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Being Told Something A Middle-aged Man Would Say
「Next will be Luna and Alfried-kun!」
After the match with Eric is over, I was sitting on the sandy ground when Egar-san raised his voice and calls out.
Good grief, it’s already my turn again? www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
Then Eric grins when I was thinking that it’s so tiresome to spar against a strong opponent.
「Oi, loser. You’re going to face my aneue, y’know」
「Quiet. I know」
He won in a match against me just now, so he’s been calling me like this.
I’m the type that’s not overly concerned about victory or defeat in a match, but being mocked like this by Eric is still annoying. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
If it were like this then I should have mocked him more after winning with the tongs.
「Now, I wonder how long are you going to last?」
Eric says as if to provoke me when I stand up while using the wooden sword as a support.
「Even if it’s only for a short while, I think I won’t lose in a single exchange like Eric」
「Th, that was......!」
「What is ‘that’? Or perhaps you were being careless?」
「Uuu!」
Since he got embarrassed when he reply, there might be some part in his mind where he belittles Eleonora-neesan.
「Despite already telling you that your opponent is strong you looked down on her, Eric is really stupid, huh」
「Sh, shaddap! Just hurry up and go! It’d be great if you can just lose to my aneue in one exchange!」
Eric's face turns red when I directly say that as if saying he’s an idiot.
Hahaha, I feel satisfied after seeing Eric’s indignant look.
「Al, I think it’s impossible for you to win but do your best, all right」
As I walk while feeling refreshed, Eleonora-neesan speaks out, though I don’t whether she’s cheering for me or not.
You know I can’t win against Luna-san who is stronger than Eric, right? However, I wish you leave out that impossible part even if you want to encourage me.
Luna-san is surely not stronger than Eleonora-neesan, but there is no doubt that she is far stronger than me.
The main cause why my feet feel heavy when I walk toward the designated place is probably due to reasons other than the sandy ground here. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
Arriving at the designated position, I saw Luna-san already assuming her stance while holding her wooden sword and a serious expression on her face.
Seeing the previous battles, she should have known that I’m the weakest among all of the members here, but I can’t see any sign of her looking down on me even if a little.
「Please go easy on me」
「……mm, you can start anytime. But I will not go eas――!?」
The moment Luna-san nodded, I quickly closed our distance and swing my sword downwards toward her.
I sent it with the smallest amount of movement that I can, but Luna-san can still react and defend against it despite being late.
Che......even though it’d be great if I can decide this match with this one attack!
「……sneaky」
「Ehh? But Luna-san said ‘you can start anytime’」
「........indeed. I certainly said that」
Luna-san has a convinced expression on her face when I say that.
Unlike the fault-finding Eric, Luna-san seems to be open-minded in this sort of thing.
「Err, she certainly said so but.....」
But, the referee - Egar-san - has a slightly complex expression.
「……in Al’s case, I wonder if it’s better to fix his character first rather than his swordsmanship?」
「Though it’s in order to close the difference in strength between them, it may seem a little terrible」
The remarks from the onlookers are dreadful. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
It can’t be helped, you know. For someone who is bad at swordsmanship, there’s no choice but to close the gap in ability and win using this kind of method. Well, I never trained myself very seriously in swordsmanship so it’s only natural though.
I tried to push Luna-san - who defended against my attack with her sword - as is but it doesn’t work as it was being shaken off with a simple force she applied.
I found this small body to be hateful right now.
「……I will receive a painful attack if I let Al-kun do as you like. And so, I will start attacking now」
Luna-san stamped on the ground and closed the distance between us as I retreated while stumbling forward on the sandy ground.
It is a bumpy, sandy ground where it’s easy for you to trip but, she did something that makes you feel that it was not so.
She adjusted her somewhat-short wooden sword so that it will be easier for her to wield and attacks me.
I dare say that it would be a mistake to receive Luna-san’s first attack. Once you receive her attack and stop in place, then it’s possible that she will move around freely and be on the receiving end of her incessant attacks just like the time with Sylvio-niisan.
I immediately take a distance from clashing head-on with her, and it’s probably a good idea to block the course of the opponent’s moves freely and deal with her carefully.
I deflect Luna-san’s sword she swung diagonally and dodges.
Immediately after that, the sword - that cuts through the air - suddenly turns around and throws out a sharp, sickle-like stab toward me.
I saw that her first attack was not a real one so I backstepped to dodge that.
Since Luna-san will move closer toward me, I swing my sword at the level of intimidating her, and then Luna-san failed to measure our distance and stopped. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
And so I slash at her from my position and distance myself from her. In any case, I’m mindful so I won’t create any gap and I continue to dodge Luna-san’s attack like before.
「....muu, it’s hard to attack」
As we were only exchanging a single attack with each other, I heard a whisper from Luna-san.
Doing something your opponents don’t like is effective in all competitions.
You could say that I should be fighting in a clever manner right now. Though this is only to earn some time, a tactic only meant to survive where you can’t win.
The opponent’s attacks are effective, but it was not so with mine. If there were hope to win, then I guess it’s something at the level of a sneak attack.
Right now this tactic can be applied and effective, but it’s only a matter of time until Luna-san adapts to this tactic.
I will definitely lose if it stays like this.
「....force my way」
As I keep on changing places around while clashing our swords so that I won’t get hit by Luna-san’s continuous attack, I suddenly heard her muttering like that.
Immediately after, Luna-san’s movements accelerate rapidly and she approaches me with momentum such that she was about to hit me.
I can only dodge the first downward swing from her as I can, then I send out a horizontal slash at her in order to not let her close the distance between us.
However, Luna-san has figured out the limit of my sword and she bends her flexible body and passes through my sword.
Hiii! Is this person a snake or what!
I rely on my intuition to lower my head while screaming as such in my mind. Then, there was the sound of something passing over my head *buon*.
Perhaps, Luna-san is now above me. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
And relying on that prediction, when I swing up my sword above me a hand was placed on my back *ton*.
Then, Luna-san use the energy from my raised sword to stand up and do a splendid forward somersault.
The upward slash with the force from my whole body put behind it was being splendidly evaded.
And the moment I thought ‘This is bad’, Luna-san had already landed and was slashing at me.
「I lost!」
「Match over!」
The words of me giving in and the referee happened at the same time.
Then, the approaching downward slash suddenly stopped close to my shoulder.
That was dangerous. If I was hit by such force, then it would have been quite painful even if I wear leather armor.
I’ve experienced countless times of occasions where the sword stops just before it hits me in practice, but this is still quite unbelievable.  www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
I wonder if it’s because I had personally been hit by Eleonora-neesan for many years even while telling her to stop just before it hits.
Of course, it was only at the level of hitting lightly as she teases me, but because of that, I lost my faith in the action of stopping a sword before hitting someone.
Anyhow, I’m glad we managed to finish this match without sustaining any injury this time.
As I brush off the sand clinging to my body while exhaling in relief, I hear Luna-san mutters.
「……I understood a little why Eleonora grumbles that it’s a shame regarding Al-kun」
「What’s 'a shame' about me?」
Sometimes Eleonora-neesan said so but as for the specifics of this ‘shame’, I don’t remember her saying something about it.
「……Al-kun is smart so your tactics and your ability to measure the distance between your opponent are outstanding. However, the important basics of your swordsmanship are poor. And also, the instantaneous strength you can display is limited due to your stamina」
「In other words?」
「……your body can’t keep up with your movements」
Luna-san flatly says. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
I never thought that someone will say something like that to me in my current seven years old body.
「…………is that so」
When you consider my mental age, such lines were accurate to show my situation but it feels complicated when you told me that in my current age and while I’m still at the height of my youth.