First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 94

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 94

“As expected, I’m lucky.”

Irin continued speaking while slowly stroking the axe blade.

“My first round opponent isn’t some pathetic small fry, but royalty.”

Carno let out a scoff as if finding it absurd.

“Isn’t that rather unlucky for you? It’s better to win the first round easily and advance, right?”

“No, no.”

Irin pointed the axe at Carno and licked her lips with her tongue.

“There’s no moment more exciting than hunting strong prey.”

Carno’s expression became uncomfortable.

I think I know what he’s thinking right now.

He’s probably feeling the exact same emotion I felt when I first met Irin.

“Both sides, step back ten paces from each other.”

Carno and Irin stood with a distance of twenty paces between them, following Amelia’s command.

A suffocating silence settled over the colosseum.

At this moment, everyone seated in the spectator stands was looking only at these two people.

“Sniffle.”

Along with the sound of Carno sniffling as usual.

“Begin the match.”

Amelia’s low voice rang clearly throughout the colosseum.

Kururung-!

Irin’s foot kicked off the ground and shot forward.

The ground cracked in the shape of a footprint as faint lightning sparked.

Kwaang!

Carno received Irin’s charge as sword and axe clashed.

“Kugh!”

A groan burst from Carno’s mouth.

Both of them had already been wrapped in aura from the start.

As a result of the probing exchange where they clashed with everything they had, Carno’s feet were pushed back as he retreated.

“Your strength is quite something!”

Carno didn’t panic and readjusted his grip on his sword.

Hwaryuk!

As if Carno’s attribute was fire, his aura was dyed with red flames.

Carno gripped the sword hilt tightly with both hands and thrust forward like a spear.

Argent secret swordsmanship.

Slashing Fang Pierce .

Hwiriririk-!

Flames swirled and were sucked into the sword tip.

Just before Carno’s thrust reached Irin’s torso.

Kang!

Irin gripped the axe in reverse and deflected Carno’s sword.

Using that motion as momentum, she spun her body around once.

This time Irin’s axe aimed for Carno’s side.

Kagagagak-!

“Kugh!”

Carno raised his sword to defend against Irin’s axe.

However, he couldn’t completely absorb the impact and his body was pushed backward.

Irin didn’t miss that opening.

“Die-!”

Irin spun her body around once in a large motion.

The massive axe came crashing down with a roar.

“…!”

Kwang-!

The axe embedded into the floor, gouging out the earth.

An impact that seemed to make even the air shudder and crack.

Carno twisted his body half a beat faster and barely deflected the attack, but his entire body trembled just from the shockwave.

“Cra…zy.”

Along with a quiet curse, just as he regained his stance, Irin’s shadow covered him again.

Kururung-

A second downward strike falling with the sound of sparking lightning.

Carno raised his sword diagonally to receive it.

A dull explosive sound rang out like gunpowder exploding.

Could this really be the sound of metal clashing against metal?

His arms shook with a tingling sensation.

Carno was ultimately pushed back two more steps.

“What are you going to do just defending! You need to counterattack! Come on!”

Kwang! Kwang!

Irin’s axe continuously pounded Carno’s sword.

“Come at me! Hurry!”

“…Haa!”

Instead of answering, Carno exhaled a short breath.

His sword tip trembled slightly as it aimed for Irin’s center.

With his opponent having seized the advantage and repeatedly making large motions.

If he could throw a decisive move, now was the only time.

Buwong!

However, the axe moved first.

A combination attack that fell from above to below then immediately struck from the side.

It was a trajectory that made one question if human strength could produce such movement.

In the end, Carno failed to counterattack again and could only repeat evasive maneuvers.

“What the?”

“Amazing, that guy. Against Carno….”

Continuous exclamations burst from the spectator stands watching Irin’s battle.

“She wasn’t the top scorer on the transfer exam for nothing.”

“Getting a higher rank than that Ragnor or Asel couldn’t have been a coincidence.”

Meanwhile, Fail approached me with an unpleasant smile on his face.

“Umhaha! What will you do, Asel? It looks like I’ve won this bet?”

“…You two ended up gambling again.”

Cathy scolded them. Fail shrugged his shoulders.

“To borrow the expression of someone who lives somewhere, this isn’t gambling but money copying. Of course, it means when someone wins money, someone loses money. Right, Asel?”

Fail seemed half-convinced of Irin’s victory.

Certainly, looking at how the match was going, there was nothing to argue with that thinking.

Carno was just being pushed around by Irin without being able to put up any decent resistance.

I said quietly.

“Watch a little more.”

“Is there more to see? I knew from the beginning that Irin would win. She passed the transfer exam as top scorer, beating you and Ragnor, so she had to be a monster, right?”

I don’t recall being particularly beaten by Irin during the transfer exam, nor does Ragnor, but I didn’t bother to correct him.

I kept my gaze fixed on Carno, who was continuing to dodge Irin’s attacks.

“Irin has a fatal weakness.”

At my words, Fail and Cathy perked up their ears.

That reaction was cute, so I chuckled once before continuing.

“Her physical abilities are excessively outstanding.”

Irin is strong.

If there weren’t exceptional fighters like me, Ragnor, and Meirei who are beyond normal standards.

It would probably be hard to find anyone among her peers stronger than Irin.

Since she uses an axe as her main weapon, each strike has considerable destructive power, and her speed is difficult to perceive in an instant.

“Irin said she’s from a northern warrior tribe. That she lived hunting monsters in the Void Tundra.”

Then her combat experience itself must certainly be abundant.

Moreover, with her innate physical abilities, she would have easily resolved most fights.

The problem was that because she handled those countless battles using her physical abilities, she was overwhelmingly lacking in the intellect to formulate strategies and the flexibility to handle unexpected situations.

The fact that most of her experience was against monsters rather than humans also played a part.

Whoooosh-!

Irin’s axe once again sliced through the air.

Carno, who at first seemed overwhelmed just by receiving her attacks, was now tracking Irin’s trajectory with his eyes.

The longer the battle continued, the more clearly Irin’s monotonous attack routes could be read.

‘During the entrance exam when I fought Irin at the Scorpion’s Nest, the reason I could dodge all her attacks wasn’t simply because there was a big difference in skill.’

It was because Irin’s attacks were easy to read, even more so than the skill difference suggested.

No matter how fast and strong, if you don’t get hit, it’s all for nothing.

Until now, she would have pushed through with physical abilities, cutting down opponents with attacks they couldn’t dodge even if they saw them coming.

Unfortunately, Carno wasn’t an opponent that strategy would work on.

Rumble-!

Irin charged at Carno.

The ground shook and dust swirled.

Carno didn’t move backward but instead dove forward.

“!”

At this unexpected reaction, Irin’s body stiffened for a moment.

Flame aura began gathering around Carno’s sword.

The aura wrapped around the sword gradually grew larger and swelled.

The massive sword burning with flames seemed like it could split even the sun in half.

“Enduring until the end, then delivering a decisive counterattack at the final moment.”

I watched with satisfaction the bead of sweat rolling down Carno’s temple.

“It was an excellent strategy, Carno.”

Carno’s abnormally enlarged sword struck the ground hard.

Argent secret swordsmanship.

Sun Crusher.

Kwaaaaang-!

The colosseum trembled from the impact that occurred with a thunderous roar.

Just like when Max had used the same technique, the rising dust made it difficult to distinguish objects.

“What’s the result?!”

“What happened? Did Carno win?”

The students sitting in the spectator seats eagerly waited for the dust to settle.

A moment later.

What people could see was Carno bringing his sword down from above and Irin blocking it with her axe.

“My goodness…”

“She blocked that?”

The audience was shocked by Irin’s durability.

Sun Crusher was one of the techniques with the greatest destructive power among the Argent Imperial Family’s secret swordsmanship.

Though its power might be reduced since it was cast by student Carno, the destructive force was not at a level to be ignored.

Didn’t even Ersea, ranked 2nd, stagger and nearly fall after taking Max’s Sun Crusher?

And yet she blocked it head-on.

“Is she really a monster…”

Of course, Irin didn’t look unharmed either.

“Cough!”

The blood Irin spat stained the dirt ground red.

“You… are pretty good?”

Irin shrugged her shoulders and laughed breathlessly.

She swung her axe to deflect Carno’s sword.

Just as Carno was about to approach and finish it, Irin’s mouth opened.

“I… thought I was the best all this time. I entered this school because I wanted to fight lots of strong guys.”

Irin’s eyes, more serious and sunken than ever, looked straight at Carno.

“You too, Ragnor too, that Asel bastard too… someday I’ll beat you all. This isn’t the end.”

Thud.

Irin staggered and pointed her axe at Carno.

Perhaps knowing her stamina would soon be exhausted, Carno didn’t finish the duel and engaged in conversation instead.

“I too, when I was young, had someone I wanted to surpass like you do.”

Carno’s eyes dimmed as if recalling the past.

“He was someone who shone brilliantly like the sun. I admired him so painfully that I used to fall asleep dreaming of someday beating him and receiving admiration from everyone in the Imperial House.”

Carno lowered his sword and turned around with a sorrowful expression.

“Though now I can never meet him again.”

Thud.

Irin, her strength exhausted, collapsed to the ground.

Amelia announced the result in her usual plain manner.

“Victory, Class H’s Carno de Argent.”

Tremendous cheers poured out from the spectator seats.

“Woooooooo!”

“As expected, amazing, Carno!”

“It was a wonderful match!”

“Congratulations on your victory!”

Comfort and encouragement also poured out for the defeated Irin.

“It’s okay to lose! You’ve only lost once anyway!”

“You’ll definitely be able to win the next round!”

“Thanks for showing us an entertaining match, Irin!”

This time I looked at Fail with a triumphant expression.

“What did you say earlier? Money copying? That’s what I do. What you do is just throwing money in the trash.”

“Gaaaah! How frustrating!”

“You should have just listened to me. This is what happens when you ignore the words of someone who’s actually fought them.”

“…Yeah, I got it. From now on, I’ll bet however you tell me to bet, Asel.”

“That’s just saying you’ll gamble again!”

Cathy shrieked.

“Ahaha, Asel said so himself. What he does isn’t gambling but money copying. I want to try some money copying following Asel from now on too.”

Fail scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Cathy crossed her arms and glared at Fail.

-Wahaha!

The victorious Carno was already surrounded by many people receiving congratulations.

Among them there would certainly be those trying to leech off and parasitize the imperial authority, but there would naturally be Carno’s real friends mixed in as well.

On the other hand, Irin, who had lost consciousness and was being carried out on a stretcher, with that dog-like personality of hers, couldn’t possibly have any friends.

‘If she wakes up and there’s no one beside her, she’ll feel hurt.’

It seems I’ll need to stop by the infirmary for a moment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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