“`
“Being able to exchange combat experiences with Knight Stein is also something I’ve been looking forward to,” Reine replied with a smile.
Soon, a group of people arrived at the training ground behind the villa.
A number of barons, sons of lords, or their representatives who had been invited to the ceremony, affiliated with the Crowley family, also flocked to the training ground after hearing that there was going to be an official duel between knights.
The training ground within the Crowley Baron’s estate wasn’t large, covering only a few hundred square meters and not equipped with a racetrack, owing to the fact that the estate was situated within Meist County City.
Land in the city was incredibly valuable, and even nobles were generally reluctant to use it to build racetracks.
Those larger training grounds that are equipped with racetracks are generally outfitted by the nobility on their estates in the suburbs.
On the training ground.
Reine and Stein stood facing each other in the center of the field, but this time Reine was wielding a bronze warhammer instead of the Glimmering Greatsword.
Before entering the field, Reine had handed over the sheepskin-wrapped Glimmering Greatsword and a few other items to Jenny for safekeeping.
“Lord Reine, won’t you change into knight armor?” Stein squinted his eyes and asked, looking at Reine dressed in plate armor.
Reine shook his head slightly, “No need, this armor will do.”
Stein nodded, sword and shield in hand, and suddenly went from stillness to motion, charging at Reine vigorously.
“Clang!!”
The sound of metal striking metal rang out!
Both men took a step back, seeming to be evenly matched.
Immediately after, the two entangled in a struggle.
Their movements were extremely quick, and among the onlookers, apart from those whose skills were of a certain standard, many of the noble daughters could only listen to the commotion.
They could not see the figures clearly and only heard the ‘ding ding dang dang’ of weapons clashing.
“Eh! This Reine is quite strong; he’s actually fighting Stein to a standstill,” the older Knight Shelton said, his eyes narrowing slightly, deep in thought.
In his mind, this young knight shouldn’t be as strong as Stein.
Generally speaking, no matter how talented one is, a short promotion period is a significant disadvantage!
Logically, there should be quite a gap between Stein, a veteran official knight, and his opponent in terms of proficiency in combat skills and the degree of transcendence.
After all, catching up takes time!
So, logically, Stein should be able to defeat his opponent without much effort.
However, to Shelton’s surprise, the battle turned out to be a deadlock, seeming like a contest of who had the better stamina.
Equally surprised was Jenny standing nearby.
She was watching the battle with a puzzled look on her face.
Her mind was filled with questions!
Why had Lord Reine switched to hammer skill?
And why did it seem like Lord Reine was holding back?
Why was that?
Shouldn’t he have decisively defeated Stein to establish his authority?
After mulling over it for a long while, Jenny couldn’t figure out why Reine was doing this.
After about seven or eight minutes, Reine saw that Stein, after the intense battle, showed signs of fatigue and his movements started to deteriorate; he knew that continuing the act would be too deliberate.
Taking advantage of a momentary instability in Stein’s steps, Reine knocked him down with a hammer blow.
Then, he pretended to be quite exhausted, propping himself on the bronze warhammer and standing in the center of the field, gasping for air.
“Lord Reine, youth is an advantage indeed. You have more stamina than me; otherwise, the outcome of this battle might have been difficult to say,” said Stein, although defeated, he was clearly not convinced.
Based on his own feelings from the recent exchange, if it weren’t for Reine’s youth and slightly better physical stamina, the results could have been very different!
Reine smiled faintly, not acknowledging his vanquished opponent’s grumbling, as if he hadn’t heard Stein’s dissatisfaction.
Stein glanced at a smiling Reine, then got up sullenly and left the middle of the field.
Reine, meanwhile, delightedly checked the system notifications:
[Your skill Tokkal Hammer Technique has been improved, Experience +79]
[You have undergone a battle, Knight (Transcendent) Professional Experience Points +26]
It seemed that because the recent battle lasted a long enough time, the system awarded a high amount of experience.
Indeed, the recent fight had exhausted almost all of a seasoned knight’s stamina.
After getting up, Stein walked over and whispered something to Knight Shelton.
Then, the older, bald knight Shelton slowly stepped forward, smiling amiably, “Lord Reine, I hope you don’t mind this old fellow joining in, do you?”
“You know, at my age, my stamina has decreased a lot, so competing with you, Lord Reine, is just right. I’m certainly not looking to take advantage of you.”
Huh?
Reine hadn’t expected this.
He never thought his acting was so convincing that Knight Shelton would so quickly volunteer to test himself against him.
Luckily, he wasn’t truly exhausted. On the contrary, his strategy was very successful, as it had drawn out the older, bald knight.
He not only planned to win the victory but also to claim the moral high ground while simultaneously farming for hammer skill experience.
However, there was just one thing…
This Knight Shelton seemed a bit too shameless.
Witnessing this, the Crowley Baron’s wife, observing the battle, felt a touch anxious, her grip on Jenny’s hand involuntarily tightening, seemingly worried that Reine would accept the challenge.
“`