I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 25

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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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I’m a Mother-in-Law, But I Don’t Want Family Conflicts Episode 25

“I could tell just by watching.”

“…Well, I’ll be.”

The Margrave crossed his arms with a complicated expression.

“Anyway, since he used magic power, Nata must be struggling too. It would be fine if they both used magic power together, but Nata has such vast magical reserves that it’s hard to hide it like that…”

Now I finally understood why Derek had stepped forward so confidently. He had a means by which he would absolutely never lose.

‘I suppose not losing to Nata is more important to him than earning the Margrave’s displeasure or receiving criticism from his fellow knights.’

At this point, Derek’s stubbornness was beyond absurd. The Margrave seemed to feel the same way, as he muttered in a pained voice.

“To go to such lengths just to beat a colleague.”

“…He’s not a colleague.”

The Margrave had missed the key point. To Derek, Nata wasn’t a colleague.

“Not a colleague, but a different kind of human being.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“To him, Sir Nata is a creature of different race and gender, and therefore unacceptable.”

“…”

“That’s why he can’t lose. Because he mustn’t lose to such a thing.”

He couldn’t tolerate that a species he couldn’t accept might be stronger than him.

The Margrave might find it hard to understand. But for me, having lived a previous life, this was a world I’d seen all too often.

Originally, emotions like inferiority complex and jealousy are difficult to find reasonable grounds for.

‘But… at this rate, he’s going to lose.’

I didn’t want to see Derek take the sword I’d carefully prepared. While I was pondering what measures I could take, Nata suddenly threw his weapon to the ground.

“Huh? Is he surrendering?”

A voice of suspicion came from the spectators who had noticed the tide was gradually turning.

However, Nata didn’t seem to have any intention of giving up, and instead of the tool he’d discarded, he raised his tightly clenched fists.

It was a combat fighting stance.

‘Don’t tell me he’s going to engage in bare-handed combat here?’

Just as there was no rule against using magic power, there was also no rule that swords had to be used.

“Rather than fighting with swords, did he choose combat, Pie Fairy!”

As if that couldn’t be possible, the spectators made bitter remarks mixed with disbelief. But Nata seemed to have already made up his mind, lowering his waist slightly and charging in at once.

And the reason Nata chose combat became immediately apparent.

“Ah! Pie Fairy! He’s blocking the sword directly with his body!”

He began blocking Derek’s sword with his bare body. Since it was a practice sword without a blade, he directly caught it with his arms or grabbed it with his hands while counterattacking.

Eventually, the match changed from sword against sword to a fight between an iron rod and fists.

Well, there was no rule against blocking swords with hands either.

‘If we do this again next time, I’ll have to rewrite the rules.’

Anyway, Nata regaining the initiative was a positive sign. Just when I was thinking it would be good if things continued this way.

An incident occurred.

“No-!”

* * *

Nata had vaguely anticipated that Derek would use magic power.

As a colleague, he knew Derek was a magic swordsman. So he had already thought about how to deal with it when Derek enhanced his body with magic power.

‘It’s still just a practice sword.’

He took advantage of the fact that a blade without an edge could be blocked with bare hands without any problem. His strategy worked successfully, and Derek was pushed back helplessly.

“This can’t be…!”

Derek let out a panicked breath, as if he had never dreamed he would be defeated.

Even his magic-enhanced body couldn’t keep up with Nata’s skilled martial arts. Anxiety gradually appeared on Derek’s expression behind the mask.

If he lost like this, he would be the one to remove his mask. And when Nata, who claimed the victor’s glory, revealed his identity, he would be the first to become the subject of gossip.

He recalled the past when he had spread rumors about Nata to the apprentice knights and soldiers.

Those guys had enthusiastically agreed back then, but it was obvious they would change their attitude once they saw he had been defeated.

Slander doesn’t disappear. Only the target changes, and his intuition told him that target would be himself, sending chills up his spine.

‘…Should I put in more magic power?’

Cornered, Derek increased his magic power output even more. Now it was enough for any magic user to notice. Even the regular soldiers began to panic at Derek’s suddenly changed movements.

‘He’s given up on hiding it.’

He could feel Derek’s strong will to defeat Nata even if his own honor was tarnished.

Inside the pie helmet, Nata laughed quietly. His mouth tasted bitter wondering when the reliable senior he once followed had become so petty.

Since it had come to this, Nata didn’t need to hide his own power either.

“They’re both using magic power…”

“Shouldn’t they stop this?”

Nata also wrapped his body in magic power and responded. Blue magic power burst from Derek’s sword, and Nata moved forward using his arms as shields.

But when both used magic power, Derek, who held a sword, became overwhelmingly advantageous.

Physical enhancement was bound to be pierced by the attack power of a weapon given an edge by magic power.

‘I’ll settle this before that happens.’

Nata quickly approached so as not to be overwhelmed by the sword. While Wilhelmina internally shouted ‘It’s boxing!’, Nata moved his body instinctively.

“Ugh… You bastard!”

Not expecting to be pushed back even after using magic power, Derek desperately swung his sword.

His panicked sword lost its direction, and Nata created effective hits accordingly.

Crack-!

“Guh!”

Derek was knocked back by a punch that precisely targeted his philtrum. Even as he tried to quickly regain his stance, Nata didn’t miss that opening.

“Argh…!”

Derek was continuously pushed back by the consecutive punches.

Now even the spectators noticed which side had gained the upper hand. They also realized there was an undeniable skill gap between Derek and Nata.

Derek couldn’t regain his composure under the torrent of punches.

“Oh no!”

Eventually, he even dropped the sword he was holding in his right hand.

Nata had no intention of showing consideration like he had with other contestants.

This time, he extended his fist decisively to deliver justice’s hammer blow to Derek, who had slandered him.

“It’s over!”

However, with victory so close at hand, Nata failed to notice Derek’s left hand.

He reached inside his large costume that he wore to hide his build and drew out a small sword. He had been carrying two swords all along.

She had forgotten that he was a magic swordsman who could wield twin swords.

‘To think he had another move hidden-!’

In the end, Nata chose defense instead of attack. She forcibly bent her elbow to protect her neck.

‘I can… block it!’

It was close, but now that she had noticed, it wasn’t impossible to block. Thanks to spotting it before her concentration was disrupted by anger, Nata had a chance to defend.

She pushed her arm out with all her strength to prevent the sword from piercing her neck.

“…!”

She blocked Derek’s deadly strike. Heavy pain struck her arm, but she gritted her teeth and shook it off.

Clang-! A sound like metal clashing rang out as Derek’s sword was deflected. Due to the collision of strong forces, the sword flew at arrow-like speed.

The problem was that its direction was toward where the judges were sitting.

“No-!”

Nata screamed, but the sword flew straight toward Wilhelmina.

Wilhelmina was an ordinary person who had never learned swordsmanship. Even if it was a practice sword with no magic power, getting hit at that speed would obviously cause serious injury.

‘Too fast…!’

It was already too late to block. Even if she ran now, in two steps the sword would have already struck Wilhelmina’s forehead.

Running would be too late. At this rate, Wilhelmina, her benefactor, would be seriously injured.

…Then there was only one method left.

“Wh-what is that!”

She felt a burning pain from her back. At the same time, powerful magic power that started from her back transferred throughout her body, and her feet that had been stuck to the ground rose into the air.

“Wings!”

The fairy wings that she had never once revealed in front of people appeared from Nata’s back.

Two pairs of mystical-colored wings that changed color according to the light granted Nata the miracle of flight.

If running was too late, she had no choice but to fly.

The fairy’s blessing instantly moved Nata in front of Wilhelmina.

Arriving at the same time as the sword, Nata caught the sword that had flown right up to Wilhelmina’s nose with her bare hands.

“….”

Wilhelmina stared blankly at the sword that had flown right up to her eyes and Nata who had blocked it.

It was a mystical sight. To think that a large pie with shining fairy wings would save her – even through the cat mask, Wilhelmina’s bewilderment seemed palpable.

Fortunately, she wasn’t too late. Nata let out a sigh of relief.

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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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