Volume 7 - CH 5.3

「You want me to duel you? What for?」

 

「It’s very simple. If you want me to stop bad-mouthing that master of yours and start respecting him, then you’re going to have to make me do it, because I will never do that on my own. And so I ask of you, Roxanne’s master: would you kindly allow your little slave to have a duel with me?」

 

The woman’s facial muscles loosened up for a moment as she forced them into a smile that was not at all convincing. Next, Roxanne turned towards me as well and looked at me with expectant eyes.

 

「Master…」

「If you acknowledge the duel between me and Roxanne, then I am going to issue the duel challenge to you shortly.」

 

「Roxanne, what is this woman going on about?」

 

「Only Freemen can engage in duels between one another, and therefore, the challenges to said duels can only be sent to a Freeman by another Freeman. However, even if you’re going to be the one accepting the duel in somebody’s name, there is no rule that states that you have to engage in the duel yourself if you don’t want to. If you don’t want to fight yourself, then you can always nominate someone to fight for you as your champion. In the case of a master and his slaves, slaves are usually sent as proxies for their master to engage in duals, since protecting our master’s honor is one of our duties as your sworn servants.」

 

Sherry offered me an explanation, which was nice and all, but ultimately that was not what I wanted to know. What I wanted to know about was the explanation to this situation that we are being currently stuck in, not the explanation on how the duels themselves work, since I already know about them from my old world.

I mean, I can more or less understand the general premise of what is going on in here, but the rest of it is so convoluted and dizzying and moving at such a breakneck pace that I am having trouble following after their conversation without engaging all of the neurons in my brain in it.

 

「If you nominate Roxanne to take part in the duel in your stead, I will issue the challenge to you.」

Repeating what she already said, this woman isn’t explaining the situation either.

I understand that since Roxanne is my slave, I, the Freeman, have to accept the challenge to the duel on her behalf, since the challenge cannot be issued to Roxanne herself.

 

This woman can issue the challenge to me and I can nominate Roxanne fight in the duel instead as my proxy.

 

If I simply don’t accept her challenge, will this woman not be able to have a duel with Roxanne? And does this whole thing mean that in this world, the disputes are being settled not in the courts of law, but through the duels between the sides of the conflict?

Even if that might not be the case, at the very least duels seem to be a common occurrence here. But exactly that part, how common they are in this world, is what makes them so troublesome for me.

 

「Roxanne. Is that woman stronger than you?」

 

I whisper in Roxanne’s ear. If we compare their levels, then Roxanne, who’s Beast Warrior Lv.32 should be stronger than this woman who’s Beast Warrior Lv.29. At least theoretically.

 

If the odds are going to be in our favor, then  I may as well accept her challenge so that Roxanne could go all out against her and teach her some good old fashioned humility.

 

「The two of us took part in a mock battle about half a year ago. Unfortunately, most of my attacks ended up completely missing her.」

「And what about her own attacks?」

 

「I didn’t let her hit me even once either, of course.」

 

Yeah, of course that would be the case. I don’t know why I even bothered to ask.

 

「I don’t know what cowardly methods you used six months ago to force me into such a humiliating draw, but right now I have grown a lot stronger than I was back then. This time, I won’t let you run away with your tail between your legs even though it would very much suit a bitch like yourself. This time, I will make sure to crush you so completely and thoroughly that there will be nothing left of you for your master to collect!」

 

Whoa there, lady, you can talk shit like that all you want, but just to let you know, Roxanne has also improved quite a lot. I cannot speak for the past six months, since we’re not together for that long yet, but I can definitely vouch for the time she has spent with me. It was a time not spent on sitting around on her butt, doing nothing. It was a time she spent improving her level and stats as a Beast Warrior.

Half a year ago, before I even met her, she was probably a Beast Warrior Lv.6 at best. On the other hand, it is also unlikely that this woman, who is a Beast warrior lv.29 right now was below Lv.6 half a year ago.

 

「Master, please allow me to do this.」

「Only if you think you can win. If you don’t think that you’re up to the task, then I won’t allow you to enter a fight that’s just going to be a one-sided slaughter.」

 

「W-What might you mean by that?」

 

The woman seems to disagree with the direction of my conversation with Roxanne.

 

「Of course, I cannot imagine you actually losing, Roxanne, but…」

 

「If you really are so confident in her abilities, then go ahead and accept my challenge so that I could show you just how disillusioned you both are. I said it before, and I am going to say it again. With my current strength, I will crush both your slave and your belief in her as her master.」

 

 

This is starting to get more troublesome than it is actually worth it. Since this is going to be a duel, then if something goes wrong and Roxanne does end up losing it, then I might even lose her as a result, and I don’t want that.

That’s why I think that this whole thing is too troublesome, and that it would be better if we could avoid it altogether.

 

That said, I can’t imagine Roxanne losing to this woman, but even if she does manage to win against her, it will not change the fact that there is nothing for me personally to be gained from this duel of theirs.

 

This is troublesome indeed.

 

「Having come all the way here and having issued the challenge, it would be an insult to our Baradam family if you turned us down now. Or do you perhaps want me to be the one issuing the challenge instead?」

 

Sabo, Beast Warrior Lv.99 who has been keeping quiet until now, opened his mouth and asked me that.

 

「Master, Sabo is the strongest Beast Warrior in the Wolfkin tribe, so fighting against him would be disadvantageous for us. Instead, please Miss Roxanne have a duel with her acquaintance.」

 

「I don’t think I would lose to him, though.」

 

Roxanne, no. It’s good that you’re confident in your abilities, but that guy is Lv.99, you know? The difference in your levels is so big that he would probably wipe the floor with you without even trying too hard, so if you can fight against your acquaintance against whom you’re going to have the level advantage, just go for it.

 

「What did you say!? I will not allow this woman to slander me like this!」

Hearing Roxanne’s casual comment, Sabo got pretty angry. I thought that he was obediently following the woman but it doesn’t seem to be the case here.

 

Still, I have no idea as to why this woman thinks she can defeat Roxanne. Or maybe she thinks she can do it because she has some kind of trick up her sleeve? Like some kind special item, or perhaps a unique Spell?

「I don’t think that Miss Roxanne is going to lose to that woman, master. And in the off chance that it does happen, she has 「that」equipped on her, so we don’t have to worry about anything serious happening to her.」

 

Sherry whispers in my ear. By saying 「that」, does she mean Sacrificial Misanga?

 

Roxanne and that woman both have Sacrificial Misangas equipped, so even if their duel ends up getting heated up too much, neither of them is going to die as long as they stop fighting when the other’s Sacrificial Misanga breaks.