This Bastard is Too Competent

“Good. Then I will show you what I have learned so far.”

Ian clasped his hand on the sword hilt.

The Second Prince was amused seeing Ian's eyes.

No, just what did that guy believe in to be so confident?

‘Didn’t you only learn ceremonial swordsmanship?’

Royal swordsmanship was a kind of ceremonial swordsmanship.

He must have learned it for the legitimation ceremony.

Of course, the Second Prince didn't get to hear who taught him.

‘Well, it's obvious. It must be either a royal knight or the Duke’s son.'

It was mandatory for the royal family and the royal knights to learn ceremonial swordsmanship, but the children of the nobles also learned one or two moves as a part of the culture.

So, he was most likely taught by Galon. Because he originally intended to enter the palace as a royal knight.

And since he learned from such a great guy, he seemed to have gained some confidence.

‘Are you thinking of attacking me with such a feeble body?’

At the very least, he heard that Ian was only doing physical training, far from actually practicing swordsmanship.

Thinking so, the Second Prince did not hide his expression.

“Yeah, bring it on.”

His eyes were not directed at Ian's sword but rather at his forearm.

‘Yes, come on, pull out that sword.’

That sword was an excellent sword that never broke, but even the Second Prince himself gave up using it.

The scabbard sealed the power of the sword, so there was no problem, but the moment the sword was unsheathed, the story changed.

‘So far, no one has been able to brandish the sword freely.’

And Ian, too, far from brandishing it, he would be crushed by the sword instead. On the other hand, the Second Prince’s sword was sharp and unparalleled!

‘First, it's the arm. And next, I'll slash your arrogant throat!’

Giving that sword to Ian was his last gift as a brother.

Before he died, he wanted him to get a touch of the things of the royal family at least for once!

However, he would cut off his arm in exchange for touching royal belongings with those filthy hands.

That was what certainly would happen. 

Clang!

“?!”

The Second Prince’s attack was blocked by something. 

He hurriedly stepped back, thinking that the knights had stepped in.

"Big Brother, aren't you being too cheap? How can you suddenly attack me like this?”

“!”

The Second Prince's expression froze.

It was Ian himself who blocked his sword. He was also properly holding the sword in question.

"You…!"

The Second Prince looked at Ian with a puzzled look. 

The scabbard was plainly lying on the floor. However, the drawn black sword was pointed up, gallantly raising its tip to the sky.

The Second Prince’s heart sank for a moment.

‘Impossible.'

At first, he thought it was an illusion. 

But now he saw with his own two eyes Ian weighing the sword. He even swung the sword back and forth. Of course, he still had a slightly troubled expression on his face because of his meager muscle strength, but that wasn’t the problem.

‘No way… Without the scabbard?!’

The Second Prince's face distorted noticeably. At the same time, a horrible thought brushed past his mind.

It was when he was a child, when he was looking at the royal treasure sword in the weapon room. The royal chamberlain once told him with a smile.

“Prince. It is said that this sword is able to recognize its master.”

“Recognize its master?”

“Yes. A legend says that the one who is acknowledged by the sword is the true successor of Kaistein.”

The royal chamberlain must have said that to encourage him to be a good successor.

But at this moment, the Second Prince trembled.

‘The true successor.’

The moment those words came to mind, the Second Prince gritted his teeth.

‘No, that can't be true.’

Whether a long time had passed so the sword's power had weakened, or whether he cast some special spell so that he could take it! 

He could have just been lucky anyway.

‘Or maybe there's some secret I don't know!'

For example, only people of lowly origin, not pure-blooded, could lift it!

‘Yeah. That must be the case.’

The Second Prince took a deep breath with teeth gritted.

‘No problem. The sword doesn’t matter.’

"I won't let you hold a sword ever again!"

The Second Prince confidently launched an attack at Ian.

But then. 

Clang!

“!”

Ian blocked his sword with a calm face this time as well.

“…!”

The Second Prince, whose attack was blocked again, trembled. This time, it was for a different reason. 

‘Ceremonial swordsmanship.’

Ian didn't budge much. 

However, there was no way he didn't know that sluggish foundation. It was certainly the same royal swordsmanship he had learned briefly as a child.

That's why he couldn't believe it. 

‘You blocked my sword with that ceremonial swordsmanship?’

The Second Prince had reasonable doubts instead.

"Was it… Galon? Did he teach you some self-defense techniques?"

There was no other possible reason but that.

Galon was called one of the Three Great Knights of the Continent for his outstanding talent among the knights of all time. 

For such a person, it would be easy to modify the ceremonial sword technique so that even young children could learn it quickly!

But Ian answered calmly.

"No. Unfortunately, this is just simple royal swordsmanship.”

"What… What did you say? So Galon didn’t teach you that?”

Ian stopped attacking for a while.

Well, it was better to say that he learned from Galon the next time someone asked him in the future.

“I was just self-taught.”

"What?"

“I mean, I learned by reading the book.”

With only the two of them left alone in the training hall, Ian finally showed his bloody true colors. The Second Prince, surprised by the glint in Ian’s eyes, clenched his teeth.

But it was the truth.

‘At first, after the legitimation ceremony, I learned the sword directly from a royal knight.’

But at some point, a problem arose.

“You have no talent. How about giving up on the sword?”

Members of the Kaistein royal family basically had to learn swordsmanship.

However, Ian was shocked to hear that it was meaningless to teach him because of his lack of talent.

It felt so awful that he couldn’t raise his face because he was ashamed of others.

He had been told that it might be better for him to go to the neighboring country as an envoy to have some exchanges and learn magic.

That was how huge of a shame for the royalty of this kingdom was.

‘So, I stayed in my room alone and learned swordsmanship.’

Of course, the current Galon said that he had a talent for swordsmanship.

There shouldn't be much difference between now and then. Ian didn’t understand why the views were different from then. 

Anyway, all he learned then was the royal textbook.

Although it was outdated, the explanation was detailed.

That was how a young child practiced swordsmanship following the illustrations alone.

If there was a difference between him and the Second Prince…

‘Dozens, hundreds of times. I have read and followed it thousands of times. So that I am not ashamed of being a member of the Kaistein royal family, even once.’

The result was apparent right now.

It was the ceremonial swordsmanship that others ignored, but it also had defense techniques just like now. And that technique was quite useful in practice. These were techniques that made use of the enemy's movements in reverse, so it was doable even with a child's body.

Of course, Ian wouldn’t stop at that.

‘I knew you'd aim for it.’

As someone supported by Lavaltor of Might, he also displayed the most excellent swordsmanship skills among his brothers and knew his weaknesses well.

But Ian, who had no intention of saying it, laughed.

“So, this proves that my brother’s swordsmanship skills aren’t that good. It means that it is not the best swordsmanship taught to you.”

At Ian's provocation, the Second Prince rushed with red eyes.

It seemed like he had already forgotten about the match.

"Tell me the truth! Whose help did you get? Yes! You got help from another knight! Did you get an oath or something?"

It was a reasonable doubt.

Unlike the general <Oath>, where one fought with one’s own strength, a special <Oath> was said to give strength to the one a knight served as their lord.

However, instead of being agitated, Ian smiled and pointed his sword at the Second Prince.

“I was a serf not long ago. Would anyone really be willing to make an oath to someone like me? I couldn't even dream of it."

“You cheeky bastard!”

Ian stood his ground when the Second Prince struck the next attack.

The sword cried pleasantly for a moment. The required condition to hold the sword had been achieved, so Ian knew as soon as he saw it that he could use it.

‘I wish you would recognize me.’

Of course, even if that were the case, it was still difficult to take on the Second Prince’s attacks with only the knowledge before his regression. His body hadn’t fully developed and he didn't have enough strength.

However, this black sword was one of the famous sword series of Kaistein Kingdom that was said to have been passed down from ancient times.

Although it was a problem that no one could wield it, it never broke, and with its unique sturdiness and weight, it was able to absorb and disperse a portion of the opponent's attack.

The downside was that it was absurdly heavy.

Ian grinned as he felt his arm already heavy from muscle pain. 

‘I can't use it too much on this body.’

It was originally a sword that was used only after the wielder reached adulthood. 

Due to that, it was only best to block the attack using the innate characteristics of the sword, and in his current state, it was only normal to think it difficult to attack. 

But there was one thing different from the past.

Thump!

A force that lay in the vicinity of the heart. <Faith> was burning hot.

And then Ian heard a voice.

[What do you want to do now?]

It was not the voice of the Garcia family's ancestor Ian had seen underground. 

It was a ringing sound in his heart.

Ian replied reflexively. 

‘I don’t want to be used by anyone again. I don’t want to force myself to do something I don’t want to in order to please someone else.’

At the same time, a new sentence was engraved in Ian's heart. 

And that was the sentence of his <Faith> that only Ian had.

[My steps never stop.]

The power that was activated under the newly created sentence revealed its power.

Bang!

“!!”

The Second Prince, who tried to blow Ian away with his sword, was surprised. 

‘What is this power!’

The Second Prince staggered as their sword clashed. It was an overwhelming force to think of it coming from a child!

“Hold your sword straight. Otherwise… you die!”

“!”

Following the words pledged to his heart, Ian's ability was activated. 

There was no other power. Only now, as long as Ian did not stop, he could wield the royal sword that he could never lift more lightly.

Clang!

Even a royal who had a much better physique and was well trained than him could stumble.

“Ughh!”

Such force was enough to make his opponent run away without him doing anything.

Of course, it wasn't perfect.

"Don't mess with me!"

“!”

Slash!

The Second Prince’s sword, which could not be blocked, slashed Ian's body.

If it had gone a little deeper, it would have been fatal.

The Second Prince laughed. 

"Serves you right! You think too highly of yourself that you disrespect your older brother…”

But he soon stopped speaking.

Even if the sharp blade was painful.

Even if he thrust the sword right in front of him.

Ian's steps never stopped. 

And every time that happened, the force dwelling on every slash seemed to get stronger. 

‘What is… this feeling?’

It was as if he was facing a knight with Oath.

No, it was scarier than that. Unlike knights whose strength was fixed, Ian was getting stronger in each step he took.

Right then, the Second Prince’s back suddenly bumped into the wall of the training hall, and his eyes widened.

"Is anybody out there? This guy is trying to kill me!"

“…”

But no one responded.

In the first place, it was the Second Prince himself who made it impossible for anyone to enter, no matter the commotion inside.

Even the knights of Lavaltor could not enter as long as the knights of Duke Garcia were keeping watch on them.

Ian chuckled inwardly.

‘You are the one who created this situation.’

This man, who valued his own life the most in the world, fell into his own cunning trap.

At the same time, Ian's eyes chilled as he looked at him.

Ian still hadn't forgotten his brothers who died at this guy’s hands.

They were said to have fought each other during the succession of the throne, but that guy was the one who killed all the brothers who gave him affection.

Three out of seven brothers.

Nearly half of Ian’s brothers were killed in his ambush.

"Hey! Can't you hear me?"

When Ian was closing in, the Second Prince clenched his teeth and took something out of his chest.

And it was none other than poison!

It was the same one as the poison brought by the assassin he sent to kill him. 

“You give me no choice!"

It was then. 

"Did you say you wouldn't let me hold a sword ever again?"

Slaash!

“Aaaarghh!”

The Second Prince’s arm flew high into the sky at Ian's sword.