Chapter 6: The Lionheart (4)

It was just a training spear, a wooden staff that didn't even have a spearhead attached. However, its tip had still been sharpened into a point, so once it was thrust correctly.... Even if it couldn't pierce flesh, it would definitely hurt like a bitch.

And if it was thrust cleanly into an unguarded abdomen?

"Uwaagh!"

This was how it would turn out. While rolling across the ground, Cyan sprayed vomit all over the place. The dumbstruck Ciel let out a scream and ran over to Cyan, while Nina just covered her mouth in shock.

"I've won," Eugene said in a bored tone as he lowered his spear.

Had it been an actual spear, Cyan would have died from the attack just now. Of course, this wasn't a real spear; but even so, since Cyan had been struck in a vital point and sent rolling across the ground, it was clearly Eugene's victory.

"Nina, go get someone to drag this bastard away."

"Y-yes...!"

Even as tears and snot were pouring down his face, Cyan couldn't stop retching. Ciel had approached him out of concern, but couldn't get any closer to her brother upon seeing his disgusting appearance. So instead, she turned and raised her head to glare at Eugene.

"Coward!" Ciel accused Eugene.

"Who's a coward? From the moment that the handkerchief was thrown, the duel had already started," said Eugen.

"That's.... You're right, but...! Even so, it was still a cowardly act."

"Does everything seem like a beautiful and peaceful flower garden when seen through that head of yours? Since the duel had already started, there's nothing cowardly about what I did. And didn't your foolish brother end up like this because he just stood around trying to look cool after he threw the handkerchief?"

Ciel was struck speechless by this fierce rebuttal. Part of it was because she didn't know what to say, but she was also confused by what he had said and thought he might have compared her to a beautiful and peaceful flower garden.

"...Did you just call me pretty?" Ciel asked

"Has the heat gotten to her head?" Eugene muttered to himself.

"In any case, it was obviously a cowardly move. You didn't fight honorably in this duel," Ciel recalled her indignation.

"Hah, it must be because you're twins, but you really resemble each other in the amazing way you twist logic to benefit yourselves," Eugene scoffed.

"I don't resemble my brother."

"Really, but I think your brains are similar? So what do you think an honorable duel should actually be like? Throw the handkerchief, count to three, and then we fight?"

"Um...."

Chewing on her bottom lip, Ciel glanced at Cyan as she tried to think of a response. Having managed to cover his own body with his vomit while rolling across the ground, Cyan was busy sobbing. While she felt sorry for her brother's miserable appearance, dirty things were still dirty, so she refused to get any closer to him.

"...You could have lightened your blow a bit," Ciel mumbled.

"Sorry, but that's already as light a blow as I can manage," Eugene replied.

"Have you really not trained your mana?" Ciel suddenly asked with shining eyes.

Eugene, who had started clearing up the sandbags littering the floor, glanced back up at Ciel with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Why aren't you leaving already?"

"I asked you if you really haven't trained your mana."

"And I already told you that I haven't!"

"Liar. How could you move while carrying such heavy weights if you haven't trained your mana? And then there's your attack. Even if my brother had let his guard down, it was still so fast that he couldn't react properly," as she said all this, her eyes that had been shining with curiosity narrowed in suspicion.

At these words, Eugene froze while still in the midst of sorting out the sandbags.

"You were actually able to see it?"

"Just the littlest bit."

"Even so, it seems like your eyes aren't just for decoration."

"You really do have a nasty mouth on you."

"It's far from my first time hearing that."

Everyone, except for Vermouth, had said something similar to him at one point or another.

While Eugene was piling up the sandbags in one location, Ciel stared absentmindedly at Eugene's back. Although she couldn't clearly see the movement of his muscles, concealed as they were by his clothes, it did seem like he wasn't using any mana, only physical effort.

As such, Ciel was finding him even harder to understand. Both Ciel and Cyan had also undergone physical training since they were young.

'But hasn't he only been training since he was seven?' Ciel thought deeply as she recalled what Eugene had said earlier.

Meanwhile, Eugene was thinking, 'He's quite strong for a thirteen-year-old kid.'

He had felt some resistance from the tip of his spear at the moment of impact. This was evidence that Cyan's body had been trained to an unbelievable extent for his age. On top of that, considering the force with which Cyan had flown backward, his mana had already been trained to the extent that it was instinctively able to respond during a crisis by redirecting some of the force away from the blow.

And Cyan hadn't just stood there and received the strike. Instead, the moment the attack landed, Cyan had instinctively tried to jump backward. This meant that he, a kid with no practical fighting experience, had instinctively responded to escape imminent danger.

'That's great for a kid, but as a descendant of Vermouth, it's still garbage,' Eugene criticized harshly.

Of course, Eugene didn't know how strong Vermouth was when he was thirteen. Hamel and Vermouth had already been in their twenties when the two had met for the first time. Still, he could at least make a rough guess.

Cyan Lionheart, a brat who had received the teachings of the main family all throughout his childhood, was lacking in so many ways that it was hard to believe he really was Vermouth's descendant.

'Still, there is some potential.'

This must be because of the standard set by Vermouth's blood. If you looked at what he might become in the future, Cyan had still shown some pretty good potential. And Ciel as well. Although they hadn't faced each other personally, she seemed to have pretty keen eyes.

"You.... You dare.... To me...!" Cyan had finally recovered enough to speak.

While taking deep breaths, Cyan raised his head and looked up at Eugene. His eyes were still spinning, and it hurt whenever he moved, as if his abdomen really had been pierced right through. There was also a fishy and rotten taste in his mouth.

"How.... How cowardly...!" Cyan gasped.

"It might be because you're twins, but you two really do end up saying the same things," Eugene snickered as he looked down on Cyan. "I don't want to repeat myself. Ask your sister what I said when she tried to accuse me of the same thing."

"This...son of a bitch...!"

"Or else you can try and retrace your memories. You might have been spraying vomit everywhere as you were rolling in the dirt, but your ears should've still been working, right?"

Cyan couldn't say anything in return. Eugene was right. Even though he'd been in intense pain and was about to lose his mind from the nausea, Cyan had heard Eugene's words.

However, even if he had to admit that it hadn't been a cowardly act on Eugene's part, the thirteen-year-old Cyan absolutely refused to accept his defeat. In front of his sister and all the servants — to have been forced into such an ugly state!

"Now then, you need to start cleaning all this up," looking at Cyan's face, which had twisted in humiliation, Eugene continued to provoke him. "You're the one who vomited all over the place. So if you promise to clean up this mess, I'll also go and clean the carriage. Then everything is nice and fair, right?"

"You dare.... You dare...!"

"Also, since you've lost the duel, the honorable and polite thing to do would be to acknowledge your defeat by humbly admitting, 'I have lost.' Even though you were spouting honor this and honor that earlier...you aren't really going to try and do something so disgraceful as to refuse to admit your defeat, are you?"

"Ugh...!"

He couldn't say anything back. He didn't have any way to express his anger, his whole body hurt, and he had a terrible taste in his mouth; everything seemed to have gone wrong for Cyan. If only the pain was a little less severe, he could get up and demand another fight, but currently Cyan was physically unable to do this.

The pent-up anger and sorrow building up within him poured out as tears. As his nose kept sniffling sadly, Cyan buried his head in his arms. Of course, Eugene didn't feel any compassion toward such a sight. After all, wasn't it this brat who had approached him with such a shitty attitude in the first place?

However...he was starting to think that screwing with this thirteen-year-old brat might not have been in his best interests.

'I should have just held it in. This isn't going to lead to something pointless and shitty, is it?'

Eugene was finally starting to have a few concerns about the consequences of doing this. Right from the start, he'd been blatantly harassed and disrespected, but now that he had made the child of the main family fall into such a state.... In fact, what he was most worried about was that someone might take issue with this incident and set their sights on his father out in the countryside.

'Just let them try it and see what happens.'

While Eugene was thinking about this and that, Cyan was desperately trying to hold back his tears. Although he didn't want to look even worse than he already was...he still didn't want to admit defeat. He was in a fit of childish stubbornness.

"Young Master!"

The shout came from afar, but the speaker quickly closed the distance. The man who arrived at the gymnasium was of strapping height and was dressed in a uniform. From far behind him, Nina could be seen chasing after him, out of breath and holding her skirt up with both hands.

"This...what on earth is this?"

From the fact that he didn't have the Lionheart on his breast to how he called Cyan a young master, taken all together, the man had to be a knight in service to the main family.

'Wow,' Eugene thought, his eyes lighting up as he observed the man's movements.

While Eugene couldn't tell how old the man was, he seemed much more skilled than Gordon, the knight who had been assigned to escort him here.

"Ha-Hazard," Cyan burst into tears as he called out the man's name.

"I.... I lost. I challenged that bastard...to a duel...but I lost...." Cyan explained in between sobs.

"A duel...."

Hazard eyed Eugene with a stiff expression. Then he lowered his body and picked up Cyan, covering his hands and uniform in Cyan's vomit. Ciel seemed disgusted by this sight and took a few steps back.

"...Pardon me for my late introduction. My name is Hazard, and I am in charge of tutoring Young Master Cyan."

Shifting Cyan into a more secure position, Hazard bowed his head in a nod.

"I heard part of the story from the maid, but I was in such a rush to get here that I didn't listen until the end. So...what on earth happened here?"

"I am Eugene Lionheart, from the Gidol province," Eugene introduced himself without bowing his head.

"Gidol, you say.... I believe that is where Lord Gerhard's estate lies."

"Yes, he's my father. As for this situation, well... Cyan picked a fight with me. I tried not to argue with him, but...." Eugene continued speaking while staring directly into Cyan's face. "Cyan insulted my father."

"When did I do that!" Cyan protested.

Eugene calmly explained, "He said that my father had failed to teach me what honor means, and he called me a coward to my face."

At these words, Cyan's face went red.

"He also said that my body smells like cow dung," Eugene added.

"...It's the truth. Your body really does smell like cow dung...!"

"And your mouth smells like vomit, so why don't you just shut it."

Eugene sharpened his eyes and glared at Cyan. Cyan unconsciously trembled at his fierce gaze. The place where Eugene had hit him for critical damage, his solar plexus, was still throbbing in pain.

"...so that's why you two dueled?" Hazard asked.

"Cyan didn't just insult me; he insulted my father. Sir Hazard, was there any reason why I shouldn't have accepted the duel?" Eugen posed a question in return.

Sir Hazard felt a strong sense of incongruity at this question. In front of him stood a boy who was just about the same age as Cyan and Ciel, but Eugene hadn't allowed his emotions to color his words, as his tone was completely calm. Hazard, who had endured years of the twins' whining, couldn't tell if it was the boy in front of him who was abnormal or if it was the twins who were abnormal.

"...You had a good reason for it, but... it seems like you were a bit too heavy-handed," Hazard admonished Eugene.

"Isn't it an insult to the opponent to show mercy during a duel?" Eugene defended himself.

"...."

"Sir Hazard, if my skills were clumsy, then I would be grateful for your advice, but I don't want to hear any advice on how I should use a lighter touch on my enemies."

"...I apologize for my presumptuous remark," Hazard bowed his head once more.

Cyan, who was still being carried by Hazard, shouted with his face twisting into a scowl, "Hazard! This bastard, he's trained his mana. Even though he's a collateral descendant! He's trained his mana without ever attending the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony!"

"Didn't I tell you to shut your mouth?" Eugene said as he glared at Cyan, his head tilted at a dangerous angle.

Once again, Cyan fell silent and lowered his gaze.

"...Young Master," Hazard gave a long sigh and shook his head. "Master Eugene has not trained his mana."

"Hazard! Even you're lying to me?!"

"What reasons could I possibly have for lying to Master Cyan...?"

"But that doesn't make sense...! How could he beat me without training his mana! And... and those! Those sandbags! He moved while he had those sandbags hanging from his body...."

"I cannot feel any mana coming from Master Eugene," Hazard said as he glanced at the sandbags piled behind him.

Just from a glance, they definitely seemed heavy. So Eugene was able to move with all of that hanging from his body? Hazard was finding it difficult to imagine such a sight.

However, no matter how many times Hazard examined him, Eugene did not give off any traces of mana.

"A lie... It has to be a lie," Cyan mumbled.

"Master Cyan. For now... we should take a look at your injuries," while coaxing the boy, Hazard glanced over at Eugene.

"I stabbed him in the solar plexus with a spear," Eugene explained helpfully.

"...and where else?"

"There was only a single blow."

A single blow...? Hazard let slip a low groan as Cyan bit his lips in embarrassment.

"...If that's the case... Master Eugene, may we meet again."

Unable to say anything further, Hazard bowed his head politely. Nina, who had still been trying to catch up to him, arrived at the gymnasium just at that moment. She hesitated, unsure what to do, and eventually just ducked her head.

"M-my apologies," Nina stammered.

"What do you have to apologize for?" Eugene asked as he watched Hazard leave.

He had a grin on his face as he watched Cyan, who was still being carried, flop down onto Hazard's shoulders. While it was true that he still felt uncertain about what he had done, it had been fun helping to fix the bad habits of such a spoiled brat.

"See you later," Ciel, who had been skipping along behind Hazard, turned to look back at Eugene with a smile.

"Bye-bye," Eugene returned the smile as he waved goodbye to Ciel.