“You there…Wait.”
It seemed the traveler had also noticed Iril who was standing in his way to the village. The traveler stopped walking and stared at Iril.
“You…You have a pretty nice sword hanging around your waist. You appear to be a swordsman… Is that right?”
“…”
“Is that right, sir?”
The traveler kept his silence and Iril crumpled her face. Thinking it could not be helped, she asked respectfully but the traveler still kept his mouth shut. There was no response from the man.
“Well, it is fine. I prefer silence over useless chatter.”
With that, Iril shrugged. She brought her left hand toward the sword she was holding in her right hand and drew the sword slowly from the sheath.
“I do have a suggestion though.”
Wheec.
Cutting through the wind, she drew the sword and spun it once. She aimed the sword at the traveler, who was looking at her and said,
“Actually, it is not a suggestion. I insist. If you want to enter the Romella village, you must get my permission.”
“…”
“Ah, don’t worry. I am not asking for money. What I want is…”
She had quite an adorable face but she was using that face to produce a violent look like that of a mountain bandit. She tilted the sword up and down as she explained what she wanted.
“Your swordsmanship skill…Can you show it to me?”
Iril leisurely shrugged her shoulders. The traveler had been silent all this time. Now, he lightly lifted his cape and brought his hand toward the sword on his waist.
“I am sorry but when it comes to the matter of sword, I am not the type who would go easy on someone just because they are a girl. If you take back what you said earlier, I’ll overlook this.”
Using his left hand, he pressed down the hood and hid his face and warned in low voice.
Wheeeee
Iril whistled and asked back,
“You’ll overlook this?”
As if she was amused, she asked back about the warning that the traveler had given. She fiddled with the sword handle, opening and closing the fingers on it and asked,
“As I thought, you must be quite confident about your skills?”
Iril tightly grabbed the sword, changed the leisurely attitude in her eyes and warned the man,
“Your sword, please draw it.”
The girl was blocking the way to the village. Her atmosphere had become sharp like a sword’s edge.
The hooded traveler realized the girl was not bluffing, so he drew his sword.
“How far are you willing to go?”
Taking a stance, the traveler asked. Facing the traveler, Iril responded naturally as if she heard the same question many times in the past.
“Until I am satisfied.”
With that as the end of the conversation, Iril charged in toward the traveler.
“… Tsk.”
“That Iril, she is at it again.”
There wasn’t a signal to indicate the start of this swordsmanship competition. People of the Romella village, who were walking around the entrance, muttered and gathered around to watch the duel.
“Is Iril at it again?”
“Who is the one fighting Iril?”
“I don’t know? An outsider?”
The girl appeared to be around 15 to 16 years old, and she was wielding a sword and about to clash swords with a traveler under suspicious getup. However…It seemed the villagers were not worried at all. With relaxed faces, they watched the duel while standing behind the girl.
‘Hm. You are just a little girl… It seems you want to show off your swordsmanship because you learned a lot, but unfortunately, I am…’
Laughing at the audacity of the girl who was daring to fight a duel against him, the man under the hood suddenly raised his sword up.
A vertical cut.
It was the most basic move he had learned. It was a simple vertical swing of the sword where the sword was swung downward. However, to the traveler, it was the move he was most confident about and the move also contributed to him earning the title he had.
“Huuuapp!”
Along with energetic shouting, the traveler swung down the sword in powerful swing.
“… Not bad.”
Charging in, the traveler’s sword struck down like lightning to target her head. Iril had her gaze directly fixed at the sword. She lightly mumbled and twisted her head.
“…?!”
It was a close call. The traveler’s sword missed the girl. Iril’s sword was swung from the side and it smoothly made contact with the traveler’s sword.
‘What?!’