"Hmmm… there's no doubt he's the man Eva encountered! He fits the same description…"
"I've seen your face on one of the wanted posters; I've heard some things about you here and there."
"Well done; you saved me the trouble of searching for you…"
"You said you were looking for me? What do you want from me…?"
You have something that belongs to me. When I defeat you, I will take the Medal of the Rising Sun that you possess...
"Ha ha ha, ha ha, this is amusing! So I was right about that girl..! Am I right or what? Hah, my friend Brando!"
"Her fear gave her away; I expected her to follow me..! But that didn't happen. I think she realized how impossible that would be… so I did it myself. She must have hired you for the job! To retrieve the medal."
"Well said; I would appreciate ending this nonsense over that piece of steel… so draw your sword!"
"You'll get what you want."
For his size, I didn't expect him to be so fast; he shot toward me like an arrow, leaving his cloak behind, attacking with a sword in each hand...
He deflected my attack by bending low, his left knee strongly bent toward the ground while his right leg extended forward to maintain balance.
The result was a powerful diagonal thrust aimed at my left knee with his sword… he drove his blade into my thigh, emerging from the other side, then quickly withdrew the sword.
I let out a loud scream from the pain that shot through my knee.
"The first rule in combat… restraining your opponent's movement means eighty percent of victory… I succeeded in that… which means any foolish amateur who attacks recklessly is likely to lose his legs!"
These guidelines did not apply to me. I continued my assault, risking my defense…
I raised Susano's swords above my head and then brought them down in a direct vertical motion, using my entire weight to enhance the force of the strike. At the moment of collision between our swords, I managed to break through his defense by forcing one of his swords to fly out of his grip…
In that critical moment, I took advantage of his imbalance by delivering a powerful upward kick to his chin, sending him flying off the ground and crashing backward.
Standing tall, I aimed my sword at his neck as he suffered the effects of my brutal kick…
"Ha ha ha ha! Hah!" a voice of exhaustion and drained strength.
"This was amazing! This is what I've been missing for a long time—the meaning of fighting with honor! You've earned my respect, my friend!
I enjoyed the fight so much that I didn't want to end it that way… but I took the pendant from his pocket, or rather, the medal, then stepped back a few paces.
Damn! Are all of you in the Golden Hawk Squad this tough? What's your name?! I'll recite my prayers when you die.
"My name is Yuri. I'm the first fighter from the Golden Hawk Squad that I couldn't kill this way… you won't get another chance to win next time," he glared at my wound.
Ha ha ha, don't worry about that; I'm the type who doesn't usually get affected by such injuries…
Yuri stood up from the ground. "You know? This place brings back old memories… nothing has changed here… nothing… I was born in this mountain city, Himura… my old home isn't far from here… this area was the perfect playground for children."
Yuri began to move diagonally toward a few dead trees nearby, pointing his finger at the location. I had no choice but to walk away from him but in the same direction, keeping my guard up against him…
"My friends and I used to come here all the time to play… when I was four years old, there were all sorts of foods on this land… the land was used as a battleground; the trees died, and the flow of water from the earth here was initially a blessing, but it soon became a problem as it couldn't drain out. The whole place turned into a swamp, mud everywhere… One of my friends came here alone; we didn't know he had come until we found him lifeless, the ground had clung to him and pulled him down…"
"A sad story, isn't it? A natural trap! From the plans of the earth, you don't realize the meaning of all this…" he paused for a moment.
He put his finger to his mouth and then added, "Now I remember exactly where we found him, his body submerged in the mud…"
He pointed his hand at me. "Here! Right where you're standing, you fool!"
Like a fool, I was walking away from him diagonally, lost in his childhood story as if he were a friend of mine, one I never had…
I hesitated to lower my face and see what I had gotten myself into, but in the end, I looked…
The mud was close to my knees; I hadn't noticed that at all. Moreover, I felt a comfort as if my feet were touching something soft.
"Ha ha ha ha, the fool is staggering from his own mockery of me.
"Alright, alright, I was a good listener; I appreciate that."
"The second rule in combat states, whoever controls the ground can subdue the sky!"
"The story depended on the time it takes for you to reach the point I want you to stand at, and you were a compliant boy in that. Now only a few yards separate me from you! Your ticket to the other side is ready."
I tried with all my strength to move my foot from its place, but every time I attempted, I felt the other foot sinking deeper into the mud.
"I see you're trying hard; you'll have to put in a lot for that."
Without warning, as I tried to pull my foot free…
"Shhh!" the sound of a spear piercing flesh.
A spear pierced my chest; the coward Yuri threw his spear in a cowardly manner that no honorable warrior would do and began babbling over my head with words that didn't concern me in my condition.
"I belong to a family of farmers; I never wanted to live the life of a warrior. Life wasn't easy, yet we were a somewhat happy family. I had one younger sister. One day, we were playing a racing game near the main road. Our luck was bad being in that place; my sister bumped into General Sanji's boot… she got mud on it… that angered him! To punish her, he pushed her hard, causing her to fall from a great height… perhaps that's where my story ends; I'll see you soon in the warriors' hell."
Yuri moved away, leaving the place…
I don't think so, you coward; your story is somewhat similar to what happened to my sister. We will have this fight again someday… I won't allow you to kill me twice…
I managed to escape from that swamp after hours of trying, eventually climbing a tree using my swords…
Eva was still asleep, leaving the pendant she had been seeking beside her head.
Morning arrived, and Eva's screams calling my name were unbearable; I could hear her from afar as she searched for my location…
"Braaaaando!"
She held the pendant in her hand. "This was by my head when I first woke up."
Whoa! Did you pay everything you own in silver coins to buy it from the man who had it?
"Don't act foolish! What is this nonsense? Who told you to do that, huh? I thought I already made it clear that I decided to throw everything behind me and forget it."
"Just one more year, and I'll forget everything about this matter, but now with this… all this trouble and pain for a trivial medal for a spoiled child! What if you had been killed back then…?!"
Okay, I now understood that the reason for all this screaming was her fear of my death, but what death was she talking about, as if I would die easily?
She wiped her tears and continued her scolding, "Why did you do that? Reckless?"
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