The Immortal Player

Pedro and Aldo did not remove their equipment other than their helm. Thus, they unintentionally attracted the attention of the people inside the Kingdom along their way—thinking that they were some sort of Knight Order that is newly established.

Well… It does not matter that much because those who saw them were NPCs and the presence of Knights, even Royal Knights, were just a usual occurrence to them. Thus, Pedro and Aldo wearing their armors did not create that much commotion.

After arriving in Pedro's Mansion in the Tarala Kingdom, Pedro and Aldo had nothing to do whilst they wait for Loren. So, Pedro smirked and asked Aldo, "Why don't we have a spar while waiting for Direction Idiot?"

"A spar?" Aldo asked with his eyes wide open. Then, he added, saying, "Are you trying to kill me or what?"

Pedro simply chuckled in response and said, "Relax! I just want to try out my new sword… It's not like we're going to fight to our death or something!"

Aldo stared towards Pedro as if he was asking mentally, 'Are you serious?'

Pedro raised his brows in response and asked, "What? Do you have a problem with that? Don't tell me that you are afraid to fight?"

"Who-Who-Who said that I am afraid to fight?" Aldo asked whilst forcing out a smile. Then, he said, "I am just surprised by your sudden challenge."

"That's good, then!" Pedro said with a satisfied voice. Then, he wore his helm and said, "Pick up your helm and follow me to the yard. Let's stretch a little bit while waiting for our alchemist."

Aldo could only sigh in response as he took his helm out of his inventory bag. Then, he wore it as he followed behind Pedro into an open area in the yard.

"Are you sure about this?" Aldo asked.

Pedro simply nodded in response and said, "Won't this be a good opportunity for you to grasp how strong you could be after taking the 'special' training you are about to have?"

"B-But…" Aldo wanted to argue but Pedro had already drawn his sword.

Then, Pedro lowered the visor of his helm and shouted, "Stop complaining and draw your sword, my friend! I would attack whether you draw it or not!"

Aldo drew his sword as Pedro made his attacking stance—with his left foot in front and both of his feet facing forward while his body is angled back to the right where he held his double-edged sword with his two hands vertically upward like a Knight.

Then, Aldo followed and made his attacking stance with his left foot forward and both feet facing forwards while he held his sword pointing towards Pedro as if it was a single-edged sword like a Katana.

"Whenever you are ready, my friend!" Aldo said as he took a deep breath.

At this moment, some of the slaves and the Mansion Keepers could not help but stop what they were doing and watch as Pedro and Aldo were about to spar. That said, Pedro did not mind them and simply smirked as he dashed to Aldo with a straightforward attack.

Pedro allowed the weight of his sword to be pulled slightly to the right, allowing him to launch a diagonal strike from right to left—going downwards.

That said, Aldo steeled himself in response as he grips the handle of his sword as tight as he can. Then, he twisted his left hand to his right while his right hand guided the bottom part of the handle to control the depth on how much the sword would fall to the right. At the right moment, he pulled his right hand back towards him to launch a diagonal strike from his right to parry Pedro's attack.

"Clang!" The two swords of equal strength collided, creating a strong ringing sound that sent shivers to some of the spectators' bodies.

Aldo could not help but grit his teeth as he tried his best to resist the force that Pedro's sword was exerting on the opposing side. But before he could even think of a next move, a sudden burst of Pedro's strength pushed him slightly backward—consequently making Aldo lose his focus at that split second.

That gave Pedro a chance, thus, making him smirk and send another strike to Aldo's sword—Consequently pushing Aldo backward slightly once again.

And before Aldo could even recover for the second time, Pedro capitalized the recoil that Aldo experienced to push his sword into Aldo's sword—hindering Aldo's sword from recovering the inch distance that it lost because of Pedro's attack.

At this moment, Pedro took a step forward with his right foot to push the right side of his body forward. Then, he pulled his sword slightly towards his left waist—whilst creating a ringing sound due to the friction between the two blades of the sword.

Afterward, he pushed his body, together with his sword, forward at full force—with its tip aiming towards Aldo's chest and was just a few inches below his neck. The blades of the swords rubbed at each other once more that created another irritating sound of clashing metals.

On the other hand, Aldo could only take a step backward—out of his instincts, to avoid the thrusting attack of Pedro. Unfortunately, Aldo could only wear a sour look because it was already too late for him to avoid Pedro's attack—with this moment appearing to him in slow motion.

The tip of Pedro's sword eventually reached Aldo's armor. Fortunately, Pedro had complete control of his attack and was able to halt right after his sword's tip touched the surface of the black metal on Aldo's armor.

On the other hand, the spectators could only gasp in amazement after witnessing the breathtaking spar between Pedro and Aldo. The difference in Pedro and Aldo's strength was clearly visible, especially by the fact that Pedro was even able to stop his attack at the perfect time.

"Not bad!" Pedro said with a smile on his face. Then, he retracted his sword as Aldo helplessly took a step backward in response. Pedro added, saying, "Your stance was decent and you were even able to stop my first strike. But you lost your focus along the way—probably because of the astonishing and irritating sound of clashing metal, and probably because of your lack of training and combat experience. So, you don't need to worry about it that much."

Aldo could not help but sigh in response and said, "Here I thought I would last at least a minute of exchanging blows…"

Pedro simply shook his head in response and said, "Don't even think of sword parry as the very essence of sword fights itself. The real battle with swords was never like those clashing animated fights. And… Mostly… The goal of wielding a weapon, like swords, was to kill an enemy or target. So… Victory is decided by who would be the first one to deal a killing blow. It does not matter how many strikes you 'dealt with' or 'resisted from' your enemy! And in an actual battle… If you hesitate even once—as you did earlier, it's as good as saying to your enemy that you are allowing him to deal such a critical blow."

Aldo could only force out a smile in response and said, "Ahahaha… Please go easy on me, my friend! I am just a newbie…"

Pedro could not help but sigh in response and say, "Save those words for later… The trainers are not as kindhearted as me."

Then, Pedro walked back to where he stood before the start of the spar and said, "Let's try it once more since Direction Idiot is still not here."

"B-But… Shouldn't we use wooden swords instead?" Aldo asked with a pale look.

"A wooden sword?" Pedro asked in response. Then, he shook his head and said, "Are you gonna use a wooden sword in an actual battle?"

"N-No?" Aldo replied.

"There goes the answer to your question," Pedro said as he smirked and was about to launch another attack.

Aldo could not help but grasp his sword in an attempt to parry Pedro's attack. Their swords clashed but this time, Aldo was already able to adapt to the ringing sound and was focused enough to the point that he was able to react to each of Pedro's attacks.

However, his actions and schemes were obvious to Pedro and were countered or even taken to Pedro's advantage to deal with a critical attack. This way, Aldo was being lectured by Pedro on his mistakes and lapses, which was not taught on his training in the Adventurer's Guild.

Fortunately, Aldo was saved by Loren because of her arrival. With that, his spar with Pedro ended and he was able to rest while Loren was happily checking her new set of armor.

That said, Pedro knew that Loren's sword arts are not much stronger nor different from Aldo's because they both trained under the Adventurer's Guild in the past few days. But compared to Aldo, he knew that Loren was more physically strong. That is why he did not have much concern, other than the fact that they were behind compared to everyone else from the Guild in terms of combat ability.

Soon, Loren's hype of her new weapon and armors had calmed down and they were able to depart to their guild's secret training area. This would be their final preparation in the game before they participate in the competition.