My name was Allen Rodol, and I was fifteen years old.
I had absolutely zero talent with the sword. I was so incompetent and unskilled with the weapon that even I had to acknowledge my own feebleness. Despite that, I still spent day after day frantically swinging my blade. I practiced longer and harder than any of my peers.
“Hard work will always bear fruit”—that was what my mom always told me.
She’d raised me as a single mother. My dad had died from an epidemic when I was still a baby. I was told he was a faithful and honest man, but I didn’t even remember his face. Since I had no memories of him, I didn’t really feel much for him. I’d gotten my jet-black hair from my mom, while my piercing eyes apparently resembled my dad’s.
I had few memories of when I was little, but I did clearly recall Mom grinding herself into dust every single day to support me. She’d scrimped and saved for years with her meager salary to pay for my enrollment and tuition fees at Grand Swordcraft Academy, which I was currently attending.
That was why no matter how much I was ridiculed as the “Reject Swordsman,” no matter how much my classmates bullied me, no matter how much of a nuisance my teachers thought I was…no matter how hard my days here were, I was never going to slack on my training.
If I practiced ten times harder than anyone else, I was sure to become a great swordsman eventually. One day, I would be able to pay Mom back and grant her an easy life. That goal drove me to give my all at the academy. And yet all my hard work was going to go up in smoke in just one day.
It was all because of what happened that evening.
I was swinging my sword in the schoolyard as per usual when a classmate approached me, with two girls following behind him.
His name was Dodriel, eldest son of House Barton, a barony. His trademark blue hair was done up in a ponytail, and he stood at about the same height as me at 165 centimeters. He was a handsome boy and always had girls following him around. Most importantly, he was exceptionally talented with the sword—a prodigy, if you will.
I hated him with all my guts. He bullied me relentlessly and called me the “Reject Swordsman” to belittle me. Normally, I ignored his snide comments by pretending not to hear him.
This time, however, he said something I couldn’t let him get away with.
“Take back…what you just said…!”
“Whoa there, buddy, no need to get so angry. All I did was speak the truth. Trash children must come from trash parents… Do you find any fault with that statement?”
“How dare you, Dodriel!”
I lost my temper and grabbed his collar.
“Tch… Get those filthy hands off me, Reject Swordsman scum!” Dodriel yelled, clicking his tongue and kicking my stomach with incredible speed.
“Hargh?!”
The kick had enough force to put a grown man to shame and sent me flying backward. When I crashed onto my butt, the girls behind him giggled with delight.
“You may be right about me being talentless garbage…but I won’t let you speak about my mom that way!” I fired back, pointing a finger at him.
He shrugged and sighed.
“Haaah…you know what they say, right? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Conventional wisdom dictates that parents of garbage must be garbage themselves.”
Though he was insulting me, he made it sound as if he were sympathizing from the bottom of his heart.
“Y-you bastard!”
His incessant provocations finally sending me over the edge, I pointed my sword toward Dodriel in rage. He paid me no mind and continued to speak nonchalantly.
“Hey now, do you really want to do that? Surely, you know it’s against the rules.”
“Grrr…”
According to school regulations, personal sword fights between students were forbidden. Breaking that rule could lead to repercussions as harsh as suspension or expulsion. Given my position as the lowest ranked student at the academy…there was no doubt I would be expelled if I started an altercation.
“No, I won’t fight you here. I instead challenge you to a duel, Dodriel Barton!”
“Now this is surprising… The Reject Swordsman is challenging the top student in the academy to a duel?”
“That’s right! If I win, you’ll take back what you said!”
“Ha! How amusing… I grant you your duel, Allen! I also accept your condition. If you win, I’ll eat my words! I’ll even bow my head in apology if you so please! However, if you lose—”
He paused, curling the corners of his lips into a wicked grin.
“…If I lose?” I pressed him to continue.
“Yes, that will do… If you lose, you will withdraw from the academy on the spot.”
“What?!”
I couldn’t believe the stakes he had just forced on me.
“Is something the matter? A duel requires the stakes to be equal for both parties. Even you must be aware of this.”
“O-of course I know that! But in what world are those equal stakes?!”
One participant would have to take back a single statement, while the other would have to withdraw from the academy. There was no way anyone could call those terms equivalent.
“This is truly painful to watch… What about this do you not understand, Reject Swordsman? Your quitting the academy would be of very little consequence. After all—you yourself are of very little consequence.”
“…”
It killed me, but I had no immediate comeback. He was spot-on. My grades were far and away the lowest at Grand Swordcraft Academy. They were so bad that it wouldn’t have surprised me if I was dismissed any day now… Withdrawing would certainly mean nothing to the academy.
“…Understood. I challenge you to a duel on those conditions…!”
“I accept! How does tomorrow morning at nine in the gymnasium sound to you?”
“I have no objections.”
“Wonderful. I’ll take care of the application for the duel. You just focus on your trademark hard work to try and make our match at least resemble a duel…though, I’m sure you are well aware your efforts will go to waste. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!”