The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Our Town’s Strongest (21)
“Yes. And I find it strange that you’re overlooking it as well. Surely that was a conditional oath of loyalty, was it not?”
“He did give me a family heirloom passed down through generations as a gift. That much is worth being used for—no need to worry yourself over it.”
“But even if it is a heirloom, it’s only a single sword. Isn’t he squeezing it for far too much?”
“Sir Dimitrion! Sir Dimitrion!”
Just then, Mogoya Dafaron, the baron’s eldest son, came riding hard from behind.
“Oh! Young Master Mogoya, what brings you to me?”
“Ah, Father instructed me to accompany you, Sir Dimitrion, on a trip to Hailong.”
“Is that so? I don’t lack knowledge of the roads myself, and the knights His Lordship provided should suffice.”
“I used to visit Hailong quite often in the past, so I know it rather well. It should prove quite helpful for your travels. Besides, I’ve brought along a decent amount of funds.”
As Mogoya Dafaron spoke, he tilted his head slightly, indicating his chamberlain.
Dimitrion caught sight of the bag the chamberlain was carrying and let out a quiet chuckle.
“Well, come to think of it, traveling with the young master wouldn’t be so bad.”
Seeing how readily he granted permission, Egodan’s expression turned somewhat sour, and Dimitrion lightly tapped the back of his horse.
“Egodan, you’re fine otherwise, but sometimes you’re a bit too rigid. Come on, let’s go!”
* * *
“Jang Gain, it seems Belireo and Muranguti have recovered quite a bit. We should be able to depart tomorrow.”
Jang Gain, who had been playing with the Dverberg children by lifting them onto the Sabertiger’s back, nodded at Ingram’s words.
“I checked on them this morning as well. We just need to buy some spices, and after that I’ll pack the carriage so we can leave whenever we’re ready.”
“Understood.”
After finishing his words, Ingram watched the children dangling from the Sabertiger’s back and made a disapproving sound.
“Hey, you lot! If you keep harassing the Sabertiger like that, it might get angry and eat you.”
“No, it won’t. Saber is really gentle.”
“He gave us rides around this courtyard over ten times!”
“His back is so wide that four of us can ride at once!”
As the children giggled, Ingram let out a heavy sigh.
“The Sabertiger is gentle only because Jang Gain is here. If he weren’t, you’d be the next meal.”
“Psh, Saber’s so gentle.”
“And his fur is really soft!”
“You little rascals, do those sharp fangs sticking out of the Sabertiger’s mouth look like decoration to you? Those are the fangs that can pierce through a knight’s steel armor.”
Grrrrr…….
Suddenly, the Sabertiger began growling softly in one direction.
“See? The Sabertiger’s angry. Get away from him, quickly!”
Startled by the sudden change, the children moved to distance themselves, but Jang Gain reached out and stroked the Sabertiger’s head.
“It’s not because of you lot that Saber got scared. You can keep playing. Though, now that it’s eaten an Ogre’s inner core, it seems to react to human Killing Intent as well.”
Jang Gain also turned his gaze toward where the Sabertiger was looking.
Beyond the inn’s fence, hidden from view, someone in the distance was approaching while sending Killing Intent in this direction.
Murderous intent and Killing Intent were not energies that arose from the heart and could be unleashed carelessly enough to stimulate an opponent.
To be able to project it precisely across such a distance required reaching at least the Peak Realm.
‘Since coming to this world, this is the first person who’s reached the Peak Realm. Where did such a person come from?’
Both caution and a fighting spirit kindled within him.
Whoooosh…….
Sending back similar Killing Intent in response, the nearby Sabertiger flinched in surprise and curled its tail.
Kiiing.
“That wasn’t directed at you, so don’t be startled.”
* * *
“We’ve arrived. That’s the Pandora Inn where the man called Jang Gain is staying, as I mentioned.”
As security commander Krudiwan pointed to the inn, Dimitrion spread his Qi sense and surveyed inside the establishment, quickly locating someone with formidable strength.
“Ho! Quite a powerful aura…… Let me see just how strong this one is.”
Dimitrion sent Killing Intent toward the other person.
Immediately, the other party returned Killing Intent in his direction.
Hmm.
Dimitrion’s eyes widened slightly as he felt the other’s Killing Intent.
“Excellent! It was worth coming all this way.”
“Sir Dimitrion, aren’t you going in?”
“Of course I am. But first, to prevent innocent bystanders from being harmed by the aftermath of our fight, keep people from approaching the area around the inn and have everyone inside evacuated.”
“Understood.”
Dimitrion issued commands to Krudiwan as if he were his subordinate, and Krudiwan accepted them as naturally as if he were.
Shortly after, once security had cordoned off the area around Pandora Inn, Dimitrion opened the inn’s door with only a few knights and servants.
“Are you the Jang Gain who defeated Morson?”
The inn courtyard held a Saber Tiger, children, and two adults.
Dimitrion sensed their presence through his Killing Intent and immediately identified Jang Gain.
“I’m Kain, that’s true. But who are you? And isn’t it proper courtesy to introduce yourself first when checking someone’s identity?”
“Courtesy? Ah, right. With your skill level, you’ve earned the right to speak of such things. I’m Dimitrion Marshall.”
“I’m Jang Gain. Call me Kain.”
“So, Kain. You’re the one who brought down Morson?”
“Why?”
“The lord of these lands, Baron Javedra, says you’ve insulted him, and he’s asked me to teach you a lesson.”
Hearing Dimitrion’s words, Jang Gain let out a short laugh before his expression turned incredulous.
If he had sensed his opponent through his own Killing Intent, then the opponent must have sensed him through the Killing Intent he’d sent forth as well.
‘He felt my Killing Intent, yet he carries himself like that… Even for the Peak Realm, this is disappointingly incompetent.’
There were often those who’d recently reached the Peak Realm but lacked experience fighting other Peak Realm masters—a reckless confidence that showed in their bearing. This was exactly that.
“Do you have the skill to teach me?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. Though, if we fight here, this inn will suffer considerable damage. Shall we move somewhere like a plaza?”
“I don’t think there’s any need to change locations.”
“What? What do you mean?”
When Dimitrion’s expression turned bewildered as if he hadn’t grasped the meaning, Jang Gain motioned Ingram and the children behind him and walked toward his opponent.
As Jang Gain approached with only a single sword at his hip, Dimitrion’s face took on a stunned expression.
“You’re actually saying the inn becoming rubble doesn’t matter to you?”
“Rubble? You’re overestimating yourself. Peak Realm—by this region’s standards, Expert Level, it seems—but even for that, you’re pathetically weak.”
“Weak? You mad bastard! You deserve to have at least one limb cut off so you’ll come to your senses!”
Dimitrion leaped from his horse, drew his blade, and walked toward Jang Gain.
Within a few paces, the two men were close enough that their swords would touch if fully extended.
Jang Gain swung first, and Dimitrion parried.
Spark! Crash.
Sparks flew where blade met blade, and a violent boom echoed out.
“Gah!”
Dimitrion’s eyes widened in shock.
‘What… what kind of force is this…’
His wrist throbbed, and he nearly dropped his sword.
Whoosh.
Following up, Jang Gain smoothly rotated his blade into a thrust, forcing Dimitrion to stumble backward and swing down in defense—but his opponent’s blade slipped away nimbly, and his strike met only air.
‘No! I made a mistake!’
Through the opening his failed swing had created, his opponent’s blade was already driving forward.
Bang.
Sparks erupted from the breastplate as the blade struck, and the impact—like being struck by a sledgehammer—sent Dimitrion flying backward.
‘No! The Protective Magic on the breastplate shattered in one hit!’
Even as he flew backward, Dimitrion’s eyes widened in disbelief.
How much force had been behind that thrust to send him flying like this?
If the Protective Magic hadn’t been woven into the breastplate, he was certain the armor would have been pierced like paper by that single attack.
Swift.
Even before his feet touched the ground, his opponent’s blade came following, thrusting at his chest again.
‘No!’
Dimitrion was terrified.
He hadn’t realized his opponent was pursuing him, yet somehow they were closing the distance faster than his retreat and attacking.
‘The Protective Magic is broken. If I get hit again, I… I’ll die!’
He swung his blade with all his strength to deflect his opponent’s attack.
Crash.
This time, thankfully, blade met blade, and as the angle shifted, his opponent’s sword swept across the left side of his breastplate and past his shoulder.
The steel armor was sliced like paper by the passing edge.
“Argh!”
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he fought for balance the moment his feet touched ground.
Whoosh.
And in that instant, the blade he’d just deflected came sweeping back in an arc toward his throat.
‘How is he so fast!’
Even if he blocked this strike, he thought with terrible clarity, he would die today.
Dimitrion swung his blade with everything he had, managing to intercept his opponent’s sword barely an inch before it would have taken his throat.
Crash.
Sparks and a deafening boom erupted near his ear, and it felt as though his eardrums would burst.
Ring… ring… ring…
In an instant, his left ear lost hearing and a sharp ringing filled his head, while his opponent’s blade traced another semicircle, slashing toward his ribs.
Crash!
He swung his sword with every ounce of strength he could muster, barely deflecting the incoming blade.
Crack-crack-crack……
And with it came the sound of bones twisting—starting from his sword hand, traveling up through his elbow and shoulder, all the way to his waist.
‘This isn’t a sword—it’s like being bludgeoned by a hammer. Damn it! If I keep just defending like this, I’ll die without landing a single blow!’
The thought seized him to abandon defense, even sacrifice an arm, if it meant dealing a mortal wound to his opponent.
‘Gasp—!’
But the path of the opponent’s blade, arcing through the air, happened to be aimed straight at his neck.
He could spare a limb, but the neck—give that and he was dead.
Crash.
He barely raised his sword to block, and this time a high-pitched ringing shrieked in his right ear.
Now both ears had gone deaf.
‘I’m losing my mind!’
The loss of hearing sent vertigo spinning through him, and his opponent’s form blurred before his eyes.
Crash. Crash. Boom.
After parrying two more consecutive strikes, his body flew backward and crashed hard against the inn’s wall.
“Urgh!”
* * *
“This… this makes no sense…… Am I seeing things that aren’t there?”
Mogoya, the eldest son of Baron Dafaron, watched Dimitrion pinned against the wall, barely holding his sword up against his opponent’s blade, and wanted nothing more than to deny what he was witnessing.
The two had clashed with ferocity at first, but in moments the fight had become entirely one-sided—now this man called Jang Gain toyed with Dimitrion as a cat played with a mouse.
‘If this continues, the family’s heirloom blade could be shattered……’
Mogoya gazed at the sword that Dimitrion was barely managing to hold aloft with trembling arms.
One of their ancestors had once been connected to a master craftsman of the Dverberg clan and managed to acquire it—the blade contained Yuntel and was said to possess a hardness ten times that of an ordinary sword.
Yet that heirloom now bore jagged notches as if gnawed by a saw, and the armor worn underneath had been shredded to tatters like paper.
“You’re not seeing things. I’ve faced this man Jang Gain myself—he’s a monster among monsters!”
It was then that he heard the voice of Krudiwan, the guard captain, from beside him.
He turned to see that Krudiwan too was watching the duel unfold.

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