate [E] – Sword Novice [D] – Evolves into Sword Adept [C]
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As Hiro learned more from the system, he inwardly celebrated.
'Okay! My skill has an evolution path, so I just need to do everything I can to level it up to [Sword Adept] and further. I am not trash. I can do this.'
A commotion occurred as Artorius dressed in a plain shirt and pants approached Hiro with not a sword but a 90 cm twig. The rest of the people started laughing as the blood-drunk saint seems to want to humiliate the newcomer to the fullest. Even Rhyne started giggling at the absurdity of fighting a long sword with a twig. The only one not laughing was, of course, Hiro.
"Artorius, what kind of joke is this? My sword will snap that twig in two in the first exchange do you intend to fight me bare-handed or something?"