Free Web NovelChapter 83: Mountain Fencing Style
Breakfast at the Selvarum mansion was always plentiful, but the mood at the table wasn’t the best that morning.
Victor couldn’t help but be a little disconcerted by all those eyes on him.
Luckily, even though Luísa couldn’t see the expressions on the faces of the people sitting at the table, she could feel the atmosphere, so she decided to try and alleviate it as quickly as possible.
Luísa lifted her chin and placed her teacup on the table, then stood up from her chair.
"My dears, allow me to officially introduce our guest of honor this morning. This is Victor Shieldman, a hunter whose bravery has already saved this family’s fate. The Selvarums owe him a great deal."
The matriarch sat down again, looked at Victor and said:
"Victor, I believe you only know Mari and me from this table, so allow me to introduce everyone properly." She pointed with her left hand to the woman with dark green hair and continued: "That one next to you is my dearest cousin, Gracela Selvarum."
Gracela inclined her head slightly in greeting. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, Victor Shieldman."
"The pleasure is mine, Miss Gracela." Victor replied courteously.
"I think you’ll get on well. Gracela is one of the most promising swordsmen in our family, and has already achieved the title of Monarch of the Sword."
Even Victor, who had lived for so many years in a place far away even for hunters, knew what a Sword Monarch was and how important this title was.
However, within the Mountain Fencing Style, the title of Sword Monarch was the lowest title a practitioner of the style could obtain.
Being the first of four possible titles, after this title there was respectively Sword Lord, Sword Sovereign and Sword God, who was in charge of the Mountain Dojo, the capital of the Mountain Fencing Style, and the strongest living user of this style.
There were many other styles of fencing besides the Mountain Fencing Style, but this was the most popular and well-known style in the Athina Kingdom.
So although Gracela didn’t have the highest possible title, her talent was incomparable to any ordinary swordsman or hunter.
"That’s... impressive." Victor complimented Gracela.
"Thank you." She thanked him with a smile at the corner of her mouth.
Luísa continued the introductions. "To my right, we have Frugeon, our most loyal guard and protector of the family. He’s been with us for ten years. I believe you’ve already had time to get to know each other."
"Oh yes, we talked a bit yesterday. By the way, Frugeon, thank you for those clothes." Victor touched the black shirt he was wearing with the back of his hand. "My clothes really were ruined, because I went on a mission to exterminate Blights when I passed through Agocester Village, so you saved me with the clothes you lent me. Don’t worry though, I’ll return them as soon as I’ve bought some new clothes."
Frugeon raised his eyes to look at Victor for just a moment. "The fabric has probably already been stretched. Don’t bother giving it back to me, it won’t fit me properly anyway."
In fact, the borrowed shirt was tight, because Victor was a huge man, with muscles and very big shoulders.
"You said you fought Blights?" A strange voice came from across the table.
Victor obviously realized that the question had been directed at him, so he turned and saw that it was the young man in armor who was talking to him.
"Victor, this is Bel Selvarum Segundo, my older brother’s son." Luísa introduced the boy after taking a deep breath.
’Is the boy also a Selvarum? Where’s his education?" Victor thought, but didn’t say it out loud. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, young man. Yes, I fought against the Blights. Do you know this species?"
"Of course they are. They are monsters of a unique nature, twisted plants that grow and create life. There aren’t many species of plant monsters in this world." He said after looking away again. "... How many?"
"You want to know how many I defeated? Well, I was with a small group and I had help. On my own, I think I defeated about twelve or thirteen, I don’t remember exactly. In the midst of action you can’t keep count sometimes."
Frugeon stood up and accidentally banged his legs on the table, rattling the cutlery and plates. "Bullshit, that’s impossible!"
"What are you doing, Frugeon? Calm down now." Luísa ordered, keeping her voice calm, and the man immediately sat down again. "I understand that you’re suspicious of Victor because he showed up in the middle of the night last night. However, I can assure you that Victor is a good man and don’t forget that he’s my guest. I won’t allow you to treat him that way or continue to be rude."
"But he smells..."
"Enough, Frugeon."
"Yes, ma’am." Frugeon bowed his head.
Tense seconds of silence followed in the dining room, but Victor was so used to confusion that he didn’t mind.
"Come to think of it, I think I understand your reaction a little, Frugeon," revealed the young Bel Selvarum, breaking the silence. "Blights are rare monsters and never appear in groups as large as the one Victor claims to have exterminated."
"Bel..." Luísa said with a warning tone.
However, Bel seemed like the typical young nobleman, so full of confidence that he didn’t respect anyone’s authority, not even the matriarch of his family.
"What? I just said what I thought. Besides, it’s a bit hard to believe that such an old man can still fight."
At this point, the atmosphere became even heavier, but there were those who didn’t care about this silly argument, like Gracela Selvarum, who just continued to sip her tea in peace, and Mari Dundragon, who was eating so much that she seemed to want to try every treat on the table.
Luísa was about to get up to scold Bel when Victor let an unusual sound escape from his mouth, which made her stop and look at him.
"Humph." Victor said with mockery. "I admire many young people, but there really are idiots in every generation, aren’t there?"
Bel frowned at being called an idiot. "What did you call me?"
"Kid, what level of Mountain Fencing are you?"
The young man then answered proudly:
"Majestic level."
"What a waste of money on such expensive armor..." Victor immediately retorted and stuffed his mouth with a piece of cake, totally unconcerned by the boy’s anger.
On hearing this, the boy slammed a fist on the table and leaned forward. "And you, old man, what level are you?"
Victor licked his fingers, wiped the icing off his cake, put one hand inside his shirt and took out his necklace with an insignia as golden as gold, which indicated that he was a Rank-B Hunter.
Frugeon and Bel were extremely surprised to see the insignia and had to swallow their pride.
Nowadays, everyone knew that from the Hunters’ C-Rank onwards, the Association’s Ranking became very strict and didn’t just take into account missions completed, otherwise many hunters could be ’carried’ up to high ranks.
"A few years ago, the Hunters’ Association included minimum requirements for each rank. Bel thought to himself after crossing his arms and backing away from his posture. ’If I’m not mistaken, one of the minimum requirements to be Rank-B was to be at least Celestial Level in the Mountain Fencing Style, which means he’s two levels above me. Shit, you old bastard.
Bel clenched his fists, frustrated that an old man was of a higher level than him.
For her part, Luísa smiled briefly, satisfied, after everything had calmed down at the table, but internally there was a thought in her head: freёweɓnovel.com
’Bel is still very young, so he won’t be able to see the huge difference between him and Victor. He’s my nephew, so it’s hard to admit this, but if I were to compare the two of them, Bel would just be a squirrel lost in a pine forest, while Victor would be the beast hibernating deep in the deepest cave of this forest.’
*
[Mountain Fencing Style
1 - Primordial Level: This is the most basic level of fencing. Those at this level are just beginning to learn the basic techniques.
2 - Centaur Level: At this level, swordsmen have the power to compete with ordinary knights.
3 - Solar Level: Swordsmen at this level are considered to be quite skilled.
4 - Majestic Level: Those who reach this level are called geniuses.
5 - Arcane Level: Swordsmen at this level are considered among the most talented in the world.
6 - Celestial Level: This is one of the highest levels a swordsman can reach.
7 - Eternal Level: This is the highest level of swordplay, achieved only by the most skilled swordsmen.
Special titles:
Monarch of the Sword.
Lord of the Sword.
Sovereign of the Sword.
God of the Sword.
(Titles can only be acquired once the Eternal Level is reached and are passed on through duels supervised by someone of a higher title within the Dojo of the Mountains, a place commanded by the God of the Sword)].
