Novel Full Chapter 166 : Chapter 166
Chapter 166. It Would Have Been the Same. No, It Would Have Been Worse (1)
‘I cannot accept this. I will not accept this.’
Count Spike gritted his teeth and drew up all the aura from his Aura Hall.
“Uwaaaaaaah!”
To overcome his fear….
No, to deny the very emotion of fear, he exerted all his strength.
As a result, the Aura Blade formed on his battle-axe doubled in size.
And the excess power erupting from his Aura Hall overflowed from his entire body.
“Here I coooome!”
And he charged towards Patrick.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Onlookers were horrified by the momentum of his charge, the ground exploding with every step.
Count Spike, causing immense destruction merely by running forward, was a monster.
But….
“Well, look at this bastard.”
Patrick looked at Count Spike as if he were absurd.
A 7-Star was a level that could be treated as a strong warrior even if thrown into the martial world of the Central Plains.
In his own right, he was a master.
But such a guy….
“Is just showing off his brute strength?”
It was so absurd it wasn’t even funny.
He was simply dumbfounded.
Regardless, Count Spike, having reached Patrick, brought down a blow with all his might.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
KABOOOM!
An attack of terrifying destructive power.
A hole deep enough to bury three people appeared where Patrick had been standing.
But the target that should have been hit, Patrick, had already moved aside.
“Hyaaaaaaaah!”
An attack swung again without giving up.
The battle-axe, imbued with immense power, flew as if to slice Patrick’s waist in half.
But Patrick dodged this attack as well.
Whoooosh!
He hadn’t even moved quickly.
He had simply predicted the attack and ‘walked’ out of the spot where it would land.
That alone was enough to protect his body from Count Spike’s attack.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaah!”
After that, the same meaningless exchange continued several times.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOOM!
Count Spike’s frenzied attacks and Patrick, who dodged them with such ease.
Patrick dodged the opponent’s attacks so easily that others might suspect it was a staged show.
“Why… why isn’t it hitting?”
To Count Spike, who finally shouted out of impatience, Patrick said.
“Do you shamelessly hope this would hit?”
The power alone was decent.
Since a 7-Star knight was swinging with all his might, the power was undeniable.
But the axe swings, wielded as if in a frenzy after losing all reason, were not scary at all.
A stance completely lacking in discipline.
Emotions laid bare by impatience.
Anxious eyes and ragged breathing.
The pre-attack signs, which a true master would never reveal, were plainly visible.
And he expected him to get hit by this?
‘Even Matthew wouldn’t get hit.’
As long as one calmly observed the opponent, no fool would get hit by such a ridiculous attack.
And the opponent, who had wasted his strength in a frenzy of excitement….
“Pant… pant….”
“Tired?”
“You bastard….”
Another attack, swung in a fit of anger.
But its power and speed had clearly dropped compared to before.
Patrick dodged slightly, clicked his tongue, and said.
“Tsk tsk tsk, this isn’t even what a novice would do….”
“Uwaaaaa….”
“Shut up!”
Smack!
In an instant, Count Spike’s head snapped to the side.
Patrick had struck his face with the flat of his sword.
Count Spike, hit by the blow, staggered back.
And Patrick walked towards him, step by step, and said.
“Normally….”
Smaaack!
“As a courtesy for the duel, I would have told you what you lack and ended it appropriately.”
Smaaaack!
“So that this time, regardless of victory or defeat, would remain a meaningful moment for both of us.”
Smaaaack!
“But I won’t do that for you. Do you know why?”
Smaaaack!
The sword slaps continued to land even as they talked.
Count Spike’s face began to swell up.
And he yelled at Patrick.
“What is the meaning of this insult?”
Patrick then said indifferently.
“Insult? No. Not at all.”
“……”
“This is just disciplining an ill-bred son of a bitch.”
“Wha—.”
Smasmasmasmasmack!
In an instant, a number of sword slaps too numerous to count landed.
Count Spike’s vision spun.
And Patrick said to him coldly.
“Shut up and just take your beating for now.”
***
The knights of the Spike family couldn’t close their mouths.
“Wh-what is that?”
“How on earth could this happen….”
They knew well how strong Count Spike was.
A monster whose victory could not be guaranteed even if the entire knightly order attacked him.
That monster was now losing.
No, he was being toyed with.
The knights couldn’t close their mouths at the sight.
And a few of them said.
“Shouldn’t we intervene?”
“Any more than this….”
The outcome was already decided.
This was now just a scene of assault, where one side was unilaterally beating up the other.
Normally, it would be right to intervene, but….
“J-just watch.”
“Commander.”
“If we interfere here, our lord’s defeat will be sealed. And in the worst possible way!”
This was the problem.
If Count Spike were to lose in a public duel due to the interference of others, it would be no different from dying as a knight.
It would remain a disgrace that would be on people’s lips for the rest of his life, no, even after his death.
So they couldn’t rashly step in.
And, with different reasons but similar concerns, there were others who were also troubled.
***
“Senior. Will it be okay?”
“How could it be okay….”
Matthew and Isabella looked at the duel ground with worried eyes.
They could clearly see Patrick lecturing Count Spike while beating him up.
In between, Count Spike tried something resembling resistance, but it only brought about more brutal violence.
Was this really okay?
The opponent was a Count of the Kaisar Kingdom.
Even if it was during a duel, was it okay to do such a thing?
As the two of them debated whether to intervene or not, April spoke.
“It will be alright.”
But Matthew turned his head sharply and said.
“How is that alright?”
April then said in a calm voice.
“The Young Master has his reasons for doing that.”
“Reasons or not….”
“If you wish to remain as the Young Master’s friend, Sir Matthew.”
April, uncharacteristically, cut Matthew off and continued her words.
“Please, trust the Young Master.”
“……”
“The Young Master is not one to do such things without any reason.”
At April’s words, Matthew said in a weak voice.
“I know that too.”
In the end, Matthew’s gaze returned to the duel ground.
She was right.
Patrick Schneider was not a friend who would do such a thing without a reason.
***
Count Spike’s face was now so swollen that it was hard to recognize his features.
One of his legs was broken, and his entire body was covered in wounds, big and small.
Patrick, who had turned a Count of a kingdom and a 7-Star knight into a rag run over by a carriage wheel, finally stopped his sword and said.
“Any more hits to the head and he might die.”
“You bastard…. How dare you….”
Seeing Count Spike, who had nothing left but malice, Patrick sighed.
“You’re showing your persistence in a bad way.”
“I will kill you. I will definitely….”
“Whatever.”
“……”
“But there is something more important to you than killing or sparing me.”
After saying that, Patrick pointed to the side at the spectator seats.
There were the citizens watching this duel.
“Do you see the expressions on those people’s faces?”
“……”
Count Spike, who instinctively turned his head, couldn’t help but frown.
The slightest movement of his facial muscles on his swollen face sent waves of excruciating pain.
But it was nothing compared to the shame he felt in his heart.
They were smiling.
They were cheering.
The citizens were delighted to see him suffering in shame and humiliation.
Patrick pointed at the sight and said.
“That is the result you have created. You idiotic bastard!”
POW!
Patrick kicked Count Spike away.
“Keoheok….”
Count Spike, who was sent tumbling a few rounds, forced himself up.
And driven by rage, he said.
“What are you…. What are you trying to say?”
“You don’t know what I’m trying to say?”
“……”
“Or are you just pretending not to know?”
“Eek….”
“Pathetic bastard!”
POW!
Hit by another powerful blow, Count Spike was sent flying towards the spectator seats.
“Cough…. Cough….”
The sight of Count Spike, fallen and vomiting blood, looked serious to anyone.
So the surrounding knights could no longer hold back and intervened.
“My Lord Count!”
“My Lord Count. Are you alright?”
They hurriedly tried to support the Count and take him to a priest.
But….
Shwiiik!
Two streaks of light cut between them and the Count.
The streaks of light left two lines on the earth, and Patrick slowly walked into the middle of those lines and said.
“The duel is not over yet.”
“Sir. Double Dragon. The duel is already….”
“If anyone interferes….”
Patrick looked at them with chilling eyes and said.
“I will kill you.”
The knights of the Count’s family couldn’t move their feet at Patrick’s words, which were clearly filled with sincerity.
After warning the knights, Patrick went to Count Spike, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up.
And then….
“Just two days was enough.”
“Cough…. What….”
“To investigate what you have done to the people of this city.”
“……”
In an instant, Count Spike’s eyes wavered.
Because he had been sent flying to the spectator seats by Patrick’s attack, the conversation between them was now audible to the citizens sitting in the nearby seats.
And from Patrick’s mouth, truths that would drag Count Spike’s honor into the gutter began to emerge.
“Taxes…. Not double, but five times? Are you in your right mind?”
At those words, the citizens’ faces hardened like ice.
They knew their taxes were heavy.
But they didn’t know it was up to five times that of other regions.
And that wasn’t all.
“You didn’t manage your soldiers and knights, so there were countless cases of harm they inflicted upon the residents.”
At those words, the faces of a few knights and soldiers turned deathly pale.
And it got worse as Patrick’s words continued.
“People unjustly framed and thrown in prison. People who had all their property confiscated and were driven out as vagrants. A woman who, after being dishonored, was ignored when she reported it and eventually committed suicide. Even knights were engaged in loan-sharking to the residents.”
Some knights wanted to gag Patrick.
What kind of shame was this?
Every time Patrick spoke, the gazes of the citizens on them became more menacing.
But it was impossible for them to stop Patrick’s mouth.
On the contrary, they had to bow their heads, lest their eyes meet Patrick’s.
At that moment, Count Spike, who had staggered and forced himself to his feet, said.
“Keuk… what does that have to do with you… keok!”
POW!
Count Spike vomited blood again from another of Patrick’s punches.
And towards the fallen man, Patrick gritted his teeth and said.
“Listen carefully. You idiotic bastard.”
“……”
“We swordsmen, at our core, are useless freeloaders.”
“……”
“We can’t grow our own food, make our own clothes, or rebuild a fallen city.”
“……”
“The reason we, who are like that, can strut around with our heads held high, calling ourselves knights, is because we proclaim that we do what is right.”
Righteousness.
“And because there is a promise that we will help the powerless when they are threatened by violence!”
Chivalry.
“If we abandon that….”
[Cheon, remember this well. A martial artist who has lost righteousness and chivalry in his heart is not a martial artist. That is merely….]
“You are no different from a robber or a thief. You piece of trash!”
Smack! Smack! Crack!
Patrick’s successive punches fell upon Count Spike.
“Keok…. Cough….”
The Count’s teeth flew out and his nose was broken.
Even in such excruciating pain, with only malice remaining, he glared and shouted.
“For such…. such a trivial reason, you dare to insult me?”
“……”
At those words, Patrick’s punches stopped.
The look in Count Spike’s eyes as he spoke was sincere.
It was the look of a man who genuinely believed that the pain and humiliation he was experiencing at this moment were more important than the suffering of his people.
At that sight, Patrick stopped his fists and let out a deep sigh.
‘Is this it? Was it like this?’
Perhaps he himself would have been no different from this man.
If he hadn’t met his Master in his past life….
And if, when he was reborn, he hadn’t been born as his father’s son, but as the son of another noble family….
‘It would have been the same. No, it would have been worse.’