Chapter 6: Inglis, 5 years old (2)
「Here I come! Uoooh!!」 「I have no intention to lose!」
Raphael and the Knight began to exchange blows with their wooden swords. The young teen, still barely a gangly boy growing into his own body, in a practice combat against a Knight who had spent years honing his body and skills. Anyone would assume that the teenage boy was weaker. However, Raphael made up for his lack of strength with his agility. Moreover, he had the mind of a tactician — with the ability to find openings in his opponent’s defenses and use them to his advantage.
Raphael kept locking swords whilst redirecting the inertia of his opponent’s strike. In response to that, his opponent put more strength behind his blows in an attempt to break through Raphael’s defenses. As the exchange continued, the knight’s swing became wider and wider. That had been the teen’s intentions all along — for when his opponent took a wide step to strike, Raphael took the opportunity to step in and deliver a blow onto the back of the knight’s knee, crumpling the knight instantly. The battle ended swiftly with the teen’s sword pressed into the knight’s throat.
「Match over! Young Master won!」
Declared Ryuk, Inglis’ father.
「Mu…! Young master, you were splendid!」1
「Not at all, my arms are already numbed from the impact. The battle could have tipped either way had it been dragged out longer, you see.」 2
Seeing her brother’s victory, Rafinha jumped in joy with a big smile.
「Big brother~! You were so cool~!」 「Your son is really something else! To think that he can actually win a battle against an adult knight…!」 「To be honest, I didn’t really do anything special.」 「Now, this is what they call a child cut from a different cloth, sister.」 「Ufufufu. That makes the two of us then.」 3