Evan's birthday ended without a hitch and he continued with his training, however, the end of the year and new year celebrations made him take a break in his training as he was required to attend various parties and balls as a member of the Eris Dukedom.
The current Evan was but a twelve-year-old child in the eyes of the more powerful adults, as such, all his attempts to avoid dealing with these formalities were seen as him just throwing a tantrum.
He had hoped that Finley would help him in avoiding these balls, sadly, Finley was also a noble who did not understand the reason why Evan was against them.
'Obviously, because I'm from a democratic society where I didn't have to go to balls and deal with snot-nosed kids!
Too bad I can't say that!!!'
The worst part of it was the means of transport from the duke's mansion in the capital to the royal palace where most of these parties took place in.
As expected of a world still in its middle ages, carriages were the main means of transport. This was torture for Evan who was used to the convenience of the vehicles called cars.
He wondered how the denizens of this world found the uncomfortable carriages as 'luxurious'.
'I'd rather just walk!!'
Once again, that was something he could not say out loud as the son of a duke walking to the royal castle to attend a ball was something that the denizens of Aidos couldn't even imagine.
Upon returning from the last ball of the 'New Year Season', Evan began wishing he understood how the inventors of cars in his original world managed to succeed in creating such convenient vehicles.
Nevertheless, that was not his main focus as he remembered the deal he made with Finley at the start of his training.
When the six-month period came to an end, he was going to spar with Finley and if his performance was subpar, then he was going to remain in training for another six months.
That was something Evan did not want so he put off thinking about the uncomfortable carriages and prepared for his incoming spar.
Name- Evan Del Eris
Race-###e# ###s###e#
Gender - Male
Age - 12
Level- 21
Existence Level - Bronze
Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.
Class- Magic Swordsman
Health – D-
Energy – E+
Strength – E+
Agility – E+
Durability –E+
Intelligence- E+
Condition- Normal
Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Other Attributes Tier 0.
Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Paladin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.
Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry, Adaptive Evolution, Blessing Of Destruction. |
Evan stared at his status page and heaved a sigh of exasperation as he stared at Finley who was holding a sword opposite him.
He looked to the side of the training area where the spectators of his training spar with Finley were seated and heaved another sigh as he scanned through Laurene's status.
Name- Laurene Hayes
Race- Human
Level- 12
Titles- Princess of the Great Western Empire, Fourth of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Mana.
Class - Mage
Health – F+
Energy – E-
Strength – F+
Agility – F+
Durability –F+
Intelligence- F+
Condition- Normal
Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 1, Fire Tier 1, Wind Tier 1.
Skills- Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Lightning Magic (High), Chant Revocation, Mental Block, Language Comprehension.
Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Truth. |
The two had grown exponentially over the past seven months and now he was currently undergoing a test that would decide if he would be allowed to go to the dungeon or if he would spend more time training.
For their spar, Finley decided that they both used real swords, much to the duke and emperor's disagreement.
Evan also secretly agreed with them but didn't dare voice his opinion for fear of accidentally earning himself an extra month of training.
After all, the reason he spent seven months instead of the original six was because of a similar situation like this.
Sadly, Finley ended up convincing the emperor and the duke to let the duel proceed with real weapons. They trusted in the Great Swordsman's ability to control his strength.
And that's how the current scene of Evan standing in the royal palace's training grounds, while staring at his sword with blank eyes, opposite Finley, in the presence of the royal and ducal families came to be.
◇ ◇ ◇
Royal Palace Training Grounds, Gerfast
Great Western Empire
March 19th
Year 1051
Standing in the middle of the young hero and the sword grand master, was the moderator of the duel, Finley's younger brother, Ralphie.
He rose his hand in the air and called out with a loud voice.
"Begin."
The moment he spoke, Evan's eyes flashed as he vanished from his position and reappeared behind Finley, swinging his sword with all his strength.
To be more accurate, it looked like he had vanished to Laurene but to everyone else present, it was as if he was moving in slow motion.
That meant one thing;
His opponent, Finley, could see his every movement.
Finley didn't even need to turn around as he just swung his sword backwards and blocked Evan's full-powered slash with relative ease.
"Burn."
Evan's low voice called out, causing Finley's eyes to widen in surprise as he hastily turned around and backstepped to avoid being caught by the flames that engulfed the spot where he just stood mere moments ago.
"Tsk…"
Evan clicked his tongue and twirled his sword around his fingers as Finley heaved an exasperated sigh before speaking.
"I know you kind of resent me for what I put you through but that doesn't mean you can burn my clothes, they're normal clothes!!!"
Indeed, the reason Finley dodged was simple. Because he did not want to be stripped of his clothing in public, he did not have any exhibitionist tendencies after all.
"Oh please, as if it would hurt you!!"
"It won't hurt me but I can't say the same for my clothes!!"
Evan kicked off the ground and dashed towards Finley with his sword held up high, making the sword grandmaster raise his own weapon to block the twelve-year-old's slash.
The sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated across the quiet training grounds as Evan's fingers twitched a bit.
A red magic circle manifested near Finley's feet, before glowing a bit brighter and then exploding.
*BOOM!!
A small dust cloud rose up, obscuring the vision of the spectators as Evan and Finley continued their duel regardless of this.
One of the things that Finley thought Evan was how to fight in a situation where his vision was limited greatly.
Ralphie knew this, as such he did not make an attempt to clear the dust cloud, and neither did any of the spectators.
Meanwhile, the creator of this dust cloud was screaming internally as he just barely ducked to avoid the sword slash that threatened to lop off his head.
While he knew Finley would stop at the last moment, he did not wish to take his chances. Besides, such a situation would result in his loss in this duel.
Still on the ground, he stretched out his left leg and delivered a spin kick towards Finley's legs, however, the sword master jumped up to avoid it before grinning evilly as the ground around Evan cracked open.
'That's right! He has tier-three earth magic!!'
"Boost!"
Without even bothering to know what the spell had in store for him, Evan activated basic wind magic to propel himself into the air.
His actions left him vulnerable as Finley's timed swing reached his torso in the next moment.
*BAMM!!
The force of Finley's swing sent Evan's small body flying nearly five meters as he crashed with a loud noise, kicking up another cloud of dust.
"Evan!!"
The duchess who saw this, was scared shitless and attempted to interfere in the duel but she was held back by her husband who told her to have faith in her son as he did.
His trust was not unfounded as the dust cloud cleared up to reveal an unharmed Evan who had a small layer of glowing silver light on his body.
"Paladin!"
The duke called out the name of the skill Evan was using as the twelve-year-old kicked off the ground in Finley's direction.
Finley responded in kind as the two dashed towards each other with swords held high.