The Extra's Return

Being in the middle of the banquet hall, I stand like a prodigal son. The few meters around me were completely empty. The invited guests stand alone from a considerable distance.

In front of me, one more person is standing like a lost child. Just like me, he was standing in the middle of the banquet hall with no one else around. He is Julian. Yes, we are face to face to fight now.

All eyes were on us, even the magic lamp above the banquet hall seemed to only focus on us, which made me feel like I was standing on the stage of a music concert.

From the many eyes of people who saw me and Jullian, most of them looked at me with disgust, while when they looked at Jullian, they looked very amazed and fascinated.

When I looked at all of them, from everyone's eyes, I could imagine that they were thinking that I would embarrass myself.

For them, it is clear who is the main character and who is the real extra character.

Then, the maids approached Jullian and me. Each of them carried a wooden sword in their hands. With nervous expressions, they handed the wooden swords to me and Jullian. After the maids finished handing the wooden swords to Jullian and me, they instantly disappeared into the crowd.

I glanced at Julian.

He swung the wooden sword in his hand as if he was adjusting to the wooden sword he received. I guessed that he was showing off.

In this world, most ordinary people would focus on practicing martial arts. While the nobles and their descendants will focus on studying magic.

However, this general knowledge cannot be applied to Jullian. Unlike other noble children who only focused on learning magic, Jullian had studied martial arts since childhood. Especially when it comes to his family's swordsmanship.

So, I have to see if my swordsmanship can match the swordsmanship he's practicing.

Swing! Swing! Swing!

Jullian continued to swing the wooden sword in his hand. As he did so, he glanced at me.

"Are you sure you want to fight with me? If you know my secret, we don't need to fight, right? You can use the secret you know to blackmail me. So do you just want to bluff?"

"Why are you talking so much? Do you want to cancel our fight?"

"...."

I tried to provoke him. However, he remained calm.

Since our fight was just a show, we were free to start whenever we were ready to fight, that's what Jullian said.

No referee will mediate between us.

"Hm... Well then, let's get started."

Without giving a word, I immediately came to attack.

I immediately kicked the floor hard. My body charged forward with the wooden sword gripped tightly in my right hand.

Many people say that, when you fight, the one who attacks first wins. Because of that, I slid forward while he was still busy trying to get people's attention.

Swing!

Thwack!

The sound of my sword being stopped by his sword was heard. But the sound is not too loud because the sword we use is a wooden sword.

Indeed, he was surprised. But he entered a defensive stance quickly.

The reaction has been good as I expected. To be honest, I'm currently trying to test how far Jullian's strength is in swordplay.

I want to see how far the main character's strength is at the beginning of the story.

I still remember that I couldn't take a single slash of the sword that Jullian swung before my death in my previous life.

The power he displayed back then is still etched in my brain. However, that was when Jullian's abilities had already developed, while in the current timeline, he had not yet reached that level.

Thwack! Thwack! ...

While showing a smile, I continued the barrage of attacks. Because of that, Jullian could only endure. But, he also attacked. We exchanged attacks with each other for a while.

"Unbelievable, how did your son have such skill with the sword, Baron Warwick?"

"Yeah. Is that the ability of people who just locked themselves in a room for years?"

I can hear people's conversations in my ear. From their voices, I could tell that they were surprised. Meanwhile, why was there no response from Baron Warwick? Maybe because he couldn't answer either.

When I heard their surprised voices, I wanted to ask where their previous arrogance was. But I threw that thought backward. That doesn't mean I can get a big head. After all, our battle is still not over.

Removing my mind from the surroundings, I refocused on fighting against Jullian.

At first glance, I did seem to have the upper hand, but I realized that it was because I was still in a state where my stamina was full.

If the fight continues, I'm sure my physical strength will have a hard time dealing with Jullian's stamina, which is the stamina of a person who has practiced swordsmanship since childhood. I'm sure I'll be exhausted first

Several times, the sword slashes that he swung at me almost hit my vitals, but I managed to dodge quite well.

Even though my body was slightly scratched with every attack he launched, I managed to retaliate with a sharper, heavier, more accurate, and more intense attack.

Until finally Jullian was hit by my sword right in his waist.

One of his knees touched the floor, holding his sword and waist. He looked at me with eyes that didn't seem to believe what had just happened.

"Huh??"

Although he was confused for a while, he soon realized that he was in a state of emergency.

"Shit!"

Suddenly, a vein appeared on his forehead, a sign of anger.

Normally, a hero would lose first, but in the end, a hero will rise, fight, and ultimately win.

Therefore, I will not allow the person in front of me to do such a mainstream thing.

As I raised the wooden sword, preparing to end this match, suddenly something unexpected appeared.

Jullian suddenly activated something like Strengthening magic. Elements of light appeared around his body, a sign that he was using Mana. Then he immediately stood up, gripped the wooden sword in his hand, and slashed at me.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

I, who was taken aback for a while, almost automatically activated the Strengthening Skill, but I didn't.

I deliberately didn't dodge. Until finally he slashed me from the shoulder, and chest, then reached the waist. A [ / ] sign was drawn on my body.

Even though he was wearing a wooden sword, but because he added Mana, the wooden sword became as sharp as an iron sword. So, my body immediately bleeds. Blood spurted and soaked my clothes until they splattered on the floor.

Holding the wound on my body, my knees fell to the floor.

Of course, I feel pain, but this is my victory because Jullian broke the contract, where he is not allowed to use Mana. So, a satisfied smile is still on my lips.

When I looked at Jullian, he was standing like a statue. I think he's already set as the loser according to the Contract Magic Paper.

I don't know why he used the skill, maybe because he's still a teenager, so he still has an impulsive nature.

My eyes roamed around, I could see the eyes of the invited guests who looked down on me.

"Then why if he's really good at his sword skills, if he can't use Mana, he's still a piece of trash."

"Yes, I agree. What an interesting spectacle. He's just embarrassing himself."

"Hahaha, how do you feel, Baron Warwick, when you see your trash-like son humiliate himself?!"

They all insulted me enthusiastically. Even the people who previously gave me little compliments started insulting me too. Let alone Count McBrigde, he was the one who laughed the loudest.

They had all forgotten the fact that Jullian wasn't supposed to use Mana. Either because they don't want to offend the Arkie noble family, or they think that the strong will still be victorious even if they violate the rules, which is a natural law.

In conclusion, I lost the battle, but I won the bet.

Indeed, Jullian managed to get the attention of the nobles, so he would be more adored, but he had to bear the punishment of losing his bet with me.

Despite everyone's insults, I'm currently whimpering, enduring the pain.

It's not that I'm crazy for letting Jullian hurt me like this, it's just, there's a reason why I confidently took his attack.

For now, this is purely just my guess, but I feel that I shouldn't reveal my power so bluntly here.

Even if it meant I had to endure all of the people's insults, I convinced myself that it was fine.

Of course, I felt regretful that I couldn't embarrass Jullian in front of those damn old nobles, however, an objective perspective was more important.

But …

I started to regret what I had done because Baron Warwick didn't help me right away. He instead just stared blankly at me along with the other damn old nobles.

'Until when are you going to see me suffer.'

Fortunately, he acted immediately.

I thought, there was no way Baron Warwick would let me die here. At the very least, he would act well in front of the other invited guests. And that's exactly what he did when his sanity returned.

As I expected, Baron Warwick immediately ordered the servants and the maids to help me. Of course, the expression on his face is very interesting to watch.

I just hope the servants and the maids will treat me quickly.